Podcasting for Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter 11. Providing Show Notes

In This Chapter

• Understanding good show note etiquette

• Planning your show notes

• Deciding on your level of detail

• Using images effectively

• Posting with searchers in mind

Show notes are brief summaries of each podcast episode. Show notes can take the form of an outline, a bulleted list, or just a few sentences of text. In this chapter, we show you how to effectively use show notes to enhance the listener experience of your show and bring in additional traffic to your podcast through search engines.

And where do you find these show notes? Simply enough, on the podcast's Web site.

Getting additional traffic means additional bandwidth consumption, which can cause issues. Flip to Chapter 10 for tips on ways to reduce the load on your servers and for info about optional hosting plans that don't charge for additional bandwidth.

Show Note Etiquette

Several schools of thought exist on how to approach show notes. Some say you should be very brief, using notes only to hold URLs and other pieces of important offline data that your listeners may not have had time to write down as the show was playing. Others suggest show notes should be filled with information on each and every concept touched upon in the show. We prefer a more moderate approach, and your personal tastes and style go a long way in determining what is right for you.

Regardless of the length of your prose and the level of detail you want to explain, you need to follow some basic rules of etiquette:

• Use intriguing ...