Is Your Podcast Future Proof?

I had one of my editing clients as me if I could edit an episode from a few months ago. In the episode, they had talked about a webinar that they were doing that month. Now that the webinar was long past, they felt it just didn't make any sense. That...

Show Notes

Future Proof Your Podcast

Anytime you mentioned a date be sure to include the year (as some people may hear this episode years from now). Then throw in the additional information, "If you're listening to this episode after (whatever the date is) be sure to check out our website (and then say the website address) for the latest information." This "Future proofs" your episode.

Beware of the Curse of Knowledge

I often hear podcasters say things like, "Just go to our website," or "It's out at the website." You want to make it easy for your listeners so say your website address. You're not saying it because you know your website, or you think, "I just said it in the last episode." Remember, you are always gaining new listeners.

Evergreen Topics

Some people only record topics that are evergreen. A news show is the direct opposite of evergreen as the information is outdated quickly. So for example, an evergreen topic in this show might be what makes good content? Well, this really doesn't change. Good content means you are doing at least one (hopefully multiple) items on this list:

Laugh
Cry
Think
Grown
Educate
Entertain

If you're not doing any of those. You're boring. I can say that today, and I'm 100% sure that is going to be absolutely true in five years, 10 years, or 20 years from now. I'm sure there are topics in your genre that are evergreen.

Using a News Story to Demonstrate an Evergreen Topic

Recently rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen died. I was a huge fan, and I really wanted to talk about it. To keep it evergreen I pulled facts from his career and used them to help podcasters. You can listen to the episode here.

Go In With Your Eyes Open

You can do episodes that will become outdated. It's YOUR show. There are podcasts that cover the news after all. Just realize the more evergreen your topic the better the chance it will connect with your audience no matter how long ago you published the episode.