Just a few short years ago, webinars would have been impossible or prohibitively expensive. But now, they are inexpensive and even free, depending on which service you use.  In addition, you’ll need a few additional tools to reach and connect with your market, especially if you plan to turn your webinars into streams of income. Here’s a rundown of some of the key tools you could use:

1. A way to capture your leads. The first thing you need is a way for people to connect with you, usually a one-page website (or squeeze page) that invites visitors to provide their name and email address in exchange for access to your webinar.  You need this squeeze page as it will allow you to build your list, which you can then use to send information to your subscribers, including information about any upcoming webinars. You can either set up a separate page or make the opt-in form part of an existing page.  Either way, you will also need a place for potential webinar registrants to go.
2. An Autoresponder system. An autoresponder is an email management system, and will quickly become an indispensable part of your online business.  There are various options available such as Aweber, 1shoppingcart, or Constant Contact, or one of their branded versions.  These services ensure your emails are sent and will protect you from spam complaints. Any of these autoresponder services will allow you to create lists and send them emails.  You’ll be able to send them your webinar information, as well as follow up with additional information after the webinar and of course invite them to your next virtual event.
3. A payment processor. If you plan to make money with your webinar, you’ll need a way to take payments. There are a number of options, from PayPal to Clickbank to a shopping cart system like 1ShoppingCart.  There are several things you need to consider when choosing  your  best option such as whether or not you’re planning to offer affiliate commissions and what other products you want to sell. If you plan on building a business around your webinars, you may want to consider a shopping cart that allows you to integrate your autoresponder function with the payment process option. You can use PayPal as well as other merchant accounts through a shopping cart.
4. A webinar service. Figure out which options you want in a webinar service provider such as the number of participants, recording capability, playback capability, reliability, and sound quality, ease of use, and availability of support services and choose accordingly. Always test any services you’re considering to make sure they meet your needs.  Most offer a free trial for a period of time so you can discover how user friendly they are before your actual webinar.  A few popular ones are GoToWebinar and Webex.

How about you? What other tools have you tried? I love getting feedback. Here on this blog, you’ll get commentluv. This is a plug-in that allows you to leave a link back to your own site when you leave feedback.

Until next time,

Robin

Should you charge for your webinars?  And if so, how much?  This really depends on your goals. If your main purpose is to promote a product or service or to build your audience, you may decide to offer your expertise for free, thereby maximizing the number of people who participate.

The benefits of hosting a free webinar:

• You’ll get more registrations.
• It’s easier to implement.  You won’t have to worry about processing payments or integrating a shopping cart with your sales page or email service.

The drawbacks of a free webinar:

• You won’t make any money upfront.
• It can be difficult to get your speakers to mention your call to their list if they won’t be making any upfront money from it.
• Sometimes, something offered for free is perceived as having a lower value than something that comes with a price tag.

If your main goal is revenue generation, you could offer free participation initially and then charge for access to the recording and/or a transcript of the webinar. This way, you maximize the number of people you get to add to your list, but you’ll also raise some revenue as well.

The benefits of hosting a paid webinar:

• You’ll make money with each additional person who signs up to attend.
• Your speakers will be more likely to promote the call if they can earn a commission (through their affiliate link for example).
• Your webinar might be perceived as more valuable if people must pay to gain access.

The drawbacks of a paid webinar:

• The more you charge, the fewer attendees you are likely to have.
• Implementation is more complicated, as you’ll have to set up a way to take and process payments as well as process affiliate commissions in the event that you’re offering an affiliate program.

If you’re just starting out, I’d recommend going with a free webinar. That way, you can work out the kinks, figure out the technology, and focus on learning the ropes without the added stress of dozens of people expecting a top-notch, glitch-free experience. Once you’re comfortable with the process and have gained experience you can move to charging for premium webinars.

Only you can know what will work best for your situation and your business. Take a look at the benefits and drawbacks of each model, and choose the one that feels right for you.

Have you tried running a webinar before? I’d love your feedback. Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv. This is a plug-in that allows you to leave a link back to your own site when you leave a comment.

Until next time,

Robin

In order to pull off a great webinar, you’ll need to plan for success.  Sure, there are things that can go wrong, but if you plan your webinar well, most of them can be avoided. Let’s review 4 things you can do to ensure your webinar will go as smoothly as possible:

1.    Choose a good topic.

Choosing a topic for your webinar is much like choosing a topic for a blog post. You don’t want something too broad, or you’ll have no focus. And you don’t want something too narrow, or you will run out of things to say. Instead, you want to balance your need to cover new ground with your need to keep the length and breadth of your webinar manageable. Calls of up to an hour work well. Any longer and you may burn yourself out or run into more problems than you’re prepared to deal with!If you’re fortunate enough to brainstorm many topics remember you can always hold another webinar at a later date. Right now, you’re just getting ready for the first one, so select a topic you feel comfortable with.

2.    Decide on an expert.

One of the greatest advantages of webinars is that you don’t have to be the expert; you can interview someone else with more experience.  You can also hold a dialog between the two of you, or you can do the whole thing yourself. It’s entirely up to you.

3.    Pick a day and time.

Next, you need to pick a day and time.  It’s easy to drive yourself nuts trying to find a day and time that works for everyone in your target audience.  Just realize that no matter what you do, you simply won’t be able to pick a time that is convenient for everyone! Instead, pick a time that works for you, and go with it.  Webinars are ideal because you can make them available later for those that weren’t able to attend live.

4.    Decide on whether to charge or not.

Are you planning to charge for your webinar?  You’ll want to decide upfront whether to charge or not, and what you should offer as up sells.  In a later section, we’re going to cover fee vs. no fee webinars in more detail.

That’s it! These are the key decisions you need to make before you get started because they will affect a lot of your other activities.  Just keep in mind that they’re not necessarily either/or decisions. There are a range of options you can select, so let’s discuss those in greater detail, starting with inviting an expert.

I’d love your feedback. Here on my blog, you get commentluv. This is a plug in that allows you to leave a link back to your own site when you leave a comment.

Until next time,

Robin

From the beginning of time, people have been “selling” their ideas to each other. The practice of sharing with and educating others hasn’t changed. We just have a whole lot more options when it comes to choosing the medium. Here are 6 ways Webinars can help you grow your business.

1.    Sell more

By presenting a sales presentation using your computer and over the phone, you offer much more interactivity and a stronger personal connection than you can through a website or direct mail piece.

2.    Create products

The webinars themselves can be turned into products or classes.  You can sell access to your live events, or you can record them and sell them later as video download or audio downloads.  And that’s just for starters.

3.    Get to know your audience

Being able to interact with your audience in real time allows an unprecedented level of market research, right in the moment.

4.    Establish yourself

If you interview experts in your area, you will quickly be seen as an expert by association.

5.    Build your list

Webinars are popular ways to introduce yourself to a new market. It’s easy to invite people to your free events — and as they sign up, they become part of your list.

6.    Create trust

Trust is crucial when you want to do business online.  And one of the best ways to build trust with your audience is to interact with them directly. As they hear your voice live on the call — and as they ask questions and get answers right then and there — you become “real” to them and they’ll be able to bond with you.  This is something that’s much harder to accomplish through sales letters and emails.

With the ready availability of low-cost (or no-cost) long-distance service and conference call lines, and screen sharing applications, webinars have become increasingly popular. Instead of spending thousands of dollars traveling to give an in-person presentation, you can meet your customers and prospects right where they are.  Webinars are a great way to:

• Introduce new products
• Get known in a new market — and get to know that market in turn
• Explain how a product or service works
• Interview experts and share their knowledge with your audience
• Answer questions about your area of expertise

But what about skills?  What do you need to know to host a webinar? Stop wondering! If you have enough experience to start a business, you have enough experience to produce and host a webinar. Stay tuned for my next post when we’ll discuss how to go about producing and hosting a webinar.

Until next time,

Robin

The idea of holding your own webinar might seem as out-of-reach as starting your own professional sports team. As you’ll discover in the next few weeks, however, that’s simply not the case. In fact, thousands of internet marketers, small business owners and solopreneurs regularly use webinars to reach new audiences, establish themselves as experts and create new products.  And so can you.

Some people charge thousands to teach you how to master the fine art of webinars but you really won’t need to spend that kind of money to learn the ropes.  Webinars don’t have to be flashy events with slick graphics, big-name speakers and four-figure price tags. Instead, most of the best webinars are much more down to earth.  They’re a lot like traditional seminars, except that they are presented using screen-sharing software and a bridge line rather than in person and at a physical location.

It’s easy to see the advantage of webinars. You won’t have to limit yourself to the number of people you can round up and lure into a hotel room or lecture hall.  Instead, you can draw your audience from all over the globe and connect with them by computer and phone.

And it doesn’t have to be fancy either.  In fact, any time you’re recording and presenting your products, services or on anything else related to marketing your business, you’re conducting a webinar. Of course you can also host webinars that are more formal and require more planning and care in execution. And that’s what you’re going to learn in this series.

First, I’m going to cover the basics of webinars: Why you should incorporate webinars into your marketing mix, how you should set them up and promote them for best results and how you can leverage the power of what you have created. In a matter of days, you will find out how to produce top-notch webinars that grow your business as well as your bottom line.

I’d love to hear from you.  Are you eager to host a webinar yourself? Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv. This is a plug-in that allows you to leave a link back to your own site when you leave feedback. But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment, I want to hear from everyone!

Until next time,

Robin

Virtually Anything Office – Your Road Map to Success!

As a VA, I tend to be well organized and like to have my work processes documented. I find having mapped processes has enabled me to respond more efficiently to client needs and requests. Initially it sounds like a lot of work to document everything you do in your business, however creating systems & flowcharts will ensures consistency in the way you do business and you’ll be more effective in your business.

If you’re not clear on what a system is, it’s merely having a documented process for all your prime business activities. In my business this would include a workflow of all the activities I do to run my business, such as, how to network and acquire new clients, the steps to follow up with and engage potential clients and how to complete projects for existing clients. Detailed workflows are created for production and distribution of my client information package, the steps I follow to sign on a new client and how I manage ongoing project details for existing clients.

Having mapped workflows enables me to find ways to improve how I run my business. I’m a huge believer in continuous improvement. This ensures I am better able to meet my clients’ needs and provide them with better services.

I use Visio to do my system and process mapping, and find it a very user friendly tool. You can design flow charts, organization charts, mind maps and dataflows quickly and professionally. Having a visual of a process has many uses from process improvement, to managing projects and tracking project timelines, to easily providing training to new employees.  The simple key is to have everything you do documented. It gives you great insight into what works and what doesn’t in your business and you can quickly re-adjust when needed.

How about you? Do you use a process that you would like to share? I love getting feedback. Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv. That’s a plug-in that allows you to leave a link back to your own site when you leave a comment.

Until next time,

Robin

Virtually Anything Office – Lessons Learned at a Trade Show

Recently, I hosted a vendor table at a local networking event.   I thought I would share my first trade show experience with you. It was an interesting experience and I sure learned some things that I would do differently the next time. Here are my 7 tips to think about when participating at a Trade Show.

1. Budgeting

Watch your budget;  it’s not something I initially  thought of but WOW you can really spend getting ready for these shows. Make sure the event will warrant your investment.

2. Plan Ahead

I spent hours developing my presentation board (did I tell you I’m a big planner?), an absolute must if you are going to have a memorable, show-stopping display! I gathered whatever I could think of – testimonials from my clients, information about myself and a portfolio of work I’ve completed to show my services.

3. Be Professional

I wanted to make my booth look ‘professional’, after all, I’m a VA offering professional business solutions, so I thought It would be important to dress the part. I’m glad I did. It’s important for your booth to look professional, and to dress professionally too! Your business image is dependent on your appearance and how your display/conduct yourself.  As always, make sure you’ve got a succinct infomercial/elevator speech that you can deliver quickly to all passersby.

4. Handouts

Don’t try to tell everyone about all the services you provide; have this available on a handout. Focus on one key area of your business that you want to expand and talk about this to everyone that stops looking for information. This is a great idea since you can then change your area of focus at every event you attend.

I learned to have MORE handouts to give out; you don’t want to run out of material that people can take with them to remember you by.  I didn’t bring enough with me, but fortunately most stoppers-by picked up my business card on their way through.   Also, have your business cards stuck to everything at your table. Your goal should be to be well represented and remembered by the time all the vendor’s have been visited at the event.

I also found that having something to nibble on helped stop passersby at my table. It’s amazing what chocolate will do to draw people to you!

5. Giveaways

Everyone likes giveaways, so make sure you have lots of them. Aside from samples of your work that people can take away with them, have some other small items available  that they can take along. This doesn’t have to be anything expensive (magnets, pens etc are a great momento and reminder about your services).

6. Bring Extra Supplies

Some of the things I should have had and didn’t (the lessons learned part) included extra supplies of tape, scissors, name tags, a signup sheet for people that wanted more information about my business.  I also learned there are 101 uses for double sided Velcro. Even though I painstakingly taped my information sheets to my presentation board, inevitably some of them started to give way and fall off; and double sided Velcro lets you quickly stick things back on securely. Next time I’ll make sure everything is ‘stuck’ with Velcro before I go to a trade show.

7. Physical Demands

I learned that I should have brought extra shoes! My feet were hurting after standing in one place for an extended period of time.  Also, take water! When you’re talking to everyone, you’ll need to wet your whistle every once in a while so you don’t get a creaky voice.

All in all I had a great day. I was able to interface with many like minded business people and I’m geared up to do another trade show when the opportunity arises.

How about you? Do you have tips to share? I’d love to get your feedback. Here on my blog, you get commentluv.  That’s a plugin that allows you to leave a link back to your own site when you leave a comment.  You’ll find the comment link below.

Until next time,

Robin

Focusing on a Solid Virtual Event Plan

I’m a firm believer in having a thorough plan before starting something and I know this is critical to business success. Before making any decision that will impact your business, you need to develop a solid project plan. This also holds true when planning to host a virtual event. There are some simple yet key aspects of a good project plan that will ensure you reach your business goals.

First of all, why are you going to host a virtual event? Do you want to communicate a change in procedure or train your employees on a new process? Are you launching a new product, or trying to reduce costs by switching to an online conference this year? Once you have defined your business goal and the expected outcome, you are on your way! You’ll need to clearly identify your target audience ensuring your event is tailored to them. What does success look like? By starting here, you’ll improve your ability to reach the desired business outcome.

Next what’s the best way to communicate your message? Teleseminar or Webinar? What format should you use? The event format should mirror the results you expect to achieve.  A good project plan will help you choose the most effective way to get your message across.

Choosing the appropriate platform and software to host your event can easily be determined once you’ve completed the 2 steps above. The project plan you develop will ensure you have chosen the most effective technology that’s within your budget. A bit of advice; you should always include a dry run or rehearsal into your plan, who wants to run into technical issues when you’re delivering an important message live to your employees or clients? Avoid surprises! Also, do you know how to use software and platform that you’ve selected to run your venue? Ensure that someone can provide the required demonstration and teach you to run the software with confidence. Or better yet, get yourself a good VA Moderator that can run the event for you. That way you focus on delivering your message, and the event details can be taken care of by someone else. You always need a contingency plan and point of contact during an event in case something goes wrong and attendees aren’t able to connect to the session.

There are many pre-event details that need to be taken care of long before you get to the live event. Developing a solid project plan will ensure you don’t miss any critical steps. When things are written down and assigned to someone they are going to get done! You’ll need to have a way for attendees to register for your event  Invitations have to be sent out,  with ongoing reminders to ensure good attendance during the event. These reminders and invitations can be posted on your blog or included in a press release if you’re including this step as you promote your event.

Your project plan should also include designating who will be responsible for recording the event; it’s important to capture the audio/video from the event. This is important to upload to your website afterwards for replay by those that weren’t able to attend the live event. As well, you may not want to field questions or monitor chat during the event and a good moderator can do this for you.

Another key step that is often overlooked is to gather feedback after your event. You want to find ways to continuously improve and it’s easy to do a quick on line survey immediately following the call so participants can give you their relevant feedback.

Virtual events can really be an important component to running your business. Why not take your success to the next level and work with your virtual event specialist and develop a solid project plan.

What kinds of things do you do to put an effective plan in place? I’d love to get your feedback and here on my blog you’ll get commentluv.  That’s a plug in that allows you to leave a link back to your own site when you post a reply.  I look forward to hearing from you!

Until next time,

Robin

Virtual Event Strategies

Now that you’re looking to host a virtual event, where do you begin? Well, there are many things a VA can help with to successfully launch you into the world of virtual events. Just like any key meeting or face to face event you plan for your business, it’s important to develop an effective virtual event strategy that will ensure your business goals are met. Working with a VA to develop a comprehensive project plan based on your business goals will help determine the right venue for your event. During the event, a VA can assist with the venue, whether it is a teleseminar, webinar or live streaming event.  After the event, a VA can help you re-purpose the content of your events to bring additional traffic to your website.

Although there are many tasks a VA can perform to ensure your virtual event is successful, I’ve listed below some of the key tasks a VA can assist you with  before, during and after your event.

Pre-Event

• Work with you to develop a solid virtual event strategy and project plan, tied to your business goals. This will ensure you choose the right venue for your event.
• Create Web pages and auto-responder emails to promote your event
• Organize the content you plan to deliver (e.g. PowerPoint presentation)
• Show you how to use the virtual event platform that you have chosen for your event
• Work with you on a Rehearsal/Dry Run ahead of time; It’s far better to get any technical issues out of the way before going live!

During the Event

• Act as event moderator to introduce yourself and your guests
• Be available to address technical issues that may arise during the event
• Monitor chat
• Record the audio and video
• Feed you questions from the audience if this is an option you make available

Post Event

• Conduct a survey and/or gather feedback from event participants
• Edit audio/video file for re-purposing (to bring additional traffic to your website)
• Post recordings on your blog or website

Remember, in these tough economic times you need to look for innovative ways and alternatives to hosting offline events and conferences. Virtual events and meetings will see a large increase in use in 2010. Why not be at the leading edge of this new way of doing business? It can only help to improve your bottom line. You’ll be growing your business in a new and exciting way.

Please feel free to leave comments here on the blog.  I love getting your feedback!

Until next time,

Robin

A virtual event is a must for business owners in 2010! But where do you begin? There is so much information available today regarding what platform or tool should you use to hold your virtual event so let me try to simplify it for you. It’s easier that you think. Just remember, regardless of the type of message you want to communicate, a virtual event is the way to go.

1)    Conference Calls and Teleseminars

Conference calls and teleseminars have been in existence for eons, and are a simple way to communicate an audio message. Two teleseminar tools that I find very user friendly are Free Conference Calling and InstantTeleseminar. With both tools you get access to a conference bridge, and recording capability. The bridge details are simply shared with your intended audience, and bingo, at the prescribed date and time you connect with your colleagues and away you go. You can communicate your message, training session, business goals, and services in a timely, efficient manner. Best yet, after the fact, the audio recording can be posted on your website for visitors to your site to access at a time convenient to them.

2)    Webinars

There are some cool tools you can use to conduct a virtual event in webinar format. Two that I like that are easy to use are GotoWebinar and Glance. Glance is a simple and easy to use platform that allows you to share your desktop, or view someone else’s, during a webinar. You’ll still need an audio or conference call bridge to talk to the event participants but they’ll be able to hear your message and see your desktop presentation at the same time. Once again, you can record the audio portion of the call, and re-purpose the event afterwards by using editing software to combine the audio and video files and post this information on your website.

Using GotoWebinar you can reach a larger audience, up to 1000 participants. You’ll have access to live chat, and participants can listen to the session via telephone or webcast.

3)    Videos

Why not produce a professional looking video to promote your business. Wouldn’t it be great to post a video on your website that draw significant attention to your business. It’s easy to do and there are some fantastic tools available to help you. You can produce a live event or pre-recorded event that get’s your message out. It can be as quick and simple as using Skype; all you need is a webcam either plugged into your built into your computer. If you want something more inclusive you can connect via Ustream software which allows you not only to stream video but also poll your audience with pre-determined questions, zoom in our out during the video event , and add a welcome screen in advance of the start of your video. There are great editing tools that a VA can help you with to create inexpensive, professional looking videos.

Have you tried any of these formats? I’d love to get your feedback on how they have helped your business save money! Here on my blog you’ll get commentluv. That’s a plug-in for bloggers. Leave a comment and you can provide a link back to your own blog!But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment, I’d like to hear from everyone!

Until next time,

Robin