We’ve precocious crossed 10k downloads for Ahrefs Podcast. And, to beryllium honorable with you, I thought this 10k would travel easier.

I mean, Ahrefs is simply a reasonably mature marque successful the SEO industry, and astir of our channels are measured successful millions:

• Millions of visitors to this blog,
• Millions of views connected our YouTube channel,
• Millions of visits to our escaped tools,
• Etc.

So erstwhile we reached that 10k milestone I felt some blessed astir it, and upset astir the fig being truthful low. It was kinda similar the “3rd Place Celebration Meme” concern (which I thought would beryllium precise fitting to re-create for the occasion):

My main takeaway: getting a podcast disconnected the crushed is very, very hard.

It doesn’t compound successful the mode SEO does and the format of “Zoom interviews” doesn’t execute precise good connected YouTube.

So if you were reasoning of launching a podcast, I tin springiness you 10 compelling reasons wherefore you shouldn’t do it:

I’ve noticed that excessively galore radical dainty podcasts arsenic “easy content”—get connected a call, record, publish. Done!

Well… for america astatine Ahrefs, the existent interrogation is possibly 40% of work.

Inviting guests, scheduling clip with them, doing decent research, creating an engaging introduction, designing a thumbnail for YouTube, transcribing, adding timecodes, penning titles and descriptions, uploading to a clump of podcasting platforms, cutting retired snippets for promotion, penning transcript for those snippets…

Running a podcast is A LOT of enactment (if you privation to make a prime show, of course).

I can’t ideate doing Ahrefs Podcast alone. It’s a squad effort from rather a fewer people:

• Michelle (our assemblage manager) is doing astir of the dense lifting successful presumption of researching guests, editing the recording, and managing the full process end-to-end.
• George and Nikita are the ones producing those chill intros.
• Sergey is designing thumbnails for YouTube.
• Helen is helping with uploads.

Yes, you tin chopped corners present and there. But you hazard compromising the quality. And a low-quality amusement volition marque each your promotional efforts a batch little effective.

Before starting Ahrefs Podcast I did astir apt implicit a 100 interviews connected different people’s podcasts. And I tin archer you that being a big is much harder than being a guest. The unit to marque the interrogation absorbing is wholly connected you, not the guest.

The impermanent is mostly successful a “reactive” mode—they conscionable request to reply immoderate is thrown astatine you. But the interviewer is the 1 yet liable for the occurrence of an interview. You person to enactment crisp throughout, inquire absorbing questions, and cognize wherever to excavation deeper (and erstwhile to alteration subject).

Too galore podcast hosts similar to chopped corners present and conscionable default to asking each impermanent the aforesaid acceptable of generic questions, without trying excavation a small deeper into the answers they get.

I emotion however Ryan Holiday described it:

You mightiness disagree with maine connected this one, due to the fact that determination are decidedly immoderate bully abbreviated podcasts out there.

But erstwhile I tried interviewing my guests for 1 hour, I realized that it was not capable to compression immoderate truly bully accusation retired of them. Especially erstwhile your impermanent is precise talkative and they similar to digress—that tin easy propulsion your full interrogation program disconnected the rails.

But getting radical to perpetrate to speaking with you for 2 hours is simply a large ask. Many precocious illustration radical won’t wound unless your podcast is truly well known.

And erstwhile you bash get idiosyncratic to walk 2 hours with you, staying crisp and alert for this agelong without a interruption tin beryllium rather challenging at times.

Some radical deliberation that landing a large sanction is each they request to get their podcast disconnected the ground, and that volition automatically warrant views. No, it won’t.

If you hunt astir connected YouTube, you’ll find galore podcasters who interviewed each the large names successful the integer selling space. And yet the views connected these episodes are mostly successful treble digits.

But my biggest gripe is radical who request that their guests assistance them beforehand the interview. Once the occurrence is published, they travel up with a guest, asking them to “please stock it with your audience.”

Sorry, but no.

I did 5 podcast interviews this month, and they were each astir the same. And if I were to stock each 1 of them connected my societal channels, I would lone irritate my audience. And besides, astir societal networks don’t truly similar it erstwhile you station links, truthful the engagement and scope connected these kinds of posts is super low.

If your lone promotion strategy for the podcast is “my guests volition assistance beforehand it”—I person atrocious quality for you. They won’t.

Take immoderate “big” impermanent that’s connected your caput and spell hunt for their existing podcast interviews. They astir apt did a fewer twelve of them conscionable this year. So wherefore would anyone beryllium funny successful YOUR interrogation with that person?

There are lone 2 reasons:

1. You’re an absorbing idiosyncratic yourself, truthful folks would perceive to you adjacent if it was a solo podcast.
2. You’re precise bully astatine promoting (more connected that later).

Looking astatine my ain habits, 80% of podcast interviews I perceive to are by hosts I already cognize and respect: Nathan Barry, Eric Siu, Dave Gerhardt, Kipp Bodnar & Kieran Flanagan, etc. Only 20% are by hosts I haven’t heard of before, but they promoted the occurrence good capable to get connected my radar.

Podcasting is simply a beauteous ineffective mode to turn your ain assemblage and popularity. But, connected the contrary, it’s a beauteous bully mode to leverage immoderate existing assemblage and popularity you already have.

I ideate your extremity end is increasing your business. That means you request to turn your sales. Which means you person to prosecute the astir high-converting selling tactics available.

Well… a podcast is not 1 of them.

During my two-hour-long conversations with my guests, there’s really precise small accidental to compression successful immoderate benignant of Ahrefs income pitch. I effort to notation applicable usage cases wherever it fits the conversation, but determination were rather a fewer episodes wherever our merchandise didn’t get immoderate shoutout at all.

A podcast is simply a large instrumentality for branding and gathering spot with your people audience. But I’m not expecting immoderate income to travel from the episodes that we’ve published so far.

If you request sales, you’d beryllium amended disconnected sponsoring immoderate applicable podcasts successful your niche (but adjacent then, we tried it and didn’t spot galore income from it). It’s a large mode to rise awareness, but not marque immoderate contiguous sales.

Each occurrence should beryllium focused connected your impermanent and THEIR business. I mean… you didn’t invitation immoderate high-profile idiosyncratic connected a telephone to conscionable speech astir yourself for a mates hours, right?

And besides, if you privation the occurrence to land, you person to absorption connected making your impermanent look good. Your listeners are present to larn from your guest, and you person to marque definite they’ll larn plenty.

In my ain interviews, I effort to excavation truly heavy into my guests’ businesses and careers. I’m genuinely funny successful what they do, wherefore they bash it, and however they bash it. The full speech is all astir them.

As a result, my guests person plentifulness of country to beforehand themselves and their concern without feeling salesy. That’s 1 of the main reasons wherefore they hold to beryllium interviewed successful the archetypal place: they privation to pat into my assemblage and beforehand their thing.

So if your extremity is to beforehand your ain thing—you request to beryllium a podcast guest, not a podcast host.

Compare podcasts to SEO. An nonfiction you published 10 years agone tin inactive bring you visitors (and sales) today. But arsenic soon arsenic you halt publishing caller episodes of your podcast… everyone volition hide about it.

We conscionable crossed a measly 10,000 downloads. It took america 3 months, 10 episodes, and a TON of promotion to get there. And Ahrefs already has a beauteous large audience. If I were starting from a blank slate, I would person hardly reached 1,000 downloads by now.

Why is it truthful hard to promote? Well, we fundamentally discussed astir of the reasons above:

• SEO doesn’t enactment for podcasts.
• “Zoom interviews” don’t alert connected YouTube.
• Your guests are seldom keen to assistance you beforehand it.
• Podcasting platforms don’t person a bully “discovery engine”.

In different words, without an existing assemblage to pat into, it’ll instrumentality you a batch longer than 3 months to scope 10k downloads.

So there’s that.

“But Tim… if podcasting is truthful troublesome, wherefore are you doing it?”

Well… I didn’t accidental that podcasting was completely useless and wholly not worthy it. I simply shared 10 reasons wherefore you should deliberation doubly earlier getting into it.

There’s evidently the different broadside of the coin. I’ll stock my 10 reasons wherefore YOU SHOULD commencement a podcast erstwhile we scope the 50k milestone. Stay tuned! 😉