How to Write Better Podcast Show Notes

Podcast show notes are a great way to highlight the key message in your podcast episodes, entice people to tune in, and help your episodes get discovered by more listeners. So, how can you write the best possible podcast show notes?

 

What to Include in Your Podcast Show Notes

Your show notes will differ depending on the type of show that you do. Not everything talked about here is always necessary, but these should give you some ideas!

Start with a short paragraph or two. If you have a guest on the show, then include a concise biography to introduce them to your listeners. Then, add a brief summary of the episode. It lets your audience know the central themes of the show and the topics you cover. Essentially, you’re letting your listeners know what issue or pain point you and your guest are discussing and why they should listen.

Pull out a key quote. This is ideally something that your guest has said, or if your show is a solo venture, something memorable that illustrates the central pillar of that episode. Make sure the quotes are concise so that you can easily share on all your social media channels.

List the key points of interest in a series of bullet points. This is easily scannable and also optimizes your show notes or search engines.

Add a list of resources mentioned. Whenever anyone mentions a website, blog, podcast or book during the show, list it! Make listeners’ lives easy and drop a link that will take them straight to the material.

Have a call to action. The final section should be a list of ways the listener can connect with your guest and with your show. Add links to your websites and your social media so that it’s easy for the audience to find and follow you.

Once you have written the show notes for a few episodes, you can create a template that makes them quick to write and delivers consistent content for your audience to enjoy.

 

Show Notes vs Transcriptions

If you worried that your show notes aren’t up to scratch, you might want to use an AI transcription service instead. Although going down this road does free up some time, remember that you’ll still have to write a summary, edit, and insert a resource list and links. Unfortunately, a traditionally presented transcript ignores most SEO recommendations, such as external links and inserting images with appropriate alt text. So, this is less likely to get you found by search engines.

 

Outsourcing Your Show Notes

If you’re concerned that writing proper show notes will put too big a dent in your schedule, then there is one more option. You can hire a specialist to write them for you!

There’s much more to podcasting than just the audio content. Without show notes, your podcast can’t be discovered by search engines and passed onto new listeners. Therefore, it’s essential to have quality show notes with each and every episode.

Need help consistently producing your health-focused podcast and saving time? Book your Podcast Vitality Call now!

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