The Independent Creator's Playbook

The introduction to your podcast (the first 30-60 seconds) is a critical part of the success of your show. If you don’t introduce yourself, new listeners will feel lost. If your intro is too long, people will get annoyed and switch to listen to something else.

Listeners want to know what they’re going to get out of an episode. If you don't tell them that right away, they're going to start wondering if there's a better way to spend their time, and maybe go find a different podcast to listen to. I don't want you to lose listeners, so today I'm talking about how to make a great podcast intro.

Here’s what I’m going to cover today:

You need to introduce yourself at the beginning of every episode and tell your audience what you’re going to talk about in the episode.

Charli Prangley said: On our podcast (Design Life), we include a snippet of a takeaway at the start before the intro music so that people can figure out immediately if this is an episode they’re interested in. Then we introduce the topic and say why we’re talking about it. We also do a quick ‘check in’ about how our week has been and what we’ve achieved with our projects (which gives our listeners context as to what we’re working on and how we spend our time outside of the podcast).

Charli is doing it right. You should introduce yourself at the beginning of every show. Tell the audience your name (or names if you have co-hosts), and tell them what you hope to do for them in the episode, or what you’re going to talk about. This is important because everyone who hits play on a podcast is wondering (whether they realize or not) what they’re going to get out of it. If you answer this question for them right away, then your listener is less likely to switch to a different show.

Listeners want to know what they’re going to get out of an episode, so tell them within the first 60 seconds.

After you’ve been podcasting for awhile, it’s tempting to just jump into a topic right away. But you need to think about the new listeners who are checking out your episode for the first time. What info do they need? How can you deliver that most efficiently?

At the very least, a new listener needs to know your name and why you’re doing your podcast. You don’t want to have a 5 minute introduction every single episode, but you need to communicate that basic information for the newcomers.

Assume that you’re going to get new listeners every week. Try to craft a short intro that will tell them everything they need to know about you and your show.

For your regular listeners, maybe include a new, random or funny fact about yourself in your intro every week. I’d like to start doing this myself.

Your intro should include who you are and why you’re doing your podcast. Try to keep it as short as possible but make sure it communicates those things.

It’s entirely up to you to decide what kind of show you want to make and what kind of feel you want it to have.

I prefer to do the introduction myself. It feels more personal that way, plus I can change things up every week if I feel like it.

Karma Senge asks: Should you copy and paste your intro and have the same exact one in every episode or should you do your intro new every time?

It is a good idea to have a template for your intro, but I think a static intro starts to feel boring to regular listeners after a few episodes.

A professional voiceover can make your show seem more legit, but it runs the risk of being repetitious and boring to your normal listeners after awhile.

Cory McCabe asked: Do you put in the intro the best part of the podcast? Or just a good section of it?

As editor for the seanwes network, one of my tasks is to pick out a short section of the podcast to use as an intro. This section plays before the intro music for the various shows.

During the show, I listen for short sections that are either valuable insights or funny (sometimes even both). My goal is to either give the listener a valuable takeaway from the episode or make them laugh.

So yes, I do think you should find a funny or interesting clip for the intro, if it makes sense to do so for your show.

This advice applies to your website’s landing page as well (if you make a podcast or if you’re a freelancer).

If the first thing a person sees when visiting your website “me, me, me, me, here’s what I do”, that’s not great. Instead, tell your visitor what you are going to do for them. Make the first thing they see about them, not about you.

Start with your why. Don’t tell your audience what you do, tell them WHY you do it. Check out Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why. If you make a podcast, or blog, or vlog, or run a small business, you should check this book out.

Garrett Mickley said:

Tip for what NOT to do: I listened to a podcast that I was disappointed with episode one so I waited 20 episodes to listen again and was disappointed in episode 20.

The episode 1 issue was that it sounded like it was recorded in a park in downtown Manhattan. Way too much background noise. But the 20th episode had excellent audio quality.

The problem was he spent the first 10 minutes talking about himself and the podcast and not even what that episode was about. Then he started plugging his courses and I was like, “dude, what is this episode even about? You haven’t provided any value yet!” Then he just word for word read a blog post he had written about a year ago that I had already read (a year ago) and it was nice to hear it again but I wish he wouldn’t have just read it off to us.

The ONLY reason I didn’t turn it off in the first 5 minutes of him talking about himself was because I was washing dishes and my hands were wet. Otherwise I would have stopped listening pretty quickly.

Audio quality is important, and it takes time to develop that, but if you aren’t telling listeners up front what kind of value you’re going to provide in the episode and you just start rambling, they’re going to tune out. I’ve stopped listening to many shows because the hosts stopped respecting my time.

It’s your job as a podcast host to tell your listener why they should care about listening to your podcast. Don’t assume they care; make them care.

Scott Hofford asked: Are there certain things that you shouldn’t say that makes you lose listeners?

If you podcast long enough, eventually someone is going to disagree with something you say. That’s fine. The bigger mistake is either not saying anything because you’re worried that you might offend someone else, or not feeling confident in what you do say.

If you don’t believe that you have something good to offer to your listener, they’re going to pick up on that, because no one follows someone who doesn’t believe in what they’re doing.

Make sure that you’re doing shows about things you really care about, make sure that your heart is in it.

Taylor West asked: When using a prerecorded interview in your podcast, is it more effective to add an intro that you record later (possibly even days later after the interview) introducing the interviewee and explaining the episode? Or do you give an intro at the beginning of the actual interview, right before you start the discussion?

I’m gonna say both. A lot of people do interviews without a real plan for what they’re going to talk about, and that can work out fine, especially if you’re good at interviewing. But thinking about it from my perspective as a podcast listeners: I like to know up front what the interview is going to be about, even if it’s just a broad overview of the topics covered. I like shows where the host plans out those things in advance and tells me at the beginning of the show what the topics are.

It is a good idea to record the interview and then go back and record an intro where you share some of the most valuable takeaways from the episode.

It’s like providing a table of contents for your podcast episode. Even though it’s in audio form, you can still say, “Here’s a list of all the subjects we’re going to talk about.”

My guest this week is Caleb Wojcik, the DIY Video Guy. If you're anything like me, you've been interested in making video for awhile now, but you probably also worry that you'll look or sound dumb on camera. I get it. In this episode, I talk with Caleb about how he makes video podcasts for iTunes, but we also talk about what keeps people from getting started with producing videos, and share some practical tips to help you overcome your fear of being on camera. Enjoy!

How many of you have ever published anything on LinkedIn? If you're anything like me, you probably thought that LinkedIn is for the older generation or the corporate stooges who want to work 9-5 jobs in office buildings.

Glenn Leibowitz is back to explain why LinkedIn is such a powerful blogging platform for creative professionals (and not just somewhere to host a digital resume). Even if you're not interested in LinkedIn, you're still going to learn a ton about writing and publishing in this episode (I sure did).

Glenn Leibowitz returns for part two of our three-part series about writing. This week, he shares how he turns podcast interviews into stories, why it's led to huge audience growth for both his podcast and his blog, and how you can use the power of story to reach a whole new audience.

Want to be a better podcaster? Something I’ve seen over and over again is that the best podcasters spend a lot of time writing.

Want to learn how to be a better writer? My guest this week – Glenn Leibowitz – wants to help you get there.

Glenn has been writing and editing for the past 17 years, mostly for his company, but two years ago he started his own blog and also started to blog weekly on LinkedIn. He writes about professional development, technology, social media, and writing.

In April 2015, he launched his weekly podcast – Write With Impact – where he interviews authors of nonfiction and fiction and tries to pick apart their secrets and have them share what they’ve learned over the years as writers.

In December 2015, LinkedIn named him one of 90 “top voices” on LinkedIn (out of the 1 million people who blog there). He ranked #2 in the marketing and social media category.

I asked Glenn to join me for a three-part podcast series to share what he’s learning about writing and growing an audience, the benefits of storytelling, how to turn a podcast interview into a story, how to get started with publishing on LinkedIn, and more.

In this episode, Glenn shares his top tips for becoming a better writer, we discuss why outlines are critical for success, why you should edit after you’re done writing, how to write great titles, and so much more.

Glenn: There’s so much to learn when it comes to writing, but all the writers I’ve ever talked with gave this advice: if you want to get better, you just gotta write more. With that in mind, here are my top tips for becoming a better writer.

Glenn: Know who you’re talking to. Visualize your reader if you can, and if you can’t, that’s fine, but try to write as if you’re writing to just one person.

Pretend you’re writing an email to a friend or relative. That’s a good way to break through any inhibitions you might be feeling when you try to put words down on the page for the first time.

Aaron: This is great advice for podcasters as well. When you’re podcasting, talk like you’re talking to a single person; this makes your listener feel a more personal connection with you.

Glenn: When writing, pretend like you’re talking. Treat your writing as a form of transcription of your thoughts and of that voice running through your head. Just write whatever comes to mind. I wrote a blog post on LinkedIn about this recently — How to Find Your Writing Voice: Listen to the Voice on the Page.

That one resonated with a lot of people because they could relate to that. It’s how I write, and apparently it’s how a lot of people write. As one of my guests on my podcast said, “If you can speak, you can write.”

Don’t get caught up with the style, the vocabulary, just focus on getting what’s on your mind down on the page.

Aaron: I agree, but I have a question. Sometimes when I’m writing, I’ll think something funny and put it down, but then I look at it and wonder if other people will get it or think it’s funny. Do you ever struggle with that?

Glenn: That happens to me all the time. I write a lot of stuff that never sees the light of day, but you should edit after you’ve finished writing. Don’t worry about editing while you write. I try not to delete anything during the initial writing. I like collecting words even if they don’t end up going in the final version that I publish.

Glenn: Whatever you’re writing – show notes for a podcast, a blog post, the chapter of your first ebook on Amazon – you need to have a focused topic. Your entire blog post should support or relate to that topic in some way. Think about the main point of your podcast or blog post, and let everything flow from there.

Glenn: Jot down a few sentences or a very skeletal outline of what you want to write about. Put the bones down on the page before you start adding the meat. The first sentence or two should be what the entire blog post or chapter is about. Then list out the 4, 5, or 8 supporting points before you start working on the individual paragraphs. These points will be the blueprint, the directions that will help you get to where you want to go.

Aaron: I love using mind maps to write outlines. It’s been a game changer for me.

Writing an outline is like creating a map for yourself. It will help you get to where you want to go.

Glenn: Storytelling seems to be all the rage these days and for very good reason; we all love stories. So many of the writers I’ve spoken to on my podcast have told me how they believe story is wired into our DNA, and I think that’s true.

We all want to see how a hero overcomes a tough challenge and what happens next, how they grow from that and learn from that. That all sounds like the elements of fiction, and that’s how novelists write. But I believe, and my podcast guests agree, that the same elements of storytelling apply to writing nonfiction like blog posts, nonfiction books, essays, and I would argue, even show notes for a podcast.

I start most of my blog posts off with a personal story of when I was a kid or teen or twenty-something or even something that happened recently. I relate the topic to something that happened to me personally, a challenge I faced, and then I describe how I dealt with it, and what I learned.

My latest post on LinkedIn was about self-driving cars, and I started that one off with a story of how my mom put my brother and me in a defensive driving course even before we could drive, just so she could scare the heck out of us and make us better drivers.

I then followed that story up with the news of Google’s self-driving car, which got the green light from the National Transportation Safety Administration.

Sharing a story brings the topic down to earth for your reader and allows them to relate to whatever you’re writing.

Aaron: I love hearing those personal stories. I find it hard to connect with people who don’t ever share any personal stories.

Glenn: This is where your logical, analytical brain kicks in. You need to take a microscopic look at each sentence and word on the page, review your punctuation, and read through your writing over and over again in your mind (or out loud) to see if it all fits together logically. You want to make sure you are delivering your message clearly, which is critically important, and also that it’s grammatically correct.

If you’re not good with grammar or punctuation or word usage, or if you’re not a native writer of English, ask a friend or family member to take a look at it, or hire a freelance editor on one of those freelancing websites. But edit edit edit until it’s something you feel comfortable publishing (and ideally, something you feel proud of).

Aaron: Something I’ve started doing lately is allowing myself to write a first draft without trying to make it perfect. I used to try to make everything perfect the first time, which really slowed me down.

Now, I write an outline, then write a first draft as fast as I can, then go back to do the editing afterwards. I’m much happier now that I’ve stopped trying to edit while I write. I have to thank the guys who wrote Write. Publish. Repeat. for sharing that tip about writing your first draft as fast as you can.

Don’t try to make all your writing perfect right away. Allow yourself to separate the writing process and the editing process.

Glenn: One thing I see a lot of bloggers do is write a post here, write one there, maybe 5-10 posts, or maybe they go for 6-12 months and then give up.

If you’re not perfectly consistent with your output, that’s okay, just keep trying and never give up.

Take Sean McCabe’s advice; you have to show up and create content every day for at least two years before you’ll see substantial results. If you do see results before that two year point, consider it a bonus. But you’ve got to look at writing as a long-term play, and not something you just do whenever you feel like it. Don’t quit just because you feel bored or if you aren’t seeing results yet.

Publish something every single week, regardless of how you feel.

Aaron: “Show up every day” applies to podcasting too. I’ve seen amazing results in the past 10 months because I showed up every day and released an episode every week. I’ve become a better writer and a better podcaster, all because I keep trying. I keep showing up and I give it the best I can every single time, and I get a little better every week and my audience keeps growing.

Aaron: Those were some great tips, so I want to do a quick recap:

Aaron: Glenn, you’ll be back next week, but in the meantime, where can people go to find you online?

Glenn: You can head over to WriteWithImpact.com and sign up for my weekly newsletter so you can get my latest podcast episodes and blog posts, as well as recommendations for books and resources for writers.

I’m also on LinkedIn and encourage you to connect directly with me there. You can find me on Twitter at @glennleibowitz.

Levi Allen asked: What are the top books/blogs you’d recommend for growing as a writer?

Glenn: I have two books that I recommend to everyone; On Writing Well by William Zinsser, and On Writing by Stephen King.

For websites/blogs, I’d recommend checking out Joanna Penn, Jeff Goins, Monica Leonelle, and Chris Fox. You can also check out my website and podcast to find even more great resources.

Aaron: I’m currently reading a fantastic book called Write. Publish. Repeat. and I think anyone interested in writing should pick that up. I’m also a fan on both On Writing and On Writing Well, although I’m only about 60% of the way through On Writing Well.

Scotty Russell asked: How do you balance injecting value and sharing your own life experiences? Making your audience the hero yet establishing credibility.

Glenn: I keep that in mind every time I sit down to write a blog post. I don’t want to write what I call “navel-gazers”, that is, posts where I just talk about myself. I try to avoid that, but I do try to include myself or my experiences in the story if it’s relevant. I try to always orient the message of the post towards the reader. I’m always trying to think about what would be valuable for the reader.

Aaron: Always start with wanting to give your audience something valuable. But I’m wondering; do you ever struggle with qualifying what you’re saying with, “This is just my experience, it might not work for you”? I find myself doing that a lot.

Glenn: Yeah, of course. That’s something I struggle with all the time. It’s why I have so many unfinished blog posts in my drafts folder. But I try to push through and publish anyways. Even if the blog post doesn’t help everyone, as long as it helps a few people than I’m doing good work.

Joseph asked: How do you come up with good titles without making them sounding like click-bait?

Glenn: You definitely don’t want to use click-bait. Click-bait means that your title promises something that your article doesn’t deliver, and you never want to do that. Just be honest and clear with the headline. I often write out a list of possible headlines, and sometimes I’ll ask my kids which one they think is best. That usually works out well.

Your title needs to summarize your podcast or blog post well, and in a way that gets your audience’s attention.

Aaron: I think a lot of people – especially if they’re new to publishing online – worry about writing titles that sound click-baity, or about doing list articles with titles like 7 Things Every Podcaster Should Know.

Glenn: I can tell you this; the LinkedIn editors don’t like list articles anymore. List articles are fun, but they’re all over the place; too many people are doing them.

What I say is it’s better to be clear than clever. Sometimes I try to write a clever headline, but before I hit publish I ask myself, “What am I trying to say with this post? Does my headline reflect that?” I try to be truthful and give my reader a clear idea of what they’re going to get. Don’t lie, don’t mislead or promise something you can’t deliver.