Written by host and producer of The Ramen Noodle and Are You Just Watching?, Daniel J. Lewis. Thanks Dan!

I hear many promos that make the same two mistakes:

1. Background music is too loud.

Sure, you may love your theme song, but make sure that your voice can be clearly heard over your music. Listen through speakers, headphones, and earphones to make sure that your voice can be clearly heard and understood.

2. Boring reading.

If you want people to listen to your podcast, get excited about it! Don’t let your podcast be a straight reading of your promo text. It’s okay to script it (and probably a good idea for timing), but don’t let it sound like you’re reading it. Stand up, smile, project your voice in front of your face. Be excited. If you have to yell, don’t “fake-yell,” but step away from the mic and yell for real (just make sure you don’t peak).

Here are some tips:

Make sure you explain what your podcast is about and how people can listen. Usually, this would mean simply telling your website address.

1. Get your own domain! Even if your domain is only a redirect to mypodcast.wordpress.com, it just sounds so much better to say, “Visit mypodcast.com to subscribe.”

2. Don’t give unnecessary information. Subscribing from your website is enough. You don’t have to share your Twitter, email, voicemail line, RSS feed, Zune, and maybe not even the fact that you’re in iTunes. That you’re in iTunes can probably be assumed, and as long as you have clearly stated your title, people can search for that in iTunes. Think about Apple’s extremely successful marketing: very few choices. The less information you pack in a promo, the more memorable that important information will be.

3. Even if your normal microphone is one of those $10 Laptec mics (I started with one of these), try to record your promo with something better. Record at your church, school, or maybe even public library. Find other podcasters in your area. Your promo needs to sound the best that you can creatively afford. If you have only one good microphone but multiple voices in the promo, recorded one voice at a time on the good mic. I did this for my “Are You Just Watching?” promo. We ran through our dialog twice. Once with me on my Heil PR40, and once with my cohost Eve on the mic. This sounded so much better.

4. Try to keep your promo to thirty seconds. A minute at the absolute longest.

5. Remember your “brand.” That is, if you have “trademark” music or sound effects in your show, try to incorporate that into your promo. In my AYJW? promo, I use the same whispered title, theme music, and closing “And don’t just watch!” in the promo.

6. Practice your promo on people. Say it to them and see if they understand it and what it communicates to them about your show.

7. Offer your promo to fellow podcasters for critiques. If you’re willing to get some constructive criticism, most podcasters would be happy to listen and give you some refinement points.