FAQ#1 on Working with A Virtual Assistant – What is a Virtual Assistant? (Video)
April 12, 2010 by Lisa S. · Leave a Comment
This week kicks off a series of videos on the top frequently asked questions about Working with a Virtual Assistant. Today’s video post begins with FAQ#1, What is a Virtual Assistant?
Who Uses Virtual Assistants?
For small and medium sized businesses that are especially at the start-up stage, the requirement for extra assistance is often vital. But the constraints on funds, space or equipments can prevent them from hiring a full time assistant.
This is where a Virtual Assistant (VA) can be a great resource.
Advantages of using a VA:
• The need for the traditional office paraphernalia like office space and equipments are eliminated, since a VA independently provides services from a remote location using his/her own equipment.
• The organization only needs to pay the VA for the time and material, if any, spent on the specific project.
• Since VAs have prior secretarial or similar experience, the need for training them is eliminated.
• Employee recruitment cost almost accounts to nothing at all.
• It cuts down overhead expenses like employee related insurances, taxes or benefits.
Hence, VAs are the best alternative that a growing small/medium scale business has as an economical and efficient alternative to hiring a full time employee.
Businesses that generally use the services of a VA:
The services of a VA can be availed by any person or business. Since a VA normally has prior administrative experience, their services are especially useful in businesses that experience regular periods of excessive pressure occurring due to paper work and other routine administrative tasks.
The businesses that generally use the services of a VA are:
- Real estate agents
- Legal professionals
- CPAs
- Journalists
- Authors
- Website owners
- Affiliate marketers
- Teachers and professors
- Life coaches/business coaches
- Consultants
- Therapists
- Beauty salon owners
- Artists
- Musicians
- Photographers
- Other small business owners, and so on
When would considering a VA be required?
Businesses should think of using the services of a VA if they are met with the following instances:
1. More free time is required to focus on strategic and more important goals
2. Delegation of work to existing staff would affect their productivity and their ability to meet deadlines
3. Existing staff do not have the required skill set to complete the task in question
4. There is a limitation on funds with regards to providing training, purchasing of office equipment or space
5. There is a requirement for a forwarding address when the person in question is away from work for a while
6. There is a requirement of an extra hand when the volumes of work are too large and difficult to handle on one’s own
7. There is a general need of a personal assistant
How Can an Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant Increase Profits for your Business?
March 26, 2010 by Lisa S. · Leave a Comment
If you are a small 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 techniques for marketing online of which many of it takes time and effort. And if you are extremely busy running your small business, you may not have the time and effort to market online.
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 professional 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 your assistant can maintain these social networks on behalf of your business helping you stay in touch with your audience.
As stated before, this is just a brief list of the many different internet marketing techniques that an internet marketing virtual assistant can do to help increase profits for your business. When you are searching for a virtual professional, just make sure to ask the person about 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 not time.
Guidance to the Virtual World: Virtual Assistant Directories
It seems so simple to be in a traditional business world. You simply put an ad out for someone to fulfill a job position. One by one, you see who is most credible and confident for the position, eventually hiring the person of your choice. However, things are beginning to run differently, making it necessary to find different ways to find people.
If you are looking for a right hand person to help with the business, but have decided to go the nontraditional route of a virtual assistant, you will want to make sure that you know exactly where to go. The job interview for a virtual assistant is not located in an office, but is also located virtually, meaning that the way to find the assistance is different.
There are a few ways that you can find the right virtual assistant. The first is to look locally. This means that you can look at either Internet portals that advertise local companies with connections to websites. You can also look at other local directories that you know will have the right advertisements for you to find a virtual assistant. Most likely, virtual assistants who are working in the business individually will be listed through these different areas.
Another option that you can follow is to look at directories that have been made for virtual assistants that are qualified. The Virtual Assistants Chamber of Commerce is one specific area that has virtual assistant directories. In order to be listed in this directory, one will have to have a certain amount of experience and will also have to be a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
Finding the right virtual assistant directories simply means looking into the most well known areas for virtual assistants. There are a variety of areas that are available, all which can help to get you to the right person. Going through a job interview virtually is what will help you to move into a nontraditional method of working with someone; virtually.
Here are just a few virtual assistant directories to get you started on the search for your perfect virtual assistant:
http://www.mediamage.com/va/
http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/directory/
http://www.virtualassistantforums.com/directory/
If you need help finding your perfect assistant, give us a call at 206.350.3504 for free 15 min consultation.
Taking the Next Call: Virtual Assistants as Administrative Assistants
Your schedule is busy and hectic. Not only is it busy, but it is becoming even more stressful. You have fifty things to do in one day, but most of the time, these are interrupted by talking on the phone or having to take in service calls. Happy with the problem, you decide that it is time to expand.
In your expansion, you look at the option of hiring an administrative assistant. However, this takes paperwork, the need to have someone in an office space all of the time, and complicated factors, such as payroll. An alternative that seems to be more effective is a virtual assistant. By doing this, you will have the ability to get all of the administration taken care of, without having to worry about hiring an actual employee.
The ability to use a virtual assistant as an administrative assistant is as simple as making sure that there is an understanding of the vision of your business. A virtual assistant will be able to take in all of the calls that you need, answer e-mails, send faxes, and do any type of secretariat work that you did. They can also do some of the simpler tasks, such as keep track of appointments and pick up the mail so that you don’t have to worry about it. This way, you don’t have to worry about any of the administrative needs and can simply focus on offering services.
One of the important parts to keep in mind about hiring a virtual assistant as an administrative assistant is that there will be an expectation to create a partnership. This is because the virtual assistant, while working remotely, will be working continuously with you. This is an important thing to keep in mind, especially if you are looking for administrative duties that include more personal needs, such as handling reservations and appointments.
If you want to take out the small stuff for your daily schedule, then finding a virtual assistant is a good key. This will allow you and your business to take a step up without the problem of being scattered because of the lack of time. If you want someone who will offer you the best of an office without an office, a virtual assistant is the one who can put in the paperwork for you.
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