5 Ways to Get More Podcast Downloads

There are times in life when you have a fairly captive audience. You’re giving a lecture at a college where attendance is required. You’re the keynote speaker at a conference. You’re leading a meeting at work. You’re explaining to your wife why CSS Custom Properties are the bee’s knees¹. But a podcast…and most online content…is the opposite of that. In-fact, unlike all of the examples names above, the audience might not even know your podcast exists. To get more downloads, you not only need to engage the audience. You need to find the audience.

Why Downloads Matter

Let’s face it: downloads are a bit of a vanity metric. And lots of podcasters will tell you downloads don’t matter. Heck, I’ve probably said before. But here’s the rub: it’s no fun talking to an empty room.

Some will say podcast downloads don't matter. But it's not fun talking to an empty room. Click To Tweet

It’s true that you shouldn’t compare yourself to Pat Flynn or Joe Rogan. If you have a show that only appeals to 1,000 people, 100 downloads per episode is incredible. But you always want to see measurable growth in your projects², and right now, downloads is the best way to measure growth.

So how can you get more downloads? Here are 5 ways.

1. Share Every Episode with Your Audience

That means tweet it, share it in your community, send it to your newsletter, and everywhere else you have a following.

This one is easy to overlook. Surely your own audience is already subscribed to your podcast and will see the episodes, right? Probably not. That’s why they follow you on whatever medium they follow you on. They want you to put it in front of them.

Don't assume your mailing list is already subscribed to your podcast. Tell them about new episodes. Click To Tweet

After I started focusing my newsletter on my podcast episodes, I saw an uptick in downloads and engagement. Don’t make your audience hunt for your podcast. Serve it to them on a silver platter.

2. Make Your CTA to Share with a Friend

Your CTA is important. It should be clear, singular, and repeated. You should also think about the main goal of your podcast when considering your CTA.

But if your goal early on is to grow your podcast, then your CTA should be a major part of that strategy. And while asking for a rating and review in Apple Podcasts purportedly helps, it will be a lot more impactful to ask your current audience to share the episode with their audience, or even their friends.

Asking your audience to share your episodes can be a great way to grow your listeners. Click To Tweet

These are people who already listen and like what you’re doing. Plus personal recommendations have a lot more weight behind them than AI-driven recommendations.

3. Ask Your Guests to Share with Their Audience

On that same token, you should always ask your guests to share with their audience. One of the big benefits of going on a podcast is reaching a new audience, and most guests are willing to return the favor. After all, the insight they provide on your show might be new to their audience too.

Don't be afraid to ask your guest to share their interview. Podcast interviews are a mutually beneficial audience growth opportunity. Click To Tweet

Mine automatically get an email letting them know it’s live, a link, and a small request to share, if they want. One change I’d like to make for this process is to share a folder of social media images to make their jobs even easier. Speaking of…

4. Create Audiograms

An audiogram is a short video (30-60 seconds) that highlights a snippet from your podcast:

According to a study from Headliner, you can get up to 5X more engagement on audiograms than static images. There are a few ways you can create them:

1. One way is using Headliner. It’s a free tool and while you need to create an account, it’s a pretty low barrier of entry. You will need to know the timestamp of the quote and prepare all the images. Castos integrates automatically with Headliner.
2. Descript is another great tool for the job. This is a paid subscription, but you can generate a transcript and easily find the quote you’re looking for.
3. My favorite method is Overcast, a podcast listening app for iOS. From directly within the app, you can grab part of the episode and create a “clip.” The clip will include your podcast’s artwork and an animated waveform.

5. Play with Titles and Descriptions

For a long time, my episode titles were just Name of Guest and Company. These, while informative as to who was on the show, told the listeners nothing of what they’d learn. To boot, the descriptions all started, “In this episode…”.

The titles and descriptions are the first impression (well, maybe after the associated image/audiogram) that potential listeners get. They should know what they’ll learn. Make sure your headline entices and your description says exactly what you’ll talk about. Think of a few different headlines and test!

Some Bonus Tips

Aside from the 5 above, there are a few bonus tips you can have totally for free!

1. Have transcripts. This makes all of the content on your episode indexable by search engines. Plus, while it won’t help with downloads, some people prefer to read over listen, so that’s still eyeballs on your content.
2. Be consistent. Something that hurts podcasts is unpredictability. Being consistent tells listeners you’re willing to show up and do the work. And that makes them more confident as they invest their time into your content.
3. Have a CTA at the beginning of the episode. Most podcasts have their CTA at the end of the episode. You lose a lot of listeners during the sign up. So hit them with it at the beginning as well. A “real quick,” then your ask can go a long way for conversions. My newsletter has grown consistently since adding a CTA to the beginning.

How With You Grow Your Show?

Turn Every Episode into Searchable Show Notes and Blog Posts

Your podcast lives in a silo. Apple Podcasts and Spotify have their own search, sure, but Google doesn't crawl audio files very well. That means if someone Googles a topic you covered last week, they'll probably never find your show. The fix? Publish written content for every episode. Not a full transcript word-for-word (though that's awesome if you can swing it), but a solid blog post or detailed show notes page.

Think of it as giving each episode a second life. Write 300–500 words that summarize the key takeaways, pull a few quotable lines, and link to any resources you mentioned. Add timestamps so people can jump to the exact part they care about. Include the guest's name and bio if you have one. Use natural language — write like you talk — but sprinkle in keywords people actually search for. For example, if your episode is about "how to start a vegetable garden in an apartment," make sure that phrase appears in the title, the first paragraph, and at least one subheading.

• A short summary that hooks the reader in the first sentence.
• 5–7 key takeaways or bullet points from the episode.
• Clickable timestamps for your top three segments.
• Links to every product, book, or person you mentioned.
• A clear call-to-action to subscribe or download the full episode.

You don't need to write a 2,000-word essay. Even a tight 400-word post with a few images and proper SEO can start showing up in Google within a few weeks. And if you're feeling lazy, you can use a transcription service like Otter.ai or Descript, clean it up a bit, and publish that. The point is to make your podcast discoverable outside the podcast apps, because that's where the real growth happens.

Build an Email List That Feels Like a VIP Club

Social media is rented land. Algorithms change, reach drops, and your post about the new episode gets buried under cat videos. But an email list? You own that. Every single subscriber opted in because they want to hear from you. That's a huge difference. Instead of just blasting episode links into the void, treat your email list like a backstage pass.

Start by giving people a reason to sign up. A newsletter that says "get notified when a new episode drops" is boring. Instead, create a lead magnet: a cheat sheet, a checklist, a bonus episode, a resource guide, or even a short email course that solves a specific problem your audience has. Put the signup link in your podcast intro, your show notes, your social media bios, and on your website. The more specific the freebie, the better. "10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Financial Advisor" beats "Free Money Tips" every single time.

Once people are on your list, don't just spam them. Send a personal note when a new episode goes live. Share a behind-the-scenes story about why you recorded it, what you cut, or what surprised you. Ask reply-to questions. Invite them to hit reply and tell you what they think. Email subscribers are often your most loyal listeners, and they're far more likely to download every episode the moment it drops. A list of 500 engaged subscribers can outperform 10,000 social followers any day.

Do Podcast Swaps and Guest Appearances on Other Shows

Asking your own guests to share your episode is great, but there's another move that's just as powerful: go be a guest on someone else's podcast. When you appear on a show in your niche, you're borrowing their audience. Those listeners already like podcasts. They already trust the host. And if you deliver value in your interview, a chunk of them will follow you home.

Start by finding shows that have a similar audience size — or slightly bigger — and a similar vibe. Listen to a few episodes. Then pitch a specific topic that fits their content and shows off your expertise. Don't send a generic "I'd love to be on your show" email. Say something like, "I noticed you did an episode on productivity for creatives. I'd love to come on and talk about my system for batching podcast episodes without burning out." That's concrete, helpful, and easy for the host to say yes to.

At the end of your guest appearance, make sure you have a clear call-to-action. Tell listeners exactly where to find you and which episode of your show they should start with. Better yet, offer a free resource that lives at a memorable URL like yourpodcast.com/tools. After the interview airs, promote it on your own channels too. Tag the host, thank them publicly, and share the episode link. This builds a real relationship, and many hosts will return the favor by appearing on your show — which gives you fresh content and cross-promotion without spending a dime.

Make Your Cover Art and First 30 Seconds Impossible to Ignore

Podcast directories are crowded. When someone scrolls through Apple Podcasts or Spotify, your cover art is often the only thing that makes them pause. If it's blurry, cluttered, or hard to read at thumbnail size, you're invisible. Invest in professional design — or at least a clean template from Canva — and follow a few basic rules: use high contrast, keep the text huge, and include your podcast name legibly. Test it by shrinking the image to 100 pixels wide. If you can't read it, nobody else can either.

But the cover art only gets people to tap. The first 30 seconds of your episode determine whether they stay. Too many podcasters waste that precious time with a slow intro, a music bed, a "welcome back to the show," and a rambling catch-up. Your listeners don't care that you had a busy week. They want to know what's in it for them.

Try a cold open: start with the most interesting clip from the episode, a bold claim, or a question that hits your audience's pain point. For example, "What if I told you that most podcasters quit in their first seven episodes because they make three fixable mistakes?" Then cut to your intro. Keep the whole thing under 60 seconds. If people consistently drop off in the first minute, go back and re-edit your intros. The goal is to make a first impression that says, "this episode is worth your next 40 minutes." Because if you don't grab them immediately, they'll tap back and choose one of the other 3 million shows in the app.

There are lots of ways to grow you show. These 5³ tips will help you get more downloads, increase your listener base, and meet the real goals you have for your podcast.

1. This may or may not be based on a real conversation.
2. Especially if you have a business-based goal.
3. *8