How to Start Turning Your Podcast into a Blog (in a Way That Doesn’t Involve Copy/Pasting Your Transcript)
There’s something about podcasting that really just makes content creation easier—at least, if you’re a yapper like me.
But, when you’re podcasting, you’re creating for one, maybe two platforms—and 9 times out of 10, it’s also a video and/or audio platform (I mean, duh, it’s an audio-based piece of content…but I digress).
And this isn’t necessarily the worst issue to have—audio and video content can perform extremely well, and I’m sure you’re podcast is poppin’ off—but it does miss out on a key audience.
AKA the searchers, the readers, the skimmers, the “I only have 30 seconds to find the answer to my question/problem/dilemma before I’m pulled 3,000 other ways.”
Those people? They love blogs.
And your podcast?? It’s the perfect opportunity to take the long-form content you’ve already created (and your audience loves) and turn it into content your people and Google love.
Soooo, let’s break down all the things on how to start turning your podcast into a blog (in a way that doesn’t rely on AI or copy/pasting your transcript or show notes) so you get the absolute most out of the content you already have:
Psst… Btw, if you’re wondering why this doesn’t sound like your usual Natty Writes read, it’s because I’m not Natty! I’m Mckayla, of The Comma Mama Co. 😉, fellow blog content writer and SEO strategist who happens to specialize in all things Pod to Blog™, who was invited to share all the things here today!
But I’m a Podcaster, Do I Really Need a Blog, Too?
To be fair, if you’re here, you probably already have a good idea of the benefit of blogging, and you’re more curious about how to make this type of marketing easier by using your podcast episodes (which 10/10 idea, because it does).
Anyways, blogging reaches a different—although sometimes overlapping—audience than your podcast. Not because they don’t like your show, but because not everyone knows your podcast exists—or have the time to actually listen to it.
The average podcast listener is prepped to spend an average of 45 minutes listening to your podcast. But, what if they don’t have 45 minutes? What if they only have 60 seconds to spare? That’s where your blog (and Google, but that’s another convo to have) steps in.
Blogs provide more skimmable content than podcasts. Readers can click through, read your intro, skim to get the information they need in that moment, and learn what they need to learn.
And no, they don’t tend to disappear into thin air afterwards—they start to:
Associate you with your expertise, coming back again and again when they have similar questions or problems
Download your freebies, hop on your email list, bookmark your website, and essentially stay in your world
Crazily enough, listen to your podcast and even become active subscribers/followers
But book, buy, convert, invest—you name it!
Added Bonus: Blogs are one of the best (and easiest) pieces of content to repurpose! Start with your podcast, turn it into a blog, then repurpose it across your other platforms and *chefs kiss*
How to Start Turning Your Podcast Episodes into a Blog Post
Don’t start with AI. Lemme say it again: Don’t start with AI.
I know there are thousands of AI tools out there telling you they’re perfect for creating an “SEO” blog post from your transcript—it’s bologna.
Now I’m not anti-AI (and TBH I don’t know Natty’s thoughts, you’d have to ask her), but AI gets things so confidently wrong with transcripts. Transcripts themselves use a version of AI to generate, which leads to AI on top of AI, and it’s just no bueno.
But you will start with your transcript…ish.
Here’s a quick look at the process:
Step #1: Pick Your Podcast Episodes
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to repurpose EVERY episode. Some podcast episodes can stay just that—podcast episodes. Pick the ones you feel might be easier to repurpose, that won’t take a lot of editing or wiggling to make it make sense.
For example, you probably don’t want to start with a guest interview, but that episode sharing your “top 3 tips to do xyz” would be golden.
Step #2: Grab Your Transcript (But Don’t Publish it)
The reason copy-pasting your transcript doesn’t work is that it’s a massive chunk of text that’s not really ideal for readers…AKA they don’t know what information they’re looking at or for to be able to trust you (and answer their questions).
But grabbing your transcript is my personal preferred way to get started, and you can comb through identifying key information that your readers NEED to know—that’s what’ll make it into your final post.
Just a quick note here, too: The beginning of step 2 is usually where you start your keyword research if SEO is your goal!
Step #3: Outlining Your Post
This is where you give allll that important information in the traditional blog post structure! I’m talking mapping out your H2s, adding in H3s if you need them, bullet-pointing (or if you’re like me, adding little notes to self on what goes where) your paragraph information.
Don’t skip this step!!! This is what makes sure you’re staying on track and not going AWOL mid blog post.
Step #4: It’s Officially a Blog Post
Well, technically, you’re writing your blog post and filling out the information, which is less ideation and more turning all those bits and pieces into more reader-friendly bits and pieces for your blog post.
Once you’re done with that, sprinkle in all those final details (backend optimization, internal links to your other, oh-so-good blog posts, and your podcast player embed!), and hit publish!
So….What Happens Next?
Share it!!
While I loveee to use this method to get my podcast episodes on Google (it’s much easier to rank for a blog post than it is to rank for a podcast episode on a player, for more searchable terms, too)—you can drop your blog post link vs. a specific player link and allow your audience to almost “choose their adventure” in a anti-pressure way.
They can opt to read the key pieces in your blog post, listen on your native podcast player on your website (which is also good for SEO), or click through to their preferred player vs. you debating whether to share the Spotify vs. Apple link.
Whatever you choose to do, just know that now, with an officially published podcast to blog post, you have another piece of long-form content working for you, which never hurts in your business.
Anyways, thanks for being here and reading today’s yapping session (and thank you to Natty for letting me share this, too)—if you want to connect with me, I’m usually active on Threads (albeit slightly unhinged).
And if you’re more like “I wanna learn more about how to turn my episodes into SEO blog posts” then check out Pod to Blog™, my 12-week group program teaching you how to do just that.