How to Create an Online Webinar

So you’ve seen the benefits of online webinars, and it’s intrigued you enough to decide to make your own.  The only questions is, how to create an online webinar?  And even more daunting, how do you draw an audience for a webinar? These questions might make you a bit nervous, but don’t worry.  To take the edge off, we decided to answer the questions that we know your subconscious is already asking.   I won’t quite call us psychics; but I think we have a pretty good idea of what you might be thinking.  We’ll let you be the judge.

These are some of the important questions that if you aren’t already asking, they should be in your mind if you plan to produce a webinar:

What should I do a webinar about?

Ahh the question that should be so easy yet can sometimes be so difficult.  Take a step back, and really think about what your audience wants to hear.  A great place to start might be to look at your most popular blog posts.  Maybe you can create a webinar that will expand on a popular blog post, ensuring that it will drive traffic.   Whatever you do, make sure that it will be of use to your target audience and will show your expertise in the field.

Which webinar software should I use?

This is an important question to ask, because without the proper software you can’t connect with your audience.  We like GoToWebinar, but do some research and see which one you like best.

How do I prepare for my webinar?

While it might be tempting to “wing-it”, getting the proper preparations in place before your webinar is crucial to keeping people interested and ensuring that you deliver meaningful information.  From our own experience, we suggest creating an agenda first that highlights all of the points that you want to discuss, and then using that agenda to create a basic PowerPoint or slideshow to follow during your presentation.

Who will be watching?

Once you have your topic picked out, you’ll want to figure out who will be watching your webinar.   Where do you want your audience in the buying cycle?  This will help determine how in-depth you go with your presentation.  For instance, if it’s for leads at the top of the funnel, you’ll most likely want your presentation to be geared towards simple information and basics.  Use terminology that your target audience will understand and answer relevant questions.

Where do I get my information?

Typically, you’ll want most of your information to derive from your own expertise.  However, it always packs an extra punch if you can provide relevant and credible stats, quotes, etc.  We like to use Hubspot as a source for siting this type of information, but depending on your field this will change.

How do I field questions during my webinar?

One great way to field questions and make your webinar more viral is to create a specific hashtag on Twitter for your presentation.  For instance, if you were giving a webinar about lead generation, you might tell people to tweet to #LeadGenWebinar to ask questions and make comments.  This might also encourage outsiders to join the webinar if they see activity from those they are following and it creates a community for the people who are involved.

Should I have a call to action in my webinar?

Absolutely!  While you have the audience’s attention, direct them to a related offer that’s behind a landing page.  This way, you can continue to drive leads down the sales funnel and closer to being a sale.  You can also monitor the effectiveness of the campaign and see how many people downloaded your offer for more information.  Not sure how to create the right offer for your presentation?  No worries.  We’ve done this before and we are happy to help.

How do I build a Webinar Audience?

Your webinar doesn’t do much if nobody watches, so let’s make sure to cover all bases!

  • Blog Posts: Create a few blog posts leading up to the webinar with a link for people to sign-up.
  • CTAs on your Site: Create various calls to action on your site to encourage visitors to sign-up.  Depending on what your webinar is about, place the CTAs on related pages.
  • Social Media:  Be sure to promote your webinar on all types of social media that your target audience would use.  Create an attractive visual, catch, phrase, etc. and share it across the social media platforms with a link to a landing page to sign-up.
  • Email Marketing: Segment your email list to people who you think would be interested in your webinar.  Explain why they’ll benefit from the presentation, and include a link to the sign-up page.

What do I do with my completed webinar?

Once your webinar is complete, you’ll want to get full use out of it!  Assuming you recorded the presentation (make sure you do this!!), you can place it behind a landing page so website visitors can download the presentation.  You can also use email marketing to send it out to your contacts that didn’t participate in the live version, but might prefer the recorded format when they have the time to watch it.  Of course you can share your video on YouTube (added search benefits) and other video sharing sites, and you can post your slides to SlideShare for more exposure.  Just because the webinar is over, doesn’t mean the benefits can’t keep coming!

Get Started!

Hopefully you have a better understanding now of how to create an online webinar.  If we didn’t answer all of your questions, or you think you might want some help in the production of your first webinar, feel free to contact us.  One of our inbound marketing specialists will be happy to talk with you about your project and combine our experience and expertise for a lead generating final product.