[FAQ]

I started my podcast about three months ago. I’ve been very consistent, releasing one episode every week, and I think my content is getting better. The problem is, my listeners are still mostly my friends and my cousins, haha. My download numbers are really stuck.

I see all this advice online, but I’m not sure what actually works. For those of you who have grown your shows, what were the key things you did to get past that initial small group and reach a bigger audience like 1000 listeners? I’m ready to put in the work, I just need a bit of direction.

[Jeff Bullas]

A common goal, but it requires a strategic approach.

Short Answer: Reaching your first 1000 listeners is less about broad promotion and more about optimising your content for discovery and leveraging other established audiences.

Instead of thinking about how to find listeners, you need to think about how they can find you.

There are three content-centric formats you should focus on to achieve this. The first, and most powerful, is the collaboration format, which involves appearing as a guest on other podcasts within your niche; this exposes you directly to an engaged audience that is already interested in your topic. The second format is creating discoverable content by treating your episode titles and descriptions as valuable real estate for search engine optimisation, using terms that people are actively looking for. The third format involves creating shareable content, where you produce short, high-impact video or audio clips from each episode to be distributed on social media, acting as hooks to draw new people to your main show. The key is to attract genuine fans, so avoid the trap of spamming links in irrelevant online groups; these tactics only hurt your reputation.

Cheers,
Jeff

[Author]

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