Webinars (webinars) are online meetings or lectures usually designed to educate participants. A webinar typically means real-time interaction with visitors, an indispensable way to build community. For some websites this can be an effective growth path, depending of course on the product you offer.
It’s not surprising, then, that there is a lack of tools designed to help WordPress users host webinars – especially with the recent idea of working from home. gaining more traction than ever before. That’s why we’ve created this custom toolbox for you to pick and choose and create your perfect WordPress webinar.
But first, let’s review some of the key features we think you should consider.
What Do I Want From WordPress Webinar Tools?
Firstly, webinars are educational. You want tools that facilitate information sharing. If you (or your staff, partners, or visiting lecturers) are going to present your content in real time, you’ll want a tool that supports video conferencing and file sharing, possibly collaborative document editing or something similar.
Latter, webinars are not video tutorials: they are supposed to be interactive. Depending on the size of the audience you expect and the exact type of content you offer, you may want them to engage with you and each other. You also want a set of moderation tools to keep the discussion from getting off track.
Finally, if you’re running a paid course, limit your content to paying customers. In this case, the least you can do is a sign up form, but you may want to look into more security features and payment gateway integrations.
Of course, if you’re in the business of selling complex educational content like courses, you might want a complete learning management system for WordPress, not just a simple webinar platform. In that case, we have a full list of LMS plugins for you to review. Only you know what is best for you.
With that in mind, let’s start our list of the best webinar tools for WordPress users.
one Free solution for your webinar needstake a look WebinarPress. The plugin uses the functionality of YouTube Live for real-time addresses or any of your pre-recorded content uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo or hosted on your server. It comes with a question and answer feature If you don’t want to do this live on video, you can use it to solve your audience’s problems later.
The plugin is fully responsive, meaning your webinar will look good regardless of the device your visitors might be using. WebinarPress also collects your visitors’ names and email addresses. custom email remindersand, even if they miss it, your visitors can replay your videos if they want to.
this Professional version Part of the plugin comes with even more useful functions such as payment or membership based access, Call to Action items, past and upcoming webinar widgets, integration with WooCommerce and Google calendar, and more.
Zoom has recently become one of the most popular video conferencing tools in the world. With Zoom Video WebinarsYou can leverage its power to help you create a webinar that will engage your visitors. zoom in Integrates with Facebook and YouTube, especially their Live functionality allows you to expand your online presence to these channels. take it too full reporting and analytics so you can be better informed when planning future events.
What we particularly like is the set of host controls: lead the discussion By muting or unmuting your panelists, allow your visitors to be panelists, and generally steer the discussion as constructively and productively as possible.
and independently developed Video Conferencing with Zoom The plugin allows you to easily integrate your Zoom webinar into your website. And while Zoom itself isn’t free for event organizers, at least this plugin is.
Skype It is a chat and conferencing application that is almost ubiquitous, especially among Windows users. Her the basic version is freeand you can use it to organize a small-scale conference. It makes no distinction between the panel and other participants, meaning you have no control over the discussion. It supports file sharing, but that’s it.
However, with Skype for Business you can also a shared whiteboardfor easier presentation, and with the Meeting Broadcast feature, you can unsurprisingly: broadcast your meeting to up to 10,000 other Skype users.
To integrate Skype meetings into your WordPress website, we recommend a Skype connection whitelist plugin such as: Allow Skype Protocol.
Apache Open Meetings free and open source alternative to premium conferencing software. It’s packed with useful additional features like instant messaging, whiteboarding, and collaborative document editing.
Apache Open Meetings also supports meeting recordingthis means you can rebroadcast your webinar for users who couldn’t get to the live stream, and it also has a scheduling (calendar) feature to make sure there are as few as possible. Moderators have a number of useful toolsSuch as allowing or disallowing whiteboard use for individual users, allowing one participant to speak while muting the others, and allowing or disallowing video or audio for individual users.
With WebinarJamyou get A complete webinar solution in one package. Features of this premium app include panels of up to 6 panelists, audience chat ( sticky announcements, highlighted comments, moderation tools and more) and automatic recordings. WebinarJam will even record chat comments and reproduce not only your presentation but the entire activity including chat and comments. There is also a calendar feature that lets you schedule live and replay sessions. The developers also promise high definition streaming on all devices from average home computers to mobile phones. WebinarJam supports viewers of up to 5,000 members.
WebinarIgnition It is a comprehensive service that allows you to create, edit and manage free or paid webinars From your WordPress dashboard. It comes with user-friendly templates for webinar pages that you can customize or use as is. addition uses YouTube Live, Livestream or Ustream for streamingbut it supports embedding live video on your WordPress website.
On the moderator side we find the live console, a moderation and reporting tool. Monitor attendee counts, manage in-stream call-to-action messages, and Live questions from your visitors.
Of course, WebinarIgnitions capabilities come at a hefty price – but it’s a one-time fee that gets you lifetime support and updates.
These are our picks for the best WordPress webinar tools. But which one is right for you? Yes, the first thing to consider is the budget. If you work on a tight budget or prefer open source software, try Apache or WebinarPress, the latter especially if you don’t have a strong technical background. If you’re already used to Skype or Zoom, why not try to integrate your preferred conferencing software into your website? Of course, if you’re willing to pay a hefty sum for a comprehensive, custom webinar package, we recommend going with Webinar Jam or WebinarIgnition. In any case, carefully study the list of features – you know your target audience and your capabilities. The choice, as always, is up to you.
