In summer 2021, iOS 14.5 introduced a major change to Apple Podcasts with implications many podcasters may still not realize. With that update, your audience on Apple Podcasts is no longer getting your podcast directly from your RSS feed, but from a proxy. And that has some potentially bad implications!
The post How Proxies and iOS 14.5 Affect Your Podcast first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

How Proxies and iOS 14.5 Affect Your Podcast

Giving you the guts and teaching you the tools to start and grow your own podcast for passion or PROFIT!

Technology

Tech News

Podcasting

Gadgets

Software How-To

Education

Training

Language Courses

Higher Education

K-12

Educational Technology

Business

Investing

Careers

Management & Marketing

Business News

Shopping

Marketing

How To

Redirects come in multiple types. When misused, they can cause some major problems, as even happened to me recently. Here are some warnings to watch for whenever you use redirects.



Check out my past episode and article, “Redirects and How to Use Them in Podcasting” to learn more about how redirects work and the different options there are.



(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through some—but not all—of the following links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)



Caution #1: 301 redirects are “permanent” and cached



In podcasting, we throw around the term “301 redirect” or “permanent redirect” often without realizing what that actually means: it is (or at least it's assumed to be) permanent!



I often use the physical mail or US Post Office metaphor when explaining redirects. Think of a permanent redirect as a “change of address” notice sent back to everyone who mails you something.



A 301 redirect is permanent and is essentially telling apps, “This thing has moved to over there. Please stop looking here and always look there instead. So don't look at me again.”



This is great when you actually made a permanent move—or at least intend for it to be permanent. Like when you permanently move homes and change your address!



But if you ever change your mind or—even worse—make a mistake in the redirect, that redirect will be followed and the old URL will stop being checked. So if you make a “/feedback” page that 301-permanently redirects somewhere else, then even if you change where “/feedback” goes, any app that previously loaded “/feedback” will bypass it altogether and go straight to the destination it has saved in its cache.



That cache is sometimes cleared, but you should assume it never will be! (However, this doesn't apply for anyone visiting your redirect for the first time.)



So if you get your 301 permanent redirect wrong and you don't fix it immediately—like within a few minutes—the best thing to do is to also redirect that incorrect destination to the correct one. And, unfortunately, that's not always possible. Thus, I recommend that, if possible, you make your redirect a 307 or 302 temporary redirect first, test it over a few days, and then change it to a 301 permanent redirect.



Caution #2: Your redirect destinations might change or disappear



Contrary to the Stanley cup craze of spring 2024, my favorite water thermos has been a Contigo Ashland Chill Autospout Water Bottle with Flip Straw, Stainless Steel Thermal Drinking Bottle,Leakproof,Grey, BLue, 590 ml (I earn from qualifying purchases through that link) that I've had since 2019. But I recently lost it—I think at a mall while my son and I were waiting for my broken-down car to be towed.



I thought I could simply re-order it for close to the original $10 price I paid, but no! That specific bottle has a new version I don't like as much, and the original bottle was listed for $45 when I needed it!



Here's what makes this relevant to redirects. The first place I went to re-order that water bottle was my Amazon order history. When I clicked on the product link, my heart was initially crushed because Contigo Autospout Straw Ashland Chill Vacuum-Insulated Stainless Steel Water Bottle, 20 oz., Monaco says, “Currently unavailable”!



Imagine if I had redirected to that product page with a 301 permanent redirect! Anyone clicking through my link might have their hopes dashed just like I did!



This is why I highly recommend that any redirect to any URL you don't control should be a 307 temporary redirect (a 302 redirect is also temporary and works fine, but use a 307 if you have the choice). If I had been smartly promoting that water bottle with something like a “/waterbottle” redirect, I could easily change its destination when the product URL changes, or point back to a page on my own site with a note about the product.



That's easy to do with temporary redirects because they don't get cached. So even if you used my redirect yesterday, then I changed it last night, and you use the same redirect URL today, you would be taken to the correct destination.



I love that Pretty Links Pro has recently added a new feature to monitor all the redirects you create and alert you when any of them point to a broken URL! And that could be really important for both your audience and any kind of affiliate income you hoped to make.



Caution #3: Most redirects bypass content



This is both a caution and a blessing. However your redirect is placed (and I'm not referring to the  RSS tag), the redirect will be followed before any of that URL's content is loaded.



So if you redirect an old podcast RSS feed URL to a new one, anything you put in that old feed will be completely ignored.



That's a caution because it means your audience won't get anything you put in that feed, especially not any announcement of the feed change (if that's even necessary). This is why you should put the  tag in your new feed if you ever change podcast feed URLs. And yes, the tag should actually point to itself as a sort of confirmation that this feed is the new feed URL. 



But it's also a blessing because it means you don't actually need an RSS feed to exist at that address once you're redirecting it. In fact, you can have nothing at that address except the redirect! (That's how nearly all redirection tools do it. You don't have to create pages or posts to redirect, you simply create the redirect.)



So if you want or need to give some information before the redirect, then create a page at that URL you share, and then have the redirect linked from the page.



For example, that's what I've been building for a lot of podcasting tools I frequently recommend. Consider Captivate, for example. If you visit theaudacitytopodcast.com/captivate, you're no longer immediately redirected to Captivate, but you instead land on my page that briefly explains why I recommend Captivate. And then you can click on the button to use my affiliate link to visit Captivate. Fun fact: that button is still a redirect: theaudacitytopodcast.com/go/captivate



Caution #4: You might someday rename your redirect



I've previously shared why you should stop saying brand names in your podcast, unless absolutely necessary. Maybe you heard or read that and decided to change your “/patreon” redirecting URL to a generic “/support” URL (or you had a similar situation).



While that's great that you did that, it still breaks all your past calls to action that used the “/patreon” URL!



For this reason, if you ever want to someday rename your redirect—regardless of whether you've only typed it in your notes or you've also spoken it in your podcast—I recommend that you make a new redirect and point both the new and old redirects to the correct location (and take this chance to ensure they're both 307 or 302 temporary redirects!).



Alternatively, you could actually point one redirect to the other. So instead of always having to change the destination for multiple redirects, you only change the last one. But just don't get crazy with this! I recommend making no more than 2 layers of a redirect. So that could look like this:



“/patreon” (original URL) ➜ “/support” new URL ➜ “final” destination



I put “final” in quotation marks, because it's possible even that URL gets redirected, as happens with many affiliate URLs that bounce through multiple trackers before landing on the actual final destination. 



Caution #5: Correcting URLs you said in old episodes is practically impossible



If you do rename a redirect, like switching from “/patreon” to “/support,” don't even think about editing the audio or video with all your past calls to action!



This is why it's important to get it right in the first place and make a future-friendly generic URL you can change whenever you want without breaking past calls to action.



But if you didn't plan ahead like that (and I've made that mistake countless times, too!), make sure all your old calls to action still work. That could be either with a redirect, or a note and the correct link on the resulting destination. So even if you said a “patreon.com” URL in your podcast, you might be able to leave that page up but with a prominent note that your support options have moved and with a link to that new location. (But make sure that link is also a redirect, in case you ever change things again!)



Caution #6: Reusing things you redirected from is a bad idea (my 2024 redirect mistake)



I need to illustrate this point with a story from my own recent mistake.



Several years ago, Blubrry launched Podcast Mirror, a free and much better podcast-focused alternative to FeedBurner.



But with all the features coming from Podcasting 2.0, and the dragging feet of many outdated podcasting tools and hosting providers, Blubrry decided to add more features to Podcast Mirror, which could let you add Podcasting 2.0 features to a feed that didn't already have them. Just like how Feedburner could be used to turn a normal blog feed into a valid podcast feed. (Funny side note: I was actually thinking of launching my own service like this as soon as I learned about Podcasting 2.0, and I even registered a great domain for it, but I never got around to building that product.)



These upgrades were great, but it also meant that Blubrry would stop offering a basic Podcast Mirror service for free—not even their plain feed mirror service. This upgrade to Podcast Mirror went into effect during my few-month podcast hiatus while I doubled down on launching Podgagement in the second half of 2023. So when I published a new episode in January 2024—NEWSFLASH—my feed wouldn't update anymore because I hadn't upgraded to a paid Podcast Mirror subscription! (To be blunt, I think this was a horrible betrayal of trust from Blubrry. But at least all podcasters could easily redirect away from Podcast Mirror.) 



Having a tight cashflow, I decided to redirect my Podcast Mirror feed to a FeedBurner feed—doing nothing but simply mirroring or “proxying” my feed for performance reasons. But I very quickly discovered that FeedBurner no longer offers a ping service or a manual refresh button, leaving me with no way to trigger an update of my RSS feed. Consequently, my episodes were not going out to podcast apps for several hours!



Crazy me—I decided to try building my own feed proxy service. But after more than 4 hours into it, I realized I'd wasted more time (and “time is money”) trying to “DIY” it and thus lost more potential income than if I'd just paid the reasonable yearly fee Blubrry now charges for Podcast Mirror!



So I emailed Blubrry on my digital hands and knees, begging them to take me back. We worked out a deal and I'm back on Podcast Mirror now. Hooray!



But here was my big mistake: I insisted on having my original feed URL again.



Why was that bad? Because here's what the 301 permanent redirects looked like:



Podcast Mirror ➜ FeedBurner ➜ Podcast Mirror (same URL).



Do you see the problem? If anything had cached Podcast Mirror's 301 redirect on my feed, it would enter what's called a “redirect loop.” I suspect that is why I saw a big drop in downloads per episode after I changed the redirect. (And this was in February 2024, so it had nothing to do with the over-hyped iOS 17 update!)



I actually made it even a little worse by momentarily redirecting to my PowerPress feed—but a URL that bypasses any redirects from PowerPress. And this made it difficult to actually re-redirect when I wanted to!



In all of this, my feed URL didn't actually matter. Do you even know what my podcast feed URL is? I could have easily added a “2” or “-audio” or anything else to the URL when I rejoined Podcast Mirror and it would have been fine.



So the moral of this long story is that if you ever think you should redirect back to something that was already 301-permanently redirecting, DON'T! Instead, make a new URL as your final destination.



Quick resources for making redirects



I want to end this with a couple of tips for making redirects that won't cause problems in the future.



301 permanent versus 307/302 temporary



With these cautions in mind, my general advice is to choose 307 (or 302) temporary redirects for any destination you don't control. Start with affiliate links, your donation or membership page, your online community, and such.



And for any destination you do control, or you are absolutely certain will not change in the foreseeable future, you can use a 301 permanent redirect.



WordPress plugins for making redirects



If you're looking to make redirects on WordPress, my favorite plugins are Pretty Links Pro and Redirection. I actually use both of them!



Pretty Links Pro (paid) is much easier to use and has a lot of helpful feature, like automatic keyword-linking, shorter link-creation workflows for pages and posts, smart redirects, and more.



The Redirection plugin (free) is more advanced, even allowing regular expressions. And, maybe the handiest feature here, is that you can enable it to monitor your pages and posts to redirect any of those URLs you change. For example, many of my old episode webpages still include the “tap###” code I used to use in my titles. I've already removed those from the titles, but if I change those URLs, the Redirection plugin would automatically redirect that webpage's old URL to the new one.



Other ways to make redirects



If you're not using WordPress, or you want to manage your redirects away from WordPress, look at what your domain or website tools offer, or consider Cloudflare's options.



Some podcast-hosting providers or easier website-builders (such as Podpage) offer their own redirects you can create and manage within your dashboard. This would work from only the domain you set to work with that website.



The options from your domain registrar, your hosting provider, or Cloudflare generally all work before loading anything from your website. So the redirects might continue to function even if your website is down. And these can work without any website at all.



Lastly, there are plenty of third-party URL-shorteners and redirect tools you can use, but some might charge if you want to customize the URL or use your own domain. And even if you can use your own domain, it usually has to be a subdomain or a completely different domain from your normal website.



Please click here to learn more about redirects and how to use them!



Community corner




7,777§ boostagram from Steve Webb on “11 Tips for Sharing URLs in Your Podcast,” saying, “Another great episode with useful, actionable content. Thanks Daniel!”



1,000§ boostagram from Andy Lehman on “11 Tips for Sharing URLs in Your Podcast,” saying, “I tried clicking on your links for this episode in the chapters and it crashed Castamatic. I wonder if it has to do with the anchors.”



Streaming sats from Dave Jackson, Guy Martin (Dwev), and Bryan Entzminger




Engage your audience and grow your podcast!



Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?



Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!



Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more! 



Ask your questions or share your feedback



Comment on the show notesLeave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)



Follow The Audacity to Podcast




Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.



Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast



Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter




Disclosure



This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates. The post 6 Cautions When Using Redirects in Podcasting (plus best practices) first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

6 Cautions When Using Redirects in Podcasting (plus best practices)

There comes a point in every podcast when it's necessary to say a URL. If for nothing else, at least your podcast's own home on the Internet. (And you should have a domain for your podcast!)



Beyond your podcast website, you might also want to share affiliate links, resources, episode notes, past episodes, sponsors, and more.



Here are 11 tips for how to share URLs effectively in your podcast. 



(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through some of these following links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)



1. Speak as few URLs as possible (per episode)



Every URL is essentially a call to action. That could be where to follow you on social networks, the episode's webpage, your support page, where to send feedback, and much more.



And calls to action are most effective when there are very few of them, but they are reinforced multiple times. This is why you'll hear most ads give the call to action (like visiting a website) at least 3 times.



That's a good practice for your podcast, too. But with all the URLs you might want to share, you'll start overwhelming your audience and making each URL less memorable.



For this reason, I recommend that you say as few URLs as possible—maybe only one!



But don't make it the same URL across all your episodes! For example, if I kept telling you to get the links for this episode at “TheAudacitytoPodcast.com,” that works best only when this is my latest episode. But the more episodes I publish, the more this episode gets shifted down my website's front page, and eventually pushed off the front page.



Thus, I recommend having a unique URL for each episode that will always take your audience to the correct information—whether they listen immediately or 5 years later. This is easy to do on WordPress with my favorite plugin Pretty Links Pro.



2. Defer to your chapters or episode notes



If you follow tip #1, then your single URL should be your episode webpage. There, you can include all the things you want your audience to get or see: images, videos, links, buttons, and more.



Make sure this stuff—at least the links—appear in your episode notes within the podcast apps, too! Because many publishing tools and podcast apps follow different standards, the best thing to do would be to ask the maker of your publishing tool how to ensure your links show in your top podcast apps, and they can give you the right guidance for your situation. But the most universal case is—unfortunately—that a full, ugly URL, like “https://theaudacitytopodcast.com” will work more often than an HTML hyperlink, like The Audacity to Podcast.



Check out Knick Knack News for a great example of actionable episode notes (it's also a really fun podcast I highly recommend!). Their notes are not effective for SEO, but they are excellent for engagement inside the podcast apps! The hosts of that fun show, Alex and Anthony, often share things you will want to see or read for yourself. And they do that in very simple and actionable ways in their notes. Here's an example from an episode:




Anthony's Stories This Week:



Ketchup: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231105470473/en/It%E2%80%99s-a-Big-Dill-HEINZ-To-Launch-New-Pickle-Ketchup-Nationwide



Ice Cream: https://www.mensjournal.com/news/baskin-robbins-thanksgiving-dinner-ice-cream-flavor



Alex's Stories This Week:



Beard: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2023/11/09/Guinness-World-Records-David-Rush-Amazing-Race-chopsticks-beard/5131699551869/



Zelda: https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/7/23951339/the-legend-of-zelda-movie-live-action-nintendo
“What exactly IS pickle ketchup? Plus, how many chopsticks can you fit in a beard?” Knick Knack News



If you're listening along to their podcast, then these simple notes will make total sense to you and the notes don't get in the way of what you want.



Depending on how you're communicating around the URL(s) you want to share, you might also want to use chapters.



Both legacy chapters embedded in your MP3 files and Podcasting 2.0 chapters in a separate episode metadata file (in JSON format) support adding a single URL link per chapter.



In Knick Knack News, Alex and Anthony spend several minutes on each story, so each story would be perfect as a single chapter. And then they could add the relevant URL to each chapter.



But this gets complicated when you have multiple URLs within a single context. For example, if I share a list of my favorite podcast-hosting providers (currently Captivate, Buzzsprout, and Blubrry), I can't add multiple URLs to the same chapter.



So this is where you would want to defer that list of links to your episode notes.



However, I'm pushing hard for Podcasting 2.0 to turn our current podcast chapters into “super chapters” (a term coined by Dovydas from RSSBlue.com), allowing you to use a single chapter to display rich content, including but not limited to a gallery of images, a block of text, a numbered or unnumbered list, videos, and even multiple links for a single chapter. Then, I could make a chapter simply for “My favorite podcast-hosting providers” and that one chapter can link to the multiple options.



However, I urge you to maintain “backwards compatibility,” and that's where your episode webpage comes in.



If you're worried about your audience getting lost in a long episode webpage, you could actually link your chapters to specific sections of your page by adding an “anchor” or ID to each heading in your notes, and then link each chapter to that anchor in the URL. For example, https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/sharingurls#2 links to this section. In fact, each chapter of this episode links directly to its section in my notes. Try it!



3. Never say “https://” or “www.”



It's not the '90s anymore. It has been literally decades since anyone needed to type “http://” or “https://” in their browser.



Also, most websites don't use “www.” at all in their domain anymore. Or if they do (like YouTube still does), you can usually still get to the correct place without including the “www.” (Which, by the way, has to be the worst abbreviation because saying “W W W” is actually more syllables than what's it's an abbreviation for: “world wide web”!)



But you must test this first! I have run into a couple of badly configured sites that needed the “www.” because they weren't even forwarding their domain without the “www.”!



If I hear you say, “www.theaudacitytopodcast.com,” I won't come after you, but don't be surprised if poetic justice comes after you by making your neighbor mow his yard right when you want to record your podcast!



4. Simplify your URLs



If you do speak a URL in your podcast, make it as simple as possible!



I remember a commercial many years ago from Epson—you know, one of the biggest printer manufacturers who should have known better? The only thing I remember about their commercial was because I—as a teenager—recognized how bad their call to action was. I think the URL they spoke was “www.epson.com/what-if-you-could.” And yes, they actually said “dash” for every one!



Don't do that!



I highly recommend that any URL you speak should reinforce your brand. So make it a “/keyword” URL on your own domain. Consider the speakable URL for this very episode: “theaudacitytopodcast.com/sharingurls.”



This also goes for external resources, too. Instead of sending people to “patreon.com/[your podcast slug],” send them to a “/patreon” 307 or 302 temporary redirect on your own domain. Or even better, remove the third-party brand name completely and make it a generic URL like “/support” or something meaningful to your audience!



This not only reinforces your brand, but it also makes your calls to action future-proof because you can redirect that URL whenever you want (especially if it's a temporary redirect) and to wherever you want, even to a completely different brand! Like what if you wanted to stop using Patreon and switch to a membership on your own site?



5. Make friendly URLs that make sense



Whether you're sending your audience to your episode webpage, an affiliate product, or somewhere else, ensure the URL makes sense for that thing.



This is part of why I stopped using episode-number URLs for my own podcast a long time ago. Firstly, I realized that my episode numbers didn't actually matter; and secondly, even I was having a hard time remembering which numbers went with which episodes, so I could assume my audience would have an even harder time.



Now, I create redirecting short episode URLs match the content of my episode by making them keyword-focused, like how this episode's URL is “theaudacitytopodcast.com/sharingurls” instead of “theaudacitytopodcast.com/391” (which is the pointless number of this episode).



This is easy to do with Pretty Links Pro! You can make as many temporary and permanent redirects as you want and all using your own WordPress-powered website! Even many third-party website providers (like Podpage or Captivate) let you make such redirects. But what I like about Pretty Links Pro (and specifically the paid version) is that I can create the “pretty link” right in my post or page editor, so it goes live when I publish, reducing how many things I need to do outside of the post or page editor.



6. Say “slash” not “forward slash” or “backslash”



You can call this a pet peeve if you want, but it's simply a “slash,” not a “forward slash.”



“Forward slash” is redundant, like “PIN number,” “ATM machine,” and “please RSVP.”



And it's definitely not a backslash (“\”), either!



7. Slow down and speak clearly



Even though URLs don't have spaces, that doesn't mean you should speak like they don't have spaces!



It can be okay to say your own URL faster when it exactly matches your brand that you've already said several times in your podcast. For example, the website for The Audacity to Podcast is—duh—theaudacitytopodcast.com!



But when speaking any different URL, or especially if speaking that URL in front of a new audience, make sure you say it slowly and clearly enough so they can know what you said.



Check your podcast transcripts, too. This can be a good indicator of whether you're speaking the URL clearly and slowly enough. (And also remember to fix any incorrect URLs in your transcripts!)



8. Clarify or avoid ambiguity



There's the chance that you'll run into some confusion with any URLs you speak. For example, does your domain have the preposition “for,” the spelled number “four,” the numeral “4,” or something crazy like the roman numeral “IV”?



An interesting corporate example of this failure is Fifth Third Bank. Ironically for a bank, the secure URL “https://fifththird.com” doesn't actually work, but “http://fifththird.com” and “https://www.fifththird.com” do. However, the actual website (and redirection destination) is “https://www.53.com.”



And I hope no one types “5th3rd.com” into their browser, because that's a completely different website (“Online since 2000”).



There are three different ways you could avoid sending people to the wrong URL:




Clarify any ambiguity, such as by spelling it when the context doesn't make it obvious. For example, I hear Clinton say this all the time: “Comedy4Cast.com—that's the number 4.”



Create fallbacks to handle other versions—yes, I have “theaudacity2podcast.com”!



Or avoid the ambiguity altogether—such as avoiding any single-digit numbers or ambiguously spelled words like “gray” and “grey.”




9. Be careful with top-level domains that aren't .com



A “top-level domain” or “TLD” is the “.com” part of the domain. You probably also know “.org,” “.net,” “.edu,” and “.gov.” But there are hundreds more! Some of them are full words, like “.photography”!



While it can be fun to have one of these modern TLDs, they might be expensive. And they might be confusing to non-savvy Internet users who probably assume a “.com” for everything (and also probably enter all their URLs into Google!).



Consider That Story Show for example. They have both “thatstoryshow.com” and “thatstory.show.” The host, James Kennison, now speaks the “.show” domain more often, but he still has and uses the longer “.com” version.



The more creative you get, the more it will cost you in both the domain itself and likely how many alternatives you might have to grab to ensure anyone who mishears you still gets to the right website—and it doesn't get stolen and used for malicious purposes!



10. Beware case-sensitivity



Case-sensitivity is still weird on the Internet. It really depends on the server configuration running the website.



When I started my first website, I specifically wanted a Windows server, instead of a Linux server, because I didn't want to mess with capitalization issues that I knew Linux can have!



Domains and subdomains are case-insensitive. So “TheAudacitytoPodcast.com” is handled the same as “theAUDACITYtopodcast.COM.” But anything after the domain could be case-sensitive in a URL. For example, capitalization matters with Bit.ly links, and it matters on some other website servers and hosting configurations, too.



11. Always test your URLs before you share them



Lastly, always ensure any URL you're going to share actually works! Type it with the “www.” and without. Make sure your redirects are functioning. And if your friendly URLs aren't activated until publishing (like all of my “/keyword” URLs from Pretty Links Pro for my podcast episodes), make sure you test the link after publishing your episodes!



Community corner








5-star review for “11 Warnings about Using AI in Content-Creation (including podcasting)” by Rich Bennett from April 19, 2024 on Goodpods: “Thanks for another informative episode Daniel”



1,000§ from Dwev saying, “Yep, you’re pronouncing it perfectly! Thanks Daniel!”



Streamed satoshis from Bryan Entzminger, Dave Jackson, Dwev, and newcomer “garduss”




Engage your audience and grow your podcast!



Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?



Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!



Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more! 



Ask your questions or share your feedback



Comment on the show notesLeave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)



Follow The Audacity to Podcast




Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.



Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast



Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter




Disclosure



This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates. The post 11 Tips for Sharing URLs in Your Podcast first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

11 Tips for Sharing URLs in Your Podcast

11 Warnings about Using AI in Content-Creation (including podcasting)

Inside jokes can offer fun potential for your podcast, but also some potential costs. Here are some brief things for you to consider as you engage with your podcast audience.



In my signature fashion, I started preparing a whole list of pros and cons, and some big thinking on inside jokes.



But it's really not that complicated!



An inside joke is some form of callback, trope, catchphrase, or similar that only those “in the know” will get and enjoy. Because of this, inside jokes can be hilarious, but only for those who get them. Inside jokes can be a sort of reward your loyal audience, but alienate your new audience.



I've heard some people advise against inside jokes exactly because your new audience won't get them. But that seems overly focused on the new audience and at the cost of engaging your existing audience and making them feel special.



I think it really comes down to this simple guidance: avoid inside jokes with your cohosts and guests, but embrace inside jokes with your audience.



Where inside jokes come from



First, some examples of inside jokes I've heard from podcasts:




“Lemons, lemons” from That Story Show



“Hit in the mouth” from No Agenda



“KEDAKAI!” from Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend



“Super easy; barely an inconvenience” from Pitch Meeting (series on YouTube, so it is not a podcast!)



“Mail Kimp” from Serial (first season)




If you've been a loyal follower of any of these shows, then you probably know exactly what these jokes are about, or at least can laugh at them.



So where do these come from?



Some jokes will arise naturally as your audience essentially feeds their growth. That's what I've seen with inside jokes from That Story Show, No Agenda, and Serial. While other things become inside jokes because of how often the host(s) use them, such as the examples from Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend and Pitch Meeting.



It's the audience-feed jokes that I think you should work more to embrace because they will more deeply reward and engage your audience.



What about the new listeners?



There are three approaches I've seen and experienced with podcasts regarding inside jokes:




Letting your podcast audience eventually catch on with your inside jokes (even if they might not know their origins).



Occasionally explaining or pointing to the origins.



Making a glossary of inside jokes—this could even be a supporter-exclusive or email opt-in incentive.




Your goal should be to both engage your existing audience and make them feel special and to create an environment welcoming to your new audience. This comes from having a good balance so that your podcast is not overfilled with inside jokes, but it does mature with loyalty.



Think of inside jokes like extra seasonings for a meal. They can add something special, and especially be appreciated by your “insiders,” and celebrated when your new audience gets in on the jokes.



And I think there is something special, like a sort of “leveling up,” when your audience becomes familiar with your tropes, catchphrases, and inside jokes. Then, they'll feel like one of the “cool kids” when they can throw around the inside jokes, too. And that's a precious moment for them!



Turn inside jokes into swag



When your audience starts using your inside jokes too, or further feeding them, that's a great time to turn those jokes into swag you can sell or giveaway. Consider putting them on T-shirts, posters, stickers, and more (like That Story Show does with several of their inside jokes). If you want to be on the cutting edge about it, maybe you could even turn those inside jokes into NFTs!



Community Corner




Thanks for the streaming satoshis from Dwev, Dave Jackson, and Bryan Entzminger!



5-star review by John Moore from June 14, 2021 on Podchaser: “I’ve listen to just about every episode of this show over the last year. Excellent content and advice. I particularly like his SEO episodes.” There will be more podcast SEO content in the future!




Engage your audience and grow your podcast!



Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?



Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!



Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more! 



Ask your questions or share your feedback



Comment on the show notesLeave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)



Follow The Audacity to Podcast




Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.



Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast



Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter




Disclosure



This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates. The post Should Your Podcast Have Inside Jokes? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Should Your Podcast Have Inside Jokes?

Monetization is not the only profit you can get from podcasting! And you shouldn't be the only one to profit, either! Nonetheless, here is why I think you should put P.R.O.F.I.T. first in every aspect of your podcast.



The order of podcasting cornerstones



Before we focus on podcasting P.R.O.F.I.T., I want to revisit how I've taught the 5 podcasting cornerstones for several years:




Content—What your podcast is about



Presentation—How you share your content



Production—The technical side to reduce distractions and increase understanding



Promotion—How you market and grow your podcast



P.R.O.F.I.T.—How you and your audience benefit from your podcast.




Despite the fact that these cornerstones have always had an alliteration problem with no suitable solution, I realized it had an even bigger problem while I was preparing to teach podcasting at the National Religious Broadcasters convention. The problem was the order: P.R.O.F.I.T. should not be last! It should actually be first!



But stick with me and don't click away because you think this doesn't apply to you! Before I can explain why P.R.O.F.I.T. should be first, I want you to understand what it is, and why I keep writing it like an over-obvious acronym (it's actually an acrostic).



The Podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm™



Several years ago, I was inspired by a typo I let go to press in an advertisement for my now temporarily retired Podcaster's Society™. As a result of that typo, I wanted profit to stand for something! Not only in the metaphorical sense, but also literally as an acrostic. 



Now, it's my Podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm, which is a list of whys you can benefit from your podcast:




Popularity—growing a following, being an influencer, becoming known



Relationships—gaining friendships, building community, and finding your “tribe”



Opportunities—opening doors for things like public speaking, travel, testing products before they're released, and such



Fun—simply having a good time, with or without laughter



Income—yes, earning money!



Tangibles—getting things you get to use or keep, which is especially profitable when they're relevant to your podcast topic!




While most people think “profit” means “money,” I challenge you to change your thinking and look at the much bigger ways you can profit from your podcast—especially if you don't even want to monetize your podcast.



The other paradigm shift is that your podcast should not only give you P.R.O.F.I.T., but also offer it to your audience! I'll explain that more in a moment.



P.R.O.F.I.T. is for all podcasters, not only professionals



Lest you think P.R.O.F.I.T. is only for people who podcast for business purposes or to try earning a living, money is only one part of the Podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm: the I for income. The other ways could complement income, but there's nothing wrong with podcasting simply for the fun of it!



When I hosted a clean-comedy podcast, the P.R.O.F.I.T. we were after was primarily to laugh and help others laugh, too! Along the way, we also formed relationships, were given fun tangibles from our audience, and we even made a little money on the side.



And if you are podcasting to build a business, don't neglect the other aspects of P.R.O.F.I.T.! It's okay to have fun with professional subjects! And always look for ways to position yourself for opportunities and more! 



Your podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. should power your decisions



Why should P.R.O.F.I.T. come first? Because it's actually more important than your content. Consider the cornerstones in this way:




Content is what attracts an audience



Presentation is what keeps the audience



Production is what makes your podcast stick



Promotion is what brings an audience to you



P.R.O.F.I.T. is the impact your podcast makes




Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. And “why” is another way to think of P.R.O.F.I.T. with these two questions:




Why are you doing this podcast?



Why should anyone listen or watch?




When you start with P.R.O.F.I.T. in mind, then you can pick the right content to share. And the other cornerstones build from there. After you know your “why” and your content, then you can decide on the best way to present it. Then, the best way to produce that. Then you'll have things and methods to promote it.



But when you don't start with P.R.O.F.I.T., you won't know what content to share, and you won't know the best way to communicate it, and you certainly won't know how to produce it, and—frankly—you wouldn't offer much value worth promoting.



Here's a series of questions that follows the Podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm to help you podcast the best way:




Why do you want to podcast? What value will your podcast give your audience?



What content best enables your P.R.O.F.I.T. goals?



What's the best way to present that content that moves you toward to your P.R.O.F.I.T. goals?



What's the best way to produce this that leads you and your audience in the right direction?



Whom should you promote your podcast to and what are the best ways to reach them?




Remember P.R.O.F.I.T. for your audience



I've heard some people say, “Podcast for yourself. If you're having fun, that's all that matters.” And I've also heard other people say, “You're podcasting for your audience, so focus on their needs first.”



While these might seem contrary, they're actually complementary and simply different sides of the same P.R.O.F.I.T. coin: both you and your audience need to get value from your podcast in order for your podcast, yourself, and your audience to improve and grow.



But the problem I see most often is that podcasters forget to focus on what value they offer their audience. Instead, they often fixate on the value they want from their audience, or on how they can essentially sell their audience to get value from someone else (like an advertiser).



As Jesus said, “Give and it will be given to you” (Luke 6:38).



Some podcasters also obsess over the production aspects of podcasting, without investing the same time and money into improving the more weight-bearing cornerstones.



It's fine if your podcast makes you popular, but how are you helping your audience to be popular, too?



It's great when you foster or form new relationships because of your podcast, but how are you helping your audience foster or form new relationships, too?



It's great when your podcast opens opportunities for you, but what opportunities do you help your audience find and pursue?



“It's fun to have fun,” as The Cat in the Hat said, but is your audience having fun, too?



Earning income is definitely rewarding! But how are you helping your audience earn more, spend less, save more, or be smarter with what they have?



And it can be exciting to get new tangibles, but what tangible benefits are you helping your audience gain, too?



Podcasting P.R.O.F.I.T. in one word: why?



“Start with Why” indeed!



Why are you podcasting?



Why should your audience keep consuming your episodes?



It's all in what P.R.O.F.I.T. (popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles) you pursue and offer!



Community corner:



I just made things easier for me and you with Podgagement! Now, we can easily copy all the text of a review with only two clicks! And you can copy it in plain text, markdown, HTML, or an iframe embed!




5-star review “Why and How Your Podcast Needs Loudness Normalization” by Marshy76 from November 23, 2022 on Apple Podcasts in the United States: “An excellent guide on the importance of Lufs with important links to related software in aiding one to create a well tuned podcast, which I incorporated into my latest “Mister Radio” podcast episode. Thanks for this excellent presentation! But, as I mentioned in my unedited review couldn't this also be done simply by listening and adjusting levels as one is recording, like I used to do when working the board in radio? Now I've got to check out my various DAWS to see if they have something to check my LUFS, besides the cans on my ears! And I did find a meter in Logic!” (I pasted that podcast review with only two clicks and a Cmd-V, thanks to Podgagement!)



Thanks to Allen C. Paul, Jason Pickel, Rich Bennett, D.R., and Julio Fernandez for all the great ratings on Goodpods (all discovered for me by Podgagement!)



Thanks for more streaming sats from Dave Jackson, Allen C. Paul, and Dwev! I believe that totals to 1,716§, which is currently worth about $1.15.




If The Audacity to Podcast gives value to you, I would be so grateful if you put that in a number to give back, either through a one-time gift or streaming sats back. You can do both with a modern podcast app like you can get from Podcasting2.org/apps!



Engage your audience and grow your podcast!



Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?



Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!



Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more! 



Ask your questions or share your feedback



Comment on the show notesLeave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)



Follow The Audacity to Podcast




Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.



Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast



Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter




Disclosure



This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates. The post Why You Should Put Podcasting P.R.O.F.I.T. First first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Why You Should Put Podcasting P.R.O.F.I.T. First

The Audacity to Podcast

How Proxies and iOS 14.5 Affect Your Podcast

Download our free app to listen on your phone