AP 0081: How Do I Get on Other Podcasts as a Guest? Do You Use Keywords in Your Podcast Titles?

AskPat 81 Episode Transcript

Pat Flynn: Hey, what's up everybody? Pat Flynn here, and welcome to Episode 81 of AskPat. Thank you so much for listening in.

And hey, if you are interested in starting your own podcast, just like AskPat—I have two other ones actually beyond this one—head on over to PodcastingTutorial.com. That is a redirect link to my own free, 100 percent completely free resource to help you start your own podcast from scratch. Everything from what mic to use, to what software to use, tips for recording, six complete videos . . . It's helped hundreds of people get started and I know it'll help you get started too. So again, that's PodcastingTutorial.com.

And speaking of podcasts, today's question—actually two questions, it's a two-parter—comes in from Jake. So let's hear from Jake, right now.

Jake: Hey Pat, my name is Jacob Nawrocki. I own a podcast blog and video series called Operation Self Reset: Changing The Person You Are to That Person You Want to Become. My question for you today is about podcasting. I love podcasting and I know you do too. That's why you have two of them! But I want to get more downloads, and I know the best way to get more downloads when it comes to podcasting is to be on other people's podcasts. You know, guest blogging on other sites and stuff like that.

The question, though, I really have is this, is how do I reach out to people and get on their podcasts without sounding sales pitch-y? Without being arrogant and cocky, and like “Hey, I know everything, you've gotta get me on. I'm the man!” You know, I don't have a book, I'm not a huge authority in this yet, but I feel my story and my passion and my tactics have helped so many people, and I would just love to extend my reach. And I'm curious on what would be your approach to doing this.

And a second part to the podcasting: In your titles, do you use keywords to draw more back-linking and to get search rank optimization through podcasting?

Pat, you're awesome, man. I thank you so much for everything you do. Zig Ziglar has said “The more you give, the more you shall receive.” And you are doing that, and you are a true icon when it comes to giving, man. So I appreciate you, and I can't wait to hear your answer, and will talk to you soon.

Pat Flynn: Hey, Jake, thank you so much for your question, and just your awesome support. I really appreciate that. Now to answer your first question, how do you get on other podcasts as a guest? Well, let's think about the type of people who are guests on podcasts. Let's take my podcasts, for example. A lot of times the people who I invite on my show are people who are experts, who are able to provide information and case studies and stories and data, and helpful advice beyond what I could do on my own. So that's why I have them on as guests, because I couldn't say or provide that information on my own.

So what you have to do, is you have to find these—you know, before anything, before any of this advice will pertain to you—you have to find the podcasts that would benefit you as a guest. So you would have to see what matches your target audience. What other podcasts out there have the same target audience as you, or who do you want to get in front of? So find that out first, and then when it comes to that, find out what you could provide that that other person isn't yet providing. Because you don't want to come on and just double up the same information that they're sharing. You want to come on and provide something more. So this is even before contacting those owners, you want to make sure that you understand what it is that you could provide that they can't themselves, and again, making sure that you have their audience's best interests in mind, and again, it works twofold because that's also going to be your audience hopefully, if you get to draw those people in back to your own show, or your own blog, or whatever properties that you may have and want to promote on those shows as a guest.

Now, other guests that I have on: I don't just have experts, and to be honest the more popular shows are the ones where I don't have experts on, but where I have somebody who has taken my advice, used it, and has done really well with it. So these are people who I am more than happy to share because they're obviously doing really well, but they're also doing really well because of the advice that I've shared. So that approach is, okay, you find these people who you want to get in front of, or other podcasters who you want to get a hold of and get in front of their audience. Well, take some of their advice and use it, or follow their examples, or do something that they are telling their audience to do, do it, and then go ahead and email them and tell them how much that you've been helped and how much you've taken action and that you'd be willing to share your story. More than likely, if you were to share that story and talk about that—which is a benefit for them because they're showing how someone has taken their advice, used it, and become successful from it—you're more than likely going to be able to, if it aligns, promote your own stuff that way as well. Success stories are always good, and you know, I have a lot of guests on my show who don't necessarily use all of my advice, they've become successful on their own, and those are very high-value shows for my listeners. So if you can become one of those high-value shows, I think no matter what the case may be, whether you're an expert or even somebody who is not really an expert but somebody who's put practices into place from these podcasters, you are valuable to their audience, and that's what's most important.

And from that point forward, you have something to offer when you email these people. And I think the important thing is to perhaps communicate with them even before you email them. If you email them and say, “Hey, I want to be a guest on your show,” you're likely to get turned down, unless you have those connections between taking their advice already. I mean, that raises people's attention to what you have to offer, or maybe you've communicated with them beforehand, for example, on Facebook or on Twitter. I love using Twitter as a way to communicate, and sort of warm a person up before I request something from them in the future. And again, you just want to use common sense as well, when you're emailing these people who have large audiences who are podcasters. Of course you want to thank them for what they do, you want to maybe mention something that proves that you listen to the show as well, so it's not just looking like a canned sort of email that you send to everybody, but it's a personalized email sent to that specific person, and then again mentioning that you had contacted each other perhaps on Twitter; that's always what actually gets my attention. “Hey, we've talked before, remember you helped me out this way, thank you so much, oh and I love that episode that you did the other day. Well, I have a really quick question to ask you, I had something that I could provide for your audience, if you'd be willing to have me on your show. Here's what I could do. No pressure at all, if it doesn't seem like a fit, that's totally fine. I'm still going to listen to your show.” That's what always works for me.

Actually, just a couple weeks ago, there was a woman named Christina Canters, over at DesignDrawSpeak.com, who sent me a message on Twitter with a link to a YouTube video, saying “Hey, I created this for you, what do you think?” And I watched the YouTube video, and it was a request to come on her show as a guest. And the really cool thing was that she did this video, and it was personalized, but she also did a rap. And I know it sounds kind of corny, but it was awesome! Like, it totally blew me away, it held my attention for two minutes and I was like, bumping my head, because it was actually pretty well done. You can actually go watch that video right now, if you go to DesignDrawSpeak.com/025, that's the episode that came out with me as a guest, because I said yes! How could I not say yes to that? And now, probably, I'm going to get a lot more of those videos, but you'll see that video there, and that is a great example of going out of the way to do something unique to get somebody's attention. And not just to say, “Hey, come on my podcast,” but to provide value and entertainment and just do it in a way that not everybody else is doing it. Because a lot of people are probably emailing these same podcasters to get on their show, you're going to need to do something to stand out, and you know, when people see your face and—you don't have to do a rap or say a poem or anything like that, I mean that's pretty cool, but that's not everybody's cup of tea. I think just a personalized video saying “Hey, I love what you do, I would love to be a guest on your podcast.” I mean, just being honest, completely and up front about it, right?

You want to tell them that you want to be a guest, but also again, make sure you have their audience's best interests in mind. Because if they're a podcaster that cares about their audience—which is what I hope, you want to be on those types of shows, with podcasters who care about their audience—if you address their audience then they're going to be more likely to pay attention and understand the value that you have to provide.

So that's how I would go about doing it. You know, warming up that relationship before you cold email, and again making sure either that you know you can provide something that they can't to their audience, and/or having a success story to go along with it, whether or not that's from the information that they are sharing on their podcast or not. Again, making sure to bring some value to their audience. And then if you can ask in a creative way or even just a video is fine, them seeing your face and building that relationship there will go a very, very long way.

Now, to answer your second question Jake, do I use keywords in my podcast titles? Yes I do. I mean, I definitely have keywords in the title of my podcast. If you go to iTunes or Stitcher, you'll see right there in the name of my podcast, it's The Smart Passive Income Podcast: online business, blogging, passive income, Pat Flynn. I even have keywords in the host name. It's “Pat Flynn: Online Entrepreneur, Business Strategist, and Blogger.” And actually, I am ranking for those keywords. Like, if you look up “blogging” in iTunes, Smart Passive Income Podcast is number one which is pretty cool. But I also use keywords in the details or the description of the show, which is really important. And I make sure to interweave them into natural-sounding sentences because yes, you want to write for the search engine so that you can be found, and the algorithms work in your favor. But none of that matters if a human being cannot read those things as well. So you want to make sure that you are writing not only for search engines, but more importantly for the people, the human beings that will be reading the description. And that's why using keywords is important, but you don't want to keyword-stuff and make things look nonhuman and just robotic. That's never going to help you, because okay, maybe you rank number one for certain keywords, but when people land on your page—this is whether it's a blog or a podcast or a video—if the description doesn't make sense and it's obvious that you're just trying to game the system, you know, what does that say about you and what you're trying to do?

So, that's my first advice. But also what's important, and perhaps maybe this is what you were originally thinking about, is the specific titles of each of the episodes. And yes, I make sure I do what I can to, again in a natural way, include keywords, if relevant, in the titles of each podcast episode. Because when people search for things on iTunes or on Stitcher, not only does the name of the show come up in as part of the search result, but there is a section, at least on iTunes, for podcast episodes that match those keywords. And so it's really important to have keywords in there if it makes sense. Now, again, you don't want to keyword-stuff, and also, you want to make sure that you create nice-looking headlines or titles that are enticing, that provoke curiosity, so that people do click and listen through. And, of course, you've gotta make sure within that first minute, that you do make sure that people understand that that is what they should be listening to for the next X number of minutes. Because that's how much time you have until they leave.

So, I hope that answers your question, Jake. Yes I do use keywords but I use them strategically, and I don't force them, but I do integrate them into the titles of my posts and my podcasts when it makes sense. And that's it. So Jake, thank you so much for your question, I really appreciate it. A VA will be in contact with you very soon so you can get hooked up with an AskPat t-shirt. If any of you out there listening have a question that you'd like featured here on the show, just head on over to AskPat.com. And of course, reviews and ratings on iTunes are drastically and tremendously appreciated. And that's it! Thank you so much.

Oh, and don't forget, if you want to start a podcast of your own, and I hope you do, because podcasting has changed my business, and also my life, head on over to PodcastingTutorial.com. I mean, I'm a little biased, but I think it's one of the best, or the best, free tutorial that you can use to get started, and get started the right way. So thank you so much, I really appreciate it. And of course, I always end with a quote. And today's quote comes from Albert Einstein. And that is “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” Thanks so much and I'll see you in the next episode of AskPat.