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Chapter 1: Introduction and Why You Should Start a Virtual Summit

First and foremost, what is a virtual summit?

A virtual summit is an online conference that allows attendees from around the world to watch and learn from a live event. It's usually organized by one person, the host, and has a variety of 5 or more guest speakers, each discussing topics within a particular niche and/or industry.

The summit is often free for attendees; however, they provide their name and email address to gain access. It takes practice, dedication, and determination to host a successful summit, but once you have done the initial hard work, you will be able to take advantage of your learnings for future summits.

Who do virtual summits work for?

Fortunately, virtual summits are suitable for a range of people and industries, including but not limited to;

• Entrepreneurs
• Speakers
• Product creators
• Thought leaders
• Digital marketers
• Service providers
• Bloggers / podcasters
• B2B businesses
• Authors
• Non-profit organizations

In a range of different markets, including:

• Real Estate
• Social media
• Parenting
• Retail
• Self-love & confidence
• Bridal
• Travel
• Women in business
• Content marketing
• Personal training

Keep in mind that virtual summits may also work for non-traditional industries.

It may become your business’s most profitable and valuable resource! How? Keep reading.

What can you expect?

By hosting a virtual summit, you can expect to create a list of warm leads for your business. These warm leads can ultimately lead to customers. If you are looking to grow your database, or create a more robust, engaged list of potential buyers, a virtual summit is worth considering. It may be the pivot within your business that you have been looking for.

If you feel traditional, costly marketing methods aren't working for you, and you're pumping energy into strategies for minimal gain, it might be time to explore new, exciting options.

So, how will you and your business benefit from starting a virtual summit, and can you see yourself as an industry leader within this space? It is an exciting concept to think about, with countless opportunities. With effort and determination, you could turn a virtual summit into a successful marketing tool that’s imperative to your business. Think about the benefits of being one step ahead of the (marketing) game. Virtual summits are underrated and undervalued, so now is the perfect time to jump in, headfirst!

A virtual summit is not just about building your email list to generate leads. A summit can create interest to help scale your business. However, your business won’t be the only thing that reaps the benefits. Your profile is guaranteed to take the spotlight; whether you like it or not, you will sit at the forefront of your business.

Most audiences want to identify with ‘who’ sits behind the brand, what type of human they are, what makes them tick, their community, and environmental ethos. Even their delivery when speaking to a group of people matters. Gone are the days where people get to hide behind their business: You are your business.

10 benefits of hosting your virtual summit

Besides building a high-functioning email list, there are further benefits to hosting your virtual summit.

1. Raise your profile and visibility. Set yourself up as someone who people want to hear from, and who get excited when you land in their inbox. Become an expert in your industry, niche, or topic, and the go-to for your followers. Once you gain your audience’s trust, you have one step firmly in the door. Aligning yourself with other known experts in the industry will raise your visibility and endorse your credibility. Build your brand by association!

2. Establish strong relationships with experts and influencers. You will inevitably meet new (and exciting) people while organizing your summit. It is more than likely you’ll genuinely connect with one or more of those people. This will often lead to a long-term relationship where you’ll support and work with each other well into the future. Creating strong, meaningful relationships with your peers is an excellent way of up-skilling.

3. Develop and build your community. A community of loyal lifelong customers that keep coming back for more is a recipe for success. A group of fans that see value in what you do by providing engagement and connection with your business is the ideal scenario. Credibility through reviews and recommendations will bring high conversions and immense value to your business.

4. Free marketing. It won’t only be you promoting the summit. Speakers will be sharing and advertising YOUR event to their followers. Attendees will share among their friends, followers, and community, again, increasing your exposure and broadening your audience.

5. Other opportunities. By expanding your network, doors will open to new forms of publicity. For example, by being interviewed for a podcast, asked to guest write for a blog, or deliver a webinar to someone’s paid audience. Immerse yourself in the wider network you are creating.

6. Freedom. Stream your virtual summit from anywhere in the world. We all know the benefits of online; it doesn’t matter where you are; you can stay connected. Set your schedule, lock in dates that suit you, and invite people from all over the planet! It’s not only convenient for you but everyone participating in the event.

7. There’s no limit to how many people can attend. You can have thousands of people tapping into your summit from anywhere across the world. Not only does this open your summit up to just about everyone, but it saves overhead costs, including flights, accommodation, catering, and staff. As a bonus, you’re keeping the carbon footprint low. However, it is important to remember that you don’t need thousands of people to attend to build a successful summit.

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Top 10 Mistakes To Avoid In IM

Unrealistic Expectations

Internet Marketing (IM) won't cure AIDs or make you an instant millionaire. Many people get into Internet marketing with unrealistic expectations that they'd never consider entertaining if it were in some other field. Just because you don't need to go to school for years to get a degree in Internet marketing for you to be able to open an online business doesn't mean that it won't take hard work and commitment to succeed within this arena. Like other business endeavors, it's going to take money and time to get started and the results won't be instantaneous.

Let's take a look at some of the misconceptions that people have about Internet marketing and place them in a more realistic context. Some of these unrealistic expectations include the following:

- Little To No Work Involved – This may come about from the idea that there is little physical labor or that you are working in a virtual environment using the power of the Internet. However, as any business owner will tell you, running your own business always takes a lot of work to start and much more work to maintain. If you are getting into IM to make money, consider it a full-time job to start.

- It's Easy Money – Making money on the Internet is easier than doing manual labor. However, the number of hours you have to devote to learn the ins and outs is not limited to a 40-hour work week. Can you make easy money? Yes, but often this takes years of steady progress before you realize that dream.

- Anyone Can Do It – Anyone can hop online and build a blog, but it's not as simple as writing and attracting an audience. You will want to take the role of learner in this endeavor and seek to upgrade your skills and knowledge to exploit the power of the Internet. It's not a birthright that everyone has just waiting to be put to use. You have to make a conscious decision to work at it and to keep learning.

- You Can Make Tons Of Money In One Shot – It may come as a surprise to many people that the “tons of money” actually comes from a number of diverse online ventures. You probably won't make tons of money on just one blog, although that does occasionally happen. Instead, if you concentrate on building multiple income streams from a variety of websites, products, and services, you'll have a much better chance of striking it rich later on.

Not Enough Research Before Starting

If people fall prey to any of the unrealistic expectations we've discussed, the outcome is that they don't spend enough time researching and planning their online activities to make them a success. Instead, they'll think it's just a matter of slapping a website up and putting a shopping cart on it to get orders. That couldn't be the furthest thing from the truth. You have to start by knowing what niches are hot online and how you plan on attracting people to your site. Even if you managed to get a huge traffic stream, do you know enough to convert those visitors into leads or customers? This is where people fail miserably when they could have improved the chances of success simply by taking some extra time upfront to research and learn how to implement a successful online business.

What Is Your Hot Niche?

Typically, people can get carried away with a specific, personal passion that they instantly focus all their energies on marketing it, thinking that customers will be equally enthralled with this topic. That's a poor way to establish a business online, especially with so much information online about what people are actually buying, searching for, or talking about. Why not market something that everyone already has an interest in and that don't need to be convinced to buy?

One thing to remember when working out what niche you want to target is that they can be dependent on world events. Right now, the recession has made some niches more important than others. Finance is always a hot niche, but the influence of the recession means that there is less interest in the stock market and housing and more interest in debt management and consolidation. Or, you might find a sub-niche like “gold mining stocks,” which weren't very popular before the recession, but that now have numerous investors flocking to them.

Research Using Online Tools

Use online tools like Google Keyword Analyzer to find out what keywords, and thus niches, are being searched currently. Go to places like Digg.com or Technorati.com to find out what topic is tops on everyone's mind right now. Go to eBay.com or Amazon.com and look through their top sellers. This will give you great ideas on what is hot and easily marketable, even before you take the time to develop a website or open a blog, saving you tons of time and heartache down the road.

Fuzzy Branding

Fuzzy branding can apply to multiple aspects of your online business. It can be as obvious as a bad domain name or it can even be how poorly you've designed the site. It's any fault in your site that is an Internet faux pas that makes it difficult for your visitors to associate your name with the brand of product or service you're offering. Instead, they're left scratching their heads trying to figure out what your site is all about.

Domain Names Are Very Important

After you have your niche in mind, it's time to start getting the elements of your website together. You will have to register a domain name and start to think about the organization and branding of your site. If you are selling fishhooks online, you want to try to include that in your domain name somehow. A good domain name is short, descriptive, and tells the customer in a few words what your business is all about. Obviously, many domain names have already been bought, leaving you less choice on what to name your site. If you must pay someone else for a name, be sure it is a very well branded name that is going to stick with your business for a while.