What is a webinar and how you can create one – a beginner’s guide with tips

Hosting webinars can help businesses of all sizes and in virtually any industry engage with both new and existing customers. If you have a small or medium-sized business, including an online shop, a webinar is a fantastic opportunity to share your expertise with customers and give them a positive impression of your business. 
 
In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to create, promote, and host a successful webinar. 

What is a webinar? 

A webinar is simply short for a ‘web seminar’. During a webinar, the host shares information or gives a live presentation to an audience sitting at home or another place with internet access.  

Unlike a regular video meeting, in a webinar, only the speaker has the camera on. This means that the audience can see the speaker, but not vice versa. However, it’s usually possible to ask questions by typing them into a live chat visible on the screen while the webinar is live. 

Who can host a webinar? 

Anyone with knowledge of a subject can host a webinar. Many small and medium-sized businesses use webinars to share knowledge with their customers, showcase products, and build a loyal customer base.  

For example, if you have a small online shop selling skincare products, you could host a webinar on skincare routines that include products from your range. If your customers have questions along the way, you can answer them in a live Q&A, either throughout the presentation or at the end. This will create a more engaging experience and strengthen the relationship between you and your customers. 

Webinar formats

Webinars can have many different formats. Choose the format that best suits your business and the message you want to convey. Some of the most common and popular formats for webinars are: 

• Presentation: Share knowledge with the audience 
• Product demonstration: Show the audience how to use a specific product or solution 
• Panel discussion: Bring together multiple experts from your industry or company to discuss a relevant topic 
• Interview: Conduct a live interview with an expert from your team or an external industry expert 
• Q&A: Hold a short presentation and allow your customers to ask questions for the rest of the time. 

What are the benefits of hosting a webinar? 

With webinars, you can reach more customers while building brand trust and customer loyalty among your existing customers. Those who attend your webinar get the chance to experience your expertise live and often feel as if you are speaking directly to them.  

Let’s say you have a fitness website. You could invite people to a webinar where you demonstrate various exercises, and in that way encourage attendees to visit your website and explore your online courses or products. 

Webinars are also effective if your goal is lead generation. If this is your aim, it’s advantageous to create a landing page where you ask visitors to register with their name and email address to sign up for your free webinar. 

Additionally, you can repurpose your webinars and include them in your content marketing strategy, for example, by sharing a link to the recording in a newsletter or blog post. 

Another great advantage is that you can host webinars entirely for free if you choose to use a free platform. We’ll return to this further down in the article. 

How to create a webinar – step by step 

Determine the topic and format 

Start by brainstorming ideas for a webinar topic that will be interesting to your business’s target audience. Choose a topic related to your offerings or your industry. If you sell eco-friendly cleaning products, for example, “green cleaning tips” would be a good topic. It’s likely to appeal to potential customers who want to live an eco-friendly lifestyle. 

If you run a B2B business that offers an accounting solution, you could invite accounting experts from your team to participate in a panel discussion. You could also create a product demo where you thoroughly walk through the solution’s most useful features. 

If you choose the Q&A format or another format where you will take questions from your audience live, it’s a good idea to try to anticipate some of the questions so you’re not caught off guard. Consider basing this on questions your customers have previously asked your customer service. 

Consider guest speakers from your industry 

You can make your webinar more appealing by inviting an industry expert to be a guest speaker. If you have an online health food shop, for example, you could invite a dietitian who can give attendees tips for a healthy lifestyle and explain the nutritional benefits of including your products in their diet.  

Guest speakers who are not directly associated with your business increase your brand’s credibility, as the third-party approval highlights the benefits of your products. This is in effect a kind of social proof, where existing customers recommend your products or services to other customers. 

Create content

Thoroughly prepare the content for your webinar by writing a script. It’s important to start strong with a hook that grabs attendees’ attention right away. Ask yourself the following questions when writing your script: 

• What is the main message you want to convey? 
• Which questions will you answer? 
• What will your audience have learned when the webinar is over? 

If you have invited guest speakers or there are multiple people speaking during the webinar, you should collaborate on the script and agree in advance on who will say what and when. 

It’s also useful to create a few slides with images, infographics, or other visual elements that illustrate or clarify your message. On one of your first slides, you could list the webinar’s key points briefly. This way, the audience knows from the start what they can look forward to.  

Avoid slides with a lot of text, even if you have a lot you want to share. Your audience would rather hear you speak than read a wall of text on a screen. 

Remember that your audience isn’t attending your webinar to hear a sales pitch. It’s perfectly fine to mention your products, but the webinar should have real value for your audience. They should gain knowledge or tips they can take away, even if they don’t buy your products.  

If it’s a product demonstration, of course, that’s a different matter, but in that case, you should make sure your audience knows in advance. 

Choose a platform and check the equipment 

There are many different platforms you can use to host your webinar. Some require payment to use, while others can be used entirely for free. It’s important to note that your choice of platform affects how many people can attend your webinar. 

Free tools usually have a limit on how many people can participate. They may also lack the option for participants to register in advance. You should therefore evaluate which platform is best suited for your webinar and your business. You can read more on each platform’s website. 

Free webinar platforms 

• Microsoft Teams 
• Zoom 
• Google Meet 
• YouTube Live 

Paid webinar platforms 

• Demio 
• ON24  
• WebinarJam 
• GoTo

As for equipment, all you need to host a webinar is a laptop with a webcam and microphone for all speakers. If you want better sound and a sharper image, you can invest in an external webcam and microphone. 

Choose a date and time 

Once you have the content and the webinar platform ready, you can start considering when to host your webinar. According to many webinar platforms, the best time to host a webinar is from 11 to 14, while the best weekdays are Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. When setting a time, you should, of course, be mindful of different time zones if some of your attendees are in another zone. 

Promote your webinar 

Start with your email list – those users who have already signed up for your newsletter or agreed to receive email marketing from your business. Put together a short email with the date, time, and link to the webinar. Mention the webinar in the subject line to ensure your recipients don’t miss the invitation. 

As mentioned earlier, you can also create a dedicated landing page for your webinar. The page should have only one goal – to get visitors to sign up for your webinar. Write a brief description of the webinar and a CTA that your visitors can’t resist clicking. 

If you’ve built your website with one.com’s Website Builder, you can easily and quickly create a landing page. And if you get writer’s block, the built-in AI writing assistant can help you write text for your landing page and the rest of your company’s website. 

You should also make use of your social media channels to promote your webinar, either by sharing organic posts and stories or by creating paid ads. You can also combine the two methods. 

Tip: Send a reminder to your attendees the day before or on the day of the webinar so they don’t forget. 

4 tips to holding an engaging webinar

1. Practise beforehand

It’s essential to practise delivering your webinar. Make sure you’re familiar with the content and your slides and try to find a test audience to practise with. It’s best if you run through the entire webinar on your chosen platform, so you know everything works as planned. Also, test camera and sound settings to minimise the risk of technical issues. 

If there are multiple speakers, it’s a good idea to practise together to get a feel for how to coordinate each person’s part of the webinar. Time yourselves (this also applies if you’re alone) and adjust the content if certain sections are too long or too short. 

2. Have a backup plan

Hopefully, your webinar will go smoothly and without issues, but there’s always a small risk that technology or your memory might let you down. Prepare for this with a good backup plan: 

• Print your slides and notes: That way, you’ll have them if your computer can’t open the file or the screen freezes. 
• Have access to a wired internet connection: If your Wi-Fi connection suddenly drops, you can plug in a cable and continue. 
• Make a checklist: Note down all the things you need to check before the webinar starts and tick them off the list, e.g., remember to click the “record button.” 

3. Log on early for small talk and a welcome greeting 

Start your webinar a few minutes before the scheduled time so you have enough time to welcome the first attendees and engage in some small talk. This will create a more relaxed and informal atmosphere, both for you and for your audience. It will also strengthen your customer relationships and make your brand appear as more than just a logo and a range of products. 

4. Keep in touch with your audience after the webinar 

After you’ve completed your webinar, it’s time to ensure that your business gets the most out of the time and effort invested in organising it. Send a “thank you for attending” email to your attendees and include a link to the webinar recording, so they have the option to watch it again. You can also advantageously send an email with the link to customers who couldn’t watch the webinar live. 

In these emails, you can take the opportunity to share a link to a relevant article on your website, your eBook, or a product mentioned during the webinar. And why not offer webinar attendees a discount or special benefit as a thank-you for attending and to promote customer loyalty? 

Webinars are powerful marketing tools 

The webinar format opens numerous opportunities to build stronger customer relationships and win loyal customers. You share your knowledge, establish your authority, and give your customers something of value. This is a good recipe for effective marketing that shows your business in the best light and ensures your brand remains relevant. 

Good luck with your webinar!