Letty from My Sweet Business with Letty Alvarez asks, "What kind of download stats can you expect with a new podcast?" TL;DR Launching a new podcast is a lot of work and is something you should celebrate! It’s only natural to want as many people as possible to listen to it, but where should you place your expectations? In this episode, we’ll walk through 3 questions that will help you determine what your benchmark for success should be. 1. Do you have an existing audience? If you’re starting from scratch, you should expect fewer downloads than someone who has 100,000 followers on Instagram. It’s okay if you’re just getting started, just set your expectations accordingly. 2. How popular is your podcast subject? The reality is, some podcast topics have larger built-in audiences than others. As an example, True Crime podcasts are currently more popular than Home Gardening podcasts and will naturally have a larger audience. We would never recommend you start a podcast just to become popular, just recognize that the potential size of your audience is partially determined by how many people are interested in your subject matter. 3. How good is your first impression? If you have a poor first impression, that will negatively impact your download numbers no matter how good your podcast is. You'll want to make sure you have hi-quality artwork (use a service like 99designs or Upwork to work with graphic designers), practice good mic technique for crisp audio, and use catchy episode titles to grab someone's attention. If you make a good first impression, and then back that up with great content, your podcast will grow. What's the average number of downloads? The average Buzzsprout podcaster gets around 50 downloads per episode. This is a great target for when you're first getting started! Record your podcasting question at Speakpipe.com/Buzzsprout to be featured on a future episode. Review Podcasting Q&A in Podchaser to let us know what you think of the show.