Webinars: The Ultimate Way To Connect With Anyone Anywhere On The Globe And Generate Massive Sales

There has never been a greater time in history for people to personally connect with someone on the other side of the globe. Your readers could be at a cafe in a busy street, on a beach in the Caribbean, or sitting in front of the computer wearing their girlfriend underwear, it doesn’t matter, as long as they have an internet connection they can communicate with anyone in the world. Never before have authors been so accessible yet very few of us are taking advantage of this.

Traditionally, connecting with your readers meant you had to be in the same geographic location as them either on a book tour or other organised writing event. You smiled until your face hurt, signed a couple of books and forced yourself to laugh through badly delivered jokes. And while this blog has given a myriad of strategies on how to create a reader experience through words, videos and recordings, these are in some small way still distanced from the reader. It is generic, there for anyone to find. Words take on different meanings when you cannot hear the tone or see the facial expression of the person. This is unfortunate because as authors, most of our convincing is done through the written word. And as such the powerful emotions your novel synopsis is supposed to invoke can be lost in translation and a sale along with it. In this digital age we have the power to interact with a reader personally, why should we settle for the outdated way of doing things? Enter the Webinar, your rocket powered jetpack to the other side of the world.

Connecting ‘face to face’ with your readers is still the best way to sell a book. A website or a synopsis is almost like trying to cold call your readers, they don’t know who you are, and if your wording doesn’t get the correct meaning across it’s goodbye sweet cheeks. A webinar gives you the opportunity to have this face to face interaction with multiple people around the world at the same time! Basically a webinar is a web based seminar that allows people to hear you and at the same time you can either be showing a PowerPoint or show a live screen demonstration direct from your computer screen to theirs. Listeners can type in questions and make comments allowing you to connect with them personally without you leaving the comfort of your home. Readers love this interaction and being able to hear the writer speak to them directly. GoToWebinar is one of the main platforms for conducting a webinar.

For fiction authors you can run Q &A sessions, talk about writing in your genre, and even teach about it, or do readings of your newest novel. At the end of the webinar if you wish you can sell your latest book to the listeners for a one day only special webinar discount price. For non-fiction authors you can take the webinar, and your profits much, much further. Not only can you charge a higher price for your novel in a webinar, but webinars have an almost 10% conversion rate in comparison to a website which only converts 1% of its visitors. As I noted in an earlier blog post, you can either sell just your e-book, or your e-book with a set of interviews, or your e-book with a home study course or even your e-book with 12 weeks of personalised coaching from you (which you can conduct through a webinar). By giving people multiple ways to learn in addition to reading your e-book you create a whole new reader experience.

There is a fine art to selling a non-fiction e-book and any associated experiences. As with all of the marketing I have talked about, you cannot make your webinar into one hour long sales pitch. Droning on about how good your product is will have your potential readers throwing in the towel in disgust and the webinar will be empty before you’re even half way through. Then you are left talking to yourself, and that’s just a little sad. You have to have your ultimate goal in mind and structure your presentation so it leads naturally into your offer at the end. Firstly you need deliver a big promise, what are your listeners going to learn? What is the benefit for them? Remember if you tell them you are going to teach them how to do something, you better do it! Or you will have as much chance making sale as finding a golden ticket in a Wonka Bar. Then introduce yourself, tell people how you got to the point you are now, let them relate to the emotions that led you to seek out and learn this information. Provide some statistics on why this information is so important and give general evidence on the trend.

Then you need to deliver good solid content and information. The best way to teach it is in steps (3, 5, or 7) so you can break it down into a sequence people can follow. You really need to deliver your butt off here, and give as much information as you can in 40 mins. Be the Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie of the webinar world, make them swoon! There is only so much you can talk about in 40 mins and it will barely touch the tip of the iceberg where your e-book is concerned, so don’t feel that ‘giving away’ your tips will lose you any sales. The greater the quality of information, the greater the credibility, the more people you will convince to go further with you. There is no need to be nervous when giving your presentation. One reader’s experience varies greatly from the next but the best way to deliver a good talk to all is by pretending you are talking to 12 year olds. No one will ever complain you main it too simple to understand. Use stories to help illustrate your point rather than just instructing. Draw the listener in. At the conclusion of your information section summarise the steps. Remember people are coming home from work, school or university and they are choosing to spend their time with you instead of watching the TV or making out or any other the other million and one things they could be doing. Be entertaining.

There will always be at least 10% of crowd who want to go further and faster with what you have. It is at this point that you let them know that if they would like to learn more you have an e-book or a course etc. You need to make this offer irresistible. You need to give more value then you are getting in return. Offer something unique whether it’s personal attention, a weekly critique of their writing, or just something that your competitors aren’t offering. Or even just something you can do better. As always a guarantee is great, it eliminates the perceived risk to the buyer so they are more inclined to purchase. This is similar to how you would give a book away for free to attract readers. However, this way, you see some immediate money and if you have a worthwhile e-book that delivers it is unlike you will have to refund any of it.

Though writing is a creative outlet we must realise that if we wish to make money, it is also a business. Webinars are a fantastic way to make sure your business unique. Just by being accessible and offering an extra service that other people don’t, it automatically puts you above your competitors. You are beating them back with the strength of your little finger alone. Readers want to connect. And people will give you money, if you give them what they want.

WHAT NEXT: Though I will no longer be blogging every day this is not the end of the revolution! This blog will continue to analyse the world of e-books as it rapidly progresses. New strategies, interviews and opportunities will be gracing this space and your inbox (if you have registered). Good luck to you all on your e-book journey. Please keep me up to date on your progress.

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