One tip that a lot of podcasters follow is to list their show in as many directories as possible. It seems like a good idea. They're all free, right? And any exposure is good exposure, but all of those listings come with a price.
We've recently elected to only list our show as part of the BluBrry network. Sure, there are some older listings out there from other directories that I still have to track down, but we've decided to only maintain our listing on BluBrry.
Why? There are simply too many directories now and it it takes too much time to keep them all updated. Further, from looking at my referrer stats, we only get traffic from one or two of them. The rest are a waste of my time to maintain.
I had initially hoped to simply remove our show from some of the directories, but that's proving hard to do. Many of them allow you to enter your show easily, but taking it back isn't possible.
- Podcast Alley: can't see how to remove or update the show
- Podcast Pickle: easily deleted
Just because I want to remove myself from some directories doesn't mean you want to. I do suggest, however, that you visit every single place where your podcast is listed and take a look at the description and other details of the show. Sometimes your show may look a little different a few months down the road than you intended when it began. It's important to present the proper face to the world. It's also a great opportunity to check in with the comments on the site that you might have missed.
If you're not sure of all the places that you're listed, a quick Google search using the link operator should turn up most, if not all, of them. For example, a Google search for "link: thepurplepodcaster.com" turns up 70+ hits for sites linking to my show's host. Since I'm the only show on thepurplepodcaster.com, it's an easy one. If you're using a host that has multiple shows on it (like Libsyn) be sure to include the entire URL to your site and your feed.
