A Guide to Podcast Landing Pages
We’ve covered how to make social media content for your podcast, and we’ve rounded up newsletters dedicated to podcasts. So today we’re focusing on another part of your podcast’s brand: the landing page.
A lot of podcasts don’t even have websites or landing pages. You can only find them and listen on the various podcast players.
But a dedicated website — or landing page on your brand’s website — is a great way to keep your podcast assets in one place, like episodes, show notes, transcripts, and merch.
And if one of the streaming platforms is down, it’s a reliable way to direct people to other places to listen.
Today we’re looking at six great podcast websites and landing pages to get you inspired to make your own.
The Plot Thickens
The Plot Thickens is a narrative podcast from Turner Classic Movies (TCM) that delves into the filmmaking of older films. Their websites includes timelines and biographies of the people featured in the podcast. But what makes it so good is that the first tab is called “How To Listen,” which links to a PDF (and a video) with step-by-step instructions on how to download a podcast.
That’s because TCM’s audience is largely made up of seniors. Many seniors have never listened to a podcast and may need help downloading it onto their phones or computers. We like that their site is geared to help its older audience easily listen to their podcast.
The whole point of a podcast website is to help people listen to it. So ask yourself: Who’s listening? How can I make this easy for them?
Math Therapy
The podcast that I produce, Math Therapy uses a template specific for podcasters: Buzzsprout’s website creator. It even gave us our very own maththerapypodcast.com URL!
Our website may not be a work of art, but it has links to every podcast player, so people visiting with Androids, iPhones, or on desktop can listen on their preferred app.
This is especially useful for listeners who go to the website through their phones. They can click on their preferred podcast player and it’ll open on that player’s app.
Navigating the website on my iPhone, there’s even a pop-up at the top to help me get to the podcast in Apple Podcasts. Having a simple, branded website for your podcast will help boost your SEO and increase listenership. Another easy way to build your website is to use Anchor or Simplecast. You won’t get your own URL, but both programs have templates for clean, easy-to-use websites.
Unlocking Us
Brené Brown’s Unlocking Us features “conversations that unlock the deeply human part of who we are.”
The Unlocking Us landing page is clean and simple (and looks that way on mobile, too). This aligns with Brené’s brand — and therefore the podcast’s brand — of being “awkward, brave and kind,” a.k.a. self-help in a digestible format. Because Unlocking Us is exclusive to Spotify, she also doesn’t have to worry about having every single podcast player available on her website.
Unlocking Us is a landing page on Brené’s personal website, rather than having its own devoted website. This makes sense because the podcast is a big part of Brené’s brand. This landing page is a reminder to use your brand identity to build your website.
What’s the feeling you want to evoke from your podcast? Use that same feeling and apply it to your website or landing page.
Lost Women of Science
The website for Lost Women of Science is focused on building community. The podcast is part of a bigger initiative to revisit the forgotten women who have changed science history. Their website is a great example of how having everything in one place, like your newsletter, blog, episodes, and merch, can help to build community.
The homepage showcases the show’s newest season along with a link to play it. As you scroll down, there’s a link to a podcast event, more info about their initiatives, and links to past seasons and news items.
So what’s the purpose of your podcast? Is it to build community? To raise awareness for an issue? This will determine what items you need to put on your website to make it effective.
This American Life
Just as This American Life is one of the best podcasts out there, so is its website. It’s beautiful and doesn’t have to explain itself because the show is so well-known. The website is audio-focused and sparse, just like the show. Their transcript pages are also top notch — really simple, yet effective.
Look at This American Life’s website as aspirational, for when your podcast hits the big time and you can slide by on name recognition alone. This American Life is just being itself with its website, the ultimate end goal.
Building Good
This landing page from Building Good is all about the message. The podcast explores how the construction industry can build a better world — literally — so important conversations are central to their landing page. It’s also clean and flows well. As you scroll down, it leads you to descriptions of each podcast episode, which makes you want to learn more about Building Good’s work.
Podcasts are all about facilitating conversation. So how can your podcast’s website or landing page to encourage that?
Building a website doesn’t have to be super hard or require you to be a Squarespace genius. Keep it simple, make it mobile-friendly and help your listeners find you!
