A question I see asked a lot is whether you should use transcripts for your podcast, and if they're worth it because it just adds more to the production of an episode.
Here are two very simple reasons why you should, as well as a couple of options - free and paid - to add transcripts to your podcast.
You're listening to One Minute Podcast Tips. I'm your host Danny Brown, and each episode helps you be a better podcaster. Find all the latest episodes at OneMinutePodcastTips.com or free wherever you get podcasts. And now, this week's episode.
Danny:
A question I see come up a lot is whether you need transcripts for your podcast or not. And I know a lot of podcasters say, well, I don't really need them because it just adds more time to the production process. And while I get that, it is really useful to have transcripts for one main reason, and that's accessibility. A good size of the population has hearing difficulties or is completely deaf. And for them, transcripts offers a way for them to enjoy the episode too. By giving them a text version of your audio, it means they can follow along with the episode. Even if they're not hard of hearing, there can be times when an episode is really hard to follow along.
Danny:
A fiction podcast, for example, with lots of sound effects, soundtrack behind it, multiple voices, et cetera can sometimes get confusing. So having a text version of the audio to follow makes it a lot easier for people to enjoy the episode. On top of that, it can actually offer you SEO benefits for your podcast. Google and other search engines can pull snippets from your transcripts of really hard to find keywords and topics. So by having transcripts means more likelihood to be found on search, which is great.
Danny:
Additionally, podcasters say it can be expensive to add transcripts and that can be true. But there's lots of great free options out there. Whisper, for example, from OpenAI, completely free and really accurate. I use Poddin, which is a premium option, but again, it's super accurate for an automated service. And there's others too, so I'll leave them in the show notes, so be sure to check them too. Until the next time, happy podcasting.
Danny:
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