Seems like nearly everyone’s hosting webinars these days. Have you been holding out? Waiting for the weather to be ‘just’ right, or for your mailing list to hit 5,000 subscribers? Wait no more! Just put a date on the calendar and move forward. Here are some tips to help you get started…
Create a Short Informative Sign-Up Page
The sign-up page should be very clean and simple. A big, attention-getting headline that invites the visitor to participate is critical. Make it interesting and intriguing. Consider adding a short video describing what you’ll discuss during the webinar, and then make the ‘next step’ very clear… you want them to sign up for it.
As you write the script (and/or the content) for the sign-up page, always include the WIIFMs. What will they get when they attend? (5 Tips for…, 3 Secrets to…, etc.)
After a person signs up, send them a confirmation email with all the details for the webinar. Then, on the day of the webinar, send them a reminder email. (All this can be done with auto-responders, but that’s a topic for another day.)
Plan Your Webinar Format Ahead of Time
Your personal story should be first. If you tell a story that shows how you overcame an obstacle, it will humanize you for your audience and open their hearts to your message. This section should be no more than 5 or 10 minutes. Anything beyond that will bore your participants and make them lose interest.
Deliver useful, relevant, and actionable content for the next 40 minutes, teasing your participants about the offer you’ll be making to them later.
Not sure what to offer? How about using the webinar to promote an upcoming event? Or, a ‘next step’ coaching call to see if they’d be a good fit for your coaching program? Or, perhaps you can promote the new membership site or video lesson series that you’ve just launched? The options are endless!
Be sure to continue offering solid content all the way through the webinar — otherwise, you’re likely to start losing people as soon as you begin talking about your offer. Don’t sound like a used car salesman. DO be humble and genuine. Your wisdom can be hugely helpful to your attendees, and they deserve to know how to continue learning from you.
Give Them a Tight Deadline & Offer Bonuses
You don’t want to make the offer too open-ended, or people will sit on it and wait, and possibly never act. Give them a strict time limit… buy before the end of this webinar… buy before 12 midnight tonight… offer ends Monday at 12 noon, etc.
Be sure to include tons of extra value in the fact-action offer — a PDF download, a separate bonus Q&A session, a freebie coaching call, a bonus recording, and/or a bigger discount. Those extra benefits are what will trigger your participants to buy immediately, so make ’em good!
Describe the Product Simply and Clearly
Clearly explain what they’ll get when they make their purchase — including all the benefits available to them and the fast-action bonuses. This is your ‘sales pitch’ and you want to provide all the juicy details and overcome any objections they might have to buying.
If your offer is fairly detailed, it’d be wise to have a special web page (or a page in their webinar handout) with the specifics that people can review as you discuss it.
Again, I mention the importance of continuing to include solid content throughout the whole webinar. (Can you tell this is an important point to remember? It’s critical!)
Make It as Easy as Possible to Buy
“A confused mind doesn’t buy.” This quote has been attributed to a half-dozen different people. I don’t know who originally said it — but, it’s brilliant! (And, so so true!) You want to have one specific goal for your webinar. Nothing else. Not three different packages, not two different products. Simple. Specific. A no-brainer. One specific goal.
I’m also a huge fan of using PayPal. (Before you grumble at me, keep reading…) PayPal is perfect for what we experience at the local grocery store as “impulse buying.” Think about it. Millions of people all over the world already have PayPal accounts. They can buy a product almost instantly!
If you’re using a regular ‘ol shopping cart (or a service like Stripe), I’ve got to hunt down my purse, choose a credit card, enter the number & expiration date, type out my mailing address, phone number, email, blah blah blah blah blah blah. I’d much rather click on a couple of buttons and be on my merry way.
Impulse buying. Convenient buying. Make it easy as possible.
Follow-Up
You’d be shocked at how many people host webinars and don’t follow up with their audience after it’s over. Most of your sales are likely to happen in the days after the webinar. You may have a few who take advantage of the fast-action bonuses, but you’ll have even more purchases after the event if you follow up. Send a recording of the event; write a blog post using the questions received during the webinar. Find ways to follow-up and continue the conversation.
Webinars are one of the best forms of marketing that your business has ever seen. But, they only work if you learn how to do them correctly — by not being afraid to make your offer in an honest, genuine way to the audience. If you’ve given them a lot of great free content and whetted their appetite for more, it’ll be a no-brainer for them to buy!
Got questions? Post them below!
Known by some in the speaking industry as “the Butterfly Herder,” Cynthia works closely with emerging professional speakers as they grow from speaking as a hobby to getting paid to speak full-time. In addition to creating websites for professional speakers, she consults in the areas of online presence & credibility, public relations, and content & product creation. Visit her website at www.SpeakerWebsites.com.
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