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There are two basic ways you can run your Google+ Hangout. The first way is from within your Google+ account. You simply click on Hangouts and then click on the tab that says Start a Hangout. The second way is from your Google+ Page. Just navigate to your page and then click on the green icon that says Start a Video Call.

There is a difference between the two and that is starting a Hangout from your page only allows you to do a video call. Message type Hangouts can be started from within your Gmail account.

It is important to run a well organized Hangout and to do this you want to plan in advance. Take the following tips into consideration:

• Cover only one topic per Hangout
• Decide if you want to invite guests to participate Live or not
• Help guests test the Hangout environment from their end
• Test your equipment in advance to make sure it is working correctly
• If sharing slides or documents prepare these in advance and test them out

As the organizer of the Hangout you have the ability to mute people if necessary. You simply click on their image and mute and unmute as required.

When running your Hangout the main speaker is always featured in the top half of the screen. Other participants are featured in smaller icons in the lower section of the screen. As the speaker changes the screen flips to showcase the current speaker.

If your Hangout is live remember you do have the ability to edit out any trouble spots afterwards. Plus everyone knows that live events don’t always go as planned. So if a mishap occurs take it in stride and fix it later on.

Always stay focused on your main topic and don’t cover too much information in your Hangout. Instead it is better to run several Hangouts. This way you won’t overwhelm your viewers!

Hangouts can be long but bear in mind that some people may not want to watch a long replay video. This is why some top companies edit their videos and remove any lulls or unnecessary information. Short and sweet is the way to go with Hangouts on Air.

By taking the time to plan out your Hangout you can be assured that it will run smoothly. Edit it if needed and then make your URL public or private as you wish.

One good thing about using Google+ Hangouts is that they don’t have any advertising banners attached to them. This allows your guests to directly focus on what you are saying during your Hangout.

What some smart companies have been doing is finding ways that they can still generate some form of advertising revenue from their Hangouts. Have you thought about connecting with sponsors?

Let’s look at an example of this. Say you run a beauty type of website you could run a Hangout that focuses on hair care or styling. Then during the Hangout you use certain brands of products. The manufacturer of this product would be your sponsor.

This could potentially work extremely well for established businesses who have conducted several Hangouts. If you can show your potential sponsor that you can attract a few hundred guests, they will be more willing to jump on board as a sponsor.

What large company wouldn’t jump at the chance of being a featured product in a 10 or 15 minute Hangout Commercial?

If you are just starting with Hangouts then use this idea as a goal which you would like to achieve. As soon as you can attract a good number of guests start offering sponsor time on your website.

The sponsor will also help you advertise your Hangout and bring you both more potential customers. Both parties are using the other to highlight a great media opportunity.

Another way to get advertising for your Hangout is by interviewing high profile people. This could be an athlete, a prominent business person in your community or niche. People love to ask celebrities live questions and if you can find someone to be a guest on your Hangout your views will dramatically increase.
This method has been done by several companies including the New York Times when they invited Olympic athletes to attend their Hangout. Guests were allowed to ask questions and the event attracted a ton of people all over the world.

Use this same scenario to announce a new product or service and publicize it as a Press Release event or conference. Promote this to your local newspapers and TV stations and invite reporters to come on air with you and ask questions.

There are many different ways that you can advertise with Hangouts. You can offer to be a sponsor or you can promote your Hangout as a publicity event.

Have you considered running webinars on a regular basis, but found the cost to be too intimidating? The cost is a huge issue when it comes to wanting to incorporate webinars into your business. On the upside though, many of these platforms do allow you to invite around 500 people and sometimes more to your event.
While this might be great for large companies and established marketers there is another solution for those just starting out. Welcome to Google+ Hangouts on Air.

Hangouts on Air allow you to hold live webinar type events that can be viewed by the public. On the actual live Hangout you can invite up to 9 guests. Each person is depicted in a small window on the lower half of the Hangout. The main speaker is always shown in the main area of the screen. As a new person begins talking the screen will flip to this person. That’s a really neat feature of Hangouts.

In order for people to attend they need to be connected via their own Google+ account. When your invitations are sent, anyone without an account will be directed to sign up for one.

Don’t let the number of invited guests stop you from using Hangouts on Air as your webinar solution. If you plan on running a live webinar simply invite others to view from their account or channel. Having guests is great if you want to add interaction to your webinar or hold a question and answer type of event.

There are many different ways to use Hangouts on Air for your business. Run small webinar events to demonstrate products or to provide your viewers with how to instructions on using your products.

After your Hangout session is uploaded to YouTube you can use this video for many different purposes. You can use your videos to promote your company, to use as a lead generation method or to add to your main website.

For the small business owner who wants to start offering webinars using Google+ Hangouts on Air is a great cost effective solution. It is intimate enough that you won’t feel nervous about hosting a webinar and your invited guests can help provide interaction and feedback.

If you have been sitting on the sidelines about using Google+ and Hangouts then stop wondering and start doing them. YouTube gets a ton of traffic each day and as a smart business owner you definitely want to tap into this.