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Web conferencing is a viable alternative for business people who are looking to save time and money. Although nothing will ever replace face to face contact, online meetings allow users to interactively communicate through things such as the sharing of desktop screens, document sharing, video, and VoIP (sound). Generally, the more features a program has, the more expensive it is going to be.

Web meeting solutions are, in today’s technological age, very easy to use, which is important when you want to want a meeting to run smoothly. They also have very few technical issues. If you want to use a web conferencing program for your business you’ll have to pay more if you want, say, 30, rather than only 15 people in a meeting. You can expect to pay around $50 per month for a web conferencing tool.

The two most popular web conferencing products are Gotomeeting and Webex, with Webex having a little more popularity. Both are rivals. Although Webex is more expensive, it allows you to have 10 more people within each meeting (25 instead of 15). Because you are charged a monthly flat rate fee with each of these services, you can use them as often as you want.

Before you or your business invests in a web conference meeting product, make sure that you actually are going to use it. Yes, they’re cool and fun to use, but they are also a very real expense, especially if you use them for at least a year. Free alternatives include Skype conferencing and the free version of Yugma.

When shopping for a web meeting program, rather than just focusing on the features, you want to see if it is easy to set up for the participants that will be in your meetings.

What web conferencing solution you end up getting depends on what you need. Say you are a video game design studio. Fuze Meeting, which costs about $30, is your best choice since it offers HD communication. If you only wish to chat with a few clients or trainees, Skype will do you just fine.

Jeremy is the author of Web Conferencing Features and Best Web Meeting.