As long as your attendees aren’t paying anything more, I think this practice not only serves them, but makes financial sense for YOU, the seminar leader.

Here is what I do.

If I think a given site and that site’s resources will be of great value to my seminar students I’ll reserve a domain name specifically for that site.

As an example, I often tell people about where they can reserve domain names. I send them to http://www.UltraCheapDomains.com.

I am NOT in the domain business, but I do get asked all the time where people should go to get them. I send them to the above site and I end up getting a VERY SMALL “piece of the action”.

My attendees don’t have to pay more and I am essentially serving as a straight commission salesperson for them.

IF you do this, make sure and reserve a domain name for every site that you send people to.

Make it easy to remember and spell. Another one of mine is:

http://www.CoolSpyTool.com.

Easy to remember and spell. Do the same for yourself. Go to UltraCheapDomains, reserve a domain name and then insert your affiliate code in the forwarding box in that domain.

If this makes no sense to you, take a look at the video on the site which explains this.

It’s something EXTRA. Unannounced and unexpected.

People always like little positive surprises like this. I suggest you do the same. Find one or two things of fairly decent value to GIVE people that you did NOT promise.

Those from Louisiana call this LAGNIAPPE.

It’s not just a good idea in Louisiana, it’s a good idea anytime you do a seminar or event of any kind.

There are two primary things I suggest you do.

One is a longer, more detailed promotional brochure. You will want to do it on an 11X17 coated paper. Given the relatively inexpensive prices of printing these days, you should probably opt for “4 color” printing. This just means that you print in FULL COLOR.

You’ll want to concentrate first on your headline. This will be the most important element of the brochure. Make sure you make it a SELF mailer. Putting the piece in an envelope will only depress your response rates.

On this piece, also make sure to include:

• Lots of bullet points detailing what people will learn
• Plenty of testimonials, preferably audio and/or video
• A bio that will make people want to hear YOU
• Pricing that is tiered based on how soon people respond
• Bonuses that make sense to anyone who visits
• A website address for those who need more info
• Where and when the event will be held

If you opt to do a postcard, here are some of the things you need to know:

• Use a postcard that is over-sized to make sure it gets seen
• Your headline becomes critical to success
• Don’t PACK it with copy, make it “airy” and easy to read
• Your primary goal is to drive people to a site

When using either or both of these direct mail methods, the most critical item is your list. The best list is one that you compile yourself. This will make it MUCH more likely to get people sign up.

I never recommend that people use compiled or purchased lists to promote a seminar. They usually don’t pull enough response to justify their purchase.

You should always TRY and write the copy yourself You may find you are very good at it. If you’re like me you’ll find that you are NOT particularly good.

No worries.

You can have a professional copywriter write the copy for your seminar or event. IF you have a LOAD of cash!

Hiring GOOD copywriters to write an entire site will NOT come cheap.

If you’re on a limited budget, I suggest you write the copy yourself and then have someone like Sabrina Brick TWEAK the copy that you write.

This will save you a lot of money AND allow you to promote your event with some very well written copy.

You can find Sabrina at:

http://www.SuperFastTweak.com

(Make sure to tell her where you found her!)

Only .com? Not .net or .org or any of the others? Yes, ONLY .com. I don’t want to spend a lot of time here telling you why,
just trust me, ONLY use a DOT COM!

Try and keep it SHORT, EASY TO SPELL and EASY TO REMEMBER.

Here’s an example:

David Hamilton (the WebMarketingMagician) and I will be doing a seminar called Fire Your Webmaster! We will be using the DOT COM of the same name to promote that event.

Follow the steps to create the title of your event and then see if the .com is available. Come up with a few different titles and don’t get MARRIED to any of them until you have checked to see that the domain is available.

REVENUE:

• Registration Dollars – before the event
• Registration Dolars – onsite
• Product Sales – Your own
• Product Sales – Other Presenters (usually 50% for you)
• Coaching/Consulting Dollars
• Sales of Registrations to Future Events (usually discounted)

Expenses:

• Expenses to Market the event
• Food Expenses
• Expenses from the rental of the venue
• Equipment Rental

There will most likely be more sources for both the expense and revenue are that aren’t listed here. The KEY is to make sure that you record every revenue and expense to make sure you get the REAL profit or loss from your event.

That being said, since I OWN all of the equipment already, I capture most of my events on BOTH audio AND video.

There are a SMALL number of my customers who will ONLY buy videos. Regardless of what the content is.

There are some people who will ONLY order if I have something available in that particular form. Fine. That’s who they are.

YOU need to be thinking of WHAT MAKES SENSE?

If you are doing a program that happens to be on cooking, there is little chance that an audio program alone will BEST serve your audience.

If the material warrants the use of video, then use it.

If you don’t own the equipment, borrow it from a friend. Try not to rent it. MUCH too expensive. Once you are convinced that you will be recording a lot of your programs, then go to

http://www.BHPhoto.com

They have a wide selection of products at very reasonable prices. I buy ALL of my video/audio equipment from either them or Costco.

That being said, I record almost all of my bigger events in both audio and video form. I already own all the equipment, so it doesn’t really cost me anything extra but a little time and effort.

That being said, if you’re like me, I PREFER to learn using audio. When I travel back and forth to the L.A. area from Las Vegas, I’m constantly listening to audio learning programs.

It is a time where I can learn a LOT by just sitting in the car.

If the material is NOT easily taught by using just audio, then you will need to capture it in video form as well.

Most of the interview I do are done without the use of video. Why? They don’t need it.

Ask yourself the question: “Can my customer be well served to get this information in AUDIO form?”

If the answer is YES, then you need to make sure that you make the audios available to them.

In what format? Most of what I do these days is downloadable. I record everything in MP3 format.

You do NOT need to record it in a higher quality format than that. It’s just voice, it’s NOT music.

For all of my audio recording I use a Marantz PMD 660. There are many other choices, some of them much less expensive, but that’s what I use!

Not having products at a seminar to sell that relate in some manner, shape or form to your topic is NUTS. You must have some.

If you don’t know how to put them together, that problem is EASILY solved. If you don’t have to proper knowledge or content in your field, then I can’t help you! That you’ll need to acquire yourself before producing products.

Often times when an event is being audio or video taped, the presenter will offer those recordings for sale to the audience members. Not a bad idea, but it’s not going to bring you in a ton of revenue!

Why?

People have just paid to be at your event. Presumably they’ve been paying attention. It’s a very hard sell to get them to pay for what they’ve already PAID FOR.

If you have an event that costs $1000, there is probably a good chance you can get people to cough up $100 for the audios and a bit more for the videos, but not much more than that.

IF you do that, announce it at the very beginning of your program. That way people won’t feel the need to feverishly take notes.

In addition to the products that your guest speaker may offer your audience (that you will get 50% of the dollars from), you may also want to consider a package of YOUR products that are RELATED to the topic.

Make people an “irresistible offer” and they will usually. go for it.

If you’re looking for some kind of SUBLIMINAL or HYPNOTIC formula here, you’ve come to the wrong place.

You may be able to initially get people to buy more from you, but the snake oil salesmen method of getting people to buy will only cause people to be REALLY pissed off at you later on.

I’ve seen it. Do NOT do it.

Instead, do as this section tells you on the website.

I’ve been doing this a long time. It works. Do it my way and you’ll have less aggravation in the future.