Webinars are a great way to get in front of your community and teach them something. They’re often used as part of a launch. However paid-for webinars can be a useful income stream for your business. As a personal brand entrepreneur, you have plenty of knowledge people will want to learn from you and that is valuable. Here’s how to create a webinar people will pay for.
What is a webinar and how does it work
A webinar is a presentation people can log in to watch online. They are hosted virtually and can be as simple as you talking to the camera or you can create a presentation and share slides while you’re talking. Your audience can participate by leaving comments in the live chatbox.
All you need to run a webinar is a plan for what you are going to teach and a service which will host your webinar for you. This is incredibly easy nowadays. No need to worry about getting the hang of tech. I recommend Demio.
People sign in to your webinar using the link you send them when they register and then you can do your presentation live. If you want to, you can record your webinar and then send people the replay. This means people who want to hear what you’ve got to say but can’t make it to the live event can still watch your presentation. Ideally, though you want people to be there live in person so you want to incentivize them to turn up and participate.
What are the benefits of a webinar?
Webinars enable you to show your expertise and help your community live. It’s an opportunity to further cement your position as an authority in your niche.
Webinar attendees can access your presentation from anywhere with an internet connection. No-one has to travel to get there. You don’t have to hire a room. Your community gets to learn from you in the comfort of their office or living room.
You can find out what your community’s pain points are in real-time. Webinars should not be a passive learning experience. You want to get people involved. Ask them questions and make the answers useful to you. Ask people what the one issue they would like a magic solution for is.
Ask them where they get stuck. Ask them to validate your key points by typing ‘yes’ in the comments box if they agree or can relate to a situation. It’s a confidence boost for you to see answers rolling in and you can save those comments to learn from afterward.
Webinars help you to build your list because people need to register in order to access the presentation. By giving up their email address, people have also put some skin in the game. They have made a commitment to turn up and by setting aside that time they have said they will give you their attention.
Webinars should not be a passive learning experience. You want to get people involved. Ask them questions and make the answers useful to you. You can find out what your community’s pain points are in real-time. #Youpreneur Click To TweetWhy you should offer paid webinars
I think paid webinars are going to become more popular. They’re a great product for you and your audience. You are putting together a high-quality presentation with plenty of valuable knowledge which is going to help your community solve a problem and you should be paid for doing that.
Think of it as selling a digital product which is going to be created in real-time. They get their hands on that content when you deliver it live at the time you have said it will take place.
Charging upfront means you will see more people turning up to take part live. They have paid for this knowledge, they want to get the full benefit of it. You’re also not under pressure to sell. Most free webinars end with a sales pitch. With a paid webinar, people have already handed their money over. You’ve done the selling part, that’s out of the way. All you have to do is focus on giving value and serving your audience.
How to create a great webinar
When you’re charging for a webinar you don’t want people to be disappointed. Actually, you don’t want people to be disappointed whether you’re charging or not, but you do want them to come back and buy from you again so make sure they get good value from you.
Focus on the one thing you want people to be able to do at the end of your webinar. Then break down the steps they need to follow in order to achieve that.
Visuals are important in a webinar. It’s very easy for your audience to become distracted. They are sitting in front of a computer and you don’t want them to multi-task or worse, wander away from the screen. Flipping from one slide to another creates movement in the presentation and gives people something new to look at. You probably want to create 100 slides for a 45-minute presentation.
Think about ways to make the experience better for your clients. For instance, you could provide them with additional resources such as a worksheet or template for the things you are talking about so they can put what they’ve learned into action.
Believe in yourself
Are you loving the idea of this but feeling the fear? I see people giving others the benefit of their knowledge and experience for free to people they have just met at a live event all the time. But when it comes to running a webinar and asking people to pay for all that incredible knowledge they have to share they freak out. Don’t let this be you.
You would charge people to turn up to an event you are running face-to-face, so why wouldn’t you do that for a webinar? You are building a business based around your knowledge, experience and personality. All you are doing is asking people to pay to access that. Believe in yourself.
The only way you are going to become better at selling is by selling. Get a little uncomfortable, practice using the software ahead of the event, and hit the button. You might be feeling nervous but your viewers won’t know that. They will tune in and watch you sharing great information and answering their questions. Don’t let your nerves stop you from serving your community.
Chris founded Youpreneur® in 2015. He is a serial entrepreneur, keynote speaker and author of the bestselling books “Virtual Freedom” and “Rise of the Youpreneur”. He hosts our podcast, live events and coaches our clients inside the Youpreneur Incubator. Chris is based in Cambridge, UK.
