I think it’s a word that’s lost its meaning. A few weeks ago I made the case that download numbers are a noisy, often misleading proxy for whether your podcast is actually working. The same skepticism deserves to be pointed at another word podcasters throw around constantly: engagement. Here’s what Engagement actually means…
podcast growth
Your Download Numbers Are Lying to You
Every podcaster knows the ritual. You publish an episode, wait a few days, and then open your hosting dashboard to see how it performed. Your download numbers stare back at you. Maybe it’s good. Maybe it’s disappointing. Either way, you treat it like a verdict.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: that number is not telling you what you think it is.
Cross-Promoting With Guests Is Mostly a Myth
I recently read something that most of us know but nobody wants to admit: guest cross-promotion doesn’t really work as a growth strategy. And it’s worth saying clearly, because almost no podcast blog will.
Build Your Podcast Like It Could Be Taken Away Tomorrow
There is a quiet assumption that underpins much of the podcasting world, and it is rarely questioned until something breaks. Your podcast? It could be taken away tomorrow.
You Don’t Have a Podcast Problem. You Have a Positioning Problem.
January is when podcasters misdiagnose themselves. Downloads plateau, motivation wobbles, and the conclusion arrives: I need to do more. More episodes. More clips. More guests. More promotion. More tools. But most stalled podcasts don’t suffer from a production problem or a marketing problem. They suffer from a positioning problem, and no amount of activity fixes that. If your show feels like it’s working hard without going anywhere, this is likely why.
Why Your Podcast Isn’t Growing Yet (And Why Your Numbers Are Normal)
Every week, someone new launches a passion-driven podcast and immediately has the same fear: “I published 5, 8, 12 episodes… and barely anyone is listening. What am I doing wrong?” If that’s you, take a breath. You are not failing. You are not unusual. And you certainly aren’t alone. Your numbers are normal.
Podcast Analytics That Matter: Balancing Subscribers and Downloads
When podcasters talk about growth, two numbers come up again and again: subscribers and downloads. Both are valuable, but it’s not enough to look at them in isolation. To truly understand your show’s health, and where you should focus your energy, you need to track these metrics together.