🥜 How To Write Titles So Good People Have to Click

It’s been a while, my friend. Luckily, we are back to help you with your show and will do so again every week (on Wednesdays). Here is how it’s going to go down.

Every week, we will send a quick email with tips to help you better run, grow, or monetize your podcast. We will also include a hit-and-miss of the week for podcast social media content. In this, we will provide an example of a content piece that crushed it and one that underperformed, as well as what they could tweak to make it perform better. Lastly, we will provide significant news in the podcasting space (when there is some) to keep you informed. With that out of the way, let’s get Nutty.

In Today’s Email

• How to write better Podcast Titles

• HIT & MISS of the Week

• How to be featured in future Newsletters

How To Write Better Podcast Titles

Podcast titles matter a lot more than you realize. On audio-only platforms, they are the most significant determining factor in whether a listener clicks or not. They also play a role in the episode's discoverability.

A good rule of thumb when writing titles is to capture the most interesting element of the episode to intrigue as many people as possible. When doing this, keep the following in mind

• Be clear, not clever - The more context that is needed to get the point across, the less people are going to feel compelled to click

• Leverage Borrowed Influence - If the episode centers around an influential or controversial person, thing, or event within your niche, make sure to leverage that existing influence to create interest in your episode

• Create an Itch - Open a loop of curiosity or what I call an “itch” that can only be scratched by consuming your content to close that open loop your title created. Examples of this could be making your title a cliffhanger, positioning your episode as the key to a desired transformation, or making it very clear that your episode contains urgent news, information, gossip, etc that you know your audience wants

• Readability - Pay attention to how titles are displayed across different platforms. Be mindful of how many characters are displayed before being cut off, and ensure you keep vital information before that cut-off

Keeping this checklist beside you when writing your episode titles will go a long way in getting more people to commit to consuming your content. Don’t forget that not even your subscribers listen to every episode; you have to give them a reason with a compelling title.

The last thing to keep in mind is the goal of the episode. If this is an evergreen episode you know people will be searching for, be mindful of using keywords in the title to help the platforms put it in front of people searching those words or phrases. DON’T sound like a robot but DO include relevant keywords (words or phrases people will search) in your title in an organic way. It will make more of the right people find it.

HIT & MISS of the Week

Hit

Why it HIT

• They nailed the core desires of their viewers and potential viewers (make a lot of money without managing a ton of people)

• They rode the trend of people wanting to run businesses as Nomads and travel the world

• They shaped the packaging around the outcome rather than the individual. In this situation, making $2.7M as a Nomad is more interesting/desirable than Pieter Levels. It was a great decision to make that the focal point (the largest element in the thumbnail)

This video performed 10x as well as their typical episode and still pulls viewers to their show a year later because they nailed the packaging. That’s the power of content for your podcast.

Miss

Why it MISSED

• The title is way too broad; even people this appeals to won’t know for sure what that means (making them less likely to click)

• There is way too much text in the thumbnail & regurgitating the title. On mobile phones, that text will be nearly illegible & there is no need to repeat what you have already captured in the title

• There is wasted space in the design. While the gold box looks decent, it is wasting precious real estate within the thumbnail

Tim Ferris is a podcasting legend so he can still pull decent views by doing things less than optimized. The majority of podcasters don’t have the luxury of the brand/audience he has built, nor the access to high-profile guests. That’s why getting your content packaging right is crucial to maximize exposure.

P.S If you would like us to keep an eye on your content and potentially give you feedback in the HIT & MISS of the week, reply with the name of your show and the link to it on YouTube!

Happy Podcasting.

See you next week.

-Ben