Whether you sell your own product or are selling as an affiliate it’s a good idea to start a website or at the very least a blog or weblog.

This gives you a presence on the Internet and a base to sell from. If you promote or sell good products then it is likely that people will come back and buy from you again.

It also gives your customers and prospects a chance to get to know you. Did you know that people are more likely to purchase form someone that they know and trust rather than someone that they don’t know anything about?

Need a blog? Check out our WordPress Blog Packages.

Welcome to your first of several internet marketing tips from your Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant. 

Let’s talk about email marketing…

Email marketing is no different than any other type of marketing, the same type of rules apply. Your goal should not be to make the sale, but to get the prospect to request additional information.

Did you know that over 90% of emails sent will never be read.

If you want to ensure that your emails are going to get opened you should make sure your subject line announces your email. It should do one thing only – get your reader to open the message and read the first sentence.  In order to to do this your subject lines needs to be creative and catchy.

Personalizing the subject line with your prospects name is also a good idea and try not to use to much hype. Once you get them to open the email be sure to provide them with something of value and they will take you up on your offer.

If you become a resource to your readers then you will see the quality and quantity of responses change for the better.

Look for another quick tip soon!

If you are a business owner or entrepreneur, you’ve come to realize that marketing your business online has massive potential  for huge profits.  But if you’ve done your research on internet marketing, you’ve probably also realized that there are so  many different ways to market online and many of it takes time and effort.

This is where an Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant can be your answer.  So what exactly can an Internet Marketing Virtual  Assistant do and how will he/she increase profits for your business?

Here’s a brief list of the different internet marketing tasks a virtual assistant can perform for your business:

Maintain Your Blog or Website Maintenance

If you have a blog or website, you can hire a virtual assistant to load your blog posts and schedule them to post on different days. A virtual assistant with search engine optimization expertise can make sure the right keywords are used on  your blog or website. He/She can also update your content regularly on your blog or website when changes are needed. With  your website consistently maintained and optimized for the web will help bring you a steady flow of traffic.

Write and Submit Articles

It is well known that writing articles and submitting them to article directories is a sure way to drive a flow of traffic to your website and generate quality leads. Your virtual assistant can write and submit 1 to 3 articles a week on your niche.  This technique will definitely bring you continuous traffic to your site while building backlinks.

Write and Submit Press Releases

Press Releases are another fantastic way to generate traffic to your website. Each time your company has a new announcement  to share, your virtual assistant can write a press release about it. Also, Press Releases like articles create backlinks to  your site.

Email Marketing

In order to do email marketing, you need an autoresponder system. A Virtual Assistant who specializes in internet marketing  will most likely know how to set up an autorepsonder service for your website.  This includes creating the opt-in form for  your site and loading all the messages.  With this assistance, you’ll be able to concentrate on building a list instead of  trying to maintain it.

Post Classified Ads

With so many classified ad sites available on the internet, your internet marketing virtual assistant can post several ads a  day on the top visited sites.

Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing is a form of internet marketing which uses sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube to  achieve branding awareness of a company’s products and services to the masses. If you have an account with any of these  social networks, then an internet marketing virtual assistant can maintain these social networks on behalf of your business helping you stay in touch with your audience.

As stated earlier, this is just a brief list of the many different internet marketing techniques that an internet marketing  virtual assistant can do for your business to increase profits for your business.  The more traffic you receive the more sales you make! When you are searching for a virtual assistant, be sure to ask the right questions concerning their experience and expertise in this area before hiring.  But once you find that qualified assistant, you’ll be seeing amazing  results in your business in no time.

It’s only going to get bigger and better!  The current trend in business outsourcing means that the role of virtual assistants will become more significant in the future.  As technology develops and business need grows, a virtual assistant may soon become a vital part of every successful business.

The virtual assistant industry continues to grow by leaps and bounds.  The many small business owners and entrepreneurs of today’s business world have found virtual assistants to be an invaluable resource.  Virtual assistants have come a long way from being “work at home” secretaries.  

They can be writers, proofreaders, editors, database creators, researchers, marketers, web designers … The list of possibilities is as diverse as the people who enter the VA industry.  Business people are realizing they no longer have to do everything on their own and are hiring virtual assistants to take care of tasks they no longer have time for, or that they don’t enjoy doing.

The history of virtual assistants, as they are defined today, is only a few years old.  Though “work-at-home secretaries” existed in the 1980s, the technology was not available for the industry to be truly virtual.  The true virtual assistant began to emerge in 1995, after the explosive growth of the World Wide Web (WWW) in the mid-1990s.  Through the Internet, faxes, and the telephone, these pioneers  proved time and again that they could fully support their clientele virtually, from their home offices.

Virtual assistants are not employees.  VAs are small business owners who work with you to support your business goals and needs.  When you contract a virtual assistant, you receive expert and flexible administrative support, provided through popular and leading edge technology. 

VAs are business owners themselves and understand why you and your business need professional, timely, reasonably priced service.  Because the client’s satisfaction is key to the success of a virtual assistant business, you can expect solid and reliable performance on a continuing basis.

A virtual assistant, or VA, is an administrative professional who outsources his or her administrative talents and experience to small business, individuals and corporations for a long or short-term period.  Most virtual assistants have several years of experience in the corporate world, and bring to their business the training and experience accumulated during those years. 

Many administrators who leave the corporate world to start their own virtual assistant business do so because they are motivated to achieve and want to influence how their talents are used and developed.  Virtual assistants are known for continually developing their administrative skills, business knowledge, and keeping up with leading edge technology to provide you, the client, with  professional and reliable virtual service.

Here you are the entrepreneur with a business that is nicely taking off with the grace of an eagle…Your dream is now a reality! Your agenda is now overflowing with meetings, you are working 50 hours per week, and your paperwork is piling up.

Congratulations, you are now the sole owner of a full time administrative position that will not only keep you up at night, but also prevent you from playing golf with the boys next weekend.

So, what are your options? Well, you can hire full time help, outsource your work to a Virtual Assistant, or do the administrative work yourself!

Making the decision of hiring full time help is the traditional way, but does it mean that this is your best choice? Do you really know what you are paying for?
Based on surveys done by Salary .com and America Online the average base salary for an administrative assistant in the United States is $39,795.00 per year, or $19.13 calculated on an 8 hour per workday.

Again, from these surveys, workers admit to wasting and average of 1.15 hours per workday, which adds up to $5,720 per year, per worker in wasted salary dollars!

In other words, if you hire an assistant at $39,795.00 per year, you can expect to lose $5,720 per year on wasted time!

Your second option is outsourcing your administrative work to a Virtual Assistant.
Now, what is a Virtual assistant, and how can she or he help you?

First, a virtual assistant is not an employee, but rather a self-employed professional that offers administrative support services from her or his own home office.

A virtual assistant is a full time partner that has a vested interest in the growth of your business and will work in collaboration with you towards the success of your company!

When you outsource to a virtual assistant you only pay for the work contracted out and not for idle time frittered away at your expense! How much will that cost you? Rates usually vary between $20.00 and $45.00 per hour, depending on the expertise required and the project at hand.

In addition, because you are outsourcing your work, you are saving on the following: payments made to Medicare, workers comp, administrative costs, recruitment, base salary, benefits, office space and furnishings, equipment, etc.
On the other hand, if you still rather do the administrative work yourself, let us examine if your rate of return is really worth it.

You contract your services at a price of $150.00 per hour, and, in this past week, you have spent 5 hours of your precious time doing routine work at the office.
In other words, you just lost $750.00 doing the work by yourself.

Now, if you would outsource your work to a Virtual assistant lets say at a medium price of $35.00 per hour, your cost would be $175.00 and you would realize a saving of $575.00.

All and all the decision seems simple to me. Which would you rather do? Hire full time help, and pay for wasted time and equipment? Keep on doing the work yourself and loose money and marketing time for your business, or maybe take the proven and affordable route of outsourcing your work and hiring a Virtual Assistant.

Remember a Virtual Assistant is a professional that will work with you… A Virtual Assistant is a collaborative partner, and their success is measured by your success!