How To Start a Webinar For Free

So you want to start a webinar? The thought of this alone can be scary. And you probably don’t know how to go about it. Maybe you’re starting a webinar because it’s the new craze among marketers and bloggers, or you honestly need to push forward engaging content for your customers and convert leads. Whatever reason it is, we got you covered in this article. We are not going to tell you it isn’t challenging to start a webinar, but we would be showing you how to easily navigate your way around creating and managing your webinar.

When starting a webinar, there are many factors you need to consider. First of all, you need to ask yourself why you are even starting a webinar. You may not even need it eventually. You also need to consider using eye-catching and engaging topics, webinar software to use and how to use them, equipment needed for a hitch-free webinar meeting, best time and day for your webinar, and much more.

Webinars are interactive video presentations, seminars, workshops, lectures, and all sorts usually hosted via a webinar platform. With a webinar, the possibilities are endless. You can use it to build a relationship, authority, communicate with team members, or for marketing purposes. And yes, you get to bypass the stress and cost of organizing a seminar in real life.

Webinars are great for selling software as a service, b2b products, showcasing new products and services, creating onboarding videos for employees, generating and nurturing leads, and engaging your audience. 

Creating a webinar in the right way can carry tremendous power for you and your business. With a properly created webinar, you can create compelling stories and content, build and improve your brand, generate and convert leads, and establish your voice and authority in your industry. 

Webinar Features

There are various forms and types of a webinar that you can use to share your content with your audience. The choice is basically yours. You can choose what webinar type or technique you want based on your goals and the purpose.

• Live video

This is a more personal form of video conferencing. This form of webinar allows you to establish a personal relationship with your audience. This feature does not allow you to pause the webinar. You can also use this to showcase a physical product and the way it works.

• Slideshow

If your goal is to educate your audience, then you can use a slideshow presentation format to convey your message. Make sure you create an engaging and compelling web presentation that would sustain your audience’s attention. When creating your web presentation, make sure you carry out in-depth research on your subject topic. Play around with colors and fonts.

Make more use of visuals, tables, figures, and charts, and keep your use of words to a minimum. There are several free and affordable design tools available that you can use to up your visual content.

• Live Chat

You can also use the chatbox to communicate and exchange questions and answers. It strengthens the bond between you and your customers. And establishes you as an expert and authority in your field as you provide solutions to their problems.

• Whiteboard

With the whiteboard, you can convey your ideas and thought process to your audience creatively using shapes, text boxes, and drawing tools.

• Screen Sharing

If your subject topic requires a demonstration on how to use a software, you can use this format to put your audience through. This feature is especially useful when you are talking about an idea that you need to show or demonstrate, so the participants are hooked and engaged. You can also easily use this feature to access multiple apps or information relevant to the topic while presenting.

• Pre-recorded webinar

This form of webinar allows you to present your content within your comfort zone and without the pressure of a live audience. With a pre-recorded webinar, you can be more productive. You can edit the webinars and trim segments that do not convey your message properly.

• Polls and Surveys

This is an awesome way to boost audience engagement in your webinar. Most webinar platforms have live polling webinar features. This will also help you connect with them and offer valuable information. You can create polling questions and surveys for your audience and get valuable data from them. You can analyze and use the data to make informed decisions.

• Stream Video: You can share videos on your computer or online with your audience.
• Branding: Some webinar software allows you to use your colors and logo throughout the meeting and for personalized email invitations.
• Customizable features: Some webinar software allows you to customize your webinar to suit your company’s design. You can use this feature to add logos, change theme colors, layout, and customize emails in one seamless format.
• Recording option: When you begin your webinar event, there is an option for the hosts to record the presentation, whether audio or video.  
• Seamless Email Integration: This feature allows you to build your email list. As people register for the webinar, they can easily be added to your email list. With email integration software like MailChimp, Infusionsoft, HubSpot, and GetResponse, you can easily email registered attendees at any time and automatically. This enhances your brand image and keeps your participants abreast of what’s going on.
• Follow-up emails: After the event, you can contact your audience to nurture them and provide them with valuable information or invitations to another webinar event.
• Mobile-Friendly: Most webinar software allows you to access the webinar via phone, tablet, or computer. Make sure you put this into consideration while selecting.
• Social media integration: Most webinar software also allows one to share content, ads, and post to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also link ads to your webinar, thus boosting your visibility.

 

Webinar Formats

• The Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) Webinar Format

This format allows you to focus on your audience and answer any questions they might have, but you wouldn’t have been able to answer during a presentation. This webinar format allows you to connect with the audience, understand them, and allow you to tailor your presentation to suit their needs.

You can prepare a list of potential questions before the webinar to prevent any awkward silence. You can also use polls and surveys to keep your audience involved and engaged. They can also interact in the live chatbox.

• The Interview Webinar

This format involves the facilitator and the interviewee. It is less of a presentation without slides and all. You seek out experts, thought leaders, and influencers in the industry who understands your topic and are willing to answer questions related to your field. You need to find someone who is conversational and can offer value to your audience.

Make sure you prepare a list of questions and points to talk about so that you won’t both be at loss for words.

• The Case Study Webinar

This webinar format allows you to showcase real case studies. You can interview your customers and allow them to talk about their experiences. Tell them to talk about the problem they had and how the product solved it. This builds your credibility among the audience. It also helps convert leads and move down the marketing and sales funnel.

• The Panel Discussion

In this webinar format, the moderator manages and oversees a panel discussion involving a panel of speakers. The moderator allocates a fair share of time between the speakers and ensures the smooth running of the webinar. It is much more conversational and convenient than the Interview Webinar. When selecting speakers, be diverse in your choices. Select experts with different perspectives, skills, and expertise. This would boost engagement and keep your audience hooked.

• The Chat Show Webinar

This webinar format is a more engaging discussion between two lively industry experts. Look for industry experts in different fields to talk about your topic, to get different perspectives on things. This is a great way to reach a wide range of audiences and offer value to them.

• Onboarding and Staff Training Webinar

Many businesses and organizations are using technology and webinars to connect with their employees remotely and build professional skills. You can incorporate videos, slides, and virtual training sessions to communicate with your employees and build them up professionally.

You can use a webinar for so many purposes, from educational, inspirational, training, team meetings, and employee onboarding to product webinars and lead generation.

 

Webinar for marketing and lead generation

You can use a webinar to showcase your product to your audience and prospective leads. You can generate more engagement and attention using an online meeting. With a webinar, you can answer questions about the products and clear their doubts. An online webinar meeting also allows you to build a relationship with your customers, follow them up after the meeting, and discover ways to tailor your products to suit them better.

As you continue to promote your webinar, follow up on the persona you would like to attract. As they register for your webinars, you can gather information from them and gain leads that you can follow up on. You can even nurture them until you can convert them.

 

Webinar for Product Demonstrations

Firstly, you can use a webinar to showcase and demonstrate your products.  Secondly, sell your products strategically and connect on a personal level with your potential customers. Lastly,   showcase real testimonials and case studies of your customers and how they have used your product to achieve optimal results successfully.

 

Webinar for educational purposes

A webinar allows you to reach a wide range of audience of students anywhere in the world. Both the educator and students can cut down on food expenses, travel costs, and travel time. It also allows students to easily access learning materials from anywhere in the world and at any time, especially students who don’t have time or are far away from schools.

The world is shifting and adapting more rapidly with changing technology. The disruption in the education sector caused by the COVID pandemic has thrust many schools to adopt e-learning mode. Online degree programs have made it possible for students all over the world to complete education in fields that they might not have been able to complete due to distance limitations. It is even more flexible, students can choose whatever time they want and as long as they want it. Using webinars for education also helps students cut down on transportation costs to on-campus learning sites.

Using webinars for educational purposes allows for more interaction between the students and the teachers. The use of the chatbox and forums to communicate makes it so much easier to relate.

Top webinar platforms that make it easy to host classes for e-learning include Townscript Live, BlackBoard, Adobe Connect, ClickMeeting, BigBlueButton, Google Classrooms, GoToWebinar, LearnCube, Schoology, and Zoom.

 

Webinar for training

If you want to train your new and existing remote employees on how to use particular software, or on the mode of operation in your organization or job descriptions, you can use a webinar. You can list your vision, mission, and your company’s expectations. You can also include a question and answer segment to clarify whatever questions they might have. Whether pre-recorded or recorded format, your trainees can access the webinar at their convenience. If you deal with software, you can also use it to train customers on how to use your software and adjust to it.      

 

Webinar for interviews

You can use a webinar to conduct live interviews with experts in various industries where the audience can participate in. You would be offering your audience value and building credibility and brand awareness as more people participate and register for the webinar.

Creating a webinar includes much more than having the right topic or format, you also need to consider getting the right equipment. This would make your webinar run smoothly and even make you look and sound very professional. So here are our must-haves:

• A computer or tablet with a strong internet connection: Using a phone might be quite tricky. You should use a laptop, desktop, or tablet instead. Your internet connection speed should not be less than 5 Mbps. If you’re not using a webcam, then less than 5 Mbps is okay.
• Webinar software: When choosing a software consider the number of participants and presenters that can be accommodated, the features available such as custom backgrounds, or whether your audience has to download a plugin.

Later in this article, we would be sharing an overview of webinar platforms you can choose from and use.

Other tools that are not really compulsory but recommended;

• Webcam
• Microphone and Headset
• Lightning: You can use ring lights, umbrella lighting, or LED lamps. It doesn’t need to be complicated. Just try to balance amounts of light and avoid shadows.

 

So Why Should You Start a Webinar?

• Establishes you as an authority: Creating your own seminars and lectures establishes you as a reliable voice and authority in your industry. Webinars allow you to share your insightful ideas and expertise with your target customers or audience. When people find you insightful and informative, their expectations will be watered, and they will flock to you at any need for answers or information.

If you are a marketer, you can easily use webinars to explain how your products solve problems and answer whatever questions your customers might have about them.

• You also get to record and preserve the content and share it with your audience later. As a blogger or influencer, you can share knowledge using a webinar and even re-use the content later.  
• Starting your webinar allows you to promote your brand and establish your brand identity and tone.
• With a webinar, you can keep track of people who sign up for your seminars, have a database, and create automated or personalized emails to convert them.
• You can also use a webinar for onboarding and training new employees, especially for those seeking remote opportunities.
• You get to form a bond with your audience

A webinar gives you the platform to interact with your audience. Not only will you build trust but also a strong business relationship. Showing them the face behind the business helps them connect more personally with you. Their trust in you and your products, services, and brand grows.

The question and answer session also allows you to know your target audience and understand them. This would help you tailor your products and service to suit their needs. Webinars are resourceful tools used in digital marketing. They can capture your audience’s attention much better compared to traditional marketing videos.

• Starting a webinar would boost brand awareness, traffic, and generate new customers and subscriptions. As a business owner or marketer, you need to establish your brand identity and voice. You can use your brand logo, colors, and so on to customize the webinar presentation to suit your brand. This exposes your audience to your brand and enables them to effortlessly recall your brand. Consistently offering value to your target audience via a webinar will increase your brand awareness and reinforce your brand identity.

 

Other Benefits of a Webinar

• You get to reach a larger audience

With a webinar, you bypass the hassles of arranging a venue for meetings, dealing with logistics, feeding for both presenters and participants. You save time, energy, and costs of planning. Global networking and collaboration are much easier and convenient with a webinar. With a webinar there are almost no limits, you can reach anyone and everyone with your products. Business owners, employees, and customers get to know themselves more and interact with each other. They can share more about their product and services.

• You can generate and nurture leads

Many businesses depend heavily on lead generation, as they should. Lead generation helps boost traffic on the websites of many businesses and may potentially lead to the conversion of generated leads to customers. Well, this equals more awareness, sales, and much profit.

During the registration process of the webinar, your prospective audience submits their names, phone numbers, email addresses, and other information. Once they get to know more about your brand or business and the value you are offering, then they get to the point where they are ready to buy what you are offering.

• You get to preserve valuable content

Starting a webinar will increase your online content and answer questions that prospective clients or employees may have. Not only would you boost your online presence, but you can also store the content for future references.

• You get to build credibility and invite industry experts

Regularly hosting webinars will give you the platform to invite industry experts to some of your webinar events. This not only enhances your brand image but also establishes you as an authority in the industry. You can leverage the expertise and experience of the industry experts to reach more people, earn more gains, and generate leads. Remember, they are not obliged to promote your products or services, but some of them usually do.

• It is cost-effective

Starting a webinar is affordable and effective. You will only need a strong internet connection, webcam, computer, microphone, headset, and webinar software. You save so many costs, including travel expenses, lodging and accommodation, time, and so on.

• It is more flexible

Pre-recorded webinars allow the audience to access the presentations at their own time and convenience. They can watch and re-watch the session to get valuable information. A pre-recorded is especially useful when guests won’t be free at the time of the events.

• You can earn more revenue

You can create paid webinar events in a case where you have a large audience, and you are offering rich value to them. Most webinar software integrates a payment platform where the participants can pay through.

Possible challenges that may arise from starting a webinar and how to solve them

There are plenty of benefits of hosting a webinar, but starting a webinar comes with its own challenges. Some of the most common challenges include;

• Technical difficulties

This is the most common challenge faced when hosting a webinar. It could be a poor internet connection or just may have something to do with your computer’s operating system.

How do you solve this issue?

Always prepare and plan ahead and test your equipment to make sure they are all running smoothly. Check your internet connection, your lighting, camera positioning, headset, and microphone. 

Practice with the webinar features, especially if you are a first-timer. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the chat options, poll and surveys, screen sharing, and slide show options.

• Audience engagement

It’s hard to keep your audience engaged for a long time in a virtual meeting. People’s attention span gets shorter and shorter, and they can easily get distracted by messages that pop up on their screen or just a physical distraction.

How do you solve this?

Make sure you interact with your audience all the way. Ask questions and conduct polls during the presentation. This way, you can focus their attention on what it is that you are saying.

If you’re using a slide show, make sure that the visuals are appealing. Incorporate the use of images, videos, gifs, and anything that can express your idea better and captivate your audience’s attention.

Make sure your webcam is on so that your audience can see and connect with you. Start off with introductions, a few jokes, or a personal story to keep your audience in a relaxed mood.

• Poor promotion

If you create a webinar and people do not attend, then it’s safe to say that you have not done a webinar. The success of your webinar depends on your promotions. You have to choose the right time and channel to promote your webinar.

How do you solve this issue?

You can use paid banner ads to promote a webinar, especially if it is about thought leadership. You can also use email campaigns to promote a product demo webinar. Social media is also a free, easy, and effective platform to promote your webinar event. It also guarantees a wider audience. Other effective channels for promoting your webinar include; websites, blogs, co-marketing, and employee networks.

Regarding timing, You can start promoting your event one month before the webinar just to keep your audience abreast of your event, and then up the promotions a week before the webinar. Mornings are also a great and effective time to capture your audience’s attention.

• Registrations

Most people end up leaving the registration page before they even finish the registration. So how can you boost conversions on your registration page? Make the form short because some people’s attention span is short. Minimize text as much as possible. You can include a video to boost conversions. You can also include your phone number, email address to build your credibility and trust.

• Measuring Success

The success of your webinar cannot be measured by what it looks like but by some indicators that you would have determined before the start of the webinar.  These are referred to as your key performance indicators (KPIs).

You can use KPIs like attendance rate, attendance engagement score, generated revenue, and registrations.

 

Step-to-step guide on starting an engaging webinar

1. Create an engaging topic and format

Your topic is the first line of contact with them. It is an opportunity to catch their attention and interrupt their busy schedule. No one would stop for a boring topic. Don’t be too broad and vague when selecting a topic in a particular field. Streamline your topic into one area and effectively discuss it. To catch their attention, you need to go all out to wow them with a compelling and satisfying topic. 

How to create a compelling topic

• What is the purpose of the webinar?
• Decide on what topic you would be sharing?
• What form of webinar would suit my needs?

Are you trying to sell a product, onboard employees, or generate leads and traffic? You need to consider what purpose your webinar is for to set you on the right track. Not all content need a webinar, you need to consider if you’re actually offering value. People are really busy, you need to give them something they might be interested in. Next, you would need to discover what topic your audience would be very interested in by researching your popular posts or content especially the ones with the most traffic generated.

You can also research the keywords people use to find your blog or site. You can use Google analytics to find these keywords. Check under Acquisition > Keywords > Organic.

You can also discover topics based on what your customers frequently ask or you can ask those directly using polls and surveys. You can also ask your team members, since they are mostly in contact with your customers, or check out what topic your competitor is talking about and get some ideas.

Remember, make sure you are precise and specific as to what your webinar is offering. Don’t use your title to make promises that you can’t keep. After deciding on the purpose and title of your webinar, select a webinar format that would suit your needs.

Practice different webinar formats and stick with the one that drives more engagement and keeps your audience glued. You also don’t have to be too monotonous with it, you can mix up the formats. For example, you can do an Interview Webinar one time and do an AMA webinar format the next.

2. Plan your content

Remember the saying that goes, ‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail’. It is so true in this case. If you plan your content, you get to share content that actually sticks and drives engagement. But if you don’t put in adequate planning, you might find yourself losing track of what you intended, worse, your audience might drop-out.

Create an outline and set a time frame to work with. You don’t have to plan and write done every word you would say, just create a framework to work with. Remember, it’s just a skeletal framework, you don’t have to follow it word by word. The main idea is to keep your audience engaged, and sometimes that requires you to think outside of the box.

Make use of headings and bullet points in your presentation slides. You can use PowerPoint or Google Slides to create your slides. Don’t allow your slides to be packed with text, use audio and visual materials to showcase your content. Use bold headlines, enticing colors, and fonts. Add images and charts.

You need to write down the entire process for your webinar, to streamline your production in the future. Plan ahead of the topic you would use, speakers, and dates. Keep track of this using a calendar or a project management tool.

Reports from BigMarker show that 41% of viewers prefer videos that last as long as 30 minutes, while 44% prefer videos that last for 45 minutes. This means that you should not create a webinar that would last hours. Aim for one between 30-45 minutes.Your set timeframe could be 45 or 60 minutes. For an engaging webinar of 45 minutes, you can follow the following format

FORMAT

• Introduction: 5 minutes
• Main Presentation: 30 minutes
• Q&A session: 10 minutes

Start your webinar on time. If you have fixed your webinar for 11 a.m., then do not start any time past then. Your participants are busy, and no one would want to be kept waiting. You also risk losing your participants, potential customers, and subscribers.

Set the tone for your webinar and start by welcoming participants. Engage with them first before you start spewing off your content. Introduce yourself and ask them where they are joining from. You can also share a personal story that they can connect with. If you are hosting several speakers, then know their bio to introduce them briefly and smoothly. Establish your authority as an accurate and verifiable information source. If you are trying to sell a product, use 80% of the webinar for content and the remaining 20% to promote your product.

You can use 5-10 minutes before the Q&A session to show your audience how your product works and how it solves problems. Also, save time for a Q&A session at the end. At the end of the webinar, include a call to action. Ask them to buy your product, subscribe for something, or visit your site.

Remember that “Practice makes progress.” You can practice as much as possible so that you can deliver a memorable webinar. You need to rehearse your scripts so that you don’t end up reading what is already on your slide or your script to your audience in a monotonous and boring tone. You might think you’ve got it, and you end up stammering and at a loss for words. However, you need to sound confident and amiable for your audience to remember you and hinge on your every word.

3. Prepare your environment and check your equipment

Check your camera, microphone, and your internet connection. Earlier, we recommended using a webcam and a microphone other than your computer’s webcam and microphone. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using your computer’s webcam. In fact, you can use your computer’s webcam when connecting with your friends or for a small meeting. But if you want to look professional and have a high video quality especially when hosting important events, expensive training, or marketing events, you can go for any budget-friendly option other than the one inbuilt in your laptop.

With a good microphone, you can eliminate hissing, creaking, and background noise from colleagues and neighbors and give a good impression to your customers and clients. If you can invest in a top-quality microphone, then you would appreciate the difference from using your computer’s microphone.

My own conference has a checklist for the best webinar webcam, microphone, and headset you can use. They also suggest several budget-friendly webcam microphones and a headset you can use.

It can be embarrassing getting logged out of your own webinar, you need to test your internet connection first and make sure it is strong enough. Close all open tabs on your computer’s browser, stop ongoing downloads, and close applications that are running in the background.

Test all your equipment in the webinar room. Check your audio and video recording equipment. Do a test recording hours before the webinar and seek out somebody’s opinion on your audio and video quality. It would be a big fail if people can hear you or there is an accompanying hissing sound or echo. Don’t use any new equipment on the day of the webinar. Stick with the equipment that you are familiar with so that you can easily troubleshoot if any problem arises.

Check your environment for anything that can generate noise, mute devices that you’re not using for the webinar.

Also, familiarize yourself with the features of the webinar software you are using. Fifteen minutes before the start of the webinar, make sure you check all equipment, again and again, to make sure that you are prepared.

4. Select a webinar solution

There are several webinar solutions out there, including Zoom, GoToWebinar, WebEx, ClickMeeting, and much more. There are no perfect webinar solutions. They all have their pros and cons. We would be looking at these webinar solutions/platforms later in this article in detail. You can create polls and surveys and stream videos using your webinar solutions. You can also customize your webinar using your brand logo and colors.

5. Select your team

The success of your webinar presentation depends mainly on your team, which includes the facilitator, presenter or presenters, and assistant/assistants. Getting a team together will ensure the smooth running of your webinar. Assign tasks to them involving planning, promotion, troubleshooting, and so on.

The facilitator is responsible for creating content for the webinar. They oversee the registration process, communicating with the participants at the beginning of the webinar and follow up after. They seek out industry experts and select the suitable one, and then promote the event.

The presenters develop the webinar presentation and are in charge of delivering an engaging presentation. Your webinar should carry the similarity of a face-to-face experience. Make sure your presenters are camera-ready and actually use their webcam while presenting. This allows your audience to see your presenters and possibly, form a bond with them.

The assistants respond to the queries posed by the audience. They make sure the whole presentation goes smoothly. Select an assistant who is great with webinar software and equipment so that they can respond to technical queries and so on. They are mostly required for a bigger audience. 

6. Promote your webinar

You have not done a webinar if no one attends. You need to promote your webinar way beforehand to increase participation and attendance.

• Create ads and banners on your website’s homepage to increase awareness of your event.
• Create a landing page to create awareness on your topic, the presenter (s), date and time, and a sign-up button for people to attend the event.
• Send email reminders to reveal your event countdown. This could help drive registrations for your event. According to GoToWebinar, an email campaign drives 57% of webinar registration. Email campaigns are budget-friendly and very effective.

Make sure you send emails with the direct link to your webinar on the day of your event.

• Publicize your event using social media like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You can use a dedicated hashtag to further promote your event on social media.

7. Choose the right time and date

Remember that you are targeting a global audience, this means different locations and time zones. It may not be possible to put every country into consideration but you can host your webinar at a particular time and date that will allow the presence of a maximum number of attendees. If you are targeting a particular country, let’s say you are located in Ottawa, Canada and you are targeting people in Nigeria, then it would be appropriate to host your webinar between 4 A.M. and 6 A.M. in your own time zone – this corresponds to 10 A.M. and 12 P.M. West Africa Time.

You can select the best time and date based on your target audience. According to a GoToWebinar report, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are the most likely days people attend webinars and are therefore considered the most popular days to host a webinar.

8. Follow Up

You would miss out on an opportunity to engage with your audience if you fail to follow up with your attendees after the webinar. You can thank them via email and include a feedback survey. Ask them to share their experience and include a call-to-action for them to buy your products or subscribe to your services, or attend a future webinar. You can also follow-up registrants that were unable to attend the webinar and include a recording of your webinar. This would increase engagement and help you involve them with your company.

8. Measure your success and evaluate your efforts

 You can evaluate your success using the feedback provided by your audience in the follow-up email. Use the response and feedback given by attendees to improve your future webinars.

 

Top 10 Webinar Platforms and Solutions You Should Consider Using

Webinar software allows you to host your webinar online with ease. They help you in creating an interactive and engaging webinar. There are several webinar platforms out there, but in this article, we would be summarizing the top 10 webinar platforms based on popular reviews and ratings. 

1. Livestorm

Livestorm is an exceptional webinar tool that is great for product demos and sales webinars. This webinar platform is suitable for companies of any size from startups to large companies. You can use Livestorm if you are expecting both a small and large number of participants. Livestorm is optimized for all devices, from desktop and laptop to mobile devices. They allow you to run live, automated, and on-demand webinars. Whether you want to collaborate with many presenters or a single speaker, you can use Livestorm.

With Livestorm, you can host any type of webinar from product demos to customer training and many more.

If you are want to host a product demo webinar or employee onboarding and trainee, or even online courses, then Livestorm is a great option. Livestorm also has some exceptional features. With Livestorm you can send personalized emails and automate emails. They also take care of your landing page, recording, and email automation. They can also help you increase engagement with your audience with polling, survey, and Q & A sessions.

Livestorm is user friendly and easy to use. Your attendees can easily join your webinar link with a click without the need for registrations.

Top Features:

• Best suited for product demos and live webinars. 
• Access customizable webinar themes.
• Offers customer support in multiple languages.
• Access free and premium plans ranging from $99 to $209 per month when billed annually.
• Offers detailed analytics on attendance and replay.
• Allows you to connect marketing tools like HubSpot and Salesforce to your webinar to collect data.
• Integrates YouTube Live and other live streams with your webinar. 
• Includes tools like polls, Q & A, registration pages, and much more.
• Access unlimited recording storage.
• Strong data security.

Cons:

Allows only up to 1000 live attendees.

2. Demio

Demio is a great webinar platform you can use to host your webinar especially for marketers looking to generate more leads. It has top-notch aesthetics and visuals. They allow you to customize your brand identity and using your brand colors and logo.

Demio is also vast with the type of webinar you can run. You can run live presentations in real-time, HD streaming, or perhaps a series event if you are looking to host several live scheduled sessions. With Demio, you can also run an automated, on-demand webinar or a combination of live streaming and pre-recorded webinars.

Whether it’s live or automated webinars, or maybe a combination of both. You can do that and much more with Demio.

Top Features:

• Intuitive and Easy to use.
• Visually appealing and customizable to your branding and logo.
• Offer replays, email automation, event reminders, and registration landing pages.
• Access 24/7 chat and email support. They also have detailed guides and videos to walk you through the process of achieving webinar success with Demio.
• Access unlimited webinars and up to 100 recording storage. They automatically record your sessions in HD quality that you can easily download and share.
• Include tools like chats, polls with stats, call-to-action-buttons, and waiting room.
• Allows you to share freebies, gifts, and handouts for download. 
• Access in-built analytics and insights. You can track registrations, audience engagement, and get results from polls and featured actions taken.
• Allows you to embed your webinar’s event registration form on your website and landing page.
• You can view, manage, and export contacts into a .CSV file.
• Integrates marketing tools like Marketo, Drip, Infusionsoft, MailChimp, GetResponse, and so on.
• Encrypts browser data and stores data privately.
• Pricing starts from $34 to $163 monthly when billed annually. 

Cons:

Cost higher for more than 50 live participants.

3. WebinarJam

WebinarJam is a beginner-friendly platform that barely requires technical know-how on setting up your webinar. They offer detailed training videos to help you through the process of creating your webinar WebinarJam is optimized for all devices and can reach up to 5000 people. You can use this platform for any purpose, especially for selling products and services.

WebinarJam is a powerful and user-friendly platform that allows you to create an engaging webinar.

WebinarJam is top-notch when it comes to customizable templates. They help you create webinar registration pages and schedule events and sessions. You can send follow-up emails to your registrants and attendees to engage with them and encourage them to take action.

Email campaigns are automated with WebinarJam, and they also help schedule your event time based on the attendees to offer a superb experience for your leads.

Top Features:

• Offers pop-ups to your attendees during the webinar event so that they can buy products or services directly from your webinar.
• Allows you to stream on YouTube Live and collaborate with multiple presenters.
• The webinar rooms are secured and password protected.  
• Allows for advanced live chat and 1:1 video communication.
• Includes poll, chat, and whiteboard.
• Offers HD quality video and audio and user-friendly dashboards.
• Includes slide show, polls and surveys, picture-in-picture, and screen sharing options.
• Automatically records your webinar and sends replay to your attendees.
• Offers advanced analytics and data tracking. That way, you can use the results to pursue and convert potential leads.
• Includes multiple payment gateways.
• Pricing ranges from $499 to $999 yearly.

4. GoToWebinar

GoToWebinar helps you eliminates the hassles and stress of hosting your webinar. It is quick and easy to use. Whether you want to do online training or generate leads for your business, or even communicate with your team, GoToWebinar has got you covered. I think I like how they put it, ‘Success without the Stress.’ You just need to select a date and GoToWebinar takes care of the rest.

You don’t have to bother too much about knowing how to use their software. They have detailed step-to-step guides and videos that would guide in preparation and presentation. Plus, you can get access to 24/7 customer support.

Create a webinar using GoToWebinar intuitive and easy to use interface.

Top Features:

• Intuitive and user-friendly interface.
• Access several templates and customize your webinar materials by adding brand colors, logo, and images.
• Includes polls, surveys, videos, screen sharing, and engagement dashboards.
• Also features breakout rooms, video embedding, transcripts, and a video editor.
• Integrates marketing automation and CRM, including Salesforce, Unbounce, Marketo. Leadpages, Infusionsoft, Zapier, and much more.
• Access comprehensive reports and data on attendees and performance.
• Offers automated emails, reminders, and confirmations.
• Offers insights and data on attendees and performance.
• Easily manage your event virtually.
• Pricing starts from $49 to $399 when billed annually.

Cons:

It is really expensive.

5. WebinarNinja

WebinarNinja allows you to create a webinar in a matter of minutes. They have a powerful and easy to use interface and tools used by top brands like Printful and Podia to create an excellent webinar. You can create different types of webinars such as live, automated, series, and a combination of live and recorded videos.

WebinarNinja is an easy to use webinar platform you can use to host and create your webinar.

Top Features:

• Email automation and analytics dashboard. You can send reminders, confirmation emails, or personalized emails to your registrants. You can also send a follow-up email to all registrants and attendees to build engagement.
• Allows you to export data.
• Access several professional templates for your webinar event.
• Allows you to save your images, templates, logos, recordings, audios, videos, and more all in one location. And have access to them for your webinar events, follow up emails, and registration pages.
• This webinar software runs on any web browser. The download of software is not required.
• Include fast live chat, Q & A, screen sharing, and registration landing pages.
• Allows you to run multiple polls before, during, and after your webinar event.
• You can create multiple offers and time them to show at a particular time for your event.
• Allows you to upload slides and display them without screen sharing.
• Integrates up to 1000 apps with Zapier.
• Pricing starts from $39 to $199 when billed annually based on the select plan.

Cons:

• Slow customer service.
• Glitch with uploading bulky presentation slides.

6. EverWebinar

EverWebinar is tailored mostly towards the delivery of PowerPoint presentations and screen sharing tutorials in “pixel-perfect quality.” It is so-called “the most powerful automated webinar platform.” It belongs to the same creator as WebinarJam but is tailored towards automated webinars. If you are a small or medium business owner and you want to generate and convert leads using webinars, then EverWebinar is ideal for you.

Create evergreen webinars using this powerful automated webinar solution.

As a WebinarJam user, you can easily set EverWebinar in a matter of minutes. It has some incredible features, such as automatic recording and automated email connections.

Top Features:

• With just a click, you can easily swap between EverWebinar and WebinarJam.
• Webinars immediately start upon registration.
• Uses authentic cloud-based servers for free and unlimited hosting.
• You can fake your audience count.
• Using a sophisticated scheduling system helps block unavailable dates.
• Revive your past live events using EverWebinar.
• Access statistics of engagement and performance in real-time.
• Automatically detects the time zone of users for ease.
• Includes Live Chat and Live Chat simulator to foster engagement with participants.
• Create polls and surveys to get to know your audience better.
• Includes multiple payment gateways and clickable offers.
• Costs $41 per month, when billed annually.

Cons:

• It might take a while to understand the setup and be accustomed to it.

7. LiveWebinar

LiveWebinar is a cloud-based solution with outstanding features like superior screen sharing, social media broadcasting, and audience engagement analytics. Your audience can easily join the room without the need to download any software. With LiveWebinar, you get the choice to record your webinar fully or partially in HD quality. With just a click, you can share your screen in real-time. You can also get access to statistics on reports on audience engagement.

Create a unique webinar with LiveWebinar’s Cloud-Based Solution.

LiveWebinar lets you host a unique webinar that is completely customizable to your taste using unique templates, colors, and logos, and easily embed your webinar directly into your website. You can create polls, surveys, and call-to-action buttons to engage with your audience and convert leads.

LiveWebinar also integrates marketing automation tools like Campaign Monitor, Slack, AWeber, MailChimp, Zapier, Constant Contact, and so on.

Top Features:

• Allows you to stream your webinar live on social media such as YouTube, Facebook, Periscope, and Vimeo.
• Allows you to share your desktop screen in real-time.
• You can store and share your files securely on your personal cloud.
•  Include tools that drive collaboration and engagement, such as Chat, Polls, and Surveys, and Call-to-action.
• You can add Prezi to your webinars.
• Has multi-language capabilities – It allows you to translate chats to whatever language you want in real-time.
• Allows you to embed Ads or banners into your webinars.
• Includes Whiteboard for you to express your ideas for your audience to understand better. You can also include your audience and let them draw on documents and videos.
• Allows you to assign roles to presenters and other team members.
• Includes breakout rooms to foster collaboration and engagement.
• Allows you to host up to 1000 participants.
• You can use a free plan where you can only invite up to 5 attendees.
• Pricing starts from $11.99 to $95.20 monthly when billed annually. There is also a custom plan for custom pricing for more than 1000 participants.
• You can access a 14 day trial with all pricing plans

Cons:

• Not so simple a user interface.

8. BlueJeans

This is a smart and intuitive webinar solution for hosting your webinars, especially large webinars on a global scale. BlueJeans has four unique products, including BlueJeans events where you can host and stream interactive events and hold town halls for a large audience. You can host up to 50,000 attendees using video, large meeting controls, polls, and Q & A.

Host live and interactive events, town halls, and webcasts for large global audiences.

With BlueJeans, you can host employee meetings, share ideas, and make announcements. You can also create marketing webinars to form a bond with your customers and prospective leads using HD quality video. It integrates Marketo so that you can nurture your leads before and after your webinar.

Using BlueJeans’ immersive video and audio features, you can create a unique learning experience for learners and host educative and training events by sharing contents and using polls and Q & A.

Top Features:

• Let’s you host up to 50, 000 attendees and 150 presenters.
• Access 24/7 premium support.
• Live stream to Facebook Live.
• Optimized for all devices.
• You don’t need to download and install an app.
• Records webinar events and stores on the cloud. You can easily share recordings in the future.
• Access detailed analytics reports.
• Ensures hassles-free events with access to easy moderator controls.
• Includes Q & A, polling, hand raising, and event chat.

Cons:

• It is costly, although you get access to a lot of built-in features.

9. EasyWebinar

As its name implies, EasyWebinar is a simple and powerful webinar solution for your business. It seamlessly integrates webinar technology with marketing strategy. This webinar solution is focused on improving your business, generating leads, onboarding clients, and customer acquisition.

Host webinars easily using EasyWebinar.

EasyWebinar allows you to host both live and automated webinars. With the automated or Evergreen webinars, you can generate leads every day and at any time using evergreen courses, automated sales funnels, and so much more. 

Top Features:

• Allows you to share screen and includes HD video and live chat.
• Host up to 100 attendees on the basic plan as well.
• You can have up to 4 presenters in a live webinar.
• Includes a built-in analytics suite.
• Access detailed statistics on registrants, attendees, visitors, total watched, and replay views. You can also export these reports to a .CSV format.  
• Includes no delay streaming, high-quality picture.
• Integrates YouTube Live for unlimited live viewers.
• You can send offers for both live and automated webinar events and even track and monitor click rates.
• You can send automated emails pre-and post-webinar.
• Easily embed the registration form on your website. You can customize your registration page logo and colors.
• Custom “Thank you” page.
• Includes polls, chat features, and a mobile app. You can chat in real-time.
• Integrates many popular software platforms such as PayPal, WordPress, MailChimp, Get Response, Active Campaign, Drip, Keap, Aweber, HubSpot, Stripe, Samcart, and so much more.
• Pricing starts from $59 to $349 monthly when billed annually.
• You can custom price if you have over 10,000 attendees.

Cons:

• Costly compared to some other options.

10. ClickMeeting

ClickMeeting is an intuitive and user-friendly webinar solution that makes it easy for you to train customers, sell products, onboard employees, online courses and training, and market services. It is especially suited for small and medium-sized businesses. With ClickMeeting, you can host paid webinars, huge virtual events, and automated webinars and customize invites.

This intuitive webinar solution is ideal if you want to run online courses and classes using tools like PowerPoint presentation, chatbox, survey, and whiteboard.

Top Features:

• Easily customize your webinar room using your branding elements.
• Includes a waiting room where you can brief them on the entire scope of your webinar and share information with them.
• Live stream on YouTube or Facebook
• You can use a camera, avatar, or photo to present yourself to your audience.
• Access four audio modes, including Q & A, Discussion, Listen only, and Private, to manage interactions.
• Use PowerPoint presentation slides and share content in Excel or Keynote format.
• Includes a whiteboard which you can draw on, and use text boxes, and shapes to share your ideas better.
• Allows screen sharing, polls, and surveys. 
• Yranslate languages in real-time and select from the 52 languages available.
•  Decide to host online meetings or use the ClickMeeting mobile application.
• Drive your audience to take action using the call-to-action button, display your offers, and make sales during your webinar.
• Access detailed analysis of your participants. Measure and analyze and use results to improve your future webinars.
• You can easily record your webinar, download, and share it with anyone.
• Access renewable storage space, store and organize recordings, presentation files, and chat logs.
• Include a “thank you” page, where you can redirect them to a custom web page and call for action. You can also boost traffic to your website.
• Pricing starts from $25 per month (billed annually) for 24 attendees or $60 for 100 attendees. You can choose your number of attendees and they automatically generate a price quote for you.

ClickMeeting’s pricing and plans.

Cons:

• There are no breakout rooms. 
• You can’t schedule recurring meetings.
• It takes time to export videos.

Tips on selecting your webinar solution/platform

• Consider the objectives of your webinar. Are you launching a product or service? You would need a large audience for this. And so you have to select a webinar solution that can help you interact with a large audience. If it’s just for a small number of attendees, for example, employee onboarding and training, then you don’t necessarily have to select a webinar solution for large audiences.
• Your audience determines what cost and package you would settle for. If you are targeting a small or medium audience attendance, then you should consider using a premium package. With a larger audience, you should consider using an enterprise package.
• When selecting your webinar platform, you need to consider how many presenters can host or speak to multiple people per time. Also, some webinar solutions sell their webinars based on the number of hosts and attendees.
• Select a webinar platform that is easy to navigate and understand, so that you can easily demonstrate your content to your audience. You and your team members can only succeed when you understand how to navigate the software well. Not only for you and your team members but also for your participants. If the features of your choice webinar software are too complicated, then it would be hard for the audience to relate. Think about who the webinar is for, that is, your target audience, and tailor your choice to suit them. For example, if you are hosting your webinar for young people, then you should think about a webinar software that can be easily accessible on their mobile.
• Select a webinar software that makes it easy for you to follow up with your attendees. Not only that but also record webinars so that you can share them with those who were unable to come as well as those who made it.  
• Check the security of the platform you decide to use so that you do not put your participants’ data at risk.
• Also, consider what type of support is available. You should find one that provides support over email and telephone so that if you have any challenges along the way you can easily get a response.
• Also, You need to be sure of the reliability of the platform.
•  Select a webinar that would encourage engagement and interaction with your audience. You want to be sure that the webinar solution you are selecting includes polls, screen sharing features, and live chat options that can increase your level of interaction.
• Choose a webinar solution that allows you to customize your content using your branding elements. That way, your audience will keep interacting and seeing your brand throughout the event. It would be much easier for them to recall you and what your brand is all about.
• Think about how much you are willing to spend on webinar software. There are so many webinar solutions out there with different price tags on them. You need to have a budget so that you don’t you can tailor your funds to some of the best webinar platforms out there. Most webinar platforms have free trials that you can use to get a feel of their features.
• For small business owners, select an exceptional webinar tool that can help you deliver live top-quality video and automate your sales process. Make sure the webinar solution you are using has effective analytics tools that would not only measure attendance but give you insights on dropout rate and participant engagement. This allows you to track your performance and see what you are not doing right and make the necessary changes. It also allows you to optimize your marketing process.

Do’s And Don’ts of Starting a Successful Webinar

Webinars are a big deal, especially if you are a marketer. If you are successful, you can generate tons of new leads in one hour. According to ReadyTalk, 20% to 40% of your attendees can become qualified leads. You can offer value and bond with your audience in such a unique way. 

	Dos	Don’ts
1.	Generate engaging topics via thorough research on problems your audience may be facing or something.	Don’t just select any random topic. Take your time to research so that you don’t use a topic that has been overstated.
2.	Reinforce your target audience positively. Promise some additional value that would attract them.	Don’t make your webinar too long. Nowadays, people are very busy, and they have a low attention span. Make sure you focus all your important conversations like product demos and marketing campaigns on that first 30 – 45 minutes.
3.	Partner with thought leaders in your field or industry to entice your target audience and boost engagement.	Don’t spam your potential buyers with emails, else you might scare them away and stand the chance of being unsubscribed. You can add them to your main list when they become qualified list.
4	Collect detailed reports and data from your audience so that you can learn more about your prospects and involve them more in your organization.	If you are on a budget, you could use Facebook Live or Google Meet. But if you really want to stand out and exude professionalism, use top webinar solutions that would offer you a variety of features that would boost interaction and offer you options to collect emails and so on.
5	Make sure your prep your environment and your equipment: camera, microphone, lighting, sound, and so on.	Don’t let your slides be packed with texts. You may lose your audience. Instead make use of bullet points, charts, graphics, images, infographics, and videos to express your idea better.
6	Dress for the event. Your audience’s eyes would be on you, and you have to appear appropriately for them. If you are hosting top executives, then dressing casual isn’t the way to go. Wear something that has a neutral tone and won’t be distracting in any way.	Don’t forget the names and bio of your speakers. It would be embarrassing to forget your speaker’s information. Familiarize yourself with their bio, including what they do. This way, you would what questions to direct to who.
7	Schedule a practice session one or two days before your webinar event so that you can see whether you need to work on anything or troubleshoot one or two problems.	Don’t ignore your metrics, because it has the potential to optimize your key performance indicators (KPIs).
8	Send out invites weeks before your webinar event. But make sure your schedule reminder emails because not everyone would sign up immediately. If you wait last minute, you would get a low number of attendees.	Don’t be late. Starting your webinar late doesn’t show professionalism. It also shows disrespect to your audience. Make sure you are online 5 to 10 minutes before the webinar starts to welcome your attendees.
9	Prepare your notes for the webinar, so that you can deliver a clear and engaging message. If you don’t plan some points for your webinar, you may find yourself running around in circles when speaking or being inarticulate.	Don’t neglect your registrants and attendees after the event. For those that were not able to attend send a recording of the webinar to them and possibly a future date for another webinar session. Follow up with your attendees and thank them. Share the recording of the webinar event and additional information.
10	Interact with your audience using Q & A, polls, and surveys during your event because this is very likely to hold your audience’s attention.	Don’t forget to check your internet connection. Make sure you have a strong and secured internet connection. With video and audio streaming, you are consuming a lot of bandwidth.
11	Include relevant case studies in your presentations either from within your business or other sources. This would help your audience relate better to what you are offering.	Don’t go overboard with your presentation slides. For example, if you plan to use animations, use them where necessary.
12	Reserve time for questions and answers after the presentation to involve your audience and encourage participation. You can prepare answers beforehand to questions that you expect.	Don’t ignore your attendees’ questions. Inform them beforehand that there would be a Q & A segment, and ask them to prepare their questions.
13	Promote your webinar in any way you can. A week or two before the event, you can use social media and blogs to promote the events. Ask your friends to help you broadcast too. Promote the webinar several times on several channels. Promote using your email only three times.   Send reminder emails a day before and on the day of the webinar event. After the event, share the webinar recording with your attendees and ask them to share it too.	Avoid reading the content word for word. You should flow with it, express the idea, and expatiate more on your content.
14	Make sure you keep track of time. Your webinar event should be timed from start to finish. Answer questions within the allotted time for the Q & A segment so that you can respond to all the questions that may arise.
15	Ensure your brand your webinar event with your banding elements, color, and logo. Use hashtags (this also helps with promoting your content on social media) and provide website information.
16	Create a landing page on your website so that you can also drive traffic and boost the number of registrations.

Checklist of a successful webinar

Before your webinar event

• Determine the purpose of your webinar, objectives, and expected outcomes.
• Identify your target audience.
• Come up with a really eye-catching title, and create an outline of your webinar topic.
• Create an initial draft of your webinar deck.
• Select your experts. Use presenters that are enthusiastic about the message to boost engagement.
• Select a webinar format.
• Choose a webinar platform.
• Build your landing page – this is the first place of interaction with your attendee, where you get to share your value proposition. Make it about them and what they stand to gain from your webinar. Your landing page also includes your registration form. Let the process be as simple as possible. The questions should be straightforward and short.
• Create a signup flow, where the subscriber gets a follow-up email immediately after registrations. The follow-up email should include instructions and benefits of the webinar event. Also include the title of the webinar, date/time with timezone converter, speaker bios, sign-in information, hashtags, and social links.
• Enable social sharing – Embed this option in the landing page, so that after the registration, your registered participants can share to social media, and also promote your event.
• Determine the call to action you want to use pre-, post-, and during the webinar.
• Create an email promotional schedule – According to Marketo, “two to three emails spread over eight to ten days is very effective in generating registrations from an email database.”
• Create a calendar (.ics) file, which would make it easy for your registrants to add the date, time, and login information to their calendar. You can include this file after the registration or in the follow-up email.
• Promote – Use your social media networks to promote your events on Youtube, LinkedIn, Instagram. Facebook, and so on, using a concise message.  You can also share the invite link to your presenters for them to share on their own social media page.
• Upload webinar deck into your choice webinar platform.
• Practice! And Practice!! 

On the day of the webinar event

• Send a reminder email that includes log-in information, date, and time.
• Prep your environment.
• Check your internet connection.
• You and Your presenters should join in 30 minutes before the webinar starts.
• Promote! And Promote!! 

During your webinar event

• Promote on your social media.
• Record your webinar so that you can download and share it with your audience.
• Respond to questions.

After your webinar event

• Create a follow-up email campaign – After the webinar event, it’s important that you send an email that includes presentation slides, webinar recording, and other content related to the webinar event to your audience and those that couldn’t make it.
• Conduct a survey after the webinar –You learn more about your prospects and gain feedback that you can implement and improve on future webinar events.
• Promote your webinar recording on your social media page and on your podcast channel, and share with your attendees to do the same.
• Analyze your webinar metrics: attendee ratio, online polls, audience retention, click-through ratio, exit surveys, and on-demand viewings.
• Measure your performance using your KPIs and determine if your goals and objectives were met.
• Repurpose your webinar into blogs, videos, and other content.
• Thank your presenters and teammates for their efforts in making the webinar a success.

Summary

Webinars are extremely useful and effective in communicating information, marketing, product demonstrations, onboarding, training, and much more. Hosting, marketing, and presenting your webinar event requires planning and coordination. It requires you to follow the best practices and tips listed above to achieve success in your webinar event. Your title, content, and presenters should provide value to your audience. Your webinar event must be of top quality and should be more about your audience and what they stand to gain.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is a Webinar? And What do I stand to gain from starting a webinar? 

A webinar is also known as a web conference or video conference. It is a meeting hosted through the internet. You can use a webinar to train your employees, sell products, train your customers on how to use products or services, and even for online education. There are four common varieties of webinars, and they include; live webinars, on-demand webinars, automated webinars, and online meetings.

Live webinars occur in real-time while on-demand webinars are a pre-recorded presentation that your audience can access at any time. Automated webinars are pre-recorded presentations that automatically air on a particular date and time. It simulates the feel of a live webinar. Online meetings are live events where friends, students, or co-workers can interact in real-time.

What do you stand to gain from starting a webinar? Lots!!! Firstly, you can reach anyone from anywhere in the world. You gain a global audience that can communicate directly with you. Secondly, you establish your voice and authority in your industry as you provide value while building trust and authenticity.

Also, you gain leads and prospects. Starting a webinar lets you collect information from your participants, such as polls or survey results, names, and job titles. You may convert those leads into customers. You can gain qualified leads and build bonds with them. With webinars, you get to promote your brand and increase your brand awareness.

Webinars can also help you speed up your sales process because they help build trust in your brand and products, offer value and solutions to existing problems in a small timeframe. It can also help you get a return on investment, especially with hosting a paid webinar.

2.  Which is better; Webinar events or physical events?

Many businesses, organizations, and individuals have come to appreciate the many benefits that webinars offer other than building your brand and generating leads. I am just going to lay all the cards on the table and let you decide which is more preferable for you.

Physical events are limited in some ways. Not everyone can travel to attend a physical event either due to cost or distance. Webinars are a great way to boost audience numbers. It is not limited by geographical location, and everyone can connect from wherever in the world. With webinars, you can cut down on costs of travel, food, drink, and hotels. Webinars also save time. People can just sign in for the webinar event they want to attend.

Webinar events allow people to connect and network more, compared to physical events. It’s easier to connect with other attendees and industry experts. It’s so much easier for you to generate leads and follow up with your audience after the webinar event than physical events. With analytics tools, you can gather more than your audience name and job title, but also topic areas they are interested in, interactions, and so on.

With a webinar event, you can record and use your content for future purposes. Possibly repurpose it into a blog, video, or audio.

3. How Do I Launch A Webinar Like A Pro?

In this guide to starting your webinar, we have gone on and on about creating a successful webinar, best practices you need to implement, dos and don’ts, and everything you need to make you look like a pro. In summary;

• When you are selecting a title or idea, don’t be too broad, instead stick to a specific topic.
• Choose speakers who are experts in the content idea you plan for your webinar event. They should know the topic thoroughly and be conversational when relating to your audience.
• Select the right webinar format as informed by your idea and the speakers you plan to invite.
• Create an engaging and amazing slide deck. Also, create an initial slide deck at first and work on it until you have the perfect final draft.
• Create a script, like a framework to keep you on track while presenting.
• Select the right webinar platform that suits your needs. Consider the number of speakers, attendees, and features available
• Prep your environment and equipment.
• Do a dry-run before the live event to make sure everyone understands their roles. 

4.  How Do I Get Visitors To Sign Up For My Webinar?

You have only successfully created a webinar when your target audience sign-up for the event, attends the webinar, and when your goals and objectives for the webinar are met. What are some practical steps you can take to stand out from your competition and get registrants and attendees?

• Your topic must be striking. It should be scroll-stopping. Your webinar topic is the first line of contact with your target audience. It has to be impressive enough for them to want to find out what your webinar event is all about. Remember to research your topic thoroughly and don’t be vague and too broad.
• Capture more registrants by using pop-ups on your web page. 
• Create a sense of urgency using a countdown timer feature so that people are compelled to take action faster.
• Create a landing page that contains your registration form, professional image, and bio, benefits of the events, values, and expectations. Also include coupon and discounts code for those who register early.
• Make use of email marketing. Send personalized messages using personalized or eye-catchy subject lines. Send a follow-up email after registration to thank them and call them to action.
• Promote your event on social media. Ask registrants, speakers, and teammates to also promote the event on all their social media pages.
• Start promoting your event at least four weeks before the event, and keep promoting until the day of the webinar.
• You can offer incentives for referrals. Ask people to invite others using a unique link and give a bonus for every invites gained. 

5. What is the best time and day to host a webinar?

Mornings are best for holding your webinar (usually at 10 or 11 A.M.). Studies have shown that most attendees prefer a webinar that spans 30 – 45 minutes. Studies have also shown that Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are best for holding a webinar.

Research also shows that people will only engage in one webinar per week on average. This means that you cannot slack in promoting your webinar’s event as there are many other webinar events that a viewer can be interested in.

6. What are webinar platforms and how do I know what webinar platforms to use?

Webinar platforms are software that allows you to create and share live or automated video presentations to customers or prospects. Webinar platforms help connect you on a more personal level with your audience and offer value to them via slides, chats, polls, survey, call-to-action, videos, and several others.

When considering what webinar platform to use, consider the following;

• Your budget.
• Is there a free plan, freemium, or free trial available?
• How many presenters can you host and how many can present at once?
• Or, How many attendees can you host at once and does the webinar platform support your attendees’ number?
• Is it a cloud-based solution or do you need to download and install software?
• What sort of features do you have access to? Does it include HD quality audio and video, screen sharing, whiteboard, and language translation, and so on? 
• Are you planning on holding paid webinars or live webinar events?
• Do you plan on recording your webinar or replaying them?
• Can you collect and analyze your webinar’s success based on some metrics?

7. Why can’t I just use Facebook Live, YouTube, or Google Meet to host my webinar?

Google Meet is actually not a bad idea when it comes to hosting a webinar. It’s great for one-on-one conversations or just meetings for a small group of up to 3, with the possibility to expand into YouTube Live. But if you are serious about marketing and generating leads, these options are not advisable. Since, they do not have features that collect emails and include gated content, and lack marketing features.