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TikTok

We all have a list of our favorite apps, but we continue downloading and trying new ones. However, not all new apps remain at peak popularity for a long time. Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and some other apps are unquestionable leaders, but it doesn’t mean that nothing can substitute them. TikTok is among the new leaders.

It’s more than an app — it’s an entire culture. TikTok’s audience has reached more than 1 billion users in 150 countries. Why don’t you start using TikTok, especially if you have something interesting to share with others? Don’t worry about the lack of knowledge on how to grow your account on TikTok — we’ll help you succeed with it.

11 Key Tips on How to Promote Different Content on TikTok

It would be foolish not to take advantage of TikTok, so stop just scrolling and start creating your content. You may think that there’s nothing difficult in recording videos, but as you see, not all people get thousands of views. Of course, it all depends on the type of content; however, following the path of least resistance isn’t about us, right?

Develop a content plan

If you choose a rather complicated niche, be ready to work hard. Informational content requires thorough preparation: it’s impossible to select random topics and present random and unverified information to your audience. Analyze similar bloggers to understand what people like. It’ll help you make videos that go viral.

Regularity is a key to success

Do you want to get more likes and gain new followers? Post videos at least four times a day. The number of daily posts isn’t limited, but you shouldn’t publish more than 8-10 videos each day. Posting 4-8 times a day is the optimal frequency that will let you access a wider audience and quickly boost the number of your followers.

Know TikTok trends

It’s hard to use this app every day and not to be aware of all popular trends. Even though trends have very little in common with informational content, you still should not just follow them but also participate. Try to adapt your content to new trends, and you’ll certainly win this social media.

Make the most of new functions

You mustn’t miss any updates. It’s a key to popularity in social media. Not a single new effect, mask, or sound should slip your attention. New functions on TikTok always become popular, and while something is popular, you have a higher chance to get recommended.

Go live. Always.

Do your best to gain your first 1,000 followers because it lets you go live. It may be a little bit difficult at first, but the more streams you have, the easier they will seem to you. Live streams are a good way to attract new followers if you know how to present your material.

Be a trendsetter

It’s a difficult task for a newbie but look at your rivals: those who have thousands of followers, views, and likes and start with their trends. Why can’t you do the same? It’s hard to create a trend that’ll engage many people, but on TikTok, we learn by doing.

Don’t neglect duets

If you want to expand another blogger’s video or see that this person made a mistake, don’t be afraid to duet and add your information or explanation. The author of the original video and his or her subscribers will notice your account and perhaps even subscribe to it.

Publish a series of videos

It’s hard to present a broad subject in a 1-minute clip, so it’s better to divide your subject into 3-4 videos and publish them with a short interval. Each video should be catchy so that anyone who sees it, will want to visit your profile.

Select suitable hashtags

Unlike other social media, TikTok still uses hashtags to promote content; however, not all users know how to take advantage of them. The minimal number of views is 300 thousand. If you can find a tag with more views, it’s great.

Share your content on other social media

Don’t be shy to post your TikTok videos on Instagram, Facebook, and other services. Post a link to your TikTok profile on each social media you use — it greatly helps boost followers. Let more people know about your endeavor!

Enable the “Stitch” feature

If other people can stitch your video and add their own clip to it, you can start a trend. Just set a reasonable question, like “Tell me what do you know about this/that event…”, “What information did you learn here?” etc.

Conclusion

Well, this list doesn’t include all existing ways of promotion on TikTok, but we chose them because they’re simple and easy to do. They are perfect for beginners, and they all are effective. And we have some good news for you. Now our blog will focus on the ways to promote your knowledge. It means that we’ll post useful life hacks and guides on the subject.

We advise you to keep an eye on our updates not to miss anything. If you’re interested in any particular topic, don’t be shy and use the comment section below this post. We’ll choose the most interesting question or suggestion and will certainly address it in our next post. We are ready to help everyone.

live webinars

Hello everyone! If this title cached you, you probably faced the need to stream to multiple platforms simultaneously. We will be right to say that previously you had to go live on each platform separately. It took you a lot of time to process several live streams or even an alternative of sharing a pre-recorded video of your stream was time-consuming. But now it makes no sense because Restream offers an excellent solution to this problem. Using this service lets you go live on several platforms simultaneously. Here we’ll discuss all Restream features and show you how to go live with Restream

Getting Started With Restream. Advantages and Disadvantages of This Service

Many beginners think that they can’t work with this platform because it requires training and obtaining certain skills. Perhaps, it can relate to any other streaming services, but not to Restream.io. Of course, you’ll need some time to understand how everything works there, and our guide will help you. Restream.io combines several products for convenient streaming. Today we’ll focus on Restream Multistreaming tool

Step 1.How to sign up to the platform

You don’t need to install any software on your PC to start using Restream — and it’s one of the key reasons why bloggers and other social media users prefer Restream. To start your journey, visit Restream.io, and press the ‘Get Started’ button. The registration process is fast and easy: all you need to specify is your login, e-mail address, and password. Restream will send you a confirmation letter, so don’t forget to check your inbox. Confirm your account, and you’ll never lose access to the platform

Step 2. How to choose platforms for streaming and adding channels

After successful registration, you’ll be offered to add channels for multistreaming. Restream interface is user-friendly, so you won’t need to spend a lot of time understanding how to work with it. Just press the button ‘Add channels,’ and you’ll be redirected to the page with available social media websites.

 

The number of available platforms impresses because Restream cooperates with more than 30 websites

Here are the most popular platforms for streaming:

  • Facebook

  • Twitch

  • VK Live

  • Youtube

  • OK.ru

This list is constantly updated, so don’t get upset if you can’t find the service you need. Be sure you’ll find it there in a month or two. Choose a platform (for example, Facebook), and log into it to connect to the multistreaming platform

 

Step 3. How to set up and manage your accounts

Open a dashboard to browse all your streaming destinations. Moreover, the dashboard is the only page where you can manage added accounts. If you need quick access to your account, click on the channel name. The slider on each line lets you turn on/off every channel. If you need to change the name and description of the channel, press on the gear sign

 

Settings also let users change the streaming destinations. It means you can decide whether you’ll go live in a personal profile or group, for example in VK or Facebook. The free plan lets users go live on one account through the platform. If you want to go live on a personal account and a group account, be ready to pay for the subscription. Moreover, a free subscription does not allow streaming pre-recorded videos, uploading and storing them in the system, inviting more than six guests to your stream, and going live on Facebook. However, a free plan is enough for amateur use

 

How to Start a Live Stream on Restream.io?

Well, once you add all necessary channels, you need to inform your subscribers about the upcoming stream. You’re halfway to success. All that’s left to do is to get ready for the stream and learn how to set it up. Be sure, preparation for the stream will take you some time. Before the last update, users were required to install additional software for multistreaming, but now it’s unnecessary. Restream Live Studio is enough to set up and start streaming

 

Step 1. Adjust settings

You don’t need to have any experience with streaming to customize settings. Enter Restream Live Studio and allow access to the microphone and camera. It’s the first thing you should do. If you have any difficulties with understanding how the interface works, change the language

 

On the right, you’ll see four tabs with settings:

  • Chat — here, you’ll see users’ messages from all streaming destinations

  • Captions — let you add text on the screen

  • Graphics — you can change the logo, background, branding, and other graphical elements

  • Setup — lets you add title, description, and see the list of streaming destinations

Restream.io supports co-hosting feature — press an icon under the video to invite someone to your stream. Your guest is not required to register an account on Restream. You just send the link, and this person easily joins you. If you have several guests, you can either hide or show them in your stream. Restream Live Studio settings also let you decide what exact micro and camera to use if several devices are connected to your PC. The screen sharing feature is irreplaceable for users who need to show viewers a presentation or something like that

Final Step. Go live

Check all elements once again to make sure you’ve set everything right. Then press “Go Live,” and your stream starts. It’s all you need to do. If you have any questions on how Restream works, don’t hesitate to ask us for help. Just write your question in the comments, and we’ll try to answer them. We’ll address the questions with due attention in the next guides

 

Tilda site-movement

Hi, dear readers! In this article, we want to share a solution to novice experts and producers that they face when creating a website or landing page. They often use different constructors. One of the most popular places for creating web pages is Tilda. Therefore, you may eventually want or need to transfer your website from Tilda to another hosting. Let's see how to do this and keep all the elements working. Enjoy this reading!

Preparation

Attention! You can download the site only on the "Business" pricing plan. Sadly, there are no other ways. It's enough to pay for a 1-month subscription to download the code for placing on your hosting.

We'll use a template site with an order form as an example. You can change the data defined below according to the needs of your website.

First, we will do a little work with your hosting. Create a “Transfer” subdomain on it and place the form.php file. You can also choose your name, but the file extension must remain .php!

It contains the code for our form with all the critical data:

  • e-mail that will receive applications;
  • the server that will send them;
  • filling out the form;
  • display of all fields in the received letter;
  • a message about a successful form sending or an error.

After that, provide data for your website and save the changes.

After having this work done, you need to go back to the site settings on the Tilda interface.

Go to the "Forms" section, find the Webhook at the bottom of the page, click on it and specify the URL of the .php file that we created earlier.

After typing the URL, click the "Save" button and wait for a message about the successful connection of the form.

Don't forget to return to the main Tilda interface after the work is done and publish all pages so that Webhook connects to all forms. The site must work correctly after the transfer.

Website transfer

When we have done all this, go to the "Export" section on the page settings on Tilda.

It should be recalled once again that you must have a "Business" pricing plan activated. Otherwise, you'll waste your time :)

We select the item "Download Archive," read the export rules, and press the "Start Export" button.

The export time depends on the complexity of the site. The more connected forms and blocks, the longer the pages will take to download to the .zip archive (that is, the speed depends on the content).

After exporting, you'll receive a link to the location of the archive. Go to it and download the files to your PC:

After receiving the archive, unpack it and go back to your server. There we find and open the folder that we just unzipped.

We select all the files and drag-and-drop them to your hosting. After that, wait for the files to be transferred.

Next, we need to change the name of the htaccess file. To do this, double-click (with a break) on the name and add a period in front of it. Press "Enter" so that you should get the resulting picture.

So, the site has been moved. Now is the time to test how well it works.

Website check

Let's start your project, but from your server. To do this, type our Webhook URL in an address line of a browser used earlier. After that, press "Enter."

Done! Our website opens at the link. Now let's check the performance of the forms by typing random data into them and clicking the "Submit a request" button.

There's a problem! Data sending is not possible. Therefore, we need to specify in Tilda the domain that we are using.

Go back to the settings of our page in Tilda and select the "Domain" item. After that, type the address of our domain and click the "Save Changes" button.

Now let's restart our site and try to fill out the form again.

The form has been submitted. Let's check the mail and see if we have received a letter with data.

Yes, we received the completed information (name, phone number, and recording time) by email. Now your site is entirely ready to work on another hosting.

Conclusion

Let's sum up what is required to transfer a site from Tilda to another hosting:

  • domain;
  • the form.php file (or any other name with the .php extension) on your hosting;
  • connected Webhook on Tilda in the "Forms" section;
  • the downloaded website code that will be placed on the hosting;
  • the modified htaccess file.

Attention! The moved site must remain on your Tilda account. At the same time, the "Free" pricing plan will be connected to it by default (you won't be charged for its work). If you remove the site from your account, then the forms won't be sent to your hosting. Therefore, you won't receive requests from clients.

If you have any questions or wishes, write them in the comments below. We'll answer them promptly and analyze the most challenging ones in our following life hacks!

Tilda Bizon

Hi everyone! Today we will create a user authorization page for the Bizon 365 online platform using the Tilda functionality. First of all, why do we need a customized login page?

There are precisely two reasons:

  • In the standard version offered on Bizon 365, users often make mistakes when entering their phone numbers. It means you won't be able to get their details for further proposals.
  • The authorization page on the service itself doesn't look very attractive. Further, you cannot change anything other than the background.

So if you want to impress your students and participants with a stylish design, let's get to work. We only need accounts on Tilda and Bizon 365, a piece of inspiration, and our manual.

Where to start

First, you should create a webinar room on Bizon, then set up a page on Tilda that will be used to authorize your visitors.

Of course, it will be helpful to decide what you want to request from users? There are only 4 options that Bizon 365 allows to implement. The simplest is authorization by name. If you expand it a little, you can also request a phone number or email. For the most demanding, there is authorization, including name, phone number, and e-mail. If you want to invite to the webinar only those who are ready to provide all the personal data - choose the last option.

But let's move on to practice. Where to choose the type of authorization? Go to the "Access" tab in the settings of your webinar room - there, you can select the options that will be displayed when users are authorized. You can see this in the screenshot (however, you won't miss anyway).

After you select everything you want to get from the visitors, you can view how the login page on Bizon will look like. An example of triple authorization can be seen below:

Looks nice but boring. Let's make this option enjoyable with a personalized design. And to do this, go to your account on Tilda. Here you can create a new page with a more exciting design. Standard templates in the "Form and Buttons" section have different options to choose from: you can add video and authorization fields or image and authorization fields. Choose what works best for you.

But this is just the beginning of the customization process. Go to the Zero-block and change the text on the page (try to be creative and make it enjoyable, your visitors will definitely appreciate it). Don't forget to configure the number of fields that you have chosen for authorization on Bizon 365; otherwise, you will receive an epic fail. Customize each of the fields on Tilda for every parameter, as is shown below.

The result should be something like this:

Of course, you can choose the name of the webinar, tips for the login form fields, and videos to your liking.

Then you need to set up a redirect from the Bizon page to the page on Tilda and vice versa so that your listeners will join you. What are the steps?

First, find a link to your login page on Bizon 365. To do this, go to "General" / "Open link for viewers" in the settings of the webinar room. Copy the link under the caption, and go back to Tilda.

But first, find below our ready-made scripts for your authorization option and select the one up to your needs. Remember, a good script is a key to success!

  • For triple authorization by name, phone number, and email, follow this link and copy the following script.
  • For minimalists who only need a username, the script is right here..
  • To request name + phone number — click here..
  • And here’s the script for those who want to receive a name and e-mail.

But what to do with this script? Let's follow these steps:

  1. Go to your Tilda page.
  2. Go to the Menu / Page List tab and create a new HTML block. See our screenshot to make sure you get it right.

  3. Insert our script in the "Save and forget" tab.
  4. Change the link in the "var url" script line to your link with the authorization page on Bizon 365. Don't forget about the HTML syntax! The result will look like this:

  5. Save and close. Then publish the page.

Results

And the most important thing: be sure to check how the authorization page is displayed. You can compare our two examples to see the differences.

Here is our default design created by Bizon -

Boring, dull, and generally uninteresting.

But what happened after a bit of involvement -

It's cool and trendy. Well, or at least unique.

Congrats, you've reached a new peak in your work! Now you can make each webinar even more attractive through the content and with the help of our life hacks. Remember that the first impression lasts forever, and your login page can get you more listeners if you follow our tips.

Still, have some questions? Please leave them in the comments below. We'll analyze the most interesting and useful ones in the next articles. See you soon, stay safe and stay tuned.

zoom youtube

Live broadcasts are a great way to promote any Internet channel. The rule is simple: the more people tune in to the broadcast, the more benefits the channel gets. One of the services designed to work with broadcasts is Zoom. The program allows users to broadcast videos to social networks (YouTube, Facebook, etc.). However, to bring as many people to a Zoom live as possible, it is imperative to share links and invitations. After a simple registration, Zoom seeks permission to invite friends to the broadcast. In contrast, any other social platform automatically informs people about the start of the live broadcast without getting such permission.

Zoom is a smart service, as it integrates with a large number of outstanding resources, including Restream. Having a paid account in Zoom lets users connect to the Restream service to broadcast videos to several social networks (Odnoklassniki, YouTube, Facebook, VKontakte, etc.).

Simple Tips On How To Set Up An Automatic Zoom Broadcast In Social Platforms

1. Log in to your Zoom personal account. The account must be upgraded to a premium version to have an advanced broadcast function. Once you get a premium version, select "Settings/At the conference (advanced)" and mark the boxes under every social network you want to use to launch a broadcast. If you choose Restream as one of these apps, make sure to mark the "Individual streaming session" section. Upon completing this step, you won't have to do anything else in your Zoom account.

2. Sign up on Restream. It is free and doesn't take much time. The service has excellent, round-the-clock technical support. The team answers questions and resolves issues quickly, sending correspondence to the user's mailbox.

3. Restream is a freemium app. Users can choose free and paid versions. The former allows you to connect via Zoom and launch broadcasts only on a personal page. In turn, the paid version uncovers much more opportunities, such as connecting multiple accounts of the same social network, running live webcasts in groups, and linking Facebook, among others.

4. Connecting the channel is quite simple. All you need to do is click on the "Add Channel" button. It will then redirect you to a page where you can select a broadcasting channel. Given the high demand for games, the majority of channels are related to the gaming world. However, you can also find main social networks there.

5. Any channel is connected in a single click. You will see the relevant page with the corresponding instruction. There, you will have to click on just one button. But before doing that, make sure to be an existing, authorized user in Restream (to become one, you should agree to Terms and Conditions). If you have agreed to the T&C and still encounter problems with connecting the channel, reach out to technical support and explain the issue.

6. Go to the "Conference Name" section and title it. The name will be automatically updated on all connected channels.

7. You can also notify subscribers about the upcoming broadcast.

Integrating Zoom and already configured Restream

1. Once you configure Restream and launch a broadcast, click on the colon at the bottom of the broadcast control panel and select "Broadcast to an individual streaming service" to integrate Restream with Zoom.

2.In the Zoom service, fill out empty fields ("Broadcast URL" and "Password").

3. Go to the Restream Control Panel. On the right side, in the "Settings" section, copy the first link and paste it to the “Broadcast URL” field on Zoom. Repeat this procedure by inserting the password (copy the password on Restream and paste it to “Password” on Zoom).

4. You can fill out the last field on Zoom (the URL of the streaming page), inserting your YouTube channel or Facebook profile.

5. After filling out all the fields, click on the "Go Live" button. Zoom will start preparing for the broadcast. As soon as the preparation is completed, the app will transfer you to the account specified in the field.

By checking the Restream panel, you will see that the broadcast from Zoom has started.

The live stream appeared in all marked social networks (in our case, YouTube).

Restream and Zoom premium versions offer plenty of opportunities for every user. Everyone can conduct live broadcasts on multiple social networks with no problems.

Alternative to a Premium Zoom Account

Suppose you can't get a Zoom premium version. In that case, you may want to utilize free apps, such as OBS Studio. The latter integrates with Restream allowing you to start live webcasts on various social networks. If you are interested in using OBS Studio, we will cover this topic in the forthcoming blog.

The use of additional services along with Zoom has lots of benefits. Among such apps is Restream, which aims to boost social network popularity and increase the number of the audience. You can make use of these apps without putting in lots of effort.

If you happen to have questions, let us know in the comment section below. We will answer them in the following series of articles.

instagram marketing

Instagram has long been at the forefront of social media platforms for years. As for now, it has over 1 billion profiles. And the number of active users increases every single day. Thanks to this tendency, numerous advertisers and advertising agencies start paying close attention to Instagram as the venue to promote services and goods and generate outstanding profits. And it comes as no surprise that such actions also make many people look for various guides on setting up ads and boosting their social accounts. If you have the same intentions, you have come to the right place. By the end of this article, you will get a clear picture of how to launch ads on Instagram without anyone's help.

Getting Prepped to Launch Target Ads on Instagram

First and foremost, make sure to complete this preliminary step:

Switching to a business account

Changing your account from private to business is a necessary step, as it allows you to set up and launch ads.

Here are quick tips on how you can do that:

  • Run the app and tap on your profile picture.
  • Choose the three paralleled stripes at the top-right
  • Below, tap on Settings and select Account
  • Select the "Business" type along with the category pertinent to your interests

Besides, you can link Instagram with your Facebook profile.

In case you can't attach your Instagram to Facebook, try to complete one of the three following steps:

  1. Specify basic information and create a business page right on the app
  2. Avoid linking Instagram with Facebook
  3. Open Facebook, create the company's profile, and then try to link both accounts

Keep in mind that you can always unlink a page or connect any other profile in the "Account" section. Upon tapping on the "Account" section, select "Linked Accounts."

If you follow the mentioned steps, the page will change its status from private to business. After that, you will get access to statistics and target management.

Differences between Business Manager and Ads Manager

The Facebook advertising environment has two versions – Ads Manager (basic) and Business Manager (advanced).

In plain terms, Ads Manager (a basic version) has only multiple payment options available.

In contrast, a Business Manager has much more perks, including:

  • Paying via multiple options
  • Sharing payment options with other advertising accounts
  • Managing multiple business pages
  • Managing two or more advertising accounts
  • Limiting access for individual employees
  • Sharing a pixel with another ad profile
  • Integrating with the CRM system
  • Adding contact information about the company
  • Enabling two-factor authentication
  • Creating a gallery of products
  • Managing multiple pixels
  • Deploying Facebook Dynamic Ads

A few words about the budget

Competent targeted advertising on Instagram and an adequate choice of the budget go hand in hand. The campaign's effectiveness depends on well-planned advertising, CPL (cost per lead), and profit (margin).

Advertising campaigns usually cost less than the amount of profit. For instance, you sold your book worth $10 10,000 times and earned $100,000. Your profit is lower, as you have hired an editor and designer to make your book faultless and good-looking. At the end of the day, your profit is $80,000. Spending less than half of it on ads will be the right advertising strategy.

Now, let's try to estimate the cost of the target user. Say that during the advertising campaign, you received 2,000 requests in direct messages. Out of 2,000 people, 1,500 purchased your book. With a conversion rate of 25%, we have a lead price of $53. This is a forecasting technique.

There is also another method – the actual one. It allows you to calculate the CPL for the entire advertising campaign. If, for example, the Instagram ad costs you $60,000 and you make 500 sales, then one target user costs $120.

All these calculations exist for a reason. They let you estimate the payback period, the cost of attracting a new customer or adjusting the product's or service’s price.

Preparing media files for ads

You can include either a single image or a selection of several photos, also known as Carousel when creating an ad.

If your Instagram version is up-to-date, it might support tagging products via shopping tags.

Launching ads on Instagram: the most effective ways

Let's now analyze the methods of targeting ads on Instagram.

Launching Targeted Ads On Instagram

It would be reasonable to kick this list off with the simplest method – launching an ad campaign on Instagram. To do this:

  1. Publish the desired post or select an existing one in the "Promotions" section.
  2. Click the "Promote" button next to it.
  3. Specify the target action (more profile visits, more website visits, more messages).
  4. Select the target audience through the "Create your own" option. Usually, Instagram picks up users automatically. But we suggest customizing settings to achieve the best results.
  5. Set your ad’s duration and budget. The minimum recommended budget is $10, along with the minimum recommended campaign period of three to six days.
  6. Add a payment method.
  7. Click the "Create promotion" button.

There is a similar algorithm to promote stories. Open your story, tap on the three dots in the lower-right corner and select "Promote."

Aside from that, you can check statistics by swiping up and tapping on the arrow in the form of a graph.

Important! Archived Instagram Stories can’t be promoted. Also, you can’t promote those that contain elements with touch support — polls, timer, etc.

You are all set! The ad campaign has been launched. However, this method does not guarantee maximum profit.

If you want to approach your ad campaign more effectively, use the following, more complex strategy.

Launch ads through the Facebook Manager

Facebook Manager offers a novel tool for setting up ads – the Ad Center. It has a simple and intuitive interface, but it lacks some vital elements for finding a specific target audience. Besides, you can't deselect Facebook placement here. To reach Ad Center, click on the relevant item in the page settings. Choosing + in your profile and picking "Advertising" is an additional and helpful option, as well.

Then select a relevant promotion goal:

  • promotion on Facebook;
  • promotion on Instagram;
  • multiplication the number of leads;
  • get more messages;
  • popularization of the app on digital distribution services;
  • the usual advertising on Instagram for an audience increase;
  • local business promotion (up to 80 kilometers from the geo point);
  • attracting potential clients to the website.

Customizing Ad Groups via Ads Manager

Before starting, make sure to disable the adblocker. You can do that by logging in to Ads Manager through your profile, linked to your business account. This will enable lots of advertising features.

In Ads Manager, configure settings following the next order:

  • ad campaign (goal)
  • ad groups (target audience)
  • individual ads (ad offers)

Once you complete that, proceed to create a new campaign. First, select an interface for further work. We recommend selecting "Mode with hints."

Instagram Stories For Advertising

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel when setting up Instagram stories for advertising. The creation process is almost identical to the one displayed above. However, when selecting placements, remember to disable the "Feed" option.

Before promoting services or goods, consider attaching relevant, vertical photos, as Instagram crops horizontal images. Any graphic editor or Instagram itself will help you succeed in this.

Creating correct Instagram ads

Efficient advertising comprises several steps. We have broken them down to help you understand their notion and how to set them up.

1. Goal selection

Suppose you know your ultimate goals for the campaign. In that case, it won’t be challenging for you to select your primary goal among the following ones:

  • Outreach. Suitable for advertising events or any other promotion.
  • Brand awareness. An excellent option for promoting a new product. Facebook will display ads in a particular order and at a specific time.
  • Traffic. You need it to collect as many web page visits as possible.
  • Engagement. The goal is for those who care about likes, comments, and subscriptions.
  • Lead generation. The process for searching for people who may be potentially interested in the promoted service or good.
  • Conversions. An effective way to achieve many actions on the site. Create a Facebook pixel in Events Manager and paste it to the web site's link to activate this feature.
  • Points for Physical Attendance. The goal is to attract clients to visit offline business meetings, stores, or offices.
  • Messages. The perfect option for those businesses that use Instagram to sell their products.

When you choose a goal, title your ad campaign. Besides, check whether the "Optimize your ad budget" option is off. This will let you customize the necessary settings.

2. Budget and scheme

In this section, you can set the daily cost or budget for the entire campaign. The latter option is better because it enables you to control the advertising costs.

Using advanced settings, you can also set the schedule for your ad appearance.

3. Building the target audience

Constructing the target audience (TA) is a demanding process. Under no circumstances should you mix audiences. Not only will it be challenging to set preferences, but you also pose a danger of losing potential clients.

When evaluating your TA, consider the following points:

  • places – region (or multiple regions);
  • target user categories (residents, recent visitors, travelers);
  • age and gender.

After filling out all the data, proceed to a more detailed configuration. It comprises interests and behaviors. The "View" button serves as a helper showing the list of possible options. Also, after including the data, the "Recommendations" button will add related interests.

Upon completing this stage, click on the "Languages" section and select your TA’s most frequently used languages.

Apart from that, you can set additional parameters for your ad. Click on the respective button and choose the "Connections" block. You will see the list of users who have ever had experience with a Facebook business page.

A correct setup of Instagram ads also draws special attention to the "Audience Size" section. If the arrow is in the green space – you have gained enough audience. In case of deviations to the right or left, you need to review your settings and change them for the best result.

After completing all the steps, click on the "Save this Audience" button. You will have a full-fledged configuration within your arm’s reach, which will let you use this setup in the future without doing the work all over again. You will find this configuration in the "Use saved audience" section.

Aside from that, pay close attention to Ads Manager, precisely its option of collecting a user audience, in other words, profile views. You need a Facebook pixel to activate this option.

In addition, the system offers to find people who resemble your user audience in several parameters. Simply select "Similar audience," specify the region and the percentage of similarity. The higher the percentage, the more similar the audience will be.

4. Selecting a placement for an ad

In Ads Manager, choose Instagram as the main app for placing ads. To do this, click on "Edit placements" and leave a checkmark opposite "Instagram."

Suppose you aim to increase the number of direct messages. In that case, specify Instagram Direct in the "Landing Page" section.

5. The "Optimization and display" option

Leave this option unchanged if you don’t know its functions.

6. Creating ads on Instagram

To finally launch an ad, first, create a new post or choose an existing one.

Three ad formats are available on Instagram: "Carousel," "Single Image or Video," and "Collection."

Single Image

Using a Single Image mode lets you add up to 6 ads (images and videos). All you need to do is select a picture, add text, and pick a CTA (call to action). Most importantly, don't forget about UTM tags if you plan to check traffic from the app to your page.

Carousel

Carousel lets users upload up to ten images or videos. However, its functions are currently limited. The system will tell you what requirements the uploaded files must meet in any case.

Collection

It appeared on Instagram quite recently, and this format lets you get acquainted with the products and place an order without leaving the app. Upon tapping on the screen, the product card opens.

Select the ad template and attach the product catalog. If you don’t have the product catalog yet, go to Catalog Manager and create one. After that, write the product’s description, attach links, and tap on the"Confirm" button.

7. Format selection: photo, video, gallery

The seventh step is pretty intuitive. Choose one of the three creative formats: a photo, a video clip, or Carousel.

8. Upload the necessary files

Once you choose the creative format, add your images or videos to the ad. The official Facebook manual contains all details and requirements, so don't hesitate to check it before starting an ad campaign.

Connecting payment methods

Concerning paying for advertising, credit card or PayPal wallet are the two best options. Facebook will withdraw funds automatically once the campaign starts. Experts recommend using a separate bank account for this purpose. Besides, remember to add your ITIN since Facebook pays VAT from each transaction.

There you have it! The ad is ready, and it will have a pending status until the moderators review and confirm it. When they approve it, you will receive a corresponding notification.

Remember to get familiar with Facebook's advertising policies and the list of prohibited content in advance. Also, be honest about your services or products and don't try to deceive clients. Otherwise, restoring the reputation will take you plenty of time.

Recap

Time to wrap that up:

  1. Instagram enables users to customize ads, but the possibilities of such targeting are restricted.
  2. We recommend setting up a target using Ads Manager and creating separate ads for products for the feed and stories. This will make your campaign effective and less expensive, although it might be more time-consuming.
  3. Don’t forget that "one ad group — one target audience."
  4. Customization covers more potential customers.
  5. To pay for ads, use a separate bank account or PayPal wallet.
  6. To track the effectiveness of advertising, do not forget to put UTM tags on external links.

FAQ

  • I can't save the created audience when setting up ads. What should I do?
  • There may be internal Facebook bugs. Please try another browser. content 1.

  • How do I set up ads in stories so that they lead to Instagram instead of the browser?
  • On your smartphone, log in to your Instagram account and copy the URL.

  • Is it possible to create a chatbot for advertising?
  • Creating a chatbot is not necessary because Instagram has a “quick reply” function.

  • Do ads disappear in stories after 24 hours?
  • They don’t disappear. You can set the duration and frequency of your ads.

webinar equipment

The current situation in our world forced many spheres to switch to distance work, and the educational sphere isn’t an exclusion. Online courses and webinars start replacing traditional full-time education: they are far more convenient for students and teachers and let people acquire the same knowledge and skills in a convenient atmosphere. However, not all course creators can agree that it’s a convenient and easy way of sharing knowledge. Holding an online lesson or webinar is a very responsible process that requires you to prepare carefully. Each aspect of this process is of paramount importance. Forget about the existence of any details and insignificant little things.

Two things influence the quality of an online course: the educational material you use and the way you present it. The latter aspect is dependent on the equipment and instruments you use. If you are not greedy and purchase high-quality equipment, you may not need to rent a studio or hire an expert because you’ll achieve an outstanding result even without these expenses. This article will be helpful for anyone who thinks about launching a distance course and wants to become a professional in this endeavor. Here we’ll identify what equipment you must buy to hold a webinar.

🔊 Audio recording devices and additional accessories for them

Microphones

You need to buy a high-quality microphone for any webinar format: will it be audio lessons, or you decide to overlay a voice on a presentation, stream a live video, or use screen sharing — all these formats presuppose you record your voice using a microphone. Some course creators use headphones or smartphones to record voice because modern devices have a decent recording quality; however, they still concede to microphones. Put yourself in the shoes of an ordinary listener of a course. Would it be interesting to you to listen to a low-quality recording that’s almost inaudible? Of course not. Still, resist buying a microphone? Be ready that students’ attendance and participation will decrease from the very beginning.

That’s why the first piece of equipment you should buy is a microphone: cardioid, shotgun, condenser, or any other type that suits your needs. Nowadays, you can find a microphone to any taste and wallet, and even budget models help sound better. There’s a pattern: the more expensive the device, the higher the quality. The key thing you must keep in mind is to avoid using an in-built smartphone or laptop microphone.

Beginners who haven’t bought microphones earlier may have difficulties with choosing the right model. We understand it and, therefore, offer you to focus on the following details:

  • Measure and analyze the room acoustics using special software.
  • Define how you will live stream or hold a previously recorded webinar.
  • How many speakers do you invite to your webinar?

The more complicated your room is and the worse the acoustics, the more important it is to buy high-quality equipment, especially a microphone. Opt for portable equipment that can be connected via USB.

You should also know that the majority of professional devices are dynamic and condenser microphones. If your recordings have a lot of background noise, use a dynamic microphone. Condenser mics must be used in closed space with minimum background noise.

Our recommendation: Rode NT-USB.

An alternative budget option: Audio-Technica ATR2100x-USB.

Microphone stand

It is an obligatory accessory for your microphone because your hands should be free; you don’t need to hold a microphone in your hands all the time. We don’t advise you to try to save money here — you’d better purchase adjustable stands that let you change the direction and angle of the microphone so that no one sound is lost.

Our recommendation: Supreme MS25

An alternative budget option: NEEWER

Microphone sets

These sets are supposed to be connected to a computer. Such devices perfectly capture your voice, drown the noise and make the sound clear and smooth. If your webinar consists of the presentation and your comments, buy a full set: a microphone, pop filter, shock mount, tripod, and windscreen cap, and your audience will enjoy listening to you.

Our recommendation: Maono AU-A425 Plus

An alternative budget option: Ankuka Studio condenser microphone.

Lavalier microphone

If you don’t want to use a microphone because of its massiveness, but at the same time want people to hear you well, a lavalier microphone will become a perfect solution for this problem. Lavaliers have special clamps you must use to attach this microphone to your clothes so that you won’t need to put a mic near your mouth to say something. Moreover, lavaliers are almost invisible, and it’s the key reason why many bloggers and speakers love using them.

Our recommendation: Rode SmartLav

An alternative budget option: Stony-Edge (Simple-Lav-Mobile)

🎧 Listening devices

Headphones

You’d remember that you’ve forgotten to buy headphones once you start editing your video; that’s why it’s better to take care of everything in advance. If your webinar or online course presupposes interviewing someone, the headphones will be irreplaceable: you’ll listen to this person on headphones and speak to your microphone.

Our recommendation: Otto Engineering Listen-Only Earphone Kit

A budget alternative: MEE audio M6.

Extra ear pads

What makes us purchase a new device? We’ll be right to say that only the problem with our old one. If your headphones get broken, or you lose an ear pad, you won’t consider it a big problem in your ordinary life. However, when it comes to your work, such problems endanger the future process of creating a course or preparing for a webinar, etc. It’s better to purchase another pair of earpads, a cheaper model that’ll save you in an emergency.

Our recommendation: Otto Engineering ear pads.

A budget alternative: any other ear pads that fit your headphones.

🟩 Tools and instruments to create an atmosphere and background to hold a webinar

Lighting appliances

Well, you want to hold a webinar, so what is your primary aim? Of course, you try to attract more viewers. And what do they pay attention to besides the information you present? Of course, it’s an image. If you don’t use any lighting appliances, you won’t create a stunning image. Natural light isn’t enough to stream a high-quality video.

Let’s not forget that a professional light can completely change the speaker’s appearance that also plays an important role in the webinar’s success. So, no matter what do you want to achieve — purchase a lighting kit and set it right to see the difference.

Our recommendation: Custom lighting sets by Brightline

A budget alternative: Stellar Diva Desktop or any other ring light.

A green screen

Your studio doesn’t look so attractive to record a webinar there, and you want to change the background? Purchase a green screen because it’s the only possible way to do it professionally. A green screen is also a good way to use your creativity. But don’t overdo it. Viewers’ attention should be focused on you, not on the background.

Our recommendation: Chroma Wall

A budget alternative: Chroma Green

Software for green screen

A green screen isn’t everything you need to be able to change the background. It doesn’t work independently: you need specific software to project the chosen background on this screen and edit the final image.

Our recommendation: SparkoCam video software

A budget alternative: any free software you can download from the Internet.

📹 Video recording equipment

Web cameras

You’ve purchased and set the audio recording device, professional light and are ready to proceed with the most important stage: choosing a camera. If you think about recording your webinar on a web camera, make sure the chosen model supports HD resolution. Your video should look good on all types of screens, and only an HD web camera lets you achieve it.

Our recommendation: Logitech BRIO

A budget alternative: Xiaomi Xiaovv HD USB 1080p

Digital cameras

Many webinar creators record live videos. If you don’t have enough money to purchase a good digital camera, you may do it using your smartphone or web camera, but don’t hope to get a high resolution. It’s better to have at least 300-400 USD and buy a digital camera. But we advise you to do it only when you see your level goes up, and you may call yourself a professional: you have more than ten courses, a huge subscriber base, hold webinars at least once a week, etc.

Our recommendation: Nikon D810 FX

A budget alternative: Canon EOS Rebel T5 with EF-S 18-55mm IS II lens.

👨🏻‍💻 The software you need to hold a webinar

Screen recording

It’s not necessary to record and stream live video. Try recording your screen and sharing this recording with your audience. You may create a presentation and demonstrate slides to people using screen recording software. Voice-over the recording to add some information there.

If your webinar format presupposes demonstration of technical tasks and teaches students how to use this or that service or software, opt for a screen sharing function. We recommend you use the following software:

Screenflow;

2. Screencast-O-Matic.

3. Camtasia.

Audio and video editing

It’s impossible to record a video and release it without editing. You’ve probably made some mistakes and need to cut them out of the final version (but you may leave some fine moments to make your audience laugh and relax). People who don’t want to bother about editing prefer holding live webinars or hiring an expert editor. Those course creators who decide to edit their materials for themselves need to consider the following software:

1. Audacity.

2. iMovie.

3. Adobe Premiere Pro.

💡 Details that can facilitate your work

A keyboard stand

If you prefer sitting during your webinar, this accessory isn’t necessary for you. However, some people feel more confident while standing, so they must buy such a stand to have fast access to a keyboard. These stands are usually adjustable; it means you may change the height and incline to feel convenient and confident.

Our recommendation: WorkEz keyboard stand. Its price is affordable enough, so there’s no point in finding an alternative.

A portable stand for laptop or computer

If you want to stand while holding your webinar, you certainly need to buy such a stand to create comfortable conditions for you. This accessory lets you move around the studio in search of a suitable background or lighting.

Our recommendation: Vivo portable vertical stand VIVO

A budget alternative: mobile ergonomic stand Qwork

To sum up

🔁 To sum up

Well, we’ve reviewed the most necessary equipment to hold webinars and design your distance courses. Those who think about starting their business may think they need to purchase only expensive equipment; otherwise, they won’t achieve a good result. However, it’s a big misconception. The budget alternatives we’ve chosen are also successfully used by many course creators.

However, you need to remember that your primary goal is not to buy and set up equipment but to create an interesting, informative, and useful online course. Equipment isn’t the thing that attracts people, and you must know it. If you use outdated information and don’t know how to present it, don’t think that high-quality sound and video can change the situation.

Spend much of your efforts on content preparation, and start purchasing the necessary equipment step by step.

Presentations How-to

Some people successfully use the presentation as an independent way to present material. However, it often becomes a part of a report, webinar, or online course. Presentation is a perfect way to give your students a brief overview of the materials for notes. Moreover, it can be a hint for you not to forget the information you have to present. You remain the key element for your audience, and it’s a big advantage of slides.

But it doesn’t mean that your audience ignores slides; that’s why you need to take care of the visual component — the design of slides. If you’ve never created presentations, you probably don’t know how it should look to seem attractive for your students. This guide will help you gain an insight into the basics of making a beautiful presentation.

📝 Step 1. Structuring your future presentation

Before you go ahead with the plan of your slides, you have to identify your aim. We hope there’s no need to explain why you must have a clear purpose. There are several ways how your presentation can be useful for you:

  1. Backing up the speech or report;
  2. Promotion and selling the product;
  3. Visual aid for listeners.

Our task is to review the structure of a good presentation and define the best order for its components.

Introduction

This part will take you a few minutes, but you still shouldn’t ignore it. An introduction sets a tone for your speech. Tell the theme of your lesson, describe what aspects you’ll touch and why your students need this information.

Title

The first slide you’ll create is a title slide. Don’t overburden it with the abundance of information. A perfect title should contain the topic of the seminar or online course and the speaker’s name. Feel free to add sponsorship logos, your contact details, etc.

The rules for your webinar

Not all your students know how webinars and online seminars work, so consider explaining to your audience your plan for this webinar: when they can ask questions, where they can find the answers to frequently asked questions, how they can get access to the recording, etc. This slide should be a notification for your audience, so include it in each new presentation.

Reporters

When you start your webinar, you always inform your audience about the speakers or speaker if you’re the only lecturer. You’d better devote a separate slide to present a speaker. Add name, photo, place of work, area of activity, academic degrees, etc. Your audience should know who will teach them.

The plan of the effective presentation

A summary slide is a compulsory component of your presentation that’ll let your students know what questions you will consider and what theses you’ll discuss.

The main content and the ways you can structure it

The five slides mentioned above do not contain much information, but you should be attentive and don’t let them last more than 5 minutes; otherwise, your audience will get bored. Avoid presenting information as a plain text: structuring and maintaining the logical order make the main ideas clear for the audience, and it’s what we need to achieve.

There’s no point in describing all methods of structuring the material. Here are five of the most widespread ones:

1. Chronological approach

You may use this method for any presentation, but note that it suits best for various business presentations. Chronology presupposes that you’ll describe the past situation, how things are today, and what you offer for the future. If you discuss changes, boldly use this method to help your audience acknowledge that something has changed.

2. Geographical approach

There are certain topics that require the use of this method. In most cases, they are related to the situation in any country or region. For example, you may easily use this approach if you’re talking about something that influences people in a certain country of the world. The perfect example is the presentation about climate change. Describe the reasons for climate change, how we can notice it, and then tell how different countries try to fight climate change. Finish your presentation with a discussion about the measures your audience can take to do good for the world’s climate.

3. Problem-solution approach

Sometimes to be sure your audience understands what you’re talking about, you need to start with discussing and explaining the problem and then describe the possible solution. Here is a good way to implement this approach in your presentation:

  • The problem your audience faces;
  • Reason for this issue;
  • Consequences of this problem;
  • The solution you offer to tackle this problem.

4. Traffic lights approach

Use traffic lights to change the behavior of your audience. Red means they stop doing something, green means they should start doing something, and yellow means they need to continue doing something. Place them in an order you consider necessary and effective.

5. The list approach

It’s hard to call this structure effective because it’s the simplest way to organize the material. However, if you see that no one among the above-mentioned approaches suits you, use a bland list. Don’t forget that the perfection of the material mainly depends on the speaker but not on the presentation, so if you’re an expert in your work, don’t worry. When you use the list, you enumerate all details and elements and then describe each item in detail.

Interaction with the audience

Most of the speakers start communicating to their audience at the very end of their presentation. But we must tell you this approach is wrong. Think about the possible touchpoints when preparing for your webinar, and then try to organically integrate them into your slides and attract people’s attention.

Q&A section

We don’t advise you to ask people any questions after each slide. It’s much better to devote a separate section in your report to it. Create a slide “Questions and Answers” to let your audience know that now they can start asking questions. Some people may oppose and say that it’s better to answer the questions after each slide, but it’s an intensely personal decision. If you aren’t sure you want to devote a special time for q&a, try another approach and compare their effectiveness.

Questionnaires

You’ve discussed certain questions and certainly want to know what the audience thinks about it. Why not include a slide with a short questionnaire. Be sure your platform has a special section for questionnaires and hire a manager to monitor this poll.

Conclusion

It’s no use denying that the beginning and the end of the presentation stick in the memory more than any other moment. That’s why both the beginning and the end should look perfect. Be attentive while working on them if you want your main content to be more interesting and want them to sign up for another course and buy another webinar.

Abstract

The conclusion isn’t enough to finish your presentation. An abstract is a final slide where you overview the information presented at the webinar.

A path forward

If you decide to end your webinar with a concrete plan of action, create a slide with its description. It’ll help you create an algorithm based on these steps. There’s no need to complicate something here: just list your steps and nothing more. Everything you’ve stated in your presentation goes to your plan. If your task is to educate and inform, you don’t need to create any plan, moreover, you may ask your audience to develop it based on the information they’ve learned today.

Well, what’s next?

It is your final slide that’ll explain to your students what happens next: will you give them access to any additional materials, conduct polls, when the next webinar/lesson happens, and so on.

🖍 Step 2. Working on the presentation design

All course creators and speakers want their presentations to look perfect and contain as many materials as possible, but they often forget about one important aspect. Presentation and other materials will be aired through the Internet, but not all people have a good Internet connection to view large photos, tables, animations, videos, etc. That’s why there’s an important rule you should follow: make slides simple but informative.

Common design mistakes

The abundance of text and long lists are the most widespread mistakes that make your presentation useless. Moreover, they’ll make people get bored and leave your webinar. If you have to describe any highlights from the book or any other work, don’t list them word for word. People who are watching your webinar can open this book and find this information there. Get your creativity involved.

The same applies to people who add large images to slides. It works well with presentations alone, but not for webinars at all. Images require educational platforms to transmit huge amounts of data through the Internet, which often causes latency. It annoys people.

The effective design of the interactive presentation

You don’t need to browse the Internet in search of tips on creating a presentation with outstanding design. We’ve collected three major variants for you:

Devote one slide to one plan item

Don’t worry that your presentation will be too long; it’s okay. If you have a large plan containing more than five items, consider using this approach. You regularly change slides; people see a new slide each minute and don’t get bored or distracted.

Form items into groups

Schemes and diagrams always work better than plain text or lists. Create a slide with several groups and compare it to the list to see how informative and attractive it is. This approach also helps people see how items can coincide or even intercross.

Do you ask what software has this function? Microsoft PowerPoint and its SmartArt function let you group the information.

What about graphics?

SmartArt function can also be used for adding some graphics to the presentation. All graphics you want to add should be topic-based; it’s important. Use PowerPoint for this purpose if you want to save more time.

✍️ Step 3. The top tools for creating a presentation you must use

Check the table below to gain insight into the most convenient instruments for presentation creators:

Tool/software

Advantage

Disadvantage

PowerPoint

The best software for beginners because of its convenient functionality and user-friendly interface. Has a lot of opportunities for process automation. PowerPoint presentations can be viewed through Google Drive.

PowerPoint contains many functions you’ll hardly ever use, and sometimes it makes the finding of a necessary function endless.


 

Keynote

A minimum set of the most necessary instruments, so you’ll hardly need to spend your time exploring Keynote’s functions. Creates a pptx presentation that can be opened on any PC.

Only MacOS is supported.

Photoshop

There are no restrictions: you can design and format your presentation the way you like.

Be ready to spend some time making sense of functions and instruments.

📌 Other tips on creating a design for a good presentation

You may think your slides are good enough and you can’t improve perfection; however, there’s always room for improvement. Here are some good ways to improve your design. Check them, and perhaps you’ll find a detail of your presentation that should be upgraded.

Correct a background

Don’t forget about the need to stream your presentation over the Internet, so the fewer details it contains, the better for you. Delete all unnecessary details from your background and make it self-colored. Nothing will distract the attention of the audience.

Get rid of the animation

All these transitions are outdated and useless, so try to find a way to delete them all. It would be challenging to do if they serve any function, but you must replace them.

Build your slides

The only animation you can use is the effect that lets you move an object to a slide. These are various build effects (building in and building out). Object means image, text box, graphics, table, etc. This effect is perfect for large slides containing a lot of information. If you don’t want to overload your audience, add the elements progressively.

Delete transitions

They aren’t necessary at all. Everything they can do is cause latency and make people nervous, so get rid of them. Why do people still use transitions between slides? It’s time to stop thinking they can make presentations look beautiful. No one cares.

Don’t use Prezi for webinars and seminars; this software works well only for personal presentations. PowerPoint, Keynote, and other programs use a slide-based approach to create presentations. Prezi is completely different. It uses a map layout to place your slides. It zooms in your ‘slide’ o to view it and then zooms out to return to a map. Looks well but causes lags.

Only small images are allowed

Images, as well as all other media materials, sparkle people’s interest and retain them. Since the difference in the Internet speeds doesn’t let us include any images we want, the only solution is to select small photos.

Do you really need eye candies?

Both your webinar and presentation aim to inform people but not to entertain. That’s why you’d better get rid of the majority of decorative elements such as the following:

  • Gridlines on graphic or diagram;
  • Shadows, reflections, and other 3d effects;
  • Unusual frames near text boxes.

They distract the audience and make it difficult to concentrate on the main content.

Prefer linear art

We understand that it’s difficult to persuade you to use something besides photos, but we’ll try. Sometimes using linear art, such as tables, figures, and signs is more appropriate. They help you create slides that’ll be visually attractive for people and load much faster.

🏁 Conclusion

It’s not so difficult to create a presentation, but you’ll have to spend your time and even obtain certain skills if you want to create a good presentation. We hope this guide was useful to you and helped you to create an effective and good-looking presentation. You may use our instructions to update your old presentations to make them suitable for webinars. Ask your audience to share their opinions about the quality of your presentation at the end of your webinar: feedback is a significant motivator that helps to understand what should be changed.

 ❓ FAQ

  • Do you need to include CTA in your presentation?
  • Presentation, as well as your webinar and course, aims to achieve something. You can increase its effectiveness by placing a CTA statement. It’s better to include it at the end of your presentation, and CTA may look like “sign up for English course,” “buy a new book by this author,” “sign up for a trial lesson in yoga,” etc.

  • Does repeating the contact details at the end of the presentation make sense?
  • You may be surprised, but yes, it increases the chances your contacts will be saved. Thank the audience for the attention they devoted to you, and place your mobile phone, e-mail, and links to social media.

  • Which color palette for presentation is successful?
  • Orient to your corporate style when choosing a color for formatting. The maximum number of colors you may use is five, but 2-3 is often enough to design a stunning product that’ll catch people’s attention.

  • What font is better to use?
  • We can’t answer this question because each person here decides for himself or herself. There’s no successful font used in all presentations: some are more popular, whereas others are less. Sometimes people manage to one-up even the simplest fonts the way they start looking attractive and trendy. Make sure your font is readable, up-to-date, and has a normal size.

camera filming

Everyone has met a person whose voice was so beautiful and nice that you ignored the meaning of words and just enjoyed this person’s voice. If you think that it’s a talent, you’re right but not 100% right. Some people are born with perfect articulation and intonation, whereas others need to train a lot to speak well. Although you don’t need to work on articulation and intonation, you may make your voice sound beautiful. It’s much easier and faster.

Many guides and educational materials promise to tell you all the secrets of developing a nice voice, but not all of them are really effective. And if you aim to feel and speak naturally in front of the camera, you need to use a special approach. That’s why we designed an effective guide that can help everyone speak well on camera and feel confident.

🤐 Speak properly: Let’s master the basic tricks

Don’t be afraid to be loud

Those who only learn how to speak well are shy, and it’s okay. When we are shy, we always speak quietly. It’s the first mistake that should be corrected. Answer yourself the following question: “For whom you’re talking?” If you’re talking for people, they must hear you, so try to overcome your barrier and start speaking louder.

Don’t show that you’re shy and you’re afraid of something — people lose interest in a blink of an eye. The key here is not to overdo it. Be loud, but don’t shout because it also shows a lack of confidence.

What about the speed?

Do you like people who constantly chatter and have to repeat what they told several times? You probably don’t, so avoid becoming such a person. Listeners will have trouble understanding what you tell and will even stop listening to you after some time. Professionals manage to develop their speaking style, speed the speech up, and slow it down when it’s necessary to emphasize something.

Trying to get ahead of yourself from the very start won’t help you to reach their level. Progress slowly, start with slowing down the speech rate and pausing when it’s necessary to draw in another breath but don’t speak too slowly. Otherwise, you’ll sound boring and monotonous. Try to maintain a speed of 120-160 words per minute.

Correctness is your first priority

Do you know another important characteristic of the perfect speech? It’s clearness. Clear speech is worth a lot because it’s one of the most important aspects of developing a good voice. Work on your pronunciation and watch every word you pronounce. Try not to make mistakes. If you don’t know how to pronounce this or that word — check it in the dictionary.

Not all people know that your organs of speech should be in a certain position when speaking. First of all, open your mouth and relax your lips. Keep your tongue and teeth in a natural position. It also helps conceal some speech impediments.

Remember about breathing

Deep breathing is one of the secrets of a full and intense voice. In real life, we breathe fast and shallowly, changing the tone of our voice to the negative side. Since you’re preparing to speak on camera, you must understand how to use the diaphragm. To understand it, place your fist on your belly, breathe in and out several times. If your stomach inflates, you breathe using the diaphragm.

But your task is to get used to diaphragm breathing, so practice it regularly. Take a deep breath for 5 seconds and then breathe out, counting to 5. You won’t even notice how you’ll start breathing with the diaphragm in real life. By the way, the quality of your breathing also depends on your position. If you want to breathe deeply, sit or stand still, shoulders back and keep your chin up. Such posture can also make you feel more confident; that’s why it’s a perfect position to speak on camera.

Breathe in at the end of each sentence to sound well and let listeners perceive information better. Use a deep breathing method, and don’t worry that you won’t have enough air to pronounce the next sentence.

Develop a unique style of presentation

Speakers who can’t control a pitch of voice may sound spasmodically and hesitantly. Listeners may think that these people are nervous, so to change your voice’s effect on the audience, try to speak calmly and make your tone of voice smooth. Don’t change the pitch of your voice. Try to find the natural tone of voice instead.

Singing a song and reading a text excerpt aloud are two best exercises for those who want to control the pitch of voice. Remember that you need to keep your tone on one level and place accents from time to time.

📹 How to become camera-friendly: practice and nothing more

Do vocal exercises every day

It may seem that speaking has nothing in common with vocal, but doing these exercises can help you develop your natural voice. It’s better to turn on a video and start your training session, or you may do them in front of the mirror.

The aim of the exercise

Description

Number of repetitions

How often to do them

Mouth and vocal cords relaxation

Yawn widely and jiggle your jaw while singing a melody; then massage your throat muscles gently

Once as a warm-up

Every day

Increasing the respiratory volume

Breathe out all the air out of your lungs, take a deep breath and hold it for 15 seconds and then breathe out again

Five times

Every day

Pitch practice

Sing an ‘ah’ sound on your normal pitch and then gradually lower it

Do this exercise with each vowel sound

Every day

Use tongue twisters

Today you can find hundreds or even thousands of tongue twisters on the Internet, so you’ll probably find several phrases you’ll like. If you’re a creative personality, make up your tongue twister. Practice them every day, and you’ll see the changes soon.

Read texts aloud

It’s the easiest way to work on your pronunciation, rate of speech, and breathing technique. You don’t even need to search for anything: open a book or magazine that lay on the table and start reading. Remember about the proper posture we’ve mentioned before and try to control your intonation. Don’t read like a robot. And remember that practice makes perfect.

Record your voice

We know that most of our readers who’ll read this piece of advice will immediately remember the voice confrontation. Almost all people face it when listening to their voices in recordings. If you also dislike how your voice sounds, it’s okay. But let’s forget about this effect for a little. You need to record your voice to avoid mistakes and track progress.

Moreover, the recording reveals mistakes we don’t notice at all. Since you’re preparing to speak on camera, make a video instead of recording to see how you look from the outside. Perhaps you need to change the position, learn to maintain eye contact with the audience, change the way you move your mouth, etc. We don’t judge a book by its cover, but you’d better look stunning.

Smile is your new habit

Each speaker should know how to win people over. You may do it by your voice: just use a friendly, open, and encouraging tone, and you’ll see how attentively people start listening to you. Don’t forget to smile, because it’s the most obvious way to show your friendly spirit. We don’t ask you to smile from ear to ear all the time — get the corners of your mouth lifted. Many managers and operators who have to talk on the phone with clients use this rule to speak in a friendly tone.

Smiling isn’t always about making your facial muscles move. Smile is about adding some positive emotions to your speech.

Are you going to speak in a webinar or any online conference? Dry, run your speech in front of the mirror, look at how you smile and speak. Ask your friends to assess your speech if you aren’t shy to speak to them.

📅 The secrets of talking to the camera: a thorough preparation is a key to success

Care about your outfit

If you think that your online speech is not a cause for dressing up, don’t cry and regret it when your speech fails. Clothing influences your sense of self and boosts your self-confidence. Choose a look that reflects your individuality and, at the same time, is comfortable. If you hold an online lesson, choose a simpler and modest look.

Can you look at the camera?

We mean that you should be able to stare at your camera for hours and not just take a glance. Many people are afraid of the lens, but this fear isn’t justified. Don’t look around; if visitors see that your eyes are constantly moving, your authority as an expert will be undermined. The main thing you should also do is to be able to recognize your mistakes and fix them.

Stock up some water

Dry mouth is your biggest enemy because it can spoil everything. Keep in mind that nervousness causes thirst, so that some water will help you for sure. By the way, getting a sip of water is a perfect way to gather your thoughts and catch your breath. Moreover, it will save your lips from drying out. Take a lipstick to moisturize your lips if you’re familiar with this problem.

What about the atmosphere?

No one extraneous noise and nothing more should interrupt you. To avoid all such potentially embarrassing situations, you have to take care of the atmosphere in your room. Try to remember all factors that can prevent you from presenting your speech and eliminate them.

Just relax

Being nervous and tense won’t help you get over this situation faster and emerge victoriously. Are you anxious? If yes, it’s not the right time to speak to the camera. You certainly remember what helps you alleviate stress, so do it before your speech to relax: listen to music, have a shower, do exercise. And only when you’re sure you’re cool as a cucumber may you start recording your video or participating in the webinar.

✔️ Some tips on how to stop being too shy

Gain control over your body

We hope you remember that camera significantly zooms the image, so the audience sees everything it should and shouldn’t notice. Moreover, they also analyze and assess your gestures and mimic. Learn some information about body language and choose a body position that’ll show your interest and energy. Newbies often use their hands to do something to calm their nerves, for example, strum any small detail. The audience will notice it, so find something to occupy your hands during your video.

Smile

Smiling with your eyes is a widespread trick of runway models. You also can do it to interest people. Stop thinking that you can smile only with your mouth, so involve your beautiful eyes. They at least shouldn’t show indifference; that enough for the first time.

Change your perception of the audience

Your audience isn’t strict professors with college degrees in acting, and they don’t open your video to criticize it. Some such individuals consider themselves the smartest people, but fortunately, they constitute a minority. You can laugh, but some psychologists offer people to imagine that people you’re talking to are naked. This approach helps people to build self-confidence and destroy barriers.

Use your personal experience

Everyone can find theoretical materials on the Internet, copy them and retell them. Many bloggers use this approach to create posts. What prevents your audience from doing this? Your content should have something unique, something that can attract people. Don’t be afraid to express your opinion, tell people about your personal experience, and discuss opinions. Be natural to make people fell in love with your personality.

Prepare text in advance, but present it so all people understand that you have reached this conclusion just a little while ago. Have you noticed that you feel more relaxed and free when you’re talking about your own experience? It’s another reason you should stop copying information and dilute it with your judgments. Try to stand while explaining materials. Sitting is more convenient, but it doesn’t let you radiate the spirit that’ll impress your audience.

FAQ

  • Can I add a little humor to my speech?

Yes, but remember that you’re not a stand-up comic, so don’t overdo it. Do you want people to remember your course for a long time? Make it look casual and natural. And making people laugh is probably the best way to achieve it. Intended mistakes and awkward situations can easily clear the air.

  • Speaking voice coaches: do they really help?

Of course, they help people start speaking better. If you’re going to have an important event and don’t want to fail, take a few lessons with a voice coach. They don’t cost too much but help speakers quickly identify the main mistakes and fix them. Voice coaches are irreplaceable for those who have an accent: this issue isn’t so easy to deal with, and you won’t get rid of it on your own.

Your friend or family member can replace a coach: just practice your speech in the presence of someone and then ask this person to express his or her opinion.

  • What are the key obstacles to becoming camera-friendly?

If you see you have one of the following problems, don’t panic. They aren’t critical and are easy to correct. Here they are:
junk words;
fast speech;
the abundance of pauses;
accent.

  • Increasing your vocabulary

People with a small vocabulary have huge difficulties speaking well on camera, so having a qualification and being an experienced professional isn’t enough to present information well. Listen to audiobooks and read fiction because these are the easiest and the most effective ways to broaden your vocabulary.

Courses How-to

Modern technologies greatly expand learning opportunities and make education more available for people. There are many courses, software, and other special instruments that facilitate the organization of e-learning.

All course creators know that realization and organization of online learning are of paramount importance because they influence the perception of information and its retention. Selection of material and its organization are key aspects that guarantee the success of an online course.

Here, we tell you all the secrets of providing effective e-learning. Moreover, we’ll show you what you need to do, and of course, cover all peculiarities of online education.

📆 Launching an online course: preparation stage

№1. Defining your purpose

Do you realize why creating an online course is necessary for you? If no, you should brainstorm and find an answer to this question. Today, online learning is mostly used for such purposes:

  1. To promote expertise in a certain field and sell your knowledge.
  2. To boost sales of your products or services.
  3. To increase the number of subscribers by means of sharing interesting content.
  4. To make people trust the brand or product.

№2. Identifying the tasks your course should solve

Let’s imagine that you’ve identified the purpose of your course and can tell why you need to launch it. However, you should also know how it can help people that’ll buy it. We mean that you need to define its objectives and goals. It can be difficult enough to define them at once. Remember that learning objectives can’t be measured but can be achieved. Durability and extensiveness are other characteristics of distance learning.

Objectives are often called the results of education since they are directly related to the expected results of learning.

Your first task is to choose at least three objectives of the course. Sometimes it’s difficult to determine the goals, so we offer you to look through three following sentences and complete them to understand your goals:

  1. My task is to emphasize…
  2. The key topics students will learn are…
  3. The overall result I want to see is…

Use this planning chart to transform goals into objectives and vice versa.

 

Goals

Objectives

Convey

Your beliefs regarding general educational experience

The choice of learning strategies, training materials, and training activities

Present

Your vision of the course, a description of its tasks

What skills the participants will obtain?

Describe

The unmeasurable and long-term goals

The indicators you use for grading

Inform

What should your students experience while learning?

What is the task of your learning materials ?

№3. Pick the topic

The search for the topic shouldn’t present a problem at all. Answer these questions to help yourself find your niche:

  • How often do your friends, clients, or colleagues seek your assistance with something where you consider yourself an expert?
  • Have you ever solved a problem other people couldn’t?
  • Do you consider yourself an expert in a relevant area people are interested in?

Coaches that know how to provide distance training appropriately also consider the following important factor when determining a topic — the potential return. The more relevant and useful the topic is, the more people will pay for the offered distance and e-learning technologies.

№4. Assigning a lecturer

If you’re an expert, you don't need to hire a specialist. Of course, if you aren’t sure you have enough experience and knowledge, you’d better invite a recognized and respected expert, or even several people.

№5. Defining the target audience

A target audience is a limited number of people expected to be interested in your product. A detailed analysis of your target audience lets you identify people’s needs. And this knowledge will become a basis for planning future marketing activities focused on promotion and sales growth.

№6 Tips to boost sales

Here are several ways of organizing and selling any online lesson:

  • Pre-sales e-mail newsletter

This sales strategy presupposes that you have an extensive list of email addresses ( min. 100 subscribers), but it’s the easiest strategy.

  • Involving people through personal interviews

If your target audience is small or isn’t interested in your content, this way of promotion is for you. However, be ready to feel awkward: when a person says ‘no,’ you may write with the refusal.

  • No-cost consultations

Your task is to offer a useful free consultation people will get if they purchase your distance course.

  • Create a perfect website

Using modern website builders, everyone can create stunning landing pages to sell or promote your products on the Internet. It also works well for online courses promotion.

✍️ How to hold a distance learning: realization

№7. Preparation of educational material

Content preparation requires a little more time than other steps, so we ask you to be attentive and don’t rush. We’ll do the same.

Any experienced coach or teacher will tell you that creating a course or any other informational content from scratch isn’t a problem. Before you launch a course, you should review all information you have and systematize it. Many people don’t think that including their materials in course isn’t necessary and make a mistake. You’ve probably accumulated a lot of educational material, starting with informative leaflets to monographs and books, thematic materials from conferences, etc.

Use everything you have, including the materials you’ve created earlier. Are you a blogger? If you recorded the last seminar you’ve attended or the last webinar you’ve watched, give your students access to it. Do you want your course to be perfect? Include these types of content to it:

  1. Videos (recordings of your lectures, webinars, etc.);
  2. E-books and other text files (you may add your blog posts as well);
  3. Presentations;
  4. Tests;
  5. Speeeches and podcasts.

Виды материалов для дистанционных занятий

№8. The choice of the teaching method and the way of providing distance learning

It’s also important to define the types, methods, and instruments of learning. The best option for you is to combine the following components:

  1. Teamwork
    Students may use special software (for example, Zoom) to implement various group projects.
  2. Tests and assignments
    You should regularly check students’ knowledge to see if your course is effective.
  3. Discussions
    Invitation to a discussion lets you increase interest in studying. A high level of student engagement is a key to success.
  4. Videoconferencing
    Video conferences are key to the implementation of synchronous distance learning. Otherwise, online software will be limited to self-directed learning without interaction with the teacher.
  5. Learning management system
    Always use LMS to give all students one-stop access to all educational materials.
  6. Planning network
    All students need to contact teachers for counseling. It would be good to launch a platform where students could schedule meetings with teachers.
  7. Providing access to the resource base
    Make sure your students have all the necessary sources of information and opportunities to search for educational materials.

№9.Is it possible to create a distance learning platform alone?

Well, you’ve completed all the stages mentioned above, but holding distance learning using a special platform is still a mystery for you? Today the range of such services is broad enough, and the functions of these services are almost unlimited. Edx, Coursera, Udemy are the most commonly used distance learning sites.

Выбираем платформу для создания удаленного обучения

All these sites have one significant drawback: people who upload and sell their courses there must be ready to share the income with platforms. And the part of income they require is big enough. Moreover, you must be sure that your course can compete with similar products.

Sounds like not the best way to promote your knowledge.Some people may ask: can these platforms boast of any advantages? A large variety of functions is a key advantage for all course creators.

You’d better use an independent platform to create and promote your online courses. KWIGA is the best option. Feel free to download the course you’ve already created or use its functions to create it from the very beginning. Having any technical skills isn’t a must at all.

№10. It’s time for quality assurance

Any new software should be tested, and especially online courses. Testing is important because it’s the only way to avoid bugs and mistakes. Don’t forget that you must release a perfect product. Your family members or friends can act like QA engineers: ask them to pass your course and tell you about the mistakes they’ll find. At the very least, you may gather a group of real users for testing. Please, don’t ignore this stage. Perhaps you’ve missed something or forgot to add a slide or a button, deleted a test you’ve mentioned in your previous task, etc.

Look through the course on your own and fix the mistakes you see. Then ask friends to do the same, perhaps, they’ll find more inconsistencies. You must know that people working on something for a long time don’t notice the mistakes because they’ve read the information multiple times. Quality assurance will let you know how to improve the quality of distance learning and achieve the main goal — to make it useful.

№11. Start your online learning

All right, you have finally learned how to hold online lessons, have prepared to be a lecturer, handled all technical issues, designed and tested your course, et. Remind your group about the launch of your online course via e-mail newsletter or SMS messaging. Enjoy sharing your expertise with other people: hold lessons, discuss interesting topics with students and assess their knowledge to see the results of your work.

🏁 To sum up

Well, we’ve examined the methods of organizing distance learning and now you’re almost an expert in creating informative and useful online course. We hope that now you understand that the right approach is everything that separated you from achieving your goal.

⁉️ FAQ

  • How long should video content be for e-learning?
  • If you add videos to your course, you should be very careful because not all of them are suitable for online learning. We mean if the content you add is too long and too difficult to perceive, students will hardly stay interested for a long time. Student engagement is a very important aspect in online learning, and all course creators should understand this. Here are the videos that can be used for distance course:
    1) up to 5 minutes. Short introductory information statements.: вводные короткие информационные сообщения.
    2) from 5 to 10 minutes.Separate videos that answer a particular question, but not the whole topic or chapter.
    3) from 10 to 20 minutes.Detailed videos containing a lot of useful information. They can cover the whole chapter from your course; however, in this case, they should be very interesting and catch the attention of your audience.

  • Do students need textbooks and guides for e-learning?
  • If we are talking about creating a distance learning system, we can’t omit a text component because it’s very important. One of the best ways to implement this component in your course is to use electronic books. Giving students access to ebooks may be a good decision, but we advise you to rework these materials and create your ebook using design templates.

  • How to calculate the right price?
  • Setting a price is a difficult stage for many course creators. A perfect price is a sum that is affordable for people and at the same time offsets the efforts and money you’ve put into it. Find a happy medium. You may be surprised, but the price of your course impacts the level of student engagement: the more they’ll pay, the more interested they’ll be. Don’t offer your content for free; otherwise, people won’t trust it and

  • How to put your group together and create a community?
  • The opportunity to find new friends and found a community is one of the advantages of studying. Learners like to interact with like-minded people and share their ideas. That’s why it’s especially important to encourage communication between the students. It helps them all pass the shared path during their learning. The community also makes them feel supported.
    Instilling a fellowship between coursemates will be good for everyone in the long turn. Found groups among your students and your subscribers, initiate discussions, and unite people.

Courses How-to

Online learning has recently become a fast-growing and very profitable industry. Thanks to the capabilities of modern technologies, such a business is easy to start with minimal investment. At the same time, the amount of income from it can reach six figures or even more.

Рост интереса к онлайн занятиям в миреAccording to experts, the online education market is expected to grow to $300 billion by 2025. This means now is the perfect time to join the e-learning industry. Your own course can bring fixed passive income or become a new source of permanent profit.

💡 How to Create an Online Course: Introduction

First off, you need to answer several vital questions to run a career in this profitable business. You have to:

  • decide what you want to share with others and why doing it online is the best way to accomplish it;
  • choose a course topic;
  • analyze whether your course will be profitable;
  • think of your sales strategy;
  • figure out how to conduct classes remotely.

This article provides answers to the mentioned questions with detailed instructions.

📚 First Steps: Defining the Goals And Objectives of Distance Learning

Before creating online classes, you need to know the course's purpose and target audience. Make sure to evaluate your knowledge and experience because every person has unique skills that others can benefit from.

№1 Goals, Assignments, and Actions

Always remember that you teach people something useful. It is your business's responsibility. If you still don't know what you are good at, try to recall what people ask you about most frequently.

The purpose of training is the course's basis. It would be best if you defined this purpose at the planning stage. Usually, it is general information about concepts students will learn and skills they will obtain. The goal helps set the work's direction and allows the teacher to understand how to make online classes most effective. In turn, students learn what they will achieve upon completing the course.

You can try building an entire and logical sequence of the course's stages, assignments, and evaluation methods. The course's purpose should be more general and long-term. On the contrary, the assignments should be short-term and more specific.

№2 Criteria For the Effectiveness of Online Classes

A good course always meets the following criteria:

  1. It solves problems;
  2. It teaches something new;
  3. It helps achieve goals.

It is necessary to convey the course's objectives to students to link them to their focal goal.

№3 The Most Common Forms of Conducting Online Classes

 

Name

Definition

Application Field

Success Factors

1

Master Class

This is a short author's course conducted by an expert in a specific field to teach students certain skills.

Music, painting, cooking, writing, acting, sports, dance, fashion, etc.

The ability of the master to interact with the audience; the students’ ability to solve complex problems during the course; receiving instant feedback.

2

Coaching

A course for achieving personal or professional goals, where the teacher or mentor, i.e., the coach, supports the student by working with the latter one-to-one.

A course for achieving personal or professional goals, where the teacher or mentor, i.e., the coach, supports the student by working with the latter one-to-one.

Professional experience of the coach, communicative skills, such as purposeful repetition, active listening, explanation, and leading questions, help the student choose a strategy for achieving the goal.

3

Massive open online courses (MOOC)

An accessible and affordable online course aimed at training a large number of participants. In addition to educational materials, students receive professional support from competent people.

Formal Sciences (Mathematics, Physics, Programming), Humanities, Business, Technology.

An open online course can become an alternative to traditional education. It can also make higher education more accessible. Flexible schedule, constant development, online support. A comprehensive evaluation system.

4

Corporate training

It is usually held for training and retraining the company's employees. The goal is to find qualified specialists.

Services, Marketing and Sales, Healthcare, Administration, Management, Production, Personnel Management.

Continuous professional education of employees, advanced training, and retraining for the necessary fields. Issuing certificates confirming the knowledge.

5

Mini-Course

A short online course lasting from 30 minutes to 2 hours. It is usually used for advertising purposes, for market research. It does not require large investments.

Any field of professional knowledge.

It helps accurately identify and “nurture” an online audience. A great tool for beginners. It saves time and allows the owner to predict sales of other courses.

6

Software academies

A course from software developers or cloud services teaching how to use a particular product correctly.

Any software and services (SaaS).

Training people allows the owner to attract new customers and retain existing ones. It helps users solve problems and employ the product more effectively.

Once you decide on the purpose and form of training, you can proceed to the next stage.

👀 Choosing the Topic for Classes and Teaching Methods, Searching For a Speaker

The course structure is built after setting goals and objectives. When you decide on the main topic, many additional ideas might come to your mind. Make sure to write them down and divide them into smaller sub-topics. Then structure and group them by subject and content.

№4 Class Structure

For example, you can use the following template:

“The course's curriculum”

(Course subject)

- Main topic 1

–– Sub-topic 1

–– Sub-topic 2

–– Sub-topic 3

№5 Choosing Learning Methods

Before performing online classes, you need to enlist several steps that students must complete to acquire the skill. Every task of the course must comprise these steps. Some assignments may require completing more actions; others, in turn, fewer. However, there shouldn't be more than twelve of such steps. It is essential to include them in every task, as they are taken into account when constructing the curriculum.

Distance learning can have the following learning techniques:

  1. Small victories: Simple tasks that give users confidence and steadily improve their skills.
  2. Expanding expertise area:Moving from simple to complex, students enhance their knowledge of their already familiar topics.
  3. Active learning:Those who take the courses should make an effort and complete different exercises to understand the tutorial video.

№6 A Specific Topic For a Speaker or Vice Versa?

In an online learning system, the importance of choosing a speaker and their qualities vary depending on the form of training. The speaker's expertise, experience, communication skills, and charisma play a pivotal role in conducting online classes or coaching. The topic also depends on the speaker's capabilities and knowledge.

It is crucial to be proficient in the subject and know the company's peculiarities for open and corporate classes. For a course on a particular product, only the necessary knowledge and the ability to convey it is important. That is why speakers are invited based on concrete requests.

💵 How to Conduct Remote Classes via the Internet With Maximum Profit

It is necessary to determine how interaction with students will be organized initially. Many ways should be considered. Among them are: Sending invitations;Receiving feedback; Accepting payments;Issuing graduation documents; Engaging in various interactive processes.

You should also think about monetizing classes. Basically, you have two options. You can create a free course to attract subscribers and increase the loyalty of the target audience.Or you can plan to design a program immediately for sale. Suppose you focus on making a commercialized course. In that case, you need to create a strategy so that the right people can find and purchase/subscribe for the course.

№7 Identifying the Target Audience (TA)

Potential consumers of the content presented in the classroom are people who have a specific set of qualities. They should be studied as thoroughly as possible: age and gender composition, marital status, geography, interests.Схема определения целевой аудитории для дистанционных занятий

It will be useful to divide potential customers into groups based on these criteria: this process is called Market Segmentation. Doing that will help identify the most pertinent part of the target audience with the highest purchasing power.

№8 What Does a Potential Customer Look Like?

It is recommended to create a portrait of such a client and describe in as much detail as possible who they live with, what they dream about, where they work, how their day goes, and what problems they encounter. All this will help choose the most relevant topic and correctly present classes to the target audience in the future.

Находим своего клиента для интернет занятий

It will also be useful to know at what time and from what devices users access the Internet and which social networks they are more likely to visit. Knowing this information will help plan an advertising campaign.

№9 Social Media Selection and Ad Settings

Every social network requires planning and configuring a unique advertising campaign. Instagram, Facebook and Google AdWords are the most popular ones.

Рекламные площадки для продвижения удаленных занятий

Contextual advertising is the most sought-after targeted advertising method. It is displayed by keywords in the user's search query. Native advertising embedded in the environment is also gaining popularity. For example, an ad can mention the proposed product in an informative, relevant article or blogger's post. A naturally embedded commercial in an article about how you can conduct classes online will also do well.

You can perform market analysis manually or employ special tools, both free and paid. Alternatively, you may use particular services or turn to a marketing specialist or SMM manager.

🔧 How To Conduct Classes Online: Technical Questions

Building your own training course is a creative and unique process that requires time.

№10 Preparing Training Materials

Как выбрать формат для онлайн занятий

The more ready-made materials (content) you have, the less time it will take you to coin a full-fledged course. Having the following materials will significantly reduce the time spent on an entire program:

  • Recorded videos;
  • PDF files;
  • Quizzes and tests;
  • Certificates;
  • Landing pages.

If you have training materials at your disposal, you can create classes in just 2 weeks, working several hours a day. Creation costs can vary and reach thousands of dollars. It all depends on expenses, used services, and hiring expert people, such as professional video recording staff, designing team, etc.

№11 Organization and Schedule

There is no one-size-fits-all way to organize remote learning. Every created course is exclusive. However, all of them utilize educational platforms to reach the audience. The owner's task is to choose the most convenient platform in terms of cost and functionality and provide technical support for continuous and high-quality interaction.

One of the critical factors for the course's success is its flexibility and accessibility.

Courses can be:

  1. Self-paced: The student chooses a convenient time for classes.
  2. Modular: Training is divided into topics (modules); the student can start with any of them, then move on to the next one;
  3. Traditional: Similar in structure to the academic semester with midterms and final examinations.

After completing the training and finishing all tasks, a final test, quiz, or other knowledge assessment is conducted. Then a certificate of completion is issued: in electronic or paper form (in this case, the document is sent by post or e-mail).

№12 Technical Features

Online learning must include interactive components, for instance, collective or group work, tests and home assignments, discussions in chats, forums, and video conferences. Also, it is imperative to know how to organize a productive webinar that can compete with others.

Как провести онлайн занятия с технической стороны

How to conduct online classes most effectively? Utilizing this list of cutting-edge technology is unavoidable:

  1. Video conferences, using software for individual and group communication. This can be Skype, ZOOM, Webex, Google Hangouts, and alike. To maintain good communication quality, you need a high data transfer rate.
  2. “Smart” 360° camera for creating an interactive classroom effect.
  3. Learning management systems (LMS) allow you to collect all course materials in one place and enable students to access them.
  4. A platform for planning and configuring class schedules.
  5. Various useful services for students to help with their studies.
  6. A personal and easy-to-access library of training resources.
  7. Employment counseling and assistance: communication with employers who are ready to hire young professionals to serve internships.

🏁 Recap

? Recap To conduct a remote class as efficiently and profitably as possible, you need to:

  1. Set a clear goal and objective;
  2. Choose a topic, course form, and find a suitable speaker;
  3. Identify and segment your target audience, create an advertising campaign plan;
  4. Resolve technical aspects;
  5. Optimize your ad campaigns.

If you follow the correct procedure, have a positive attitude, and work hard, everything will work out!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

  • How much can I earn from online courses?
  • It all depends on the invested funds and the scale of training. Income ranges from several hundred to tens of thousands of dollars. At the same time, each subsequent course brings more profit, as grateful students leave feedback and bring their friends.

  • What do I lose if I fail?
  • Absolutely nothing, since most of the services for creating and organizing courses are freely available. You won't even waste your time because you'll gain practical experience at the end of the day.

  • Where can I find good specialists and the necessary software?
  • On freelance web pages and relevant sites, through friends, and at specialized conferences. All the necessary software is available on the web and can be found with just a few clicks.

  • Which platform is better to choose?
  • The best way to find a platform is to read reviews, ratings, use the trial period, and test the capabilities of each service.

School How-to

If you can’t find a business to devote yourself to, we may advise you to start an online school. Not many endeavors in 2020 are worth your attention, but it doesn’t apply to an online school. Distance learning gains popularity because it’s a lot easier than full-time training. People don’t need to leave their house to get new and valuable knowledge and then transform it into skills. Here we’ll discover all the secrets of running an online school. This article will be beneficial for people who have zero knowledge of this niche.

🔖 Preparation for launching your distance school

Don’t underestimate the importance of preparation because it’s the basis of your future course. It’s better to care about all aspects of launching a distance school than to deal with the consequences later.

№1. Let’s define the aim of launching a distance course in your school

A business that doesn’t have a clear purpose is doomed to failure. If you don’t know why your own school is necessary for you, give up the idea of starting it until you find a good reason and proper motivation. Check some statements and if you feel that one of them perfectly describes your situation - start preparation:

  1. You’re an expert who wants to share the accumulated information and skills.
  2. You have a blog and want to get more subscribers.
  3. You want to advertise your goods or services in an online course.

Определяем цели для запуска онлайн школы

№2. Choose a direction, theme, and teaching methods

Take care about the subject and vector of your school and online courses — they should be sought-after; otherwise, you won’t gain the required number of subscribers. The next thing you should do is select the teaching methods. Your choice will influence the type of classes, the information they'll contain. Moreover, the format of the school depends on the teaching methods you choose.

Remember: studying doesn’t happen independently; students are in a social environment affected by numerous factors. Online learning should include various activities, including teacher-student and student-student interaction. It can be various social events, group lessons, and feedback to the teacher through messengers or emails.

№3. Gather a team of professional teachers.

The teaching staff is an essential element of your online school. At least it influences the reputation of your school. So you understand why you should be attentive when hiring teachers.

Can you describe what ‘good teacher’ means for you? We suppose that a good teacher is a highly respected person having long experience. Sometimes finding the right person takes months. If you want to be a founder of a school in good standing, please, be patient.

Besides having a vast body of knowledge, both practical and theoretical, your teachers should have outstanding communication skills and clearly articulate their thoughts. One of the best features of a professional instructor is to explain even the most complicated material the way everyone can understand it.Note that you may not hire teachers if you consider yourself qualified enough to hold lessons. Meeting the criteria mentioned above isn’t enough to be a teacher. You must also understand how eLearning works. If you think that it’s too difficult for you, don’t worry. Learn how to start an online school, become its administrator, and invite professional teachers to hold online classes.

№4.Target audience: Is it necessary to know it?

The target audience or TA are people who may be interested in attending your school. Any business owner will tell you that the analysis of the target audience is a key step in launching any startup. Online courses and schools aren’t the exceptions. You need to define your TA because it lets you get the necessary information:

  1. Where your clients get new information, it lets you find the best way to advertise your online school: in blogs they read, websites they visit, materials they search in Google.
  2. Their manner of communication. Write an ad copy that will be the most effective because it will be very similar to how they talk.
  3. How they choose and compare products of your niche. This knowledge helps to structure aspects and prioritize them when creating content.
  4. What do people want? Offer people a product that will align with their values and priorities. Finally, your website will look 98% relevant for them.

№5. How to create a portrait of the TA?

Answer the following questions to complete this step.

  1. Who do you work for? This information includes their age, sex, the sphere of activity, level of wealth, marital status, hobbies, habits, etc.
  2. What do these people want to accomplish?
  3. What do your customers need, and why can't they satisfy their needs?

If you answered all these questions, you understand your TA and can turn to the next step.

Изучаем целевую аудитории при запуске интернет школы

№6. Launching a school: marketing plan

You may think that finishing the previous steps is enough to run your own school. However, if you run your school without a marketing plan, people will hardly hear about you, and still, less buy a course. Online schools, like any other business, should have a clear marketing plan and follow it. Here are the marketing instruments you should use to develop an effective promotion strategy:

  1. Develop a high-quality website. Do you know what high-quality means here? It means your website should be comprehensive and contain information about you as a founder of this school, about your training courses, and don't forget to explain to clients where and how they can sign up for courses. It’s important because it lets you take advantage of SEO.
  2. Have you ever been a blogger? No? Then it’s time to become one. Turn your private account into a blog or create a new page to devote it to blogging. Post information about eLearning to engage people in your personality and your products.
  3. What about SMM? Having your blog is good, but your school shouldn’t be sidelined. Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and even TikTok are good sites to promote your online school. Pay your attention to TikTok because it’s on the rise these days. Share interesting materials about eLearning and place promotional posts to invite more people. The higher activity is on your page, the more attention to you and your products. Initiate discussions in comments and interact with your audience to maintain their interest.
  4. Place your courses on a unique platform. Courseindex.com is an example of such a service. It’s a catalog of courses from all over the web. Courseindex.com does more than just collect training courses. It uses the most effective affiliate marketing instruments to promote sites and these courses.
  5. Don’t forget about your graduates. Friendly relations between teachers, managers, school administrators, and students worth a lot. Make every effort to maintain them. Ask students to write reviews about your courses and recommend you to people. Reviews, especially negative ones, are a powerful motivator to become better. Product launch emails are another good way to not just stay in touch with grads but attract them to start another course in your school.
  6. Start a discount period at your school. Coupons and special offers are good instruments that are often used to heighten interest in a product, and they also work well with eLearning. Here are several applications for coupons: Can be given as special offers; May be presented to standing customers; Can be placed on coupon-providing websites and partners; It may be sent as a part of an email promotion.
  7. Catch potential clients. This trick is used to make people subscribe to a newsletter. Offer all visitors to join your mailing list to stay current on news and relevant proposals. But remember how you react to the offer to share your email address? Of course, you never fill all these order forms, just like your visitors. That’s why you must write a proposal in some other way. Offer them to join a newsletter and get a bonus: Checklist; Presentation; Ebook; Guide; Course; PDF document, etc.

The overall number of marketing instruments is huge, so you can test all of them to find the best one to make your training course effective.

🎓 Realization of the concept of an online school

Этап реализации удаленной школы

After you’ve specified all moments and details, have chosen the most effective sales method, it’s the right time to proceed with creating an online school using a special platform, preparation of educational resources, QA testing, and then you may start your classes.

№7. Creating an own platform for online school

First and foremost, our task is to develop a website to place your online school. We advise you to start this process with the creation of the landing page. It’s the first page your website visitors see, so it aims to catch as many people as possible. Create a nice logo, add it, change the template’s colors, change fonts, and do everything you consider necessary to personalize your website.

Modern website builders do everything for you: they offer a wide range of templates you may customize.

The choice of the right templates, fonts, heading, images, and other elements is crucial. A good landing page is the one that can make people check the content in a matter of seconds. It’s your aim.

A landing page isn’t everything you need to perfect. The ‘About Us’ page should look stunning because it can be used to introduce your brand, ‘The rules of studying’ page, ‘Training program’ page, and other pages require your attention.

№8 Ready-made solutions for online classes

If you don’t want to spend time developing a platform for online school from scratch, it’s okay. Use pre-made online platforms. These are short descriptions of the most popular platforms for online school creators:

Name

Monthly cost (RUB)

Peculiarities

Flora LMS

from 4,000

It has a convenient courses and classes builder, fast money transfer, detailed statistics of all sales and received income.

GetCourse

from 4200

GetCourse has software to develop courses, its own payment system, CRM, and detailed statistics

Learme

from 2000

Supports SCORM courses

Антитренинги

from 1500

Russian platform with a user-friendly interface for fast work

Udemy

5% of all sales

Ample opportunities to sell and promote your course.

🖍 Launching an online school: preparation of material

If you want your school to be a profitable business, devote time to prepare resources and materials for students. Your primary goal is to share knowledge, so do your best to achieve it.

Подготовка материалов для дистанционного обучения в интернет школе

№9 Defining approaches

Start with identifying the educational purposes. Good educational purposes should meet the SMART criteria. We mean that good purposes are concrete, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. Courses and all materials must solve students’ problems.

Develop a logical order of materials you’ll use based on thematic categories. There are several pedagogical approaches:

  1. Integrative learning.
  2. Case studies.
  3. Open discussions.
  4. Co-education.
  5. Experiential learning.
  6. Student assessment.

You can follow any of the approaches mentioned above. Mix several methods if you can’t choose one; it’s a good alternative. Some people who launch online schools and academies don’t think that pedagogical approaches aren’t necessary.

However, if you won’t use them, you won’t achieve your studying goals.

What about the forms of instructional materials? Online school creators should pay attention to two main forms: educational videos and text documents.

№10 Using educational videos in eLearning

Video is a powerful and irreplaceable tool for online learning — video content increases student participation. If you want to make the most out of video content, include interactive videos in your course. Specialists recommend creating videos and adding some interactive elements or actions to them.

Формат видеообучения в онлайн школе

№11 What about using text documents and ebooks?

Students like watching videos because it’s the most interesting type of educational content; however, most students also like reading. Ask any course creator, and you’ll make sure that text documents are so much simpler to create. Moreover, it’s a good way to include more information than videos. Text documents can be different: educational leaflets, guides, reports, case studies, or any other material students can use.

Do you want to know the best format to use in online studying? It’s a PDF. Modern services also let users create ebooks. For example, LearnWorlds offers people interactive ebooks: students can read them, make notes and use other instruments.

№12 How to start an online school that’ll be profitable?

In addition to electronic books, PDF files, documents, presentations, animations, videos, and audio lessons, your courses should contain enough gamification techniques: Tests; Signs; Quizzes; Certificates, etc.

Используем максимум функционла для прибыльной интернет школы

Your courses system should support discussion forums, blogs, podcasts, quizzes, infographics, etc. It’s also important to define how often you’ll hold lessons and what types of content you’ll present. Is your approach independent? Can your students get access to learning materials conveniently, or is it limited in time?

👀 Summing things up

Well, now you have the best educational platform full of learning materials. You already have a training plan and successfully attracted your TA. Take your time and test the final product before releasing it to prevent yourself from failure.

FAQ

  • Is it possible to use Youtube to attract students?
  • All’s fair in love and war and in your attempts to attract more people to educational content. Do you want to use Youtube? Do it. Upload your promo video to Youtube or start a channel for your online school. Share useful videos with integrated advertising and be ready to accept new students.

  • How to select the best virtual learning platform?
  • Before you choose a platform, ask yourself about its availability:
    How and where do you want to use your school?
    Can people access it from mobile phones?
    Can people access it using OTT software on their TVs?
    Depending on the school you want to launch, people will expect different levels of accessibility from you: students will prefer watching lessons in yoga school using their TV, whereas drawing academy should be easily accessed from PC.

  • Can you provide examples of effective online schools?
  • Well Learning Library, Hung Kuen Kung Fu Academy, Start Social are the best examples in terms of design and presentation of material

  • What payment systems are better to use in an online school?
  • Here are several payment systems you can connect to your school. They are very simple and convenient: Edusys, PagSeguro, PaySchools, 2Checkout, Paypal.

Courses How-to

Launching online courses became a widespread way to go into a business because it’s not so difficult to create but still profitable enough. However, it doesn’t mean that making a course from scratch is easy for everyone: this work still makes a person spend a lot of time and effort. The eLearning niche grows rapidly worldwide, and experts state that its value will rise to 300 billion USD after five years.

Как создать онлайн курсы - сравнительные данные

If you think about becoming a course creator, your head is probably full of various questions, and you want someone to explain to you the strategies of selling and promoting your product, the principles you must use when designing a course, the ways to identify the topic that’ll be interesting for people. We'll become your guide in this new world.

Be sure that this article will answer these and many other questions that may seem unclear to you. Moreover, we’ll answer the key question: how to create an effective and profitable online course from the ground up?

🖌 Early-stage: preparation for the launch

Step 1. Goal setting

Teachers must set goals and create a step-by-step action plan firstly. It’s a kind of investment in the future because it helps the teacher achieve maximum results among the students. Goals are general guidelines, what the teacher has to give students and what they should know by the end of a course.

Step 2. What about your priorities?

Normally people create courses to teach people and gain profit. It would be best if you sort out your priorities the same way. When people set a profit as their primary goal, online school starts to lose its value. Focus on education. If money is everything you want - choose another niche to launch a business.

Identification of objectives should help you define if the topic is understood by users or not. Moreover, you can’t write a plan for the lesson without mentioning the objectives of learning. When students can list their studying goals, they can easily handle all their difficulties during the course.

Step 3. Select a course theme

You won’t spend a lot of time completing this step if you know what you want to achieve. Let's imagine that you have a high-class knowledge of a certain sphere. It's pretty obvious that you will share your knowledge in this course.

However, we understand that not all course creators can boast of having an academic degree or something like that but still want to popularise education. If you recognized a part of yourself here, have a look at these questions and answer them to understand what theme to choose:

If people ask you for assistance, with what problems do they turn to you?

Can you remember a situation when you easily found an answer to a question that seemed too complicated for all people?

Step 4. Go deep into the chosen topic

Even if you’re an expert in the chosen topic, it isn't worth being indifferent to the process of searching for the information. A search for information and the action plan based on it are the most significant steps to achieving your goal: an effective online training course.

Put yourself in the shoes of your client: would you buy a course without knowing how many lessons are there, what topics you’ll learn, and so on. Structured and verified data are what people can pay for.

Step 5. How to find the students?

An online course makes no sense without listeners or students. It's not so easy to get through to the people; that’s why it’s crucial to know as much about your target clients as possible to create a portrait of your TA. Carry out a small study, hold opinion polls on a convenient platform, and find the common problem of these people.

If your product solves this problem, then it's fine.

Step 6. Who will hold lessons?

Speaker is more than just a teacher who presents the material. In eLearning, the speaker is at the same time the face of the whole project. Making an online course popular among people is easy: be attentive to who you hire in your team.

Lecturers should be respected and qualified because it impacts the quality of information perception, students' motivation, and desire to continue studying.

📚 What materials you'd better use?

Step 7. Educational content preparation

Do you have a powerful imagination? Use it. Both teachers and course creators want to encompass as much information as possible, but the number of study hours doesn't let them do it. Well, what about a little brainstorming session? This approach will help you decide what content to use in lectures.

Don't forget to upgrade your qualification and refresh your knowledge on the chosen topic. It applies to professional teachers as well. You do not always have the time to attend courses, so check forums and blogs to learn something new and see what people like to read.

Step 8. It's time to handle the course's structure

At this stage, most course creators gain an insight into how to create an online school, a course, and what information to use. The current goal is to systematize the ideas that came to your head during brainstorming, separate them into groups, and finally put them in order.

Here are some recommendations on the course content.

Term

Definition

Recommendation

Small Victories

This approach presupposes giving students easy forms of assessment (tests and exercises) that can make students feel confident in themselves. Add such assignments to maintain a high level of enthusiasm and curiosity within them.

We recommend you allocate all tasks equally among all topics and add more exercises to the topic that seem to be more difficult. You’ll quickly notice the rise in the academic performance of all your students.

Instructional scaffolding

This is a broad term, but it means a certain strategy of building the learning process that helps students move towards their goals progressively in an educational context. In other words, the teacher gradually adds new information to the learned one and helps students accumulate information without stress.

You’d better increase the complexity of tasks progressively. And simultaneously with learning new material, your students should do assignments to strengthen their knowledge of previous themes.

Active learning

Active learning is the use of practical tasks across the curriculum. If you think that selecting ten videos and texts and giving them to students is active learning, you’re wrong. Create interactive materials, find good tests to check the knowledge they gained before, etc. It’s what active learning means.

To take the most out of the active learning approach, the teacher needs to allow students to turn knowledge into action. We’ve mentioned that you need to use interactive elements, for example, quizzes, games, crossword puzzles, etc. Also, teachers must maintain communication between group members, encourage discussions. Create a group chat in messenger to let listeners discuss lessons and perhaps even make allowances.

Step 9. How can you prevent the decrease in student engagement?

Teachers who use the old-fashioned teaching methods and ways of presenting information often see that students aren’t active. They just get bored. If you want your course to differ from hundreds of others, you must understand that the diversity of content is a way to achieve this goal. No student likes reading long texts and writing notes. Quizzes, games, listening comprehension, and many other activities can make students fall in love with your training.

Step 10. Add the chosen content

Your task is to integrate all materials used in this course and arrange them according to the plan. Although you’ve checked this material at the very beginning of your work, it’s better to do it again and correct all mistakes. The time you’ll spend on this stage depends on the amount of educational material you’ve prepared.

When you finish it, create the necessary interactive elements, certificates and check everything once again.

Step 11. How to make people more interested in your product?

If you want to make more people sign up for your course, make it entertaining. Add some interactive elements we’ve mentioned above and use your own ideas.

⚙️ Technical aspects of course creation

Step 12. What online platform to use?

Now the obvious question arises: how to organize the learning process and where to hold lessons? You’ll need to use a special platform for online courses. Well-known eLearning platforms that are all over the Internet seem to be the easiest solution. You’ve probably heard and even visited such sites as Udemy, Coursera, Khan Academy, Skillshare, edX, etc. But they don’t let you manage everything you can, including prices and the learning process.

Как сделать курсы обучения на платформе

Moreover, one of the key conditions of using these platforms is sharing a part of your income with them. You hardly want to give your money to someone and struggle with the competitors at the same time.

KWIGA is a completely new platform that uses another approach to cooperation with course creators. Use KWIGA if you want to create courses, hold lessons and promote your products simultaneously. Grow your eLearning business with KWIGA.

Step 13. Upload a course to the platform

KWIGA lets you not only create a course from the ground up but also download the course you’ve created before. The platform’s interface is user-friendly, so you can get access to any element or instrument you need in just a few minutes. You don’t need to have any technical skills to use it — it’s the main advantage of KWIGA.

Don’t worry about the inconsistencies in format; our platform adapts all courses to the screen size and orientation. No matter what devices your students use: smartphones, PC, laptops, tablet PC. All will work well. Course creators often complain about the difficulties with payments and record-keeping. KWIGA will help you forget about these problems as well.

If you have your own platform and your subscribers know about it, place your course there.

Step 14. Develop your own eLearning platform

Stop thinking that only developers can create websites. There are so many free and paid website builders that don’t require you to be a web developer and have any technical skills at all. Social media accounts also can become a platform for your online course, but it’s better to separate your blog from education.

Do you want to know one effective way to promote all your products? Record all your webinars and masterclasses and sell them.

Step 15. QA Testing

You may think that you’ve done everything well and it’s time to launch the studies. No, you forgot about one important aspect — testing. You can be sure your course is effective until you check it. Some course creators prefer hiring experts who examine educational materials, correct mistakes, and make judgments regarding the effectiveness of the course.

Как организовать интернет курсы с тестированием

Studying happens in the social environment, so motivate learners to maintain dialogue and form groups. First of all, they may become good friends, and it’s good in itself. However, communication between learners lets them help and support each other, search for the answers together and study the information with zeal.

✍️ Conclusions

As you see, creating your own online course isn’t as difficult as you thought earlier. You must be sure of your qualification, know how to keep listeners interested, and the main requirement is to desire to make a difference. If you’re sure you meet all these criteria — begin designing your course.

If you’re a course creator, you must know that this job is not only well-paid but very useful. Not all people have money to obtain a college or university degree, so you make education available and affordable to a higher number of people. Be proud of yourself and do your job well.

FAQ

  • Where to begin?
  • We’ve already mentioned that you’d better rely on your creativity and imagination. If you really want to be useful to people, your brain will generate cool ideas without help.

  • How difficult is it to make a course?
  • In other words, you have to gather educational material, generalize it and place them on the chosen eLearning platform. Your TA will find and buy this course. As soon as you gather a group of students, you may announce the start of your studies. That’s all.

  • Tips to popularize your training
  • Do you want to see what a successful and effective course should be? Here are the criteria:
    It presents new information and teaches new knowledge/skills;
    It offers a solution for a widespread problem;
    It assists in accomplishing people’s goals.

  • How to set a reasonable price?
  • Some course creators believe that high prices make people think this course is valuable. No, it doesn’t work this way. This rule works in the opposite direction; when you set a too low price, people think that the information isn’t valuable enough. The sum should be higher than the average. Compare the prices of your competitors, consider your TA and find a happy medium.

webinars How-to

The webinar is a type of web-based conference that is conducted over the web. All participants of the event are located in a comfortable place, next to their computers, smartphones, tablets, or other gadgets.

💪 Why should you start running webinars?

Today it is an economic and effective way of conducting personal events, which allows you to solve the following problems:

  1. Personal brand building.
  2. Attracting possible clients.
  3. Building expert image, selling webinar organizer as an expert in the industry.
  4. Target audience training.
  5. Introducing goods and services.
  6. Demo version of services, when we talk about educational services.

Pros of running a webinar

The online-based seminar can consist of different visual elements, like a speaker's video or slideshow. The last one usually ends with frequent questions.

This article will give you a few tips to successfully plan and run the webinar.

The key benefits of webinars

  • Location independence. No matter where you are located, attendees from anywhere can take part in the event.
  • It's easier to attract an audience online. Since event listeners don't need to attend the event physically, spend time on the road, and on preparing themselves, they will more willingly take part in it.
  • Ample opportunities for communication. If listeners have questions about the presentation or product that you are demonstrating, they can ask it in real time, which helps to increase conversion.
  • 40% of visitors are transformed into target leads.

Pros of running a webinar

You should understand that planning a webinar is not an easy task, which requires the best efforts and responsibility.

👀 The strategy of webinar creation

№1.Define the webinar's purpose

The main webinar goals are:

  1. Sales of goods/services.
  2. Increase your subscriber base, attract new customers.
  3. Loyalty increasing.
  4. Improve brand awareness.
  5. Build the expert's image.

№2. Choose an interesting topic

The most important element of the webinar is content. It is the basis of the entire planned event. Attendees visit webinars to find out something new. Therefore, the topic should be interesting.

One of our main goals is to show yourself as a top-class specialist. The presenter must convince the audience that he knows what he's talking about.

The topic must be useful to your attendees to run an effective webinar.

For example, the marketing theme is too general for discussion. Try finding a narrower theme — SMM.

Check here a few ideas on how to come up with the topic:

    • Find common questions.
    • Search the Internet for the most frequent requests.
    • Communicate with the team. Your sales manager can tell you what he discusses with the client.
    • Ask your subscribers what they are interested in.

№3. Select the best speechmaker

You can invite a speaker from your company or another expert. Also, you can attract influencers. The speaker should be experienced in the topic of the webinar.

Pros of running a webinar

№4. Find the intended audience

To understand who your audience is you need to know their problems and goals.

After you discover who your visitors are and what problems they face, then you will have a better chance of running a successful webinar.

№5 How to sell your product during the webinar

Don’t start your webinar with selling. Offer your product in mid-broadcast to make it not look like an ad. But you should remember 2 important points:

  • Information provided during online seminars should be valuable to your viewers. No matter whether they buy or not.
  • Talk about your product only when it is appropriate. It should be pertinently in context during the broadcast.

After that, we determine how we will advertise the event to attract the intended audience.

🚀 Marketing stage of the webinar

№6. Creation of welcome page

The landing page will give the main information about the event: what the webinar will be about, information about the talking person, date, and main points for discussion. This will motivate an audience to register

№7.Post in your social about the event

Post information about your web seminar on your blog even if you don’t have thousands of followers. The posted information can be in the article form, accompanied by additional useful information, or as a concise announcement.

Provide a link to the event landing page, where will be the ability to register for the webinar. It is also useful to place ads on partners' social media with a similar audience.

№8. Social Media Ads

Advertising on social networks can bring you a lot of new attendees. Create your personal branded hashtag, as it can be a good interaction tool.

№9. E-mailing

If you have some contacts, email them with a short invitation. It should be easy to register.

📆 How to plan and prepare the webinar: helpful tips

How to set up a webinar

№10. Prepare the visual components

The visual of your presentation or webinar poster should match your brand book. Put your logo on the first slide or where it makes sense.

Fonts, colors, designs, and other visual elements must be of the same brand style.

№11. Consider the possibility of conducting paid webinars

The organization of web seminars can be expensive. Getting paid for webinars can recoup costs. This model raises visitors' expectations about quality.

If you can guarantee a quality webinar, set the price for registration to get additional income.

The paid event might reduce the number of attendees, but instead, you will get a more interested audience. Try to set different prices till you find the optimal one for your audience.

№12. Get help and support from administrators

Be ready for multi-tasking if you decide to organize a webinar by yourself. It requires a big effort and much time. So it will be much easier if you find someone to help.

The assistants must be responsible and understand how the webinar platform works.

They may not be experts in your field, but they must be able to fix problems and interact with participants.

№13. Select the timing

Don't forget about the time difference. If the event starts at 7 p.m. NY time, it will be a bit late for the viewers from Paris.

№14. Pick a model

The models can be:

    1. An expert shares his experience, ideas, or advice.
    2. Two speakers event. This type is more detailed because it shares more information with the attendees.
    3. A panel group event. Multiple experts discussion.
    4. The interview format. It will be a good idea to invite an influencer. A popular guest will attract a lot of viewers.
    5. Your product demonstration for its effective promotion.

Try a few types to reach the best format for your audience.

№15. A test run of your event

Get your team together and do a trial run. The test run will show basic errors and what is needed more to be at the highest level.

№16. Make notes of all steps

You will create several webinars to find the best format. Making notes in the process will help you in the future.

It will be easier to prepare webinars, as you will know all details and what is required.

Make notes for each step of your webinar to forget nothing. Do separate notes for each webinar format.

🛠 Features of the webinar in 2023: technical issues

How to run a webinar in 2023

№17. The platform searching

Technical problems on your broadcast provoke unpleasant feelings among viewers. You will meet bad feedback and low sales.

That means the platform for your webinar is the most important element bringing you success. Check all advantages and disadvantages before you choose a platform. To make a proper analysis, use the next questions:

    1. How much can you pay for the platform?
    2. Are the required functions and options available?
    3. How many visitors can attend the event?
    4. Is there a record option?

The table shows the most popular platforms

Platform

Trial

Speakers

Viewers

MyOwnConference

unlimited

10

2000

iSpring Learn

14 days

50

1000

Clickmeeting

30 days

7

5000

WeStudy

30 days

25

3500

Softbook

30 days

unlimited

unlimited

KWIGA

30 days

unlimited

unlimited

Please note that more than 25% of viewers watch the webinars using mobile devices. This part of viewers can be easily lost if you do not optimize the interface for mobile devices.

It is important when choosing a digital educational platform to take into account if it is adaptive for mobile interface.

Choosing an online webinar platform

№18. Check readiness and test equipment

You can’t lose sight of any important point. Test your equipment and do a test run. It will be the best way to make sure everything is done properly

Be ready at least 30 minutes earlier before the start to make sure everything works.

№19. Mute the sources of noise.

  • No children and pets in your webinar zone.
  • Mute all devices, that you will not use during the event.
  • Mute your doorbell.

Tips for the webinar organizers

№20. Start without delay

Your viewers are busy, so don't waste their time. Waiting for the speaker is very unpleasant.

№21. Double preparation

The first impression is very important. The start of the event always sets the tone, so take all effort to ensure that it passes at the highest level.

№22. Quickly capture audience attention

Catch your viewer’s attention from the very beginning. A good reason should keep the audience interested till the end. Tell them what information you are going to share. Highlight what problems you gonna solve and make it sound exciting.

№23. Prepare answers for frequent questions

Your audience will be asking questions. Prepare in advance to sound sure and not get confused.

№24. Something can go off the plan

Even if you do your best, some things can be out of your hands: no electricity in your house, no Wi-Fi, etc.

💣 How to hold an interesting webinar and sound like great speakers

Creating an online webinar

№25. Write a good script

Your script will be your cheat sheet, that will help you keep the structure step by step. Speaking for half an hour can be hard if you don’t prepare a script. Even if you are a professional expert with in-depth knowledge you still have a risk to fail.

№26. It is normal to change something or go out from the script

Even if a script is an important thing, you don't have to follow it completely. Remember, something can go wrong.

Sometimes, going off-topic is the only way to save the webinar and make the audience active.

№27. Try to practice your speech

You should practice making your webinar speech sound professional.

A well-spoken speech will set a good impression on your attendees.

№28. Create slides

Don’t use presentation in a webinar if it has a hard copy only.

Use more visual elements when creating slides to make them exciting.

№29. Try to add more media formats

Don't rely only on presentation. Use as many media formats as possible to make your broadcast more diverse.

№30. Choose how to interact with the viewers

No matter how hard you try, your viewers can get tired of information. It is so exhausting to listen to someone talking for an hour.

In this case, start to communicate with your audience by asking them questions or giving interactive tasks.

№31. No stress — take your nerves under control

You can be nervous in the process. And that's okay, especially if it's your first speech. Try to joke that you feel a bit nervous, but don't show it too obviously.

Prepare a glass of water in advance to prevent dryness in the throat.

№32. Sell by giving new knowledge

Do it at the same time. Give new knowledge and sell your product native in the process. It will be a big mistake to first teach, and then try to sell. This will make the audience feel used.

During the webinar, you need to teach your audience and organically insert a product/service offer.

⭐️ Actions to do at the end

How to create a webinar and present it perfectly

№33. Help your viewers understand what to do next

Your viewers should leave the webinar with a full understanding of what to do next.

If you want them to sign up for your course, tell them and provide the links.

№34. Give the viewer a choice

By allowing choosing the theme of the next webinar, you show the attendees that their opinion is important to you. Just ask them to leave a comment.

№35. Gather feedback

Find out from your audience whether you like or don't like your webinar.

Ask them to leave a survey. It will help you clarify if they are satisfied.

№36. Offer additional content

Provide your attendees additional checklist or link to the presentation. People like to get bonuses.

№37. Analyze the results

Key comparison points are amount of registered vs attended people.

This will help you check how effective the webinar promotion has been!

FAQ

    • What kind of equipment is required?
    • Not much equipment is needed. The minimal set consists of a PC, Wi-Fi, microphone, and a webcam.

    • What is the minimum Wi-Fi speed?
    • To broadcast a quality video, the minimum speed is 1 Mbps. If you don’t need a webcam connection, 512 kbps will be enough.

    • What number of attendees will be optimal?
    • As much as possible. However, you should involve your target audience. Other attendees probably will not be relevant.

    • Is it worth saving on the functionality of the platform?
    • First, clearly state what functions you need 100%. Maybe you can refuse some of them. Never exclude chat, where people can communicate with you during the event.