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Recently, I published a blog post on how to create a webinar in five simple steps. Now I’d like to add to that list with ways to create a profitable webinar in five more simple steps! I’ve spent years figuring out how to create profitable webinars through trial and error and by learning from others. I hope I can make webinar production a little easier for you, and generate some significant revenue in the process.

• Choose a strong topic: Topic is key to any successful webinar, but how do you know what’s hot? You can review popular newsletter editorial material (including your own!), survey subscribers and previous conference attendees (I recommend SurveyMonkey or Google Forms for survey tools), analyze session popularity at physical conferences, and evaluate results of editorial staff calls to customers.

• You don’t always have to pay: Don’t assume that you always have to pay your speakers. They want the publicity just as much as you do. And they’ll get that publicity by speaking on your webinar panel, in front of a very targeted audience. Offer to post about them using social media, call them out in your email newsletter, and even offer to provide speakers with the list of attendees. You may have to pay a token fee, but don’t start there. If you offer money up front (even if it’s not a lot), you’ll end up having to negotiate up, not down, from where you start.

• Word of mouth – take advantage of it and don’t ignore it: Speaking of social media, word of mouth is still probably one of the best ways to get attendees. But keep in mind it’s also  one of the best ways to lose attendees! At the very least, set up Google Alerts for the title of your event and your company name. That way you can see what everyone is saying about you and your event that. If someone says something good (better yet, if they say they’re attending) on LinkedIn or Twitter, you can reply by thanking them. More important, if someone says something negative, you can address it fast. For instance, if someone shares on Twitter or Facebook that he or she is having registration problems, you can comment on the post and make sure you don’t lose customers as a result. Plus you can look into your registration process and make sure it’s not causing problems for anyone else.

• Build your e-mail prospecting database: Everyone who signs up for a webinar is a prospect for future webinars. People you meet at networking events are prospects for future webinars. Make sure that every business card you receive and every lead you acquire gets added to your sales/contact database. The database can be a robust system such as Salesforce, or it can be as simple as an email distribution client like MailChimp. No matter the program, make sure the information is in there.

• ALWAYS check your teleconferencing company’s invoice: This is probably the most necessary “to-do” on your list each and every month. Check, check and triple check! Everyone makes mistakes so it’s worth making sure you haven’t been overcharged.

With these five tips in your back pocket, you should notice positive change in your webinar profitability fast! If you have any questions or want more information, I’m more than happy to talk with you about them. You can contact me here. Thanks, and best of luck!

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