For a while, iTunes was the big dog in podcasting, so if you linked “Subscribe to Podcast” to like:
https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id493890455
…that would make sense. It’s a web URL anyway, so it will work for anyone and has information about the podcast, as well as a list of recent shows you can even listen to right there. For Apple folks, you might be redirected in-app (mobile) or it becomes one click away (desktop). But for folks on Android or Linux or Windows or something, that’s not particularly useful.
What are the other possibilities?
Podcasts are essentially dressed up RSS, so giving people a link to the feed isn’t out of the question. We do that on both ShopTalk and CodePen Radio:
I like PocketCasts for my podcasts. I feel like this used to be more obvious, but pasting in an RSS link to search does seem to find the feeds.
I would think (and hope!) that most podcast apps have some way to subscribe manually via feed. But… pretty nerdy and probably a little too dangerous for just a “Subscribe to Podcast” link.
For Android specifically, there is a site where you can put your feed URL after “subscribeonandroid.com” and get a special page just for that:
https://subscribeonandroid.com/blog.codepen.io/feed/podcast/
They say:
If the listener has a one click supported app on their android device, the App will load automatically.
And clearly there are some options:
I find the most common option on podcasts is to link to a soup of popular options:
I think that’s probably a safe thing to do. For one, it signals that you’re on top of your game a bit and that your show is working on major platforms. But more importantly, podcast listeners probably know what platform they mainly use and clicking on a link specifically for that platform is probably quite natural.
Speaking of major platforms, Spotify is going big on podcasts, so linking directly to Spotify probably isn’t the worst choice you could make.
https://open.spotify.com/show/2PUoQB330ft0sTzSNoCPrH?si=ZUYOtZSZQZyrDdo81l7TcA
But there are situations where you only get one link. Instagram is notable for this. No links on posts — only the one link on your profile. You could send them to your website, but of course, with podcasts, the name of the game is making it easy to subscribe. That means getting people right there is best. But also with stuff like tweets, you can’t always deliver a smorgasbord of links. Hence the title of this blog post. If you gotta link to just one place to subscribe, where should it be?
Looks like that’s what Plink does.
Here’s ShopTalk: https://plnk.to/shoptalk
Visiting on desktop gets you the smorgasbord of links. Visiting on my iPhone, I get a direct link to Apple Podcasts.
That’s what they do:
Auto-open installed Podcast Apps native to listener’s iOS, Android, and other mobile and smart watch devices. Each smart link also has a Show Page that desktop users will see with links to that show in Apps like Apple & Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, and other podcatchers.
They apparently use all kinds of data to figure it out.
… will detect the listener’s device, geo, and other factors and send them to your show in pre-installed podcast apps.
Anybody can make a redirect link to particular platforms. Like, we could have built shoptalkshow.com/spotify and shoptalkshow.com/itunes and redirected to those places, but what you get here is fancy auto-detection in a single link.
I signed up for it for ShopTalk, so we’ll see if we end up using it much or not.
Check out this neat solution (which is wideley used at least among german podcasts):
https://podlove.org/podlove-subscribe-button/
Slightly off-topic, but – for several reasons I am forced to fill a good ol’ USB stick with stuff and use that. No podcast player of choice. No empty phone battery, no cable hassle in the car, no skipping sponsors…;)
I was doing that as well once my iPod disappeared about a year ago. I missed the 2x feature and ended up just moving to my phone after about 3 months. I hope that you have better luck than me!
Sorry to say that Plink got it wrong right out of the door: prompting me to reinstall “podcasts” on the iPhone. But I’m using Overcast. I don’t blame them really. But a bad user experience anyway.
I use PocketCasts like I said and it also prompts me to use the default Podcasts app. I wonder if it’s a limiation of iOS or something.
For me it errored and said the podcast was not available, then it asked me to download Google Podcasts when I backed out of the page. My primary podcast app is Overcast.
The text of the link should be clear. Nothing is more frustrating than right-clicking “Subscribe here” and pressing ‘a’ only to find out I’ve copied a link that is going to a web page rather than to the actual feed.
Rolf, thanks for feedback here. Plink detects user-agents and opens apps native to that device (pre-installed apps like Apple Podcasts for iOS). Detecting/sniffing-out user’s preferred pod apps has proven to me more difficult than anticipated. While Show Pages (pages desktop users are routed to) support 10 major podcatchers now, extending mobile redirection into preferred apps vs. native apps is something I’ve absolutely prioritized and am scoping and testing.
Goal is to create a tool that makes promoting/marketing/sharing a show simple for podcast creators, and offers the best UX for their potential listeners/consumers, no matter the device. Definitely thinking from both sides. Again, thanks for feedback.
Thanks for including Plink in the writeup here, Chris. Hey all I’m Scott, maker of Plink smart links. This is v. 1.0 so not everything I’ll eventually have in the product is here yet. But I’m stoked about the adoption of Plink thus far.
I’ve subscribed to be notified of follow-up discussions here in the comment thread. Feedback is invaluable to me in crafting/optimizing Plink to be the best that it can be. Thanks!