8 Ways to Improve Your Podcast Description
Thank you for joining me for The Audacity to Podcast. I'm Daniel J. Lewis.
Your podcast description usually isn't someone's first impression of your show. Instead, that's
usually your title or your cover art or what someone else says about your podcast.
Your podcast description also usually doesn't affect your SEO.
But the description does give you the vital opportunity to convince a potential audience
to try your podcast.
Because once they click through, then it's the description and your episode titles that
can help convince someone, "Yes, you're in the right place.
You should definitely press that follow button and here's why."
That's how an effective podcast description works.
So I have for you 8 ways to improve your podcast description. Follow along in the notes, a
tap or swipe away, or go to theaudacitytopodcast.com/description.
Number 1. Remove unnecessary or redundant details. The title goes in the title, the
author goes in the author, the description goes in the description. When you mix these
together it creates redundancy and might waste some valuable space. So try to look out for
phrases like "This podcast is hosted by..." and then your name.
Well, you don't need to say that and I'm not saying your name should not be in your
description because there are sometimes certain good appropriate places for that.
But to say "This podcast is hosted by..." that's really unnecessary because your name
is already in the author field and displayed very prominently with your podcast.
Or take another approach.
name of your podcast like "The Audacity to Podcast is about..." well that's redundant because the
title is right there that they can see in big bold letters and the description is right underneath the
title so why have it say "The Audacity to Podcast" and the words immediately after that are "The
Audacity to Podcast." That's unnecessary. And also even just saying "is about" well this is inside a
description so the description is describing the podcast. You don't have to say what it's about
when the context is already a description, it is inherently about whatever that thing is. Or
asking a question sometimes doesn't work very well, like "Looking for a podcast about such and
such?" or "Are you a such and such?" People often aren't asking these questions that you are using
or I see people using in podcast descriptions. And often I see these kinds of questions focus
more on features more than benefits. And I'll be talking about that more in number three
in a moment. So watch out for these kinds of phrases and others like them that are just
unnecessary and redundant. You want everything that's in your podcast to really convince
someone to hear or watch your podcast. Does your contact information convince them to
listen to your podcast? No, probably not. Does knowing that you publish an episode every
Monday convince people to listen to your podcast? Probably not. Does hearing your background,
like you started listening to audiobooks when you were 7 and now you have a podcast about
audiobooks, does that convince people to listen? Probably not. Now that's not saying that any
kind of background information about you or why you started the podcast is irrelevant,
but you have to think about, is this actually relevant or is it unnecessary to convince
people to listen to my podcast? Or is it redundant with other information elsewhere in the podcast?
Number two, focus on why and WIIFM. That's what's in it for me. In most places, podcast
descriptions don't actually affect your podcast SEO. But even if they did, the most important
thing is still to answer two basic questions. First question, why should I get this podcast?
And try emphasizing that differently as well.
Why should I get this podcast?
Or why should I get this podcast?
That's a big question people are asking when they hear about a podcast.
They might not be consciously asking that question, but it is on their minds.
That's what they're looking for.
Why this podcast?
Why me for this podcast?
Why this podcast for me?
Why should I get this podcast?
The second question is, what's in it for me?
What's the W-I-I-F-M?
What's in it for me?
In other words, how will your audience get profit from your podcast?
Profit meaning popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles.
Yes, I think you need to focus on helping your audience get profit from your podcast,
not only yourself.
Because when your audience profits, you have a greater opportunity to profit as well.
So what's in it for me?
I look at your podcast, what am I going to get out of it?
Not just content.
Yeah, this is a podcast.
Are you looking for a new podcast to listen to?
No, I'm not.
In fact, I would say most people aren't just looking for a new podcast to listen to.
They're looking for a new podcast that gives them certain information or maybe they're
not even looking at all.
But how you describe your podcast can change their minds and make them realize, "Oh man,
this is a need that I have.
I need to listen to this podcast.
I didn't know I needed this, but now I know I need it and this podcast provides that.
Whenever someone has clicked through to something they're considering, like whether that's a
podcast or a product, a movie, or really anything else, the core information they're seeking
is why they should choose that thing.
Maybe even in comparison to alternatives.
Why this book over a different book?
Why this movie over a different movie?
Why your podcast about your niche over someone else's podcast in the same niche.
That why question is so important.
That's why I love the book Start With Why.
I highly recommend that.
And go ahead and read that and it can help you better describe your podcast.
Start With Why.
Why your podcast.
Why are you making this podcast.
Don't focus on why are you making it.
Focus on answering that why question for your audience.
Because that is why you're making it.
And you don't have to use the words "why" or "because" in your description, but I
do suggest you imagine someone asking you "why should I get your podcast?"
And then what follows in your answer when you say "well because" what follows after
that is a good starting point for your description.
So what would you say if someone was face to face with you asking you "why should I
get your podcast?"
Focus on that "why" and that "what's in it for me?"
Number three, replace features with benefits.
A feature is a simple fact about your podcast.
Like we talk about, and then your topic or topics.
Or think about this with computers.
The features are, this computer has this big of a hard drive, it has this many megabytes
or gigabytes of this and that, and it has this software and it has this feature and
that feature, and you can compare these features with other features of other computers.
That's just features, numbers, comparisons.
That doesn't really tell a story at all.
Okay, it's got 16 gigabytes of RAM.
What does that mean?
So if a computer has 128 gigabytes, is that better?
It sounds like it's better because it's a bigger number.
That's just a feature.
And in some cases, by the way, with computers, it's really about how do they use those gigabytes
of RAM.
new Apple Silicon chips are so much better with how they use RAM that you don't need
as much RAM as you used to need. So the playing field has become unlevel in that sense. You
can't get into this feature comparison game. And your audience isn't really looking for
features or your potential audience either. They're looking for benefits. The first way
that you can improve this is to extend whatever feature sentence you have with a "so that"
part and then shift that benefit, what comes after the "so that", shift that into the spotlight.
So here are a few examples for you to consider. The feature might be, "We talk about cake baking."
That's just a plain feature. Cake baking, okay, that's your feature. Switch that to more benefit
focus. Learn how to make better cakes. Oooh, now we're focusing on the benefit. That's
why we talk about cake baking is to help you bake better cakes. See, focusing back on the
why. Or consider this. This podcast shares marketing techniques. Again, that's feature
focused. You could change that to grow your audience. Now I didn't use the same words
at all, but the benefit of marketing techniques is to grow your audience or grow your customer
base or anything like that. Or "Get communication tips!" It might sound like a benefit because
I'm starting with a verb, but it's really just a feature. I could say "Get anything
else" and it's really just a feature. So instead of saying "Get communication tips"
I could say "I help you communicate better." And you can loop back through this process
to make your benefits even better. Try adding a "so that" either directly or through
some rewriting to focus on the outcome you want your audience to get.
For example, instead of saying "learn how to grow your business" you could add "so
that" you don't have to worry about your bottom line.
See that's the benefit.
Then consider shifting that new benefit, what came after the "so that", shift that to
the spotlight.
You'll stop worrying about your bottom line by implementing our techniques to grow your
business.
Do you see what happened there?
I shifted that deeper benefit, not just growing your business, but stop worrying about your
bottom line.
I shifted that benefit to the front and then put the other benefits and even a little bit
of a feature after that.
And this can be a healthy exercise to loop through this multiple times and it may get
a little exaggerated at times, but that's okay.
This is an exercise to make you stronger and make you better and brainstorm some ideas.
Keep adding "so that" to whatever line of marketing you're working with.
Add it over and over and over until it either gets completely ridiculous or you find some
really good value.
For example, you might think of describing your podcast as "I talk about movies".
Now let's practice this.
So that you'll know what the best movies are.
So that you won't waste time and money on bad movies.
So that you'll have fun going to the movies.
So that you can share the experience with your friends.
So that you can build deeper relationships around mutual interests.
So that you can live a more fulfilling life.
So that and on and on and on.
This doesn't mean you have to use everything you come up with, but it can help you make
something far more enticing than a simple feature.
So taking this same slightly exaggerated example, your podcast about movies could be described
instead of simply "I talk about movies" to something like "Live a more fulfilling life
with deeper relationships by learning more about the movies you and your friends love."
Now yes, that's a little bit more exaggerated, but isn't that so much more compelling and
interesting sounding than simply "I talk about the latest movies and what's cool about them."
Focus on the benefits, not the features. You might mention a feature here and there. That's okay.
Okay sometimes people need to know those features, but try replacing all the features that you
mention with benefits.
That's number three.
Number four, try common marketing approaches.
Because your podcast description is marketing a kind of product, your podcast that is, is
the product, that your audience needs to "buy" and they buy it by following it, making that
commitment to listen to your podcast, you can try different marketing frameworks to
write a better, more compelling, and more relatable podcast description.
Here are three popular marketing frameworks, and I've played with them myself in some
of my product advertising and even my podcast descriptions here and there.
First there's AIDA, which is attention, interest, desire, and action.
This describes the four stages someone goes through before making a decision, like following
your podcast or buying something.
Following this framework, your podcast description can first catch someone's attention, then
get them interested in what you offer, then trigger a desire for your podcast, and then
give them the action to take.
There's also the PAS framework.
That's pain or problem, agitate, solution.
This framework takes a slightly different approach to AIDA and focuses first on the
the problem or the pain point, then it agitates that with some specificity and then provides
your podcast as the solution. Focusing and then further specifying the pain your audience
has demonstrates how you understand and empathize with them, helping them to think "he or
she totally gets me."
Another popular framework is the BAB framework. That's before, after, bridge. This takes
a more evidence-based approach. It starts with relating the condition your audience
is in before your podcast or before applying your teaching and then the results after they
take the action and then your podcast is the bridge that gets them there. These frameworks
and others have helped many marketers increase their profits. And even if you're not actually
selling something for money and you're doing your podcast purely for the love of it and
All you want to do is have fun and you want your audience to have fun.
And fun is in profit.
That's the F in profit.
So you and your audience can profit by just simply having fun with your podcast.
Even if that's all you're doing, marketing your podcast as if it is a product for sale
can help you better reach and convert people to a loyal audience.
Number five, take inspiration from the best podcasts.
the consistently top-ranked podcasts regardless of their topic. Look at how their descriptions
are written. Do they tell a story? Do they follow a marketing framework like AIDA, PAS,
or BAB? How do they try to empathize with you? How do they communicate without wasting
space? You might notice that they use several of these methods that I've shared here or
do something else completely innovative. For practice, you could, and this is just for
practice, I want to emphasize that, you could copy the descriptions from some of these popular
podcasts and then replace the points about their podcasts with points about yours. Then
try rewording it to be more in your voice and your tone to flow better and connect better
with your ideal audience. But please don't simply copy and word spin someone else's
description.
Use it as an inspiration and then go make your own description.
Number six, get opinions.
When you have a description that you think is good, try it on some people who don't
know your podcast and then see how it piques their interest.
If you're willing to spend a little money on this, you could go to a local coffee shop
and offer to buy someone's drink in exchange for five minutes of their time to get their
opinion on your podcast description.
Now if you do this, please make sure that you promise them you want only their opinion,
you're not trying to sell them anything, you're not trying to get them to opt into anything
or give over any kind of private information, you just want their opinion on something.
This kind of, we could call it man on the street research can be extremely valuable
because you're getting face to face interactions with someone, you're not just getting a comment
back, and it's someone who is not a fellow podcaster, not a member of your peer group,
And you might actually get someone who doesn't even know what a podcast is or doesn't listen
to a podcast.
And if you can pique their interest, you probably have a winning podcast description.
Number seven.
Use Artificial Intelligence or AI.
Wouldn't it be cool if there was a tool that could help you do these exact things, like
rewrite your description in AIDA format or BAB, or take some inspirations from other
great looking descriptions, or turn your features into benefits, or answer the question of why
and stuff like that. Wouldn't it be great if there was a tool like that? Well yes, there
are actually several great tools now that can do this through the power of artificial
intelligence or AI. And since early 2021, I've been using one of these tools called
Jasper, formerly known as Jarvis. And by the way, the link in the notes for Jasper is an
affiliate link so I earn from qualifying purchases through my link. But as you know, I recommend
things that I truly believe in regardless of earnings. And the other couple things I'm going
to recommend here actually do not earn me anything because I don't think they have affiliate programs
yet. But they may someday and if they do I'll join them. But I'll continue anyway with my
recommendations here. So I've been using Jasper for a couple years to help me write better,
build some writing momentum, and get some new ideas. But now, when you think of AI writing
assistants, you're probably thinking of something else that everybody seems to be talking about
right now in early 2023. And that is ChatGPT. And at the time of this recording, it's only a couple
days after ChatGPT 4 was released and I'm hearing a lot of people say it creates much better content.
I'm not going to get into how these things work and the ethics of them. That would be great for
another episode. But for now, just think of it this way. Jasper and ChatGPT offer many ways that
you can improve your content through what they have. And this is very important. I'm suggesting
improve your content, not create your content for you, not give you medical or legal advice
or weird things like that, but help you to get better. Because the basic approach of
these AIs where I think they thrive is when they see, "Oh, I see what you did there.
Let me build on that or let me make that a little bit better for you." So Jasper, for
example, and some other tools like this as well, offer templates that you can fill in
and then generate potential results. And those templates are designed around specific things.
For example, Jasper has templates for the AIDA, PAS, and BAB marketing frameworks for
descriptions. They also have a template for converting features to benefits or a template
to simplify your language as if explaining it to a child so that you're not so geeky,
nerdy, or inside baseball as they say with your descriptions. I think all of these templates
can be really helpful because you know the kind of outcome to expect and you can have
the template generate a bunch of outputs, slightly different each time, and then you
can pick and choose certain points from those or blend them together as you want or just
copy and paste one all together that you like. Jasper and ChatGPT also offer a more flexible
model that is what a lot of people are loving and it's what has made this AI so much more
popular and that's the flexible chat model where you can type as if talking to a writing
assistant. You could paste in your current description and then ask it to rewrite your
description using a marketing framework or convert your features to benefits and more.
just paste it in. Like one example input could be something like, "Here is a description
of The Audacity to Podcast, a podcast about podcasting." I paste in my description and
then below that I say, "Rewrite this using the AIDA marketing framework." And it gives
me a description back following the AIDA framework.
There are a bunch of other things it can do. There are so many possibilities. I just had
a meeting today right before I recorded this episode where I was talking with some people
about the possibilities of AI and ways that we can use AI ethically and to help us make
stuff better and faster. And that's what I like using AI for, make stuff better and faster,
not create original stuff. But take what you already have and make it better. Or look at
a podcaster focused AI tool like Capsho, another thing that I currently don't have
an affiliate link for but I really like what they're doing. Capsho, that's C-A-P-S-H-O,
Capsho helps build episode descriptions and much more from your already recorded audio.
So it's not like you have to go in and type something in, "Give me an episode description
for a podcast episode about blank blank blank."
No, you give it your episode and then it gives you a description of that episode because
it will transcribe your episode so then it gets the written transcription and then it
uses that transcription in its artificial intelligence model to summarize it and give
a description back to you. Now that's at the episode level currently. They might do something
someday where it can listen to multiple episodes and then help you describe your overall podcast.
And there are many other things that they're doing with the AI that are beyond the realms
of what I'm talking about in this episode. But I'm really excited about what Capsho
is doing. These three tools, Jasper, ChatGPT, Capsho, are just three of many tools out there.
And many of them are using the same core AI, just with little tweaks here and there, or changing
what kind of inputs are combined with your input in order to get different outputs. And these are
the three that I've experienced. So I'm not going to say that these are necessarily the best,
but they're very popular and I like what they're doing with these tools. And of these three,
the only one I earn anything from if you sign up through my link is Jasper. Now if the others
offer affiliate programs I will definitely join them because I'm already recommending them. But
if you'd like to try any of these then please check out my links through theaudacitytopodcast.com/description.
I think AI is great for these kinds of improvement and reformat techniques because it's taking your
original content and making it better. That's what I love AI for. Making stuff better, helping
you make it better, and making it faster and better. And number eight, apply these same principles
to your episode descriptions. Although I focused this episode on your top level podcast description,
try all these same things for your individual episode descriptions too. Like avoiding redundant
or unnecessary things such as "In this episode, Bob and Jim talk about..."
All of those words just there. Completely unnecessary. Just tell us what you talked
about or do it in a different way that isn't "we talked about" or "hear us talk about"
or anything like that. Just tell us. And your episode descriptions can seriously help your
search engine optimization. And if you try improving your episode descriptions before
Before you even record your episodes, you might even discover new ways to make your
episode content better just by improving how you describe what you're about to talk about.
And then you might realize that, "Oh, there's a better way that I can approach this content
because of how I'm describing it."
This is one of the reasons why I like writing my post for an episode before I even record
because it really helps me hash out my ideas.
So just simply writing out a really good episode description, not your full notes, but just
a really good episode description, that alone could help you make a better episode.
So apply these same things, whether it's your marketing framework to how you describe this
episode or promote this one episode.
Maybe you use some AI to make your episode description better.
Maybe you get some opinions from other people.
And the big thing that I recommend is that why?
Why should people listen to this episode?
That's a great thing to think about while you are recording your episode.
Why does this matter?
Why should people listen?
That little story about your dog might be interesting to you, but why should your audience care?
Is it funny?
Is it relevant to your podcast?
Are people coming to your podcast because they want to hear something funny?
If so, then that story about your dog that's funny is totally relevant.
Are they coming to your podcast to be informed about marketing trends?
Then the story about your dog is probably not relevant unless it somehow can relate
to what you're talking about in your podcast episode.
So learning how to better describe even your episodes can improve your content and going
back to the top level podcast description, learning how to make a better description
for your overall podcast can also help you refocus your podcast on whom you really want
to serve, what profit you want them to get from your podcast, and what kind of profit
you want to get from your podcast.
So once again, these eight ways to improve your podcast description, available at theaudacitytopodcast.com/description,
are number one, remove unnecessary or redundant details.
Number two, focus on why and what's in it for me.
Number three, replace features with benefits.
Number four, try common marketing approaches.
Number five, take inspiration from the best podcasts.
Number six, get opinions.
Number seven, use artificial intelligence.
And number eight, apply these same principles to your episode descriptions.
With all of this in mind then, how long has it been since you've really looked at your
podcast description?
Is it even accurate anymore?
I suggest you go back and look at it, especially with these points and suggestions that I've
shared with you, and see how you can improve your description.
I did the same thing with my own podcast description while preparing this episode.
I started looking back at my description and realized, hmm, there are some ways that I
could definitely improve this.
So I'm changing my own and will continue to revisit my own description for The Audacity
to Podcast. To let you hear an actual example of what it was before and what it currently
is after, here is my description before I started preparing for this episode.
I believe anyone can share a message to change the world and podcasting is the best way to
spread that message. I'm Daniel J. Lewis and this is where I give you the guts and
teach you the tools to launch or improve your own podcast for sharing your passions and
finding success. I cover all things podcasting, audio gear, video equipment, editing software.
Now I hope your brain is shouting in your mind, "These are features Daniel, you're
just listing features."
Yes, because I was.
And I continue here.
WordPress and plugins, social media promotion tools, marketing, and more with understandable,
in-depth information and easy to follow steps.
Again, just features listed there.
If you want to know how to podcast or grow the show you already have, this show is for you.
Have a podcasting question or suggestion?
That's not a question anyone is really asking when they're looking at my podcasting description.
Email feedback@theaudacitytopodcast.com or call 903-231-2221.
People don't need my contact information in my description.
Please subscribe and I will give you THE AUDACITY to podcast.
So you see, I made some mistakes there.
And I've re-approached it.
And I didn't even run this through AI yet.
Just taking some of these principles that I've been talking about and practicing them
on my own description.
And here is at least at the time of this recording what my description is and it might change
by the time I publish this episode or by the time you hear this episode.
So my new description is as follows.
I believe podcasting is the best way for you to share a message to change the world.
I give you the guts and teach you the tools to launch and improve your own podcast for
passion and profit.
That's P-R-O-F-I-T.
I break it out with little periods just to emphasize that it's an abbreviation or an
acronym or an acrostic.
They don't know yet.
Through each episode, I strive to help you communicate better, fully leverage audio and
video gear, use podcasting tools for higher quality and efficiency, become an engaging
interviewer, improve your podcast website, grow your podcast, and more.
My goal is to help you and your audience get P-R-O-F-I-T from your podcast.
popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles. From each episode
you'll get inspiration, learn easy to follow steps, and discover resources to help you
podcast better. Please join me, Daniel J. Lewis, and I will give you THE AUDACITY to
podcast.
Now I think that description is much better. Is it the absolute best? No, probably not.
There are probably other ways I can improve it. And take a look inside your podcast app.
you're seeing an even different description from that.
But I think this is so much better and I'm practicing what I'm preaching by improving
my own description.
I suggest you do the same.
Follow these eight tips to try improving your podcast description.
And if you need help with this, I'm available for one-on-one coaching and consulting to
help you improve your podcast and improve your podcast description.
If you want me to look over your description, help you brainstorm some other ideas, work
with an AI to figure out some different things, put it in your voice, or better communicate,
or give you some feedback on something that compels me to even listen.
Does it pique my interest?
If you need help with your podcast, I'm available to help you one-on-one.
Please contact me through the website at theaudacitytopodcast.com.
And if this episode has been helpful to you, I'd love it if you would share this, comment
on it, and engage in whatever way you can.
The episode is at theaudacitytopodcast.com/description.
Now that I've given you some of the guts and taught you some of the tools, it's time
for you to go start and grow your own podcast for passion and profit.
I'm Daniel J. Lewis from theaudacitytopodcast.com.
Thanks for listening!
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