Look at you, out here on the internet and ready to establish yourself as an expert in your field. You’ve got the knowledge to share with an interested audience. So now it’s just a matter of developing a course—and having a webinar is an increasingly popular option to include in all online courses.
Having the right webinar tool to host your session will elevate the learning experience for your audience in so many ways, whether it’s because they’re easily able to access a livestream at the right time, submit questions via chat, collaborate with other learners in breakout rooms, or access a recording of the webinar afterward.
That’s why we’ve created a list of the 11 best webinar tools available for content creators on the internet.
Important Webinar Features for Course Creators
Like pretty much any other tool, webinar platforms come with pros and cons. The one that works best for what you want to offer your audience is going to depend on your specific needs, so before you go settling on any of the many tools available (and don’t worry, we do have some vetted recommendations), you want to consider the specific webinar you’re going to hold.
Think about:
- How do you want your students to engage with you? Most webinars involve some level of real-time interaction or a period for Q&A. Your platform should offer features that will enhance this engagement, such as through polls, surveys, or breakout rooms.
- How do you want to deliver content? Depending on how you plan to present any visual elements that come along with your webinar, you will want a platform that offers screen sharing capabilities or even multi-presenter features.
- Do you want your content to be evergreen and always available? Many brands want to make a recording of their webinar available for some period of time after the live session. Look for a platform that allows you to record the webinar and host it for streaming.
- How many people do you plan to have tune in? If you’re a larger brand and expecting a turnout of hundreds of people for your webinar, make sure your platform is able to accommodate that many users.
- Do you want to integrate with other platforms? Maybe you want to have the webinar available to stream directly from your website, or you want to send registration out via your email list. Look at what integration opportunities are available through each platform, and consider how you can use that to improve efficiency and increase your brand awareness.
The 11 Best Webinar Platforms for Course Creators in 2023
Want our picks? Okay, we’ve got you—we went and selected 11 of our favorite webinar platforms the have proven effective and popular with course creators so far in 2023:
WebinarFuel: This platform offers plenty of customization and it’s great for autoplaying.
Vimeo: You can expect great video quality on Vimeo, plus integration and branding, as well as in-depth analytics for tracking success.
Vidalytics: In addition to its autoplay capabilities, Vidalytics offers countdown features so registrants don’t forget about your webinar. Plus, it has conversion features to help you turn more attendees into customers.
Zoom: Nearly everyone is familiar with Zoom these days, making it very accessible to your audience. It’s secure, and setting up a webinar is simple. You can even embed the video on your website.
Kajabi: One of the noteworthy features of Kajabi is how easy it makes it for you to send followup messages to your audience after the webinar, whether with reminders, a CTA, or just to solicit feedback.
BigMarker: From an organization perspective, BigMarker makes it easy—setup is simple, it takes only a few minutes, and you have plenty of customization options.
Crowdcast: Crowdcast has become very popular in the past few years, likely owing to its easy usability. You also get a wide variety of tools and analytic options.
Demio: You have lots of features to choose from with Demio, such as live chats and polls. Demio also has nice aesthetics, and you can customize the webinar’s domain for easy access.
WebinarGeek: Because WebinarGeek is browser-based, you don’t need to download any new apps to use it; however, you still get many of the popular features you would have with an app-based platform.
eWebinar: Although this one does have live options, it’s best known for being a platform that makes it easy to upload prerecorded videos and either set a schedule for when the webinar becomes available or allow instant access for registrants as soon as they sign up.
GoToWebinar: If you’re looking to know more about your audience, GoToWebinar could be a good option, as it gives you attendee reports and other in-depth analytics, including where your registrants were clicking through to your registration page from.
How to Choose the Right Webinar Tool for Your Needs
We gave you a few thinking points to determine which features you want in your ideal webinar tool. Now that you’ve looked at some the options we recommend, it’s time to narrow down the choice. And the best way to do that is by taking the following four steps:
- Understand your audience size. Ask yourself how many people you can realistically expect. If you’re working with a platform that caps you off on attendees, consider limiting the number of registrants for your first few webinars. You can always move to a larger platform as interest grows.
- Consider your budget. The perfect-fit webinar platform doesn’t do you much good if it’s outside of your price range. Of course, a larger investment could be worthwhile if you truly expect it to convert customers and bring in more revenue for you in the long run. Set a budget for your webinar, including how much profit the webinar will generate for you. As interest in your webinar grows, so can your budget.
- Look for essential features. Prioritize the webinar features you need. If group chat options are a must, look specifically for those platforms. If you need to record and stream, then don’t compromise that need for other features you’d consider less important. It’s all about knowing which features are most important to you and which ones you can forgo.
- Integration with other platforms. If you plan to integrate, check to see whether the platform you’re considering can integrate with the other platforms you use. You don’t want to choose a webinar platform only to realize you can’t send registration out via your email blasts or embed the livestream on your website.
Which webinar platform is best for you?
We’ve given you a list with a few highlights, but now’s your opportunity to explore some of these platforms yourself. Don’t forget to make that list of all the features you prioritize as a course creator—once you’ve done that, you can click through to these platforms and see which one checks most of your boxes. (You’ll see that most of them offer pretty comparative features!)
By the way…if you’ve been trying different lead generation tactics, including a webinar for your target audience, but you’re struggling with an honest assessment of how effective it all is, our team wants to help. Did you know we offer a free marketing audit? Check it out to see how you can stop guessing and start growing today.
