When to 'launch' a podcast
I've read different opinions on when to 'launch' a podcast - by 'launch', I mean actually submitting it to iTunes / other podcast directories.
My podcast is for non-native English speakers, and at the moment the content is just hosted on the website (leonardoenglish.com), complete with key vocabulary & transcripts.
It's still very early days, but I'm seeing some positive results with people listening directly on the site (albeit with minimal traffic). HOwever, I know that not listing it in places like iTunes, and expecting everyone to listen on the website just means I'm closing off a potential source of traffic.
I'm planning to use Transistor (https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/118-justin-jackson-of-transistor) to host and distribute, but my question is about when to actually do this.
- Do it now, as iTunes have deprioritised the 'new and noteworthy' section, and this doesn't even matter that much.
OR
- Wait until I have a bigger audience, so that I can guarantee downloads / reviews in the first X hours/days.
Any tips or tricks would be most gratefully received.
This is a good question, @ambudge!
Increasingly, "New and Noteworthy" isn't based as much on reviews. Nowadays, our understanding is that it's the number of listens/downloads and subscribes that influence those charts. Apple also exercises some editorial control over that, and will sometimes manually promote shows here.
At Transistor, I get a bird's eye view of which new shows perform well. One trend: podcasts that rank well for search terms in their title. For example, having "language learning podcast" in the title of your show, increases the likelihood that folks searching Google, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify will find your podcast.
According to Edison Research, this is how folks find new podcasts to listen to:
I spoke about this in my PodSummit talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHWpqov1Rvk
Great, thanks @mijustin, that's really useful.
So key takeaways are:
Will let you know how it goes :)