#we’re on cone 2 with slash

[grailfinders]

Grailfinders Viewers' Choice #15: V1

today on Grailfinders it’s our first Viewers’ Choice build in Pathfinder 2e, V1 from Ultrakill! the long and short is: he robot, he go to hell, he shoot everything there. he’s like the Doomguy, if the Doomguy ate hell as he went. or if the Doomguy had an official dakimakura of him in a schoolgirl’s uniform.

yeah, Ultrakill gets weird at times. anyways, V1’s a Pistolero Gunslinger to pull of sick trickshots with his pistol, but he’s also getting the Sterling Dynamo dedication to pick up some extra literal arms from his brother and he’s an Occult Witch to pick up some figurative arms from hell.

check out his build breakdown below the cut, or his character sheet over here!

Ancestry & Background

unlike wotc, Paizo realized that there’s more than one kind of robot in the world, so we actually have some choice this time around. that being said, we’re making V1 an Automaton, both for its combat capabilities and because it too is the last vestiges of a dying civilization. You get a stat boost in Strength and one ability of your choice like Dexterity, and you also gain access to Low-Light Vision. as Something Wicked taught us many painful times, V1 does not have true darkvision. because of your Automaton Core, you’re not really a construct, and can be healed and damaged like a normal humanoid. while that removes some resistances and immunities, it also means you won’t instantly die at 0 HP, so checks and balances.

on the plus side, you still have a Constructed Body, so you don’t need to eat, drink, or sleep. you still need to take a long rest, but you’re not unconscious for the 2 hours it takes. really frees up the ol’ calendar for some speedrun practice.

while your punches are pretty powerful, this is a first-person shooter, so you’re starting off as a Sharpshooter Automaton. this gives you the Automaton Aim action, reducing the accuracy penalty for firing your gun at a longer range. trust me, nobody wants to be up close and personal with a Sisyphean Insurrectionist.

if you do fight in close quarters, you’re going to want something better than a regular old fist to fight with, right? the Automaton Armament you get gives you a Claw attack, dealing slashing damage and using your dexterity to aim.

at level 5, your Arcane Safeguards let you Resist Magic as a reaction, adding +1 to your save against a spell, and also increasing the odds of a critical success against arcane spells. most of your adventure is in hell, so failing against a plane shift would be really awkward.

at level 9 your wings finally do something, thanks to Arcane Propulsion. once a day, you can fly for up to five minutes. I know you technically can’t fly in Ultrakill, but have you seen some of those speedruns? you can fly enough.

at level 13 you get a Rain of Bolts, letting you fire shrapnel in either a cone or in a circle around you once per day. man, that minigun has a worse recharge time than I remembered…

at level 17 your Astral Blink gives you sick gamer reflexes, so you can Dimension Door once an hour at 4th level. grappling hooks- always cool.

oh, and of course you’re a Warrior. not much else for a literal killing machine to be, really. boosts to Constitution and Dexterity, training in Intimidation, and the Intimidating Glare feat. I don’t think V1 even has a mouth, so this’ll help a lot.

Levels

1. okay, first up the proficiencies: trained in Will saves and Class DCs, Unarmed, Simple, and Martial attacks, as well as Unarmored, Light, and Medium defense. you start off trained in Occultism, Acrobatics and Religion to fight demons and know what you’re fighting, and as you level up your intelligence you get training in Athletics, Arcana, Medicine, and Diplomacy. you’re an expert in Perception, Fortitude and Reflex saves, as well as Simple and Martial firearms and crossbows. we’d prefer firearms, but if you gotta fit in, you gotta fit in.

as for your actual level, your Key Ability as a gunslinger is Dexterity. you also get an Ability Boost off the bat for some more Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Intelligence. be prepared for 0 boosts to Charisma, V1 just straight-up does not talk.

if you get attacked, you can Hit the Dirt! and leap out of the way, giving you a bonus to your AC and knocking you prone when you land. that’s a combat slide baby!

you’re also trained in the Way of the Pistolero, training you in Deception (though I still want to use Intimidation as the way skill), and giving you a Raconteur’s Reload. that means you can demoralize or create a diversion and reload in the same action!

you can also move Ten Paces as a free action when combat starts. you get a plus 2 to the initiative roll, and you can draw your pistol at the same time. you can also step up to 10’ away as a free action at the start of your first turn.

your Singular Expertise gives you a +1 bonus to all damage from firearms and crossbows, at the cost of reducing your proficiency with other weapons. they’re all trained, and they can’t be improved until your gun skills do. it’s not a huge deal since you don’t use that many regular weapons anyway, but it’s something to keep in mind if you intend to modify this build at home.

2. a level 2 you can make a timely Pistol Twirl as an action to feint an opponent nearby. if you succeed they’re flat-footed against your ranged and melee attacks, if you critically fail, you’re flat-footed against all their attacks. it’s not quite a charged shot, but you’re more likely to get a critical hit, so I’ll count it.

you can also Cat Fall, reducing all your falling damage. I don’t think Ultrakill even has fall damage, right? Either you live or you don’t.

I guess we’re facing off against V2 now, since you’re already getting your Sterling Dynamo dedication. with this, you can replace a limb or add a new one, though you can’t get an extra hand this way. yes, sadly we won’t be quadruple-wielding this build. I know, now it’s unplayable.

the good news is that it’s silver, so it deals extra damage against devils, and the Power Driver Dynamo you get deals more damage (a d8) than your stock hand while also shoving creatures around. You have to keep a hand free to use this, but you’re not really getting any two-handed weapons anyway. The one other downside is you need to keep the whole thing wound up, spending a minute to wind it for the next 24 hours. this doesn’t sound bad, but enemies can disable the thing to cut down the timer, and later you’ll get abilities that spend windup time. there’s a reason most of your fights only last a few minutes.

3. at third level you become Fleet, giving you an extra 5’ of movement speed. it’s no monk movement, but that does speed you up enough to change your leap to a max of 15’ in a go. you’re also better at Occultism now. it’s not useful yet, but you need to know a lot about hell in order to get down there. without dying, I mean. getting to hell is real easy if you don’t mind being stuck down there.

you’re also Stubborn, improving your Will Saves and you can save more often against being controlled. I doubt there’s that many people in hell with 1337 hacker skillz, but it’s better safe than sorry, y’know?

4. at level four you kind of get your shotgun, allowing you to perform a Black Powder Boost. Whenever you leap, you can spend some ammo to go an extra 10’. so yes, now you can move as much as most player characters can in an action as a reaction. you’re not super-fast, but god are you hard to pin down.

when you land without taking damage, you can make a Rolling Landing as a reaction to step away from your landing point. this will also improve as your acrobatics does- as an expert you can stride up to half your speed, as a master you can move at full speed, and as a legend you don’t trigger reactions.

finally, you tinker around with v2’s arm a bit to make it a Modular Dynamo. I’m sure he won’t mind. now you can swap your power driver for Entangling Barbs or vice-versa as an action, giving you a short-range grappling hook for enemies. we’ll get the real one later, don’t worry.

5. at level five you get another Ability Boost in Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Intelligence. your Gunslinger Weapon Mastery bumps up your proficiency with all your weapons, and you’re an expert in Acrobatics for better movement tech.

6. at level six we finally get a shotgun proper thanks to Scatter Blast. I mean you can always just buy a shotgun (and you need to for this action to work) but now it’s Ultrakill-tier, with a longer range and a wider scatter shot. it even explodes now! directly on you, with a critical failure! this is why most people don’t punch their own guns.

you become an Underwater Marauder, preventing you from being flat-footed while swimming, and you can use your fists without penalty. hey, the water level’s going to happen eventually, might as well prepare for it.

you can also Piston Punch with v2’s arm, attacking two creatures at the same time at the cost of two actions and an hour of winding.

7. at level seven you can Skitter while prone, crawling up to half your speed when you move. it’s hard to match Ultrakill’s movement in a turn-based game, but at least you can slide around wherever you want now.

you’re also a master in Acrobatics now, giving you even more space to move around with, and your Vigilant Senses make you a master in Perception. finally, your Weapon Specialization adds extra damage to all the weapons you specialize in. currently, that’s a +3 to most firearms, and a +2 to your unarmed attacks.

8. at level eight you can Leap and Fire when you hit the dirt, letting you take a shot at whoever triggered the reaction mid-leap. this is about as close as we’re getting to a true parry system, but you deal more damage with your guns anyway, so… close enough.

we’re not done upgrading your reactionary dodges though, since with Kip Up you can stand from prone as a free action without triggering attacks. now you can finally boost dodge, something you could do since… the first level in-game. this is going a bit out of order, sorry about that.

we also finally get your Witch Dedication, which will let us start filling out the rest of your arsenal. we’re picking an Occult patron, since that’s probably what devils count as, right? At least I assume it’s some kind of devil leaving guns all over the place in hell…

you get trained in occult spellcasting, and you also get trained in Survival. to be honest, most of these skills aren’t really something we need for the build- turns out a silent murder machine isn’t that complicated. still, we had to pick something.

as a witch, you get a familiar, which is basically a living spellbook. they come packed with a couple cantrips, but you can only pick one per day, so we’re only going over one or two spells per level. Warp Step will greatly increase your speed, giving you an extra five feet of movement for a turn and letting you stride or fly twice as part of the two-action spell. if you’d rather focus on looking cool, Musical Accompaniment will give you that sweet sweet Ultrakill soundtrack in the background, giving you a +1 bonus to performance checks for a minute, and possibly some other checks as well, as deemed appropriate by your DM. all this comes at a cost to your stealth checks, which- yeah, duh. it’s hard to sneak with a boombox on your back

9. at ninth level your advanced deed, Pistolero’s Retort unlocks. with this, you can react to someone nearby critically failing an attack on you to take a shot on them. again, not quite a parry, but the spirit is there.

you also have Gunslinger Expertise, which does what you’d think, and you’re now a master in Occultism. we’re still not at the point where we can invade hell yet, but we’ll get something nice next level for your trouble.

10. finally, tenth level is here! bump up your Strength Dexterity Constitution and Intelligence again, then grab Deflecting Shot to parry a wider range of attacks- if a nearby ally would get hit, you can fire a shot to add 2 to their AC. and don’t worry, you’ll know if the +2 will make a difference, since you can use this after the attack is declared.

your sliding also gets boosted thanks to Nimble Crawl. Currently, it’s the same as skittering, but as you improve in acrobatics, you can crawl at full speed, and as a legend you won’t even be flat-footed, allowing you to finally have a proper shootout sliding around like a greased pig, just the way god intended.

you also get access to Basic Witch Casting, giving you one spell slot per day for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level spells. Gravitational Pull is a first level spell that pulls a creature up to 20 feet closer to you if they fail a fortitude save, knocking them prone on a critical failure. sadly, this doesn’t pull you towards them on a success, but that would be cool, huh? you could also grab a Kinetic Ram to push creatures away from you like v2’s arm should.

for your second level spell, Inner Radiance Torrent is a must have for your railgun. you can spend two actions to two rounds on this spell, making it either a 60’ or 120’ line. if you spend two whole turns charging it up, you deal extra damage and irradiate yourself for a minute. you can also Shatter for your shotgun’s alt fire.

finally, your third level spells! Vampiric Touch is a must-have, finally letting you drink the blood of your enemies for healing! you deal negative damage to an enemy in melee range, gaining temporary HP out of the deal for 1 minute. you can also grab Ghostly Weapon to fight Mindflayers. I think they’re ghosts? I don’t know.

11. eleventh level gunslingers get Evasion, mastering your reflex saves and improving your successes with them. you can also Siphon Life by spending two actions now! I know you have to get dropped to 0 HP by a negative enemy first, but I mean. it’s hell. there’s going to be negative enemies there. and if you’ve managed to do a deathless run of Ultrakill so far, that’s as impressive as it is unlikely.

still, this means you can deal extra negative damage when you punch a living creature, forcing a fortitude save against them and healing you based on how much damage takes.

you’re also more Athletic now, congrats.

12. at level twelve, your Ricochet Shot finally lets you bounce a bullet off a coin to ignore cover. I know this is the second gun you get in the game, but to be fair you don’t have to buy it right away.

you can also Quick Jump, so now your black powder boosts can be added to your High and Long jumps as well, while also packaging everything into one action.

finally, you take a Basic Lesson in Witchcraft, learning the Lesson of Calamity. you learn the Stumbling Curse hex to mess around with your enemy’s movement via creative usage of grappling hooks, while your familiar learns Ill Omen. if their target fails a will save, they get disadvantage on at least one attack roll or skill check next turn. this way you can still mess around with the grappling hook, even if your enemy is too heavy to move that often.

13. at lucky level 13 you become a Gunslinging Legend, improving your training with all weapons once more. you also gain Medium Armor Expertise, improving your armor training. you’re also an expert in Intimidation now. I mean you can basically intimidate for free every time you reload, you might as well be good at it, right?

14. as a 14th level gunslinger you can perform a Dance of Thunder, spending all three of your actions to just viciously abuse the action economy. You can now step, strike a nearby enemy, and reload, repeating the three actions each time you successfully hit your target up to two more times. all this comes at the cost of making your fatigued for a minute afterwards, reducing your AC and saves, but it won’t matter much if your enemies are all dead, right?

you know what we need? better boosts. with Powerful Leap, your leaps can move five feet vertically, or an extra five feet horizontally. that means you can now move further than most people can move in an action as a reaction, shoot the guy who tried to attack you, and finish it all off standing. now I’m pretty confident we’re matching ultrakill in terms of movement. maybe not the weird momentum stuff, but we’ve still got six levels to go.

you also learn some Expert Witch Spellcasting, improving your occult spell training and giving you a fourth and fifth level spell now, with a sixth level spell to come. with your fourth level slot, we can finally use everyone’s favorite weapon, the drill! Dimension Anchor can keep an enemy from teleporting for up to an hour, but if you’d rather have a bunch of blood and damage the Vampiric Maiden can help out. it deals damage, gives you temporary HP, and can immobilize an enemy for a round.

for your fifth level spell, grab Repelling Pulse to really knock a creature around and deal damage at the same time.

15. another Ability Boost, this time into Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom to shake things up. you also become a Titan Wrestler, allowing you to shove and grapple creatures up to two sizes larger. I’m pretty sure this means King Minos is still out of your weight class, but I’m sure we’ll figure out some way to parry him later.

you now have a Grim Swagger while wielding your gun, making an intimidation check against the will dcs of all creatures in 30’, frightening them or making them flee on a success. I know it’s tempting to use an Ultrakill meme for this, but fight the urge! you can do it, I believe in you.

you also have a Greater Weapon Specialization, and the greatest skill in Acrobatics. you now take no falling damage from any height, can move up to 30’ when you hit the ground without causing an attack, and you can slide around at full speed with no downside.

16. at level 16 you can parry ranged attacks with an Instant Return, catching a bullet out of the air and firing it back at the poor son of a bitch who tried to shoot you.

you’re also better with speed tech now thanks to Aerobatics Mastery helping you maneuver in flight.

you can also use Murksight to see through fog, mist, rain, and snow. you’re just as accurate in Wrath as you are anywhere else, and given how much blood you get on you on a daily basis, that probably counts as rain too.

you also get that sixth level spell slot I was talking about. Suspended Retribution lets you get a real counterattack off if you read your target right. You pick a specific trigger, and then for the next minute the target will take 70 points of damage whenever they activate the spell, though they can also waste a whole turn to remove it. either you restrict the enemy’s attack pattern, or you get a free turn. either way, a fun spell.

17. you’re now a Juggernaut, making you a master of Fortitude and improving your successful saves. robots! pretty tough. they should make armies out of the things.

your Shootists Edge makes you a master of your Class DC, and your mastered firearms can now completely ignore the range penalty when firing them. that’s the great thing about robot gunslingers- no breathing or heartbeats to affect their aim. you’re also Legendary in Occultism now- it’s a secret tool that’ll help us later.

18. it’s later! you now know Master Witch Spellcrafting, improving your spell power again and giving you a seventh level spell! there’s just one we want this time- the spell Plane Shift. Now you can finally invade hell, just like you always wanted! So I guess we haven’t played any of the game yet? Kind of makes sense, Hell is a tough place to invade. don’t ask where we got the arm though.

you can also use Bizarre Magic to make it harder for people to recognize or identify spells you cast. turns out, it’s hard to translate binary on the fly, who knew?

you can now Reach for the Stars when you use a black powder boost. for each dose of power or piece of ammunition spent, you can add another 10’ to your leap, up to five times in a single jump. that means you can leap up to 80’ as a reaction, changing direction with each piece of black powder used. now we have matched Ultrakill in terms of stupid momentum bullshit.

19. for your 19th level, your True Perception gives you a permanent True Seeing spell. now you see the world for what it truly is, a… visual novel? weird. you can get that thanks to your Incredible Senses making you legendary in perception. you also have Medium Armor Mastery, improving your armor training to master. you’re also a master in Intimidation now. I know this isn’t as ridiculous as last level, but I wanted you to have plenty of time to enjoy blowing yourself up.

20. finally, you hit level 20. you get one last Ability Boost in Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom, and your Slinger’s Reflexes give you an extra reaction each turn for counterattacks.

now that you’ve filled out the in-game encyclopedia, you have Assured Identification, making it easier to identify magic. thank god.

one last thing before you go- you learn the Lesson of Death as your final witchy bonus. sure, the Curse of Death is cool, dealing tons of damage and killing an enemy in 3-4 rounds, but the real reason we’re here is so your familiar can learn Raise Dead, because Gabriel knows you aren’t getting through this game without it.

oh right, one last thing before the pros and cons- your eighth level spell, Devour Life. force a fortitude save on a target, dealing 60 negative damage and healing you for half that in real HP. excess is temporary, and if this takes a target to 0 HP they instantly die.  simple, effective, and very, very bloody.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

your positioning on the battlefield is super important in Pathfinder, and V1 is one of the best builds we’ve done to date when it comes to controlling his own position as well as his enemy’s. He’s relatively fast, can slide around and fly, and most importantly he can move reactively, which saves his actions for attacking while also giving him a better idea of where to move, and that’s all before we talk about how he can push and pull enemies like he’s taking their turns for them.

He’s also great at abusing the Action Economy, with Hit the Dirt effectively giving him an extra move and attack action from pretty early on in the build, plus his Dance of Thunder letting him take three turns in one go to cap off a fight.

a lot of times, damage focused characters have issues with longevity, especially when it comes to healing themselves. V1 does not have that problem, with his vampirism allowing him to patch himself up without losing out on damage.

Cons:

unlike Ultrakill, you have limited ammunition in Pathfinder. maybe. obviously it depends on your DM, but when you’re using five bullets per reaction they’re going to cut you off eventually. you also have limited ammo in terms of your spells- only having one slot per level seriously limits how often you can cast stuff.

you’re great in combat, but you’re practically a dead fish when it comes to socialization. you have almost no skills except for threatening people, and even then you have the lowest charisma score possible. there’s a reason you’re a silent protagonist. and alone.

a lot of your abilities don’t become useful right away. we barely use intimidation at all, and your occultism uses up a lot of skill improvements despite the fact that we use it for almost nothing beyond unlocking spells in the second half of the build.

#ultrakill #pathfinder 2e #pf2e #v1 #gunslinger #witch #sterling dynamo

[boyfrillish]

sweet like ice cream

Fandom: Pokémon Black 2 & White 2

Pairing: Hugh x Nate

Word count: 500

Notes: I wrote this at the beginning of November when I was in a mood for some silly, mindless fluff featuring one of my favourite comfort ships. I probably took some liberties and also Hugh is a sweetheart while Nate is pining.

~

When Team Plasma retreats, Nate and Hugh leave the Castelia Sewers. Nate blinks at the sky and the sun reflecting from the glass facades. The Sewers aren’t as bad as you’d expect, but he’s glad to be outside in daylight and breathe fresh air again. A bustling metropolis like Castelia City is nothing like his hometown, but Nate likes it here. The scenery is beautiful in its own way and the many corners and towers invite for exploring, just like any route or cave does.

“Great job, Nate!” Hugh says. “I knew I could count on you.”

“We’re an amazing team!” Nate says, smiling. “Thanks for healing my Pokémon down there.”

“Anytime.” Hugh’s lips quirk up. “Hey, how about we have a break and get some Casteliacones? You’ve always wanted to try those, right? The ads were all over the TV ages ago.”

Nate’s heart flutters, almost like the thrill of Pokémon battles. Then again, this sensation isn’t news at all. “You remember that?”

“Of course I do. So, how about it? My treat, as thanks for backing me up after I pulled you into this mess.”

“Okay.”

They walk along Oceanfront Road, headed for Mode Street. Not a single person stands in line for ice cream. Hugh orders for both of them, and Nate can’t hide his smile, rocking on his feet to channel the energy. It’s a date. A friend date.

That’s all he could ask for.

Walking on ahead with their ice cream cones, they find a spot to sit at the Central Plaza, with their Pokémon partners relaxing right beside them. Everything is so perfectly movie-like.

But just when Nate wants to have the first taste of his delicious treat, a nearby Pokémon’s cry startles him. His ice cream cone drops straight down, and he can only watch in horror as it forms a sad, gooey puddle on the concrete.

“No! My ice cream!”

Hugh huffs a laugh, watching as Dewott and Pignite interrupt their playtime to jump at the opportunity for a treat. “Hey, at least our partners still enjoy it.”

“That’s nice, but…” Nate pouts. “I really wanted to try it.”

“Aw, come on. Don’t cry, Nate.” Hugh pats his shoulder comfortingly — and offers his cone. “Here. You can finish mine.”

“Wait, for real?”

“For real,” Hugh says. “Now no more whining, okay? Show me your best smile.”

Nate laughs and throws his arms around him in an enthusiastic half-hug. “You’re the best, Hugh!”

Hugh chuckles under his breath, squeezing his shoulder to return the hug, and Nate feels like his heart is going to burst. Sharing an ice cream cone with his best friend slash secret crush — that’s even better than the movies.

Nate may not be ready yet to express his feelings in new ways, nervous to test the waters of what may wait beyond friendship — maybe a little nervous about rejection — but he treasures every moment spent together. He can’t wait for their adventure through Unova to continue, his path intertwining with Hugh’s at every step.

AO3 link

#pokemon bw2 #pokemon black 2 and white 2 #hugh x nate #greyskyshipping #trainer nate #rival hugh #pokemon black and white 2 #boyfrillish writing tag

[darkwood-sleddog]

Conehead...

#canine #dog #dogblr #alaskan malamute #slash #look i wanna have a WORD with whoever manufactures these cones #20 bucks a pop and they cant hold up to shit? #we’re on cone 2 with slash

[falcor-thee-luck-dragon]

Love Cuts Deep

Chapter 10- These Are Strange Times

Summary: Could something positive be truly on the horizon? With the random intrusion of though-to-be-dead Scott Lang at the Avengers Facility, your hope for seeing Bucky again may have yet to be a possibility.

Warning: yeah nothing enjoy the ride

Masterlist

-Five years since the Blip-

Throwing on a dark sleeveless top, you suddenly feel the overwhelming urge to sneeze which evidently causes your little furry companion to startle at the unexpected noise. The furry tigress lets out a meow of protest that pulls forth a humored snicker from you, while the little beast sends you an annoyed look.

Recovering her bearings in a flash, she walks across the short wooden dresser like a model strutting on the runway, her thick mane of mahogany and dark chocolate fur glossy and adequately brushed to perfection, just how your spoiled Main Coon, Silver, likes it.

She purrs happily as she begins playing with Bucky’s dog tags that lay across the small dresser top.

“What are you do..? Oh give me that you little shit.” Silver ignores you until she’s rudely lifted and placed firmly on the carpeted floor before you snatch up the valuable memorabilia. Placing it around your neck where it belongs then glancing down to give her a casual shrug, “Don’t give me that look Silv, I bought you a cool bird feathered cat toy like three days ago. What happened to that?” Silver meows, running her head against your worn out old boots as you smile, “Guess it’s as good as dead huh, you little beast. Now you staying or coming with me to find Nat?” Nothing but purrs of affection.

You lean down to gently rub her head before standing up fully and heading for the door, Silver hot on your heels. Soon you’re both traveling down the hallway until you finally reach the large study. Natasha’s on a conference call with Carol, Rodney, Okoye, and the last two guardians of the galaxy, Rocket and Nebula. And by the looks of it, nothing new has been reported. How disappointing.

Soon they all log off, leaving Natasha alone with Rodney who stays to give Nat a little insight into Barton’s violent whereabouts from the last couple years since he’s been rouge. Apparently he took out a whole cartel in Mexico, so he’s been busy. Definitely not keeping up with those group therapy sessions Steve makes you go to to help cope with the loss. Not that you’ve actually been that consistent with them if we’re being real here.

Quickly enough, Rodney logs out, leaving a tearfully conflicted Natasha as she slouches in her comfy swivel chair. Head in her hands as she holds back the waterfall that threatens to spill within her. You take a step forward, leaning casually against a steel rimmed display area for random nick-nacks. “I’d join you in the fun, but I’m limiting my crying sessions between 1 and 2 in the morning on Tuesdays. So, uh....I brought Silver.” You smile, pointing a finger down to your loyal companion, “Well I guess she brought herself but you know.”

Natasha breaks out into a reluctant grin, genuinely happy to have a bit of positive company within her gloom, “And you didn’t even want her to begin with.” Laughs the red head, “Now I never see one without the other.”

You nod with an almost shy smile, “Yeah, she’s alright.” 

You hear soft movement making its way through the hallway behind you just as Silver meows when Steve casually saunters into the room, coming to stand next to your side as the furry beast paws at his shoes, “What are you here for? Doing some laundry?” You tease at the tall blonde.

Steve smiles at your little jab since he’s not usually always present, doing Captain America stuff and whatnot, “Just here to see some friends.”

Natasha chuckles through glossy eyes, “Well clearly your friends are doing just fine.” Steve knowingly nods paired with a small smile, both you and Natasha look relatively well kept and functional as usual. It’s just, there’s a palpable pain and hidden darkness that always appears to simmer lowly on the surface. Just enough for a skilled eye like Steve’s to notice.

“Exactly.” You add, wandering over to sit cross legged on Natasha’s desk as Steve moves to lean against the display, “But if you’re here to tell us to look on the bright side...”

“I’m gonna hit you in the head with this peanut butter sandwich.” Finishes Natasha with a pursued lipped grin as the 90 year old nods. “Um, right. Force of habit.” Admits Steve, pushing himself off the surface to find a seat next to you and directly across from Natasha. 

The three of you keep to a mutual silence for a long moment until he finally speaks, “You know,” Starts Steve thoughtfully, “I keep telling everybody they should move on...and grow. Some do.” He pauses for a moment as you frown, Natasha looking elsewhere as Steve finally continues, “But not us.”

She shakes her head, “If we move on, who does this?”

“Maybe it doesn’t need to be done.” Suggests Steve, he means well of course, but maybe he’s right after all, its been five fucking years with absolutely nothing to make for it. Nothing of any significant progress or even a possible way to fix what's happened. 

Natasha blinks through bleary eyes of saddened green while you pet Silver’s furry mane, refusing to give in to that notion, “No.” You whisper softly, causing them to look at you, “We can’t, it wouldn’t be right...at least,” You let out a gentle sigh, “at least not for me....before all of this, before I met all of you. I had nothing.” You admit thoughtfully, “Not a soul in the world who gave a damn whether I lived or died. Then I found Bucky, then I found this. This.....family. And because of it, I’m better off now then I was ten years ago.”

They keep a respectful silence as your breaths become shaky, teary eyes now trained onto Silver’s little ears, “And I know they’re gone now, believe me I fucking know it, but I’m still trying to be better.” Natasha nods in deep understanding, a couple stray tears falling down her cheeks as Steve crosses his arms.

“I think we all need to get a life.” He muses, his tone light as he tries to pull you two back from the edge of grief. You give him a friendly nudge at his annoying brotherliness, “You first.” He chuckles as you throw him a playful glare while Natasha checks an incoming call.

“Oh, hi! Hello! Is anyone home?” Speaks a man frantically from one of the security cameras, an orange van behind him, “This is, uh, Scott Lang. We met a few years ago at the airport.....in Germany?” Now you’ve got his attention.

“What the fuck?” You mutter in bewilderment at the blue tinged image of Scott as Steve and Nat share a confused glance, the three of you quickly rising to your feet while Scott keeps talking about who he is, how he got here, and what he’s learned about the world so far.

“Is this an old message?” Wonders Steve as he studies the image of Scott who’s still waving his hands up at the security camera.

“It’s the front gate.” Replies Natasha with a hopeful smile.

——

All you came here to do was shoot the shit with Natasha and maybe make some actual dinner, but here you are, laying across the study’s plush couch as Scott rambles on and on about the quantum realm. Whatever that happens to actually be, you’ve never heard of anything like that before, but then again you didn’t know aliens existed at one point. So perhaps anything's possible.

Silver brushes her fluffy head across your fingers as they dangle over the couches edge while Scott keeps at his long-winded tellings of how he got there, what it was like, that he’s been technically gone for only five hours, and now he thinks there’s a way to enter this new plane of existence and travel to a fresh alternate reality. Like through a time machine type deal, or whatever he’s on about.

Apparently he means one before Thanos. But it honestly sounds like a load of horseshit and gibberish coming from a desperate man refusing to acknowledge that this is the new shit reality. There’s no fucking way that’s even goddamn possible, right? No way. 

Maybe?

Drifting back out of your doubtful thoughts, you swiftly move yourself into a seated position as Scott begins to self doubt. Head lowering as he mumbles about how crazy that it. You start chuckling as he throws you an almost embarrassed look. “Scott.” You speak to gather his attention, “Nat gets emails from a raccoon. Your idea is admittedly a bit nuts, but nothings that crazy anymore considering all the wild shit I’ve witnessed in the past six years. So I don’t know, maybe there’s a way.”

Scott flashes a hopeful smile as his brows furrow in thought, uncertainty seeping right back into him, “So, uh...who do we talk to about this?”

——

“Stark! Miss us?” You shout at Tony as he holds Morgan in his left arm, an Ironman helmet grasped firmly in the right. He gives the four of you a less then enthusiastic nod of acknowledgment before wordlessly turning around and taking a step up onto the wooden porch.

You give Steve a shrug, “He misses us I can tell.”

Soon Tony let’s Morgan go off to play with you as you opt in to be the babysitter slash distraction from the grownups who are currently discussing if time travel and gathering the stones for ourselves is even a possibility, or even a palpable option that can be done. You skillfully listen to everything they’re saying as the little Stark shows off her array of multiple plant-life assortments picked from the local greenery.

“So I got this cone from that tree over there and then I put a frog in a glass but dad said I had to let him go so I did.” Babbles on the five year old as you entertain her constant musings.

You raise a brow, knowing her shenanigans all too well, “Is he in the garden?”

She mischievously smirks, sneakily peaking over at Tony who’s seated up on the porch, before giving you a nod, “Yeah. I made him a little house from some flat rocks I found too. I named him Froggo.”

You chuckle, “Oh really, Froggo? I like it, has a nice ring to it.” She nods in delight before walking into her tiny tent to retrieve something new as you catch either Scott or Steve saying something about a time heist, what the hell are they going on about now?

“Y/N! Look at this!” Calls Morgan excitedly while bursting out of the tent to run on short legs over to you who’s seated comfortably in the grass, “I got a cool rock from the lake but I didn’t get to show you last time cause you left early.”

Raising your brows in surprise, though you don’t exactly feel as thrilled as she is, you make sure she knows you care, “Woah! A cool rock from the lake, why Morgan I gotta see this.”

“Look.” She hands you a dull grey rock with a tiny fossil shell indentation on it, “It’s from the dinosaurs.”

Examining the small round object, you nod, “Next thing you know I’ll come back to a whole dinosaur excavation site. Impressive Professor Grant, I’m thoroughly amazed.”

She giggles in excitement, “Y/N I know what that means now.” You give her an inquiring look as she smiles proudly, “That’s from Jurassic Park.”

“And your dad let you watch that, with the big Trex eating the goat and everything?” You tease before handing her the prized object, “Next thing I know you’re going to have a whole dinosaur skeleton in your house.”

“Yeah that would be cool. Thanks ninja turtle.” Cackles Morgan as she hugs her rock, smiling brightly as you throw her a puzzled look before joining in on the laughter. “Okay, now you’ve lost me kid, I can’t say I have any idea what you’re talking about.”

She shrugs innocently, “Dad told me to call you that.” Clearly not understanding what she just called you either. A ninja turtle? The fuck is a ninja turtle?

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” You muse before looking up to the four of them getting closer to a heated discussion, “Alright Morgs let’s go save your dad before he decides never to invite us back for dinner again.” You add, quickly rising to your feet as she laughs before racing past you, on a beeline for Tony.

You choose to stay out of the conversation and instead wait for Steve, Natasha, and Scott to start walking back towards the car. You lean against the metal as Steve round the corner before catching your eye as he goes down the three steps, “Are we banished from the castle? I was kinda hoping not cause I actually like Pepper’s cooking.”

Steve smiles, “No. He’s not gonna help us is all.”

“Damn that’s shitty.” You retort with a tinge of genuine disappointment, you don’t completely believe this shit is even possible. But dammit if you don’t want them to at least try for all it’s worth. “So what now? I’m guessing you bastards aren’t gonna let this go anytime soon. And cause Tony’s out for the count, we obviously need some different brain power.”

Steve nods while walking closer to the car, “We wanna do this right. So, yeah, we’re gonna need a really big brain.”

Scott turns from Steve to point a thumb in Tony’s general direction, face a mask of confused puzzlement, “Bigger then his?”

-

After a less then pleasant adventure to some cozy little diner in New Jersey where the four of you were subjected to Banner in his weird Hulkness body or whatever the hell he is now. Turns out he was most definitely on board for this time traveling experimentation. Of course he was, the weirdo takes fucking selfies with children nowadays. 

So here you five are now, in the giant glass and metal garage of the Avengers Facility getting things ready for whatever nonsense is about to take place next. The back of Scott’s orange van closed for the moment, keeping hidden some reactor core thing behind its doors. Scott in some safety quantum realm suit while Banner and Natasha stand behind a large intricate assembly of high tech equipment in preparation for the events to hopefully follow.

You keep an amused yet genuinely curious stance off to the side as Bruce gives you a thumbs up, nodding, you face Scott who’s walking over to the van. “Okay, here we go. Time travel test number one everybody! Scott get that bitch open!” You shout with a small bout of rare enthusiasm while he opens up the doors.

“Emergency generators are on standby.” Announces Steve as he walks into view from behind some large plastic containers covered in safety rope.

Banner nods, “Good, because if we blow the grid, I don’t wanna lose, uh..” He points a green thumb at Scott who’s getting his helmet ready, “Tiny here in the 1950’s.”

Scott’s head snaps up in an instant, “Excuse me?” He worries.

Natasha smiles while looking down at her touch pad, “He’s kidding.” She sing songs before shaking her head up at Banner, “You can’t say things like that.”

Banner turns around to face a fearful Scott as you snort at the small bout of humor that you did happen to find rather amusing. Then again, you’re not the labs guinea pig, so instead you casually shrug while giving Scott a half persuasive grin and a thumbs up of reassurance, “Bad joke.” You add as Bruce nervously laughs, “Yeah, it was a bad joke.”

Scott nods apprehensively before turning to walk over to the reactor, appearing to believe the two of you, “You were kidding, right?” Asks Natasha as you raise a brow at Bruce in question. Albeit a smidge doubtful he actually one-hundred percent knows what he’s doing.

“I have no idea.” Whisper yells Banner, confirming your suspicions, “We’re talking about time travel here. Either it’s all a joke, or none of it is.” Explains Bruce, suddenly smiling as he lifts his attention back over to Scott, “We’re good!” He shouts with a positive thumbs up of that prominently famous green.

“Oh we’re so fucked.” You mutter humorously while Natasha shares an uncertain look with you.

“Get your helmet on.” States Banner as Scott does just that, “Scott, I’m gonna send you back a week...let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in 10 seconds. Make sense?”

Scott smiles brightly, waving him off with confidence, “Perfectly not confusing.” He muses with an almost annoyingly positive expression.

“Good luck Scott. You got this.” Encourages Steve while Scott grins proudly. “You’re right. I do, Captain America.” Then just like that’s he’s gone, sucked into the reactor like a crumb into a vacuum cleaner.

“On a count of three..” Begins Banner, “Three, two, one.” Bruce flips some switches as the machine whirs before a second later and there’s Scott. In the body of a teen. “Uh, guys? This doesn’t feel right.” Worries teen Scott as his brows furrow in confusion, clearly not aware of how he looks. This just got interesting.

“What’s going on?” Questions Steve as Bruce urgently flicks more switches. “Who is that?” Wonders Natasha as you snort at teen Scott, snickering at how absolutely ridiculous your life is becoming and the weird shit you’re adding to the list.

“Oh my god he looks so innocent, like before the world hurt him.” You muse as Natasha’s brows raise in bewilderment, giving you a side glance as she focuses back on the person in question. “Is that, Scott?”

“Yes, it’s Scott!” Protests the sassy little 14 year old before whoosh and he’s gone once again while Banner squats down out of view to mess with some more buttons. A hot second later Scott’s back, this time looking significantly different.

“Oh, my back!” Complains the short wrinkly 80 year old man, Steve sending the back of Bruce a troubled look, “What is this?”

“Hold on a second. Could I get a little space guys.”

Steve hastily jogs around Bruce as he makes his way over to you and Nat, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can you bring him back?”

“I’m working on it.” Mumbles Banner with underlying urgency as he flicks more switches in hopes of getting a better result, whoosh, and Scott’s gone again before reappearing as a...

“It’s a baby.” Deadpans Steve in astonishment.

You burst with laughter, “It’s Scott! Let’s just keep him this way so we don’t have to hear him ramble about how amazing you are, Captain America.” You tease playfully as Steve throws you a what-the-fuck kinda expression. “Y/N! He’s a baby!”

“He‘ll grow.” Adds Bruce as you shrug in agreement. Crossing your arms as you study baby Scott, “Steve you can change the diapers.”

“Bring Scott back.” Urges Steve as he ignores you and Banners amusement of the situation.

“Alright fine.” Chides Bruce, “When I say kill the power, kill the power.”

Natasha rushes past you while mumbling, “Oh, my God.” As you await for Bruce’s fantastic technological skills.

“And....kill it!” Natasha turns the breaker switch downwards and a moment later Scott’s back, this time fully Scott. Whether that’s good or not is debatable.

He stands there, arms open and face twisted in confusion, “Somebody peed my pants. But I don’t know if it was baby me or old me.......Or just...me me.” Speculates Scott as you snort in amusement.

“It was probably just you.”

He sends you an unsure look that’s half offended yet he can’t exactly counter that claim considering he’s just jumped between three different age groups of himself. Bruce claps his hands together before spreading his arms out wide in excitement, “Time travel!” He shouts enthusiastically as Steve shakes his head before turning to walk elsewhere, “What?” Wonders Bruce, “I see this as an absolute win. 

——

In the following weeks after Banner’s half-successful attempt at legitimate time travel, Tony and Rocket have been toiling away tirelessly on Starks actual time machine since he’s agreed to help fix the mess that Thanos left behind. The Avengers base has honestly never been busier; with Tony, Banner, and Rocket working on the giant machine. Everyone else is going about their business helping when needed and hoping for good news.

So here you are now, in the middle of the night with all light sources retired for the evening, hanging out in the kitchen with a bowl of watermelon chunks in your hand, and greatly enjoying the recently rare peace and quiet. Though soon your silent midnight snacking is disrupted when the sounds of human feet padding on tile reaches your ears from down the hallway. Dammit.

The lights flicker on in an instant, blinding your vision for a brief moment before they adjust accordingly to find the blue eyes of Steve, he yelps in surprise, hand holding his chest as he relaxes once more when he realizes it’s just you. Then he does a double take, considering you’re seated crossed legged on the counter with a bowl of watermelon, “Uh, hey there Y/N.”

You nod, awkwardly taking a bite out of your snack, “Steve.”

He raises a curious brow, deciding to step farther into the large kitchen area, “Huh, never seen anyone eat watermelon like that before, but I respect it.” Says the blonde, nodding towards the chopsticks held in your right hand.

“Yeah. Less of a mess.” He nods before taking a Gatorade out of the fridge, “Mind if I sit?”

“Go for it.” He nods before promptly seating himself next to the marble table. “So, eating in the dark? Your inner night owl keeping you from sleeping again?”

You shrug, “I can kinda see in the dark so....yeah, a bit of a night owl.” You admit with a growing frown, not sure why you suddenly feel so down in the dumbs again, “....guess I haven’t really slept well for some time now....well, now since I think about it actually, I probably don’t get as much sleep as your average person.”

“I get that, yeah....I know what you mean.” Lightly chuckles Steve in understanding, taking a small moment of silence to let his mind think of something to sway the atmosphere away from an awkward tension. Parting his eyes away from his clasped hands, he looks up to meet your stoic gaze, “You think all this is possible? I mean they’ve made some real progress and I guess Tony really knows what he’s doing. Still after all this time I can’t help but find it amazing.”

Pursing your lips together in thought, you let a small sigh emit from your parted lips before answering, “I hope so, cause if not. Well, guess that would be as expected.” You admit with a frown, “Maybe that’s just how it’s supposed to go....a fitting punishment for my lengthy list of crimes. I guess that’s fair.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.” Counters Steve as he sends you a sympathetic look, “What happened to you isn’t your fault, neither is what they made you do, or everything Thanos did to the universe....”

“Yeah, guess you’re probably right....it’s just...just so difficult to move on you know? From all of it, everything swirling in my head, and even though it’s been five fucking years now. I still think of that shit, even worse, I still think of Bucky every single day, I miss him.....I just, I miss all of them.” You admit sadly, setting your snack down as Steve takes a moment to reflect on his own losses.

Suddenly his lips curl into a humored smile as he shakes his head, eyes looking down at the table before they connect with your curious ones, “God he was so different back in the 40’s....Y/N you wouldn’t believe the stuff we got up to, jeesh, the stuff he got up to.” Chuckles Steve as you raise an intrigued brow. 

“Alright Rogers care to elaborate?” You press with a growing smile at the thought of Bucky and learning more about him, “Bucky never told me a whole lot about that time. Considering he’ll probably never get the chance, I think I’d like to learn more about him and what shit you people did back then.”

“Aren’t you from the 1950′s?” Inquires Steve with a humored grin as you wave him off.

“Yeah, yeah, I was a baby back then I don’t remember what happened okay,” You explain, “I was born in 53 alright, and let’s not forget I didn’t exactly have a normal childhood.”

Steve nods, “Right. Fair point.....Okay so..” He laughs, “There was this one time and if you knew me back in the day, of course I was getting in an unsolicited scuffle with some boys who thought it was funny to argue with the paperboy.”

Raising a brow, you begin to smile as his eyes light up, “An unsolicited scuffle?” You muse, “Or is this when skinny Steve got his ass kicked by a couple of mangy dogs?”

“Dogs. Yeah that’s probably more fitting, well you know, of course I had to step in and do something.”

“As expected.” You quickly add as he continues.

“Which I did. And let me tell you they were not a fan. Those assholes ran me for two blocks till I got cornered in some market when who would you know it.....Bucky was there, taking some cute strawberry blonde out for a date while he got groceries for his mom.” Chuckles Steve, blue eyes shimmering with the humorous memories coming back to him about his old friend.

You heart subconsciously swells with the thought of Bucky, “Clever man. Sweet talk your girl while doing something useful.”

“Exactly. I would have gotten a bloody nose if he hadn’t thrown a tomato right at the biggest guys head. That thing coated his hair like red paint, then...” Steve balls his fist as he presses it against his mouth to try and keep himself from losing it with laughter, “...then, his friend turned around and smack! Another tomato right in his face.”

Snickering in amusement, you run a hand down the side of your face at the vivid image forming in your head, “oh Bucky..”

“It was pretty damn accurate too. The other guy booked it down the sidewalk before Buck could get him. Then when he started walking towards us, the other guys took off like a couple of scared birds....fortunately leaving me with no bruises that day.” Says Steve proudly, no doubt thinking fondly on that old memory, “Then of course he told me I gotta be more careful and all that stuff, I said I was fine and he want back to shopping with that girl......huh, don’t think I ever saw her again, well....at least with him.”

“Don’t blame her, he sounded like a real ladies man back in the day, she probably got too jealous.” You joke with a small brow wiggle before your smile lessens again, God you miss him so fucking much, “Thanks Steve.....he seemed, so different. It’s just when I knew him, when I first met him that is, Bucky was very different.”

Steve’s face looses it’s once vibrant glow, he keeps a steady gaze set on you now, knowing your time with him was such a chilling contrast to Bucky in the 40’s. You sigh, “I think I would have liked to see that version of Bucky just once, but I liked the Bucky I got after everything we went through.....after everything’s that’s happened. Maybe 40’s Bucky wouldn’t even look in my direction, I’d probably scare the socks off of him anyways.”

Steve shakes his head, “No way Y/N, you’d have him wrapped around your finger so fast, not a doubt in my mind he’d do anything for you in a heartbeat. That’s just who he was, a player yes, but a kind one who treated everyone with respect through that famous charm of his.....and you, you’d have caught his attention in an instant.”

Looking down at your hands, you raise the corner of your lips into a small half grin at the thought of Sergeant Barnes losing it all to the dangerous vixen that is no doubt yourself, now that’s an interesting thought indeed. Bucky in the 40′s, how about that.

“Maybe you’re right, maybe you’re not....but I know one thing. That I’m glad to have even known him at all, he was...so special and he didn’t even know it.” You pause for a moment, lips pursing together as you think fondly of your past lover. Steve keeps silent, studying your disheartened features as you gather your words, “So if, if they can somehow do this....if it’s even actually possible to get those fucking stones again. I’ll do whatever it takes, Steve.”

Whatever it takes.

-

Tagged:  @diegos-butt @minigranger @bibliophilewednesday @holyhumorliteraturelight @lilacs-lavender @a-girl-who-loves-disney @starkssnarks @vikingqueen28 @bizarrebibitch @atomicpersonacheesecake @jmstz @staygoldsquatchling02 @marvelbros-oneshots @shawnartmendes​ @mischiefmanaged71 @jckie94​  @iamasimpingh0e

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes x reader #the winter soldier #the winter soldier x y/n #the winter soldier x reader #the winter soldier x you #marvel #marvel imagine #marvel x y/n #marvel x reader #marvel x you #avengers insert #fanfiction #fanfic #bucky fanfic #my work

[thedumbguywithaheart43]

Boomlords weird adventure

Chapter 12 A very cold day(warning some of the chapters and concepts might be a bit dark)

Rainbow Dash was still playing with her new blades while Finn reached into his backpack and started wrapping pieces of discarded felt together to make her a makeshift sheath. With everyone settled in on Jake Twilight began to notice before anyone else the air is getting colder as the Green landscape started to disappear."it's getting kind of chilly out here."Twilight complained leaning into Finn and Boomlord who had both already put on comfortable cold clothes. Finn was wearing his classic tan sweater which he had pulled out around the same time the temperature started dropping and boom already was wearing a jacket however he had pulled two sets of gloves out of the satchel handing one over to Twilight."here I got you."Twilight quickly took the glove and put them on rubbing her shoulders.Boom noticed she was still pretty cold and not wanting her to suffer he started to unzip his jacket.Finn eyes widen as he saw Boom do this as he had never actually seen boom take his jacket off for someone. Truth is Boom didn't usually take it off regardless of temperature."here twi try to stay warm."placed the jacket over her which she quickly accepted putting it on. Gave her a nice view of his actual body. He was still on the skinnier side but with notable muscle and wore a dark black T-shirt with a skull on it."won't you get cold."she asked looking slightly concerned."don't worry about me I don't... I don't get affected by weather that much anymore one of the few benefits of my abilities."she gave a shy smile to him that would make Fluttershy proud. Boom then looked over to Dash with Twi focusing on keeping warm. Dash looks perfectly fine despite wearing a sleeveless top and jean shorts. Guess she's spent plenty of time in high altitudes so he doubt the cold would bother her much."you two should get a room."dash seem to be in a teasing mood which Finn proceeded to chuckle at as booms, and Twilights faces begin to redden.

2 the tall cone like ice mountains towered the landscape however Jake paid little attention to them as he could just walk right over them but upon reaching the tallest mountain he stopped getting down low before shrinking back to his smaller size."okay passengers this is where the jake rides stop." Everyone landed in the snow with the exception of rainbow Dash who was flying just above them."okay so we need to go in with a plan."fin spoke to the group."ever since the ice King turned back into Simon a lot of the snow golems who were here as security have gone banaynays so we're in for a fight when we head in."Twilight looked at him her brow narrowing in confusion."are snow golems dangerous."jake looked up at her."normally not but these guys have been weirdly aggressive like Rabid killer slushies."Twilight seem to understand as she nodded."so how do we subdue them?"the three boys looked at each other as they were unsure of how to tell her."you can't really subdue a crazed golem best you can do is destroy them."both the girls were taking abit back by this."well they're not alive right."it was clear that Twilight was getting nervous as she asked this."Golems are constructs given life so yes but you have to understand out here and in many worlds friendship isn't always going to be the answer. I know it might be hard for you and I'm not asking you to hurt anyone I can take care of that and I can also promise no one will be harmed who doesn't deserve it."there was a sudden look on twilights face as she looked into the blank expression boom was giving off clearly not trying to show emotion. Boom reached into his bag and pulled out what appeared to be a small curved weapon. Of course what he had actually pulled out was a desert eagle hand cannon. It's a type of gun for anyone who doesn't know."if it really bothers you, you can stay here but these golems need to be put down especially if they have gone rabid."Twilight looked away holding the jacket he lent her tightly."I think I'll wait outside if this is gonna be as violent as I think you're implying."she looked away from them but then snapped her gaze back at him seeing the brightness in his right gold eye it wasn't a look of anger or intent to harm it was a look of sympathy."that might be for the best Jake you stay with her me and Finn can handle these guys on our own rainbow you're free to come or go if you wish."rainbow dash pulled out her daggers from their sheathes not saying a word. Boom turned to the the mountain knowing what he was going to have to do."let's get this over with."

3 Booms groups perspective) As the group approached the entrance of the ice King's old home burst of cold air erupted from a large crack at the base of the mountain. Several deep growls could be heard from within and the chittering of ice dinging against other ice likely snow golems. Boom held his firearm tight because he stared into the dark blue abyss. It wasn't the first Time Boom had to kill something he had done it countless times before and countless different worlds but never before has he felt such a dread inside of him. It wasn't for the creatures inside in fact he was likely doing them a favor putting them out of their misery since without ice Kings magic whatever he was using to keep them stable is likely long gone. It was for the look that's Twilight had given him. Truth of the matter was he had rathered Twilight not see him as a monster he just hoped that this wouldn't ruin anything between the two of them.'she didn't seem too badly faced All things considered maybe we're still good as long as she doesn't have to witness me do it.' He found himself lost in his thoughts as the three of them descended into the caverns beneath the mountain. They walked for a while but it didn't take to long to reach the lower Chambers All things considered. It was then that they spotted the creatures within. At the top of the chamber two giant snow centipedes loomed over them they're legs were made of solid ice along with their pincers and several holes filled with coal made up their eyes. However they were clearly not normal snow creatures they're clear white snow bodies had darken to a sickly Gray and from between their pincers water dripped out like the foam from a rabbit animal. Finn pulled out a sword the one he had gotten from rattleballs as he prepared himself to defend Rambo dash on the other hand decided to take a more aggressive approach heading straight up at one of the centipedes slashing it on its side with her blades. The creature tried to retaliate by trying to contort and bend its body in order to bite her and it would have if not for the incredible speed of rainbow Dash who quickly dive bombed down to the ground in order to avoid the hit."don't get too aggressive Dash the centipedes are highly unpredictable in this state! There's no telling how their powers have mutated!"rainbow Dash simply rolled her eyes clearly not taking the Giant snowbug seriously. However as as if on cue the second snow centipede sent a barrage of icicles from its liquid maw at rainbow Dash barely found the time to move. Several of the icicles slice and cut up her sides as a bit of red blood dripped from her lower waist and shoulders. However was lucky enough to avoid taking any serious injuries by using her wings to propel her back into a wall. The injured centipede released from the ceiling falling down to the ground right over boom while the second one jump towards Finn. This time however it wasn't facing a newbie as Finn jumped right back at it and right over the icy Jaws onto its head. Finn then proceeded to strike his sword blue right into its head effortlessly shoving the sword through it and causing it to completely collapse into piles of snow as it's ice limbs rolled away. The injured centipede stared down boom roaring in his face before trying it clam its jaws on him. Boom was faster over ducking effortlessly underneath it right into its underbelly. Once he was directly under it he pointed the firearm up and pulled the trigger.*BANG*the middle section of the creature exploded leaving its bottom half in shambles and piles of snow. He then turned to the front of the creature now on its side unable to move. There were whimpers from the poor creature still trying its best to bite that boom."sorry about this."He said in a sorrowful tone. He razed his gun up to the creature's head closed his eyes and all that could be heard throughout the mountain and the kingdom around it was the sound of the firearm going off. Outside Twilight feel a shutter go down her spine as we heard the noise.

#mlp fandom #fanfic #writing #adventure time #twilight #rainbow dash #jake the dog #finn the human #comedy #slight romance #dramatic

[dailycharacteroption]

Conversion Corner: Random NES game Spells part 5

Power Up! (Altered Beast)

 While not among the most famous video games of all time, Altered Beast stands up there as an arcade classic, and like a lot of arcade games, it got ported, or at least, remade under the same title, for other systems, including the NES, so I saw fit to cover it here today.

In Altered Beast, you play as a centurion, resurrected from your grave by Zeus. to go on a quest to rescue his daughter Athena from the dark lord of the underworld Neff. (I guess Hades isn’t the bad guy, which is a nice thing in retrospective, given the tendency of modern mainstream fiction to make Hades out to be a devil-analogue.)

In any case, you are not facing the fiends and undead minions of the dark realms alone, for Zeus has given you the power to grow in strength, eventually transforming into different beast-man forms of incredible might. Indeed, the levels straight-up won’t end if you don’t acquire these transformations, the final boss mocking you and sending you to loop back around again until you arrive in the proper form.

Today, we’re going to take this divine blessing and re-imagine it as a buffing spell, specifically the final beast transformations, since getting stronger and faster are simple concepts already covered in the game.

 Form of the Sacred Beast

School: transmutation (polymorph) [good] Level: cleric 6, druid 6, paladin 4

Casting

Casting Time: 1 standard action

Components: V, S, DF

Effect

Range: personal

Effect: Transform into a powerful beast-man

Duration: 1 round per level

Description

You transform into one of four sacred beast-man forms considered holy by a certain deity. You gain a +2 enhancement bonus to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, as well as two claw attacks that deal 1d6 slashing damage. You also gain special abilities based upon the beast-man that you choose when casting this spell.

Wolf of the Flame: Your claws deal an additional 1d6 fire damage, and you can lob globes of fire as a standard action, which is a ranged touch attack that deals 1d8 fire damage per two caster levels (max 7d8)

Dragon of Storms: You gain a flight speed of 30 ft with average maneuverability, and as a full-round action, you can discharge electricity into all adjacent spaces, dealing 1d8 electricity damage per two caster levels (max 7d8) that allows for a Reflex save for half damage.

Bear of the Earth: You gain a +4 increase to your natural armor bonus, as well as the ability to unleash a 15 ft cone of petrifying gas as a standard action that deals 1d8 Dexterity damage to foes that fail a Fortitude save. Foes that are reduced to 0 Dexterity by this effect are petrified as flesh to stone.

Tiger of Thunder: You gain a +10 to Acrobatics checks to jump, and gain the ability to fire blasts of writhing sonic energy as a standard action, which is a ranged touch attack that deal 1d4 sonic damage per two caster levels (max 7d4), but their erractic motion negates cover bonuses to AC against them.

 Mythic Form of the Sacred Beast: Your form is clearly sacred in nature. You gain a +10 ft enhancement bonus to all speed types, your natural weapons count as good-aligned, and half the damage of all area effect abilities counts as sacred damage that cannot be reduced by energy resistance or immunity.

 I’m not entirely sure how well-balanced this spell is, but it does provide a handful of useful forms letting you tailor yourself to the situation as needed. I even tried my hand at a mythic version of the spell as well.

In any case, that does it for this week. Tune in next time for more archetypes and other such things!

#pathfinder #conversion #conversion corner #spell #Altered Beast

[theonewiththefanfics]

A Pirate’s Soul (part 2)

Part 1

Pairing: Will Turner x Avenger!Reader

Warnings: swearing

Genre: fluff

Word count: 2987

Y/N slowly felt her eyes flutter open. It was dark, but not full on. Not like Bucky’s room where he had to cover up the giant windows because he had trouble sleeping. More like her own. Bits and pieces of the never-resting New-York city filtering inside the room, beige walls cast in an orange glow. But of course, she wasn’t in New York anymore.    With a groan, Y/N propped herself up on her elbows, but a gentle palm pushed her back on the hard surface that turned out to be what looked like a sailor’s cot.    “Easy,” it was the girl- Elizabeth. “How are you feeling?”    “Like a red-hot poker was showed up through my ass and my brain, scrambling it like an egg.”    The other woman snorted. “Don’t you have a way with words.”    Y/N pressed a palm against a throbbing temple. “So I’ve been told.” She looked around noting that the light was coming from above, meaning the sun was still above the ground. “How long was I out?”    “A couple of hours. Cleaned as many wounds as I could, but couldn’t change your clothes. Couldn’t find how to… open it.” Her brown eyes roamed over Y/N’s tactical suit as if a hidden hook would suddenly appear and she’d drop naked then and there.    “Would be surprised if you did.” When were zippers invented? 1890’s something? Y/N honestly didn’t know what to do. Will her being here change the outcome of the history? Or was it one of those timelines when nothing mattered what she’d do because everything had already happened before? In all honesty, Y/N couldn’t give two shits about it because of a headache she sported right now. 

   Her palm clasped around where her neckline was and she pulled back a piece of cloth, the velcro detaching itself as she unclasped a smaller piece that held a large string attached to the zipper on her back. It made it easier for her to get dressed on her own, as well as she didn’t have to worry about flashing someone in the middle of a battle.    Elizabeth’s cheeks heated up and when Y/N saw how flustered she got, even though there wasn’t that big of a difference between one woman’s body and another, the Avenger still offered her the chance to leave. “But I’m not naked underneath that and I would prefer if you stayed. This thing can be a bitch to take off.” And it was. Any time after a mission she asked either Bucky or Nat or hell, even Sam to help her get rid of it. Bucky being her best friend, they didn’t have any reservations before one another. Even then, when Bucky had forcefully pulled off the last leg of her suit, the material still just as snug and light, courtesy of Stark, Y/N was left in a bulletproof sports bra, a bulletproof tank top and booty shorts.    “It’s very tight,” Elizabeth remarked as she flexed every muscle in her arms, abdomen and legs to get the cloth off of Y/N.    “Meant to protect you while in battle. Nimble as a second skin so you don’t feel it while fighting, though I might have to ask Stark for some improvements in the removal section.” Y/N finally took a breath as she felt the ankles loosen and saw Elizabeth holding the shredded material. Looking down there were no visible injuries on her stomach, but her legs, shoulders and arms sported nasty cuts as well as deep gashes from claws.    “What.. umm.. what do you want me to do with this?” the girl looked over at the Y/H/C beauty. Y/N’s heart clenched. She really had loved the suit. It had been a gift from Nat on her birthday, but the state of it, how it looked now- it’d be completely useless. There was no point in stitching it together, thread by thread.    “Burn it. Throw it out. It doesn’t matter. It’s unusable now.”    “A-Are you sure?”    “Yeah,” Y/N let out a deep sight, “it’s pointless.”    Elizabeth’s hands slid over the material, marvelling at how beautiful and practical it was. Or used to be in Y/N’s opinion. But unbeknownst to her, she stashed it in a chest in a deep corner.    Y/N stood there in what basically was her underwear. She pulled the black tank top off, leaving her in just the sports bra, so she could check what damage had been done to the dark material. Thankfully not much. Some slashes, but comparing it to the tactical suit, it was still wearable. Pulling it back on, her Y/E/C eyes saw Elizabeth reemerge from the dark holding a large white shirt, some sand coloured pants, black knee-high boots and what looked like a corset.    “These are probably way too big for you, but the belt should keep it in place, you can lace it up in the back to tighten it,” the girl laid the materials down on the cot. “And the boots… well, you should just try pulling them on and well see about the size.”    Y/N fingered the cotton tunic. It was a lot softer than she expected, woven with care and love. Pulling it overhead, there was a deep V-neck gash, almost past her breasts, and it really was way too big for her frame, so she pushed her legs through the pant holes and tucked the shirt in. Elizabeth handed a smaller belt to pull it through the belt holes, but as the girl had predicted, the clothes were still too large for her frame. She stepped through the corset-like thing and pulled it over her slacks and the shirt.    Elizabeth went to work, lacing the black ribbon up, but not so tightly that Y/N couldn’t breathe and would pass out from the lack of oxygen. While the other woman was doing that the Avenger was idly playing with the two strings of her shirt, wrapping and unwrapping it around her finger.    “Okay, you’re all done. Now just the boots.”    Y/N had completely forgotten that the combat suit had connected footwear, so she was standing there only in her socks. The boots looked around her size, so here was hoping for nothing.    And it would look like they had struck gold. Y/N was surprised how comfortable they actually were, but she rolled down the bit that went past her knee, hating how it flapped against her thigh.    “I… umm..,” Elizabeth stepped forward holding six razor-sharp knives in her hand as well as Y/N’s own modified pistol, “I guess I have to give these back to you, though I have no idea what kind of holsters I can give to you…”    Her knife and gun belts had been physically attached to the suit, rather than pulling them on, they were already a part of the outfit, so there would be no use for her to cut them off as they wouldn’t fit with what Y/N was wearing now.    She flipped two of her knives in the air and crisscrossed them behind the belt on her back, putting two by her sides and then two in the front, the thin handles disappearing being the black material, not even making an indent. If you didn’t know that Y/N possessed them, you’d never know how armed she actually was. And the bulletproof top would protect her from any cuts that may result. For the gun though, that would be a problem.    “Umm… hmm… Give me the most basic holster you have and we'll see what we can do.    The one Elizabeth provided was for a muzzleloader. In Y/N’s time, they were antiques and relics. Here they were actual weapons. The girl looked at it from all sides and producing one of the knives she sliced the end off making it more like a cylinder rather than a cone.    Putting on the safety she gently slid the gun to check if the tightness of the leather would be enough and it was. The gun snugly fit into the holster as if it was made for it. Y/N strapped it across her middle, even though she usually preferred it to be around her thighs or ankles, this one wouldn’t fit.    Elizabeth’s eyes roamed over Y/N as if in astonishment and in awe. She really looked like she belonged there. “I think you’re ready.”    “For what?”    “To meet everyone. I’m assuming you really aren’t from somewhere nearby.”    Y/N snorted at that. “If only you had any idea.”    “So I’m assuming you’re going to be spending quite a lot of time here, seeing as we’re only in the middle of our journey and the closest port is at least two to three weeks away. Depending on what kind of trouble Jack gets into.”    “Jack? Who’s Jack?”    “Nothing but trouble,” she replied over her shoulder as she lead Y/N up the wooden stairs and right onto the deck.    The ship was full of life, men running around and pulling ropes to let something loose or tighten things up. Of course, as expected when Y/N stepped onto the floor everything quieted down and stopped moving, but a man’s gruff voice pulled them out of the trance.    “Back to work, ya filthy rats!” It was dreadlocks who bellowed from the steering deck.    “I would presume that is Jack,” Y/N leaned into Elizabeth, but the other woman didn’t get a chance to answer.    “You would be presuming correctly. Captain Jack Sparrow,” he said coming down the steps and taking one of Y/N’s palms to press a kiss on it, making the girl scrunch up her face in confusion. “Welcome aboard the Black Pearl- fastest ship in the Caribbean sea.”    “Thanks… I guess…”    “So darling,” he threw an arm around Y/N’s shoulders leading her up the deck, “why don’t you tell me who you are, where are you from and how in the bloody hell did you suddenly appear on my ship?”    He was being quite cheeky about things so Y/N decided to play along. “A girl’s gotta have some secrets, otherwise where would be the fun?”    “You,” he pointed a finger at her, a bright red ruby sitting on it. “I like you.”    Y/N mirrored the smirk that was plastered on his face. “So, where exactly in the Caribbean sea are we? As much as I’ve enjoyed your hospitality I think I need to get back home.”    “And where would home be for you, love?”    “New York.”    Y/N looked over at the endless horizon. Oh, how far away she was from home. And it would seem like Jack could read minds, echoing her thought.    There was almost an understanding look in his eyes. “You’ve travelled a long way from there, haven't you?”    “Very,” Y/N let out a deep sight, resting her arms on the railing. “Elizabeth told me that the closest port is a two, three-week journey. Which port exactly are we talking about?”    “Tortuga,” a wicked smile made its way onto Jack’s face. “Best place on earth for a pirate.”    Y/N could only chuckle, not even remotely surprised that they were pirates. Their clothing gave it away and the giant black flag with a skull and two crossed swords was a dead giveaway.    The girl relished in the salty breeze of the sea. She’d always wanted to visit exotic places, but her job had made it quite difficult to get even a day off. And then there was Bucky. Her best friend in the whole world. He was just getting accustomed to living in the tower and apart from Steve, he clung to the girl like a koala. Not that Y/N minded. She’d gotten attached to the ex-assassin too and if there was any possible way she could help with his recovery she’d drop everything in a heartbeat.    “Doll, you need to take a day off, treat yourself. I hate that you can’t do anything worthwhile because you’re stuck here with me,” he’d said to the girl after an intense workout session.    “Buck,” she had grasped his unshaven chin between her fingers, “you can’t get rid of me. Me staying here is my and only my choice. And if it means having to sit through therapy with you or have a few sleepless nights, then that is it. As long as you’re getting better, it’s all that matters to me and if I have any way of helping you through it, I will. So don’t start with this bullshit, okay?”    He’d only smiled and kissed the girl on the cheek, pulling her in for a tight hug. “I love you, you know that?”    “Might have said it a few times.”    What wouldn’t the girl give just to feel safe between her friend's arms, instead of being stuck in the past on a pirate ship.    Her Y/E/C eyes caught movement to her left and ascending the stairs was the man with the longish hair. The one with the chocolate eyes and sharp cheekbones. Will.    “Hello.” His voice was quiet. Like a warm summer breeze.    “Hello.” Y/N replied a small smile playing on her lips as she turned fully to face the man.    “I’m Will Turner.”    “Y/N Y/L/N.”    “That’s a very beautiful name.”    Y/N laughed, shaking her head, the Y/H/C floating around in the breeze. “It’s just a name.”    “A very beautiful one at that.”    Of course, these were the manners men had in this time period. Back home whenever a guy said something like that or gave a kiss on the top of a girl’s hand, that was more a message of ‘I wanna get in your pants tonight and I’ll pretend not to be an asshole for like two minutes, tell you how pretty your name is and how it perfectly fits you, before I ask you to drop your panties and go for a fuck’. But here, now, it’s just how people were, and Y/N would be lying if she said she didn’t appreciate that. The only two people who even remotely said something like that and didn’t mean it in an ‘I wanna fuck you’ kind of way was Steve and Bucky. Even then both of them were from the 40s.    “Well thank you,” she smiled looking at Will. “Got it for my birthday.” She couldn’t help herself. Such an opportunity to say that stupid and cheesy joke, she couldn’t just let it pass.    He shook his head as is saying ‘I cannot believe how dumb that was’ before coming to stand next to the girl.    “Are you alright?”    That was a stupid question, but she didn’t say anything. “What do you mean?”    “Well after that… thing you put in the water, your nose was bleeding quite heavily and you did pass out.”    Her headache had subsided a few minutes after hitting the deck, fresh air filling her lungs, now just a dull pulsating feeling reminded her of the situation she was in only a few hours ago.    “Yeah, I am. Thank you for caching me and not letting me split my head open.”    He smiled at her, taking her right hand in his and rubbing over her knuckles. The air got caught in Y/N's throat. How can such a small gesture take away her breath like that? “Anytime.”    The pair just stood there, looking at one another, eyes roaming over the stranger before them. There was this attraction that neither could explain, but it wasn’t bad. No, not at all.    Their moment was disrupted by the lanky man with a wooden eye, rushing up to Jack.    “Captain! Redcoats!”    Everyone’s heads turned to look where he was pointing over their shoulders. A tiny speck near the horizon, nothing more than that. Jack pulled out a telescope and produced a beautiful array of swears, leaving even Y/N shocked.    “Everyone get your weapons!” he bellowed over the ship, sending the men scattering every which way.    “Didn’t you say that this is the fastest ship in the Caribbean?” Y/N turned to look at the captain. An idea had crossed her mind that she could ask them to let her on their ship, but she immediately dispelled it. They were the government. And anytime Y/N had gotten involved with that it never ended well for her. Most of the times in handcuffs. So she wasn’t going to get shackled in the 18th fucking century. Who knows what they’d do to her. Salem witch trials had happened probably not more than a few decades before, and her powers, that she could feel rumbling under her skin would definitely make her a witch.    “Can you fight?” it was Will asking her, Jack not even bothering to answer her question as he rushed off to somewhere himself.    “Did you not see my grand entrance?”    “I meant are you well enough to fight?” He was handing her a long sword, probably noting only the gun by her side.    Truthfully Y/N probably wasn’t but the adrenaline was already rushing through her veins and the newly unleashed magic wanted to come out and play.    She clasped the handle of the sharp weapon. “I was born to do this.”

Tags (crossed out couldn’t be tagged, sorry loves): @fandamad @josislife @madelonj @serieuxnoir @marvel-fanfiction @lostxsea @dschessikai 

A/N: tell me what you think :) and tomorrow I won’t be posting anything. Probably there will be no updates for the rest of working days. I’m going to see Imagine Dragons tomorrow and then I’ll focus on my assignments :)

P.S. wanna be tagged in future parts or have any requests? drop a message

P.S.S. please don’t repost without credit :)

#will #will turner #orlando #orlando bloom #keira knightley #elizabeth swann #pirate #pirates of the caribbean #pirates of the carribean: dead men tell no tales #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine #bucky imagine #bucky smut #bucky barnes #jack #jack sparrow imagine #jack sparrow #imagine marvel #marvel imagine #marvel #mashup #crossover #reader insert #sam wilson #wanda maximoff #natasha romanoff #natasha romanov #black widow #winter solider imagine #winter solider x reader

[thebunionpaper]

10 Ways to Keep Cool During BU's Heat Advisory (Other Than AC, Which Is Not Allowed)

By Amber Born (CAS ‘21) and Ethan Brown (COM/CAS ‘21)

The City of Boston issued a heat advisory for today, and we here at The Bunion want you to stay safe and cool while you’re at BU. Follow these helpful tips to beat the heat!

1. Drink Fluids, But Not Caffeine or Alcohol

We know you don’t know any fluids that fit this description, so here are some examples: water, gatorade, milk, juice, lemonade, smoothies, slushies, and whatever horrific concoctions Sargent recommends.

2. Avoid Exercise

Unless you’re a Student Athlete™, in which case just keep it down to six hours per day. We know the grind never stops.

3. Purchase a Fan

Helpful tip: fans are allowed, but not if they’re in a window. So keep it somewhere safe, like on the floor or right next to your face.

4. BU Showers Rarely Have Hot Water, So Take Advantage

Just remember that there’s no water pressure either, so you’ll barely feel the cold water hit you. Have a towel ready for when you step out and inevitably start sweating again.

5. Pull the Fire Alarm, Then Stand Under the Sprinklers

Now that’s some water pressure! Why don’t they just replace the shower heads with those? If you don’t feel like pulling the fire alarm, don’t worry! Someone is bound to set it off in under ten minutes.

6. Take Shelter in the Shadow of an Embedded Traffic Cone

For full benefits, crouch down to the height of the traffic cone so that it blocks the sun from hitting your face.

7. Take Off Your Canada Goose

Contrary to popular belief, Canada Goose jackets actually trap heat. Take it off and opt for a cooler option, like a long sleeve T and a pair of BU sweatpants. On a related note, school spirit is great, but now is not the time to wear your Rhett costume. Wait for cooler weather.

8. Go to Questrom And Ask to Touch a Cold-Blooded Student

Just don’t let them do any slashing and burning.

9. Swim in the COM Fountain

Disclaimer: don’t. We haven’t checked, but we’re pretty sure this is frowned upon except in emergencies.

10. Heat Rises, So Try Lying Down on the Pavement Instead

There’s no way the hot air could get down that low!

[beelzebpd]

Asfhkkfgjgdyjcfg!!!!!!! Rant in the tags and you’re encouraged to please give me advice

#i know i have no room to be upset but #a warning would have been n i c e #the boy im seeing has a long history with his best friend slash ex gf #he was her side piece for 2 out if the 4 years he loved her #the lsst teo times they hungout a year ago they had a quickie #she just left her husband last month and told him that now they could be together #thats when he gold her he was seeing someone and since then hes been very affectionate with me and seems to be getting more feelings #but today he just said after he gets off work in an hour she wants to meet up to get food #but maybe shell just have to settle for a phone call #becshse hes tored #and he said hed like to cone over afterwards #but he never does when hes pretty tired #so now im just on edge having this sprung on me and nornally i encourage him to text her back ir talk to her cause i get theyre bestis #this would be the first hangout in a very long time #like since they officially officially said they couldnt do it anymore for the who knows how many times #and i just have a lot of anxiety but i think mostly its coming from ut just being jumped on me and the unknown #we’re not like together so i dont feel like i can be like ‘hey uhm pls make plans with her and tell me in advance’ #hhhhh #diary of a dead girl

[josephkchoi]

Why You Need Webinar Landing Pages in 2020 [Best Practices & Examples]

It’s 2020. The ordinary ways we do things have been disrupted left and right, up and down. Circumstances have forced many businesses to shift their brick-and-mortar operations and real-world activities online. 

So it’s fair for a marketer to ask:

“Is now a good time to be running webinars?“

The short answer is, now’s a great time. Marketing departments are slashing their networking budgets. In some places, gatherings like conferences and workshops won’t be in the cards for quite a while. Some of us are still in lockdown, with little to do but binge-watch crime documentaries on Netflix. And others are busy looking for new ways to level up their skills. 

The result? If anything, webinars are only going to blow up. 

If you’re hungry for an opportunity to take a bit of that attention away from Netflix, let’s look at what holding online events can do for your business and how you can create webinar landing pages that turn visitors into registrants.

Keep reading, or jump right into one of the sections below:

What can a webinar do for my business?

Webinar landing page best practices

Inspiring examples of webinar landing pages 

What can a webinar do for my business?

It’s no secret that savvy marketers and businesses love running webinars. After all, they can be an easy way to achieve multiple goals:

Webinars can help fill your funnel and generate more leads—and fast. If you’re a techy, you can automate this process too, saving you even more time. (For a concrete example, see how Thinkific took advantage of the Unbounce integration with ActiveCampaign to secure thousands of leads on autopilot for an online summit.)

Webinars give you a platform to educate your customers, build stronger bonds, and boost product engagement. An easy way to do this is to demo your product live and use it to execute the key points you’ve covered. 

By educating your customers, you’re establishing authority and brand expertise. According to 99firms, “92% of attendees expect a live Q&A session at the end of the webinar.” That’s right: they expect it. They actually want you to teach them something. To demo something that might improve their lives. To sell them something that might give them value. They’re inviting you to build closer relationships and engage with them.

You’re networking and making yourself look smart via your guests’ expertise, boosting your own authority. It’s called the Halo effect. When you bring on stellar guests, their best qualities reflect onto you. Plus, your guests’ target audiences get to learn about you. Talk about a quick and easy way to expand your reach.

Affiliates and potential partners might approach you if they see an opportunity. Finally, offering to run webinars together can be a powerful incentive for partnering up, especially if you can offer the resources, know-how, and network to do it well.

When done right, webinars are an easy way to cover every stage of your funnel. With all that upside, we’re shocked more companies aren’t running online events. (How about a Netflix model? We’d tune in.)

Want to take your webinar campaigns up a notch? If you’re already using online events for your business and want a quick way to boost your registrations, try starting with a high-converting webinar landing page template.

A webinar landing page is a no-brainer 

You can be the William Shakespeare of webinars, delivering brilliance, entertainment, and wisdom in one perfect package. Without a half-decent landing page to score some signups, though? Well, you’d be lucky to draw a crowd of crickets.

That’s why promoting your webinars is so important. If you have seats to fill, you’ve got three options: 

You can build a stripped-down registration page that’s easy to set up but doesn’t really convince people to convert. Too often, these pages have lengthy forms with so many unnecessary fields, you might as well be filling out a tax form. You also have no ability to A/B test them. 

You can get your web devs and designers together to create something with tons of visual appeal—but this option takes a lot of time and money that you may not have right now. (Totally understandable if you’re trying to get up and running quickly.)

You can use landing pages to help you avoid both these problems. Webinar landing pages can be a better option when it comes to running time-sensitive campaigns because you can literally set one up and get running in minutes. And if you’re a believer in wowing your target audience with beautiful design, creating one is still very easy, because you can use templates that have already been tested in the wild.

Photo by J. Kelly Brito on Unsplash.

Webinar landing page best practices

When it comes to landing pages for webinar registration, you could fill an encyclopedia with all the best practices out there. To get you started sooner, let’s stick to the few established and actionable practices that’ll reap some of the greatest rewards.

1. Before you can create a compelling landing page, you need a strong topic.

Choose a topic that grabs your audience’s attention. Ideally, it should be contemporary, relevant to the problems they face, and very actionable. Once the webinar is over, your audience should be left energized, since the next steps will be crystal clear. 

2. Invite a guest to connect with new audiences.

Sure, you can rely on your star power to draw a small crowd. But that’s not getting the best bang for your buck. What’s an event if you show up all by your lonesome? 

“But my mom says my webinar is cool.”

One amazing way to multiply your reach is by leveraging your guests’ audiences. Keep in mind, these people aren’t a cold audience either. They’re already warmed up because you’re working with someone they already trust. That means they’re more likely to buy from you. 

Plus, if your guest is selling a complementary product or service, this could lead to some profitable partnerships, with many cross-selling opportunities to follow. (Imagine, for instance, an ice cream vendor teaming up with a company that makes nothing but ice cream cones. Brilliant.)

3. Get the most out of your webinar efforts by following up with your registrants. 

Send them promotional material before and after they’ve signed up. With their permission, you can continue to nurture them by sending valuable (as in relevant and helpful) content once in a while—and keep strengthening your brand authority while you’re at it.

4. Don’t treat your webinar like a one-and-done.

What if—for some oddball reason—you host your event just once? Does that mean you can only send traffic to it for a single campaign?

Not a chance. Simply continue to run cold traffic to your webinar landing page, where your target audience will sign up for the recording with enthusiasm. Though they can’t ask questions, they also don’t have to wait for a specific time to watch. (Below, I’ll show you a super-cool example of a signup landing page for a recorded webinar.) 

5. Repurpose your webinars for other channels. 

If you know a good video editor, ask them to slice and dice your webinars into little clips that feature your best highlights. Share these on social media, embed them in your blog, and use them in your ads to continue to drive traffic.

Inspiring examples of webinar landing pages 

In this last section, we look at several landing pages that have performed particularly well by following the principles of conversion-centered design.

Built using Unbounce, these examples are some of the best webinar landing pages we’ve seen across many industries. (We’ve kept conversion rates private, but all the pages here convert between 9% and 50%.)

1. Tailwind

Image courtesy of Tailwind. (Click to see the whole thing.)

Tailwind’s webinar signup page has got to be one of my favorites. Talk about getting so many things right. 

The visuals immediately grab your attention, along with the clear copy and smart use of social proof. But it’s also an excellent example of the congruence principle of conversion design, since all the elements on the page are in alignment, driving toward a single goal. 

Let’s start with the attention ratio, which is the number of things your visitor can do on a page versus the number of things you want them to do. The attention ratio here is a beautiful 1:1. Notice that there isn’t a menu or other external links, and all the CTA buttons all serve the same conversion goal.

Did I forget to mention there’s no intimidating contact form in sight? You’ve got to click on the button to pull it up. The contact form asks for your “best” email. (I wouldn’t blame you if you thought this is a tad simplistic, but it does tickle my fancy.)

Finally, the drop-down menu on the form segments subscribers based on their specified needs. Talk about keeping things simple yet elegant.

Tailwind also does a fantastic job of presenting their guest, a proven and well-known authority in her space. In fact, we can’t tell what Tailwind is about simply by looking at the landing page. That’s because the focus is entirely on what the target audience is going to get. Not a word about the business just yet. (No hard sell.)

And that’s how it’s done.

2. Bandzoogle

Image courtesy of Bandzoogle. (Click to see the whole thing.)

This straightforward landing page from Bandzoogle is a fantastic example of clarity. The headline uses a proven copywriting formula: “How to do X without Y”. It works because it promises to teach you something while removing a traditional barrier. 

You have to love the body copy too. It’s simple, straight to the point, and opens by hitting on a major pain point shared by many musicians: the frustrations of booking a tour. 

The bullet points below are also worth closer scrutiny. Each one is 100% focused on the target audience and doesn’t beat around the bush, with zero fluff. It’s clear no copywriter is showing off here.

Then there’s email capture text. It informs the target audience that the webinar has already been recorded. Sure, this statement might catch them off-guard, but I’ll bet you the target audience appreciates the honesty and will trust you more in the longer term. (Besides, the information is still relevant.)

And their contact form? You can’t even call it that. It’s only asking for your email. And note how they weave their privacy policy into the fine print underneath. Brilliant.

3. Libris

Image courtesy of Libris by Photoshelter. (Click to see the whole thing.)

If you thought short-form landing pages couldn’t do it all, one quick look at Libris’ landing page will change your mind. Libris understands that motion, more than anything, is the very first thing that captures the attention of the human eye. 

But the footage isn’t showing any random attention-grabbing event. It’s a clip of two football teams walking out into the field. (Remember “sports”? That thing we used to do outside?) The focus though rests on the attendees holding up their cameras and phones to capture the event, not the actual event itself.

The powerful copy reinforces this concept throughout the landing page. What makes it effective is its focus on “you” from beginning to end, keeping it simple and hyper-relevant to the target audience. 

But my favorite part about this? It’s the chatbot in the bottom corner that pops the question, “You hungry?” How could you not be tempted to answer that? (And, yes, I am hungry.)

4. Vyond

Image courtesy of Vyond.

This landing page for a weekly webinar scores leads and signups for Vyond on autopilot. (Sweet.) The headline is pretty clear, and the primary brand color is immediately recognizable by the target audience. 

The 44-second video builds trust by introducing a human face, Vyond’s customer success training manager. But it quickly moves past the intro to display some striking visuals that showcase the Vyond app, as well as its ease of use. 

The main CTA is “Register for the Webinar”, but there are two anchor CTAs, one sitting on each side, which both ensure that the reader stays on-page.

It’s good, but as with any landing page, a healthy mindset is to “Always Be Testing.” With #ABT in mind, I’d try switching up a couple of things here: I’d recommend A/B testing against a shorter-form variant, and using Smart Traffic to see how the page performs with fewer fields. 

5. Unbounce 

I hate to brag, but this last one ticks all the boxes. Yes, it’s a webinar registration landing page by Unbounce, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be impartial.

Click to see real thing (opens in a new tab).

Just look at that event logo in motion. This page is oozing confidence. And it isn’t offering a single webinar recording, no. It’s got a whole jumbo 14-pack of knowledge bombs ready to be consumed in a single sitting.

And that headline? “It’s not just you. Marketing has gotten harder.” Oh my. You read my mind. (Is it getting hot in here? Just me?)

Then comes the social proof from the big industry names. And would you look at that day-to-day event breakdown? These both help showcase established authorities who are to share insider information throughout the event. 

In fact, that’s what this webinar page is designed to look like: a conference that just happens to be taking place online. Sure, we ran Marketing Optimization Week a few years ago, but it’s a relevant example of what you can do today to create exciting online events and webinars that’ll continue to pay off in the future. This page has converted nearly 7,800 times, and it continues to generate leads to this day.

Using Unbounce to set up your webinar landing page

I remember the first landing pages I tried to build by hand. I still wake up in cold sweats. I can still feel my partner reaching for my arm in the dark: “Another nightmare? Couldn’t get your elements to align again, huh?” 

I wish I knew about Unbounce then. Using it to get your webinar landing page up and running is easy. 

To get started, just pick a landing page template from the hundreds available. (Be sure to check out the advanced filters.) Tweak it to match your email or ad campaign if you’ve already got one running, or build the whole thing from the ground up. 

Then, drag and drop and adjust to your heart’s content, all without having to write a single line of code. (But if you really need to scratch your coding itch, you always have the option of inserting custom code to fit your needs.) 

Once you’re happy with your template, you can duplicate it to set up a variant or two to automatically optimize it with Smart Traffic. 

And you’re all set. (Really. No more nightmares.)

Ready to answer the call (to action)?

Landing pages and webinars go together like french fries and ketchup. There are huge benefits of pairing them together to bring your events online and generate more leads and sales. If you’re convinced—heck, even if you’re not—why not start a free trial and try out one of the high-converting webinar landing pages in our template library? 

Why You Need Webinar Landing Pages in 2020 [Best Practices & Examples] published first on https://nickpontemrktg.wordpress.com/

[tigerkirby215]

5e Yone, the Unforgotten build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Riot Games)

A YouTube comment on “The Path“ cinematic:

I can’t top this. This comment is fucking gold.

GOALS

Asakana - Trust me as a Kayn main I’m salty that we have another half-demon anime boy who isn’t even Darkin. But we still need a mask of many demonic faces.

Three swift strikes... - “Brother, why did Elder Souma let you have two swords?” Regardless we’ll need two swords for many slashes.

Death is like the wind - Yone is dead except not really, but he’s still capable of some astral projection to fight his foes from a distance.

RACE

Yone may have been human but with a demon fusing to him that gives him just enough infernal blood to be a Tiefling! As a Tiefling your Charisma score increases by 2 and your Intelligence score increases by 1. Your Hellish Resistance grants you resistance to fire damage, and Infernal Legacy grants you a few innate spells which I’ll cover in the build.

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - You’re an anime sword boy who was second best only to your brother who is the most anime sword boy who ever did swing an anime sword.

14; CHARISMA - As the more level-headed brother you had to do most of the talking. Remember that Charisma is strength of personality; not raw attractiveness. (Though you certainly have that going for you too.)

13; INTELLIGENCE - A master swordsman needs to study the art of war, which is more theory and less art. (Feel free to set your CON higher instead if you want more health.)

12; WISDOM - Yasuo’s the hothead and you’re the calm one. Not calm enough not to try to kill your brother, and definitely not calm enough to not be a target for Asakana.

10; CONSTITUTION - You died before, and dying generally means you weren’t that sturdy to begin with.

8; STRENGTH - Being cut down by the legendary wind technique and then brought back from the dead doesn’t spell a good workout routine. Yeah Yone has big pecs but put simply we need everything else more.

BACKGROUND

You had a background before, but unfortunately dead men tell no tales. You are a Haunted One brought back to life to hunt the creatures of the night. You can choose two skills from the Haunted One list to be proficient in: Investigation will help you find any stray Asakana, and depending on if your definition of emotional demons are Religion or Arcana you can pick either of those for your second skill. (Arcana is probably going to be more useful though.)

As a Haunted One people can easily see into your Heart of Darkness, easily telling that you’ve faced unimaginable horrors in your past. No shit you have a demon mask permanently attached to your face. Regardless commoners will be willing to aid you as much as possible unless you’ve shown yourself to be openly hostile, such as throwing their promo games.

You also learn two languages of your choice: one of which must be Exotic but since you already know Infernal as a Tiefling Sylvan would be good to talk to the spirits in a dating sim. For your other language Elvish seems fitting for Ionia.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

THE PATH BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ROGUE 1

Perhaps not the most fitting for the honorable brother, but being a Rogue will give us the skill to strike swiftly. As well as more skills in general! Take Perception and Insight to find Asakana, Acrobatics to fight them, and Intimidation to strike fear into their hearts. You also get Expertise in two skills your proficient in: Investigation and Perception would help further with finding Asakana.

When you find the Asakana you can strike it down with Sneak Attack. If you have Advantage on an attack roll or are attacking an enemy within 5 feet of an ally you can do an extra d6 of damage. Despite the name “sneak attack” you don’t actually have to sneak, but you do need to use a Finesse weapon such as a short sword. Yes your swords aren’t exactly “short” but for the purposes of dual wielding it’s the best you’ll get.

And after striking the demon down you might need to speak its true name in Thieves’ Cant. That’s not what Thieves’ Cant is? Well regardless it’s a code language shared among rogues; perhaps you picked it up from the Navori? At least you can shout the demon’s name loud and proud as you seal it away thanks to Tiefling Thaumaturgy, along with all other sorts of little supernatural effects I suggest reading into.

LEVEL 2 - ROGUE 2

At level 2 Rogues get Cunning Action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a bonus action. Hiding isn’t very in-character but being able to move swiftly across the battlefield is key for the twin blade technique. Unfortunately attacking with a twin blade also requires your bonus action, so pace your movements accordingly.

LEVEL 3 - ROGUE 3

Level 3 Rogues get to choose their Martial Archetype and in order to strike swift and true you’re going to want to play a Swashbuckler. Swashbucklers get Fancy Footwork to be able to slip away from enemies they attacked without provoking opportunity attacks, even if they miss.

Additionally they get Rakish Audacity which ironically provides two benefits: for one you get to add your Charisma modifier to your initiate, but you can also activate your sneak attack if you strike an enemy in melee with no other enemies nearby. Single the demon out and cut them down now that your Sneak Attack does 2d6 damage!

And finally you can cast Hellish Rebuke at second level as a reaction once per long rest thanks to Infernal Legacy. Strike a ganking lust demon with a big burst of “BEGONE THOT” damage!

LEVEL 4 - FIGHTER 1

Adding a quick level in Fighter because Yone was professionally trained, so a Fighting Style would be good to have. Naturally we’ll be going for Two-Weapon Fighting to fight with twin blades. You also get Second Wind to heal for a d10 plus your Fighter level once per short rest for a quick Corrupting Pot in lane.

But unfortunately now we’re going to have to die...

(Artwory by KAIZERS02 on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 1

Just kidding of course because it’s ya boii coming back with the WARLOCK LEVELS! You can choose your Warlock Patron straight at level 1 and as someone who came back from the dead you may think we’ll be going for the Undying patron right? Well that’s where you’re dead wrong because we’re going for a pact with a Fiend.

Why Fiend Patron? - Along with the lore reasons (not all Warlock pacts have to be made on good terms) Pact of the Fiend gives us Dark One’s Blessing to recreate the shield from Spirit Cleave (W), and Burning Hands also gives us an easy-to-use cone spell to recreate a cone-shaped cleave.

Why not Undying? - Undying has a pseudo-support role and a heavy focus on not dying, neither of which Yone does in-game.

Why not Hexblade? - We need at least 12 levels in Warlock for an invocation, and that means we’d be getting Accursed Specter from Hexblade. Yone doesn’t summon spirits to fight for him and while I could normally get past that bit of flavor fail (as both Hexblade’s Curse and Armor of Hexes actually make a lot of sense for Yone) Fiend made a lot more sense given that he literally gets his powers from a demon. A DEX build also allows you to be shirtless in Ionia.

Pact of the Fiend Warlocks have the Dark One’s Blessing, granting them temporary hitpoints equal to their Charisma modifier and their Warlock level when they down an enemy for some spiritual shielding.

Additionally Warlocks gain access to Pact Magic. You learn two cantrips from the Warlock list: Minor Illusion creates a sound or small visual you can use to trick an Asakana into falling for a trap. And Toll the Dead isn’t Eldritch Blast! Excluding the war crimes I just committed by not putting Eldritch Blast on a Warlock (you’re going to be using your swords most of the time anyways get over it it’s one spell) Toll the Dead forces the enemy to make a Wisdom save or take a d8 Necrotic damage, or a d12 Necrotic if they’re injured, making it a great finishing blow after using Soul Unbound.

You can also learn two first level spells: Burning Hands forces enemies to make a Dexterity saving throw or be Spirit Cleaved for 3d6 fire damage. If you want to mark an enemy for Soul Unbound however Hex will let you do an extra d6 of necrotic damage every hit, and give an enemy disadvantage on skill checks related to an ability score of your choice. You can also cast the Darkness spell once per long rest as a Tiefling, blinding everyone in the 20 foot sphere of darkness. If only you could see through it...

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 2

Second level Warlocks get Eldritch Invocations and we actually won’t be taking the one that helps us see in the dark. We will however be taking Armor of Shadows to let us cast Mage Armor at will and go shirtless in Ionia. Your second invocation will remain empty for now.

You can also add another spell to your repertoire and Protection from Evil and Good will help a lot with fighting Asakana. A creature blessed by the spell is attacked with disadvantage by aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. Additionally they can’t be charmed, frightened, or possessed by them. If they’re already debuffed by these types of enemies they have advantage on future saving throws against them. Once you know the truth of Asakana there is no reason to fear them... or some other edgy one liner.

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 3

Third level Warlocks get their Pact Boon and hey look it’s Pact of the Blade. You can create a magic weapon in your hand as an action. The weapon counts as being magical to overcome armadillos who say “okay” a lot. And you know that Invocation I told you to hold off on? Improved Pact Weapon will let you do more damage with the blade of the Asakana. If you want to remain in character I’d suggest only attacking with your pact weapon in your offhand, but remember that Two-Weapon Fighting takes your Bonus Action so feel free to hit hard and then run if needed.

You can also now cast second level spells like Misty Step for some sick plays with Flash.

LEVEL 8 - WARLOCK 4

Fourth level Warlocks finally get an Ability Score Improvement: increase your Dexterity by 2 for swifter and deadlier strikes with your twin blades. Could we take a feat? Yeah, but we won’t.

You also learn another cantrip at this level on top of another spell. For your cantrip Prestidigitation will further your ability to cast small spiritual magic, and for your spell of choice we already got flash so how about Ray of Enfeeblement for Exhaust? There’s a lot of other great options though: Blindness / Deafness from the Fiend list is also a great choice.

LEVEL 9 - FIGHTER 2

Second level Fighters get Action Surge, allowing them to take one additional action on their turn. Right now that only means one extra sword swing but you can cast a spell after you attack!

LEVEL 10 - FIGHTER 3

At level 3 Fighters can choose their Martial Archetype and to unbind one’s soul you must travel to the world of Wildemount for the Echo Knight subclass. I’ve already made a few Echo Knights before on this sub so I’m going to give the cliffnotes version of a class that has quite a long ability description at level 3 for Manifest Echo:

You can summon your soul within 15 feet of you as a bonus action.

You can move your soul up to 30 feet for free on your turn.

Your soul can’t be more than 30 feet away from you by the end of your turn, or else it disappears. (Goes back to your body)

Your soul has an AC of 14 + proficiency and 1 hitpoint.

It’s immune to all conditions and uses your saving throws.

You can swap places with your soul using 15 feet of movement (regardless of the distance between you two.)

When you attack you can make the attack come from your soul instead.

Your soul can opportunity attack (using your reaction.)

Additionally Unleash Incarnation will let you attack an extra time from your soul’s location on your turn. You can use it a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier but your CON mod is currently zero. Thankfully you can use it a minimum of one time before finishing a long rest.

(Artwork by Valkhar on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 11 - FIGHTER 4

Fourth level Fighters get an Ability Score Improvement: invest further in Dexterity for 19 DEX and all the benefits that provides.

LEVEL 12 - FIGHTER 5

5th level Fighters get an Extra Attack, letting them attack twice with their main action. This means that with your bonus action you can attack three times in a round! Now would also probably be a good time to put the Asakana’s blade in your main hand instead of trying to work around your fancy passive.

LEVEL 13 - WARLOCK 5

It’s straight down Warlock now to become one with the Asakana we wear as a mask. Level 5 Warlocks get another Invocation and it wouldn’t be Pact of the Blade if we didn’t take both Improved Pact Weapon and Eldritch Smite! Pretend to be a Paladin by turning a spell slot into more sword damage and pretend to be your brother by knocking people over when you do so!

You can also learn another spell like Gaseous Form to turn into petals on the wind. Additionally Hex is probably wearing away its welcome by this point so I’d suggest taking Hold Person instead to CC-chain a foe to death.

LEVEL 14 - WARLOCK 6

6th level Fiend Warlocks get Dark One’s Own Luck, letting them add a d10 to an ability check or saving throw once per short or long rest. I consider this less you being “lucky” and more you going all out just this once.

You can also learn another spell from the Warlock list such as Spirit Shroud from Unearthed Arcana to give nearby enemies a Randuin's Omen while you cut them down.

LEVEL 15 - WARLOCK 7

7th level Warlocks get another Invocation and while there are plenty to choose from it’s only fair for the man who collects masks of many faces to get a Mask of Many Faces, allowing you to cast Disguise Self at will! Is this mostly done for flavor and is it a bit late to get Disguise Self? Yes but it’s still a very good spell to have.

And you can learn a 4th level spell like Fire Shield from the Fiend List. You can make a Fire Shield for resistance to Cold damage or a Cold Shield to resist Fire damage which you already resist. But regardless of your choice anyone who hits you with a melee attack for the duration will take 2d8 damage of either Fire (if you chose the Fire Shield) or Cold (if you chose the other.)

Also I’d perhaps suggest replacing Misty Step with Dimension Door? Sure Dimension Door takes a full action (while Misty Step takes a bonus action) but Dimension Door has a 500 foot range which will never not be useful! Teleport can be just as useful as Flash you know.

LEVEL 16 - WARLOCK 8

8th level Warlocks get another Ability Score Improvement: put one into Dexterity and the other one into... yeah Charisma. You also could learn another spell but none of these really interest me so I suggest holding off on it for now.

(Artwork by MizuriOfficial on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 17 - WARLOCK 9

9th level Warlocks get another Invocation, and while again there’s plenty to choose from we strive for accuracy here so how about some spiritual levitation? Ascendant Step lets you cast Levitate on yourself without using a spell slot or material components, so you can float towards a wise old man who definitely isn’t an Asakana in disguise.

But most importantly you now gain access to 5th level spells! Hallow is a big spell with a lot of effects, a 1000 gold cost, and a 24 hour casting time but it’s the ultimate way to protect an area from Asakana! To seal the fate of your foes  Synaptic Static forces an intelligence saving throw on all enemies in an AoE to try to avoid massive damage along with a disorientation effect that tends to come with being knocked up into the air by a tornado.

LEVEL 18 - WARLOCK 10

10th level Fiend Warlocks get Fiendish Resilience, allowing them to resist one type of damage of their choosing. They can swap the resistance out on a short or long rest but damage from magic weapons or silvered weapons ignores this resistance, so probably better just to resist wind magic (Thunder damage) in general instead of specifically resisting a magic wind sword.

Additionally while you won’t learn any more Warlock spells you do get your final cantrip: for some more minor spirit projection how about Mage Hand to grab things within 30 feet and bring them to you?

LEVEL 19 - WARLOCK 11

11th level Warlocks get Mystic Arcanum, which are like regular spell slots which only come back after a long rest because you’re no longer special. Regardless if you want to harness the wind technique look no further than Investiture of Wind Stone, because the rock spell actually lets you knock people over.

Regardless until the spell ends you have resistance to nonmagical slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning, you can move across difficult terrain without spending additional movement, you can move through terrain without spending extra movement (but can’t end your turn there), and you can spend your action to try to knock everyone near you over with some basic wind techniques.

Yes there are better spells to take (even in the Investiture spell line, such as the genuine Investiture of Wind which would let you fly as well as block projectiles with a wind wall of your own) but you’re not your brother. You’re a simple, practical stone who gets the job done. Or you can be a wandering poet: make your own Yone - you don’t follow this build point-for-point.

You also apparently get another spell because Mystic Arcanum doesn’t count as a spell? Hold Monster is like Hold Person but it works against everything at the mere cost of a much higher spell slot, meaning that you can only affect one creature with parallelization but that should be more than enough for your little brother to get the job done and flash his fancy blue crest afterwards. You do have three spell slots now after all.

LEVEL 20 - WARLOCK 12

12th level Warlocks get our final Ability Score Improvement and... ugh. As much as I want to do something fun I have to accept the fact that Charisma will help us more, so you may as well grab the Resilient Feat with Charisma for better saving throws and a higher Charisma mod.

But that Charisma mod is going to get a lot of use since now you can take the Lifedrinker invocation which grants the Asakana’s blade Necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier! That’s a lot of damage? How much damage? Well...

FINAL BUILD

PROS

One to cut, one to seal - Let’s do the math for how much damage you do with your swords every round: two strikes from the Asakana’s blade (d6 + 6 slashing + 4 necrotic), one from your regular sword (d6 + 5), and sneak attack damage (2d6) for a total of... 5d6 + 25 damage (8 of it being Necrotic and the rest being Slashing) every round. Not to mention Eldritch Smites in a pinch and a large assortment of spells.

Fear, once named, controls no one - You are also incredibly elusive with 18 AC and strong saving throws. Swashbuckler lets you get into the fight fast and get out before your enemy has a chance to react, and cunning actions let you weave around the battlefield as you see fit. To top it off Echo Knight levels let you attack your foes without even being near them! "Cross the veil!"

Wear a mask long enough, and you forget the face beneath - You have a great deal of out-of-combat utility too. Language proficiencies (along with Thieves’ Cant), skill proficiencies (including expertise in two very important skills 23 passive perception, anyone?) Thieves’ Tools, several utility spells which you can cast pretty much at will, not to mention the utility of near-infinite teleportation and flat out infinite levitation.

CONS

Blink, and you'll miss your own death - Between two-weapon fighting, cunning action, and interactions with your echo there’s such a thing as too many bonus actions.

Do not wish to hide behind masks - There’s also such a thing as being too elusive. Swashbuckler gives you plenty of mobility as does Echo Knight, but putting them together means that you’ll be everywhere at once.

Are you here to usher me back? - Multiclassing a spellsword means that you miss out on some vital ability score increases. This means your Charisma isn’t topped off, the saving throws you aren’t proficient in are subpar at best, and your health is just barely over the Power Word Kill threshold.

But a hunter with many weapons will always have the right one to catch its prey. Lure out the Asakana and strike them down. Just remember that even if you alone can stop the demonic plague you don’t have to work alone. Your brother may have struck you down but if you learn to forgive the Asakana will be a lot weaker. "Long before blades and sorcery are needed, words... can save a soul."

(Artwork by @ThatwasforZED on Twitter)

#DnD 5e #dnd #dnd build #dnd guide #dnd warlock #dnd fighter #dnd rogue #league of legends #League of Legends Yone #League of Legends Yasuo #anime #weeb #demon hunter

[itsjessicaisreal]

Why You Need Webinar Landing Pages in 2020 [Best Practices & Examples]

It’s 2020. The ordinary ways we do things have been disrupted left and right, up and down. Circumstances have forced many businesses to shift their brick-and-mortar operations and real-world activities online. 

So it’s fair for a marketer to ask:

“Is now a good time to be running webinars?“

The short answer is, now’s a great time. Marketing departments are slashing their networking budgets. In some places, gatherings like conferences and workshops won’t be in the cards for quite a while. Some of us are still in lockdown, with little to do but binge-watch crime documentaries on Netflix. And others are busy looking for new ways to level up their skills. 

The result? If anything, webinars are only going to blow up. 

If you’re hungry for an opportunity to take a bit of that attention away from Netflix, let’s look at what holding online events can do for your business and how you can create webinar landing pages that turn visitors into registrants.

Keep reading, or jump right into one of the sections below:

What can a webinar do for my business?

Webinar landing page best practices

Inspiring examples of webinar landing pages 

What can a webinar do for my business?

It’s no secret that savvy marketers and businesses love running webinars. After all, they can be an easy way to achieve multiple goals:

Webinars can help fill your funnel and generate more leads—and fast. If you’re a techy, you can automate this process too, saving you even more time. (For a concrete example, see how Thinkific took advantage of the Unbounce integration with ActiveCampaign to secure thousands of leads on autopilot for an online summit.)

Webinars give you a platform to educate your customers, build stronger bonds, and boost product engagement. An easy way to do this is to demo your product live and use it to execute the key points you’ve covered. 

By educating your customers, you’re establishing authority and brand expertise. According to 99firms, “92% of attendees expect a live Q&A session at the end of the webinar.” That’s right: they expect it. They actually want you to teach them something. To demo something that might improve their lives. To sell them something that might give them value. They’re inviting you to build closer relationships and engage with them.

You’re networking and making yourself look smart via your guests’ expertise, boosting your own authority. It’s called the Halo effect. When you bring on stellar guests, their best qualities reflect onto you. Plus, your guests’ target audiences get to learn about you. Talk about a quick and easy way to expand your reach.

Affiliates and potential partners might approach you if they see an opportunity. Finally, offering to run webinars together can be a powerful incentive for partnering up, especially if you can offer the resources, know-how, and network to do it well.

When done right, webinars are an easy way to cover every stage of your funnel. With all that upside, we’re shocked more companies aren’t running online events. (How about a Netflix model? We’d tune in.)

Want to take your webinar campaigns up a notch? If you’re already using online events for your business and want a quick way to boost your registrations, try starting with a high-converting webinar landing page template.

A webinar landing page is a no-brainer 

You can be the William Shakespeare of webinars, delivering brilliance, entertainment, and wisdom in one perfect package. Without a half-decent landing page to score some signups, though? Well, you’d be lucky to draw a crowd of crickets.

That’s why promoting your webinars is so important. If you have seats to fill, you’ve got three options: 

You can build a stripped-down registration page that’s easy to set up but doesn’t really convince people to convert. Too often, these pages have lengthy forms with so many unnecessary fields, you might as well be filling out a tax form. You also have no ability to A/B test them. 

You can get your web devs and designers together to create something with tons of visual appeal—but this option takes a lot of time and money that you may not have right now. (Totally understandable if you’re trying to get up and running quickly.)

You can use landing pages to help you avoid both these problems. Webinar landing pages can be a better option when it comes to running time-sensitive campaigns because you can literally set one up and get running in minutes. And if you’re a believer in wowing your target audience with beautiful design, creating one is still very easy, because you can use templates that have already been tested in the wild.

Photo by J. Kelly Brito on Unsplash.

Webinar landing page best practices

When it comes to landing pages for webinar registration, you could fill an encyclopedia with all the best practices out there. To get you started sooner, let’s stick to the few established and actionable practices that’ll reap some of the greatest rewards.

1. Before you can create a compelling landing page, you need a strong topic.

Choose a topic that grabs your audience’s attention. Ideally, it should be contemporary, relevant to the problems they face, and very actionable. Once the webinar is over, your audience should be left energized, since the next steps will be crystal clear. 

2. Invite a guest to connect with new audiences.

Sure, you can rely on your star power to draw a small crowd. But that’s not getting the best bang for your buck. What’s an event if you show up all by your lonesome? 

“But my mom says my webinar is cool.”

One amazing way to multiply your reach is by leveraging your guests’ audiences. Keep in mind, these people aren’t a cold audience either. They’re already warmed up because you’re working with someone they already trust. That means they’re more likely to buy from you. 

Plus, if your guest is selling a complementary product or service, this could lead to some profitable partnerships, with many cross-selling opportunities to follow. (Imagine, for instance, an ice cream vendor teaming up with a company that makes nothing but ice cream cones. Brilliant.)

3. Get the most out of your webinar efforts by following up with your registrants. 

Send them promotional material before and after they’ve signed up. With their permission, you can continue to nurture them by sending valuable (as in relevant and helpful) content once in a while—and keep strengthening your brand authority while you’re at it.

4. Don’t treat your webinar like a one-and-done.

What if—for some oddball reason—you host your event just once? Does that mean you can only send traffic to it for a single campaign?

Not a chance. Simply continue to run cold traffic to your webinar landing page, where your target audience will sign up for the recording with enthusiasm. Though they can’t ask questions, they also don’t have to wait for a specific time to watch. (Below, I’ll show you a super-cool example of a signup landing page for a recorded webinar.) 

5. Repurpose your webinars for other channels. 

If you know a good video editor, ask them to slice and dice your webinars into little clips that feature your best highlights. Share these on social media, embed them in your blog, and use them in your ads to continue to drive traffic.

Inspiring examples of webinar landing pages 

In this last section, we look at several landing pages that have performed particularly well by following the principles of conversion-centered design.

Built using Unbounce, these examples are some of the best webinar landing pages we’ve seen across many industries. (We’ve kept conversion rates private, but all the pages here convert between 9% and 50%.)

1. Tailwind

Image courtesy of Tailwind. (Click to see the whole thing.)

Tailwind’s webinar signup page has got to be one of my favorites. Talk about getting so many things right. 

The visuals immediately grab your attention, along with the clear copy and smart use of social proof. But it’s also an excellent example of the congruence principle of conversion design, since all the elements on the page are in alignment, driving toward a single goal. 

Let’s start with the attention ratio, which is the number of things your visitor can do on a page versus the number of things you want them to do. The attention ratio here is a beautiful 1:1. Notice that there isn’t a menu or other external links, and all the CTA buttons all serve the same conversion goal.

Did I forget to mention there’s no intimidating contact form in sight? You’ve got to click on the button to pull it up. The contact form asks for your “best” email. (I wouldn’t blame you if you thought this is a tad simplistic, but it does tickle my fancy.)

Finally, the drop-down menu on the form segments subscribers based on their specified needs. Talk about keeping things simple yet elegant.

Tailwind also does a fantastic job of presenting their guest, a proven and well-known authority in her space. In fact, we can’t tell what Tailwind is about simply by looking at the landing page. That’s because the focus is entirely on what the target audience is going to get. Not a word about the business just yet. (No hard sell.)

And that’s how it’s done.

2. Bandzoogle

Image courtesy of Bandzoogle. (Click to see the whole thing.)

This straightforward landing page from Bandzoogle is a fantastic example of clarity. The headline uses a proven copywriting formula: “How to do X without Y”. It works because it promises to teach you something while removing a traditional barrier. 

You have to love the body copy too. It’s simple, straight to the point, and opens by hitting on a major pain point shared by many musicians: the frustrations of booking a tour. 

The bullet points below are also worth closer scrutiny. Each one is 100% focused on the target audience and doesn’t beat around the bush, with zero fluff. It’s clear no copywriter is showing off here.

Then there’s email capture text. It informs the target audience that the webinar has already been recorded. Sure, this statement might catch them off-guard, but I’ll bet you the target audience appreciates the honesty and will trust you more in the longer term. (Besides, the information is still relevant.)

And their contact form? You can’t even call it that. It’s only asking for your email. And note how they weave their privacy policy into the fine print underneath. Brilliant.

3. Libris

Image courtesy of Libris by Photoshelter. (Click to see the whole thing.)

If you thought short-form landing pages couldn’t do it all, one quick look at Libris’ landing page will change your mind. Libris understands that motion, more than anything, is the very first thing that captures the attention of the human eye. 

But the footage isn’t showing any random attention-grabbing event. It’s a clip of two football teams walking out into the field. (Remember “sports”? That thing we used to do outside?) The focus though rests on the attendees holding up their cameras and phones to capture the event, not the actual event itself.

The powerful copy reinforces this concept throughout the landing page. What makes it effective is its focus on “you” from beginning to end, keeping it simple and hyper-relevant to the target audience. 

But my favorite part about this? It’s the chatbot in the bottom corner that pops the question, “You hungry?” How could you not be tempted to answer that? (And, yes, I am hungry.)

4. Vyond

Image courtesy of Vyond.

This landing page for a weekly webinar scores leads and signups for Vyond on autopilot. (Sweet.) The headline is pretty clear, and the primary brand color is immediately recognizable by the target audience. 

The 44-second video builds trust by introducing a human face, Vyond’s customer success training manager. But it quickly moves past the intro to display some striking visuals that showcase the Vyond app, as well as its ease of use. 

The main CTA is “Register for the Webinar”, but there are two anchor CTAs, one sitting on each side, which both ensure that the reader stays on-page.

It’s good, but as with any landing page, a healthy mindset is to “Always Be Testing.” With #ABT in mind, I’d try switching up a couple of things here: I’d recommend A/B testing against a shorter-form variant, and using Smart Traffic to see how the page performs with fewer fields. 

5. Unbounce 

I hate to brag, but this last one ticks all the boxes. Yes, it’s a webinar registration landing page by Unbounce, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be impartial.

Click to see real thing (opens in a new tab).

Just look at that event logo in motion. This page is oozing confidence. And it isn’t offering a single webinar recording, no. It’s got a whole jumbo 14-pack of knowledge bombs ready to be consumed in a single sitting.

And that headline? “It’s not just you. Marketing has gotten harder.” Oh my. You read my mind. (Is it getting hot in here? Just me?)

Then comes the social proof from the big industry names. And would you look at that day-to-day event breakdown? These both help showcase established authorities who are to share insider information throughout the event. 

In fact, that’s what this webinar page is designed to look like: a conference that just happens to be taking place online. Sure, we ran Marketing Optimization Week a few years ago, but it’s a relevant example of what you can do today to create exciting online events and webinars that’ll continue to pay off in the future. This page has converted nearly 7,800 times, and it continues to generate leads to this day.

Using Unbounce to set up your webinar landing page

I remember the first landing pages I tried to build by hand. I still wake up in cold sweats. I can still feel my partner reaching for my arm in the dark: “Another nightmare? Couldn’t get your elements to align again, huh?” 

I wish I knew about Unbounce then. Using it to get your webinar landing page up and running is easy. 

To get started, just pick a landing page template from the hundreds available. (Be sure to check out the advanced filters.) Tweak it to match your email or ad campaign if you’ve already got one running, or build the whole thing from the ground up. 

Then, drag and drop and adjust to your heart’s content, all without having to write a single line of code. (But if you really need to scratch your coding itch, you always have the option of inserting custom code to fit your needs.) 

Once you’re happy with your template, you can duplicate it to set up a variant or two to automatically optimize it with Smart Traffic. 

And you’re all set. (Really. No more nightmares.)

Ready to answer the call (to action)?

Landing pages and webinars go together like french fries and ketchup. There are huge benefits of pairing them together to bring your events online and generate more leads and sales. If you’re convinced—heck, even if you’re not—why not start a free trial and try out one of the high-converting webinar landing pages in our template library? 

from Marketing https://unbounce.com/landing-page-examples/webinar-landing-page-examples/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[kennethmontiveros]

Why You Need Webinar Landing Pages in 2020 [Best Practices & Examples]

It’s 2020. The ordinary ways we do things have been disrupted left and right, up and down. Circumstances have forced many businesses to shift their brick-and-mortar operations and real-world activities online. 

So it’s fair for a marketer to ask:

“Is now a good time to be running webinars?“

The short answer is, now’s a great time. Marketing departments are slashing their networking budgets. In some places, gatherings like conferences and workshops won’t be in the cards for quite a while. Some of us are still in lockdown, with little to do but binge-watch crime documentaries on Netflix. And others are busy looking for new ways to level up their skills. 

The result? If anything, webinars are only going to blow up. 

If you’re hungry for an opportunity to take a bit of that attention away from Netflix, let’s look at what holding online events can do for your business and how you can create webinar landing pages that turn visitors into registrants.

Keep reading, or jump right into one of the sections below:

What can a webinar do for my business?

Webinar landing page best practices

Inspiring examples of webinar landing pages 

What can a webinar do for my business?

It’s no secret that savvy marketers and businesses love running webinars. After all, they can be an easy way to achieve multiple goals:

Webinars can help fill your funnel and generate more leads—and fast. If you’re a techy, you can automate this process too, saving you even more time. (For a concrete example, see how Thinkific took advantage of the Unbounce integration with ActiveCampaign to secure thousands of leads on autopilot for an online summit.)

Webinars give you a platform to educate your customers, build stronger bonds, and boost product engagement. An easy way to do this is to demo your product live and use it to execute the key points you’ve covered. 

By educating your customers, you’re establishing authority and brand expertise. According to 99firms, “92% of attendees expect a live Q&A session at the end of the webinar.” That’s right: they expect it. They actually want you to teach them something. To demo something that might improve their lives. To sell them something that might give them value. They’re inviting you to build closer relationships and engage with them.

You’re networking and making yourself look smart via your guests’ expertise, boosting your own authority. It’s called the Halo effect. When you bring on stellar guests, their best qualities reflect onto you. Plus, your guests’ target audiences get to learn about you. Talk about a quick and easy way to expand your reach.

Affiliates and potential partners might approach you if they see an opportunity. Finally, offering to run webinars together can be a powerful incentive for partnering up, especially if you can offer the resources, know-how, and network to do it well.

When done right, webinars are an easy way to cover every stage of your funnel. With all that upside, we’re shocked more companies aren’t running online events. (How about a Netflix model? We’d tune in.)

Want to take your webinar campaigns up a notch? If you’re already using online events for your business and want a quick way to boost your registrations, try starting with a high-converting webinar landing page template.

A webinar landing page is a no-brainer 

You can be the William Shakespeare of webinars, delivering brilliance, entertainment, and wisdom in one perfect package. Without a half-decent landing page to score some signups, though? Well, you’d be lucky to draw a crowd of crickets.

That’s why promoting your webinars is so important. If you have seats to fill, you’ve got three options: 

You can build a stripped-down registration page that’s easy to set up but doesn’t really convince people to convert. Too often, these pages have lengthy forms with so many unnecessary fields, you might as well be filling out a tax form. You also have no ability to A/B test them. 

You can get your web devs and designers together to create something with tons of visual appeal—but this option takes a lot of time and money that you may not have right now. (Totally understandable if you’re trying to get up and running quickly.)

You can use landing pages to help you avoid both these problems. Webinar landing pages can be a better option when it comes to running time-sensitive campaigns because you can literally set one up and get running in minutes. And if you’re a believer in wowing your target audience with beautiful design, creating one is still very easy, because you can use templates that have already been tested in the wild.

Photo by J. Kelly Brito on Unsplash.

Webinar landing page best practices

When it comes to landing pages for webinar registration, you could fill an encyclopedia with all the best practices out there. To get you started sooner, let’s stick to the few established and actionable practices that’ll reap some of the greatest rewards.

1. Before you can create a compelling landing page, you need a strong topic.

Choose a topic that grabs your audience’s attention. Ideally, it should be contemporary, relevant to the problems they face, and very actionable. Once the webinar is over, your audience should be left energized, since the next steps will be crystal clear. 

2. Invite a guest to connect with new audiences.

Sure, you can rely on your star power to draw a small crowd. But that’s not getting the best bang for your buck. What’s an event if you show up all by your lonesome? 

“But my mom says my webinar is cool.”

One amazing way to multiply your reach is by leveraging your guests’ audiences. Keep in mind, these people aren’t a cold audience either. They’re already warmed up because you’re working with someone they already trust. That means they’re more likely to buy from you. 

Plus, if your guest is selling a complementary product or service, this could lead to some profitable partnerships, with many cross-selling opportunities to follow. (Imagine, for instance, an ice cream vendor teaming up with a company that makes nothing but ice cream cones. Brilliant.)

3. Get the most out of your webinar efforts by following up with your registrants. 

Send them promotional material before and after they’ve signed up. With their permission, you can continue to nurture them by sending valuable (as in relevant and helpful) content once in a while—and keep strengthening your brand authority while you’re at it.

4. Don’t treat your webinar like a one-and-done.

What if—for some oddball reason—you host your event just once? Does that mean you can only send traffic to it for a single campaign?

Not a chance. Simply continue to run cold traffic to your webinar landing page, where your target audience will sign up for the recording with enthusiasm. Though they can’t ask questions, they also don’t have to wait for a specific time to watch. (Below, I’ll show you a super-cool example of a signup landing page for a recorded webinar.) 

5. Repurpose your webinars for other channels. 

If you know a good video editor, ask them to slice and dice your webinars into little clips that feature your best highlights. Share these on social media, embed them in your blog, and use them in your ads to continue to drive traffic.

Inspiring examples of webinar landing pages 

In this last section, we look at several landing pages that have performed particularly well by following the principles of conversion-centered design.

Built using Unbounce, these examples are some of the best webinar landing pages we’ve seen across many industries. (We’ve kept conversion rates private, but all the pages here convert between 9% and 50%.)

1. Tailwind

Image courtesy of Tailwind. (Click to see the whole thing.)

Tailwind’s webinar signup page has got to be one of my favorites. Talk about getting so many things right. 

The visuals immediately grab your attention, along with the clear copy and smart use of social proof. But it’s also an excellent example of the congruence principle of conversion design, since all the elements on the page are in alignment, driving toward a single goal. 

Let’s start with the attention ratio, which is the number of things your visitor can do on a page versus the number of things you want them to do. The attention ratio here is a beautiful 1:1. Notice that there isn’t a menu or other external links, and all the CTA buttons all serve the same conversion goal.

Did I forget to mention there’s no intimidating contact form in sight? You’ve got to click on the button to pull it up. The contact form asks for your “best” email. (I wouldn’t blame you if you thought this is a tad simplistic, but it does tickle my fancy.)

Finally, the drop-down menu on the form segments subscribers based on their specified needs. Talk about keeping things simple yet elegant.

Tailwind also does a fantastic job of presenting their guest, a proven and well-known authority in her space. In fact, we can’t tell what Tailwind is about simply by looking at the landing page. That’s because the focus is entirely on what the target audience is going to get. Not a word about the business just yet. (No hard sell.)

And that’s how it’s done.

2. Bandzoogle

Image courtesy of Bandzoogle. (Click to see the whole thing.)

This straightforward landing page from Bandzoogle is a fantastic example of clarity. The headline uses a proven copywriting formula: “How to do X without Y”. It works because it promises to teach you something while removing a traditional barrier. 

You have to love the body copy too. It’s simple, straight to the point, and opens by hitting on a major pain point shared by many musicians: the frustrations of booking a tour. 

The bullet points below are also worth closer scrutiny. Each one is 100% focused on the target audience and doesn’t beat around the bush, with zero fluff. It’s clear no copywriter is showing off here.

Then there’s email capture text. It informs the target audience that the webinar has already been recorded. Sure, this statement might catch them off-guard, but I’ll bet you the target audience appreciates the honesty and will trust you more in the longer term. (Besides, the information is still relevant.)

And their contact form? You can’t even call it that. It’s only asking for your email. And note how they weave their privacy policy into the fine print underneath. Brilliant.

3. Libris

Image courtesy of Libris by Photoshelter. (Click to see the whole thing.)

If you thought short-form landing pages couldn’t do it all, one quick look at Libris’ landing page will change your mind. Libris understands that motion, more than anything, is the very first thing that captures the attention of the human eye. 

But the footage isn’t showing any random attention-grabbing event. It’s a clip of two football teams walking out into the field. (Remember “sports”? That thing we used to do outside?) The focus though rests on the attendees holding up their cameras and phones to capture the event, not the actual event itself.

The powerful copy reinforces this concept throughout the landing page. What makes it effective is its focus on “you” from beginning to end, keeping it simple and hyper-relevant to the target audience. 

But my favorite part about this? It’s the chatbot in the bottom corner that pops the question, “You hungry?” How could you not be tempted to answer that? (And, yes, I am hungry.)

4. Vyond

Image courtesy of Vyond.

This landing page for a weekly webinar scores leads and signups for Vyond on autopilot. (Sweet.) The headline is pretty clear, and the primary brand color is immediately recognizable by the target audience. 

The 44-second video builds trust by introducing a human face, Vyond’s customer success training manager. But it quickly moves past the intro to display some striking visuals that showcase the Vyond app, as well as its ease of use. 

The main CTA is “Register for the Webinar”, but there are two anchor CTAs, one sitting on each side, which both ensure that the reader stays on-page.

It’s good, but as with any landing page, a healthy mindset is to “Always Be Testing.” With #ABT in mind, I’d try switching up a couple of things here: I’d recommend A/B testing against a shorter-form variant, and using Smart Traffic to see how the page performs with fewer fields. 

5. Unbounce 

I hate to brag, but this last one ticks all the boxes. Yes, it’s a webinar registration landing page by Unbounce, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be impartial.

Click to see real thing (opens in a new tab).

Just look at that event logo in motion. This page is oozing confidence. And it isn’t offering a single webinar recording, no. It’s got a whole jumbo 14-pack of knowledge bombs ready to be consumed in a single sitting.

And that headline? “It’s not just you. Marketing has gotten harder.” Oh my. You read my mind. (Is it getting hot in here? Just me?)

Then comes the social proof from the big industry names. And would you look at that day-to-day event breakdown? These both help showcase established authorities who are to share insider information throughout the event. 

In fact, that’s what this webinar page is designed to look like: a conference that just happens to be taking place online. Sure, we ran Marketing Optimization Week a few years ago, but it’s a relevant example of what you can do today to create exciting online events and webinars that’ll continue to pay off in the future. This page has converted nearly 7,800 times, and it continues to generate leads to this day.

Using Unbounce to set up your webinar landing page

I remember the first landing pages I tried to build by hand. I still wake up in cold sweats. I can still feel my partner reaching for my arm in the dark: “Another nightmare? Couldn’t get your elements to align again, huh?” 

I wish I knew about Unbounce then. Using it to get your webinar landing page up and running is easy. 

To get started, just pick a landing page template from the hundreds available. (Be sure to check out the advanced filters.) Tweak it to match your email or ad campaign if you’ve already got one running, or build the whole thing from the ground up. 

Then, drag and drop and adjust to your heart’s content, all without having to write a single line of code. (But if you really need to scratch your coding itch, you always have the option of inserting custom code to fit your needs.) 

Once you’re happy with your template, you can duplicate it to set up a variant or two to automatically optimize it with Smart Traffic. 

And you’re all set. (Really. No more nightmares.)

Ready to answer the call (to action)?

Landing pages and webinars go together like french fries and ketchup. There are huge benefits of pairing them together to bring your events online and generate more leads and sales. If you’re convinced—heck, even if you’re not—why not start a free trial and try out one of the high-converting webinar landing pages in our template library? 

Why You Need Webinar Landing Pages in 2020 [Best Practices & Examples] published first on http://nickpontemktg.blogspot.com/

[roypstickney]

Why You Need Webinar Landing Pages in 2020 [Best Practices & Examples]

It’s 2020. The ordinary ways we do things have been disrupted left and right, up and down. Circumstances have forced many businesses to shift their brick-and-mortar operations and real-world activities online. 

So it’s fair for a marketer to ask:

“Is now a good time to be running webinars?“

The short answer is, now’s a great time. Marketing departments are slashing their networking budgets. In some places, gatherings like conferences and workshops won’t be in the cards for quite a while. Some of us are still in lockdown, with little to do but binge-watch crime documentaries on Netflix. And others are busy looking for new ways to level up their skills. 

The result? If anything, webinars are only going to blow up. 

If you’re hungry for an opportunity to take a bit of that attention away from Netflix, let’s look at what webinars can do for your business and how you can create webinar landing pages that turn visitors into registrants.

Keep reading, or jump right into one of the sections below:

What can a webinar do for my business?

Webinar landing page best practices

Inspiring examples of webinar landing pages 

What can a webinar do for my business?

It’s no secret that savvy marketers and businesses love running webinars. After all, webinars can be an easy way to achieve multiple goals:

Webinars can help fill your funnel and generate more leads—and fast. If you’re a techy, you can automate this process too, saving you even more time. (For a concrete example, see how Thinkific took advantage of the Unbounce integration with ActiveCampaign to secure thousands of leads on autopilot for an online summit.)

Webinars give you a platform to educate your customers, build stronger bonds, and boost product engagement. An easy way to do this is to demo your product live and use it to execute the key points you’ve covered. 

By educating your customers, you’re establishing authority and brand expertise. According to 99firms, “92% of attendees expect a live Q&A session at the end of the webinar.” That’s right: they expect it. They actually want you to teach them something. To demo something that might improve their lives. To sell them something that might give them value. They’re inviting you to build closer relationships and engage with them.

You’re networking and making yourself look smart via your guests’ expertise, boosting your own authority. It’s called the Halo effect. When you bring on stellar guests, their best qualities reflect onto you. Plus, your guests’ target audiences get to learn about you. Talk about a quick and easy way to expand your reach.

Affiliates and potential partners might approach you if they see an opportunity. Finally, offering to run webinars together can be a powerful incentive for partnering up, especially if you can offer the resources, know-how, and network to do it well.

When done right, webinars are an easy way to cover every stage of your funnel. With all that upside, we’re shocked more companies aren’t running webinars. (How about a Netflix model for webinars? We’d tune in.)

Want to take your webinar campaigns up a notch? If you’re already using webinars for your business and want a quick way to boost your registrations, try starting with a high-converting webinar landing page template.

A webinar landing page is a no-brainer 

You can be the William Shakespeare of webinars, delivering brilliance, entertainment, and wisdom in one perfect package. Without a half-decent landing page to score some signups, though? Well, you’d be lucky to draw a crowd of crickets.

That’s why promoting your webinars is so important. If you have seats to fill, you’ve got three options: 

You can build a stripped-down registration page that’s easy to set up but doesn’t really convince people to convert. Too often, these pages have lengthy forms with so many unnecessary fields, you might as well be filling out a tax form. You also have no ability to A/B test them. 

You can get your web devs and designers together to create something with tons of visual appeal—but this option takes a lot of time and money that you may not have right now. (Totally understandable if you’re trying to get up and running quickly.)

You can use landing pages to help you avoid both these problems. Webinar landing pages can be a better option when it comes to running time-sensitive campaigns because you can literally set one up and get running in minutes. And if you’re a believer in wowing your target audience with beautiful design, creating one is still very easy, because you can use templates that have already been tested in the wild.

Photo by J. Kelly Brito on Unsplash.

Webinar landing page best practices

When it comes to landing pages for webinar registration, you could fill an encyclopedia with all the best practices out there. To get you started sooner, let’s stick to the few established and actionable practices that’ll reap some of the greatest rewards.

1. Before you can create a compelling landing page, you need a strong topic.

Choose a topic that grabs your audience’s attention. Ideally, it should be contemporary, relevant to the problems they face, and very actionable. Once the webinar is over, your audience should be left energized, since the next steps will be crystal clear. 

2. Invite a guest to connect with new audiences.

Sure, you can rely on your star power to draw a small crowd. But that’s not getting the best bang for your buck. What’s a webinar if you show up all by your lonesome? 

“But my mom says my webinar is cool.”

One amazing way to multiply your reach is by leveraging your guests’ audiences. Keep in mind, these people aren’t a cold audience either. They’re already warmed up because you’re working with someone they already trust. That means they’re more likely to buy from you. 

Plus, if your guest is selling a complementary product or service, this could lead to some profitable partnerships, with many cross-selling opportunities to follow. (Imagine, for instance, an ice cream vendor teaming up with a company that makes nothing but ice cream cones. Brilliant.)

3. Get the most out of your webinar efforts by following up with your registrants. 

Send them promotional material before and after they’ve signed up for your webinar. With their permission, you can continue to nurture them by sending valuable (as in relevant and helpful) content once in a while—and keep strengthening your brand authority while you’re at it.

4. Don’t treat your webinar like a one-and-done.

What if—for some oddball reason—you host your webinar just once? Does that mean you can only send traffic to it for a single campaign?

Not a chance. Simply continue to run cold traffic to your webinar landing page, where your target audience will sign up for the recording with enthusiasm. Though they can’t ask questions, they also don’t have to wait for a specific time to watch. (Below, I’ll show you a super-cool example of a signup landing page for a recorded webinar.) 

5. Repurpose your webinars for other channels. 

If you know a good video editor, ask them to slice and dice your webinars into little clips that feature your best highlights. Share these on social media, embed them in your blog, and use them in your ads to continue to drive traffic.

Inspiring examples of webinar landing pages 

In this last section, we look at several landing pages that have performed particularly well by following the principles of conversion-centered design.

Built using Unbounce, these examples are some of the best webinar landing pages we’ve seen across many industries. (We’ve kept conversion rates private, but all the pages here convert between 9% and 50%.)

1. Tailwind

Image courtesy of Tailwind. (Click to see the whole thing.)

Tailwind’s webinar signup page has got to be one of my favorites. Talk about getting so many things right. 

The visuals immediately grab your attention, along with the clear copy and smart use of social proof. But it’s also an excellent example of the congruence principle of conversion design, since all the elements on the page are in alignment, driving toward a single goal. 

Let’s start with the attention ratio, which is the number of things your visitor can do on a page versus the number of things you want them to do. The attention ratio here is a beautiful 1:1. Notice that there isn’t a menu or other external links, and all the CTA buttons all serve the same conversion goal.

Did I forget to mention there’s no intimidating contact form in sight? You’ve got to click on the button to pull it up. The contact form asks for your “best” email. (I wouldn’t blame you if you thought this is a tad simplistic, but it does tickle my fancy.)

Finally, the drop-down menu on the form segments subscribers based on their specified needs. Talk about keeping things simple yet elegant.

Tailwind also does a fantastic job of presenting their guest, a proven and well-known authority in her space. In fact, we can’t tell what Tailwind is about simply by looking at the landing page. That’s because the focus is entirely on what the target audience is going to get. Not a word about the business just yet. (No hard sell.)

And that’s how it’s done.

2. Bandzoogle

Image courtesy of Bandzoogle. (Click to see the whole thing.)

This straightforward landing page from Bandzoogle is a fantastic example of clarity. The headline uses a proven copywriting formula: “How to do X without Y”. It works because it promises to teach you something while removing a traditional barrier. 

You have to love the body copy too. It’s simple, straight to the point, and opens by hitting on a major pain point shared by many musicians: the frustrations of booking a tour. 

The bullet points below are also worth closer scrutiny. Each one is 100% focused on the target audience and doesn’t beat around the bush, with zero fluff. It’s clear no copywriter is showing off here.

Then there’s email capture text. It informs the target audience that the webinar has already been recorded. Sure, this statement might catch them off-guard, but I’ll bet you the target audience appreciates the honesty and will trust you more in the longer term. (Besides, the information is still relevant.)

And their contact form? You can’t even call it that. It’s only asking for your email. And note how they weave their privacy policy into the fine print underneath. Brilliant.

3. Libris

Image courtesy of Libris by Photoshelter. (Click to see the whole thing.)

If you thought short-form landing pages couldn’t do it all, one quick look at Libris’ landing page will change your mind. Libris understands that motion, more than anything, is the very first thing that captures the attention of the human eye. 

But the footage isn’t showing any random attention-grabbing event. It’s a clip of two football teams walking out into the field. (Remember “sports”? That thing we used to do outside?) The focus though rests on the attendees holding up their cameras and phones to capture the event, not the actual event itself.

The powerful copy reinforces this concept throughout the landing page. What makes it effective is its focus on “you” from beginning to end, keeping it simple and hyper-relevant to the target audience. 

But my favorite part about this? It’s the chatbot in the bottom corner that pops the question, “You hungry?” How could you not be tempted to answer that? (And, yes, I am hungry.)

4. Vyond

Image courtesy of Vyond.

This landing page for a weekly webinar scores leads and signups for Vyond on autopilot. (Sweet.) The headline is pretty clear, and the primary brand color is immediately recognizable by the target audience. 

The 44-second video builds trust by introducing a human face, Vyond’s customer success training manager. But it quickly moves past the intro to display some striking visuals that showcase the Vyond app, as well as its ease of use. 

The main CTA is “Register for the Webinar”, but there are two anchor CTAs, one sitting on each side, which both ensure that the reader stays on-page.

It’s good, but as with any landing page, a healthy mindset is to “Always Be Testing.” With #ABT in mind, I’d try switching up a couple of things here: I’d recommend A/B testing against a shorter-form variant, and using Smart Traffic to see how the page performs with fewer fields. 

5. Unbounce 

I hate to brag, but this last one ticks all the boxes. Yes, it’s a webinar registration landing page by Unbounce, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be impartial.

Click to see real thing (opens in a new tab).

Just look at that event logo in motion. This page is oozing confidence. And it isn’t offering a single webinar recording, no. It’s got a whole jumbo 14-pack of knowledge bombs ready to be consumed in a single sitting.

And that headline? “It’s not just you. Marketing has gotten harder.” Oh my. You read my mind. (Is it getting hot in here? Just me?)

Then comes the social proof from the big industry names. And would you look at that day-to-day event breakdown? These both help showcase established authorities who are to share insider information throughout the event. 

In fact, that’s what this webinar page is designed to look like: a conference that just happens to be taking place online. Sure, we ran Marketing Optimization Week a few years ago, but it’s a relevant example of what you can do today to create exciting online events and webinars that’ll continue to pay off in the future. This page has converted nearly 7,800 times, and it continues to generate leads to this day.

Using Unbounce to set up your webinar landing page

I remember the first landing pages I tried to build by hand. I still wake up in cold sweats. I can still feel my partner reaching for my arm in the dark: “Another nightmare? Couldn’t get your elements to align again, huh?” 

I wish I knew about Unbounce then. Using it to get your webinar landing page up and running is easy. 

To get started, just pick a landing page template from the hundreds available. (Be sure to check out the advanced filters.) Tweak it to match your email or ad campaign if you’ve already got one running, or build the whole thing from the ground up. 

Then, drag and drop and adjust to your heart’s content, all without having to write a single line of code. (But if you really need to scratch your coding itch, you always have the option of inserting custom code to fit your needs.) 

Once you’re happy with your template, you can duplicate it to set up a variant or two to automatically optimize it with Smart Traffic. 

And you’re all set. (Really. No more nightmares.)

Ready to answer the call (to action)?

Landing pages and webinars go together like french fries and ketchup. There are huge benefits of pairing them together to bring your events online and generate more leads and sales. If you’re convinced—heck, even if you’re not—why not start a free trial and try out one of the high-converting webinar landing pages in our template library? 

[annaxkeating]

Why You Need Webinar Landing Pages in 2020 [Best Practices & Examples]

It’s 2020. The ordinary ways we do things have been disrupted left and right, up and down. Circumstances have forced many businesses to shift their brick-and-mortar operations and real-world activities online. 

So it’s fair for a marketer to ask:

“Is now a good time to be running webinars?“

The short answer is, now’s a great time. Marketing departments are slashing their networking budgets. In some places, gatherings like conferences and workshops won’t be in the cards for quite a while. Some of us are still in lockdown, with little to do but binge-watch crime documentaries on Netflix. And others are busy looking for new ways to level up their skills. 

The result? If anything, webinars are only going to blow up. 

If you’re hungry for an opportunity to take a bit of that attention away from Netflix, let’s look at what webinars can do for your business and how you can create webinar landing pages that turn visitors into registrants.

Keep reading, or jump right into one of the sections below:

What can a webinar do for my business?

Webinar landing page best practices

Inspiring examples of webinar landing pages 

What can a webinar do for my business?

It’s no secret that savvy marketers and businesses love running webinars. After all, webinars can be an easy way to achieve multiple goals:

Webinars can help fill your funnel and generate more leads—and fast. If you’re a techy, you can automate this process too, saving you even more time. (For a concrete example, see how Thinkific took advantage of the Unbounce integration with ActiveCampaign to secure thousands of leads on autopilot for an online summit.)

Webinars give you a platform to educate your customers, build stronger bonds, and boost product engagement. An easy way to do this is to demo your product live and use it to execute the key points you’ve covered. 

By educating your customers, you’re establishing authority and brand expertise. According to 99firms, “92% of attendees expect a live Q&A session at the end of the webinar.” That’s right: they expect it. They actually want you to teach them something. To demo something that might improve their lives. To sell them something that might give them value. They’re inviting you to build closer relationships and engage with them.

You’re networking and making yourself look smart via your guests’ expertise, boosting your own authority. It’s called the Halo effect. When you bring on stellar guests, their best qualities reflect onto you. Plus, your guests’ target audiences get to learn about you. Talk about a quick and easy way to expand your reach.

Affiliates and potential partners might approach you if they see an opportunity. Finally, offering to run webinars together can be a powerful incentive for partnering up, especially if you can offer the resources, know-how, and network to do it well.

When done right, webinars are an easy way to cover every stage of your funnel. With all that upside, we’re shocked more companies aren’t running webinars. (How about a Netflix model for webinars? We’d tune in.)

Want to take your webinar campaigns up a notch? If you’re already using webinars for your business and want a quick way to boost your registrations, try starting with a high-converting webinar landing page template.

A webinar landing page is a no-brainer 

You can be the William Shakespeare of webinars, delivering brilliance, entertainment, and wisdom in one perfect package. Without a half-decent landing page to score some signups, though? Well, you’d be lucky to draw a crowd of crickets.

That’s why promoting your webinars is so important. If you have seats to fill, you’ve got three options: 

You can build a stripped-down registration page that’s easy to set up but doesn’t really convince people to convert. Too often, these pages have lengthy forms with so many unnecessary fields, you might as well be filling out a tax form. You also have no ability to A/B test them. 

You can get your web devs and designers together to create something with tons of visual appeal—but this option takes a lot of time and money that you may not have right now. (Totally understandable if you’re trying to get up and running quickly.)

You can use landing pages to help you avoid both these problems. Webinar landing pages can be a better option when it comes to running time-sensitive campaigns because you can literally set one up and get running in minutes. And if you’re a believer in wowing your target audience with beautiful design, creating one is still very easy, because you can use templates that have already been tested in the wild.

Photo by J. Kelly Brito on Unsplash.

Webinar landing page best practices

When it comes to landing pages for webinar registration, you could fill an encyclopedia with all the best practices out there. To get you started sooner, let’s stick to the few established and actionable practices that’ll reap some of the greatest rewards.

1. Before you can create a compelling landing page, you need a strong topic.

Choose a topic that grabs your audience’s attention. Ideally, it should be contemporary, relevant to the problems they face, and very actionable. Once the webinar is over, your audience should be left energized, since the next steps will be crystal clear. 

2. Invite a guest to connect with new audiences.

Sure, you can rely on your star power to draw a small crowd. But that’s not getting the best bang for your buck. What’s a webinar if you show up all by your lonesome? 

“But my mom says my webinar is cool.”

One amazing way to multiply your reach is by leveraging your guests’ audiences. Keep in mind, these people aren’t a cold audience either. They’re already warmed up because you’re working with someone they already trust. That means they’re more likely to buy from you. 

Plus, if your guest is selling a complementary product or service, this could lead to some profitable partnerships, with many cross-selling opportunities to follow. (Imagine, for instance, an ice cream vendor teaming up with a company that makes nothing but ice cream cones. Brilliant.)

3. Get the most out of your webinar efforts by following up with your registrants. 

Send them promotional material before and after they’ve signed up for your webinar. With their permission, you can continue to nurture them by sending valuable (as in relevant and helpful) content once in a while—and keep strengthening your brand authority while you’re at it.

4. Don’t treat your webinar like a one-and-done.

What if—for some oddball reason—you host your webinar just once? Does that mean you can only send traffic to it for a single campaign?

Not a chance. Simply continue to run cold traffic to your webinar landing page, where your target audience will sign up for the recording with enthusiasm. Though they can’t ask questions, they also don’t have to wait for a specific time to watch. (Below, I’ll show you a super-cool example of a signup landing page for a recorded webinar.) 

5. Repurpose your webinars for other channels. 

If you know a good video editor, ask them to slice and dice your webinars into little clips that feature your best highlights. Share these on social media, embed them in your blog, and use them in your ads to continue to drive traffic.

Inspiring examples of webinar landing pages 

In this last section, we look at several landing pages that have performed particularly well by following the principles of conversion-centered design.

Built using Unbounce, these examples are some of the best webinar landing pages we’ve seen across many industries. (We’ve kept conversion rates private, but all the pages here convert between 9% and 50%.)

1. Tailwind

Image courtesy of Tailwind. (Click to see the whole thing.)

Tailwind’s webinar signup page has got to be one of my favorites. Talk about getting so many things right. 

The visuals immediately grab your attention, along with the clear copy and smart use of social proof. But it’s also an excellent example of the congruence principle of conversion design, since all the elements on the page are in alignment, driving toward a single goal. 

Let’s start with the attention ratio, which is the number of things your visitor can do on a page versus the number of things you want them to do. The attention ratio here is a beautiful 1:1. Notice that there isn’t a menu or other external links, and all the CTA buttons all serve the same conversion goal.

Did I forget to mention there’s no intimidating contact form in sight? You’ve got to click on the button to pull it up. The contact form asks for your “best” email. (I wouldn’t blame you if you thought this is a tad simplistic, but it does tickle my fancy.)

Finally, the drop-down menu on the form segments subscribers based on their specified needs. Talk about keeping things simple yet elegant.

Tailwind also does a fantastic job of presenting their guest, a proven and well-known authority in her space. In fact, we can’t tell what Tailwind is about simply by looking at the landing page. That’s because the focus is entirely on what the target audience is going to get. Not a word about the business just yet. (No hard sell.)

And that’s how it’s done.

2. Bandzoogle

Image courtesy of Bandzoogle. (Click to see the whole thing.)

This straightforward landing page from Bandzoogle is a fantastic example of clarity. The headline uses a proven copywriting formula: “How to do X without Y”. It works because it promises to teach you something while removing a traditional barrier. 

You have to love the body copy too. It’s simple, straight to the point, and opens by hitting on a major pain point shared by many musicians: the frustrations of booking a tour. 

The bullet points below are also worth closer scrutiny. Each one is 100% focused on the target audience and doesn’t beat around the bush, with zero fluff. It’s clear no copywriter is showing off here.

Then there’s email capture text. It informs the target audience that the webinar has already been recorded. Sure, this statement might catch them off-guard, but I’ll bet you the target audience appreciates the honesty and will trust you more in the longer term. (Besides, the information is still relevant.)

And their contact form? You can’t even call it that. It’s only asking for your email. And note how they weave their privacy policy into the fine print underneath. Brilliant.

3. Libris

Image courtesy of Libris by Photoshelter. (Click to see the whole thing.)

If you thought short-form landing pages couldn’t do it all, one quick look at Libris’ landing page will change your mind. Libris understands that motion, more than anything, is the very first thing that captures the attention of the human eye. 

But the footage isn’t showing any random attention-grabbing event. It’s a clip of two football teams walking out into the field. (Remember “sports”? That thing we used to do outside?) The focus though rests on the attendees holding up their cameras and phones to capture the event, not the actual event itself.

The powerful copy reinforces this concept throughout the landing page. What makes it effective is its focus on “you” from beginning to end, keeping it simple and hyper-relevant to the target audience. 

But my favorite part about this? It’s the chatbot in the bottom corner that pops the question, “You hungry?” How could you not be tempted to answer that? (And, yes, I am hungry.)

4. Vyond

Image courtesy of Vyond.

This landing page for a weekly webinar scores leads and signups for Vyond on autopilot. (Sweet.) The headline is pretty clear, and the primary brand color is immediately recognizable by the target audience. 

The 44-second video builds trust by introducing a human face, Vyond’s customer success training manager. But it quickly moves past the intro to display some striking visuals that showcase the Vyond app, as well as its ease of use. 

The main CTA is “Register for the Webinar”, but there are two anchor CTAs, one sitting on each side, which both ensure that the reader stays on-page.

It’s good, but as with any landing page, a healthy mindset is to “Always Be Testing.” With #ABT in mind, I’d try switching up a couple of things here: I’d recommend A/B testing against a shorter-form variant, and using Smart Traffic to see how the page performs with fewer fields. 

5. Unbounce 

I hate to brag, but this last one ticks all the boxes. Yes, it’s a webinar registration landing page by Unbounce, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be impartial.

Click to see real thing (opens in a new tab).

Just look at that event logo in motion. This page is oozing confidence. And it isn’t offering a single webinar recording, no. It’s got a whole jumbo 14-pack of knowledge bombs ready to be consumed in a single sitting.

And that headline? “It’s not just you. Marketing has gotten harder.” Oh my. You read my mind. (Is it getting hot in here? Just me?)

Then comes the social proof from the big industry names. And would you look at that day-to-day event breakdown? These both help showcase established authorities who are to share insider information throughout the event. 

In fact, that’s what this webinar page is designed to look like: a conference that just happens to be taking place online. Sure, we ran Marketing Optimization Week a few years ago, but it’s a relevant example of what you can do today to create exciting online events and webinars that’ll continue to pay off in the future. This page has converted nearly 7,800 times, and it continues to generate leads to this day.

Using Unbounce to set up your webinar landing page

I remember the first landing pages I tried to build by hand. I still wake up in cold sweats. I can still feel my partner reaching for my arm in the dark: “Another nightmare? Couldn’t get your elements to align again, huh?” 

I wish I knew about Unbounce then. Using it to get your webinar landing page up and running is easy. 

To get started, just pick a landing page template from the hundreds available. (Be sure to check out the advanced filters.) Tweak it to match your email or ad campaign if you’ve already got one running, or build the whole thing from the ground up. 

Then, drag and drop and adjust to your heart’s content, all without having to write a single line of code. (But if you really need to scratch your coding itch, you always have the option of inserting custom code to fit your needs.) 

Once you’re happy with your template, you can duplicate it to set up a variant or two to automatically optimize it with Smart Traffic. 

And you’re all set. (Really. No more nightmares.)

Ready to answer the call (to action)?

Landing pages and webinars go together like french fries and ketchup. There are huge benefits of pairing them together to bring your events online and generate more leads and sales. If you’re convinced—heck, even if you’re not—why not start a free trial and try out one of the high-converting webinar landing pages in our template library? 

from Digital https://unbounce.com/landing-page-examples/webinar-landing-page-examples/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

#digital marketing