Not all webinars are created equal. But with a little preparation and planning ahead of time, your webinars will be a huge success...every time.

1) Find a webinar provider that's Right for your needs

There are many different webinar providers, offering different services, features, prices, and extras.

Plan on at least eight weeks to choose and take a free trial of a potential provider. This will give you plenty of lead time.

A good webinar system should:

*Be easy to use

*Have the features you require and the ability to share presentations and documents

*Charge a flat monthly rate (so you won't get dinged for running a trial test before your actual webinar or follow-up webinars)

2) Develop really interesting, engaging content

This is probably the most important element to your webinar success. If your material is boring, you'll lose your guests - and their sales.

Invite an industry expert, customer or partner to present or be interviewed at your webinar. This will stimulate more interest, drive participation and create synergy.

A well-known expert or guru can double or even triple your attendance.

Use pictures, diagrams, and live demonstrations from pre-loaded websites to keep the material fresh and entertaining.

Ask potential questions to encourage participation from your guests.

3) Be Careful When Choosing a date and time

Plan on hosting your webinar at least twice to accommodate different time zones.

Avoid Mondays or Fridays as these are peak conferencing days and attendance is also often lower.

Start at 15 minutes past the hour. Most meetings end on the hour and this gives your participants time to decompress before joining your meeting.

The best times are 10 am and 2 pm to make sure your guests are their desks and available before or after lunch.

Send a reminder of the contents and time of the webinar one week ahead of time. Send a "see you there" reminder the day before.

4) Cap Your Participants at 10 to 25 So It's Easier to Take Questions and Keep the Webinar More Interactive

A webinar is a live event and is supposed to be a back and forth communication between the presenter and audience. This is different from a Webcast, which broadcasts information in one direction only.

Your webinar will be more successful if you keep the size small and more intimate. Participants will feel more at ease and comfortable about participating and asking questions if there isn't thousands of people watching.

5) Take Questions Via Chat During the Presentation

Some of your participants may be uncomfortable or unwilling to ask questions during the presentation.

A facilitator can take questions via live chat and then read them when the presenter stops to answer any questions.

6) Have an Agenda & Stick to It

If you are the moderator, be ready to start your webinar 15 minutes ahead of time.

Start on time, and respect your participant's schedules by ending on time as well.

It's also a good idea to give more than one person a copy of the PowerPoint presentation, including a hard copy, in case of technical difficulties.

7) Run a Practice Webinar before the actual presentation

Practice makes perfect. Webinars aren't difficult, but they are different from running a meeting or a conference call. Take a test run of your webinar, especially if you've never run one before.

This gives you the opportunity to fine tune your material and catch any potential problems with the system.

Don't forget to ask two people from sites that will be participating to help you by signing on and asking questions.

If you incorporate all seven of these traits, your webinars will be a huge success. And your business will reap the rewards.

Sonja Mishek is a Sales & Marketing Director at VideoLive Conferences.

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