Your Podcast Needs a Separate Website (Here's Why)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:06.360 Welcome back to my club, where we break down what's currently working in BB 2 00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:11.470 podcasting. I'm Dan Sanchez, friends call me Danchez, and today I want 3 00:00:11.509 --> 00:00:16.550 to talk to you about why your podcast needs a separate website. Yes, 4 00:00:16.949 --> 00:00:20.309 it does, and there's a few situations where I would think it'd be better 5 00:00:20.350 --> 00:00:24.100 for it to stay within your core home website. But I'm let me make 6 00:00:24.140 --> 00:00:26.739 a case, let me make an argument for why it should be as separate 7 00:00:26.899 --> 00:00:31.539 website, because what most people do is just tied into their company wordpress blog 8 00:00:31.660 --> 00:00:35.100 or upspot blog or something like that, right, and maybe have a little 9 00:00:35.219 --> 00:00:39.130 bit of a separate section for the podcast. But there's a few problems with 10 00:00:39.289 --> 00:00:43.289 that. So let me talk about why separating these two things would work out 11 00:00:43.409 --> 00:00:52.159 better. One optimization right, and there's three different ways optimization works in favor 12 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:56.640 of having two separate things. Your core website should be optimized for one goal, 13 00:00:56.960 --> 00:01:03.040 right, leads or consultation calls or demo requests, whatever you're calling that 14 00:01:03.239 --> 00:01:07.909 trigger of sales, right when someone indicates and raises their hands are like, 15 00:01:07.989 --> 00:01:11.230 I want to talk to sales or want to make a purchase. That's what 16 00:01:11.390 --> 00:01:15.870 your main sight should be optimized for and, as a marketer. That's that's 17 00:01:15.909 --> 00:01:18.859 what I'm doing with we fish Mediacom. That's what we do. I want 18 00:01:18.939 --> 00:01:23.099 people to schedule a consultation. I want people to talk to a podcast strategist, 19 00:01:23.140 --> 00:01:25.939 because that's the beginning of our buying cycle. It makes sense and that's 20 00:01:25.939 --> 00:01:30.180 what you should optimize your site for. It's a sales web site, but 21 00:01:30.459 --> 00:01:34.489 we still load media into it. We have a blog there and we're talking 22 00:01:34.530 --> 00:01:37.689 about the things that we're talking to, about relargy related to our product. 23 00:01:37.730 --> 00:01:41.489 Right, it makes sense to have blogs there and media there. People usually 24 00:01:41.489 --> 00:01:46.409 go a little bit beyond that and talk about things outside of their core expertise, 25 00:01:46.450 --> 00:01:49.519 about the things that are prospects are interested and that's okay. But I 26 00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:53.120 think the podcast should be on a separate site because you don't have to opromize 27 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:57.000 just for a sales there. You can optimize for audience growth. You can 28 00:01:57.079 --> 00:02:01.349 optimize to get people to subscribe to the podcast, whether it's via newsletter, 29 00:02:02.590 --> 00:02:07.550 SMS or just going to the player where they can tap subscribe. If you 30 00:02:07.629 --> 00:02:14.110 think about it, most media sites are organized for consumption and subscribe subscription. 31 00:02:14.189 --> 00:02:16.500 Right go to wired, go to tech crunch, go to New York Times, 32 00:02:16.740 --> 00:02:21.060 they're going to try to convince you to consume content and subscribe. If 33 00:02:21.099 --> 00:02:24.219 you have a different site, you can have it optimized like at a conversion 34 00:02:24.219 --> 00:02:30.930 rate optimization type of optimize right for audience growth rather than just for sales, 35 00:02:30.969 --> 00:02:32.449 because if you can build the audience then you can do sales a later. 36 00:02:34.569 --> 00:02:37.969 Another point of optimization is your brand. Like you can have a separate brand 37 00:02:38.050 --> 00:02:42.530 that's broader than what your core focused, core focus is about. You can 38 00:02:42.530 --> 00:02:46.120 go a little bit broader into the methodologies the podcast presents or around the type 39 00:02:46.120 --> 00:02:50.800 of audience that your podcast wants to reach, which is probably going to be 40 00:02:50.840 --> 00:02:54.479 broader than the tiny segment your your sales position is. And that kind of 41 00:02:54.479 --> 00:03:00.030 leads to the third point of optimization is position. You can position the podcast 42 00:03:00.110 --> 00:03:02.710 differently than you can your core brand. Sometimes those things are the same, 43 00:03:02.789 --> 00:03:07.150 but sometimes they're separate. For example, sweet fish media, where be toby 44 00:03:07.189 --> 00:03:12.270 podcasting agency. That's our position. BEDB growth does not hold that same position. 45 00:03:12.389 --> 00:03:14.659 It's a problem. My Club does. So we're going to keep my 46 00:03:14.860 --> 00:03:16.699 club. This podcast that you're listening to you right now, that's going to 47 00:03:16.740 --> 00:03:21.180 live on sweetfish Mediacom. Why? Because it's about be to be podcasting makes 48 00:03:21.219 --> 00:03:24.740 sense right. Beb growth is broader. It's about BEDB marketing. So it's 49 00:03:24.780 --> 00:03:28.569 getting needs to have its own website. I'm actually in the process of over 50 00:03:28.650 --> 00:03:30.210 this next quarter, moving it to its own site. It's got over two 51 00:03:30.250 --> 00:03:34.370 thousand episodes. It's going to take some time to move but I'm going to 52 00:03:34.490 --> 00:03:38.930 move it. So why? Those are some of the reasons why. Oh, 53 00:03:38.009 --> 00:03:42.879 if I almost forgot my last one. So you can optimize for one 54 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:46.280 goal, for one one go on a website. So it's better to optimize 55 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:49.199 for two separate goals have a two separate websites. The other one is it 56 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:53.520 feels a little bit more like earned media. Right, owned media is you 57 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:57.550 talking about yourself, but earned media somebody else talking about you. When you 58 00:03:57.669 --> 00:04:00.629 separate it out and create a separate brand around the podcast in this different content 59 00:04:00.870 --> 00:04:04.629 site, it feels more like earned media. There's a little bit. It 60 00:04:04.710 --> 00:04:09.789 feels a little bit more trustworthy because it's not all about you, it's all 61 00:04:09.830 --> 00:04:14.819 about your audience, and so when you do talk about you, it feels 62 00:04:14.819 --> 00:04:17.860 a little bit more trustworthy, a little bit more authoritative, because you're creating 63 00:04:17.899 --> 00:04:25.769 some distance between the media entity and your brand. It's mostly just psychological distance 64 00:04:26.009 --> 00:04:30.089 because honestly, the same team creating both. But that little sidelot of the 65 00:04:30.089 --> 00:04:36.250 psychological distance creates a little bit more trust to so why wouldn't you want to 66 00:04:36.290 --> 00:04:41.000 do this? I've talked to number of people about it. I've pitched this 67 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:46.199 multiple times to many customers and there's usually two major reasons. One is legitimate 68 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:47.600 and the other one, I think, is not. So let's talk about 69 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:53.269 the too, starting with the legitimate one. Building a whole separate website takes 70 00:04:53.389 --> 00:04:56.709 time, money, freaking work just to build it maintain it. I know 71 00:04:56.829 --> 00:05:00.069 I've managed many websites and I hate managing too many websites. I like to 72 00:05:00.629 --> 00:05:03.029 push them together because honestly, I'd rather manage less websites than more. Right, 73 00:05:03.029 --> 00:05:05.910 it's a pain to keep those websites up to date, to fix them, 74 00:05:05.990 --> 00:05:09.420 to trouble shoot them when they go wrong, when something goes wrong, 75 00:05:09.660 --> 00:05:12.939 to you know, keep the style up to date so it looks fresh every 76 00:05:13.060 --> 00:05:17.060 five, three to five years. Right, it's a pain. That's a 77 00:05:17.100 --> 00:05:21.370 valid reason and I would say if your team is small, don't start a 78 00:05:21.410 --> 00:05:26.329 second website or use one of the recommendations I'm going to make to make it 79 00:05:26.410 --> 00:05:31.329 really simple. But I think that is a legitimate, legitimate problem. If 80 00:05:31.370 --> 00:05:34.209 you don't have enough bandwith the manage to separate websites. I think there's a 81 00:05:34.250 --> 00:05:40.040 lot of bank like I think it's worth it, but I don't know the 82 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:42.879 priorities of your team and what your strategy is and what you're going for, 83 00:05:43.079 --> 00:05:46.040 so I can't say definitively that it's worth overcoming that obstacle. But I still 84 00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:49.990 think for many it's going to be worth the time building of a separate website, 85 00:05:50.069 --> 00:05:54.189 especially if you use my first recommendation for how to do it. But 86 00:05:54.230 --> 00:05:58.350 let's talk about the SEC a reason, and this is probably the one people 87 00:05:58.470 --> 00:06:01.990 give the most, is that you lose Seo weight when you move it to 88 00:06:02.029 --> 00:06:06.740 a different website, and I honestly I find that this argument is just not 89 00:06:08.259 --> 00:06:14.860 strong. Almost everybody using a podcast for Seo doesn't do a great job of 90 00:06:15.300 --> 00:06:18.009 ranking with podcasts. If they do rank, they're getting a lot of rankings 91 00:06:18.170 --> 00:06:23.370 that don't have volume behind them, because podcast generally, even podcast with transcripts, 92 00:06:23.610 --> 00:06:28.410 don't rank well. If they do, it's by accident and if they 93 00:06:28.410 --> 00:06:31.129 do rank, it's probably for a keyword that has no volume. There is 94 00:06:31.209 --> 00:06:35.720 a way to be intentional with your Podet podcast, to do better SEO. 95 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:42.040 I outline that in a separate mic club episode. So go look for PODCAST 96 00:06:42.199 --> 00:06:46.279 SEO and the MIC club channel and you'll see my specific recommendations of how to 97 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:49.550 do it well. But most people don't do it that way. And even 98 00:06:49.589 --> 00:06:54.790 then, even if you are doing it that way and you like, I 99 00:06:54.829 --> 00:06:58.269 guess you could use a podcast solely for SEO effort. But almost none of 100 00:06:58.430 --> 00:07:00.310 like none of our customers, use a podcast solely for SEO. It's always 101 00:07:00.310 --> 00:07:05.220 like a tertiary. It's reason why you do a podcast. The real reasons 102 00:07:05.259 --> 00:07:10.420 why you do a podcast are completely different. So don't optimize around your terr 103 00:07:10.500 --> 00:07:13.500 sheet. Don't like, don't not, don't not make it, make this 104 00:07:13.660 --> 00:07:16.889 decision based on a tertiary thing that wasn't really good a matter. Yes, 105 00:07:17.050 --> 00:07:20.089 you get some SEO value out of your podcast, but not very much, 106 00:07:20.529 --> 00:07:27.209 not nearly enough to justify not moving over to a different website. Some strong 107 00:07:27.290 --> 00:07:30.360 thoughts about US CEO and if you disagree with me, if you're an SEO 108 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:34.079 person, come talk to me on Linkedin. I'd love to hear from you 109 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:38.439 and like have it out and if you feel really strongly about it, then 110 00:07:38.439 --> 00:07:41.439 maybe we should just come and have a little debate on my club. I 111 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:44.000 mean it is my club after all. It's let's start a little bit of 112 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:46.870 a fight, you know, it's throw some fists around. I mean metaphorically, 113 00:07:46.990 --> 00:07:51.149 of course, and honestly, we every time I do a debate on 114 00:07:51.230 --> 00:07:55.350 a podcast I find we agree more than we disagree. So but if you 115 00:07:55.470 --> 00:07:57.509 like to, it's always fun to have that kind of an episode, so 116 00:07:57.990 --> 00:08:01.660 contact me. So how do you do this? So you're listening you're like, 117 00:08:01.740 --> 00:08:05.019 okay, Dan, great, let's let's start a website. How would 118 00:08:05.019 --> 00:08:07.379 you exactly would you recommend doing that? Well, let's dive into it. 119 00:08:07.699 --> 00:08:09.899 There's an easy way and there's a harder way. If you want to make 120 00:08:09.939 --> 00:08:13.410 it easy, and this makes it so easy that it's kind of like it's 121 00:08:13.449 --> 00:08:18.529 almost a no brainer to me. Is Use podcast page. Dioh like literally 122 00:08:18.610 --> 00:08:22.089 you could just within like ten minutes, you can have a podcast site. 123 00:08:22.129 --> 00:08:24.449 It upholds the feed and creates the website for you and gives you lots of 124 00:08:24.529 --> 00:08:28.079 little options to be able to change and tweak the website and then it just 125 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:31.120 maintains the website. You pay like a small monthly VIEA. I think it's 126 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:33.120 like ten to fifteen bucks. It's like nothing. And then you can have 127 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:37.919 a full podcast website and you can customize it over time. It literally like 128 00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:41.360 just you put your feed in there, you you tell it where your podcast 129 00:08:41.399 --> 00:08:45.149 is. It even lets you see your whole website designed with all these different 130 00:08:45.149 --> 00:08:48.029 templates and you just pick one and it's off. Often you can publish it 131 00:08:48.149 --> 00:08:50.549 and pay a and Bamp, you have a whole podcast website. Hook it 132 00:08:50.549 --> 00:08:52.870 up to your own domain. That's the easiest way to build a podcast website 133 00:08:54.110 --> 00:08:58.100 and I think you should now. The other way is to do it with 134 00:08:58.179 --> 00:09:05.620 word press, and I recommend using wordpress with specific themes that are designed specifically 135 00:09:05.659 --> 00:09:07.779 for podcasting, not from theme forest, but I actually recommend a company called 136 00:09:07.820 --> 00:09:16.730 second line themes. Second Line themes not only do they build, only build 137 00:09:16.289 --> 00:09:22.049 the themes for podcast, but they actually that's they also have their own custom 138 00:09:22.129 --> 00:09:28.399 plugin called podcast, the impodcast importer plugin. That's literally like is has everything 139 00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:30.919 that I ever would have wanted it to do. Not only does it automatically 140 00:09:30.919 --> 00:09:35.320 import your podcast and keep pulling in new episodes too, published new post automatically, 141 00:09:35.320 --> 00:09:39.350 but it creates a whole taxonomy to manage it in word press. That 142 00:09:39.429 --> 00:09:43.549 just makes it easier to manage your podcast separately from the blood post and to 143 00:09:43.629 --> 00:09:46.509 manage different if you want multiple shows on the website, if you want to 144 00:09:46.549 --> 00:09:48.870 link it to multiple hosts. It just makes it so easy to manage a 145 00:09:48.909 --> 00:09:54.419 podcast via wordpress. I've actually built all of this custom myself for sweetfish before 146 00:09:54.419 --> 00:09:58.139 I was working at sweetfish. sweetfish hired me as a contractor to build them 147 00:09:58.179 --> 00:10:01.100 a website and actually built all of this from Freakin scratch and it was a 148 00:10:01.139 --> 00:10:03.700 pain. It took months to build. Me In a developer worked on it 149 00:10:05.419 --> 00:10:07.250 and coded it and I wish I would have known about second line themes in 150 00:10:07.330 --> 00:10:09.490 this podcast importer, because they just would have liked. Well, it's what 151 00:10:09.649 --> 00:10:13.769 to say, sweetfish a lot of money and I would have been able to 152 00:10:13.769 --> 00:10:16.370 build it with much more ease because they've perfected it and they've done it way 153 00:10:16.409 --> 00:10:20.210 better than I ever could. So with those that a theme from them and 154 00:10:20.330 --> 00:10:22.399 a PODCAST, their podcast importer plug in, which is free like, and 155 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:26.039 they work hand in hand like, it's eas easy to set it up with 156 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:30.159 word press. To It's certainly a lot more steps than podcast page dot ioh 157 00:10:30.679 --> 00:10:35.159 but for someone who's fairly familiar with word press and kind of just used to 158 00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:37.629 working with word press themes and the word press ecosystem, it's it's not that 159 00:10:37.789 --> 00:10:43.789 many steps and you can customize it with their dragon drop page builder and all 160 00:10:43.789 --> 00:10:46.389 that kind of stuff to tweak it to your heart's desire, because word press 161 00:10:46.470 --> 00:10:50.860 is infinitely customizable right and works with lots of other plugins. So those are 162 00:10:50.860 --> 00:10:56.019 the two ways I would recommend building a word word podcast website. At sweetfish 163 00:10:56.059 --> 00:11:00.460 we're actually in the process right now of separating BEDB growth from sweetfish MEDIACOM and 164 00:11:00.539 --> 00:11:03.889 transferring it over to its own website, which will be bedb grows showcom. 165 00:11:05.090 --> 00:11:09.210 So that's coming this quarter so I can actually showcase what it looks like and 166 00:11:09.289 --> 00:11:11.970 we're going to be using wordpress second line themes and a podcast in the podcasting 167 00:11:13.049 --> 00:11:18.169 border plug and to make it work, because it just works and no need 168 00:11:18.250 --> 00:11:20.200 to be stand out with that. I want to stand out with the content, 169 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:24.240 not necessarily like the theme and the the tech behind it. People want 170 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:28.240 to know what people have to say more than they how how it looks, 171 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:35.750 in my opinion. So that's it. Remember, the first rule of my 172 00:11:35.950 --> 00:11:39.669 club is to talk about my club, tell a friend, leave a review 173 00:11:39.789 --> 00:11:43.470 or send me a DM on Linkedin, especially if you want to have that 174 00:11:43.549 --> 00:11:48.340 debate. Find me at Linkedincom Ian Digital Marketing Dan. Connect with me. 175 00:11:48.379 --> 00:11:50.820 I love hearing from you, guys,