Leverage Your Expertise with a Free Webinar

I first became acquainted with teleclasses back in 1997 when I stumbled across the coaching community. At the time, I lived in a small town in western Massachusetts, and professional development opportunities were few and far between without a drive to Albany, NY, or to Springfield or Boston, MA.

With teleclasses, I thought I’d hit the personal development motherload. I could simply dial a teleconference bridge line from the comfort of my own home and be connected with 10-150 other people around the globe, who were all gathered on a call to learn more about a particular topic. Moreover, in many cases, the class was free or low-cost, and I didn’t have to get dressed, drive anywhere, find and pay for parking, nor stay overnight, all of which I would have to do if it were an in-person seminar or conference. What could be simpler?

The traditional teleclass has gone by the wayside and has been replaced with webinars, in which a presenter is teaching something by sharing or screen or a webcam via video. A free webinar is a great way for people to get a “taste” of what you have to offer without any great expenditure.

Many self-employed service professionals use a free webinar as a marketing tool so that participants can get to know them, or as an introduction to a fee-based course/program that they’re selling. Instead of dealing with the hassles entailed in putting on a live event, such as finding a venue, arranging for parking, setting up catering and AV needs, and promoting the event, you can provide nearly an identical experience with much less trouble and much less up-front cost.

How do you create your free webinar?  Here’s a list of questions you can use to help you design your free webinar:

This list of questions will save you time in the webinar design process as well as help you structure your webinar to be as effective as possible.

1.  Title: Does it include the topic, who it’s for and the outcomes/benefits of a person taking the webinar?
2. What is your intention for hosting the webinar?
3. What are the 5 things you most want your participants to know about your topic?
4. What are the 3 things you want your participants to know about your experience in this area?
5. What are the 5 questions you’ll be asking to get their attention and to generate discussion?
6. What are the 5 most common problems that people have in this area?
7. Why is your topic relevant?
8. What will you say to someone who doesn’t ‘get it’?
9. What trends/facts do you have to support your opinions/topic?
10. What, specifically, do you feel that people should do or do differently, in this area?
11. What steps or strategies have you seen work to make these changes?
12. What relevant stories or examples do you plan to share to illustrate a specific point?
13. Is there a distinction to be made that would help the student understand your topic better?
14. What other information would be helpful to your participants?

Now that you’ve built it, how do you host it? There are a number of options out there, ranging from free to expensive, but the one recommend is Demio.  Out of all of the platforms that I have used, this tried-and-true favorite has never let me down. 

Next comes promotion of your webinar to get participants. You’ll need to promote your webinar event just like you might do a live event–send out press releases, buy advertising like Facebook ads, sent notices out to your email newsletter or list, have friends and colleagues notify everyone on their lists, post about it to social media and share to social media groups, as appropriate.

Webinars are a very inexpensive way to expand your market reach throughout the world. Pick a subject, invite your contacts, and get started today!

Want to discover how to get the most bang for your buck with a free webinar? Schedule a Profit Sparkers 1:1 Session with me at http://bizsmartmedia.com/profit-sparker-session/