The first thing to consider when choosing web conferencing software or services to determine how you will be using , with whom, and what features you will need.

Do you need it to be available on your website, so that you can converse with visitors about your product, service, or opportunity? Or answer support questions live, without the need of submitting a support ticket or email?

Or do you plan on meeting at scheduled times? Such as promotional webinars, team strategy meetings, trainings, client consultations, or for brainstorming? Do you need the able ability to lock the room so your meeting remains private?

How important is the ability to record, take notes or minutes, or upload  and share files? Is showing your desktop or allowing others to show theirs  important? Do you need a service w/ audio or do you plan on using Skype or have participants call in? Will you be discussing websites and be sharing urls w/ your audience? For support purposes, will you need to be able to take control of your guest’s mouse and keyboard?

How many people on average will be attending?  A fixed amount or will it change drastically? Only one or two of you? How often will you be meeting, quite often or just once in a while?

Once you know what you need, you can explore your options- Free or a paid service. Most free services have ads that can be seen by your participants. Some ads are large banners that take up a side of your room, and others are small banners up in the top corner. Some use flashy/ blinking banners and some just rotate different ads.

Fees for paid services vary widely from a flat fee of as low as $8.00/mo up to several hundred a month. there are still many services which charge per minute per user, which can add up very quickly. In this series, we won’t cover this last one, since it tends to be too expensive for most budgets.

Each week we will cover a couple free and paid services. this will give you several days to try them out. Many of the paid services offer a free trial, which you may want to consider doing just before you actually need the service.

Free services- There are several free services available. there are usually ads contained somewhere in the room. Free services generally have some sort of limitation- usually in the amount of people you are allowed to have at one time. In others the limitation may be in the form of features. You may not have the ability to pass on presenter roles or other limitations unless you upgrade.

I use several different services, depending on the occasion.I’ll start with my favorite  ones that have free accounts and paid upgrade ones:

Vyew~ has quickly become one of my top favorites. I use it for doing trainings, courses, brainstorming sessions, and any on-going projects. The free version is limited to 10 people, 20 rooms that you can create, and a total of 51 pages. Upgrades start at only $9.95/mo.

They have some unique features- autosave. All your work- the notes you create, whiteboard drawings, screenshots, etc are automatically saved and are available until you decide to delete them. This means that you can work with people in different time zones, or a couple can collaborate on a project and meet again another day or time and all you’ve done is available the next time you log in. It has sticky notes that you can create in text, voice, or both, so it’s a great way to leave a message for your partner, clients, or students.

My experience with Vyew has been great! When you sign up there is a room called get started and contains a walk-thru tutorial. You can change the names of the rooms at anytime. Audio is stable and very clear. Desktop & screen sharing take a while to load.

Quick overview of Vyew’s features:

• It’s free for up to 10 people and is ad supported.
• Built-in VOIP audio and webcam video streaming, free teleconferencing, text chat, and voice messaging (thru voice sticky notes)
• dedicated rooms with direct URLs
• file archive, user permission controls, invitation manager, and mulch-lingual support
• Browser-based – there’s nothing to download or install
• It’s compatible  with PC, Mac, Linux, powerpoints, documents, images, videos, mp3′s, flash files ( DOC,XLS,PDF,PPT,JPG, GIF,PNG,SWF, TXT,RTF,MP3,FLV )
• continuous rooms are always saved and always-on. Contextual discussion forums, voice-notes, track and log activity.
• Publish your meetings via direct URL or embedded in a webpage/email.
• Vyew will provide you with simple <embed> code.
• Custom branding available- with upgraded accounts
• Real-time desktop sharing-Stream your desktop to users in your Room.
  Freeze the current frame of a Desktop and draw over it for discussion.
• Insert and share a screen capture
• White-boarding & Drawing Tools, with text & voice sticky notes
• Embed comments (sticky notes) anywhere on a page. Ask reviewers to leave embedded comments, then go back and use Object Filtering to see who added what.
• useful plugins for mp3s, YouTube videos, hyperlink between other Vyew rooms, graphing calculator, and equation editor. (Upgraded accounts)

Anymeeting is a great free service- formally known as Freebinar. there is NO paid upgrade for Anymeeting. I wish there was. I would probably pay to get rid of the ad that shows length-wise along the right-hand side of the room. For some unknown reason I can no longer see the ads, just a big long black space where they are and a hyper=linked text to click on to see the next ad. So until I use another computer, I cannot comment on how they look. I do remember that as Freebinar (back in 2005 or 2006?), they were flashy and distracting, but I hear that they are not so bad these days.

AnyMeeting has grown into a fully featured web conferencing service with no limitations based on level of your account. AnyMeeting is a major competitor for the paid services, since you can now have up to 200 people, and create registrations that accept payments for paid events.

Overview of AnyMeeting’s features:

• Browser-based, PC & Mac compatible.  Can have up to 200 people. No downloads. Ad supported. Unlimited meetings
• Dedicated room and Direct URL
• Display PowerPoint or Other Docs with Screen Sharing
• Application sharing feature allows further privacy by allowing you to select which application (program) you would like to be displayed to your attendees. The rest of your desktop will be hidden from view. (PC users only)
• Video conferencing for up to 6 people.
• Choice  of ( Toll) Conference Calling or VOIP Computer Microphone for audio, text chat
• Record your meeting. AnyMeeting will even host your recordings for you and provide you a link to share w/ others
• User permission controls
• Create custom surveys and tests.
• Review meeting reports
• Email attendees a follow-up message
• Send email invitations, create custom registration forms, and even sell tickets to your event ( there are small fees involved for handling the transactions).
• And Social Media integration.

AnyMeeting says that “they are FREE & will always be”. My experience with them is that their audio is not consistent ( the VOIP). I have never tried using the conference calling, so I cannot comment on that. I have found that when there are 3 or more people sharing video (& audio) the audio quality suffers. The audio fades in and out, becomes a bit distorted on & off. Turning off the video stream might help, if that was an option, which I don’t believe it is at the moment.

The attendee’s view of the desktop sharing is a bit fuzzy- but clears up when you enlarge the view- but then you only see part of the screen. unfortunately you do not have much choice in zoom options.

For webinars, this is a pretty good starter service.

Paid Services ~ There are a wide range of prices when it comes to paid services. They can range as little as $8.95/mo. to several hundred a month. there’s an app for Skype users that only provide desktop sharing for $7.95/mo, but right now they have a code on the signup page which discounts it to $4.95/mo ( for 50 people). I’ll cover these along w/ some other audio/video chat scripts in another series or post, since they are not really web conferencing tools.

Go To Meeting/ Webinar is probably my favorite paid service. Go To Meeting can have up to 15 attendees for $49/mo,  Go To Webinar is $99.- $499./mo for between 100 & 1000 people. they also have Go To Training, with some added features- mostly in [providing pre-training materials and slightly different registration options. The price ranges from $149-349./mo for 25 & 200 people. FREE trial is available

• Stand Alone service- must have the latest Java installed. There is a small Java app download- download, install, and launch is all automatic.
• PC & Mac compatible
• Email templates, custom registration page, and automated email reminders.
• Audio conferencing via phone (toll & toll-free) and computer. Full duplex audio, with the ability to mute/unmute anyone or all.
• Desktop sharing and application sharing
• instantly invite others
• Recording & hosting for replay videos
• Change presenter
• transfer control of mouse and keyboard
• Drawing tools
• Multiple monitor support
• Can create polls
• Automatic follow-up emails, review reports, post-session surveys

I like GTM/GTW because it’s easy to use, the audio and screen sharing are very clear/ Audio is good about 98% of the time- which is about as good as it gets in the technical world. And I can see the chat ( although a way too small chat box) for questions or comments. And it has a professional look. No ads.

Next week, we’ll explore a few more free and paid services.

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There are all kinds of types of web hosting services for you to choose from and it all depends on what you want to accomplish in building your web-site for your business. You should look at the different options which depend on these following factors:

Complexity of your web-site ?You may want to talk to a developer on the complexity of your web-site, especially when it comes to graphics and database administration. You may have to consult with an internet specialist on the type of hosting that you need.

Some web hosting services are provided for free but you have to put up with ads that are on the top or bottom of your web site and those ads might not be conducive to the web site that you have developed. If you are going to get a site with ads, then get a free web hosting package that matches with the online ad that抯 already there.

Free hosting also has low bandwidth on the internet because of so many people using the free service instead of the paid service. Basically, you also get a free web email account with free hosting services.

Then there is hosting that you pay for that you have more control over when you load and host your web site. You get POP mail access and can create as many emails as you want to which depends on the type of account that you pay for.

Every company has special packages for each and every need. From personal to business servers, even servers for special kinds of operating systems (UNIX, Windows, Linux and Apple) the choices vary depending on what you want to do.

The prices depend on how much space you need on the server to load your applications so you have to take into consideration what you want to put on the server through your web-site.

Nowadays web hosting is becoming the top means of business and it can do much for the SEO and getting the computer services is also of great importance.

categories: web hosting

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 Webinars or Web Conferencing is no longer limited to large corporations. There are many affordable options out there and several free ones that have similar features as the paid ones.

 Should you be using web conferencing? if you have a business, especially an online one, you probably could benefit from it. if you promote products or services, collaborate w/ others, conduct trainings, or even have family that are spread out across the country or globe, then web conferencing could be for you.

  They are not just being used for stuffy corporate meetings either.  Companies are using them to train employees, product presentations, and long distance collaboration.

 Individuals and small businesses are using web conferencing to do webinars, which is an Internet version of a seminar where you can see the presenters desktop or slide presentation.

 The more creative uses for Web conferencing is that they are being used by those who do home parties. These parties are now being held virtually in a web conference room. I’ve even been to a couple virtual band concerts.

I would say that 99% of the people I work with and partnered with, I have never met in person. We are able to work as if we were in the same room together, except we’re not struggling to see the screen or shuffling the keyboard back and forth and we can meet at a moments notice.

 What features should you look for? I think desktop sharing is probably the most important one. And one that allows you to all have a turn at sharing your desktop is even better. Definitely having audio of some kind is good. There are different types of audio to look for:

• Conference calling- usually means you need to call in on a phone. Long distance charges may apply, you either have to hold the phone the entire time or use the speaker phone if you have it.
• Half- Duplex- which is where only one person can speak at a time. You click a “talk” button to speak and have to release it before others can talk
• Full-Duplex- which is where multiple people can speak at a time, just like when you are on the phone.

Another thing to consider is how is the room formatted. is it in a browser or is it a stand alone room.

 The benefits of the browser-based room is that often there are no downloads (except for the presenters and maybe flash or Java which need to be up to date). The downside is that when you are in desktop sharing mode, you no longer have the text chat available, so you cannot tell if someone has a question.

Plus if you are the only one who can speak, no one can communicate to you that the desktop sharing or your audio is not working. Often you can be logged into a browser-based room more than once on the same PC. I like to be logged in as the organizer or moderator and as an attendee so that I can see what the audience sees 

Stand alones usually are usually server- based and have some kind of download, sometimes a download which has to be manually installed, but most of them today do not- it’s all automatic. Normally you cannot be logged in more than once on the same PC 

Other useful features common to many web conferencing programs are text chat, ability to invite others, whiteboard, file sharing, ability to make others a presenter, recording, share a URL, play a video, synchronize what website is in the browser w/ the others, or ability to lock the room and or password protect it. With some, you have a static URL to give out, others have a unique url for each meeting. Some have video, some do not.

Decide what features you need by knowing what you want to do in the room first. Do you need to show your desktop? Write or draw on a whiteboard? Share files, have private meetings w/ only certain people, be able to allow others to show their desktops, share files. or allow you to take the control of another person’s mouse and keyboard (great when trouble shooting someone’s PC or website)?

We will continue the series by reviewing some paid and free services- along w/ some tips to being a better presenter.   

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Thursday Sept 1st at 1pm EST with Mathew Carter

Tomorrow at 1pmEST, you have a chance to listen to a 60K a month affiliate spill his secrets in a live training session. This guy has been crushing it online by promoting physical products while everyone else is doing digital stuff.

This is something you are not going to want to miss because you don't hear to much about this type of promotion. Obviously it does really well, so it's something you are going to want to pay attention to.

There's some tricks to the trade and he's going to be showing us exactly how he gets these money making sites all set up. Go here now to register because when you have a super affiliate teaching, it's going to fill up:

***  If you can't attend, register anyways so that you can receive a link to the replay if there is one.

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I caught a few Internet Marketing "Gurus" in a lie recently, so I just have to post a little rant!
 I have attended or viewed the replays of several Internet Marketing Guru's webinars during which they told a little lie. It's a small one- just about how long they have used WordPress, but a lie none the less.

If they are lying about something as insignificant as that- what other BS are they trying to feed us?

They are selling a course on WordPress and they stated that they have been using WordPress since the late 90's and one said since 1997.

I took a minute to check when WordPress was released and right there on WordPress' about page in the very first sentence:

"WordPress started in 2003 with a single bit of code"

I don't know about you, but I really don't give a rat's ass about how long they have been using WP. I have learned many things from those who have been using it under a year as well as from those who have several years experience. I have also taught and helped a few people that have been using WP for over 3 years with their site because they still don't know much more than creating posts and pages.

Length of time they have used it is not the important issue- it's HOW well do they know how to use it that is.

Their little white lie has cost these men my respect.

My advise to you – if you HAVE to build yourself up- do your homework first. If you are including names, dates, products, places, etc – make sure your facts are correct.

But why build yourself up in the first place. if you know your stuff, your presentation and ability to answer questions will speak volumes.

Hype may sell initially, but honesty and ethical marketing practices will win you customers for life!

If hype and BS'ing people is what it takes in order to be successful- then I'll be the first to get the hell out! I'd rather live out my life with my self-respect and dignity than sell out to the almighty dollar. I absolutely know there are others out there that feel the same way. I just hope that ethical marketing practices will become the norm and folks will balk at the phonies.

So PLEASE- STOP THE HYPE AND THE BS'ing! Be yourselves and not try to be some hyped-up phony. And stop purchasing from those who continue in this manner. There's a lot more to life than just financial riches.

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