Review: Robin Good's Official Online Guide to SOHO Web Conferencing Tools

Now you can choose the best web conferencing tool for your needs, at about a tenth of the price of the big enterprise systems.

A growing choice of affordable web conferencing, video conferencing and online training tools is opening up new opportunities for small businesses and organizations of every kind. Robin Good's guide is without doubt the most comprehensive source of the information you'll find when evaluating and choosing a system.

First, let me say that this is an extraordinary report by any standards. It is 510 pages long and covers the subject in incredible depth and detail.

But before I get into the report itself, I want to say a few words about Web Conferencing itself.

Over the years I have used a couple of the enterprise systems like WebEx, Placeware and Centra, either while collaborating with colleagues over long distances, or giving a virtual presentation.

These big brands work just fine and I have often thought about how I could use this technology in my own business. The trouble is, I have always been stopped dead in my tracks by the price. The opportunity to use these tools just slipped through my fingers as soon as I saw how much it would cost me.

The beauty of this guide is that it focuses not on the big vendors, but on smaller companies which create tools that are rich in features, but also very affordable.

The price difference? You're looking at effective tools that cost about one tenth of the price you would pay with the big systems.

In other words, small businesses, non-profits, academic institutions and even work-from-home consultants now have access to tools that can open up a whole new range of opportunities in how they work, share, educate or sell.

Here are a few of the ways you can start using a small business Web conferencing system.

- Training. Whether you're a trainer within a small organization, a business coach working from home or an IT Manager teaching the use of a new software program, there's an inexpensive Web conferencing system that will help you work more efficiently.

- Marketing. Choose a system that is well suited to demonstrate software, live Websites and PowerPoint presentations. With voice, video and user interaction, you can open and close sales without ever leaving your office.

- Promotion and education. Conduct live conferences, lead workshops and give presentations with the aid of a whiteboard and full video and audio.

- Collaboration. If you have team members and outside contractors working from different locations, the right system can bring everyone together in the same virtual space. It's a great way to share information and monitor progress.

What you get with this Guide.

How it works is that instead of buying a physical guide or pdf download, you purchase access to a dedicated website. Why? Because the guide is constantly growing and evolving. At the time of writing, here is what you'll find:

* 23 System reviews already available
* A new tool added every week
* 22 Comprehensive Comparison Tables
* International vendor directory
* Daily updates

Each review is incredibly detailed, including 30 sections and 50 images. As I was reading through some of them, I got the distinct sense that there was probably more useful information in the review than one would find in the manual for the tool itself.

But perhaps most useful of all are the Comparison Tables. You can compare the different systems in all kinds of different ways. See which is the best for video, which has the best price, which is the best for displaying PowerPoint presentations, which has the greatest capacity in terms of users, and so on.

And the author actually bites the bullet and makes specific recommendations as to which systems he thinks are the best.

Even if you haven't yet fully explored how Web conferencing could benefit your company or organization, I would certainly recommend that you take a couple of minutes to read their information page.

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