What is a webinar?

A webinar is an interactive seminar you can do on your website with your followers and customers being able to view you in real-time and have the option to ask you questions and talk to you via chat.

The webinar mostly includes a presenter or more talking about a subject using slideshows or other visual elements and the viewers who can join the presentation interactively. It is usually followed by a Q&A when the audience can ask questions about the given subject or other topics as well.

Why you should use webinars

A webinar is a new and fun way to interact with your audience, followers or customers on your website. It is location-flexible so anyone who follows you can join in no matter where they’re from.

It is the easiest way to attend a seminar without having to leave your house. Webinars are ideal for two-way communication between you and the audience, meaning that when they have a question, they can ask you in real-time, which will eliminate the barriers to conversion.

One of the most important aspects of a webinar is that it will grab the attention of your audience. Hosting live interactive webinars is the most preferred way to stay in touch with your followers and customers. It will give your brand so much more personality and it will also give you a chance to bond with your audience which is important when you want to grow the traffic on your website or increase sales.

In this article we’ll discuss how to host a webinar on your website in 14 steps:

Strategy 

1. Know your attendees-Know who will attend your webinar, what challenges are they facing and what their goals are. Knowing the answers to these three questions will ensure you have a successful webinar.
2. Think about visual branding-Small details like inserting your logo, or using fonts, colors that match your brand’s overall style will help your audience to understand your brand better and they will create a cohesive experience for your them.
3. Offer your products and services as a bonus-Make sure you talk about the selected topic in 95% of your webinar whether it’s about a product you promote or not. You can still add the products and services to your webinar, but be careful, add them only when it’s appropriate and when it makes sense. Otherwise, viewers may feel pushed to buy your products and you don’t want that.
4. Consider doing a paid webinar series-Webinar marketing can be quite expensive, so that will make your attendees raise their expectations regarding your webinar, so make sure that you can deliver on that. Only do paid-webinars when you know you are capable of delivering quality content.

Planning and Preparation

1. Get help- It is possible to do everything by yourself but it can be stressful to take care of everything alone. Consider having someone helping you in the planning, the promotion, the webinar itself or anything you wish to have some help with. Hiring an assistant for this purpose is a good idea to make sure everything goes smoothly.
2. Pick your topic- It’s important to focus on the content. You need to come up with topics that are accurate and interesting, this is how you’ll get a lot of audiences. Also, make sure that you are well-informed regarding the topic of your webinar and be ready to answer every question your viewers may have.
3. Pick a date and time-When picking a date and time to host your webinar, make sure you keep the different time zones in mind and pick a time that is comfortable for every time zone.
4. Decide on the format- The most popular formats are:

• Single expert presenter
• Dual Presenter
• Q&A Webinar
• Interview Webinar
• Product Demonstration

Technical requirements

1. Choose the right platform-When selecting a platform, there are some aspects and questions to take into consideration:

• Does it fit your budget?
• Does it offer the features that you need?
• How many attendees does it allow?
• Can you record your webinar?

There are also a few options to choose from when deciding on the platform. The most popular ones are:

• Adobe Connect
• Google Hangouts 
• ON24
• Webex
• Zoom

1. Test your equipment-This is an important step to take before hosting your webinar. Make sure that you have quality equipment including a good web camera and a microphone and test them before the webinar. Having quality equipment will ensure the webinar’s success.

Tips for webinar hosts

1. Start on time-Very important! People are busy, don’t waste their time! Nothing’s worse than being kept on hold on a screen. Being punctual is required at all time, it shows professionalism and dedication.
2. Capture the attention-You need to figure out a way to grab your audience’s attention in the minute you start your webinar, otherwise, they might leave before you even start talking about your topic. Try to make it sound exciting and interesting.
3. Have questions ready for Q&A- Preparing in advance for possible questions after a webinar is a smart thing to do to make sure you can answer everything properly and accurately.
4. Write a good script, but don’t be afraid to go off-script- It’s good to have a script ready-written to help you memorize everything, but also being a little spontaneous won’t hurt especially when it comes to keeping your audience engaged and entertained. At the end of the day, that’s one of the most important things you want to achieve so don’t be afraid of going off-script.

Hosting a webinar is a fun and entertaining way to bond with your audience or potential customers.

These are the most important steps to take to host a successful webinar.

It takes a lot of planning, learning and preparing but following the steps above will help you host a successful webinar and it will help you connect with your audience. By putting in onto your website, you can start this right away.