Understanding Webinars and How Can They Help You Succeed?
Have you ever wondered …“What is a webinar?”
With so much content and endless marketing messages online today, you probably get offers constantly to tune into webinars without knowing it. You might have even watched a webinar at work or at home without even realizing it was a webinar.
Rewind to five years ago and webinars were a lot different than they are today. They used to just be a simple PowerPoint that let you teach and then sell your online products.
While they still do that to an extent, there are tons of new features that make webinars even better. A webinar gives you the power of live streaming (video) to bridge the gap of information and show your personality on the web.
These education-based, online seminars might just be the one thing missing from your business. Here’s why…
What is a Webinar?
A webinar is a live or automated virtual event that is done online. Common names for webinars include online seminar, masterclass or online training.
Webinars are an educational session that includes audio and visual communication between the presenter and attendees. Webinar software (like Easy Webinar) easily enables you to share slides and interact with your attendees through chat boxes and Q&A features.
The goal of a webinar is to educate, instruct or demonstrate to your audience. Professionals, coaches, and online course creators use webinars to give educational presentations related to their businesses or organizations.
How a Webinar Works
Now that you understand what is a webinar, you might wonder, “How does a webinar work?”
Here’s an example of how a webinar works if you are running a live webinar:
- You choose a date and time for your webinar training (just like a live event)
- Invite people to your event (email list, Facebook advertising, networking, etc.)
- Show up and teach, demonstrate or instruct to your audience. This will usually happen for at least 45-60 minutes.
- At the end and throughout the webinar, the host will actively engage with the audience to increase participation.
- After your presentation is over, it’s common for the host to then sell their product. This is always done after you have provided free value to your attendees. Usually, participants are rewarded for buying on the webinar and might get a free bonus, extra course modules, etc.
- (Optional): Some hosts will record live webinars and then convert the online training into an automated, evergreen webinar.
What You Need to Run a Webinar
You don’t need a ton of technology to get started with webinars. In fact, our goal at Easy Webinar is to make it as simple as possible to get started. We don’t want you wasting time with technology and instead, want you sharing your expertise with the world.
Here is a brief overview of what you need to run your first webinar:
1. Laptop or Computer
The first thing you need to run a webinar is a laptop or computer to host the webinar. If you want to show your face at the beginning or throughout, make sure you have a camera as well.
2. Microphone
While you can use the microphone on your device, I recommend spending the $50-$100 to buy a professional microphone. This will help share your message better with your attendees and keep them engaged.
3. Slide Deck
A slide deck will help guide you through the presentation. This will allow you to teach your audience, show metrics, case studies and more.
If you want to learn how to create an epic webinar deck, click here.
4. Webinar Software
Lastly, you need webinar software like Easy Webinar to run your entire webinar. With Easy Webinar, we make it easy to host a lot of attendees, engage with them, record the presentation, sell your products, and chat afterward.
Want more advice on running your first webinar? Check out the full post here.
Why Choose Webinars?
There are a lot of different ways to get in front of audiences today. Whether you write blog posts, record podcasts, film YouTube, and going live on social media. Here is why I think webinars are the best platform to help you grow your business:
1. Webinars Build Trust
Running webinars are the best way to connect with your audience on a deeper, more intimate level. Webinars are a much more personalized experience than any other platform. As you actively engage with attendees, this will help people get to know, like, and trust you more than every other platform.
With tools on Easy Webinar, you can run polls, send messages with users in the chatbox, and more. This back and forth interaction simply doesn’t exist on other platforms like Instagram, YouTube, etc.
2. Webinars Help You Avoid Burnout
Not only do webinars easily build trust with your audience but they also help you avoid burnout as well. Instead of traveling all over the globe speaking at live events, you can do virtual training from anywhere.
Plus, with automated webinars, you can make it easy for attendees to watch on their schedule as well. Who doesn’t want to make more money while spending less time traveling?
3. Webinars Let You Scale Effortlessly
Before creating Easy Webinar, I had a YouTube course that I just couldn’t sell. I knew I created an amazing course but for some reason, my offer wasn’t converting. Until I started using webinars.
Webinars changed my entire business and within 12 months of using them, I was able to sell $250,000 of online courses. Now, I get to help tons of other digital CEO’s do the same by using Easy Webinar.
Webinars allow solopreneurs and small businesses to reach a ton more people without a ton more effort. If you’re selling digital products, it’s even easier to scale as you aren’t selling a service or physical product. This allows you to impact a much larger audience without tons more overhead like staff, inventory, etc.
Read how Dave McCready has scaled a $197 dollar webinar and makes millions in revenue here!
Summary of “What is a Webinar”
As you can tell, a webinar is a great way to teach attendees, show off your expertise, and sell your online products or services. I personally think that webinars are still the best way to sell your products and courses.
They allow you to connect and engage much more than just a video or a sales page. Plus, you get to converse with attendees directly and engage in the comment section.
Learn more about using Easy Webinar to host your first webinar today.