UPDATE:
Google Hangouts has been discontinued and there is no longer a free webinar hosting platform that we would recommend. The principles of this blog post still apply but there is no longer a totally free webinar software. Our new recommendation is Vimeo Livestream, which does have costs associated with it. We will be updating this blog post soon with more details. Thanks for understanding!
If you want to start hosting webinars, but can’t afford hundreds of dollars on webinar platforms, then you’ll love this blog post.
Today, we’re going to show you how to create a webinar!
When we first started hosting webinars, we figured out how to use all free (or VERY cheap) tools to set up professional webinars on a tiny budget.
That’s right:
You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars per month on fancy webinar software that craps out just as you’re about to go live.
(I’ve had so many friends have this happen to them! The webinar platform “goes down” for a few hours on the day of their big webinar, and ruins weeks of preparation!)
If you are new to webinars, we have another guide to doing webinars here that you should check out first!
How To Create a Webinar:
People are surprised to hear that we run a million dollar business using inexpensive webinar software (or rather, a combination of inexpensive tools we’ve put together to create our ideal solution).
We’ve done tons of joint venture partner webinars with “big players” who are spending $500+ every month on their pricey webinar software, who end up switching to our inexpensive system because they love the experience and the ease of use.
We’re going to show you how to set up a webinar system that:
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Is free (or costs about $12/month if you do not already have a website)
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Allows you to have unlimited attendees for no cost
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Doesn’t crap out, stop working, or have integration issues
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Gives you full control over your webinar experience, the design of your pages, and how you present your offer
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Doesn’t require anyone to download a “special software” to their computer just to be able to watch your damn webinar - they can just click a link and watch from the live page!
The 3 Tools You Need to Do Webinars For Free:
Creating webinars for free doesn't take a lot of software or tools.
In fact, it only takes 3 simple tools - and you probably already have 2 of them!
1. Squarespace (or Your Own Existing Website)
It’s no secret we love Squarespace and use it for everything.
All of our sales pages, websites, landing pages, and yes, our webinar registrations pages, are all on our Squarespace sites!
I’ll talk about why in a moment.
If you already have a Squarespace website, great! This won’t cost you anything, since you already have your site.
If you are using Wordpress, that’s fine too! You can still use the other two tools on your existing Wordpress site, just like we do with Squarespace.
Our registration pages:
Our thank you pages:
And our live webinar pages:
We use Squarespace for our webinar pages because of the customization.
It allows us to keep our webinar pages on-brand with the rest of our site design.
And we love that we can use our own domains like “www.mariahcoz.com/webinar” instead of “www.mariahcoz.otherlandingpagesoftware.com/SomethingHardToRemember.” You get the point!
Squarespace has a system of “content blocks” on the backend that allow you to easily drag and drop images, text, buttons, etc to create your pages.
It’s easy to use, and we can get a registration page setup in minutes.
One of the content blocks is called a “Video” block that allows you to embed a video anywhere on your website.
Using the Video block is how you will add the live video broadcast into the live webinar page.
Then you’ll use another block, called the “Code” block, that allows you to add code anywhere on your website.
Using the code block is how you add the live chat into the live webinar page.
If you’re looking for an easy and affordable webinar solution, but you’re using another platform for your main blog, consider creating a Squarespace site just to house all your webinars.
This is what we do with MariahCozLive.com, our dedicated Squarespace website where we host all of our webinars.
For only $12/month, Squarespace is a lot less expensive than any other webinar platform out there. If you want to check it out before you use the platform your own website and webinar pages,signup for our free Squarespace course!
(If you already have an existing Squarespace site, just use that for now. You don’t have to have a separate website solely to host your webinars.)
2. YouTube Live (Formerly Hangouts On Air)
YouTube Live is the heart of the free webinar set up.
Where would I be without YouTube Live?
It’s been my tried and true, never-fails webinar solution since the very beginning.
People would make fun of me and say “When are you going to invest in a nicer webinar software? You can afford it.” Ha!
But then all those “fancy” webinar platforms break, have bugs, and never work when you need them to.
And our webinar pages convert like crazy, so we’ve figured out something!
YouTube Live is powered by Google, and I’ve never experienced glitches, downtime, or any tech gremlins with this set up. Which is really saying something!
You will set up your live broadcast using YouTube Live.
Then you’ll simply embed the video into your live webinar page using the embed code that is automatically generated.
YouTube Live has some great tools built in too, like screen sharing and “lower thirds” (the fun banner you can add to your video) and more.
It’s amazing that such a powerful tool is FREE!
3. Chatango or tlk.io
The final piece of the webinar tech puzzle is the live chat box.
The live chat is where your webinar attendees will ask questions, interact with each other, and engage with you!
There are two free options you can use, and we’ve used both of them.
Either one is great, depending on the look you like best.
Option 1: Chatango
Chatango is our usual “go-to” because it’s simple to setup and moderate.
Option 2: Tlk.io
Tlk.io is a little more modern looking and easy to set up.
We’ve found tlk.io to be a little harder to moderate, but we still really enjoy using it.
Both Chatango and tlk.io generate an embed code for you to easily add to your live webinar page.
Choose one and see how you like it!
How to Create Webinars For Free On Squarespace
Let’s put the pieces together.
I just want to reassure you that you don’t have to be super tech-savvy to set this up.
It might seem complex at first, but once you do it once or twice as a test run you’ll get the hang of it and you’ll be setting up entire webinar pages in just a few minutes!
Step 1: Create Your Webinar Pages
The first thing you have to do is set up your webinar pages.
There are 3 main webinar pages:
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The Registration Page - where people sign up for the webinar
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The Thank You Page - where people are redirected after signing up
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The Live Webinar Page - where people watch the webinar and see the call to action button to buy
This is just like creating any other page on your site or on Squarespace.
If you want some simple templates, we have a pack of 3 webinar page templatesavailable here in a bundle with Website in a Box.
Step 2: Create and Embed Your Live Chat
The next step is to create and then embed the live chat into the page.
Go to Chantango.com or tlk.io and set up the live chat.
Here’s what Chatango looks like:
And this is what tlk.io looks like:
Then you can copy the embed code that they provide, and paste it into a code block in your Squarespace page.
Step 3: Set Up And Embed Your Live Video Broadcast
This part is a little more complicated, which is why we have detailed video instructions in Webinar Rockstar™.
If you want the step by step on how to set all of this up - plus all the templates you need for a successful webinar -
Create A YouTube Live:
There is an embed code that is provided once you set it all up.
Then you can simply copy and paste that little embed code into a code block in your Squarespace page!
When you’ve set it all up, it will look like this:
You’re obviously a smart cookie and could set this all up on your own.
But if you’re like me and like the step by step of it all, you can grab Website In A Box, which includes our super affordable Webinar Page Templates pack (for Squarespace only), which includes step-by-step guides to set up all 3 webinar pages.
The Free Webinar Set Up that Works
We’ve figured out a webinar system that works great, doesn’t cost anything, and only take a few minutes to set up a new webinar once you’ve got the hang of it.
If you’re struggling to pick a webinar platform, or have had technical issues with some of the paid platforms in the past, I recommend you try this setup!
Like I said, we’ve turned some big companies who were paying for super expensive webinar software into fans of our free set up.
It’s customizable, easy for anyone to do, and of course CHEAP!
Which, when you’re starting out and just trying to make those first few sales, can be the factor that allows you to get some initial profit and traction.