This is a work in progress and I’ll add stuff as I go.

Contribute to Radio Stations

In the Minneapolis/Saint Paul where I live, KFAI is a community radio station. I’ve never looked into having my own show, but I have contributed podcast episodes to the Wave Project where they have a rotating host every week. Later, at the Minnesota State Fair where AMPERS had a booth, I realized that KFAI was part of a network of low-powered stations around the state. In 2015 these stations were apparently enjoying a resurgence with minority voices trying to find a platform. So it’s possible that I could offer my show to these other stations or work through AMPERS. You never know, they might have the occasional slot to fill. Coincidentally, when I was in college I had a show at KUMM in Morris, MN. I did it with a friend. The show was bad or at least I was. In the middle of reading the news, something would strike me funny and that would be it.

Optimize Your Website

If you have a website for your podcast, there are ways you can optimize it so that people can find it when doing a relevant search. Until now (10/21/2018), I haven’t paid too much attention to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), even though I do think it’s best for podcasters to have and control their own websites.

SEO

To get started, I installed the Yoast SEO plug-in on my WordPress site. That helped me get in the routine of considering where to highlight keywords that people might use in a search.

Also take a look at a series of YouTube videos about SEO on The New Boston channel. You’ll see very quickly why Bucky Roberts is one of my favorite teachers in the YouTube space.

Make Your WordPress Site Faster

After I realized that speed effects a website’s ranking in Google, I started poking around to see what was technically within my grasp to do. I read a few articles and tried a few things that didn’t quite work. Then I found this tutorial on YouTube. There are still some things I can do to improve my site’s speed, but taking the steps outlined in this video got me off to a good start.

Flyers

While I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard anyone recommend flyering as a great way to promote a podcast, I like this old-school approach to reaching people. Even if you don’t have the time to cover every coffee shop and laundromat in your town, what’s the harm in keeping flyers on hand in case you notice a free spot on a community bulletin board? Keeping your flyers small (a quarter page) will make life easier. You could also tape a row of informational pull-off tabs on the bottom. Or try adding a QR code that people can scan.

Depending on the bulletin board, it might be a good idea to post stuff toward the beginning of the month, as boards are sometimes cleared at the end of the month. Putting a posted date can help whoever is maintaining the board know what to keep and what to toss.

Flyer Templates

Quarter-page flyers give you the best chance of finding a spot on a bulletin board. You could also look for a postcard template in whatever software you are using to make it. If you use them, print the tabs separately and tape them on. If you want more tabs, you can tape on multiple layers of them.

• Flyer Tabs (MS Word Doc that you can edit)
• Flyer Tabs (PDF that you can view)
• Quarter page flyer(MS Word Doc that you can edit)
• Quarter page flyer (PDF that you can view)

QR Codes for your Flyer

Do QR codes drive traffic to your website? I don’t know. I have a cheap flip phone. I’m not the audience. But if you want to try it, here are some pitfalls to avoid. To generate a QR code, do a search for “QR code generator” or try this one.