How to create podcast show notes

Creating and posting podcast show notes are a good idea for anyone who makes podcasts. Podcast show notes can not only help to get the attention and interest of a potential listener, but it can help in indexing your podcast blog in search engines as well as giving a summary of each podcast recorded. You want to create podcast show notes with a few things in mind to get the most out of them.

Keywords and SEO - You don't have to be a web designer or expert on online search engines or ad placements to have good keywords and SEO in your podcast show notes. Basically having keywords and good SEO (search engine optimization) in your show notes will help search engines like Google and Yahoo find and index your podcast show's site or blog.

If you happen to talk about a popular or hot topic on your latest podcast, make mention of it in your podcast notes. That way say if you are talking about the latest episode of Lost on your podcast, the mention of that in your show notes may place your podcast blog higher in search results for the latest about Lost. The same holds true for anything you talk about on the show.

You'll also want to make sure the name of your podcast is mentioned in the show notes or on the podcast site or blog itself. People searching for your podcast will be able to locate it better if it shows up higher in search results.

Teasers - Potential listeners may have found your podcast by accident or from a friend, but however they came across it, you only have a few seconds to convince them to click the play or download button. Don't give away everything in the episode in your show notes, but give enough information that it has them interested. You know you've seen ads and links that you wouldn't click on but for some reason you just become really curious. That is the kind of feeling your podcast show notes should do to potential listeners.

At the very least they'll figure it is worth a listen and even if they only listen once, your show notes have done their job. As you establish regular listeners, your show notes might mention shout-outs to them, lead on to potentially big news or topics coming up, and more.

The actual creation of your show notes is easy. Many podcast hosting sites allow users to have a podcast blog where they can post new episodes along with a photo and brief description of the show. This brief summary is basically the show notes. If you run your own blog or site for the podcast, you can make more detailed show notes such as playlists of the music you've played, some topics, upcoming news, and more.

Just keep in mind that you want to give enough information so search engines find your podcast and enough that potential listeners can't resist the urge to press play. At the same time keep some information out of the podcast show notes so you don't give away all the surprises.