Podcasting Q&A

How to name your podcast

January 05, 2024 Buzzsprout
Podcasting Q&A
How to name your podcast
Show Notes Transcript

In this episode, Travis teaches you how to come up with the perfect name for your podcast.

Fill out this short questionnaire to submit a question or topic for a future episode.

Need some help with your podcast? Join the Buzzsprout Podcast Community on Facebook to get the help you need from podcasters just like you.

Travis:

Today on five minute Monday. I'll help you come up with the perfect name for your podcast. Welcome to five minute Monday where we bring you the best tips and strategies for building your podcast in five minutes or less. So if you're new here, consider subscribing. Now, one of the hardest parts of starting a new podcast is coming up with the perfect name and when you start down this rabbit hole of trying to figure out what you're going to call your podcast, you start to realize there's a lot of things you have to keep track of to make sure that it's actually a good name that's going to serve you well. You need to encapsulate what your podcast is about. It should probably be catchy. You want it to be SEO friendly, you want it to be on brands and oh yeah, you should. You should probably like what you come up with after all of that. Well, in this episode I'm going to talk about three things to think about. Three things to keep in mind as you're coming up with your name or as you're filtering through all the different ideas that you have for your name. The first thing you have to keep in mind when you're naming your podcast is you want the name to be accurate. What do I mean by that? Well, I mean your podcast name needs to reflect what's in the episodes, right? Just imagine for a second from a listener's perspective, they're scrolling through their podcast app on the lookout for a new show and then one title just catches their eye and they start thinking, man, that's exactly what I'm looking for. But then they start listening to the first episode and they quickly realize that the show has little or nothing to do with the title. What do you think they are going to do? Do you think they're going to keep listening and become a loyal subscriber? Probably not. Right? They're probably going to drop that podcast like a bad habit and move on to another one. So you don't want that to happen to you. You don't want to come up with those super catchy name that is fun and exciting that doesn't represent what your podcast is actually about. If you talk about outdoor cooking on your podcast, that should be represented in the name of your podcast. If you talk about building birdhouses or building a business that should be captured in the title somehow and if you discuss new movies that are coming out, it should be obvious in the title that you discuss new movies. The second thing you want to do is use insider language. Use common words that your audience uses. A classic example, one that I go back to often because it's something that most people can relate to is star wars. Star wars has its own lingo, its own language and words like Jedi and lightsaber and the force. Whenever you start talking about those words, people automatically know you're talking about star wars and so here are just a couple star wars podcasts that have names that use insider language so that when somebody is looking for a podcast about star wars, they say, that is exactly what I'm looking for. Rebel force radio, Great Star Wars podcast name, right? Because rebel force fighting the empire. You know what they're talking about. Know they're talking about star wars and then coffee with Kenobi mixing. Two of my favorite things in the world, jet eyes and coffee. So ask yourself what lingo do your listeners use when they talk to each other? If you do that, well, if you're able to identify a couple of key words to include in your podcast name, not only will that signal to your potential listeners that this is what you're looking for, but it will also give your podcast a nice SEO bump as well because chances are they're going to be searching those words in their podcast app. And then the number three thing you need to make sure when you were trying to figure out the name of your podcast is that it's not already taken, right? Do yourself a huge favor. Do a quick Internet search when you find a name that you like and figure out if somebody else has already started a podcast with that name. If somebody already has, keep going. Go to your second favorite name. And then here's a bonus tip to think about. If you're famous, put your name in the title right? If you have a significant following in social media, if you have name recognition or happened to be Oprah or Conan O'Brien, make sure that your name is in your podcast title. But if you're not famous, do not put your name in the title because people aren't searching for you. They're searching for podcasts about certain topics, certain ideas, right? They're not looking for you, they don't even know who you are yet. So do yourself a favor. Keep your name out of the title unless you're already famous. And once you land on a name that resonates with your ideal listener, and then you happen to like make the decision and keep moving forward. This is one area where you can get hung up and overthink it. Don't. You can always rebrand your podcast later on if you decide you really want to change your name. Well that's it for today. If you're new here, hit the subscribe button. If you're watching this on youtube or subscribe to the five minute Mondays podcast in your favorite app to squeeze even more podcast related content into your life, and if there's something you want us to talk about on a future episode, click the link in the show notes to submit your question. Thanks for listening and as always, keep podcasting.