When you read Internet marketing articles and blogs online, I hope you check out the author to see who they are.  The author bio might say something like, ‘So And So is an experienced Internet marketer and business coach,’ and so on.  But I’ll bet you suddenly see that author in a different light when it says, ‘So And So conducts webinars on list building, product creation and affiliate marketing.’

There’s just something about a person getting up on a podium in front of others that turns them instantly into an expert.  Teaching webinars does this for you.  It brands you as an expert in your field, and it’s also a good way to network and drive traffic to your online ventures.

A webinar is a seminar that’s held online.  It’s a presentation given over the Internet.  There are a number of different platforms that you can use to do a seminar right from your computer.  You can do them on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media sites.  You can either do a free webinar or charge a small fee.  And best of all, they’re free for you to do!

How To Do A Webinar

It may seem crazy to think of yourself organizing and running a seminar, but it’s very easy to do online.  There are just a few basic steps.  The first one is to choose a topic that you know about.  Take some aspect of your niche and find out what people want to know about.

Next, you need to decide on the time and date, and the platform you will use.  Here are a few good webinar programs:

Microsoft Live Meeting – office.microsoft.com/en-us/live-meeting-help/

GoTo Meeting – www.gotomeeting.com

 

There are more and, like I said, you can also do them through Facebook and other social media sites.

The next step is to find customers for your presentation.  You can promote your webinar to your social media followers, tell your list about it, or advertise it on your site.  Some folks make their own mini-site for each webinar and spend some time SEO’ing it before the big day.

You’ll get a call-in number from your provider.  On the day and time when your webinar starts, they’ll call that number and they’re in.  Weeks before the webinar, you should send out your invitations and keep reminding them.  You should send a couple of reminders to all participants in the days before the webinar.

Make sure that your invitations tell them what they’re going to learn.  This is the most important aspect.  If your webinar really offers them true value and information they want to know, you won’t have to do a lot of selling.  Just tell them that this is what you’ll learn.

The great thing is that after a few webinars, you’ll be known for them, and you can brand yourself.  You can say that the last webinar was such a success, you’ve decided to do another one, and so on.  It’s like the snowball effect!

Conducting A Successful Webinar

Actually conducting the webinar is probably the hardest part.  Most people realize that it’s not just an informal chat where you ramble on about your topic.  It needs to be organized and run on time.

A good webinar has a presentation part and an interactive part.  The presentation is where you present the information and you can use images or PowerPoint slides.  The interaction part is really important.  It’s where your participants will get the most out of the event.

It’s important that you don’t have too much presentation, especially PowerPoint.  If it’s just slide after slide and you talking, you’ll put everybody to sleep.  The last thing you want to do with your webinars is bore people, so mix it up with some variety.

Stick To Schedule

Webinars usually run 20 minutes to an hour.  The number one complaint that people mention when they’re dissatisfied with a webinar is that it ran over time.  Everybody’s busy.  Make sure that you stick to the schedule, or at least pretty close to it.  Nobody’s perfect and if you’ve got a question-and-answer session that’s going particularly well, you might not want to cut it short.

Like I said, don’t be boring.  As the presenter, you should be enthusiastic about your topic and the webinar that you’re hosting today.  You don’t need to be over the top; just have some genuine enthusiasm and energy.

You should also stick to the topic and don’t ramble on tangents.  Always remember why your participants are here.  It’s because they want to learn about the topic that was advertised.

Making Webinars Interactive

The key is interactivity.  This is what’s going to make your webinar really amazing and helpful or just another series of slides.

Webinar platforms let you conduct surveys and show instant results.  You can let participants ask questions or chat privately with them.  You’re at the controls, so you can decide what people hear and what they don’t.  When you’re checking out webinar platforms, these interactive features are what you should be looking for.  Get creative and see what you can do with them.

Be sure to answer questions quickly and concisely.  The interactive part especially should be geared toward helping your participants.  Keep it focused on them.

Other Ideas For Enhancing Your Webinars

There are lots of ways that you can take the basic idea of a webinar and enhance it.  One is to record it.  You can then use this recording as a free giveaway to get people to sign up to your list.  You can turn your recorded webinars into podcasts and create new content that you can use.

Another great idea is to do your webinar with a partner.  Two heads are better than one!  One great thing about this is that you’ve got two advertising channels that you can use.  By promoting your webinars to both of your lists, you’ll get lots of participants as well as new fans and followers.

Webinars are an excellent and easy way to build your authority.  Keep yours focused on helping your audience by providing the information they want to know.

Tony