I wish I knew these 6 things before I started my video podcast
If you’re like me you probably think that starting a video podcast is easy.
Well, I’m here to tell you that we were wrong.
It isn’t easy.
Now I’ve only released 5 episodes so far, but I can tell you that there are already things that I wish I knew before I started.
So, to help make it much easier for you to start your own video podcast, here are 6 lessons about starting a video podcast that I wish I knew earlier.
Lesson #1: Don’t launch your podcast until you have at least one month’s worth of content ready to post.
At the beginning, I decided that I wanted to release one new podcast episode each week.
I had 4 episodes filmed and launched my podcast with 3 episodes on day 1 and I left one in the backlog, ready to post the next week.
I also had 4 guests scheduled to come and record their episode.
Plenty of time, right? Wrong!
Turns out that soon after launch day one guest cancelled, the others re-scheduled their recording time 1 to 2 months out.
So here I was with a brand-new podcast and I already had to break my weekly release schedule after just the first week.
The point here is that getting your first guests to commit and film is very volatile so having a comfortable cushion of content to help you stay on schedule is important.
That’s why I recommend having at least one month of content in the backlog, ready to go.
And I don’t see that volatility slowing down until I get at least one or two dozen episodes under my belt.
Be consistent. Keep posting. Keep growing my audience. And as the podcast grows it’ll start to get easier and easier to book guests.
Listen, I’m in your shoes right now. I know how hard it is to get guest to come on your show.
It’s pretty intimidating asking strangers to sit down with you and talk for 2 hours.
To help with this, I developed a repeatable strategy that I follow every time I reach out to a potential guest that has gotten me a 73% email response rate.
It’s a simple step by step framework, and if you want get a free copy of it, click here to enter your email and I'll send it to you.
Lesson #2: Give yourself plenty of time to edit each episode
A lot of people think that creating a video podcast is a quick and easy way to produce lots of content for you or your business.
Press record, do the show, post the content.
Unless you and your guests are some kind of Broadway professionals, you’re going to want to do some post production to clean up your recording to make sure you post something that people actually want to watch.
Just think about what you like.
Would you sit through a podcast where the host is struggling for 10 minutes trying to get someone unmuted on zoom?
Or would you listen to two people talking with long, awkward pauses in the middle of each exchange?
No, you wouldn’t.
So don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re special and that people will make an exception with your content, because they won’t.
Don’t be lazy.
Take out those awkward silences. Clean up some of the “ums” and “ahs”. Use creative cuts or zooms to make things flow smoothly.
Learn to properly edit your audio so it sounds pro.
I vastly underestimated the time it would take me to edit each episode which led to some very late nights which just isn’t healthy or sustainable.
It might even take you longer than that if you’re learning new software and you don’t have lots of experience editing.
Give yourself time.
I schedule an editing ratio of 4:1. For every hour of podcast content, I plan to spend 4 hours editing.
And it’s not just about editing the one podcast.
It’s creating clips and shorts from the full episode which you’ll use to market and promote your podcast.
You need these to grow, so take the time to learn the art of editing.
Learn to create content that audiences love to consume and share.
That’s how you’ll grow organically.
It’s what I’m doing, and while I’m not getting millions of views, my shorts have already gotten over 12,000 views, which is slowly helping me create awareness of my podcast.
Lesson #3: Practice improving your interview skills
As I said earlier, I know I’ve only released 5 episodes so far, but I’m already convinced that the key to long term success with podcasting is to be an interesting and engaging person to talk with.
I don’t care how good your video looks or audio sounds, if you’re boring to listen to or you ask dumb questions, your podcast is going to suck.
You have to know how to bring out excitement and energy from your guests, get them comfortable so they feel safe opening up about themselves and their values and you’ll see the quality of your content go through the roof.
I know, it’s easier said than done.
Luckily for me, I’ve had lots of experience with presenting and speaking throughout my career, and those skills have translated well into podcasting.
If you don’t have experience with public speaking, and feel awkward talking with strangers, here are two things you can practice that will help you improve.
I know they work because I do them all the time:
ONE
Record video of yourself talking into the camera for 5 minutes.
Play back that recording and observe how smooth you deliver your lines.
Do you pause too much?
Do you talk too fast or too slow?
Do you vary your speaking cadence?
Do you accentuate important points?
Do you, um, use like, ah filler words?
You’ll be amazed at how quickly you can improve by doing deliberate and focused practice.
TWO
Learn how to listen so you can pull out great questions
If you’re new to podcasting, which you probably are because you’re reading this article, I bet you have a million things going through your mind when you’re in the middle of recording an episode:
- What’s my next question?
- Am I asking good questions?
- How do I sound?
- Is the guest feeling comfortable?
- Am I getting good content?
- Are the cameras recording?
- Is my audio going to fail?
- Did I leave the stove on?
You need to calm your mind and learn to be in the moment.
The conversation will flow if you let it.
Try this.
Pick your favourite podcast and start listening, but I want you to pretend that you are the host.
As the guest is speaking, really listen and think about what question you would them.
Just ask the question out loud, practice delivering your questions as clear and clean as possible.
Lesson #4: Create a welcoming environment
You know what really sucks? When a guest takes the time out of their busy day to come to your studio, they get there and before you get settled down, they ask you for some coffee and you have to say "I’m sorry, I don’t have any coffee".
Now I don’t drink coffee, but you can bet now that before my next guest gets here I’m going to have a coffee maker ready to go.
Did my guest get insulted and leave? No. I’m sure they don’t even remember. But that’s not the point.
We want to treat our guests as superstars because we know how hard it is to get people to say yes, especially as your just starting out.
Now I’m not saying you have to buy fancy expresso machine or order a $300 catering spread. Just have the essentials ready.
Coffee. Tea. Water.
Have some muffins or donuts ready as a snack.
Make sure they know where the bathroom is.
Make sure your space is clean and welcoming.
If you know they love M&Ms, make them a small gift bag of candy to take home.
If you treat them like gold, which they are, they will notice.
Worse case scenario, nothing comes from it.
Best case, they are so impressed they can’t help but share their experience to friends and colleagues, opening up doors for future guests and opportunities.
Lesson #5: Don’t be afraid of silence
I used to put a lot of pressure on myself during interviews to make sure the conversation never stopped.
I did this because I didn’t want to do any edits for fear that if I did then I wouldn’t be “authentic”.
In reality, cutting out some extra spaces of silence because I took a moment to read my notes to get the next question isn’t cutting away authenticity.
Trust me, when filming it’s better to have a few moments of silence while you nail down your next question than it is to find yourself rambling on while you try to find the next question on the fly.
It usually doesn’t end well, so don’t do it.
Take your time, find your question, and remove the dead space in your edit.
You’ll still come across as authentic plus your episode will flow better, giving your audience a great listening experience.
Pretty much every podcast out there except for Joe Rogan are editing their episodes so don’t be afraid to get in there to tighten up your show.
Lesson #6: Be prepared to work hard
Even though I thought it would be easy enough to start a video podcast, I still knew it was going to be a lot of work.
I didn’t know just how hard that work would be.
It is hard work to make sure that:
- Every episode I’m able to give it 100%
- Every episode I improve my skills, even a little, so that I make each episode better than the one before
Even the amount of work preparing and researching for each podcast can be a lot.
I’ve tried preparing by doing an excessive amount of research on a guest.
I’ve tried the opposite of just winging it by not doing any prep work or research at all.
I found that I like something in between.
I like doing some research to know how I generally want the show to flow, but I don’t like to know too much so I can use my curiosity to help me listen and pull out those great, spontaneous questions.
So be prepared to put in the work to develop your own style.
Experiment with different techniques on how you put your episodes together.
Work to find your voice and what works for you.
And in two years, well, I’ll see you at the top of the podcast charts.
Now if you want to know a bit more about the specific things that I’m going to work on to climb to the top of the podcast charts, read this article here.