Have You Tried Recording Your Webinars?

Recording your webinar is a very smart thing to do. Anytime you are having a webinar, you should record it, unless it contains proprietary information and you are not allowed to record it for some reason.

I really want to give you a few tips for recording your webinar, but beforehand, here are a few reasons as to WHY you would want to record your webinar at all:

#1 - So you'll have replays

You'll be surprised how many people who can't attend one of your webinars live still want to check out your services and products. Think of how often you may be interested in a live event going on, but aren't able to make it during the time that the event is happening. So it's a fantastic idea to provide a replay to get more sales. Another added bonus is that your customers can forward the replay to others virally. In addition, they can watch it at their leisure and replay the especially helpful parts.

#2 - So you can create products

It's amazing how many different products you can create by recording one simple webinar presentation. For starters, you can upload your webinar recording into a password protected membership site. You can duplicate DVD's that you can sell as stand-alone products. Another option is to have the webinar audio transcribed and then turn the transcription into 20-30 unique articles that are already in your voice.

Another really great idea is to take a series of webinars and turn them into an informative course that you sell. You can create workbooks, a series of videos, articles...you get the idea.

#3 - Provide more in-depth training

This is another way to offer "product creation" like we just discussed above. Recording a webinar is a great way to add value to an existing product or even provide extra training on any given topic if you want to go into more detail. You can also record your webinars and give them away as bonuses with the purchase of one of your bigger products.

Recording your webinar is very easy...much easier than you may think. However, if does require a little advance planning in order to run and record a smooth webinar. I recommend practicing your first one on a friend or family member as a dry run so you will feel more confident on your very first live webinar.

The extra savvy computer user will be fine doing this for the first time on the night of the live webinar. However, no matter what your computer expertise, it's a great idea to give yourself some extra time to get set up and make sure everything is going smoothly before your webinar begins.

Many webinar hosting companies provide the option of allowing you to record your webinar on your own, but it's ALWAYS a good idea to generate a backup recording yourself. For starters, you'll likely end up with an easier format for editing if you record it yourself. Also, you can often get a better recording than the webinar companies provide for you. It's always better to be safe than sorry.

FIRST STEP: Log into your webinar host company. You are the "Organizer", so you'll need to log in using your automatically generated organizer link. Make sure you don't share this link with anyone else, or it can create some major problems for you.

SECOND STEP: In order to record your webinar as a backup, you'll want to login to your webinar using an "attendee" link on your recording computer. Whatever you do, DO NOT use the "organizer link" on your recording computer. That should only be used on the computer in which you are running the webinar.

Your second computer should already be loaded with screen capture software, like Camtasia. This will allow you to "capture" your webinar exactly as viewers see it on the screen. With this kind of software, you will be able to easily record all of the video AND the audio. Once your recording is over, you can convert the file in to any time of file you need.

THIRD STEP: You'll need to get your recording (second) computer set up and ready to go beforehand. Make sure you get all the right parameters set up according to what screen capture software you are using. You may need to manually resize the screen.

Here's one of my best kept secrets. It's a little technical trick that I've discovered that has really helped me to get a super sharp audio recording. I simply use a 1/8" to 1/8 audio jack in my computer. This way your screen capture software, such as Camtasia, will only record the webinar itself and will banish out any extra sounds that may be in the room. While you'll get a decent recording without this cheap little jack, you'll get a crystal clear recording if you use this technique.

The other benefit is that this allows you to be in the same room as your recording computer. So you always have the option of glancing over to make sure everything looks ok to your viewers. This will let you know if your viewers are experiencing any lag time as you present and you can adjust your presentation accordingly if that happens.

FOURTH STEP: When the webinar is over, you'll need to go through the necessary steps to edit your recording if you want to and then render and produce the file.  After that's done, you can upload it directly to the internet or burn it to a CD. If you want to put it online, make sure you break the recording up into chapters so your viewers can load and view it easily. If it takes them too long to view it, they'll lose interest.

Here's another all-star tip. It's easy to add a little pizzazz to your webinar recording by putting some lead in music on the front end and lead out music on the back end. You can find all kinds of options of royalty free music like this, so just make sure that what you find is royalty free. Another tip is to make sure you include a "call to action" on the replay webpage, such as a "click here to buy now"  button.  This way, they don't have far to go when they watch your replay and want to buy!

Recording your own webinar is so incredibly easy. It can also extremely profitable and save you time and generate more money in your business. Try it today and watch your online sales grow by leaps and bounds.