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When you read Internet marketing articles and blogs online, I hope you check out the author to see who they are. The author bio might say something like, ‘So-and-so is an experienced Internet marketer and business coach,’ etc. But I’ll bet you suddenly see that author in a different light when it says, ‘So-and-so conducts webinars on list building, product creation and affiliate marketing.’

There’s just something about a person getting up on a podium in front of others that turns them instantly into an expert. Teaching webinars does this for you. It brands you as an expert in your field, and it’s also a good way to network and drive traffic to your online ventures.

A webinar is a seminar that’s held online. There are a number of different platforms that you can use to do a seminar right from your computer. You can do them on Facebook and LinkedIn as well as other social media sites. You can give free webinars or charge a fee, the choice is yours. And, best of all, hosting a webinar costs nothing.

How to Give a Webinar

It may seem crazy to think about organizing and running a seminar, but it’s very easy to do online. There are just a few basic steps.

First, choose a topic you know a lot about. Take some aspect of your niche and find out what people want to know about it.

Second, choose a time and date and the platform you will use. Microsoft Live Meeting, GoTo Meeting, and WebEx are all good platform choices. Facebook and other social media sites are also options.

The next step is to find customers for your presentation. You can promote your webinar to your social media followers, inform those on your list and advertise it on your site. Some folks make their own mini-site for each webinar and spend some time SEOing it before the big day.

Weeks before the webinar, send out invitations. Make sure your invitations tell potential participants what they will learn. This is the most important aspect. If your webinar really offers them true value and information they need to know, you won’t have to do a lot of selling.

Invitations should be followed by a couple of reminders to all participants in the days before the webinar.

The great thing is, after you have a few webinars under your belt, you’ll not only be known for them, you can brand yourself. You can say the last webinar was such a success, you’ve decided to do another one, and so on. It’s like the snowball effect.

Conducting a Successful Webinar

Conducting the webinar is probably the hardest part. It’s not just an informal chat where you ramble on about your topic. It needs to be organized and run on time.

A good webinar has a presentation part and an interactive part. To present the information, you can use images or PowerPoint slides. The interactive part is really important. Your participants will get the most out of this part of the event.

It’s important your presentation isn’t too long, especially if it is done with PowerPoint. If it’s just slide after slide and you talking, you’ll put everybody to sleep. The last thing you want to do with your webinars is bore people, so mix it up – add some variety.

Stick to a Schedule

Webinars usually run between 20 minutes and an hour. The No. 1 complaint people have with webinars is they tend to run long. Everybody’s busy. Make sure that you stick to the schedule or at least pretty close to it. Nobody’s perfect and if you’ve got a question-and-answer session that’s going particularly well, you might not want to cut it short.

As I mentioned earlier, don’t be boring. As the presenter, you should be enthusiastic about your topic. You don’t need to be over the top; just have some genuine enthusiasm and energy.

You should also stick to the topic and don’t go off on tangents. People participate because they want to learn about the topic that was advertised.

Making Webinars Interactive

Interaction is the key to an amazing webinar. Without meaningful interaction, your webinar is little more than a series of slides.

Webinar platforms let you conduct surveys and show instant results. You can let participants ask questions or chat privately with them. You’re at the controls, so you can decide what people hear and what they don’t. When you’re checking out webinar platforms, these interactive features are what you should be looking for. Get creative and see what you can do with them.

Be sure to answer questions quickly and concisely. The interactive part especially should be geared toward helping your participants. Keep it focused on them.

Other Ideas For Enhancing Your Webinars

There are many ways you can take a basic webinar and enhance it. One is to record it. You can then use this recording as a free giveaway to get people to sign up to your list. You can turn your recorded webinars into podcasts and create new content that you can use.

Another great idea is to do your webinar with a partner. Two heads are better than one. It also provides you with two advertising channels. By promoting your webinar to your list and that of your partner, you’ll get lots of participants as well as new fans and followers.

Webinars are an excellent and easy way to build your authority. Keep yours focused on helping your audience by providing the information they want to know.

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Toby Russell, Internet marketer, publisher and property investor offers tried and tested methods to help you succeed online.” Top Internet Marketer Reveals His Secrets” – FREE MP3 Download plus my popular FREE step-by-step 94 page Special Report. Available at => http://www.startinternetmarketingonline.com

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