AP 0809: Should I Create Show Notes, Why, and What Resources Can I Use to Manage My Show Notes?

AskPat 809 Episode Transcript

Pat Flynn: Hey, what's up everybody? Pat Flynn here. Welcome to Episode 809 of AskPat. Thank you so much for joining me today. As always, I'm here to help you by answering your online business questions, five days a week.

We have a great question today from Bill, but before we get to that I do want to thank today's sponsor, which is Design Crowd. Real quick, if you are trying to figure out how to get your logo, website, or business cards designed, you can connect with different creative minds from all around the world with Design Crowd. Design Crowd is a website that helps businesses crowd-source custom graphics from over half of a million designers worldwide. Whether you're a dentist, accountant, DJ, or whatever, you can get the perfect design every single time or your money back.

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Now, here is today's question from Bill.

Bill: Hi, Pat. This is Bill from podcastbyfriday.com and I was looking at your website. Love your podcasts by the way. You often talk about show notes for each episode. As I looked at your website, I noticed that you didn't have a menu or a tab for show notes. My question was, have you looked at how many people actually use your show notes? I know you like to measure and track things. Do you really get traffic from them, or could you just skip them if you wanted to? Also, what resources do you use to make show notes easier to manage? Thanks for everything you do, Pat.

Pat Flynn: Hey, Bill. Thank you so much for the question. My show notes—I have show notes for every episode. For smartpassiveincome.com/session240, for example, if you go there, you'll see the audio for session 240. Underneath that you're going to see the show notes, which has a little bit of a summary of what that show's about, the links to the links that were mentioned in that episode, and links to the person who's my guest, and other important information about that episode. It'll also include downloads for things like the transcript and anything else that was relevant related to that particular episode.

So, there isn't necessarily a tab for the show notes, but there is the directory for the podcast episodes which each have their respective show notes in them, or underneath them. That's how the show notes work.

I also know that they are highly attractive to people because people go to those episodes after they listen to the show because we track that using a link. At the end of every episode, for example. . . I even said it earlier, for example, you can go to smartpassiveincome.com/session240. That'll take you to the show notes where, again, that audio is hosted, but all those important links, that information is there. Those are being used quite often. I know that those are being used specifically from people who want the show notes. The show notes are really attractive to people because they don't want to have to sit and take notes the whole time. They want to get information and all the links all in one spot for them. That's really helpful. I do know that it is being used.

In terms of skipping them, I wouldn't do that. Not just because it's not good for the listener who wants more information and perhaps lands on that page and before listening to your audio wants to know what that episode is about. That is another thing. You're going to lose the search engine optimization. The show notes is a great way for Google to understand what is in that audio file. That's really important to understand. Keeping track of what are the primary keywords of that episode. Not only that, you're going to get long-tail keyword traffic as well. That's something I would really, really pay attention to, just to make sure you do. The shows, they don't have to be very extensive. I know some people who go way crazy with them which is great too. They're going to get even more engagement. They're going to be almost seen as articles, not just show notes but actual articles or blog posts. Really valuable content on top of their podcast episodes. You can do it that way too.

If it's something that's holding you back, don't let it. I would just go with the bare minimum, which I would say include the links because that's very attractive, and also just summaries and things related to that episode. Links to the guests and any websites that they have as well. That's going to make Google understand that this is a relevant page to that topic. Also help people who are there actually reading that know where they're at and understand what they have to look forward to if they haven't yet listened to that episode. Or, it'll serve as a reminder for people who have listened to that episode as well.

Another thing you can do is you can have people do the show notes for you. I know there are a number of people who do this for a living. There's also people on sites like upwork.com who will listen to your episodes whether they've come out already, or they're coming out in the future, and then create show notes for them. Some even putting them into HTML format so you literally just have to copy and paste them in, which is really handy. Obviously, you'll have to pay for that, but it might be worth that effort.

Anyway, Bill, thank you so much for the question. I hope this helps and gives you an idea of what's going on in my end of the business related to show notes. I would really encourage everybody who's podcasting to create them. Bill, thanks so much. I want to send you an AskPat t-shirt for having your question featured here on the show. For those of you listening, if you have a question that you'd like potentially featured here on the show, just head on over to askpat.com. You can ask right there on that page.

Thank you so much. I appreciate you. Here is a quote to finish off the day by Jacques Ellul. That is, “The fact of knowing how to read is nothing. The whole point is knowing what to read.” Here, here.

Speaking of reading, next week I'm coming out with my brand new course, Smart from Scratch, where you can read, watch, and listen to all the content that I have to help you get business started off on the right foot for you. If you're just starting from scratch and you want to get started the right way, the smart way, head on over to smartfromscratch.com. It opens up next week. You can sign up for the waitlist there and get first access to it. Really excited for all the brand-new students who are going to be coming in. Thank you so much in advance. Again, that's smartfromscratch.com. I'll see you there. I'll see you next week in the next episode of AskPat. Bye.