Publishing your podcast episodes is just the beginning. The real challenge lies in engaging your audience and ensuring that your website enhances their podcasting experience. This is where a feature-rich podcast player can truly make a difference.
While many podcasters use simple embed codes or rely on third-party players, a dedicated podcast player plugin offers much more functionality. With the right plugin, you can curate episodes, improve discoverability, and collect listener feedback, all of which can significantly transform your podcast website.
In this post, we will explore seven lesser-known yet powerful features of the Podcast Player plugin that can greatly enhance both user experience and your SEO strategy.
1. Curated Playlist with Podcast Player
Most podcast players simply display a chronological list of episodes. But what if you could curate your audience’s experience more intentionally?
With Podcast Player, you can create multiple players on the same page, each showcasing a tailored list of episodes. For example:
- “New to my podcast? Start here.”
Highlight the best introductory episodes for first-time listeners. - “Fan Favorites.”
Showcase your most popular or highest-rated episodes. - “Episodes featuring industry leaders.”
Group episodes that feature your favorite guests or specific themes.
You have complete control over which episodes to display or hide. This allows you to give your website a personalized touch that apps like Apple Podcasts or Spotify cannot provide.
2. Add Custom Audio Messages (Website-Only)
Do you have a big announcement, book launch, or live event coming up? With Podcast Player, you can easily add dynamic audio messages directly to your website player.
You can schedule these messages to play as a pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll, all without altering the original episode file.
This is a subtle yet effective way to:
- Promote a new offer
- Announce a time-sensitive event
- Share important updates exclusively with your website audience
These messages will only appear on your website player and will not affect your podcast feed, making them perfect for exclusive or promotional content.
3. Social Sharing That Drives Traffic
When you share podcast episodes from Spotify or other hosting platforms, listeners remain on those platforms. But what if every share could bring listeners directly to your website?
Podcast Player Pro allows for enhanced social sharing that links back to your website instead of third-party services.
Each share not only drives traffic but also serves as a lead generation tool. This gives you greater control over the listener experience and better opportunities to grow your community.
Pro Tip: Use these shared pages to build your mailing list, promote merchandise, or direct visitors to related blog posts and offer merchandise.
4. Collect Listener Feedback (Beta)
Looking for real-time feedback on your episodes without requiring your audience to fill out lengthy surveys?
Podcast Player offers a built-in feedback widget that allows listeners to share their thoughts while they listen. They can:
- Tap a thumbs up or thumbs down
- Receive a thank-you message if they enjoy the episode
- Leave a short comment if they don’t
You will receive all feedback directly via email, with no need for external tools.
Why is this important?
- It helps you improve your content based on genuine audience reactions.
- It fosters a closer relationship with your listeners.
5. Support for Custom Fields
Podcast Player Pro simplifies the process of displaying various podcasts or episodes on different posts using WordPress custom fields. This feature is ideal for websites that require flexible podcast configurations for each post, especially if you’re managing multiple shows.
Typically, when you add a podcast player with a shortcode, you need to manually enter the podcast feed URL. However, by using custom fields, you can streamline this process. Simply store the feed URL in a custom field (for example, my_podcast_url) and reference that field in your shortcode instead of hardcoding the URL.
Furthermore, you can enhance this functionality by adding the shortcode to your theme template. The plugin will automatically retrieve the appropriate feed URL for each post based on its custom field value. Once you set the custom field, you’re all set—there’s no need to manually update shortcodes for every post.
What You Can Customize
Beyond just the feed URL, Podcast Player supports custom fields for a variety of attributes. You can dynamically control:
- feed_url – The podcast RSS feed to display
- number – How many episodes to show
- filterby – Show only episodes with certain keywords in the title
- audiosrc – Play a single audio file instead of an entire feed
- season – Filter by season number
- episode – Filter by episode number
This allows you to create reusable templates in Elementor or your own custom template parts. The content can adapt based on the data of each post, providing a smart solution for keeping things organized without unnecessary repetition.
6. Customize Episode Metadata
Do you want to customize how your podcast episodes appear on your website without changing the original feed? The Feed Editor tool makes this simple.
With the Feed Editor, you can add or update episode metadata, including:
- Categories for episodes
- Season numbers
- Episode titles
- Featured images
- Author names
These changes will only be visible on your website. They will not affect your actual podcast feed or how your episodes are displayed in podcast apps.
This tool is especially useful if your original feed is missing some information or if you want to organize episodes in a more user-friendly way for your site. Whether you’re making small editorial adjustments or reorganizing your content structure, the Feed Editor gives you full control without altering your original files.
Conclusion
Most podcasters focus on creating great content, and rightly so. But turning your website into a valuable destination for your audience takes a little extra effort.
The Podcast Player plugin makes it easier with features like:
- Curated episode lists
- Exclusive dynamic messages
- Smart social sharing
- Built-in listener feedback
- Support custom fields
- Feed Editor Tool
These tools don’t just make your website look more professional. They also help improve SEO, deepen audience engagement, and give you more ways to grow your podcast brand.
If you’re ready to do more with your website than just embed a player, it might be time to try a smarter solution or try free version on WordPress.
