Episode 75: 11 Ways to Turn Old Podcast Episodes Into New Growth: Part 1
26 Million Downloads, 650+ Episodes, and a Quiz That Activates Her Entire Back Catalog: How Kelly Smith Built Mindful In Minutes Into a Long-Game Podcast Business
Listen on Apple Podcast | Listen on Spotify | Watch on YouTube
How many podcast episodes have you published? Maybe 50. Maybe 75. Maybe you are well over 100 at this point.
Now here is the real question, and I want you to be honest with yourself: when was the last time you actually did anything with those episodes after they went live?
If your answer is never, you are not alone. And you are sitting on a goldmine.
Every episode you have ever published has the potential to grow your email list, bring in new listeners, and drive people to your offers. But for most podcasters, those episodes are just sitting there collecting dust while you are too busy thinking about what is next.
What if the fastest way to grow your podcast right now is not to create more content, but to activate the content you have already made?
That is what this episode of Podcast Growth Tools is all about. This is Part 1 of a two-part series on how to activate your back catalog and make it work for your business. Today is all about the foundation: the strategic groundwork of auditing, optimizing, and setting everything up. In Part 2, I will show you how to turn your back catalog into leads, revenue, and some really creative things like podcast bundles, quizzes, private podcast experiences, and more.
Even if you only have 15 or 20 episodes, this is for you. You are actually at an advantage because you can start thinking ahead: if I plan and publish this episode today, how am I going to repurpose it in three months, six months, or two years?
Here's a glance to the episode:
How to audit your back catalog using your podcast analytics and AI
How to identify your top 10 evergreen winners and your bottom 10 underperformers
How to find patterns in your data that tell you exactly what your audience wants more of
Why your underperforming episodes probably have great content but bad packaging
How to rework titles and descriptions to give underperforming episodes a second life
Why episode descriptions are SEO real estate and how to optimize them
How to update your blog-style show notes for an organic traffic boost
How strategic re-airs let you stay consistent without recording new content
How to create a curated listening path that turns your back catalog into a sales funnel
Why one afternoon of updates can produce a noticeable bump in organic traffic within weeks
Timestamps:
01:50: Part 1 of a two-part series: the strategic foundation
03:15: Step 1: Audit your back catalog
04:50: How to identify your top 10 evergreen winners
05:15: Why you need to look at your bottom 10 (this is where the opportunities hide)
05:40: Finding patterns: solo vs. interviews, topics, episode length
06:30: Which platforms to pull your data from
07:00: How to check which episodes are driving action (Google Analytics, quiz opt-ins, website traffic)
08:00: Step 2: Optimize your underperforming episodes
08:50: Why great content with bad packaging gets ignored
09:10: Before and after: "My thoughts on making money" vs. a keyword-rich title
09:55: Reworking your episode descriptions for SEO
10:30: Adding tags and keywords in your hosting platform
11:00: Why this is the lowest effort, highest reward thing you can do
11:10: Real results: episodes going from 30 downloads to 150-200 just from a title and description change
11:20: Step 3: Update your blog-style show notes on your website
12:15: Adding internal links between episodes
12:45: Refreshing old CTAs with current offers
13:25: Beefing up thin show notes into full blog posts
14:05: Step 4: Strategic re-airs
14:45: How to record a fresh intro and updated CTA
15:15: Three use cases: launch weeks, maternity leave, and seasonal relevance
16:30: Step 5: Creating a curated listening path
17:00: The five-episode listening path framework
18:35: How to use the listening path on sales pages, in DMs, and in email sequences
19:30: Three ways to deliver the listening path: bundles, re-releases, or private podcasts
19:45: Recap and homework before Part 2
If You're Asking These Questions, You're in the Right Place:
What should I do with my old podcast episodes?
How do I get more downloads on episodes I have already published?
How do I optimize old podcast episodes for SEO?
Can I republish or re-air old podcast episodes?
How do I turn my podcast into a sales funnel?
How do I use my podcast back catalog to grow my email list?
How do I audit my podcast analytics?
What is a curated listening path and how do I create one?
Step 1: Audit Your Back Catalog
Before you can activate your back catalog, you need to know what you are working with. Pull up your podcast analytics from your hosting platform (Captivate, Buzzsprout, or whatever you use), and if possible, also pull from Spotify for Creators and Apple Podcasts Connect. The more data sources you pull, the more complete your picture will be.
Here is what to look for.
Your top 10 episodes. Not just by total downloads, but which episodes consistently get played months after they went live. These are your evergreen winners. They are clearly resonating with people long after you published them.
Your bottom 10 episodes. Nobody likes looking at these, but this is where some of the biggest opportunities are hiding. More on that in a minute.
Patterns. Are your solo episodes outperforming interviews? Are episodes about a specific topic (like email list growth or monetization) consistently getting more plays? Are shorter episodes doing better than longer ones? This data tells you exactly what your audience wants from you, and it will inform everything you do moving forward.
Which episodes are driving action. If you have Google Analytics set up on your website and you have blog-style show notes, check which pages are getting the most traffic. If you have a quiz or a freebie, check which episodes are driving the most opt-ins. This shows you not just what people are listening to, but what is actually moving the needle in your business.
Your homework: open a spreadsheet (or a notebook), write down your top 10 and bottom 10 with their download numbers, and note any patterns. You can also upload your data into AI and have it analyze the patterns for you.
Step 2: Optimize Your Underperforming Episodes
Here is something I have learned from working with podcasters for years: a lot of times an episode underperforms not because the content is bad, but because the packaging is off.
Think about it this way. You could have the most incredible, life-changing episode about podcast monetization. But if the title is something vague like "My Thoughts on Making Money," nobody is going to click on that. Nobody is searching for that. The content might be gold, but the wrapper does not tell your listener what is inside quickly enough for them to decide to press play.
Here is what to do with those underperforming episodes.
Rework the titles. Make them keyword-rich and specific. Instead of "My Thoughts on Making Money," try "3 Podcast Monetization Strategies That Actually Work for Female Entrepreneurs." The difference is massive. The second title tells the listener exactly what they are going to learn, includes searchable keywords, and makes it about them instead of about you.
Rework the descriptions. Your episode description is SEO real estate, especially on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. If your descriptions are one sentence long or super generic, you are leaving organic discoverability on the table. Go back and write descriptions that include relevant keywords, clearly state what the listener will learn, and give people a reason to press play.
Add tags and keywords. Some hosting platforms allow you to add tags and keywords for individual episodes. Go back to those underperformers and make sure you are using that feature.
This is probably the lowest effort, highest reward thing you can do with your back catalog. You are not recording anything new. You are not creating new content. You are just changing the packaging on content that already exists. I have seen clients do this and watched episodes go from 30 downloads to 150 or 200 just from a title and description change. The algorithm can finally find it. People searching for that topic can finally discover it.
Step 3: Update Your Blog-Style Show Notes
If you have show notes on your website, this is one of those things most podcasters are not doing but should be. Here is how to update them.
Add internal links. Maybe an older episode connects naturally to a newer episode that was not published at the time you wrote those original show notes. Link them together. This keeps people on your website longer, which helps Google understand more about your site.
Refresh your CTAs. Your CTAs might be eight months old or might be driving traffic to something you no longer prioritize. Maybe you have a quiz now or a newer freebie or a newer offer. Go back and update those calls to action so they are relevant.
Beef up thin show notes. If your show notes were originally just a few sentences with some timestamps, consider going back and turning them into full blog posts. Add subheads, keywords, a summary of key takeaways, and links to resources you mentioned. Google does not care when your content was published. It wants to see depth and relevance.
If you spend one afternoon updating the show notes on your top 10 episodes, you can see a noticeable bump in organic traffic within a few weeks. That is the power of SEO.
Step 4: Strategic Re-Airs
You have episodes in your catalog that crushed it. Great downloads, great opt-ins, people sent you DMs about them. Why would you let those episodes live in an archive where only the most dedicated binge listeners might find them?
Re-air them, but do it strategically. Record a fresh 60 to 90 second intro where you frame why you are resharing the episode and what makes it relevant right now. Play the original episode. Then tack on an updated CTA at the end.
Three great use cases for strategic re-airs.
Launch weeks. If you are about to open the doors to an offer, re-air an episode that aligns with that offer's topic. It warms up your audience perfectly without you starting from scratch.
When you need a break. Whether it is maternity leave, illness, or just a full season of life, a strategic re-air lets you stay consistent without recording a new episode.
Seasonal relevance. If you did an incredible episode on Q4 planning last year, re-air it when Q4 rolls around again. The content is evergreen, your new listeners have not heard it, and your loyal listeners might appreciate hearing it again.
The key is that you are not secretly republishing an old episode and hoping nobody notices. You are being intentional about it. You are framing it, updating the CTA, and choosing to reshare it in a moment that makes strategic sense for your business.
Step 5: Create a Curated Listening Path
This is where your back catalog becomes a sales tool.
If you have a course, coaching program, or membership that solves a specific set of problems for your audience, chances are you have multiple episodes in your catalog that address those exact same problems. You have been teaching those topics for months, maybe years.
What if you created a curated listening path? A sequence of three to five episodes that you recommend people listen to in order, designed to walk them from awareness to purchase.
Here is what the sequence might look like.
Episode 1: The awareness episode. This is where they realize they have the problem. You call it out. You name the problem that your offer solves.
Episode 2: The deeper dive. This is where they start to understand why they have the problem and what has been keeping them stuck.
Episode 3: The possibility episode. Maybe this is a client interview or a case study. Something that shows them what is possible on the other side.
Episode 4: The quick win episode. Give them something they can implement right away that gives them a taste of what your full offer delivers.
Episode 5: The CTA episode. This is where you share your offer and invite them in.
You can mix and match from your back catalog. Maybe three of those episodes already exist and you only need to record one or two new ones. Then you put the listening path on your sales page, include it in your email welcome sequence, or DM it to leads: "Hey, if you are curious about working with me, I have a curated playlist that will give you a great sense of what we do. Start here."
By the time they get to the offer, they already trust you. They have been listening to you for hours. They feel like they know you. You can deliver this as a bundle, re-release the episodes fresh on your podcast feed, or set it up as a private podcast experience.
Recap: Your Homework Before Part 2
Audit your catalog. Get to know your top performers, your underperformers, and the patterns in your data.
Optimize your underperforming episodes by reworking titles, descriptions, and keywords.
Update your show notes on your website with internal links, refreshed CTAs, and beefed-up content.
Identify episodes that are strong candidates for strategic re-airs.
Start thinking about a curated listening path that could lead listeners to your offer.
In Part 2 (dropping in two weeks), we are going to take everything you have uncovered and turn it into podcast bundles, quizzes, private podcast experiences, freebies, and more. You are going to need to know what you are working with to make the most of it, so go do that audit before then.
Your Next Steps
If you want weekly insights on podcast growth, marketing strategy, and turning listeners into subscribers, join the newsletter at:
Resources & Links
Connect with Kylee
Website: podcastmarketinghub.com
Podcast: Podcast Growth Tools
Instagram: @kyleejchandler
Let’s Connect!
Share your favorite trend from this episode or ask questions by DMing me on Instagram at @thepodcastmarketinghub.
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If you've ever wished you had a podcasting pro with nearly a decade of experience whispering
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growth secrets into your ear, that's exactly what you'll get when you tune into Podcast
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Growth Tools with me, your host, Kylie Chandler.
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My superpower? Breaking down proven podcast strategies and marketing techniques into step-by-step guidance you can actually implement without fluff, overwhelm, or guesswork.
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On this show, we're getting real about what actually moves the needle when it comes to
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turn your podcast into a traffic driving list growing machine.
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Grab your earbuds, hit subscribe, and let's take your podcast to the next level.
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So I want you to think about something for just a second.
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How many podcast episodes have you published?
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Maybe it's 50, 75, maybe you're well over 100 at this point.
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I mean, I work with anyone from, you know, some of my clients have over 600 episodes.
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I also have some, you know, students in my mastermind who are starting out and they have
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like 15 episodes.
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Yeah.
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But here's the real question, and I want you to be honest with yourself on this one.
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When was the last time that you actually did
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anything with
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those back catalog episodes after they went live.
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If your answer is never or...
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laughs
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If you're thinking, I know I should be coming up with things that I have done with these,
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but I haven't.
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It's okay.
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You're in the right place and you're not alone because here's what nobody really talks about
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in the podcasting space.
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you are truly sitting on a goldmine.
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Like every episode you have ever published,
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is a goldmine.
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a literal goldmine of content that has the potential to grow your email list,
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Bring in new listeners and drive people to your offers at every stage.
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And for many podcasters, I know that it's just kind of sitting there, right?
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And I get it, I totally do because when we're in a rhythm
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of putting out a new episode every single week,
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the last thing on our minds is like going back,
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looking at what we've already created, right? We're too busy thinking about what's next,
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But what if I told you that the fastest way
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well, one of the quickest ways and, um,
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easier lifts to grow your podcast in this season might not always be to create more and more and
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more, but actually activating the content you've already made.
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So that is what we're going to dive into today. So this is part one of a two-part series. So I am
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going to release part one today. And then in two weeks, because I'm on maternity leave at this
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point, in two weeks, you'll get part two. Okay. And we're going to talk all about how to activate
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your back catalog and make it work for you and your business, bringing in leads, driving people
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to offers, lots of different options. And what I want to say is today is all about the foundation,
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the strategic groundwork that we're talking about, right? We're going to talk about optimizing,
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auditing, really setting everything up so that next week in part two,
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I can actually show you how to turn the back catalog into leads revenue and some really
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creative things that you're, I hope.
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you're excited about
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you know,
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repurposing old content. So I'm excited for this episode. I want you to say that
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If this episode
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is like, oh, I only have, you know, 15, 20 episodes.
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I still want you to listen because...
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The cool thing about where you're at, you're at an advantage because you can start thinking
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ahead, right? Like, okay, if I plan and publish this episode, how am I going to repurpose it in
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three, six months, 12 months, two years, whatever it might be.
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And then of course, if you have 50 plus episodes like,
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this is great for you. You're going to be able to really start. I want to turn the wheels on what you
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can be doing.
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Okay, so step one,
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I want you to take a little bit of time to do a back catalog audit.
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So it,
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For any of those who are like, wait, what's a back catalog? That's basically all of your
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historically published episodes, right? So anything you've already published
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is considered back catalog. So anything that's not brand new. So step one is
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And I know this isn't the sexiest starting point, but trust me on this.
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Everything else we talk about in this series really depends on this, right?
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So you need to audit your back catalog. We got to take a little bit of time. Now,
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The cool thing is we have AI, right?
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So this is...
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less of a lift than it would have been maybe, you know, five years ago.
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And before you tune up,
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Oh, with the word audit?
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because it sounds like something that your accountant might say, I promise this is
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Way more fun than taxes.
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I mean, I'm...
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Trust me.
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we are in like Q2 taxes prepping before I go on maternity leave.
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Like I get it,
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but this is about getting to know our content in a way that maybe we're
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You've dabbled in, but...
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haven't really dove fully into or maybe you haven't even thought about. So I want us to really get into it.
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So here's what I want you to do. I want you to pull up your podcast analytics. Now,
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That might be from Captivate.
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It might be from Spotify for creators.
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It might be Apple Podcasts, Connect, Buzzsprout, whatever you use.
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The more you pull, the more data you'll have, right?
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So totally up to you how in-depth you want to go with that or how light you want to go.
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And what I want you to do is first, I want you to identify...
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your top 10 episodes.
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We're not just gonna go by downloads here,
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but I actually want you to look at which episodes consistently get played in
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even like months after they went live, right?
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So those are your evergreen winners,
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if I were to name them, right?
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And those are the episodes
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that are clearly resonating with people.
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long after you publish this.
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AI can really help you identify these.
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So,
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That's a great resource to be using for this audit.
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Okay, so that's our top 10.
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Second, I want you to look at your bottom 10 episodes.
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I know.
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I know, right? Nobody likes looking at these because they didn't perform well, even though
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we put the effort in, even though we thought the topic was great, this and that, right?
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But this is where some of the biggest opportunities are actually hiding.
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And I'll tell you why in a minute.
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All right, the third part of this audit is that we are going to look for patterns.
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What does that mean?
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It means, are your solo episodes outperforming interviews?
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Are episodes about a specific topic like maybe email list growth or monetization consistently
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getting more plays?
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our shorter episodes doing better than longer ones. So this data is going to tell you so much
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about what your audience actually wants from you. So not only is this going to serve us and when we
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start to think about how we can repurpose our back catalog, this is also going to help you plan
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moving ahead, right?
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So most podcasters
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I find have never really taken the time to look at this. But again, let me go back to it. Using AI
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to give you this data and this information is so helpful and so beneficial. So when I said pull your
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metrics...
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And I mentioned that you could pull it just from your hosting platform.
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I personally highly recommend grabbing hosting platform, Spotify for creators and Apple connect.
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If you can do that, that would be my, that would be like the goal, but of course it's
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okay if you don't as well, you'll still get data.
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I also want you to take a look at which episodes are driving the most action.
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So,
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If you have Google Analytics set up and you have show notes blog style pages on your website,
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You can go in and you can check out the traffic there, right?
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You can see what of those show notes blog posts are doing the best.
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Okay, if you have a quiz or a freebie, which episodes are driving the most opt-ins?
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So this is where you can kind of start to see the full picture, not just of what people
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are listening to, but what's actually moving the needle in your business, which is so exciting
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and so fun, right?
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So here's your homework for this section.
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Open up a spreadsheet or honestly a notebook, whatever you want to do, right?
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Write down your top 10 and bottom episodes, right?
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With their download numbers.
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then note any patterns you start to see.
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Again, you can pull those and then have AI analyze them.
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I would still recommend you analyze them just from a standpoint of knowing your ideal customer
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and ideal listener, right?
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But I want you to pay attention to topics that performed well, formats that worked,
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Anything that jumps out to you, they will.
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Words will jump out to you.
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Keywords will jump out to you.
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Titles will jump out to you.
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Things like that.
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Because you're going to need all of this for everything that we're going to move forward and do.
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Okay, so the next thing that we are going to do
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is we're gonna optimize your underperformers, right?
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So this is why we pulled those bottom episodes.
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Now that you know which episodes didn't perform as well,
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this is where we can have some fun and we can kind of make it interesting.
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Because I can tell you from working with not only podcasters for years, but also my
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personal experience is that
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A lot of times an episode underperforms not because the content is bad, but
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but because
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the packaging of,
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of it is off.
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So think about it like this.
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You could have like the most incredible life-changing episode, podcast, podcast.
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Whatever.
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And,
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If the title is something vague, so let's actually give this
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let's say that it's an episode about podcast monetization.
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But if the title is something super vague, say I named it my thoughts on making money.
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Nobody's gonna click on that, right?
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Nobody is searching for that.
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The content might be gold,
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but the wrapper doesn't tell my listener what's inside.
10:23.780 --> 10:26.400
quickly so that they decide they want to listen.
10:26.590 --> 10:29.350
So here's what I want you to do with those underperforming episodes.
10:29.350 --> 10:33.040
I want you to rework the titles, make them keyword rich,
10:33.380 --> 10:38.020
and specific, instead of my thoughts on making money, try something like,
10:38.590 --> 10:43.300
three podcast monetization strategies that actually work for female entrepreneurs.
10:43.940 --> 10:47.670
Do you see the difference? Do you see how strong those keywords are?
10:48.160 --> 10:52.790
compared to my thoughts on making money. Also, it makes it about your listener and less about you.
10:53.570 --> 10:54.210
So,
10:54.500 --> 10:56.360
It's going to tell them exactly what they're going to learn.
10:56.360 --> 10:59.420
And that's what people want to click on because they want to know...
10:59.650 --> 11:02.690
right away, if this is going to serve them, right? They don't want to
11:03.040 --> 11:03.520
Gamble.
11:03.940 --> 11:06.200
and click on it, and then 20 minutes later,
11:06.200 --> 11:09.060
feel like this episode has nothing to do with what they want
11:09.060 --> 11:10.240
or what they were looking for.
11:10.590 --> 11:15.750
Okay. So that's step one. Step two, I want you to rework the description. Your episode description
11:15.750 --> 11:20.530
is SEO real estate. We know this, especially on podcasts and Apple podcasts.
11:20.960 --> 11:22.560
and Spotify.
11:22.950 --> 11:28.190
And if your descriptions are like one sentence long or super generic or anything like that,
11:28.190 --> 11:31.910
you're really leading this organic discoverability element on the table.
11:31.910 --> 11:36.050
So I want you to go back and I want you to write descriptions that include relevant keywords.
11:36.050 --> 11:38.030
Clearly state what the listener is going to learn.
11:38.030 --> 11:39.070
Give people information.
11:39.650 --> 11:41.190
a reason to press play.
11:41.510 --> 11:42.390
Lastly,
11:42.690 --> 11:47.710
Some hosting platforms allow you to add tags and keywords for individual episodes.
11:47.710 --> 11:49.670
So I actually want you to go back.
11:50.340 --> 11:55.020
to those underperformers and make sure if your hosting platform allows that, that you're
11:55.020 --> 11:57.100
adding those in.
11:57.860 --> 11:58.480
Here's the thing.
11:58.480 --> 12:02.740
This is probably the lowest effort, highest reward thing you can do in your back catalog
12:02.740 --> 12:04.540
because you're not recording.
12:04.540 --> 12:06.460
You're not having to rerecord anything.
12:06.460 --> 12:08.540
You're not creating new content.
12:08.540 --> 12:12.320
You're just changing the packaging on the content that already exists.
12:13.250 --> 12:16.070
And sometimes that's all it takes to give an episode a second life.
12:16.070 --> 12:20.530
I've seen clients do this and I watched episodes that were getting like 30 downloads suddenly
12:20.530 --> 12:25.630
start getting like 150, 200 downloads just from a title and description change.
12:26.270 --> 12:28.670
Because now the algorithm can actually find it.
12:29.030 --> 12:29.930
Now, people...
12:30.240 --> 12:34.980
searching for that topic can discover it, right? It's wild how much of a difference that makes.
12:35.680 --> 12:36.100
All right.
12:36.390 --> 12:39.370
Next up, this is for those of you who have
12:39.550 --> 12:42.630
show notes on your website, so like a blog style show note,
12:43.170 --> 12:46.250
And then also have Google Analytics set up.
12:46.250 --> 12:50.170
Also, by the way, guys, Google Analytics is super easy to set up.
12:50.500 --> 12:56.080
So if you don't have it set up, I highly recommend you do because it does give us data and insights
12:56.080 --> 12:58.620
as a podcaster, as an entrepreneur, all the things.
12:59.230 --> 12:59.810
So,
13:00.740 --> 13:03.820
This is one of those things that I'm pretty passionate about, but
13:04.130 --> 13:10.210
most podcasters aren't doing this, but if you do have like a blog style show notes on your website,
13:10.790 --> 13:13.130
you definitely want to go back and update them.
13:13.130 --> 13:18.250
So what I would recommend doing is go back and just see like,
13:18.470 --> 13:22.290
You know, use your episodes that you found were the top performing and bottom performing
13:22.290 --> 13:25.570
and compare them to what kind of traffic you're seeing on your website.
13:26.080 --> 13:28.480
and then go back and update them.
13:28.480 --> 13:30.860
So how do we update blog style show notes?
13:31.590 --> 13:32.550
We can...
13:32.800 --> 13:34.040
Add internal links.
13:34.370 --> 13:36.530
Right? So maybe
13:36.800 --> 13:38.140
an older episode
13:38.560 --> 13:39.200
you know,
13:39.360 --> 13:42.640
gives way really well to an episode that you did that wasn't published,
13:42.640 --> 13:46.100
a newer episode that wasn't published at the time that you published those show notes.
13:46.100 --> 13:50.080
So maybe you, you know, add an internal link that,
13:50.310 --> 13:53.690
drives people from that one to the next one. Right. So it's like,
13:53.890 --> 13:54.850
the client journey.
13:55.460 --> 13:57.420
So you can link them together.
13:57.420 --> 13:59.460
This keeps people on your website longer.
13:59.650 --> 14:02.490
which helps Google to understand more about your website.
14:03.010 --> 14:04.790
Refresh the CTA.
14:05.060 --> 14:05.640
you know,
14:05.860 --> 14:08.840
your CTAs might be eight months old,
14:09.220 --> 14:10.780
Or was about something in that
14:11.010 --> 14:18.110
you don't really drive traffic to, or you have, maybe you have a quiz now or a newer freebie or a
14:18.370 --> 14:21.890
you'd rather have people go to. Go back, update those so they're a little bit more relevant.
14:22.720 --> 14:26.140
And then lastly, you can beef up your show notes content, right?
14:26.340 --> 14:27.340
totally changes.
14:27.340 --> 14:29.720
It doesn't matter when your content was published.
14:29.720 --> 14:30.960
Google doesn't care.
14:31.170 --> 14:32.770
It wants to see things like this.
14:32.770 --> 14:34.910
So if your show notes were originally...
14:35.140 --> 14:40.400
you know, just a few sentences. I see this a lot with some timestamps. I want you to consider going
14:40.400 --> 14:43.640
back and actually turning them into like media or blog posts.
14:44.190 --> 14:49.250
So adding subheads and keywords, maybe you add a summary of key takeaways, maybe you
14:49.540 --> 14:53.100
links to resources you mentioned, things like that.
14:53.570 --> 14:57.290
So another beautiful thing about all this is it's not new work.
14:57.830 --> 15:00.070
in the way of creating a brand new episode, right?
15:00.510 --> 15:01.470
You already have the content.
15:01.470 --> 15:04.230
You're just making tweaks so that it works better.
15:05.060 --> 15:07.320
And when I say it's low hanging fruit, I mean it.
15:07.320 --> 15:11.980
If you spend like one afternoon updating the show notes on your top 10 episodes, you're
15:12.160 --> 15:16.400
I truly believe you can see a noticeable bump in organic traffic within a few weeks.
15:16.770 --> 15:18.750
But that's the cool thing about SEO, right?
15:18.750 --> 15:19.810
That's the power of SEO.
15:20.670 --> 15:21.670
Okay.
15:22.370 --> 15:24.730
The next thing that I want to talk about is
15:25.030 --> 15:29.770
bringing back your episodes, but adding just a bit of a new fresh twist.
15:30.150 --> 15:33.430
Almost consider these like strategic re-airs, if you will.
15:33.860 --> 15:38.840
So this one's a game changer and I feel like not enough podcasters are taking advantage
15:38.840 --> 15:39.260
of it.
15:39.260 --> 15:41.180
So strategic re-airs.
15:41.700 --> 15:42.600
Here's what I mean.
15:42.850 --> 15:45.890
You have an episode in your catalog that crushed it, right?
15:45.890 --> 15:46.650
You've got them.
15:46.650 --> 15:47.490
I know you do.
15:47.650 --> 15:48.950
They've got great downloads.
15:48.950 --> 15:50.630
They drove great opt-ins.
15:50.630 --> 15:52.290
People sent DMs to you about them.
15:52.290 --> 15:58.010
So why would you let that episode just like live in an archive where only the most dedicated
15:58.010 --> 15:59.490
binge listeners might find it?
15:59.870 --> 16:02.690
I want you to re-air it, but we want to do it strategically, right?
16:03.520 --> 16:07.740
Record a fresh intro, so maybe 60 to 90 seconds, where you say something like,
16:07.740 --> 16:14.720
Hey friend, I'm resharing one of my most popular episodes today because the message is so relevant to what I'm hearing from you right now.
16:14.720 --> 16:20.040
And at the end, I've added a brand new action step that I think you're really going to love.
16:20.510 --> 16:24.630
then play the original episode and tack on the intro outro, you know,
16:24.630 --> 16:27.510
or whatever you want to do and update the CTA.
16:28.230 --> 16:28.950
So,
16:29.150 --> 16:30.530
there are so many great,
16:31.010 --> 16:32.350
use cases for this.
16:32.670 --> 16:34.090
One, launch weeks.
16:34.090 --> 16:39.150
So if you are about to open the doors to an offer, re-air an episode that maybe aligns
16:39.150 --> 16:40.530
with that offer's topic, right?
16:40.530 --> 16:41.670
It warms up your audience.
16:42.910 --> 16:46.470
And it really perfectly aligns with what you're working on
16:46.660 --> 16:48.440
without having to start from scratch.
16:49.120 --> 16:52.300
When you need a break, like I'm getting ready for maternity leave.
16:52.300 --> 16:55.360
I'm recording fresh ones, but then I'm also probably going to re-air a few.
16:56.000 --> 16:58.500
repeats as well, right?
16:59.810 --> 17:00.390
You know?
17:00.580 --> 17:01.300
Things happen, right?
17:01.300 --> 17:01.880
We get sick.
17:01.880 --> 17:02.400
We have...
17:02.880 --> 17:04.140
Babies, all the things.
17:04.140 --> 17:07.380
A strategic re-air lets you stay consistent without recording a new episode.
17:08.070 --> 17:09.080
So it's...
17:09.280 --> 17:10.780
So valuable to do this.
17:11.390 --> 17:12.810
Lastly, seasonal relevance.
17:12.810 --> 17:16.340
So maybe you did an incredible episode of,
17:16.800 --> 17:18.880
on Q4 planning last year.
17:19.170 --> 17:23.050
re-air it when Q4 rolls around again. The content is evergreen.
17:23.200 --> 17:29.020
Your new listeners haven't heard it and your lawyer listers might appreciate hearing that again, right?
17:29.670 --> 17:35.290
So the key here is that you're not just republishing an old episode and hoping nobody notices like
17:35.290 --> 17:36.050
being secretive.
17:36.050 --> 17:37.650
You're being intentional about it.
17:37.650 --> 17:38.580
You're framing it.
17:38.980 --> 17:40.220
updating the CTA
17:40.580 --> 17:43.830
You're choosing to reshare it in a moment that makes strategic sense for your business.
17:44.640 --> 17:49.110
All right, my last point that I want to share is creating a curated listening path.
17:49.470 --> 17:49.710
Okay.
17:50.660 --> 17:56.520
So I personally love this. I think it's really powerful and I think it's,
17:56.930 --> 17:57.840
amazing.
17:58.180 --> 18:01.610
if you are in a launch or planning out a launch.
18:01.610 --> 18:03.350
So I want you to think about your back catalog
18:03.350 --> 18:04.850
as almost a sales tool.
18:05.110 --> 18:07.180
in a really strategic, intentional way.
18:07.180 --> 18:08.260
So here's what I mean.
18:08.450 --> 18:13.840
Let's say you have an offer, maybe it's a course or a coaching program, a membership, whatever.
18:14.020 --> 18:20.200
And that offer solves a specific set of problems for your audience. Well, chances are you have had
18:20.390 --> 18:27.550
multiple episodes in your catalog that address those exact same problems, right? You've probably been teaching
18:27.910 --> 18:33.600
those topics for months, maybe years. So what if you created a curated listening path?
18:33.990 --> 18:36.830
So a sequence of, let's say, three to five episodes
18:37.190 --> 18:40.010
that you recommend people listen to in order
18:40.340 --> 18:42.730
or before they buy your thing.
18:43.070 --> 18:44.490
So let me explain a little bit more.
18:44.490 --> 18:47.270
It would probably look or go a little bit like this.
18:47.270 --> 18:49.290
So let's say episode one is like,
18:49.440 --> 18:50.540
the awareness episode.
18:50.540 --> 18:51.980
This is where...
18:52.160 --> 18:53.960
they realize they have the problem, right?
18:53.960 --> 18:54.850
You call it out.
18:55.010 --> 18:57.290
You offer the problem that your offer solves.
18:57.290 --> 18:59.310
Episode two is a deeper dive.
18:59.310 --> 19:02.360
This is where they start to understand why they have the problem,
19:02.530 --> 19:05.050
What's been keeping them stuck? All of that stuff.
19:05.590 --> 19:06.380
Episode 3.
19:06.820 --> 19:07.240
So,
19:07.430 --> 19:09.630
This is the kind of here's what's possible episode.
19:09.630 --> 19:13.600
Maybe this is like a client interview or a case study, something like that.
19:13.600 --> 19:18.430
Episode four is a strategic episode where you're going to give them a quick
19:18.660 --> 19:22.700
win, something they can implement right away that gives them a taste
19:22.910 --> 19:24.990
of what your full offer delivers.
19:25.190 --> 19:27.580
And then the last one is going to be the CTA episode.
19:27.580 --> 19:31.070
And this is where you share your offer and invite them in.
19:31.550 --> 19:32.970
So here's the cool thing.
19:33.340 --> 19:35.150
you can literally mix and match.
19:35.150 --> 19:39.070
Maybe you have episodes that fit really well in here from your back catalog, but
19:39.780 --> 19:43.940
mixed with some that you have to record new. For instance, you might need to record the CTA
19:43.940 --> 19:51.080
episode new, right? But the sequence is really valuable. So now imagine, okay, you've created
19:51.080 --> 19:55.380
this, you've crafted it, you've put them together. Now imagine that you put this maybe on your sales
19:55.380 --> 19:55.830
page.
19:56.550 --> 20:02.050
Or you send it out in an email, welcome sequence, or
20:02.400 --> 20:11.420
You can DM a lead saying, hey, if you're curious about working together, I actually have a curated playlist of episodes that will give you a great sense of what we do.
20:11.580 --> 20:12.470
I want you to start here.
20:13.410 --> 20:16.930
Anytime that we can send a listener or an ideal
20:17.080 --> 20:18.970
a potential customer,
20:19.170 --> 20:23.810
episodes to help them kind of like move across the bridge, get off the fence, get
20:24.000 --> 20:27.400
Anytime we can do that to support them in saying yes,
20:27.680 --> 20:31.260
Do it. It's content you've already created and you know it's good.
20:31.780 --> 20:36.300
It's going to give them so much more information than even hopping on a one-on, like a consultation
20:36.300 --> 20:37.040
call, right?
20:37.040 --> 20:39.940
Because by the time they get to the offer, they already trust you.
20:40.320 --> 20:43.440
They've been listening to you for hours and they feel like they know you.
20:44.320 --> 20:46.240
You could literally do this
20:46.840 --> 20:49.290
There's a few ways you could do it as an opt-in, right?
20:49.570 --> 20:52.030
So you could almost do it as like a bundle, the bundles I teach.
20:52.550 --> 20:56.190
you could re-release Fresh on Your Podcast.
20:56.340 --> 20:59.030
You could do it as a private podcast as well.
20:59.030 --> 21:00.930
So there's different ways that you could go about that.
21:01.920 --> 21:03.090
Okay, so...
21:03.300 --> 21:04.220
That is part one.
21:04.220 --> 21:05.780
We're going to dive in more next time,
21:05.780 --> 21:08.000
but let's recap what we've covered today
21:08.000 --> 21:10.080
because I know I just threw a lot at you,
21:10.080 --> 21:11.090
probably a lot to think about.
21:11.090 --> 21:13.500
But step one, I want you to audit your catalog.
21:14.240 --> 21:16.740
Get to know your top performers, your underperformers,
21:16.740 --> 21:17.800
notice patterns.
21:18.150 --> 21:23.810
Number two, optimize your underperforming episodes by reworking the titles, descriptions, keywords,
21:23.970 --> 21:24.450
all that.
21:25.060 --> 21:27.180
Three, update your show notes on your website.
21:27.750 --> 21:28.810
internal links,
21:28.960 --> 21:31.020
This is our SEO boost, right?
21:31.300 --> 21:33.560
Four, use strategic re-heirs.
21:34.050 --> 21:37.250
to bring back that content at the right intentional time.
21:37.790 --> 21:38.450
Lastly,
21:38.790 --> 21:42.270
consider creating a curated listing path that can help
21:42.560 --> 21:46.280
Bring your listeners through your back catalog into your sales funnel.
21:46.560 --> 21:47.320
And over to your offer.
21:48.510 --> 21:48.970
Okay.
21:49.190 --> 21:52.830
Here's what I want you to do before part two drops, which you have two weeks. So
21:53.250 --> 21:55.870
So you have some time, but go do that audit.
21:56.070 --> 21:58.630
Pull up your analytics, find the top 10, bottom 10,
21:58.850 --> 22:00.390
look for patterns, all that.
22:00.550 --> 22:01.210
Because...
22:01.540 --> 22:06.420
In two weeks, we're taking everything you've uncovered and we're going to turn it into some
22:06.420 --> 22:11.980
creative, really fun things. We're going to talk more about podcast bundles and quizzes,
22:11.980 --> 22:14.800
maybe a podcast, a private podcast experience, freebies.
22:15.140 --> 22:15.780
more.
22:16.030 --> 22:19.270
And you're going to need to know what we're working with
22:19.750 --> 22:23.810
to really make the most of that content and the things I'm going to teach.
22:24.770 --> 22:29.110
All right. So if this episode was helpful, I would love, love, love if you could share it with other
22:29.110 --> 22:35.270
podcasters. Um, maybe they have a back catalog that's collecting dust as well. Uh, so go ahead,
22:35.270 --> 22:40.890
send it over there. Um, go ahead, share it on Instagram, wherever, send me a DM. Let me know
22:40.890 --> 22:46.590
how you've loved it. I will be probably stungling my new baby around this time. So, um,
22:47.010 --> 22:52.110
Well, maybe, who knows, uh, who knows when baby's going to show up, but, um, I always
22:52.110 --> 22:53.150
still love hearing from you.
22:53.150 --> 22:54.670
I'll just be a little bit slower at responding.
22:54.670 --> 22:59.010
So, all right, go dive into those analytics, have some fun with this and I will see you
22:59.300 --> 23:00.960
In two weeks for part two...
23:01.380 --> 23:04.840
and we'll dive in. It's going to be a good one. So I'll talk to you soon. Thanks so much.
23:05.730 --> 23:06.370
Bye.
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