Why Are Podcast Show Notes So Important?

Show notes, show notes, show notes. When you are first starting out as a Podcaster it seems everywhere you turn, people are telling you to have good show notes. Why are show notes so important? There’s much more to podcast show notes, than just organizing your thoughts. It’s not just important to have podcast show notes for your planning and organization, but to publish them as well. Show notes are extremely important to a good podcast in more ways than one.

Content

Podcasts are all about content. Podcasts with quality content are much more successful than podcasts with poor content. On the most basic level, podcast show notes are where you come up with your content. Show notes allow you to organize and evaluate your content. They also give you a place to organize your references, which your listeners will appreciate.

Organization

Podcast show notes allow you to organize the content of your podcast. You can arrange your points, so you have a logical beginning, middle and end, or otherwise fit your style.

Show notes will save you time and also help you manage the length of your podcast. Good show notes will help you stay on track recording your podcast, which will save you lots of time during the editing process. Listeners like when a podcast has some consistency to the length. Podcast show notes will help you to manage your content to make sure you have enough or not too much.

SEO

One of the most important reasons for podcast show notes is for your shows search engine optimization. At this time, search engines can’t search audio, so your show notes are the how search engines will find your podcast. This is extremely important for listeners to be able to find your podcast. If you have the goals of growing your subscribers or monetizing your podcast, it is critical to have podcast show notes which are optimized for SEO.

Greater Detail

You may have a lot of information in your podcast, but you can never have it all. Too much information or detail may bog down your podcast and affect the flow in a negative way. Don’t worry about having too much information, only fill your podcast with the information that fits and flows and put the left-over information into your podcast show notes. Often times you will have so much information, it just isn’t reasonable to cover it all in your recording.

Your podcast show notes will also be your reference list. Listeners will appreciate having access to your sources, so they can dig deeper into the details and double check your facts as well. Having your sources published in your show notes will add credibility to your podcast.

Link Products

Podcast show notes provide a platform for you to link to products. Whether for commercial purposes or just to be helpful you can put links in your show notes to where people can purchase products or read reviews of products you talk about in your podcast. If you talk about an interesting product, book, or service, provide a link to it within your podcast show notes, so your listeners can find those items easily.

Marketing

Use your show notes to market your brand. Post them on your website or social media page and use them to try to get traffic from your podcast. You can also have a newsletter you email your listeners with the show notes. A newsletter is a great marketing tool for creating a bond and interaction with your listeners. Your show notes are a much more valuable tool for building your brand, than your actual podcast.

Why are show notes so important? In short, good show notes are integral to providing a quality podcast, with greater credibility, optimized SEO, and brand building.