9. 3 Things You Need to Know Before Launching Your Podcast

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Laura McRae answers questions about podcasting for business owners

Laura: Welcome to podcasting for business owners. I’m your host, Laura McRae, a podcast consultant, educator, and self confessed podcast nerd. If you’re thinking of launching a podcast or want to grow the one you have, you’re in the right place. Hold on to your headphones and let’s go. How often should I release my podcast episodes? How long should they be? What day is best to release them? These are the top questions I get asked all the time, and today I’m going to help you find the answers that work best for you. In this episode, I’ll cover episode frequency, length, and the things to consider when deciding on what day to release your podcast episodes.

Having a weekly podcast keeps your audience engaged with regular content

Let’s start with how often to release podcast episodes. The frequency of releasing episodes depends on several factors, including your goals, audience expectations, content availability, and production capacity. I’m going to run through the most common release schedules, which are, uh, weekly, bi weekly, monthly, and seasonal, and tell you the benefits and challenges of each. Having a weekly podcast keeps your audience engaged with regular content. Your listeners will know that your episodes come out on the same day each week, which helps build a loyal listener base and maintains consistent visibility in podcast directories. The challenges with having a weekly podcast is that you need a steady stream of content and a reliable workflow. You’ll be surprised at how quickly those weekly episodes come around, and if you don’t have a routine of recording and editing your episodes, you could easily burn yourself out. So you should be realistic about how much time you can spend on your podcast before you decide on frequency. If you’re planning to do podcast interviews, make sure to book the interviews well in advance of the planned release date, as your guests could cancel and leave you with no content for that week. I use a Trello board, which is a project management tool to keep myself and my clients on track so we know when every episode is due. I’ll, uh, put a link to the template in the show notes, as you might find this useful as well. When releasing weekly, it’s crucial to stay ahead of your content schedule. Having a buffer of recorded episodes can prevent last minute scrambles. A good practise is to always have at least two or three episodes ready to go before you even launch your podcast. This way, if life gets busy or an unexpected situation arises, you won’t miss an episode. Consider tools like Trello or Asana for planning and tracking your content. By organising your workflow, you can maintain consistency without burning out.

Bi weekly or fortnightly podcasts are easier to manage than a weekly schedule

Now let’s talk about biweekly or fortnightly episodes. These are episodes that come out every two weeks. I recommend to all my clients to start with a bi weekly podcast. Then if they feel that they can add more, then move up to weekly episodes as ah, it’s always best to start with less and then add more rather than taking something away from your listeners if you decide it’s too much for you. It also prevents podcast burnout if you start bi weekly biweekly podcasts are ah, easier to manage than a weekly schedule, but they’re still frequent enough to maintain audience interest and allows more time for content creation and promotion. But by having less frequent episodes may make it harder to build a strong following compared to a weekly schedule. Bi weekly releases strike a balance between frequency and manageability. While it’s easier to maintain than a weekly schedule, it’s important to stay consistent with more time between episodes. You can focus on creating higher quality content and engaging with your audience through promotions and social media. However, keep in mind that the less frequent your episodes, the harder it may be to keep your audience engaged. Regular communication like newsletters or social media updates can help maintain interest between episodes. If you plan to do monthly episodes, this is great just to get you started. If you’re short on time but really want to start a podcast, then go for it. A um, monthly podcast is better than having no podcasts at all. By having a monthly podcast, you have enough time to create higher quality content and conduct thorough research and interviews, but you may struggle to keep listeners engaged over long gaps between episodes. Monthly podcasts offer ample time to produce higher quality episodes, but you risk losing momentum and listener engagement with longer gaps between releases. To combat this, consider complementing your monthly episodes with additional content like blog posts, social media updates or mini episodes. Often known as

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bonus content. This helps keep your podcast top of mind for your listeners, even though you’re not releasing new episodes every week.

Having a seasonal podcast requires careful planning and can affect listener retention

Now I’m going to talk about seasonal podcasts. A, uh, seasonal podcast is where you release, for example, ten episodes over the course of ten weeks. Then you may take a break and come back with another season of ten weekly episodes. It works the same as a season of a tv show. This can create anticipation and excitement for new seasons. These are great because you can batch record everything and release when you’re ready. You also get to take breaks so that you don’t get consumed by your podcast. Having a seasonal podcast requires careful planning and can result in long periods without new content, which might affect listener retention. You may start with one season and think you’ll come back in a month or two with the next season. Then time goes by and you just don’t get around to it. I’ve seen this happen often. Seasonal podcasts are excellent for building anticipation, but they require careful planning and commitment. One of the biggest challenges is maintaining momentum between seasons. During your off season, keep your audience engaged by teasing upcoming content and sharing the behind the scenes insights. The key is to stay in touch with your audience so that they remain excited for your return. Also, ensure that each season feels complete on its own, giving your listeners a satisfying experience, even if there’s a gap before the next season.

Having an inconsistent release schedule can make it difficult to build and maintain audience

Now I’m going to talk about a flexible or sporadic podcast. You may want to have a flexible podcast and, um, release episodes whenever you feel like it. This reduces the pressure to produce content on a strict schedule, but having an inconsistent release schedule can make it difficult to build and maintain an audience. If you prefer a flexible schedule, it’s essential to set clear expectations with your audience. Let them know upfront that episodes will be released sporadically. You might consider using a newsletter or social media to alert your listeners whenever a new episode drops. Flexibility is a double edged sword. While it reduces pressure, it can also make it challenging to build and maintain a loyal audience. Consider setting a loose schedule, even if it’s just one episode a month, to provide some consistency. When choosing your podcast schedule, make sure you have enough topics, guests and material to sustain your chosen frequency. Assess your capacity for recording, editing and promoting episodes regularly and, um, focus on delivering high quality content rather than just meeting a schedule. For me, I knew I wanted to create a podcast that came out weekly as I wanted to be consistent for you. So you knew when each episode was coming out. I didn’t want to rely on having interviews on my show weekly as I know that guests can cancel at any time and it can sometimes be a challenge to find guests that aligns with this show. That’s why I decided to do a mixture of guest and solo episodes. That way I can batch record my solo episodes as well as having a backlog of interviews recorded. That way I’m never short of content. Also, I’m doing everything for this show, from planning, recording, editing, scheduling and promoting. I’ve been doing this for my podcast management clients for a long time now, so I know how long it takes me. I therefore dedicate one day a week for my own podcast. I dedicate every Friday to work on this podcast. That way it’s in my diary and I know that I’ll stay on track with this podcast.

The ideal length of a podcast episode varies depending on your audience and goals

Now let’s talk about the second question. How long should your episodes be? The ideal length of a podcast episode varies depending on your audience, content and your goals. I’m going to run through the most common episode lengths, the benefits of each and who they’re ideal for. Short episodes are around five to 15 minutes. They’re quick to consume, ideal for busy listeners, easy to produce more frequently, and good for delivering concise, focused content. They’re ideal for daily news updates, tips, brief interviews, or niche topics that don’t require lengthy discussions. So for this podcast, I like to keep my solo episodes under 15 minutes as they’re designed to give quick tips that you can take away. Median length episodes are around 20 to 45 minutes. This time allows for in depth discussions without overwhelming listeners, and they can fit well into your listener’s typical commute. They’re good for interviews, storytelling and educational content.

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I try to keep my interviews 20 to 45 minutes as they go into more detail than my solo episodes. Long episodes are, uh, typically at least 1 hour long. They give you the opportunity to talk about complex topics and have detailed interviews. Here’s some things you need to consider when deciding on the length of your podcast episodes. Think about your audience preferences. Understand your audience’s listening habits. For example, busy professionals might prefer shorter episodes, whilst enthusiastics on particular topics might enjoy longer, more detailed content. Try to keep episode lengths consistent so your audience knows what to expect and think. Quality over quantity. Focus on delivering valuable content rather than just filling time. Always think about your ideal listener, which we discussed in episode three. Think about when they would listen to your podcast. How does your podcast fit into their routine? For example, if your ideal listener is a busy mum who listens to you whilst on her morning walk, or when she’s walking back from dropping the kids off at school, then a 20 minutes episode would work for her. On the other hand, if your ideal listener listens to podcasts on their daily commute to work, then a 45 minutes episode might work for them. If you’re not sure, try experimenting with different lengths. Then cheque your consumption rate to see how long your listeners stay listening to your episodes. For your consumption rate is the percentage at which people listen to your episodes. You can’t generally find this information on podcast hosting platforms, but you can find it in your Apple podcasts account and on chartable now for the final what day should you release your podcast episodes? In all honesty, I don’t think it really matters what day you release your podcast episodes. The beauty of podcasts is that if someone follows or subscribes to your show, those episodes are going to sit in their feed and your listeners will listen to you when they’re ready. They don’t have to listen to you on the day you release an episode. For me personally with the shows I follow, I don’t even know what day they release their episodes. I just go into the homepage on Spotify each day and see which podcast has a new episode and I’ll listen to it. In saying that Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are generally the most popular days to release episodes. Mid week days are often seen as the best as listeners are more settled into their work week. I release this podcast every Wednesday, but that’s only because I was already sending out a weekly newsletter on a Wednesday and when I started the podcast I wanted to mention the new podcast episodes within the newsletter so it made sense to choose a Wednesday so that the schedule of my newsletter didn’t need to change. Thats the only reason why I chose a Wednesday. Mondays are good because its the start of the week and fresh content can be appealing to listeners. But some listeners might be catching up on previous content from the weekend so they may miss yours. Fridays are good because your episodes could be great for weekend listening, but people might be busy with end of week activities which may affect your engagement. Weekends are good if your ideal listeners listen to podcasts at the weekend during their leisure time, but they’re less ideal for business focused content as people don’t generally want to listen to business content over the weekend.

When choosing a day to release your podcast episodes when are your ideal listeners most active

So things to consider when choosing a day to release your podcast episodes when are, uh, your ideal listeners most active? Be consistent. Make sure to release episodes on the same day each week, the same day bi weekly, or the same date monthly. It’s so important to stay consistent so that you can build trust with your audience. Align your release date to coincide with your promotional strategy. Like me, for example, I wanted mine to coincide with the day I released my weekly newsletter. As we wrap up today’s episode, I hope you feel more confident about deciding how often to release your podcast, how long your episodes should be, and the best day to release them. Remember, the most important thing is to find a schedule that works for you and your audience. Whether you’re aiming for weekly consistency, bi weekly balance, or even seasonal flexibility, the key is to stay committed to your plan and focus on delivering quality content that resonates with your listeners. Podcasting is a journey and there’s no one size fits all approach experiment. See what works best for you, and don’t be afraid to make adjustments along the way. If you have any questions or need further guidance,

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feel free to reach out. I’m always here to help. You can contact me on Instagram at podcast Dot support Dot services. Thank you for tuning in and see you next week. If you found value in this podcast, please leave. A five star rating and a review would be even better. Your support shows that this is a good show which will attract high profile guests and in turn deliver greater value to you. This podcast is produced and edited by me. Don’t waste your time on editing. Let me help you with your podcast. Cheque out the links in the show notes to get in touch.