How Often Do I Need to Publish Podcast Episodes to Gain a Following?
How often should you release podcast episodes? Weekly? Bi-Weekly? Daily? Does it matter? I break it down on Podcasting Step by Step.
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How many hours a week do you have available to podcast?
Typically it takes four times to edit a podcast than it does to record. If you do an hour-long interview format, it might take four times that to clean up your audio and assemble it into a listenable show, and this doesn’t include pre-interview work, or post-publish promotion.
If you want to do interviews, but cut down on editing, you could shorten the interview time to 30 minutes, consider having a bi-weekly show, or hire an editor.
What’s your level of expertise for on your subject?
If you’re a subject-matter expert and are using your podcast to promote your business, solo shows are a great option to build your credibility.
Because you already know your stuff, that means less prep time for you. You can outline your episode and then work off of that rather than researching and scripting everything.
You definitely don’t need to be an expert on your podcast theme, but you’ll need to build in extra research time for your episodes if not.
How much money are you willing to spend for help with audio editing and other podcast-related services?
A good podcast editor will cost between $75-$200 per episode, though you might be able to find someone cheaper who is just starting out. When it comes to audio quality, you get what you pay for.
Also consider…
Will you publish in seasons, that is publish a certain amount of episodes and then take a break, or publish continuously?
What format and frequency would your ideal listener prefer based on what’s going on in their life? A busy mom might want 5-minute sparks of inspiration rather than an hour-long interview.
OK, after saying all that you might be thinking, “Sarah, just tell me how often to publish.”
Publishing weekly is a good cadence to build a relationship with your audience. But you need to be realistic about the time it takes to podcast and think about the questions I just mentioned.
Daily podcasts are a lot of work, and quite frankly, unless you’re a news podcast, people aren’t looking for that much content. It’s overload. I unsubscribe from podcasts when they become too frequent. Is your ideal listener the same?
Publishing every other week is still enough to stay in people’s minds and keep them excited for the next show.
Unless you have an existing audience, going monthly puts you at risk of falling off of people’s radars when you’re starting out.
Having said that, there are people who never publish anything at all and they are still getting thousands of downloads. Why? Because we’re building an archive of evergreen content that people will discover for years to come. People will still discover you even when you decide to end your show, which is very powerful.
Are you about to launch your podcast and are looking for a media host? Buzzsprout is my top recommendation. As a listener to Podcasting Step by Step, you can try it for free and get a $20 Amazon gift card if you sign up for a paid plan using my partner link.