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(By Johnny Peterson) As the host of a podcast, you should always be looking for ways to improve your product. Even the most downloaded shows should seek ways to improve the experience for their listeners.
Whether that’s upgrading your equipment, studio conditions, or the length of your intro, the list is endless. But at what point should you look outside your own circle for critiques to your podcast? The answer is: right now!
You should always look for feedback from others on how you can make your podcast better, but the question today is: Who should you be asking, and what specifically should you be asking for?
For new podcasters who have yet to launch their shows, you should send out a few episodes to people who aren’t “yes-people.” In other words, don’t ask for critical feedback from your mother, we all know she’s going to think it’s perfect and you should keep it the way it is. You should want for people to find flaws in the show. Whether that’s mouth clicks, a hum from the air conditioner, or a thought from the host that is 5 min long but could be condensed to 90 seconds.
The most important feedback you can get is from the people you want to please the most: your listeners! An easy way to funnel feedback to one location is to create a Gmail account for your podcast, and ask listeners to email you with any feedback they may have about the show.
This feedback can be the audio quality, the quality of your guests, or topics they want to see covered in future episodes. You don’t need to necessarily adjust your podcast to every single piece of feedback, but the ones who send you something that make you think “wow that would make the podcast better” are the things you should strongly consider implementing.
Remember, the podcast is your product. You shouldn’t feel like you need to completely change the structure of the show based on one person’s feedback. But you should always be open to the idea that maybe your podcast isn’t perfect, and a new set of eyes and a fresh perspective may be what’s needed to take your podcast to another level.
Johnny Peterson is the CEO and founder of Straight Up Podcasts, providing professional podcast services and consulting. He is also the host of the Pod Logic podcast. You can reach Johnny at johnny@straightuppodcasts.com