The name of your episode may inspire people to click and listen.

You want them to give you a shot. This may be your only chance. Instead of giving them the meat of the podcast, you give them the episode number.

itunes_episode_names

Now I think Ralphie May is a very funny comic that not only makes me laugh but makes me think. I went over to check out his podcast and was bummed to see him fall into the trap of leading with your podcast episode number. I've said it before, “Nobody is Googling Episode 27” so why put it in a place that is REALLY IMPORTANT. 80% of what people read is based on the headline and the name of your episode is the headline of that episode. This screen shot if a snapshot of the web based version of iTunes and you can see where it doesn't give much room for the name. The iPhone app isn't much better. With this in mind put the most important – attention grabbing phrase – at the VERY beginning of your podcast episode name.

I don't care about episode 60. Announce it in the podcast if you must, but don't take up such valuable real estate with the podcast episode number.