The Importance of Including Transcripts with your Podcasts. And a swift solution.

TL;DR Transcripts make your audio content discoverable by search engines, and, by extension, to potential consumers of your podcast. And we have a swift, automated (and magical) way to get you that transcript in minutes.

The Importance of Including Transcripts with your Podcasts. And a swift solution.

Podcasts are have become a channel for information and entertainment, oftentimes through immense creative talent and riveting storytelling. An estimated 57 million Americans listen to podcasts each month, and that number is expected to climb. But despite the industry's growth, the process for the discovery of podcasts remains fairly narrow.

Podcasts are considered dark content. They're not easily discoverable via search engines. Sure, you can tag a piece of content with some keywords but that is fairly limiting. Essentially, there is no reliable way for a user to be curious about a topic, search for it, and then find your episode.

By including transcripts of your podcast, you can open up this avenue, strengthen your online visibility, and connect with target audiences better. And when publishing podcasts utilizing a good SEO strategy, it can bring in a large amount of traffic.

Transcripts also make your podcasts accessible to the hearing impaired, estimated to be 5% of the world's population. Podcasting isn't a regulated industry but it is long overdue for us to be as inclusive as possible and proactively consider the needs of a wider range of audiences. The written form could be a complementary window, if not the only one, into your awesome audio content.

But the transcription process isÔøΩ wasÔøΩ time-consuming and expensive. You just cut the podcast together, added sound FX and included your ident music at the top and tail ends. The podcast sounds great and you are right up against the deadline. Who has days to get transcripts made?

Not you, not us.

So we built Simon Says, a website to automate transcriptions and eliminate the usual frustrations. You upload your file and immediately out comes the transcript. We do this by applying speech recognition to your media files; transcription now happens in real-time!

¬¨ÔøΩ  Upload your fileÔøΩ Our system supports almost every audio/video file format/codec and of any length. Be sure to upload high-quality files (ideally uncompressed).

¬¨ÔøΩ  PayÔøΩ Select a subscription plan or pay per minute. (Notice how much cheaper it is than the traditional transcription services.)

¬¨ÔøΩ  Your transcript is ready.

¬¨ÔøΩ  Make corrections, assign speaker labels, and export the transcript as an MS Word document which you can copy and paste onto your website.

¬¨ÔøΩ  Link to it, market it on social media, and promote it through your different networks.

Many podcasters also use our site in the production of their podcast such as to transcribe interviews, bookmark key quotes, and annotate sentences. You can even export your transcripts from Simon Says directly into editing programs, like Adobe Audition. Imagine how much time is saved when both the audio clips and the linked, searchable transcripts are in the same program.

We've automated the transcription process to free you up so you can focus on your craft, teasing out that meaningful dialogue in your audio, and delighting audiences with your awesome podcast. To sign up and get free credits to try Simon Says, go to simonsaysai.com.