If you are stuck at finding a good podcast name for your show, then this episode is for you. In this episode, we will be talking about the importance of a good podcast name, how to find one and what are the dos and don’ts, when naming your podcast.
One of the first things that come to your mind when you are starting a podcast is to name your show. This is usually the first thing that you do when you plan to start a podcast.
And many a time, out of enthusiasm you name your podcast something only to find out later that it just wasn’t the name you wanted for your show.
Then comes, the problem of rebranding your show, resubmitting it to the directories, redirecting your feed, and so on.
How do I know all of this?
Been there, done that!
When you are starting off without a real guide on what to do when you are starting, the start can be a mess. And that’s what happened to one of my shows..
Nevertheless, that should be the situation with you. And I hope this episode answers all your questions about picking a good podcast name for your show and helps you do that without all the overwhelm.
Picking a Good Podcast Name – Important things to keep in mind
Overwhelm!
Yes, that is what happens when you browse the internet for information. You will find a ton of advice from the know-alls and the know-nones. All of them claim that their advice works.
And, you the seekers ends up with overwhelm and information that is often confusing.
Search online for how to pick a good podcast name and you will find a section of them saying that your podcast name must have a keyword in it, if it is to be found on search engines.
And then there is a section who says that your podcast name should reflect the essence of your show.
But then what is the right thing to do.
Here are a few important things to keep in mind when you are deciding on a good podcast name.
Discoverability
Ensure that your podcast is discoverable and searchable. By searchable I do not mean that it should be indexed on search engines and that you should become an SEO expert to it and so on.
What I mean is the name should be such that it can be remembered by people.
Do not pick long names for your show. Keep is short.
A research shows that the average podcast title length is about 24 characters. But the most popular ones are about 16 characters.
If so, should that limit you?
Absolutely not!
Smaller names are easier to remember. Hence you can use those numbers as a guideline for naming your podcast. My recommendation is to keep it about 3-4 words.
A classic example of a good podcast name is “Indian Noir“. It is short, easy to remember and tells you what exactly the show is about.
Branding
Your podcast is an extension of your brand and hence it is important to brand it correctly. Keep it consistent with your brand so that people can relate to it.
Hence, the first thing you should do is to search for a domain name with the same name as the title of your podcast. Having a website is one of the critical pieces of starting a podcast. But if you already have a website, then you can ignore this part.
You might also want to search the various social media sites to check if the name is available for a handle name on these sites. Eventually you will be promoting your show on these channels and it makes sense to have the same name as your podcast.
But is it mandatory?
What if you do not find the same name for your social media handles?
You don’t need to worried if you are unable to find the same name. You can still start your podcast and grow it. It is just something that is a good to have but not a must-have.
The biggest example is Amy Porterfield and her podcast. Her show is “Online Marketing made easy” whereas her website and social media handles are using her name.
Easy to Remember
This is a critical piece in naming your podcast.
People are not used to bookmarking every site, resources and shows that they like. A lot of time we leave things to our memory and when we want to come back to the resources and refer it, we just open a browser tab and enter the name.
It is hence that names have to be short and easy to remember. The name of your podcast should also be easy to remember, so that people can easily refer it to their friends and families, search it on their favorite podcast app or, quote it where required.
Your Podcast Topic
It is advisable that the name that you pick for your podcast aligns with the topic of your podcast but it is not very tightly oriented to a specific niche.
If you name you show “Responsible Parenting Talks” and then talk about sports, travel and fun, then that might sound a little awkward for your audience who might be tuning into your show with the thought that it might be a podcast about parenting.
But if you are in a very tight niche, this could mean that your scope of expanding vertically is limited.
This is why a lot of people pick a broad name for their shows. Once again, the case of Amy Porterfield’s podcast. She names in “Online Marketing made easy” which gives the scope to touch upon various different topics.
Should be Unique
Picking a unique name for your show can help you in many ways. It can help when people search for your show on their favorite podcasting platform.
Imagine naming a show “marketing made easy”. People searching for the show will be presented with all the podcasts with these words in their title and your show might just get lost in the noise. So pick a unique name for your podcast.
No Numbers in Title
I wouldn’t advise using numbers in the title for your podcast. Numbers can be ambiguos. People might not know if the number is to be expressed in figures or, in words.
Searching a show called “The Story of the 90s” can be confusing, particularly the last part. Should it be “nineties or, 90s”?
How to Find a Good Podcast Name?
Finding a good podcast name shouldn’t be overwhelming. While it is important to have a good name for your podcast, you don’t need to sweat at the thought of finding a good podcast name.
My attempt here is to make is as simple as possible. So here are a few simple ways you could do that.
Check for Search Terms
I don’t want to take you down the keyword research rabbit hole, though that is something you might want to do if you are really interested in using your podcasts to make money.
But, a simple keyword search does help find a good podcast name.
You might want to search for typical search terms that people might use to search the specific topic that you are planning your podcast on. Typical search terms that gets your hooked.
Write down about 4-5 such terms and bounce them off your friends and relatives to find which one is the best.
You might also want to say the terms a few times because eventually you will have to see it more than you would want, when you are recording your show. So saying it aloud a few times will help you find something that rhymes and is easy to speak.
Search for other Podcasts
Another simple way to find names is to search for other podcasts, preferably in your niche. You will be able to come up with a lot of interesting names when you do this exercise.
Use these names as inspiration to derive names for your show.
The only thing you might want to keep in mind is to ensure you are using them only as an inspiration and not copying them as is.
Search for Book Names
You can also search for book names on online book stores like Amazon or, even in the Gutenberg project. You will be able to find a lot of names that are interesting and intriguing.
Use them as inspiration to put together something that suits your podcast.
The Gutenberg project is a project that can give you a lot of good names.
Once again, the only thing you might want to keep in mind is that these are to be used as inspiration and not to be copied.
Write down the exact Problem you are solving
This is one of the best ways to find a name for your show. This is something that I did in order to arrive at the name of my show here – The Podcasting University.
What problem are you trying to solve for your audience?
Write down every one of those problems. Then pick each one and write down about 4-5 names that reflects the theme.
You will have a list of about 10-15 names. Shortlist about 4-5 out of them and then show it to your friends and relatives and check with them on which one is the best.
My objective with this podcast here was to solve problems of people who were planning to start a podcast. Essentially it was about equipping them and empowering them with the required knowledge. So it made perfect sense to name the show as “Podcasting University”.
You can follow a similar approach and it will be very easy to find a good podcast name.
Common Questions in naming a Podcast
I have come across some very common questions from people that I spoke to in my Podcast discovery calls. Here’s a list of those questions and answers to these questions.
Can I use my name for my Podcast?
You for sure can use your name for the show.
If your long term goal is build a personal brand and you would like to use your name for the brand, then you should go ahead and use your name for the show.
If I use my name, how will I use keywords in the title?
While I wouldn’t really recommend using a very long title for your podcast, something that you can do is to add a small tail to the name of the show with the keyword in it.
For eg: A podcast that does this nicely is “The Digital Pratik Show – Digital marketing and Branding Podcast”.
But then, isn’t that keyword stuffing, you ask?
It isn’t really, if you aren’t stuffing the title with keywords.
BOTTOMLINE – Don’t choose keywords over creativity and branding.
Just a word of caution when you are using your name – Don’t use your name just because it sounds cool!
Should you use “Podcast” in the title?
You can and cannot. There is no specific guideline.
A study shows that using the term “Podcast” in the title is very popular.
But does that make any difference to the title?
It doesn’t really. In fact it is redundant to use the word “Podcast”, when anybody and everybody knows that it is indeed a podcast.
But if you already have a blog with the same name, then it does make sense to add the term “Podcast” to the title so that you can differentiate between the two.
Thank You for Joining
So which out of this is your favorite method of arriving at a good podcast name?
If you already have a show, then what method did you follow to find a name for your show?
Comment below and let me know.
I hope you enjoyed this episode about finding a good podcast name for your show. If you did then do subscribe to the show on your favorite platform..
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00:00:08 Dilip
Welcome to the podcasting university looking for help on starting your own podcast. Then this is the place to be.
00:00:15 Dilip
We will help you with everything from selecting your topic to promoting and monetizing your podcast in the simplest language possible. Listen to other podcasters.
00:00:26 Dilip
Who've been through the grind and learn from them as we interview them every week. You can find more details on the podcasting university.com.
00:00:36 Dilip
Hello and welcome to episode 29 of the podcasting University. This is your host, Dilip. And in today's episode we are going to talk about another important aspect of starting your podcast and that is.
00:00:57 Dilip
Picking a good podcast name for your show.
00:01:00 Dilip
Now one of the first problems when you're starting out in podcasting is to find a good podcast name, and that is usually the first thing that we do when we are just starting off because there is so much of enthusiasm and the first thing that we want to do is just find the podcast name and we go ahead and do that, only to find.
00:01:20 Dilip
A little while later that out of enthusiasm we picked some podcast name, which wasn't really the one that I wanted for the show, and then eventually we end up redoing the entire thing, rebranding the show, redistributing the feed and whatnot.
00:01:40 Dilip
This is a problem that a lot of shows go through when they don't spend enough time trying to find a good name for their podcasts.
00:01:50 Dilip
On top of that, even if you are to spend some time to find a good podcast name, the problem is that there is so much of information.
00:01:59 Dilip
On the Internet there are multiple suggestions, multiple tips advises, and all of this can be extremely overwhelming and confuse.
00:02:10 Dilip
But should it be this overwhelming? It shouldn't. So in this episode I'm going to talk about some very simple tips to name your podcast, and we'll also talk about some important things to keep in mind when you are naming your podcast. And we'll also talk about some do's and don'ts when.
00:02:30 Dilip
Finding a good name for your podcast.
00:02:33 Dilip
The first thing. Why is the name so important? Now keep in mind.
00:02:38 Dilip
That the name of the podcast is the first interaction between your show and your audience. So it is important that the name is something that can be remembered, that is searchable and at the same time ties back to your brand as well. Now there are a lot of myths and advice is about naming.
00:02:58 Dilip
And this is exactly the same thing that is there with blogging, when blogging was gaining prominence to.
00:03:05 Dilip
Some would say go for a keyword rich name, some would say it should reflect what the blog is about, and then there were a lot of other people who were saying that you should use your name to create a brand. There were multiple advises and the fact is that none of this was bad advice and the fact is also that every one of these things were absolutely fine.
00:03:26 Dilip
And everything in fact worked.
00:03:28 Dilip
It is the same thing with podcasting too. Same kind of advises and the results exactly the same. Everything works till the time your content is good and valuable.
00:03:41 Dilip
So here are a few things to keep in mind when you're deciding on your podcast name. The first one discover ability.
00:03:48 Dilip
Keep in mind that your podcast should be discoverable. The name shouldn't be a long one that is difficult for people to remember.
00:03:56 Dilip
It should be in fact small. In fact, one of the studies say that the average podcast name is about 24 characters long, whereas the most popular title length is about 16 characters, but.
00:04:08 Dilip
Should these numbers really limit you? Absolutely not. Smaller names are easier to remember, so a guideline is to keep your podcast name under about four to five words.
00:04:20 Dilip
Example, If you want to name your show creating citizens of the future from your kids, that is not going to sound too good.
00:04:28 Dilip
It is not discoverable, but a name like "responsible parenting talks".
00:04:33 Dilip
Is something that is discoverable and is a good name for your podcast. Similarly, a good example is Amy Porterfield's podcast online marketing made easy by Amy Porterfield.
00:04:45 Dilip
It's a simple name. It's easily discoverable and easy to remember as well. Similarly, among the Indian podcasters, Indian noir.
00:04:54 Dilip
is other one such example, the name is short, is easy to remember, is discoverable, and tells you what the show is all about.
#2 - Branding: Your podcast is your brand, so name your podcast accordingly.
00:05:11 Dilip
It should be consistent with your brand so that people can relate to it. Hence it is important to search social media channels to check if your handle is available.
00:05:21 Dilip
Now, if you already own a domain name, then that's fine. But if you do not then I would recommend that, you should also search if a domain name is.
00:05:31 Dilip
available with the exact same name that you want to name your podcast, so that you can build a website for your show. Now what happens if these are not available?
00:05:43 Dilip
That is also absolutely fine. You can still go ahead, and if these names are available in majority of a social media platform, just go ahead and pick that name.
00:05:51 Dilip
That is also fine. It is not mandatory that you need to have these same names across all social media channels, but that is something that is recommended. Take the example of Amy Porterfield again.
00:06:03 Dilip
Her website is amyporterfield.com, Whereas her podcast is online marketing. Made easy so it shows that.
00:06:12 Dilip
These things doesn't really matter, but these are good things, if you are able to get it done. The third, your podcast name should be easy to remember.
00:06:21 Dilip
Not everybody always bookmarks their favorite resources, and this is exactly the same thing with our favorite websites as well, but they would always want to come back to the resource.
00:06:32 Dilip
Again and again.
00:06:33 Dilip
And same is the case with podcast as well. So it is important that your podcast name is easy to remember, so that when people come back and they want to listen to your show, they remember the name of your podcast and they can easily go and search their favorite platform to find your podcast and listen to it
00:06:53 Dilip
#4 - Your Podcast topic: Now your podcast name should be about the topic of your podcast. Do not name a podcast, Responsible parenting talks.
00:07:02 Dilip
and create episodes about maybe travel and poems and stories and whatnot. So the podcast name should reflect whatever is the topic of your podcast.
00:07:14 Dilip
At times this can land you in typical situations. For example, you name your podcast around a very tight.
00:07:22 Dilip
niche and then decide that you want to broaden your niche and then you are stuck because you've picked a very tight niche as the name of your podcast and you are going to talk about something that is a little broader and doesn't really relate to that tighter niche.
00:07:40 Dilip
What do you do in that kind of a situation? This is where a lot of people name their podcasts on their brands.
00:07:46 Dilip
That way they have the leverage to slightly deviate here and there from their core topic and also stay true to the name of the podcast
00:08:00 Dilip
#5 - Your podcast names should be unique. Now imagine that your podcast is called marketing made easy and that people search for it. When people search for that name. The search results are going to show everything that has marketing made easy in its title.
00:08:14 Dilip
And one of the results would be that of Amy Porterfield's show Online marketing made easy. What will happen to your show?
00:08:21 Dilip
Your show will be lost in the noise. Your show will be lost in the number of search results which has marketing made easy in the title name. So it is important that you keep.
00:08:33 Dilip
Your name or the podcast name, very unique.
00:08:38 Dilip
#6 - Preferably, and this is preferably, don't use numbers in your title. One of the biggest problems with podcasts that use numbers in their title is searching for the podcast.
00:08:50 Dilip
Now assume that your podcast says the story of the 90s kids. The confusion with your listeners will be.
00:08:58 Dilip
If this 90s is number
00:09:00 Dilip
or is it in words. So it'll be difficult for people to search your show. So preferably don't use numbers in your title.
00:09:12 Dilip
So coming back to some of these common questions that a lot of people have when trying to find a good name for your podcast. You know there are a lot of people who ask.
00:09:21 Dilip
Should I use keywords in the podcast name? The fact is that keywords is good, but over using that is not good.
00:09:30 Dilip
Sometime back, Apple cracked down on shows that had stuffed keywords into their names. So is stuffing keywords good? No, it is.
00:09:39 Dilip
But should you use keywords in your type, you can and it works well. It makes your podcast searchable on search engines. But is it necessary to use a keyword? The answer is entirely depends upon you. What could be the reasons for using keywords in your title?
00:10:00 Dilip
It can help in searchability, it can help in search engine optimization and it can help in indexing your podcast on search engines.
00:10:09 Dilip
But my point of view, everything should not be search focused. This is exactly what I believe when it comes to blogging.
00:10:18 Dilip
And that is exactly what I believe when it comes to podcasting as well. Everything should not be searched, focused. There should be some human element into what you are doing with your content.
00:10:30 Dilip
The second question that a lot of people ask.
00:10:32 Dilip
is should I be using my name in the podcast? Yes, for sure you can use your name in the podcast now if your long term goal is to build your personal brand and you would like to use your name to brand your show, then sure go ahead and use it. But then the question is that if you use your name.
00:10:52 Dilip
How will you use a keyword, right? What you can do is you can use a small tail to the name and insert your keyword into it.
00:10:59 Dilip
For example, the Digital Pratik show it's a personally branded show, whereas how the shows title reads is the Digital Pratik show, digital marketing and branding podcast.
00:11:11 Dilip
So then he's added the keywords digital marketing and branding to the title of the show, whereas named the show after his personal brand.
00:11:21 Dilip
Now you would ask me if that isn't keyword stuffing. No, that isn't. Keyword stuffing is when you use multiple keywords in the title.
00:11:31 Dilip
Over and over again, which is not something that is being done in the case of the Digital Pratik show.
00:11:37 Dilip
The bottom line, don't choose keywords over creativity and branding. Now if you're using your name in the podcast, just a word of caution.
00:11:46 Dilip
Don't use your name just because it sounds cool. There has to be a reason and a purpose behind using your name as the name of your show.
00:11:56 Dilip
Another question that a lot of people ask is should you use the word podcast in your title? Now the answer to that is you can a study shows that using podcast in the title is.
00:12:06 Dilip
Very popular, but does that make any difference to the title of the show? It doesn't really.
00:12:12 Dilip
So if you already have a blog with the same name and you want to create a new podcast, then it absolutely makes sense to add the word podcast to the end of the name in order to differentiate the two, but otherwise that word podcast is a little redundant, so it entirely depends upon what is.
00:12:32 Dilip
Your purpose and then you can decide if you want to add the word podcast to your name or not. So how do you find a good podcast name?
00:12:41 Dilip
There are some very simple tips that I have for you which can help you find a good podcast name.
00:12:48 Dilip
The first one - You can check for typical terms that gets searched. Now, I don't want you to go down that rabbit hole of keyword research, and although that is something that you might want to do in the future if you are really thinking of starting a podcast.
00:13:02 Dilip
for making money, but otherwise I wouldn't want you to go through that entire process of keyword results. The easiest thing to do is just find some typical search terms that can get you hooked.
00:13:14 Dilip
You can write down maybe four or five such terms and then speak with your friends and relatives to see which one is the best.
00:13:21 Dilip
Or you can even say it a few times to see if it rhymes, and if you're comfortable saying it and then maybe pick that one as the name of your podcast. The second one you can search for other podcasts in your niche.
00:13:34 Dilip
Now this is the easiest one to do.
00:13:36 Dilip
If you search for podcasts in your niche, those names can be good inspiration for you to find a name for your podcast, but then only consider them as inspiration. Don't copy. Third, you can search for books in your niche. Now, this again is a method.
00:13:56 Dilip
of getting inspiration for your name.
00:13:59 Dilip
You can search for the names of books in your niche. You can search online book stores like Amazon and take inspiration from those names.
00:14:07 Dilip
Again, don't copy names, but take inspiration and maybe derive something that suits your show and your niche. Finally, think about the problem that you're helping your listeners with.
00:14:19 Dilip
Now this is the best way to find a name for your podcast, because this will give you a lot of ideas right down, about five to six of these and then check with your friends and family as to which one sounds good and then that is the name of your podcast.
00:14:36 Dilip
So what out of these four would you prefer to do to find the name of your podcast? And if you already have a podcast, and if you've already found the name for your podcast, how did you find the name for your podcast? I would love to hear it from you.
00:14:56 Dilip
Go to thepodcastinguniversity.com
00:14:58 Dilip
and drop in your comments there and tell me what is the process that you took in order to find the name for your podcast.
00:15:07 Dilip
Head over to thepodcastinguniversity.com for the show notes and the downloadable transcript. The podcasting university is available on pretty much all podcasting platforms like Google Podcasts.
00:15:18 Dilip
Apple podcasts.
00:15:20 Dilip
Castbox, Stitcher Radio, TuneIn and Hopper. Pick your favorite platform and listen to it. If you are listening to the show on Apple Podcasts, do take out a minute and provide the show a genuine review and rating on Apple Podcasts, because that helps in the overall ranking of this show on Apple Podcasts.
00:15:40 Dilip
That is all that I have for this episode. I'll be back again the next week with another interesting topic.
00:15:47 Dilip
Until then, keep listening to The Podcasting university. Don't forget to subscribe to the show to stay updated. This is goodbye from Dilip. You all have a wonderful rest of the week.
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