If you feel like your podcast should be growing but the numbers are not reflecting your effort, you are not alone.

This episode answers real questions from spiritual women podcasters about why guest episodes often do not lead to growth, what metrics actually matter, and how SEO and keywords play a bigger role than social sharing. Kim breaks down common misconceptions around subscribers, intros and outros, and sponsorships, offering grounded guidance that supports long-term, sustainable podcast growth.

Rather than chasing numbers or relying on guests to promote your work, this conversation brings the focus back to clarity, consistency, and being found by the right listeners. When your podcast is aligned with how people search and listen, growth becomes steadier and far less stressful.

https://kpcreativemedia.com/activation

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Hello there, beautiful souls.

It is Kim Parkinson with podcasting for your spiritual business.

And I have a very unique episode that I actually am tickled about bringing you today.

And so I thought, you know what, I am so excited about this.

I'm going to share this.

I think this is great information because if they have questions, I. I bet you might have questions too.

So the first one is a person that reached out to me.

They were talking about the October episodes where we talked about guesting, and they said that their show was not growing because they had guests on, but the guests were not sharing.

How can I make the guests share?

So here's a few factors here.

One, did you have some kind of agreement where the guest would share?

And is that really enforceable?

Do you really feel like that is enforceable?

And this is really kind of almost a moot point because realistically, in this day and age, guests usually don't share.

I hate to say that, and I know that I have had on some amazing guests that have shared, but usually guests just don't share.

And that isn't anything to be reflective of you.

It might not fit into their social media, or perhaps they just don't know how to share it.

Right.

Was your guest also a podcaster?

If they are not a podcaster, they really have no idea how to share a podcast in most cases.

There are definitely some out there that are more, more user savvy about that.

But if they are just somebody that you might know and maybe doesn't have a lot of social media presence, then asking them to share is probably going to be moot anyway.

They're not going to be sharing to their social media.

They may not share to a newsletter because they may not have one.

If you want them to share, it's important that you pick guests that have a podcast and understand the value of sharing about another podcast.

But even still, with that information behind you, that actually is probably still not going to happen.

They very rarely will share a lot.

And it's not.

They're just busy.

Their lives are busy.

Your lives are busy.

You have to create the assets for them to make it really easy for them to share.

So that would be, you know, whether that's a quote, graphic, or whether or not that be a reel or something for them to share in their newsletter, whatever it might be.

But here's the thing, if it still doesn't fit into where they are in their business, they still may not share it because we may record a interview today, but not actually send this out to the world for another couple months.

And by that time whatever it is that they were talking about may be over.

And so they don't see the value in it.

And even if you do record it today and then release it tomorrow, which is crazy, crazy pants there, but that's okay.

It happens.

That still may not be something that they have ready to go in their realm, their marketing calendar.

So you can't really rely on the guest to share for more listens, more downloads.

You really need to focus on SEO and keywords.

And that means what did that person talk about?

What did you have a conversation about in your episode?

And in that, Then pull out the important keywords that were said and then make the title something that is keyword rich.

You want to make sure that that is going to be a keyword rich title.

Now if they have a number of followers on Instagram, Facebook, wherever they are, absolutely use their name, absolutely put that name, put their name in the title.

But if they don't have a ton of followers, there is not really much need at this time to put their name up there.

If they have a tendency or if they go viral later on, you can, you can always change the title, always go back and change the title to make sure that their name is there and can be found that way then.

But no need to use it now.

Use more keywords now that are going to be found today, not found tomorrow.

And next, I received a couple of questions from a client of mine, Bertina.

Bertina's podcast is Spiritual Wisdom for the Divine Feminine.

And she releases an episode about weekly thereabouts and I really highly suggest that you go and give her a listen and a like and a follow.

So here are some questions that Portina had sent to me in regards to the episode from December 9, which is 038 sustainable podcast planning for Spiritual Women Entrepreneurs.

This was actually just a 12 minute episode, but she had four questions that she wanted answered based on that.

So I thought, you know, I obviously did not fill that out enough or did not express that enough.

And so here are some of the answers that she had or some of the questions she had asked and some of the answers that I have for you guys.

What does an intro and outro consist of?

I'm actually just going to read it from exactly the answer that I answered her because she sent it to me in a email, but I'm going to just read the email as I said it.

So for Intros and Outros I always recommend keeping intros really short and to the point.

A good intro is usually just a quick welcome, a few seconds about who you are and what you do, the name of the podcast, and maybe a quick mention of what you're talking about that day.

Think around 30 seconds.

A lot of podcasters still have older canned intros that are a minute or two long with music on both ends.

And we're really seeing that listeners are skipping right past those people want to get to the content quickly so there's no need to overdo it.

And I still, I stand by this.

Right now the attention span of humans are so short, it's so crazy that I really feel like you just need to get right into the meat of it.

You really need to get right into whatever it is that you're talking about and that is super important.

So if you have an intro with the music at the beginning and the music like fading in, then I would highly consider removing that and just doing one organically.

Now you don't have to, but this is just a suggestion here.

And then for the outros, I like having these pre recorded.

The main reason is that it is very easy to forget your call to action when you're wrapping up an episode.

A simple outro leads you to thank listeners, remind them to subscribe and share how they can reach you or find you online.

Some listeners may skip the outro and that's okay, but it's really helpful for anyone who wants to connect with you or take that next step.

I think that that is an important piece to note here because I'm really not amazingly good at always reminding you that I have something coming up, something to sell.

And so having that outro in there is kind of call to action in case I forget, you know, like for instance, I have not told you that my new activation opens next month and there'll be a new activation every month.

You can join the 28 day podcast growth activation anytime and that is going to start January 5th, but it will happen every month on the first week of the month and you'll be able to find out more information about that in the show notes.

You can go to kpcreativemedia.com activation to find out more.

Now, I probably would not have remembered to tell you that, but my outro is still going to finish that for me.

It may not say that particular thing.

I think my outro specifically asks you to join the newsletter if you want to, and while that's amazing too, certainly go ahead and join the Newsletter, if you want it is just kind of like a fallback on.

I definitely have a call to action in every single episode, even if it is in the outro now.

Again, it should organically be in there, but you know, if you find that you can't or you forgot or whatnot, you at least have the outro there.

But as far as that intro, definitely just keep that short, sweet, to the point and make it your own every single time.

Because it's just a different.

It's just a different vibe.

I don't put the music at the beginning.

I just get going.

And so that's an important piece there.

Now in the new year, you're going to notice that I'm going to have some little redirects for the intro and it's going to be just like a little bit of a pattern interrupt, I guess is what they call it.

And these are going to be little mini testimonials for clients of mine to introduce their podcast to you guys.

And that's going to be a little 30 second slot right before, wait for that to happen because I feel like it's such a great feature and underutilized in the world.

All right, so Bertina's second question is, should it be pre recorded or should it be live?

All right, so this is my answer that I said to her back or I wrote back to her for my actual podcast.

I always prerecord.

I don't do live podcast episodes.

If I go live, that's usually something separate, like a quick live inside of a Facebook group, which I do have a Facebook book group by the way.

If you would like to find that Facebook group, you can go ahead to kpcreativemedia.com Facebook group and you will get right to that group and you can join.

So if I go live, that's usually something separate, like a quick live inside of a Facebook group or on YouTube.

Sometimes I will turn a live like that into a podcast episode later.

But it's not how I normally record my show.

Pre recording works better for me because I can batch record and stay a few episodes ahead.

That way, if I get sick or life gets busy, I already have episodes ready to go.

Having a few episodes in the bank takes a lot of pressure off and makes the process much more sustainable, especially when life starts lifing.

This is so true, right?

We really need to keep aware, especially now that the winter is here in the northern hemisphere, we need to keep aware of whether or not we're going to get laryngitis, a common cold we're just going to be busy.

And so pre recording just makes life a little bit easier.

And also, I don't know about you guys, but I do do some editing.

I don't record straight on through and so sometimes I have to go look something up or I have to say, you know what, that doesn't sound right.

I have to re record that part.

And you just can't do that live.

So I always pre record.

Is there anything wrong with doing it live?

No, not at all.

If you are one of those type of people that are very that coordinated that you can do that live, do it live, that's fine.

But just know that for regular RSS feed subscribers, you're still going to have to upload it to your host and that's going to be a couple of days from now.

And so if you had anybody like pop into live, it may feel a little disjointed because they may be like, huh, I think I already heard this.

Or maybe you answered somebody live.

And you have to remember to just read that entire question to make sure that it makes sense.

So next question is, what is a good number of subscribers?

And now this is a great question.

And here's what I answered.

So this is such a common question.

And the truth is, I don't focus too much on subscriber numbers alone.

Podcasting doesn't really give us a clear way to see exactly how many subscribers we have.

So most of the time those numbers are just estimates.

What I pay much more attention to is how each episode grows over time.

I look at how many downloads an episode has after 7 days, 30 days, 60 days, and even 90 days.

If I see growth at those points, even if it's small, that tells me that episode is being discovered and doing what it's meant to do.

One early benchmark I like to use is aiming for around 100 downloads per episode after 30 days.

That's per episode, not the whole podcast.

And that doesn't always happen right away or even quickly.

If an episode isn't seeing traction after about 30 days, it's often a sign that something like the title may need a small tweak to help new listeners find it.

And that's such important piece too, right?

If your listeners are not finding it, it is absolutely okay to change the title.

You're not going to interfere with anybody that has already found it or has already listened to it.

You're just going to find new listeners changing the title 30 days out.

60 days out.

90 days out.

180 to three years out is never going to be an issue.

It's just going to be found by more people.

So go ahead and do that.

And as far as subscribers, yeah, you don't have to have a hundred thousand subscribers for your podcast.

You just have to have the right people to find your podcast.

That is the most important piece.

If you have 100,000 people, but they're not the right people to actually walk into your programs, then that's not going to be a good fit.

You want to make sure that you find the right people to listen to your podcast.

That could be 10, that could be 50, that could be 122.

But whatever it is, it's going to be the right people.

And that's who you are aiming your podcast for.

That's what those keywords are looking for, who is using the keywords and those people are who are finding your podcast.

And then the last question is when or how should you look for sponsorship?

But right now I want to give you a brief overview of what I answer to Bertina.

So that is, I wouldn't rush sponsorships, but it's also possible to have one early on.

I have had a client recently actually secure a sponsorship before she even launched her podcast, because she already had a strong relationship with that business owner.

Sponsorships don't always mean direct cash in your pocket.

If someone is paying for your hosting platform, buying you a microphone, covering editing software, or helping with any of the costs of running your podcast, that still counts as a sponsorship.

It may not be money in your account, but it absolutely reduces your expenses.

And that is really what matters when it comes to paid sponsorships, especially larger ones.

Most companies are usually looking for podcasts that are getting closer to a thousand plus downloads per episode within seven days.

That can really feel like a big number, but it's also helpful to know that you can set realistic expectations.

Smaller sponsors can be a great place to start, and they might pay for specific pieces or for an ad inside of an episode if it feels aligned with you and your audience.

One more thing to keep in mind with sponsorship is audio quality.

Larger sponsors who are paying real money typically want well spoken, polished episodes with clear audio and some level of editing.

Most won't consider a podcast that sounds unedited or difficult to listen to.

My biggest advice is focus on consistency, clarity and quality first.

From there, sponsorship opportunities tend to come much more naturally.

So that might have been my answer.

But I also want to expand on this just a little bit here.

It is possible to find some smaller paying people or sponsors.

If you were to go into Patreon, for example, or, or buy me a coffee.

Com, those people that give you money towards your podcast are sponsors.

Now you can also charge people to put ads into your podcast, whether that is a host read ad or an ad that they provide for you.

That can be a sponsorship.

There are multiple different ways to add some type of a revenue stream to your podcast.

Now, when you are in the spirituality realm, your first initial reaction might be, I'm going to go to my local yoga studio and she's going to sponsor me.

And while, yeah, that could work, that absolutely could be something that you could do.

Think about who they serve and how is it you're going to bring more people to their business.

That's what's really going to move the needle for them to, to want to give you money or pay for something that you're producing that you're putting out.

So always have that in mind when you are looking and thinking about sponsors.

All right, well, if you ever have any questions about any of the episodes that I've ever done, please reach out.

It is kim kpcreative media.com you can also go right to my website and there's lots of different links there for you to go to.

And I am always happy to expand on whatever it is that we are talking about.

And if I didn't explain it correctly or if it was a little confusing, I'm happy to kind of go over that again and answer your questions.

So please go right ahead and ask those.

Send me an email, send me a dm, whatever, however you want to get a hold of me.

My suggestion is I answer back in Facebook really quickly and I answer back in my emails rather quickly as well.

All right, until next time, where your voice flows, your business grows, and happy New Year.

See you next year.

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Podcasting for Spiritual Women.

If you would like more strategy and tips and some tricks on how to make your podcast better, I recommend that you join my newsletter list.

You can find that@kpcreativemedia.com newsletter until next time.