A podcast guest page that tells pitchers what fits
Once a show has listeners, the pitches arrive: some from people your audience would love, many from agencies sending the same email to every podcast in the category. A guest page sorts them. It says what the show covers and who it's for, what a good guest brings, and asks the few questions you'd ask anyway, with each pitch landing in a Notion database you review weekly.
What the page should tell guests
A pitch is only as good as the pitcher's understanding of the show. Most mismatched pitches come from people who never listened, so give them the essentials on one screen:
- The show in two sentences: the subject, the audience and the tone. "Long conversations with people who run small farms, for listeners thinking of starting one."
- Two or three episodes to listen to first, linked to your podcast host or app pages.
- What makes a good guest: first-hand experience, a story with specifics, willingness to talk about what went wrong.
- What you don't take: paid placements, product launches, guests with nothing but a book to promote, or whatever you've learnt to decline.
- The format: length, remote or in person, video or audio only, how far ahead you record.
- What happens next: how often you review pitches and whether you reply to everyone.
That last point matters. "We read every pitch but only reply if it's a fit, usually within three weeks" is honest and stops follow-up emails.
Questions that decide a booking
| Question | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Name, email, and a link about you | Who they are, in their own words |
| Are you pitching yourself or someone else? | Separates guests from publicists |
| Which episode of ours did you like, and why? | Whether they've listened; the fastest filter there is |
| Three topics you could talk about for ten minutes each | Whether there's an episode in it |
| A story you've never told on another show | Whether it'll be fresh for your listeners |
| Previous interviews (links, optional) | How they come across on air |
| When could you record? | Scheduling, roughly |
The "which episode" question does more filtering than anything else on the page. Mass pitchers skip it or give a vague answer, and you can sort those out in seconds.
Reviewing pitches in Notion
Send each pitch to a Notion database and add your own properties: status (new, maybe, invited, recorded, declined), a topic tag and a target month. A weekly half-hour with the board view is enough for most shows. Move strong pitches to "invited", email them with your recording dates, and keep "maybe" pitches for themed episodes later. Over time the database becomes a record of who you've spoken to and who you said no to, which saves awkward repeat pitches.
Building it with Anticode
Describe the page, for example "a be a guest on my podcast page for a show about small farms, with what we look for, what we don't take, three episodes to start with and a pitch form". Anticode's built-in contact form asks for a name, email and message; for the questions above, use a custom form tied to a site function, which can carry up to 30 plain-text fields. When a pitch is sent, the function's heading and message appear on the thank-you page, so you can restate your reply time there. Check the preview to make sure every question you listed made it onto the form.
Pitches are saved in your dashboard, sealed at rest, and can be emailed to you. Add the Notion connector to send each one to your database; it's sent once, without retries, so the dashboard is your fallback. If you'd rather discuss pitches with a co-host, the Slack or Discord connector can post them to a shared channel too. A guest page often sits alongside a show site; see podcast websites for the rest.
Limits
- No audio players: published pages can't embed players from your host. Link to episodes instead.
- No scheduling of recordings: send your own booking link or agree a time by email once someone is invited.
- No file uploads: guests can't attach a media kit or headshot; ask for a link.
- No automatic replies to declined pitches beyond the thank-you page.
Questions people ask
Should I accept pitches from publicists?
Many hosts do, but ask publicists to answer the same questions as guests. The "which episode" answer usually tells you whether they've done the work.
Do I have to reply to every pitch?
No, but say on the page whether you do. Silence with no warning leads to repeat emails.
Can the guest page be private?
No. Published pages are public, which suits a guest page; it's meant to be found.