Influential Introvert: Communication Coaching for Professionals with Performance Anxiety - Content Calendars: Plan Your Podcast As If Writing a Book

Starting point is 00:00:00 Turning your podcast into a book is one way that you can monetize your show, so why not plan for that from the very beginning? In today's episode, I will talk about how you can map out an entire year's worth of podcast content in just one hour. And then that can be repurposed into blogs, social media posts, books, and more. Have you been wanting to start a podcast for a while now, but something's holding you back? Maybe it's fear of putting yourself out there or confusion about the technology. I'm Sarah Mikital and on podcasting step by step, I'll break down how to podcast with a little loving motivation to give you the skills and the confidence you need to finally launch that show of your dreams. Let's get started.

Starting point is 00:00:48 Most podcasters quit after less than 10 episodes. Why? Because podcasting has a lot of moving parts. We're recording, interviewing, editing, publishing, promoting, and that is just for one episode. and then all of a sudden it's time for the next one and this hamster wheel feeling creeps up on us. But we can overcome this overwhelm and maintain control of our shows just with a bit of planning. So here's what you need to do in four steps. Step one, make time for editorial planning.

Starting point is 00:01:19 So make sure that you block off specific time an hour or two for content calendar creation. Step two, brainstorm episode ideas. spend 15 minutes writing episode ideas for your podcast, at least enough or four months' worth of content, try for the year. Imagine that you are writing a book related to your podcast. On a piece of paper, write down your podcast title and category in the center of the paper, and then draw lines radiating out from the center, and at the end of these lines, write down chapter names. So what chapters need to be in this book? These will be your podcast themes. Then at the end of each theme or chapter, create little branches or offshoots and those will be your episode ideas. So for each chapter, you're going to have a few different episode ideas based on the theme. And don't censor yourself or overthink things. Just write down whatever pops into your mind.

Starting point is 00:02:16 You can make changes to this later. You want to be thinking about your ideal listener. Where are they right now in life? How can you take them to the next level? Write down whatever comes to your mind without overthrith. thinking. And also, consider important dates. Do you have any product launches planned that you need to create special content for, maybe special episodes that you want to lead up to the launch? And then, are there any holidays or seasonal themes that you want to build an episode around? And then in step three,

Starting point is 00:02:46 you're going to be validating these content ideas. Once you have your list of episodes, validate your ideas and come up with even more by finding out what your ideal listener is searching for online. Take your episode idea titles and search for them on Google. Once you put in the search and hit return, you're going to see the most popular content on Google. And Google is also going to reference related questions people have to what you just searched for. And it's also going to show you related searches at the bottom. And these make great episode titles because you already know that this is what people are searching for online. Google is telling you this is what people are searching for. Also, study the titles of the page one Google posts.

Starting point is 00:03:33 Who showed up first? What is their title? What makes them attractive? What do all of these titles have in common? And what sets them apart? Then check out AnswerThepublic.com. This is a tool that you can use to discover what people are looking for online. And then another great free tool that I really like is called Uber Suggest, which lets you research

Starting point is 00:03:54 keywords, content ideas. And it also tells you what's working best. for your competitors on their websites, and this is free. There's another website called BuzzSumo, and I think Neil Patel, the guy who created Uber Suggest, was like, you know what, I'm just going to create this free tool that people can use, which is really good, and then it just drives traffic to his website. So take advantage of it. It's called Uber Suggest. I will link to it in this show notes. And with Uber Suggest, you can also check how competitive it would be to rank in Google for the keyword phrases that you found on Answer the Public. You'll also want to check out online forums like

Starting point is 00:04:33 Facebook groups, LinkedIn, Quora, Reddit, and write down your ideal listeners burning questions. Often the same questions come up again and again in these forums. So make a list of them and answer them on your show. Also, participate in these groups. Answer questions that people have, and when it's appropriate, you can share your own content if it will help people out and it seems like it's allowed. It should be allowed, actually. So be careful about linking to anything in Reddit. Those users are famous for just hating on anything that even hints on self-promotion, even if it's sharing content that addresses the questions being asked. So just be wary of that. And step four, organize your episodes in a spreadsheet. After you spend 30 to 45 minutes on your

Starting point is 00:05:19 research, flesh out your ideas for podcast episodes. What order should they be in and keep track of these episode ideas in a spreadsheet, along with a column for your themes and also the dates that you want to publish. If you plan on interviewing people, you can also add columns for guest information, but the episode idea has to come first. Then you can go and find the people who can best speak to the topics that you came up with. As new episode ideas pop into your head, write them down and then add them to your spreadsheet later. And you know what, sometimes there's breaking news. This is just a guideline for you. So it's really great to have this structure.

Starting point is 00:05:58 But if something comes up and you want to cover it, maybe you go to a conference randomly and you really want to cover that, that's totally fine. But having this outline is really going to save your headspace. So you can always make adjustments to your content calendar, also known as an editorial calendar, and you can do a weekly or a monthly check-in to see if your content and the order you're putting it in still makes sense.

Starting point is 00:06:23 Finally, you are podcasting for your audience, but also for you. So you're creating content they want and need, but you also need to be interested in the content yourself. So what conversations do you want to have? Who do you want to talk to and build relationships with? Remember this as you're putting together your content calendar, which can also double as the outline for your book. Have you joined the podcasting step-by-step Facebook group yet? If you are a kind and curious, your soul, interested in building your brand, connecting to your community, and growing your influence through the power of podcasting, you are welcome to join us. Come on over and say hello, ask some questions. I would love to get to know you better over there. Thank you for listening to podcasting step by step. You are now one step closer to launching that podcast you've been dreaming about, but I want to get you even closer. I created a free guidebook for you with actionable worksheets called Eight Mistakes New Podcasters Make and How to Fix Them. To find that, head on over to sarah micotel.com slash fix. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot?

Starting point is 00:07:40 I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahmicatel.com slash blank no more.

Influential Introvert: Communication Coaching for Professionals with Performance Anxiety - Content Calendars: Plan Your Podcast As If Writing a Book

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