A webinar is very much like a seminar, the difference being that a webinar is presented online. Attendees listen and watch from their computer, which saves them travel expenses.

Here are some tips to on hosting a webinar:

Think about your audience, and schedule a time when you think most of them will be able to attend. Remember that there is a 3 hour difference between the West Coast and the East Coast. Also, people tend to be very busy on Mondays and Fridays. Often times, people find that an afternoon midweek webinar is the best option.

Promote your webinar well in advance. You can promote on your website, send an email to your list, use social networks like Twitter, network with other people, create strategic alliance, etc. Make sure that you remember to provide a registration link.

Send a reminder email a day before the webinar. People are busy, and may otherwise forget. In the email state the webinar’s topic, remind your attendees that they signed up for this event, include the start and end time along with the time zone, and be sure to let them know how they can log into the meeting.

Dial into your presentation at least twenty minutes ahead of schedule to make sure your webinar software is working. If you have another speaker, make sure you tell them how to use the webinar software.

At the beginning of the webinar, inform the participants how long the webinar will last and how they can ask questions. Some presenters like to have discussions throughout the presentation, while others prefer to answer questions at the end.

At the beginning of the presentation, state what the objectives and outcomes will be for this webinar.

Attendees love it if they can get the slides or a recording of the webinar emailed to them after the event. In that case, they can relax and listen to the webinar, rather than have to take a bunch of notes. If you do email the slides, think about adding a call the action to another webinar, product or service.