Should Your Blog and Podcast Be on the Same Blog/Site?
Leesa Barnes brought up an issue that has been on my mind recently. Should your podcast and blog be on the same site/blog? I’m of the opinion that every podcaster should be a blogger as well. And the question of whether to have a separate blog for your podcast is an important one.
In my case I have done both. I have this blog on one site and then I have The Podcasting Underground podcast on another site. In the case of the PodCamp NYC site that I set up, it’s all on one site and blog. Same with Internet Business Mastery. Leesa and I both do this by using a category in Wordpress to separate out your podcast episodes.
I’m not sure there is a definite right answer. Right now I take the stance that it depends, neither answer is ideal.
Leesa takes the stance that you should use two separate blogs (I should point out that this could also mean two different blog installations on the same site/domain). She points out that if you put them both on the same blog:
- You have too many chiclets/links in the sidebar offering all the subscription options (e.g. podcast only feed & text posts feed)
- The podcast posts become hard to find since they get buried in all the blog posts
- Even if you use a “podcast” category, not everyone is savvy enough to click on that to get the audio content
The problem of too many chiclets/badges for subscription (#1) is one that I have run into myself. I don’t think that I have solved it, but I have tried to simplify it. If you look at the PodCamp NYC site you will see that I have two set of copy and links to get people to subscribe. It’s not ideal, but it’s not horrible.
I have another idea that I have not tried yet, but it would be to use a cool widget that you can see on the TopRankBlog in the upper-right hand corner. When you mouse over the feed icon it gives you all the options. You could have one of these for the blog feed and one for the podcast feed.
The problem of your podcast getting buried in the blog posts so people can’t find them (#2 and #3) can be solved by using a navigation bar link labeled Podcast. You can link this to the podcast category.
I did this on the PodCamp NYC site. Go there to give it a try and see how I handled that. The user doesn’t need to know that this is just a category within your blog, they know that when it’s clicked they see the list of podcast episodes.
The reason I hesitate to take a solid stance on splitting the two up is that I see advantages to consolidating them when it comes to branding and traffic generation. Sure you can simplify the use of site real estate by putting them in two different places, but now you have two different places to generate traffic for and send people to. This may or may not be a good thing depending on your goals and branding strategy.
I’m glad Leesa brought this up. Does anyone else have thoughts on this matter? What are you doing to handle a blog AND a podcast? Do you have them in the same place or do you use separate blogs? I want to here your experience and insights.
February 9th, 2007 15:41
Jason, I’ve been thinking about this since I read Leesa’s original post. For my own business, I maintain two separate blogs: one for my regular blog and one for my podcast. (I have a separate web site, too, but that’s another story!) This works well for me. When I publish a podcast, I DO BLOG about it. I know that some people subscribe to just the podcast, some to just the blog, and some to both.
I really think you have to look at the need you’re trying to meet with your communication. In some cases, it makes sense to have it all in one place — if you can do the navigation cleanly. Many people are spooked by all the bling.
And that’s my 2 cents.
February 9th, 2007 15:55
Thanks for your insights Donna. My favorite line:
…cleverly put and also an important consideration. There are many things competing for blog homepage real estate and you have to carefully balance how you use it.
February 10th, 2007 22:56
Jason -
I would lean towards having both ‘under one roof.’ However, subscription options aside, there is probably a ‘best way’ to carry-out this out (taking SEO into consideration, no?)
If one were to have both on the same site (under the same domain…subdomain..category?) and done ‘improperly,’ you could be conducting your own split-test…by design, so to speak.
February 11th, 2007 15:15
[…] Should your blog and podcast be on the same blog/site? […]
February 14th, 2007 05:37
For Podcast Planning, I’m considering having two distinct subdomains (podcast.podcastplanning.com and blog.podcastplanning.com) and having several of the most recent posts from each side-by-side on the entry page (podcastplanning.com/index).
Does that sound like a bad idea to anyone?
February 14th, 2007 10:39
Charles,
I think this is a very interesting idea and worth trying. Having seen your design, I think it could work well. The only downside is if doesn’t leave enough real estate on the homepage for other things. It all comes down to knowing what your top goal is and making sure your homepage is designed to accomplish that.
February 17th, 2007 16:14
I looked up this post after hearing you talk about it on your podcast. You make some interesting points, but I would add two thoughts.
1. I would suggest that for the beginning podcaster, adding another blog justs adds another layer to get in the way of concentrating on content. (This is assuming that you don’t already have a very active non-podcast blog.)
2. As a listener who occasionally visits podcast websites, I would argue that most listeners can find your show notes if that is what they are looking for.
Therefore, maybe in the end the question is whether your blog is the primary tool for getting podcast subscribers, because if it is you want it to be easy for them to figure out how to subscribe to your podcast, rather than the blog.
February 17th, 2007 20:12
Ginger,
Those are great points. A second blog does add extra logistics to manage. Having a clear idea of the goals you have with your site is critical to choosing the approach that is best for you.
February 19th, 2007 11:00
You hit it right on the nail.
I quickly looked up this post after listening to your last podcast where you raised the issue. I have been receiving some pressure from friends to blog on my site. I know it will help with the SEO trafic a lot, but when I go on a new podcasting site that includes both posts and opdcasts, I sometimes get lost looking for the audio. It’s frustrating and I have given up on more than one occassion even though I am very Internet savvy.
Therefore, I have also been pondering this issue for a while now. By reading the above thread, it becomes clear that it is mostly a usability issue. If we could achieve great usability while posting, then we wouldn’t be discussing the problem… However, one must also consider the goal of the podcast. Are you podcasting for money? If so, and you’ve decided to use an affiliate program on your Web site like Paul Colligan suggests (http://www.podcasttools.com/2007/02/13/affiliate-marketing-and-the-profitable-podcaster-podcast-tools-48/) then SEO is very important and you should definately blog. The more trafic on your Web site, the more you can convert into commissions.
If you’re doing podcasting for fun like the BrainFood Podcast seems be doing(http://www.brainfoodpodcast.com/) then maybe it’s not as important. As long as your listeners can easily subscribe and find you in iTunes and other podcast directories.
Just my two cents,
Harold
February 19th, 2007 11:16
Harold,
Excellent points. I listened to your podcast last night. J’ai bien aime.
C’etait chouette d’entendre mon nom dans un podcast francophone. J’adore la langue francaise!
(Sorry for the lack of accents)
-Jason
February 19th, 2007 14:45
Hello,
I have set up my system to be the blog feed includes both the blog AND podcast for those that want to read. I set up the podcast as a separate category and then have that feed be for the podcast only. This way the people that like to read the info will get the blog post and the show notes for a podcast as well.
BTW, I took my latest podcast, through the exact steps you laid out in your book, Promoting Your Podcast, and I 30 subscribers within 6 hours of iTunes picking up the feed. I didn’t think it would start coming in so fast! I actually wasn’t totally ready, as I still have some work to do on the look of the site, but your system is fantastic!
February 20th, 2007 10:26
Merci Jason,
Au plaisir de se reparler :-)
February 20th, 2007 12:14
I’ve just spent the last week or so consolidating my blog and podcast sites…so I hope the coin lands on that side when the discussion dies down!
My starting point was a ‘fancy’ (but still pretty non-functional) libsyn blog page (with my own domain name) and a fledging blog under another domain name.
I merged the two using a wordpress blog, podpress plug-in (and several other plug-ins).
The feedback from listeners has been universally positive - mostly because they hated the format of the libsyn site.
But I feel I now have a good base to start trying out some interesting new ideas.
I plan to address the ‘how do I find the podcasts?’ problem by
a) Using the adhesive plugin to make the latest podcast ’sticky’ (although I stopped using this as I seem to be getting some funky additions to the rss feed…I’m still troubleshooting this)
b) Adding a sidebar panel just showing the latest 5 podcasts.
My thoughts on subscription chicklets is simply not to use them. I offer a very clear
- Subscribe in iTunes
- Podcast-only feed
- Podcast-and-blog feed
February 20th, 2007 15:57
Phil,
I really like your suggestions. I’ll be sure to check out that Adhesive plugin. You’re right that it’s easy to overdo the subscription badges. Simple is better. I’ll probably simplify mine more soon, too.
-Jason
February 23rd, 2007 10:09
This discussion I find very informative. I am currently in the process of planning a blog and a podcast, so combine or not combine is a timely discussion for me.
I had been looking at creating a libsyn blog page or a wordpress page so that is now decided and wordpress wins.
There are a number of good solutions that I can now begin to factor in.
Thank you all
Nancy
March 2nd, 2007 10:49
I just wanted to say WOW! your site is really good and i’m proud to be one of your surfers
November 6th, 2007 14:56
I’m in the throws of deciding whether to do both on the same page as well. I’m pretty much a novice so it’s been a little daunting from my POV. Here’s a site that has done a nice job with hosting both the blog and the podcast. americancopywriter.typepad.com. Very easy to get to either and yet still very clean designwise.
db
March 9th, 2008 12:54
I think the other thing to consider is how much overlap/duplication there is for the podcast and blog. Is the blog basically just a transcript or summary of the podcast? Is your podcast just you reading your blog posts? Does the blog have a slightly different audience, tone, or purpose than the podcast?