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Is Anyone Actually Going to Listen to My Podcast? · Abbey the Podcast Lady

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  Is anyone actually going to listen to my podcast?
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  Why would they? I don't know. Why wouldn't they?
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  Hey, welcome to another episode of Abby the Podcast
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  Lady. Today, I want to try to calm some fears.
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  A question I get asked quite often is, is anyone
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  actually going to listen to my podcast? What
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  if I just do all this work and no one listens
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  to it? Then what? Good question. So I work with
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  a lot of beginner podcasters. I've helped launch
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  dozens of podcasts all around the world. And
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  I consider myself very blessed to be able to
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  help in this department. And I want to just calm
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  some fears today because I think a lot of people
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  start podcasting and they may have an established
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  audience. They may not. I've worked with both
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  ends of the spectrum and seen success come from
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  both angles. And I think a lot of people worry,
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  like, what if I put all this time and energy
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  and effort into something and it just doesn't
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  work? doesn't pan out. And my initial gut reaction
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  to that is people do that every single day. They
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  truly do at much bigger scales. Like there's
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  people who start businesses and then have to
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  close them because it just doesn't pan out. Podcasting
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  is a little bit less work than opening a brick
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  and mortar business and then having to shut it
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  down because no one showed up to buy whatever
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  obscure thing you're selling. So let's get into
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  this and calm your fears. So the first thing
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  I want you to think about is the fact that you
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  don't need 10 ,000 listeners on every single
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  episode right out of the gate. If you do. That's
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  really cool. And you must have put in a lot of
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  work on the front end to have that established
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  audience that are listening to you right out
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  of the gate. People like that, Amy Poehler, when
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  she started her podcast, yeah, that was possible
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  because of the three decades of a career where
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  she put in a lot of hard work and blood and sweat
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  and tears to build her audience and build her
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  career. No one comes into the content creation
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  game and is just immediately successful. Yes,
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  there are some overnight success stories, but
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  it was because people were bold enough to put
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  themselves out. there and they just so happen
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  to be in the right place at the right time. Even
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  Chapel Roan, look at how big of a superstar she
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  has become in the past couple years. I remember
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  a few years before that when she was just a girl
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  in a sparkly swimsuit on very small stages and
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  like hardly anyone was showing up to see her
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  and then all of a sudden people realized how
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  awesome she was as a singer and entertainer and
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  she has one of the biggest stages at the Governor's
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  Ball ever for concerts. Like it is a long game.
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  It is with anything. to be brave enough to put
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  yourself out there and have no one listening
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  at first. And that's fine because we all have
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  to start somewhere. I even think like I just
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  had the vision of Taylor Swift pop into my head
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  when she was playing on a trailer by a river
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  or something. And there was just a banner with
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  red letters at the bottom of it that said Taylor
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  Swift. And it might even said taylorswift .com.
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  But it was just her, her band, her cowboy boots
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  and a guitar on a trailer playing to like six
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  people. There was like no one at that show. And
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  now look at her. Years later, after all the hard
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  work, showing up, being consistent, serving her
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  audience, biggest pop star in the world. I am
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  comparing pop stars to podcasters. I understand
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  that. But the general work ethic is kind of the
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  same. You got to show up and be brave enough
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  to share your expertise and your knowledge and
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  your craft with the world and build that audience.
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  You're not going to start with 10 ,000 listeners
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  overnight from scratch. If you do, congratulations.
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  Please let me know what you did to make that
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  happen because I have never seen it done. But
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  if you keep showing up week after week and offering
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  value to your audience, they will find you. Another
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  thing I want to touch on with this is that podcasting
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  really is about building relationships, not just
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  with you and the people that you have as guests
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  on your show if you're doing an interview -based
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  podcast, but also relationships with the listeners.
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  If you're getting emails from people, if you're
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  getting comments in the comments section, if
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  you're getting feedback on the short clips or
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  graphics that you're posting to promote the show,
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  if people are asking questions or leaving you
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  positive feedback or just generally curious about
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  what you're doing, invite them into the fold.
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  Podcasts are relationships. I know I always freak
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  out when I leave a comment on one of my favorite
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  podcasts, Instagram, and I'm engaging with whatever
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  they asked me to do. And like, if they like the
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  comment, I'm like, yes, this is awesome. This
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  is the best day ever. I'm like screenshotting
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  it and saving it forever because it's cool. Like
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  you want to be involved with the shows that you
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  interact with. So be that to someone else because
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  it doesn't matter. matter how big or small you
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  are if you end up with even five people interacting
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  with your stuff show them some love because if
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  you were in that position you'd want love shown
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  to you it's that golden rule do unto others as
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  you would do to yourself or something like that
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  be good to one another interact on social media
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  positively with one another use that golden rule
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  mentality to build that relationship with your
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  audience because they are coming to you even
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  if it's just a few people at first they're coming
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  to you for some sort of guidance for some sort
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  of help for some sort of solution to their problem
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  that you have to offer them. So be that guide
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  for them because then they're going to turn around
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  and tell their friends, hey, I listened to this
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  show. This podcaster was awesome. She helped
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  me through it. I'm going to send it to you. And
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  then it just ripple effects out. And that's how
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  you build your audience. Not 10 ,000 people all
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  at once, but little ripples one at a time because
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  you're building those relationships. On the other
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  side of that coin, though, is audiences can be
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  very silent in a creepy way, but also in a good
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  way, but still kind of eerie. Like is any one
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  in there I saw a stat recently I wish I could
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  remember the numbers but it was just jarring
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  like the amount of people who are on the internet
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  who create content and who consume content were
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  like just so drastically different and I consider
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  myself a creator but also a consumer my screen
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  time is embarrassing I live on the internet and
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  I am not ashamed to admit that But I am a consumer
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  of the internet and a creator. But I just saw
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  this thing where it's like, if you are a creator,
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  you are in just this very teeny tiny little sliver
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  of the internet where people are consuming what
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  you're making, but they're not always like engaging
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  with it. I hear this all the time in person.
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  I hear when I'm out in public, people are like,
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  oh, I see you pop up on my page all the time.
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  I watch your videos all the time. I watch your
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  podcast tips. I watch your weekly recaps that
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  you do. I'm like, great. Why aren't you engaging
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  with any of it? And they're like, I just don't
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  like to engage on the internet. internet. People
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  don't give out likes for free anymore, which
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  is so stupid. They don't comment on things. They
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  might save it and share it with someone. They
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  probably won't. Their audience is probably going
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  to be more silent than you realize. So if you
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  are sitting here thinking, I'm making a show
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  and I just feel like I'm talking to no one. I'm
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  putting in all this work and it's not going anywhere.
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  Chances are good people are consuming it that
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  you have no idea about and you'll never know
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  about because audiences are so incredibly silent
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  for the most part because people are consuming
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  on the internet. They're not creating. So if
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  you are brave enough to be one of the creators,
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  you are one of the very slim, small percentage
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  of us out there. Keep doing it. Keep showing
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  up. Keep being brave. Keep posting your content
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  because look at everyone who's not. You're putting
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  yourself one step ahead of the person who's too
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  scared to share their expertise. And maybe you
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  being brave enough to do that will inspire that
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  person to start creating. And the last thing
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  I want to touch on here with you thinking, oh,
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  no one's listening. This isn't worth it. I'm
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  putting in all this. energy and effort. And it's
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  just, no one's listening. No one's showing up.
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  Your podcast is evergreen. It's discoverable
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  forever. Think of like TikTok videos. They're
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  a flash in the pan. Like everyone's just going.
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  scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll. Next one, next
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  one, next one. Your podcast is a living, breathing
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  thing. It's like planting a tree, right? You
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  put it in there. You got to water it a little
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  bit at first, but it's going to be there until
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  a storm comes and rips it out or someone comes
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  and chops it down. But that tree is going to
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  be there for people to discover. A great example
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  of this is I have a podcast called The Small
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  Town Tourist. Haven't posted anything on that
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  for a year and a half, but I just crested like
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  12 ,000 down. loads on it. And when I quit making
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  episodes, I think I was maybe at like 6 ,000
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  downloads. Like it has somehow doubled without
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  me doing anything. And that's because it was
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  set up correctly with the right SEO, the right
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  keywords in the show notes, in the titles, the
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  blogs that I had created for it. People are still
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  finding the show, listening to episodes, engaging
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  with the online content. And I haven't done anything
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  with it in 18 months. That's because it is an
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  evergreen thing. When you make your podcast.
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  It exists on the internet. It is your own media
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  that you created. It's not a slave to, well,
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  it kind of is a slave to algorithms sometimes
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  depending on where you're sharing the content.
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  But if you're building your own website, you're
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  building your podcast out, that is your stuff.
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  And people are going to find it if it is properly
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  set up. They may not find it overnight. They
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  might not find it next week, next month, heck,
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  two years from now. But when they do find it,
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  it's going to be valuable to them. It is going
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  to be a resource to them. And that is something
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  that takes time and energy. and effort. So if
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  you're sitting there going, I just don't know
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  if I should start this show. It just seems like
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  a lot of work and no one's going to listen. Who
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  would want to listen to me anyway? The people
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  are out there. You just got to be brave enough
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  to post it and patient enough to let it work.
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  Thank you so much for checking out another episode
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  of Abby the Podcast Lady. I am so excited to
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  be making this show. I've been having such a
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  great time with it. We're creeping up on one
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  year of it existing and I just am so grateful.
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  And if you're looking for help and guidance and
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  more in -depth work with me on podcasting, I
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  have so many resources for you be sure you check
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  those out in the show notes below thanks we'll
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  catch you next week