Great webinars generate qualified sales leads. They take planning, practice and consistent follow through. Here are 10 tips that are sure to work for you.

1. Plan, Plan, Plan – Create a webinar plan that includes schedules, potential speakers, a registration process, budget, promotion, success metrics and follow through.
2. Timing is everything – Schedule your webinar when the greatest number of people can come.

• If your audience is national, run the webinar in the mid-afternoon.That way, people from all times zones can attend.
• Tuesdays and Wednesdays are generally best. People are not just starting or ending their week.

3. Promote it – If you build it, will they come? It depends. Do they know about it? Do they care?

   • Study your key audience and develop a targeted marketing strategy.
   • Test different messages and ad sources. Be creative. See what works.
   • Activate networks. Word-of-mouth is key, so include an “invite-a-colleague” link in all exchanges with potential attendees.

4. Webinars don’t happen in a vacuum. Make sure your webinars are integrated into your overall marketing strategy.
5. Engage your audience – E-mail, the web, to do lists and the phone are just some of the many distractions competing your speakers have to content with

   • Make sure content is informative and your speakers are interesting.
   • Get input from your sales team.
   • Involve all of your marketing staff.

6. Conduct polls – Don’t miss out on a chanceto ask your audience their opinions. Use your webinar to learn more about your audience and what they care about.
7. Practice, practice, practice and plan for the worst – Coach your speakers. Presenting at a webinar is very different from presenting in person.

   Don’t forget – All speakers need to use land lines with headsets and have a hard copy of their presentation in front of them.

   • Technology isn’t foolproof. Prepare for all calamities. Schedule at least one run through that covers:
   • Web conferencing technology
   • Webinar presentation and timing
   • Q&A
   • How to handle a loss of audio or web access

8. Pick a good conferencing vendor – There are many web conferencing vendors out there. Can yours handle your volume and support you when there’s a problem?
9. Make the most of registration – Every time someone registers for your event, you have a chance to learn more about their interests and needs. Include different touch points like demos and white paper downloads in all registration emails. Don’t Forget - Automate the registration process as much as possible and make sure your metrics capture what happens.
10. Respect Your Audience – People take time out of their day because they are interested in solving a problem. Hard sell doesn’t work. Soft sell does.

Steven Schwartz is president of PowerWebResults.com specializing in helping companies produce great webinars, geneate leads and harness the power of the web.

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