The Theme Show sells out.
I’m not sure what setting I changed, but now the featured image on The Theme Show Facebook posts shrinks into a tiny box. While I troubleshoot that, let’s talk SEO.
When I first launched my podcast, traffic came naturally. Libsyn drove most of it, and I cross-posted episodes to Apple Music. A collaboration with the Official Talk Like a Pirate Day website brought in thousands of listens. That one episode alone saw a massive spike in engagement. Many of those listeners remained until the second time I had to break from posting.
The Exodus
Triggered by my divorce, I moved everything to themeshow.com. A barebones version of WordPress powered the site. Still, it gave me what I needed: basic posting tools, photo uploads, and external links. But visitors stopped arriving unless I actively shared my content on platforms like the Spotify Community forums, Reddit, and Share My Playlist.
I still feel a little guilty about moving the site off my friend’s server, but that shift ended up being one of the most valuable learning experiences so far.
The Plus Side
Adding tools like a headline analyzer and Yoast SEO opened my eyes to how structure and engagement work. Still, these tools can be frustrating. My Christmas episode, for instance, got dinged for using the word “Christmas” too often. The whole point of The Theme Show is to center each post around a thematic phrase.
I experimented, first using setlists in list format and then switching to tables to help SEO algorithms “gloss over” repetitive content. After multiple rewrites, I finally reached an orange “needs work” score—still not the green I aimed for, but better than red.
I know I can write with emotion when the topic calls for it, but the Theme Show entries serve a different purpose. They primarily exist to inform, listing the song titles and artists featured in each episode. The pressure to create snappy, click-worthy titles and an engaging intro can sometimes make me feel like a snake oil salesman.
Even so, I’ve seen progress. More than 200 visitors came by in the past few days, which feels like a solid start. Thankfully, I’m not banking on revenue—because with a 96% bounce rate, I’d be out of luck. However, The Theme Show, by design, encourages that bounce: the playlists are available on Spotify and YouTube Music. People come in, get what they need, and head off to listen.
One small win? I changed my links to open in new tabs. That way, users can keep reading while the playlist plays—if they want to. Now, it’s time to start building out more reading material. I’ve already got content from the old site, and I plan to revive and refresh it using everything I’ve learned from this new journey.
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