3 Milestones For Podcasting Growth (Besides More Downloads)

So podcasting, in the beginning, can be so depressing, especially when you’re seeing nobody listen to your stuff, you’re not getting really engagement or feedback on how your stuff is doing, and it can be discouraging to keep making things or to keep going. But if you have clear milestones and what you’re working towards, it can allow you to get through the hump and push through the part that most people will never really make it through, which is why most podcasts never really grow beyond like 70 downloads per episode or something. 

So the first milestone that I want to share with you is, that when you start your podcast, your first and only goal is to get your first stranger who is outside of friends and family, them listening to your episode and create a pathway for them to connect with you whether it’s reaching out on Instagram signing up for a freebie on your email list, however you like to do things, making sure that you see the evidence of someone enjoying your show, this could also be a review, right? So pointing people to leave a review. 

When you see that it’s not somebody that you actually know, it’s not friends and family. That is usually that high that dopamine hit that you get is usually enough to keep you going for like another 10 months or so because of the big boost of motivation that a stranger can give. Because it validates your idea and what you’re creating. It’s like, oh, somebody who I have no connection to they have no bias or they had no nothing about me. They actually found my stuff somehow over the internet and took the time to reach out and say something like most people who listen to stuff and so it was that we never reach out and thank the person or say something or drop a comment. So when people do it does mean a lot. 

Your second milestone is going to be to set up tracking links and embed your podcast episodes. Everywhere that it makes sense for your business. When you have let’s say 10 episodes, or 25 EPS, or even three episodes, you think where are all the places that I could embed this. So okay, I might have a welcome newsletter that I should set up for people, when they come on to my newsletter, I linked this episode, and I tell them to listen to it, you want to make sure that in your descriptions, you’re linking up the most important call to actions that you want. Setting up tracking links is really hard, I made a video on that make sure to check that out. 

Because if you aren’t tracking that stuff, you have no feedback or way of seeing that what you’re saying someone’s listening to it, and they’re taking action on it. So seeing those link clicks on specific episodes from audio-only is really encouraging part of the second milestone is you starting to see your podcast as not just pointing people to the whole show in general, but seeing each individual episode as an asset. So if somebody’s interested in meal prep, I really want to make that meal prep episode you did front and center for people to listen to, if they are more focused on building out their garage gyms so that they can work out without a gym membership. But giving people very specific episodes that are your top episodes, or ones that you want them to listen to is something that you start to learn in the second milestone as you’re going about embedding your episode and all the possible places that you can. 

Now your third milestone is going to be to get to 100 episodes. So getting to 100 episodes is really important because it builds a catalogue, it builds a portfolio that people can scroll and scan through without even consuming your stuff. What 100 episodes allow you to do is create this bingeable experience that we know in podcasting behavior happens when someone listens to one episode they like of you, they might listen to another five or six over the next couple of days. 

So 100 episodes really build a catalog that is engaging and solves hopefully enough problems. Imagine if each episode solves a problem for your ideal listener, whether it was entertaining them in a certain way, educating them about something or inspiring them about something, you now have created 100 experiences, the adequate glance for your ideal listener, or even somebody that wants to do business with you, they can see and there is asset value to that, let me tell you how you can actually get to 100 without just waiting one episode per week because that is a way to do it. But once you get fluency in your production, consider bumping yourself up to two times a week or doing an extra bonus episode to get your second upload per week periodically. So it doesn’t have to be something you commit to hey, I’m doing a second episode per week now. 

But it’s something that when you have time when you record something extra, you get yourself out there because growing within the medium and deploying the tactics inside of the medium and not just relying on Instagram and all these external things to grow it is the fastest way to do it. So one of the things that you have in your control without going on as a guest on podcasts is you just uploading more frequently. Now, this leads you to the problem of well, it’s already so hard to book guests and get this many people to come on my show. I don’t have another hour to you know have another guest on to do my second upload and that is the exact reason why I recommend solo podcasting is going to be the future and I’m timestamping it right now. And I’m sure I have early.

You’re too, but it is just the way that we are going to start to use the platform, it’s going to become a tool. Right now it has the stereotype of, okay, it’s a conversational interviewing thing, or there are two co-hosts and they shoot the shit. And that’s how their show works. But solo podcasting is becoming more and more popular. It is something that takes a little bit more time to grow. But instead of thinking of it, just as on a solo podcast, I’m doing these monologues. You’re thinking of it as like a phone call with your listener solo podcasting gets you raving, raving fans who are interested in genuinely what you have to say, not just the famous guests that you had on. 

The thing is it’s harder to do. It’s uncomfortable when nobody’s around, and we feel weird doing it, you feel robotic, it can be more boring, right? It’s not as interesting sometimes, but it’s worth investing in that skill. So solo podcasting is the way for you to upload more frequently. The trade-off is that yes, it’s harder to do. It’s awkward, it can be not as good. Sometimes it takes longer to get good at, but it is a skill worth investing in. Because if you can get good at just talking to somebody through the microphone, and connecting with them one on one, like, hey, listeners, welcome to the show, like, Hey, thank you for tuning in and keeping it very like one on one, that solo episode doesn’t have to be another 30 minutes or 60 minutes, it can be 5 10 15 minutes, and it can count as the extra upload for the week. If people don’t even download it, then just seeing your name pop up, is giving kind of this impression of like, oh, you’re always podcasting, you’re always releasing episodes. 

Your show is good. I got to check it out sometime. And people who are kind of on the fence or casually listening will just admire that you are constantly publishing the solution for making an interesting solo podcast is to answer specific questions the listener asked you a question, how would you actually answer it? That’s one way or it’s to tell a story, right? So recall a time that tells a story about the point that you’re trying to display. Let’s use the meal prep thing as an example, again, if you are trying to talk about how your prep has actually helped you and what the change was like at the beginning, or how you didn’t like to meal prep. 

And now you do so what happened in between there, you walking somebody through your personal experience of that is what’s going to make that meal prep episode different than the 100 other people out there that are doing that the thing that all three of these milestones actually do a pretty decent job of is allowing you to focus on the process. I know if some of those were outcome-oriented, like get to 100 episodes, get to this many reviews, you won’t get people who are fans of your show enough to actually review it. If you don’t keep publishing that catalog of 100 won’t build if you don’t hit publish. 

So the common denominator between all of these milestones allows you to focus on the one thing that is really most important, which is actually recording and publishing. So I hope this was useful to help you kind of add some structure to your goals in podcasting. If you have any questions on any of these milestones, make sure to drop a comment I would love to hear from you. And if you enjoyed this video, definitely check out some of these or save them for later because I have a feeling you’ll like them too.