Once you’ve figured out how to set up a podcast, you need to decide where your podcast is going to live. If you’ve decided to go ahead and make a podcast website of your own instead of relying exclusively on the 3rd party subscription platforms, then you’ve made the right choice.
When your podcast lives exclusively on subscription platforms like Apple and Spotify, you lose so many advantages that could otherwise help you grow your audience, build loyalty, and make more money. I recently talked about 6 of those advantages here.
Making your own podcast website puts those advantages back in your pocket in the form of leverageable business assets: subscriber email lists, retargeting lists, and, of course, the podcast website itself.
But the question you should ask is not “how to make a podcast website” but “where do I make my podcast website?”
You want to avoid the #1 mistake when it comes to making a podcast website: Adding your podcast to your existing business website.
I know, this sounds counterintuitive. If your podcast helps promote your business, whether that’s coaching, consulting, or a book launch, doesn’t it make sense to have the podcast on the same site?
In a word…NO!
You want to make a separate website exclusively for your podcast and here are 3 reasons why:
Reason #1: People listen to podcasts for their own enjoyment and learning — not to be sold something
The goal of your podcast is to build trust and authority with your audience by giving them tremendous value. You do this to earn their subscription, their email address, and their loyalty so they spread the word about you.
Your podcast website, therefore, is not the place for you to conduct sales of any sort. You don’t want your audience to confuse the purpose of your podcast — either you’re giving value to them or you’re trying to sell them something. It can’t be both.
Reason #2: Adding the podcast to your business website will hurt your business conversions
The goal of your business website is to convert visitors into buyers. All the content on this site should drive prospects down your funnel as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Placing your podcast on your business website is like letting your kids watch TV while doing their homework — the job never gets done. And the job of your business website is to drive sales. By the time visitors finish your podcast, they’ll need to go do other things which means they’ll leave your site without making a buying decision.
Reason #3: Cost Savings
Driving traffic to your business website is often expensive. In fact, it’s getting more expensive every year, regardless of whether you’re doing it through Google, Bing, or Facebook.
Increased competition in your industry drives advertising prices up, makes ranking organically more difficult, and requires ever increasing levels of skill and training to promote your business website.
10 years ago, if your business used digital marketing, you were ahead of your competitors. Today, they’re all digital and many are racing past you.
But in the podcast sphere, the vast majority of your competitors don’t have their own podcast websites yet. They’re still exclusively on the subscription platforms.
This means you have a huge opportunity to get ahead of them, build your SEO, promote your podcast website with ads, and dominate the search rankings at a lower cost than for your business website. It’s more cost-effective to get ahead now than it will be once all your competitors launch their own podcast websites.
The Bottom Line
You have an opportunity now to position your podcast way ahead of your competitors by creating your own podcast website. Just don’t make the fatal mistake of putting your podcast on your business website. You want to make a separate podcast website because the goal for each site is not the same. Remember, a confused audience doesn’t buy.
