Business Blogging

Today, most of the business websites that you visit will probably have a blog as well. Blogs have come a long way and today they are considered a standard for a business website as well. A blog is one of the best things that a business owner can do to help increase their off-site SEO as well as to build credibility in their particular field.

Having constant, relevant fresh content is also another key component of SEO as a whole. Google in particular gives prominence to websites and blogs that are updated regularly and continuously provide high-quality content. So by simply blogging on a regular basis, you will be helping to increase your overall web presence and rankings.

With a blog also comes the importance of having your website designed with a CMS system in place. CMS stands for Content Management System and it allows one to easily update the content on their website with a few clicks of a mouse. Some of the most popular examples of a CMS system would be WordPress, Joomla, and Drupla.

All of these have a small learning curve but there is no programming knowledge needed. The point of any CMS system is to allow anyone to be able to log into their website or blog control panel and update the content on a regular basis – without having to rely on their web designer.

So when you have your website designed by a professional make sure that they are using a CMS system. In most cases, they will also provide you with a walk through on how to use the system.

Older designed websites, generally speaking, do not use CMS and this is why many people have a hard time updating their websites. If you are still using an out-of-date website, it is time to make the change to one that will allow you to change your content whenever you wish.

Do not overlook the power of a blog. If you feel that you cannot write well enough or simply do not have the time, consider outsourcing the job to a professional content writer. You will be surprised at how powerful a well written blog can be when it comes to gaining more online visibility.

Website Design

How many times have you heard someone talking about ‘Googling’ a products, service or business? If you do not have a website, what happens when someone ‘Googles’ your business?

Sure, the name of your business may come up with the address and the phone number, but is that really enough to get someone to call or walk into your business? Chances are probably not. Today, consumers are used to being able to get what they want and need in a very timely fashion thanks to the internet.
So let’s say your business deals with plumbing and repair and you do not have a website. A consumer in your area has a plumbing emergency and does not have the time to pull out the good old Yellow Pages. So they quickly hop online and do a local search for a plumbing and repair company.

Two choices come up; one is your competitor who has a professional website that details all the services they provide… and the other one is your business, which comes up with only a name and phone number. Who do you think the customer is going to choose? Who would you choose? Especially in a time of crisis…
Without a website, there is a great chance that you are losing potential customers. As a small business owner, you already face a lot of challenges and you have to compete with much larger companies and organizations. Many people still prefer to buy local and support small businesses everywhere but without a website, how can they really find you?

One of the main reasons that websites have become so important to businesses of all sizes is due to the ease of finding them online. When a website is professionally designed and uses SEO (search engine optimization) finding a new business, new restaurant, or any type of business establishment becomes a snap.

In the simplest terms, SEO will help with your businesses online web presence which opens the door to new potential customers. SEO uses certain keywords that are related to your business based on what you are selling or providing to consumers.

So if you were a local pizza shop, your website would be designed with SEO in mind and certain words such as pizza, cheese pizza, stromboli, etc. would be used to help with your search engine rankings. While SEO may seem to be a complicated process, and it can be at times, all a small business owner needs to understand is that SEO means more people being able to find your business.

Back to the concept of ‘Googling’ a business. When you have a website and proper SEO is used, your website will become listed on Google. Not only will your website show up in the rankings when someone searches for your business name in particular, but you will also come up if they enter a search for your “type” of service.

So, let’s say for example that you are a small business owner that specializes in candy buffets for a variety of events and weddings. A local consumer has never heard of your business before but is in need of your services for their upcoming child’s party. So they type in “candy buffets” in your area and if you have a website, your website will show up in their search results. By simply having a website, you may have just found a potential customer.

No matter how small your business may be the benefits of having a website are enormous. Many times small business owners will think that since they are not selling something direct from their website, there is no point in having one. This could not be further from the truth as illustrated in the examples above. In today’s modern world, every business big or small needs a website in order to continue to grow.

Are you still struggling with your business Facebook page? You know it needs some serious improvements, but yet you are a bit unsure of what you need to do? There is no doubt that Facebook is one of the most powerful forms of advertising out there today, but in order to reap the real benefits, there are some extremely important factors that every business should consider…

If you are ready to finally get some results from your Facebook page, simply follow these 10 tips:

1. Spread the Word about Your Page – Simply put, the best way to gain more local followers is to let everyone know that your business is on Facebook. You can do this in a variety of ways, such as including a link to your Facebook page in your email signatures, sharing the link on your printed marketing materials, and if you have a storefront, using in-store signs to let your customers know that you are on Facebook.

Always encourage people to “Like” your page when promoting it.

2. Share More than Information about Your Business - Remember that Facebook is a social media site where people go to be social and entertained. This means that not every post on your page should be sales pitch or even about your business itself at all. Consider sharing a great tutorial video you may have found or a news article about a topic you care about. Show them that you are a real person and not just a robot posting in hope of gaining sales. Simply put be yourself.

3. Make Sure You Have a Custom URL- Facebook allows you to have a custom URL for your business page. You can set this to whatever you want but make sure that you do so because it will be a lot easier for people to find you instead of using the default URL. Generally speaking, the default URL contains a long string of numbers and is not very easy to remember at all.

4. Take the Time to Respond to Everyone - Social media is much like building a relationship; it takes time, and more importantly, it takes interacting with each and every person who responds to any posts that you make. This is where local businesses can really make a difference on social media platforms. By answering individual questions from your followers, you create an opportunity to bond with them. This, in turn, makes them feel appreciated will go a long way into creating long-lasting, loyal customers.

5. Be Consistent with Your Postings - No one wants to visit a blank Facebook page or a page that only posts once in a blue moon. Come up with a marketing strategy that will focus around you providing fresh content on a consistent basis. There are no set times or rules to follow for posting because every business is a little different. Just be sure that you create a regular schedule and stick with it. This will help to keep your followers updated and entertained, which will ultimately lead to more sales.

6. Keep Your Page Fun and Informative – Social media is a whole different ballgame than other forms of marketing. So when it comes to posting, think about what your target audience would enjoy reading about and use that as your posts. Keep in mind that not every post should be a sales pitch as your followers could become annoyed and stop following you. Create posts that spark conversations and encourage them to jump in. Consider using polls or surveys or simply asking questions as means to get your audience involved.

7. Use Facebook as a Way to Show Customer Appreciation – Facebook is a wonderful outlet to let your customers know just how much you appreciate them. After all, you would not be in business without your customers, so why not show them some love. There are many ways to do this on Facebook including simply thanking them, running specials for Facebook fans only, or invite them to tell you their ideas about how to make your products or services better. Listen to them and let them know that you really do appreciate them.

8. Use Facebook Apps – Facebook has many different built-in applications that can help to increase your online presence and help you generate new fans on Facebook. You can promote events, run contests, conduct polls, upload and record videos and much more. Take the time to learn a little bit about these apps, experiment with them, and see which ones are right for your business. The more creative your page is, the more you will stand out from the crowd. Use these applications to your advantage. 

9. Offer Special Content – Give your Facebook fans something unique and different from what they can already find on your website.  This can be special discounts, news articles about your business, employee recognition or anything that you feel is relevant to your business. These measures will give them a personal “connection” to your business and keep them coming back for more. If you post the same information they can find on your website along with the rest of the world, they may not keep checking back as often.

10. Link Your Facebook to Your Website – Always have a Facebook link on your business web page. Make sure all of the social media plug-ins are installed and are highly visible on your website. This lets your website visitors know that you are in fact active on Facebook and gives them an easy way to access your page. It’s also a good idea to offer your website visitors an incentive to go “Like” your Facebook page.

More than 80 percent of businesses across the globe are now using Facebook as a way to promote their business. Times have changed and social media is here to stay. Due to the number of people currently using Facebook, it only makes sense to put your business right in front of your target audience by establishing a presence there.  Utilize these above tips to help make your Facebook page a huge success.

Have you ever thought about offering your customers mobile coupons to keep them coming back to spend money with you?

Mobile coupons really aren’t any different than the coupons we are all used to getting in newspapers, magazines, or circulars. The only real difference is that they are provided through mobile phone text messages. Mobile coupons, however, carry the same function as the normal coupons. They all aim to provide customers with a way to save money, collect freebies, receive discounts and earn rewards.

If you are looking for an effective method that will work positively towards marketing your business, then mobile coupons may be what you need.  Consumers in general are in love with any opportunity that they come across to save them money or give them something free.

Most people today are going through tough times economically, so coupons have never been hotter than they are right now. This means that it is important for any growing local business to use mobile coupons to attract more customers who are interested in what they have to offer.

As mentioned above, customers will come to your business repeatedly if they feel like they’re getting a good deal and saving money. Mobile coupons can easily be sent to customers with a touch of a button and this cuts both time and cost.

When a customer receives a text with a coupon code, this will act as the incentive that will get them to come into your business to enjoy the offer; and while at it, they might see something else they want.

Instead of carrying printed coupons around, a customer will simply need to have their phones with them in order to redeem the mobile coupon, which is not a task since most people have theirs within arm’s reach at all times.

From a customer’s point of view, coupons sent by a business in the area is more likely to be redeemed since they can come in physically and since it’s so easy to claim.

In addition, there are no costs associated with mobile coupons, unlike the printing costs associated with traditional coupons. Now only does this save you money, but it also makes your business “greener.”

For business owners, mobile coupons are an easy method to attract more local traffic to physical locations without having to risk anything or spend a huge chunk of your advertising budget.

A virtual assistant is someone who helps you with tasks for your online business, but who don’t reside in the same location as you. No one can run a business by themselves and sometimes you need a little help. Because the Internet puts you in touch with people from all over the world, VA’s are often hired from other countries. When looking for a VA, your first consideration is whether you’d like to hire locally or choose someone from another part of the world.

Home Country vs. Overseas

The advantage of hiring someone from your home country is that there is no language or culture barrier. It’s much easier to communicate with your fellow countryman (or woman). For many online business owners, it’s ideal to work with someone locally who you can call and even meet face to face.

However, the main reason we often hire virtual assistants from other countries is that they’re rates are cheap. In many countries, the dollar (or other Western currency) goes much farther and this means that you can pay little but still pay well. Even though it may seem risky to work with a person from another country, there are many high quality VA services operating from countries you wouldn’t expect. If the VA is experience and professional, it doesn’t matter how far away they are.

Characteristics to Look for

When choosing a VA, there are several key characteristics to look for. First of all, have an idea of what tasks you need done and make sure they have expertise performing them. It’s much easier if your VA already has experience so that you don’t have to spend the time training them.

Your VA should be reliable and trustworthy, but how do you know at first? The best way to measure this is to start with a small task as a test run. If they do it well and in a timely manner, gradually delegate further tasks to them. You can also get an idea of their reliability by asking for references.

Of course, price is a factor. But rather than simply looking for the lowest-cost service provider, decide beforehand about how much you’d like to pay and look for high quality services at this rate. Just remember that you usually get what you pay for, so the lower the rate the less experienced the person will tend to be.

Where to Find Help

The Internet puts you in touch with the worldwide workforce and there is no shortage of places to look for help. Social media is a good way to place an ad. Make an announcement on Facebook or Twitter, or use LinkedIn’s groups. LinkedIn is a great site to use because it’s designed for professional networking.

There are sites specifically designed for finding service providers such as ELance, Guru and Freelancer. You can post jobs on these sites and VA’s will respond. A great place to post an ad is on Craigslist if you want someone more local.

Finally, you can find websites for VA services and contact them directly. They’ll usually tell you on the site exactly which services they offer, making it easier for you to decide what you want to pay for.

The Right Time to Hire a VA

Hiring a virtual assistant is a big step for any online business. It’s something you should do once your business is making a profit and you’ve got the funds to spare. Many business owners set aside a portion of their profits each month just for reinvesting in their business in the form of outsourced help. The time will come when you realize that outsourcing daily routine tasks can free you up to focus on more important things.

A good virtual assistant is an amazing help to your online business and can be the difference between stagnant profits and huge growth. Most online businesses can’t survive without them. However, sometimes there are problems that need to be resolved in order for your VA to be the valuable asset you need. Here are a few common problems and what you can do about them.

Not Meeting Deadlines

What if your VA does great work but doesn’t meet deadlines? Stress to them the importance of getting the work done by the due date. If they’re inexpensive, you might consider giving them a little more as incentive. If it’s a challenge to get the work completed on time, pad your deadlines. Ask them to have it done Tuesday when you don’t need it until Thursday.

Another way to handle deadlines is to set up a regular amount of work per week. When you schedule tasks at set intervals, you both get into a routine. For them, it may be easier this way rather than setting a separate timeframe for each task.

Inconsistent or Poor Quality Work

If the work’s quality isn’t up to par, gently but firmly tell them they’re not doing it right. Show them exactly how you want the work done. A great way to do this is to make screenshot videos of you doing it yourself. Even better, share your computer screen through Skype or another VoIP program. Afterwards, ask for their confirmation to make sure they understand. If possible, have them perform the tasks on the screen-share so that you can watch and give feedback immediately.

A good preventative measure is to do a test run when you first hire them to see if they’re capable of following your instructions. Give them just a small portion of the job to do and see how it turns out. Tell them you just need a quick job done and don’t mention anything about long-term work until they’ve proven themselves. This gives you an easy way out.

Communication Breakdown

If your virtual assistant isn’t communicating with you the way you want them to, try another channel of communication. For example, talk through chat instead of email. You might try asking them for a suggestion and being flexible with what they give you. It may help to schedule regular communication times.

Communication is also something that’s good to talk about in your initial contract phase. Tell your new VA that you’re most comfortable using, for example, Skype and ask if they can do that. Make it a condition of hiring them.

Know Your Virtual Assistant

The key to successful outsourcing is to understand your virtual assistants’ strengths and weaknesses. Few people can be good at everything. They may be a great writer but have trouble with project management. They might know how to submit articles to directories but they’re hopeless when it comes to researching blogs for guest posts. If you have a stable of virtual assistants and you know what they do best, you can delegate tasks effectively. You might even be able to give them new projects that you didn’t realize they were capable of when you hired them.

Even if you’re a solopreneur, that doesn’t mean you have to do everything yourself. That’s why most of us work with virtual assistants. Your VA takes over the tasks you don’t want to do so that you can get to the things that add the most value to your business. Managing your VA can take up a lot of your time if not done well, so here are a few best practices for efficient management.

Do It Yourself First

Whatever tasks you’re going to assign to your VA, do them yourself first. If it’s something you’re incapable of doing like web design or content creation, don’t worry about it. But if it’s a routine task that’s not complicated, make sure you know the drill. If you do it first, you’ll know how difficult it is, how long it takes, and how much you should pay to have it done. You’ll also know whether or not your VA is doing it right.

Don’t Overload Your VA

You may be lucky enough to come across a VA who’s skilled at all the things you need done, but don’t dump all of your work on them at once. Instead, give them tasks to do gradually. Some VA’s who are looking for work may take on an unrealistic amount. When you first start working with a VA, there will be problems to iron out and it’s much easier to recognize them when you’re dealing with a smaller workload.

Produce Your Own Tutorials

Take every routine task that you might outsource and make a video using Camtasia or another screen capture software. Even if it’s simple and fairly self-explanatory, show them all of the steps as if they don’t know anything at all, just so there’s no confusion.

You should also create text lists or flowcharts to show them all the steps they have to take for each task. They can refer to these if there’s any confusion later or if they just need to remind themselves of the steps.

Know Their Limitations

It’s very rare to find one person who can perform all the tasks you need to have done. Chances are that your VA will be better at some things than others. As their manager, it’s essential that you understand their strengths and weaknesses and work with these.

For example, your VA may be great at getting backlinks to your website, but they can’t write content for you. They may handle social media tasks quickly and efficiently but have trouble with site maintenance. If this is the case, hire multiple VA’s to handle various tasks, making use of the natural strengths of each. They don’t have to be full-time employees. Just hire them for the amount of time needed for each tasks.

The Lines of Communication

Keep the lines of communication open and make sure that you can reach your VAs quickly and easily when you need them. Build good rapport by being friendly and getting to know them on the personal level. The more you communicate with them, the more likely it is that you’ll understand each other when you discuss some new project.

Along with maintaining good communication, always give your VA immediate feedback and encouragement. When they’re not doing a task the right way, let them know in a friendly and professional manner so that they can do it correctly. When they’re doing things perfectly well with no problems, tell them periodically how much you appreciate their hard work. And it doesn’t hurt at all to give a bonus at the end of the year. Everyone appreciates that!

Training Virtual Assistant

When you first hire a virtual assistant, training them to do all of your myriad tasks seems like a full time job in itself. It takes some work and patience, but once things are running smoothly, your VA will be a life-saver. Since a majority of what goes wrong with outsourcing occurs in the training phase, here are the best practices to help you do it right the first time.

Do They Get It? – Training Virtual Assistant

Never assume that they ‘get it.’ There are always times when you think you’re both on the same page only to discover that you’re way off. Your VA may have their own website that lists all the services they offer and what you need done may be on that list, but always assume they need your training. Even if they’re SEO-savvy and smart, don’t assume. For every task, start at the very basic level and tell them exactly what needs to be done.

Make It Unnecessarily Detailed

When outlining tasks for your virtual assistant, make it more detailed than you think it needs to be. Explain each tiny step along the way, as well as the overall goal of each task. Ask them to confirm by reading or saying it back to you. After you write your email or document explaining the task to them, read it back to see if you’ve included absolutely everything.

Writing vs. Video

You should create your own materials to train your VA. These materials can be used again when you hire help in the future. Go step-by-step through each task. You can create your training either by making video tutorials or giving them text materials. The best approach is actually to do both. Video walks them through everything visually and skirts any communication barrier, while text provides reference materials they can look at when they get stuck.

Do a Trial Run – Training Virtual Assistant

For each job that you outsource, do a short trial run. For example, if you need a massive list of blogs that accept guest posts in your niche, ask them to find ten first. Check these blogs out to see if they’re what you wanted before you go ahead and hire them for the rest. Make sure they’re on the right track or it’ll be a huge waste of your time and money.

Giving Feedback

Give clear feedback immediately, especially for the first tasks your VAs do for you. Always give them at least one positive bit of feedback to tell them what they’re doing right along with one piece of constructive criticism. The positive feedback is just as important as the negative. There’s always something that a person is good at. Make sure your VA recognizes that you appreciate their work.

Take Responsibility – Training Virtual Assistant

Even when your VA messes up a task completely, take the responsibility upon yourself. Maybe you could have explained it more clearly or given better feedback. Give the other person the benefit of the doubt, because just as they need to adapt to working for you, you need to learn how to delegate and employ someone effectively.

When you venture into business for yourself, you don’t have the kind of support a traditional business office has like employees.  Employees who can handle the day to day variety of tasks to help run the operation.  For this reason, many online business owners hire  Virtual assistants, also known as VA’s to assist them. In today’s post, I want to educate you on what is a Virtual Assistant and what they can do for you.

Virtual assistants are independent contractors who assist you from a remote location usually from their home office via the internet.  They can be located in distant parts of the globe and often are available for a low price. You have the world’s workforce at your fingertips.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Hiring a Virtual Assistant

The main advantage of having a virtual assistant is that you can get rid of the mundane tasks that eat away at your time. Your VA can handle items that are unpleasant or difficult for you. They can also take over certain aspects of your business when you go on vacation. Some VA services are highly skilled in areas like web design which you may not be good at yourself.

There are a few disadvantages as well. Training and managing your VA can sometimes be a job in and of itself. The technology for communicating over long distances can be temperamental and there may be language or cultural barriers to overcome. Finally, you may have to give out sensitive information about your business that requires a great deal of trust.

However, your virtual assistant can handle so many of the different routine tasks for your online business that the benefits usually outweigh any of the challenges.

Types of Tasks Your Virtual Assistant Can Do

Research and Finding Resources

A great job for your virtual assistant is to do research for you. You can assign them tasks to find specific information you need. Examples would be hiring your VA to research other bloggers in your niche to put on your blog roll, blogs that accept guest posts, or forums in your niche that let you include a link in the signature file.

Email Management

There are many email tasks that your virtual assistant can take over for you. For example, they may write reminders to your clients that it’s time to pay their invoices or other routine communications. You can have them cut and paste these email messages so that all they have to do is send. You may hire a VA to clean out your email inbox or sort messages into appropriate folders.

Social Media Management

Many people with online businesses hire their virtual assistants to manage all of their daily social media tasks. They may update your social media site, set up profiles for you, find people to connect to, or research your target market using social media.

Backlinking

A great task for virtual assistants is getting backlinks to your site. They may submit your articles to directories, a task that eats up your precious time, or bookmark all of your content on social bookmarking sites.

Full SEO Packages

Some agencies hire out virtual assistants who are trained in all different aspects of SEO. They may offer SEO packages that include a number of the tasks mentioned above.

Finding the Right Virtual Assistant

Almost all online businesses need a virtual assistant at some point. It’s good to have a few picked out before you need them. That way, you can take the time to shop around for people that are skilled at the tasks you need done. Keep their contact info and then let them know when you need them.

In conclusion,  hiring the right virtual assistant can do wonders for your business. Instead of getting bogged down with the mundane tasks, they can help get the job done while you focus on what you do best for your business!

>> Learn More About Working With a Virtual Assistant Here <<

Every business owner knows the difficulty of marketing and the expenses that come along with acquiring new customers. If you have the money to put into it, getting new customers becomes easy after a while.

But most businesses struggle when it comes to “keeping their customers coming back and getting repeat sales.”  Getting repeat customers is a piece of cake compared to generating new customers.

Many companies make the mistake of getting stuck in the process of attracting new customers and forget to take care of the ones that have already purchased from them.

We live in a world where there are thousands of players in any given industry and customers will continue to buy from businesses they know, like, and trust as long as they see value in the product or service.

Although it is ignored by many people, email marketing has the power to popularize company brands and keep customers coming back. The problem is that most businesses focus on “lead generation” and totally ignore “repeat business.”  However, the more loyal customers you have, the more sales you can make while reducing your advertising expenses at the same time.

If you want your company to come to mind every time someone needs your type of product or service, you must use email marketing effectively. You first have to start by asking your existing customers to join your list; followed by new customers.

Never stop adding people to your list and think of creative ways to get people to join your list. Then you have to use email marketing to keep them informed with information related to your industry as well as special promotional offers.

The nice thing about email marketing is that while it is effective in keeping existing customers updated and coming back to you, it will also act as an effective method to recruit new customers. For instance, you can have people join your newsletter list and slowly build a relationship with them via email with an aim at converting them into new customers.

Emails contain more information as opposed to other forms of advertisement and marketing. This is because in an email, you can include a lot of information whereas other methods usually have a limited amount of small space that you can use to get your message across. The inclusion of a business logo and images can attract even more attention and create brand awareness.