7 Podcasting Mistakes To Avoid at All Costs

I have been podcasting off and on since 2020, and I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way. Many of these mistakes have put me out of time and money, or both, but the biggest mistake of all has been this: not learning from my past failures and doing everything I can to avoid making them again in the future.

With this in mind, here are the 7 podcasting mistakes to avoid at all costs, so you can learn from my lessons and do your best to avoid making them yourself.

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1. Over-promising and under-delivering

One common mistake podcasters make is trying to over-promise and under-deliver. If you spend the whole show’s length talking about how much of a life changer your guest’s book is, listeners will be disappointed when they’re only offered a free chapter or heavily reduced off-peak pricing in exchange for their email address. Be sure you know what your episode will be all about before you set up the interview with your guest. If you don’t have time for editing, it’s best not to record – better still to come back next week and do it right!

2. Being Boring

Just because you have something worth saying doesn’t mean that people are going to want to listen. The opposite is often true. Your audience will tune out in no time if they find your podcast boring. This is why your first few episodes should not all be about you and your life story – you want to ease listeners into who you are as a person and what your podcast is about so that they keep coming back for more!

Start with an introduction of yourself and how the podcast began; get it all off of your chest in one episode instead of saving it for later or worse, never talking about it at all.

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3. Not sharing Valuable Content

Be intentional about what you share. Focus on content that is informative, helpful, and entertaining. Speak with the listeners in mind. Keep your podcast short, but sweet (no more than five minutes). If it feels like a lot of work to come up with something new for each episode, vary the format or themes.

Don’t release episodes at set intervals; space them out according to what seems appropriate. Lastly, know your limits as a podcaster; don’t commit yourself if you’re not confident that you’ll be able to deliver what’s expected!

4. Talking about your business all the time

If you’re serious about podcasting, then you know that the only way for it to be successful is if there’s a considerable amount of dedication and commitment. That’s because podcasts are as much about the work put in as they are about the reward.

But sometimes people get caught up in their business and think that all their time should be dedicated to making their business succeed, but this isn’t always going to happen. If you try and do nothing else, at least make sure that you have time for yourself!

5. Lack of variety in podcasts

Podcasts should always be interesting, whether they’re educational or informational, entertaining or humorous.

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There’s a podcast for everyone, so if you aren’t sure what topic suits your personal interests then it may be a good time for your to explore the net, and other top podcasters related to your niche. Try to avoid doing the following:

• Outdated podcasts
• Creating the same kind of podcasts all the time
• Negative podcasts
• Non-relevant podcasts
• Accidentally offensive podcasts
• Making boring podcasts
• One-sided podcasts

6. Inconsistent Episodes

• Step one is to make sure your schedule is clear before starting your podcast. Podcasting will regularity may seem difficult when you’re just getting started, but consistency is the key to success. You will not attract listeners if they don’t know when or how often they can listen to your show.
• Regularly set aside time each week for recording and editing episodes so that it becomes a habit. Schedule it like an appointment on your calendar – be as regular about your schedule as possible regardless of what happens!
• If you have an amateur voice then it would probably be a good idea to invest in a nice microphone. It doesn’t have to be expensive, just good enough quality to get your point across clearly and effectively. For many podcasters, this means a USB microphone or even using their laptop’s in-built microphone (as long as there are no background noises). Just make sure you sound professional – this might mean investing in a pop filter and windscreen tool.

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• It’s always a good idea to get to know your audience well. Know your audience before you start out; are they mostly older people? Younger folks? Are they commuters who need short episodes or parents who want long ones? Think about what makes them want to keep listening to your podcast episode after episode.

7. Not promoting yourself properly

• Mistake #1: Not being mindful of your intro as a podcaster. You’re only getting one chance as a first impression, so make it count! Your introduction should be about who you are and what you’ll be talking about on your podcasting show. Keep it short and sweet. No more than 3 sentences, please!
• Mistake #2: Not clarifying what your podcast is about. You’ve just done an amazing job telling people why they need your podcast, but now you need to tell them what kind of content will be in the episodes. Is it going to help with their cooking skills? Provide relationship advice? Share must-see movies? Whatever the topic is, make sure that your listeners can understand how they can benefit from your content without having to listen through all of your episodes.
• Mistake #3: Having too many guests on your show. When podcasts have too many guests or too many episodes per week, it’s hard for anyone guest or episode to stand out. Try sticking to 2-3 guests per episode and 1-2 episodes per week instead.
• Mistake #4: Make sure the quality of your podcast content is high-quality, with less of a focus on quantity. Letting your equipment distract you from production value.
• Mistake #5: Your podcast audio sounds bad. Bad audio has no place in your podcasting journey. Make sure that you’re recording your podcast with a decent microphone and with good lighting conditions in order to produce high-quality audio that people will want to listen to.

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Wrapping Up…

Whether you are planning to start your podcasting journey or trying to market your existing business using podcasting as a powerful platform, make sure to avoid the above-mentioned podcasting mistakes at all costs.

You can start off your podcasting journey by setting up consistent goals and scheduling, as long as you’re marketing and promoting your podcasting channel effectively, but at the same time keeping your podcast’s schedules consistent.

You can always count on a ready audience for a new episode if you plan ahead of time and produce your podcasting episodes consistently. You should be proficient with your podcasting equipment and software, have a clear plan for what you will say each time and have production values that meet or exceed your competition. It’s also critical to understand how to launch and promote your podcast.

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog post.

Let me know your thoughts or suggestions in the comments below.

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