Accessibility in SEO & Podcast Marketing w/ Erin Perkins
How you can give everyone the best user experience possible—without sacrificing your sanity.
We often think of only “accessibility”—wheelchair ramps, sign language interpreters, ADA compliant bathrooms—not “digital accessibility.” Digital accessibility is more about accessibility in the online space. (Think: branding colors, Alt text for images, etc.)
We talk about it, think about it, & then jump directly into feeling overwhelmed & defeated by it. Because… “I don’t have enough time.” “I don’t know the first thing to do for accessibility.” And on and on!
But when it comes to podcast & website accessibility—it’s NOT optional.
We’ve must start implementing best practices now. And Erin Perkins is here to help us! (And to remind us that it’s about Progress Over Perfection.)
Tune in (or read the transcript) to learn more about how you can bring more empathy into your marketing.
Topics covered in this podcast episode:
What accessibility & digital accessibility encompass
What it’s like to navigate life as someone who’s deafblind
How to invite someone into the vibe of the podcast with the transcript
If you can templatize anything to help with podcast accessibility
How to optimize podcast show notes, blogs, & transcripts even as a 1-person show
The importance of timestamps are to keep in podcast transcripts
How to optimize images for SEO & accessibility
How to avoid information overload for blog readers & podcast listeners
How to optimize headshots vs screenshots in blogs & on websites
Why it’s so important NOT to repeat the same information multiple times
Favorite accessibility tools for podcasts and blogs
SEO practices that can hinder accessibility
What Erin has to say about the new Apple auto-generated transcripts
How to bring ALL your podcast followers in on the fun
**Note: The recorded video interview is currently being edited. Check back if you’d like to watch the uploaded video on YouTube!
Meet: Erin
Erin Perkins is the CEO of Mabely Q. She’s deafblind (but you wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at her!). She can still hear with the help of her hearing aid & cochlear implant and she can only see 50 degrees… if you’re waving to her, and she doesn’t wave back…chances are pretty high that she didn’t see or hear you!
It was through collaborating with independent business owners, coaches, and mentors that she became aware of the limited understanding of accessibility. This realization prompted her to pivot towards accessibility education. She loves getting to teach businesses how to be accessible by leaning on her life experiences which she shares with others to foster true inclusion at all levels. Her mission is to make the world more accessible—one business at a time.
Mentioned Links & Resources:
Social Media Accessibility Scorecard
Connect w/ Erin:
Connect w/ Brittany:
This episode of The Basic B podcast is brought to you in partnership w/ Leah Bryant Co.! Help me reach more service providers like you by following the show & leaving a rating or review on Apple & Spotify!
The edited podcast transcript for this episode of The Basic B podcast follows
Erin Perkins & Brittany Herzberg have a high-energy, fun banter about a serious topic—digital accessibility. With a specific focus on SEO & podcast marketing.
Join in on the laughs, lessons, & life-long mission of Erin’s company, Mabely Q!
Welcome to The Basic B Podcast, a show for the wannabe SEO savvy service providers among us, for the coaches and consultants who dream of becoming known for their storytelling skills, not to mention the solopreneurs who straight up need to master all things social proof to increase sales! After a little reluctantly, fully committing to this online business, I quickly realized I needed to get people to come to me, I needed to tell them I was here and how I could support them. I dove headfirst into social proof which led me to SEO, which led me to storytelling. And now it gives me great joy to share what I've learned with other business owners so they skip the hard stuff and ease straight into sales. This podcast gives you expert insights, actionable takeaways, and casual combos with some of the online world's best and brightest experts and strategists. I think that's enough of an intro. So here we go.
Welcome back to The Basic B Podcast! Today, I'm joined by my friend Erin Perkins. And I'm so excited because we get to talk about accessibility. And I'm going to bring in marketing into the conversation. Before I bring her on, here's a quick intro. Erin Perkins is the CEO of MabelyQ. She's deaf blind, but you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at her! She can still hear with the help of her hearing aid and cochlear implant, and she can only see 50 degrees. If you're waving at her and she doesn't wave back, chances are pretty high that she did not see or hear you! It was through collaborating with independent business owners, coaches and mentors, that she became aware of the limited understanding of accessibility. This realization prompted her to pivot towards accessibility education. She loves getting to teach businesses how to be accessible by leaning on her life experiences, which she shares with others to foster true inclusion at all levels. Her mission is to make the world a more accessible place, one business at a time. Erin, I am so excited to have you here!
Erin Perkins 2:04
Thank you, Brittany. I'm so excited to be here today! I know the last podcast episode, we dealt with great lists, one to be different and more learning education for your audience.
Brittany Herzberg 2:16
Yeah, we're gonna build on it. And I will make sure to link to the last episode with you bow. Of course, I love all of my linking. So the first question I'm going to ask you is one that I asked everyone. So you may have heard it. But which do you believe is the most important for sales? Seo, storytelling or social proof?
Erin Perkins 2:37
I mean, obviously, SEO. I mean, social proof is not today. And storytelling is neccessary, but ties it all together for people, so SEO is definitely number one.
Brittany Herzberg 2:53
I like this answer I approve. giggles So let's get into accessibility. And the two things that I really want to weave in are SEO and podcasts. Mostly because I just watched your podcast workshop about accessibility, and it was absolutely incredible! But I would love to start with the elephant that's in the room. What does accessibility encompass?
Erin Perkins 3:17
So there's two different definitions of accessibility and then there's digital accessibility. So as accessibility it usually applies to the product, or anything that anybody should be able to use—regardless of what ability they have. A couple of really good exampels in real life. Everybody uses the curb cut effect. You have the curb cut—anybody can use it. It was originally designed for people in wheelchairs. But like mom with strollers use it. People who might use a cane or walking tool, they use that. That has created a better experience.
The other example is the push button to open a door—granted those don't always work all the time. It has benefited so many people beyond just people in wheelchairs. So it's one of those things where if you can create something that... it doesn't matter what ability you have, if you have a broken arm, you have a sprained ankle, or you might have your hand full of kids or grocery bags—there are benefits to that. Now digital accessibility is really about creating a good user experience for everybody who is in your audience—regardless of what ability. And when I talk about disability—I am talking about anything that relates to mobility, hearing, seeing, neurodivergent, chronic illnesses... Every one of those people should be able to have a good experience, no matter what type of content they consume! And that applies to podcasts, emails, social medias, websites, branding—ALL of those things that I talked about.
Brittany Herzberg 5:12
Thank you for going through that! We've listed your disabilities, and the only thing that I really fall into is that I do have chronic migraines. And thankfully, they've gotten a little bit better, but that's something that can completely knock me out for days. And so you know, not everybody knows that. And those are things that we don't always think about. I have a brother-in-law who has cerebral palsy. My grandpa had a stroke before he passed away. And so he was in a wheelchair, and he could only say "A." So there's different things and different ways that things show up and different considerations that we need to keep in mind to, like you said, give everyone the best experience possible! So thanks for running through that!
Erin Perkins 5:49
Yeah, for sure.
Brittany Herzberg 5:50
I've never asked you this, but I would love to know... What do you wish people understood about what it's like to navigate life as someone who is deaf blind?
Erin Perkins 6:03
I don't necessarily feel like I am missing out on anything in life. Because I was born this way. So it's not something that I'm like, I'm suffering from a loss. Granted my vision is a little bit different, because that was something that I didn't find out about until I was 21, and it's slowly deteriorating. So I do know what I'm missing out on—but I don't want people to feel sorry for me. I do want people to have a lot more empathy. Because the certain thing that I go through life, like traveling through an airport—it always can be kind of anxiety inducing. Because I walk with a mission. I'm a millennial—I need to go make sure my gate exists. So I'm one of those people! A lot of the times, because everybody walking—I don't necessarily see people that pass me. And like I run into them, then they think I'm rude, and I'm like, "Oh my God! I'm so sorry!" It's one of those things where, I'm going to be getting white cane mobility cane, to kind of educate—tell people, "hey, I need a little extra, assistance." And that applies to being in the digital world and social media, on websites, and branding, and podcasts. I need a little extra help! I'm not asking you because I want you to do a lot more work. But we need to create a better experience for everyone! When podcasts were created, based on radio, radio existed first, but that was never accessible to me ever! And then podcasts exist, but because we have all these smartphones, it's like I can still have access to it, but no one is providing me transcripts. So it's like a no-win situation in a sense, right? I still don't have access to it. So like help me have an easier time in life!
Brittany Herzberg 8:09
Yeah! And bring you in on the experience. I guess I'll just bring it up now, haha! It's one of my notes that I wrote down from your presentation. One thing that you were mentioning that... when you said it, of course, it was like, "Oh, duh!" But it wasn't something that I really considered was you were talking about really bringing the person into the experience and sharing the vibe with them even in your transcript! And you mentioned even in some of like the image all texts and things like that. And there are things that I try to do, but now that you mentioned that, like that's a seed in my head that I'm like, "Okay, how can I be better at this? How can I do a better job of like really providing that experience for someone?" Like I don't have all of my videos up for my podcast. It's a thing I'm going to do but I don't have that so people aren't able to always see—I'm gonna make sure this video gets out! Because it's really important to me, especially for the audience that you're bringing along with you! And the topic that we're talking about! Can you speak to that a little bit of just like the vibe and the experience?
Erin Perkins 9:09
So when I talk about bringing your vibe in to the transcripts and stuff, the majority of the people they either don't have to transcript, but if you listen to Apple podcasts—they auto transcribe for you. But! That still doesn't translate the type of energy that this podcast is gonna bring you. I will say most peoples' podcasts probably have a similar type of energy. But one of my friends she has Laughing with Gingers. Their podcast is about two redheads. Try to bring in that energy of what it's like to be part of that podcast without neccessarily listening to it. Can you like explain what each of the women's energy is. Is it constantly laughing? Saying "fits of laughter" every time they bring something up, so... nothing ever gets said? That kind of thing. Or if you have a crime podcast, talk about the music that you might be playing to get the podcast started so that it can kind of help the person get the mind and head to situated it into that energy and kind of go through it. It's sort of like writing a book—NOT that I know anything about writing a book... But just give a little bit so that people can kind of vibe with it!
Brittany Herzberg 10:41
Is it a best practice to have a template? Let's say we have the same intro, and the same music and the same words that we're saying... Is that a good thing to templatize? And/or... should we tailor it for each episode intro? Does that make sense?
Erin Perkins 10:59
Yes! That totally makes sense. I would honestly templatize it. I love templates! I think templates are the best thing in the world. There's nothing wrong with that. It can still be very personalized. In a sense, but your introduction with adding the vibe in can really build into that. Make it a template! And then once people start to get to know you, they might get that part of the transcript, and just go forward—and that's totally fine! But you still want it to be there. And you're not having to do as much work.
Brittany Herzberg 11:39
I really loved how you were bringing that up, and even in your presentation you were talking about you've been like an OG blog reader. And I definitely started out like OG blog reader for wedding photographers. That was one thing I loved reading the love stories! And how they met and all this stuff! And even thinking about that—that REALLY puts you in the moment it puts you in this headspace of "oh, this has been their experience together!" And you just get so attached to them! Which is what we want people to do with our podcasts. So I, again—HUGE fan of templates over here! So I love hearing that we can take that, templatize the intro, and then just comb through the transcript and bring it more to life.
Erin Perkins 12:18
Yeah, for sure! That is my whole mission! I want to be able to have the same energy. Because I am NOT going to be listening to the podcast. Just simple, true, fact. And not because I don't want to hear your voice—it's because I am protecting my mental energy. And I am very sensitive to noise, so I get headaches, and reading is a lot better for me in that sense.
Brittany Herzberg 12:47
I loved everything that you said in that presentation. So I'm going to keep referencing it throughout this conversation! One thing that comes to mind for me, when we're talking about this, and having edited transcripts and things like that—I immediately start panicking! Because I have 30 something episodes that are out. And I also just booked a ton of guests... So I know that my time is limited—it's just me! And I don't have a ton of time to go back in and edit the transcripts, but I don't want to NOT provide a great experience! So, you know, what would you say to someone like me where that's my scenario? Where I want to provide something, but I may not have the time to do it up like I want to?
Erin Perkins 13:26
I am a BIG believer in start from where you're at now! Like with this episode, and then like down the road, maybe say (because you developed your template for your vibe), you just copy and paste it and then slowly edit the other one in like, but not to the point where you're like completely changing out the transcript but just adding that in. So that is set, you're good! And then making a note—because you're much more aware now—saying that you will work on editing the rest of the transcripts. But the reason say they don't feel like going back to ALL the episodes—is because what are the chances that someone is actually going to go back to episode number one and listen to EVERYTHING? After you've been recording for like 6-9 months? You have to gauge that. If someone REALLY wants that episode and they feel like the transcript is not great... Give them a place for them to reach out to you and say, "hey, the transcript is not vibing with me. It's not readable. I would love it if you could update it." Do that! But otherwise, don't feel like you have to go back and fix everything. It's not a good use of your time.
Brittany Herzberg 14:52
I was just saying this on the last recording. Because we were talking about blogging and SEO. And that's what I said I was like, "just start here and move forward with best practices!" And I remember that from our last conversation too! That was a big point and it really just felt like this relief of like, "okay, I know what to do now I'm just going to do my best and keep putting one foot in front of the other."
Erin Perkins 15:14
Yeah! Don't feel overwhelmed with being like, "oh my god! I gotta fix everything now! I need to be perfect!" You do NOT need to be perfect! I say progress over perfection ALL the time. So that's my mission. Start from where you're at now.
Brittany Herzberg 15:29
It's in her email signature! Which I love seeing—every time I email you I'm like, "Yes!" It's great. So with transcripts—this is the last thing I'll ask you with transcripts... Timestamps, are they important?
Erin Perkins 15:45
If you are using the transcript to use it as captions—keep that! But timestamps in transcripts so people can read them... no. Please don't. We don't need them. I don't want to see numbers.
Brittany Herzberg 16:04
This is great! laughing To me hearing that... I just kept it in there because it's there. But now that I know that that's one of the things where I'm like, "Okay, I don't need the timestamps in there. Let's clear those out!"
Erin Perkins 16:13
I can see why people just leave them in there. Becasuse that is more editing that you need to do. But the realistic nature of it is... How much time did it actually take you to edit your whole transcript? If you are already formatting it for transcript readability. Deleting that timestamp...
Too bad we can't tell AI to, "can you delete all the timestamps?" ... Maybe we can?
Brittany Herzberg 16:42
I don't know! giggling Erin has an idea face!
Erin Perkins 16:49
"Hey Jasper, please delete all the timestamps from this transcript." ... I think that could be doable.
Brittany Herzberg 16:57
We shall see! I am going to time myself and see what the average is for how long it takes me to edit my podcast transcripts. Because I really haven't been—I've been sharing that it's an unedited version. But it's not that hard! The quickest workaround that I'm thinking of—because I do everything manually—it's easier for me and it's more efficient for me. I know people love AI, but it's just not efficient for me. I have to figure out how to talk to the robot. And I'd rather just do it myself right the first time. I could just change the speaker names, and then copy that and paste it over every place where it has the timestamp, it's not going to be that hard.
I had one podcast guest who logged in to Riverside. And he had his name as "The Devil." But I really wanted people to know who it was! So I had to go back through and clear all of those names and put his name in there! He was being funny. And it WAS funny! But it wasn't helpful for anyone who was going to be reading the transcript.
Erin Perkins 17:53
Some people don't think about that either! I mean... maybe I should be putting in MabelyQ in my name so people can link to it. I feel like 70% of the time people identify me as "Mabely"—even though that is not my name... I'm like, "Did you read my profile?" But people will call me Mabely. I'm like... That's not my name. It's my business name. But that's okay! I'm not offended. Because I like MabelyQ, so...
Brittany Herzberg 18:23
You just accidentally renamed yourself. That's all!
Erin Perkins 18:27
I mean, I don't have nicknames, so...
Brittany Herzberg 18:30
There you go. You kind of do now!
So with SEO accessibility—let's change gears and think a little bit more of blogs and SEO for our website. I like starting with this—because that everybody knows this! And we did talk about this in the last episode, but image optimization.
Let's talk Alt text, because the last time that I had you on, and we were talking about optimizing images—specifically with alt text—what my brain did with that information is it filed it as there's a way to do optimization for a lifestyle image, a headshot, something like that. And then there's a way to optimize images that are more of graphics and screenshots. Is there one I'm missing or do you agree with that?
Erin Perkins 19:14
Man... that's a tricky question. One of the things I have been also teaching is understanding the intention of the graphic and the photo that in the website. Like... it relevant to what is being said or surrounding it? If it's just your website—I guarantee you half the pictures are probably decorative. So you would want to mark it at "decorative." But a headshot of me would be decorative—but at the same time—I also want people to understand that I am showcasing who I am! I'm showing you that I'm a real human being!
Now when we go on the blog side of things—I mean I'm a blogger! Blog reader. I would say that, yes there is definitely a difference between the lifestyle stuff vs other graphics and stuff like that. Because we're in the age of information overload! I don't need description of every plate of food that you are blogging about. And you're probably writing about it in the captain too! It's definitely something that you would have to think very carefully about, about how you are writing your Alt text because... information overload. I think that the biggest thing right now.
Brittany Herzberg 20:45
That's interesting! Even information overload with optimizing things. That's a really good point.
Erin Perkins 20:52
Because... Alright, so my oldest sister—she is an interpreter for deaf people. But she's deaf herself, so... it's a weird thing. It took me a long time to understand why she's an interpreter for deaf people when she's deaf herself, but I get it. If you want to know more, I will tell you more.
But when you are an interpreter, you are interpreting the information that is neccessary to relay. You're able to express the emotion or whatever through facial expressions. But you are not neccessarily saying EVERYTHING that is being said. In the sense that... you're not leaving out any important information. So now when it comes to like image description / Alt text... it's the same thing!
If you were to take a screenshot of me, you would probably just wanting to describe me. You're not going to go into detail and describe everything around me. You're not going to talk about the picture, or the blanket, the couch. Because that is not relevant! So... when it comes to lifestyle pictures or graphics—you need to think about how you are putting it in and describing it so that it DOES rank for your SEO. But at the same time, it's not getting to the point where if the person were to listen into the Alt text, it would just be irrelevant information. That their like... "This does not give me any value." That's how I look at it.
Brittany Herzberg 22:34
I like hearing that! So what I've tried to do since talking with you last time is... When I'm doing some optimization for a headshot for me—I'm putting my name, I'm putting what I do (because I do want people to find me for that—I also want someone who's visiting the website for the first time to understand who I am and what I can do and how I can help people), and then I'm descriptive of what am I wearing? Or, again, what's the relevant piece of information there? Am I on a client call and that was a moment that was captured? Is it more of like a blog about a day in the life of an SEO copywriter and talking about I walk my dog and go to lunch and do this stuff? So I'm really thoughtful there—AND when I help clients as well. And then if it's more of a screenshot (because I LOVE using screenshots!) I've gotten to be really mindful of... I usually say in the Alt text I say "screenshot." And then in the caption, I'll put "ID" or "image description" or "screenshot says," and then I'll ONLY quote the information that's really relevant. Because sometimes people write a lot!
Erin Perkins 23:37
Yeah! That's the thing is—you need to be very curating of what you are including and capturing. I don't need people to tell me that if you're saying "ID" for image description, you don't need to say "this is an image of... like No. If you can incorporate it into your body text, that's even better! So it's like, you have to really think about how you structure things so that you're not repeating information.
Here's an example—I've gotten into fights with people about this because I'm like, "Excuse me!" I'm the one who's gonna be going blind several years from now, so I don't want like a excessive, repeated information! It's annoying! When I am doing my caption for my Instagram or social media... Most of my images are graphics was text inside. The way I've set it up is that I will write the caption to say what is in the image. And then I will add an ID at the bottom that caption describes what's in the image. Because I do NOT want to repeat that information twice!
People got mad at me because I didn't include the ID! And I was like, alright, fine well, I don't want to repeat it. So that's my workaround. I'm not repeating the information. And I think that's where I want people to be SUPER clear about—don't repeat information! Try not to repeat as much as possible because that is something that I don't want. Although... it's ironic because people say you need to read something 7 times before you get it. So, I don't know...
Brittany Herzberg 25:32
But it is annoying in the moment! And even being someone who doesn't have those disabilities—that is still annoying! It makes me annoyed for you! Because efficiency is a big thing for me, and if I have to hear something 2 or 3 times in the moment? ...I get a little bit offended, because I'm like, "but I heard you the first time. I got it the first time."
So I can imagine ME having that type of reaction, and I wouldn't want to do that to someone else. So I'm gonna walk away from this conversation with—we definitely don't want to leave image titles is IMG 45321. But we also don't want to restate what the image is about, like 2 or 3 times—in a REALLY short span of words. Be smart people.
Erin Perkins 26:15
Because you're just an annoying me. We don't want to annoy Erin... laughs
Brittany Herzberg 26:19
I want to stay on Erin's good side FOREVER!
Okay, one last question for you. Do you have any favorite accessibility tools? Whether it's for podcasts or blogs?
Erin Perkins 26:30
Otter.ai used to be my favorite, but then it changed. I've been playing around with the new platform called literally "mmhmm." And it's really nice because that was my biggest thing—I always feel like people sometimes feel disconnected from people. I can record through mmhmm, and then the transcript comes up right away. And it's actually pretty good for—by my standards because usually most other transcription tools do not translate me well. So I'm liking that and I feel like it allows my audience to have a stronger connection to me because they're seeing me within the slides. So I really like that.
But like, I also don't want to add to people's tech stack. Because I know once you have a tech stack, you kind of want to stay with it until you find something better that can take 2 or 3 away.
Brittany Herzberg 27:41
Yeah, that's a good one! All right. Are there any SEO practices that can actually hinder website accessibility?
Erin Perkins 27:49
Hmm, What do you think?
Brittany Herzberg 27:53
Well, I mean, hearing the repetition piece. And how we need to be mindful of that...
Erin Perkins 27:59
Yeah, I feel like the repetition piece, definitely! But if you don't add transcripts—you are TOTALLY missing out on the SEO aspect of that, so. That actually hurts your podcast in a sense! Because if you don't add transcripts because it has a lot of information, AND not repurposing those transcripts into other things as well. Like, hello! The transcript is a piece of jewel! Use it people!
I know I go back to some of my podcasts that I've been a guest on and I'll be like, "Oh, I said this. Nice!" Alright, let me pull that out. I don't usually repeat the same thing every time I'm a guest on a podcast.
Brittany Herzberg 28:45
That's interesting! I mean, that's probably SO smart! Because then you have this, wealth of information out there that you haven't repeated that you get to use new stuff and use that to create blogs or social posts or whatever. That's that's wise!
Erin Perkins 29:00
Although I am on hiatus from Instagram.
Brittany Herzberg 29:03
I don't even really know what chaos they're causing... I haven't posted on there other than stories since November of last year, and I am SO happy! I love Threads! I see you on Threads! I love Threads.
Erin Perkins 29:14
I don't feel like I'm that witty or that I have a lot to say business-wise on Threads.
Brittany Herzberg 29:21
REALLY?!
Erin Perkins 29:22
I need to be provoked by people.
Brittany Herzberg 29:25
Okay, I'll start provoking.
Erin Perkins 29:27
Somebody questioned me and I didn't understand the question, honestly. Because I would complaining that people don't see accessibility being a need or requirement—it's optional. Accessibility is NOT optional. It needs to be really a core piece of your business. You're building it in.
But then somebody commented said, "Doesn't it say so much about how becoming accessible is costly? Just another disability task."
Brittany Herzberg 30:03
The vibe of that doesn't sound great. No. But it also the vibe seems... mean.
Erin Perkins 30:09
It almost feel like they will be negative to me. For complaining about it and I'm like... Here's the piece I want people to understand—I want every single business that listens to this podcast to understand that—if you wait to build accessibility into your business, it can cost you 30 times as much if you WAIT to build accessibility into your business. 30 TIMES as much! Rather than doing it right now when you're in the 5- 6-figure business, and you're on the upswing to 7-, 8- figures (which is what I want to see for most of us business owners)—think about how much money you would save if you just started doing it now!
Brittany Herzberg 30:53
So much money! And even thinking about—again, from your presentation—how podcasting really started in 2003/2004 and Apple JUST this year—in 2024—came out with a transcription thing—that's NOT perfect, but they've got it out—I didn't realize until you were saying this, that they don't even identify that there's like Speaker One. Speaker Two. So it's just like a jumble.
Erin Perkins 31:20
One example I had used was Ellen's Cubicle to CEO podcast—I love her podcast! And she had always transcribed her podcast separately. And I've always read them! So I decided to challenge myself. (Because my friend was so excited). I can't even understand this! My brain didn't compute it. My brain just went "What? No. Pace. Bye. I'm not reading this!" And I was SAD! Because I'm like, "Oh, this is such a great opportunity." But it's really a missed opportunity.
Because one—you're doing this and saying "We're done! We made this accessible!" No... there's still SO much more work to do with the auto transcription piece. Also, I feel like giving people a way out of saying, "Oh, I don't need to transcribe my podcast anymore. Apple done that for me!" Apple is NOT the only podcast platform. I mean, I'm an Apple person, so I will always just use Apple. But I have to recognize that my dad—who is the sole Android user in our family—he will probably listen in on a completely different platform! So we have to think about that. You're already missing out on your audience if you're just saying, "oh, Apple, transcribes my podcast."
Then the other thing is—it's NOT readable! It's not readable at all. I challenge you to read the transcript on Apple. And see if you can actually read it. And understand it!
Brittany Herzberg 33:00
You definitely can't! I mean, even when you were doing that, I was like, "Wait! There's no way. This is just such a travesty." I went over and it's just... all of the words. You don't know who the speakers are. If it's a solo podcast... okay. You could probably understand that a little bit better. But that's not helpful! At the very least a Speaker One, Speaker Two. If there's more than 2 people, I guess it gets a little bit confusing. But still! They could identify the voices. One of the things I learned and I'm going to start implementing, and I need to figure out how to do this for myself, and my podcast, but what I want to do is just put a button that says "transcript" that's hyperlinked in each podcast, so that someone can go and click over to a Google doc click over to the blog—click over to something where it's going to take them to the transcript. Even if it's not a perfect transcript! Even if it has the timestamps—I still want them to have something!
Erin Perkins 33:52
Yeah, it got to be something. If you are a podcaster like come to me, I will help you make it amazing! Second of all, give people multiple ways of how they can consume the podcast. Not everyone wants to listen to it! Even though you created the podcast cuz you thought it would be easy—I'm sorry. I made your life a little bit more difficult. Just a little bit. But I want to learn from you!
Brittany Herzberg 34:21
And that's the thing! I mean, you CAN'T if we don't give you a way to do that!
Erin Perkins 34:27
Yep. Exactly!
Brittany Herzberg 34:28
And with that! Where can people come and contact you and learn from you?
Erin Perkins 34:30
I'm putting my Instagram on hiatus—you can still find me on Instagram, @Mabely_Q on the core queue, and then time to my website, maybelyq.com And you can also email me through there—my email address is on the website. There's so many different ways to work together! I can I audit your podcast, you can take workshops from me, we can do a 1:1, I can come into your community—SO many different ways to work with me! I personally love doing workshops! They are the most fun for me.
Brittany Herzberg 35:10
And you are a REALLY good presenter with workshops! I wasn't able to attend live, but I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything! Because you even included those of us who weren't able to make it live. You gave examples of our shows, which I thought was I was so grateful for it! I was thankful to see things because it was something I thought I had taken care of. And I didn't so I'm know, Okay, I have to go in and do this blog and do this blog and add these links. And so I was really grateful for that!
Erin Perkins 35:33
Yeah, I try to think about the people that wanted to be there, but couldn't make it. And I felt like I wanted them to feel like there was a lot of value in that.
Brittany Herzberg 35:44
Definitely! So go find Erin, get in her world, get help from her learn from her. Even if it's just like a tip or 2. I mean, there's tons of things that you could choose from and start to implement!
Erin Perkins 35:53
Yeah, for sure! Thank you for having me, Brittany.
Brittany Herzberg 35:56
Oh, of course! Thanks for coming back. And like I said, I'll make sure that I link the other episode too, so they can go listen to that one or read the transcript?
Erin Perkins 36:03
Awesome! Thank you.,
Brittany Herzberg 36:05
Thank you!
That was really something, wasn't it? Let that really sink in and guide you toward being the answer to EVEN more Googled questions! Thanks so much for joining me this episode. YOU are the reason this show exists—and that it keeps growing. You know, thanks to all those follows and reviews. cough cough If you know someone who could benefit from what we've shared, send it to them! We don't do shy around here. If you thought of clarifying or follow up questions while listening—you know what to do—say hi on Instagram! Check the show notes for all the things that were mentioned. And I'll talk to you soon, friend!