How to use a podcast to create smart and usable content
In the last of this three-part series, Contributor Sherry Bonelli says a podcast might be an audio file, but you can create unique written content from it to help with your branding and SEO efforts. Here's how.
This is Part 3 of a three-part series. Here are Part 1 and Part 2.
The more podcast interviews you do, the more credibility and authority will be built around your brand. This, in turn, provides more opportunity to use that authority in your search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing efforts.
Using reviews
Show notes, reviews and links from the podcast sites typically include your name. That means when people search for your name, your pages should appear in search result pages.
This gives you higher authority and reinforces your personal branding, which helps when you’re trying to rank higher in the search engines.
It also helps you become a successful marketer and leader in your niche.
Reach an audience quickly
Being a guest on the podcast is one of the fastest ways to reach an engaged audience interested in your topic.
In fact, podcasts will promote your name, company name, social presence and other links, all of which promote you to audiences as an expert.
Once you take up podcasting, to take your personal brand one step further, consider adding an “As Featured On” page on your site. You can add a list of the podcasts, along with their logos and audio snippets, and optimize the page as much as possible for keywords of the topics discussed on the podcasts.
Not only is this a great way to build up your authority for the search engines, but it will also make potential clients feel more comfortable and confident in hiring you.
Ask the podcast host if you can put a snippet of the audio file on your website and then link to their site so people can listen to the full podcast. (Audio really engages people and can mean that visitors will stay on your site longer — which is also good for search rankings.)
Using a show notes page
As mentioned earlier, the podcast host will probably take links from your “As Featured On” page and put them on the show notes page. These links are like gold!
If the show notes page has been indexed, those links will help reinforce your pages and may influence the search engines.
For instance, by being a guest on The Local Business Leaders Podcast, my site was linked to twice and my LinkedIn profile was included. The podcast host usually promotes the podcast on social media, and even on ads they are running for more exposure!
Transcribe the audio file
Surprisingly, most podcast hosts don’t take the time to transcribe the podcast audio into a text file.
This is a huge opportunity for you to get search ranking bonus points! First, ask the host if it’s okay if you transcribe the audio (podcast) to create a blog post for your site.
You can use a service like Rev.com to transcribe the audio and add the transcription to your site for a nominal fee.
Most podcast shows are 20 to 30 minutes long, so for around $30, you can get a full transcription of your podcast audio. You will want to spend some time optimizing the content with your targeted keywords and maybe add images to reinforce points you made on the podcast.
Make sure you give credit to the podcast and link to the podcast’s site; they will appreciate the acknowledgment. Once your audio transcription of the podcast is live on your site, let the podcast site know so they can share your website page with their social media channels and you can share it on yours. (It’s almost like a relaunch of the original podcast — win-win!)
Be sure to post your transcription blog post a few weeks after the initial launch of the podcast so you’re essentially relaunching the podcast and keeping the promotion going.
Ready to get started?
If being a guest on a podcast sounds good to you, it’s time to get started. If you don’t want to try to get yourself booked, there are several great podcast booking sites that can help you get started for a fee:
- Podcast Bookers.
- Interview Valet.
- Get Featured.
- Be My Guest.
- Interviews That Convert.
- Interview Connections.
If you do regular speaking at trade shows, conferences or webinars, you may even be approached by podcasters to be interviewed.
Just remember that being a guest on a podcast has more benefits than just the speaking and interview. You can get SEO benefits that can last for a long time and will build up the more podcasts you’re a guest on if you take full advantage of the podcast and the content you can create from it.
Read more of this powerful series on mastering podcasting:
Contributing authors are invited to create content for Search Engine Land and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the search community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. The opinions they express are their own.
Related stories
New on Search Engine Land
About the author
