Archive for Virtual assistant
Using 10 Hours a Month to Build Your Business
Posted by: | CommentsYesterday I wrote about what you can expect when you have a limited number of hours set aside to use the services of a virtual assistant. So let’s say you’ve taken the plunge (yes, I know it can be a little scary to hire a VA), and purchased a retainer package of 10 hours for someone to help you with your marketing.
What are some things you could expect your VA to achieve in those 10 hours a month? The short answer – probably more than you thought. Consistency and follow-through is key with online marketing (which is what I offer my clients help with, so that’s what I’m going to discuss here), so when using a smaller amount of hours a month, try to space out that time to about 2.5 hours per week.
Here are some of the ways I can help you increase your business, with just 2-3 hours a week:
- Social Media – I can set up your profiles and fan pages on the top social media sites, or any of the other social media websites you want to focus your time on.
- Facebook/Website Monitor & Maintenance – I can take care of any updates needed for your Facebook Fan Page and your website and/or blog. I can also monitor your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn accounts and make note of any important interactions and provide you with a summary of activity once a week.
- Comment Moderation – I can monitor the comments on your blog and ensure that the appropriate ones are approved and answered to keep the conversation going.
- Google Alerts - I can set up Google Alerts for specific search terms and provide a overview each week of anything important to you and your business, as well as monitor any trending topics.
- Forum Interaction and Moderation – I can interact on and monitor any particular forums that you frequently post on.
- Longer Term Projects – If you have an event/teleseminar/new product you want to promote, I can start to build the buzz and help you increase attendees with online marketing.
- Transitioning to Wordpress – By using some of the hours each month, I can help you with transitioning your website from a traditional html based site to a Wordpress based website. This is a longer term project, but is easily done and usually in much less time than you would expect.
- Marketing Your Business – I can help you develop your overall online marketing strategy, and show you new and free ways to market your business online.
- Article Marketing – I can set up your profiles on various article directories and submit 1-2 articles a week, increasing your exposure to prospects and building your credibility/expertise in your particular field.
There’s a lot involved in online marketing, and there’s no way I (or any other person) could do all it entails in 10 hours a month. But by picking a few simple strategies and then doing them consistently each month, you’ll start to get more prospects, build more buzz for your business, and get more clients. And besides those great benefits, you’ll have more time available to strategize, plan, take care of your current clients and customers, or to create something amazing for your business.
This really is just a small sampling of the tasks I could handle for you with only 10 hours per month. Now imagine where we could take your business with 10- 20 hours more!
For even more ideas on how you can market your business online, sign up for my free February webinar.
Have a great day!
Getting Marketing Results With Just a Few Hours a Month
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As a virtual assistant, I specialize in helping my clients get more customers or clients with online marketing strategies. When I’m working with my clients, of course I want them all to have exceptional results from our work together. And my clients want (often expect) those same exceptional results. But at the same time my clients might just be starting out, or have a small budget available, so they want to know if we can still get good results with only 5-10 hours a month. Realistically, what kind of expectations can you have when you only want to use my services a few hours a month?
Even with a limited budget, a lot of good results can come from just a few hours if they’re used the right way. Here’s some tips for helping you leverage a limited virtual assistance budget:
1. Communicate expectations on a regular basis. “Set it and forget it” doesn’t often work with a virtual assistant. Your VA is an integral part of your business (if she’s doing her job correctly), even if she’s only working with you a few hours a month. You should be having a short conversation monthly with her, letting her know what you want to accomplish each month, at the start of the month. Then make sure your VA communicates with you what can and can’t be done in the time or budget you have allocated for that month. This doesn’t need to be a drawn-out conversation. It can usually be done quickly through email.
2. Keep the momentum and be consistent. When your budget (and thus the time your VA works with you) is limited, it can be difficult to keep the momentum going and in turn see real results. However, this can be overcome by retaining your virtual assistant on a consistent, monthly basis, rather than booking her time whenever the mood hits, with no real plan. This can make a huge difference in the results you see from your work together. Your virtual assistant needs to be in the loop and stay in the loop in order to understand your business and be invested in your business success.
3. Pick your tasks carefully. A virtual assistant can get a lot done (more than you thought possible) if you delegate projects that are defined and manageable. That means they have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Try to delegate projects that are achievable without much input from you, and that also don’t eat up a huge chunk of your budget.
So even if you have a small budget, you’ll still achieve some incredible results by effectively utilizing the services of a virtual assistant. If you want to find out how I can help you market your business in only 10 hours a month, contact me today for a free 30 minute consultation.
Planning Your 2010 Social Media Marketing
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As I was decorating our tree with the kids last week, I realized that before I knew it 2010 was going to be here. My kids really get into Christmas, well not really Christmas, but more of the presents that come with Christmas. They start their list around Halloween time, and are constantly revising it, updating it, making changes to it, checking with us to see if they might get any of it.
As I sat there thinking about 2010 just around the corner, I started thinking that maybe as much time and dedication my kids devote to their Christmas gifts, I should spend on my marketing plan/goals for 2010. Just like they start preparing way before Christmas, maybe I should plan ahead instead of just hoping and praying that things happen the way I want them to. So I sat down last week and planned out my 2010 Social Media Action Plan.
When I finished it, I liked it so much, I made up one for some of my current clients. I’m waiting for their feedback, but I have decided that this is a great bonus for my clients to be able to work with me on a focused, strategized, detailed plan to help them meet their goals and stay on track without getting distracted – which we all know can happen so easily when you’re in business for yourself.
So here’s a few highlights of my plan, that maybe you can take and use to strategize your own 2010 Plan.
- Figure out who your ideal client/target market is, so you know where to focus your efforts
- Get very clear on what you’re hoping to get from your social/online marketing efforts and set some detailed, quantitative goals
- Do an assessment on where you currently are – website traffic, conversion rates, where traffic is coming from, level of activity on which sites, current search engine results
- Now that you have your starting point and your ending point (goals), set up a detailed daily/weekly/monthly plan for what you’re going to do to market yourself using social networking
- Every 30 days, do another assessment to make sure you’re on track to meet your goals and to adjust anything that’s not working
Hopefully, this will at least get you inspired to plan your 2010 Social Media Plan. If you want any ideas, or need any help about some action steps you can take to increase your business, feel free to comment with any questions you have.
Also, remember that I offer a free 30 minute Strategy Call if you want some help setting up your own Social Media Action Plan.
Have a great day!
Do you have problems delegating?
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Marcia Hoeck writes a blog called “Breakthrough Business” and she has a lot of great common sense articles and information. It’s about creating a business that you run, not one that runs you.
I came across one of her older posts “Are You a Victim of the “Entrepreneurial Curse”?” This rang true for me and probably for a lot of other entrepreneurs out there. It gives several good reasons why entrepreneurs need to let go and delegate. In other words, outsource the things that can be outsourced so you can use your ‘boundless energy’ to be more creative in your business.
Basically, she talks about the Symptoms of the Entrepreneurial Curse – which are:
- You’re always jotting down notes about your great ideas but you can’t ever get to them.
- You find yourself saying, “I can do it better myself.”
- You find yourself saying, “It will take me longer to tell someone else how to do it than it will for me to do it myself — so I’ll just do it myself.”
- You find yourself saying, “No one can do it without my help anyway, so I might as well do it myself.”
- You find yourself saying, “Nothing gets done right around here unless I do it.”
- You find yourself saying, “My clients expect me to be doing all of the work — they won’t accept a phone call from an assistant. So I might as well do it myself.”
She goes on to say “I guarantee you that none of those statements above are true — you just think they are (it’s okay, we all do at one time or another. )”
If you’d like to get more details about what the Entrepreneurial Curse is, then make sure you pop over and read her article!
Are you suffering from the Entrepreneurial Curse? Make sure to take a look around my site to find out how utilizing a Virtual Assistant can help cure you.
Have a great day!
Using Google Analytics to Monitor Website Traffic
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When you’re using social media to direct people to your website, of course you want to track your results. If you don’t monitor the results of your marketing, you won’t know if it’s working or if you need to change something you’re doing to get better results.
By yourself, or working together with your virtual assistant, you can set up a system to monitor your visitors and their activity once they get to your site. Everyone should watch their website statistics on a weekly or monthly basis to monitor trends and look for improvements.
Here is a plan of action you can follow using some free Google tools:
Step 1 – Google Analytics
- Set up an account for yourself at Google.com.
- Access Google Analytics and add your main website and blog url’s to the reports area.
- Add the Google Analytics code to your website and blog, which will allow Google to start accumulating stats for your sites.
Step 2 – Set up your tracking sheet. (Use Google Documents if you’re working with an assistant.)
- Start a Google spreadsheet to share the data between you and your assistant.
- Set up statistics to track on a monthly basis:
- Absolute Unique Visitors – how many first time visits to the site
- Return Visits – of those first time visits, how many returned
- Average Time Spent on Site – what is the average time viewers spent on the site
- Bounce Rate – the percentage of single-page visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page
- Country – if you’re growing your business internationally you’ll want to monitor your visitors’ country of origin
- City – this lets you dig a little deeper to uncover what city produces the most visitors
3. Add a 2nd tab to the document titled Traffic Sources to collect info about:
- Traffic Sources – What are the top 10 – 15 sites that directed traffic to your website
- Unique Visitors – how many unique visitors came from these traffic sources
4. Add a 3rd tab called Keywords.
- Keyword Research – How many visits resulted based on specific key word searches
5. Set up 2 or 3 goals to judge conversion rates. (See examples below)
- Goal 1: How many visitors signed up for the free report?
- Goal 2: How many visitors purchased a product?
Collecting this information on a monthly basis will help you make more solid decisions on your marketing plans. For example, you may need to add more defined keywords in your blog posts, or you may want to focus on a particular state/region if you’ve had a large number of searches from that area.
You or your assistant should monitor and report on the stats on a monthly basis. This will allow you to adjust your marketing efforts based on the traffic and activity you are seeing on your website.
Whether you use Google or some other form of analytics system, make sure you are not just using it but also analyzing the data to make sure your marketing efforts are producing the results you need them to.
How to Delegate Effectively
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I recently attended a great webinar put on by Erin Blaskie. She is a highly successful virtual assistant, and a great source of inspiration for me, since much of what she has already accomplished is what I aspire to do with my own company.
During the webinar, I got some great tips to use with my clients on how to delegate tasks using precise, focused direction and vision (as she puts it).
Some quick hints on the right way to delegate to your virtual assistant or your employees:
- Use short concise wording with bullet points. Don’t use long, wordy, confusing explanations.
- Utilize your tools and systems. For example, I use Basecamp to manage my clients and their tasks. If you have some sort of project management tool or certain systems that will make delegation easier, then use them.
- Make sure to give enough lead time on projects. If you’re not sure how much time a project is take, ask for feedback from your VA or your team.
- Be ok with having to go back and forth. If your assistant or team needs more clarification, don’t get frustrated with their requests for more information. I would prefer to ask/answer more questions than to not be happy with the final results.
During the webinar, Erin also discussed some tools that can make asking for help easier. For example, you can use screen shots to show your virtual assistant exactly what you’re looking for, if it’s relating to something online. There’s a great tool called Snag It, that allows you to manipulate screen shots to help get across exactly what you’re trying to achieve. It’s a lot easier and quicker to grab a screen shot and make some changes to it, than it is to sit and type out everything you want done.
Another great idea is to record what you want done, instead of writing it out. You can use something like Audio Acrobat, and then send the file over to your virtual assistant.
These are just some quick ways to make delegating easier, quicker, and much more effective.
If you have any questions about other tools you can use, or ways to delegate, shoot me a quick email and I’ll be glad to help you.
Have a great day!
What is the value of one hour of service?
Posted by: | CommentsSometimes with all the distractions a small business owner faces, a simple project can take on mammoth proportions. Besides, tasks seem to expand to fill the time you have available for the day. So what may take you hours to get done, a virtual assistant can accomplish in about an hour or less. Following are projects that your virtual assistant can accomplish in one hour:
1. Phone a minimum of 12 clients for a specific project.
2. Mail merge 50 letters including stuffing and mailing.
3. Create and implement an email campaign.
4. Data entry of a minimum of 75 contacts into an Excel spreadsheet.
5. Balance a monthly bank statement (or 2 or 3 month’s worth).
6. Update website content.
7. Type handwritten notes from a seminar.
8. Convert document files to PDF format.
9. Build a custom spreadsheet.
10. Edit and proof copy for 5 web pages.
11. Make calls to confirm your appointments, engagements, or reservations.
12. Copy, edit and proofread a brochure.
13. Stuff, seal, label, and stamp a bulk mailing of 50 letters.
14. Set up a blogging account/program and add the link to the site menu.
15. Research best price/features for a needed service, technology, or item.
16. Warm call 25-30 prospects.
17. Research travel, hotel and meeting facilities.
18. Update and manage your calendar.
19. Submit an article to 5-10 sites.
20. Create a basic sales page layout (content provided by client).
21. Book your flight, hotel, and/or rental car reservations.
22. Delete spam accumulated in your email overnight, and sort, answer, or redirect remaining messages.
23. Edit and proof a minimum of a 5 page report.
24. Order a shopping list for home or office delivery.
25. Setup and/or analyze Google Analytics and relative conversion reports.
26. Organize stack of messy files, label them appropriately, and pack them for shipping back to you, ready to drop into your waiting file drawer.
27. Gather info on grant opportunities and calendar deadline reminders.
28. Select and schedule 15 individual handwritten greeting cards for delivery, each with a personal message.
29. Type a guest list of 200+.
30. Generate a budget for your business.
31. Generate a potential budget for your event.
32. Coordinate inspection appointments for buyers’ agents.
33. Set up a webinar/teleseminar for product training.
34. Set up an email campaign to keep in touch with past clients.
Each project is unique. This list shows actual project examples as they pertain to a particular project and serves as a guideline only. This is a sampling of what a VA can do.
If you have any questions about how TimeSavers Virtual Solutions can help you, contact us by email at crystal@timesaversvirtualsolutions.com
3 Tasks Your Virtual Assistant Can Do For You
Posted by: | CommentsAs a small business owner, you have so many things you need to try to finish by the end of your working day. If you’re thinking about getting some help, you’re going to want to start thinking about what you tasks you can delegate to someone else. Here’s 3 ideas to get you started:
1. Email management. Do you even realize how much time you spend dealing with email? Most small business owners spend a lot more than they realize. So hand over your email to a virtual assistant (VA). If your inbox is overwhelming you, a VA can sort it, answer what they can, and forward anything requiring a personal response to you. This is especially helpful if you have more than one email account for different aspects of your business. Your VA can take over all of them for you, freeing up hours in your week.
2. Social networking/blog management. Social networking and blogs are a great no-cost/low-cost way to market your business. The trade-off is that it can be a very time-consuming endeavor. A VA can manage your social networking sites, post your updates and information, and reply to messages/friend requests sent to you.
Your blog posts can be uploaded on a regular schedule by a VA. You can write your content for multiple posts and have your VA post each one on the date you specify. If you don’t like to write, you can also hire a VA to write the blog posts for you. Again, hours per week saved for you to spend on more productive tasks that only you can do.
3. Database management. Many small business owners have a list of current, past and potential clients. Sometimes this list is neatly organized, and sometimes it’s just a pile of sticky notes. Whichever the case, hand this task over to a VA. Your VA can set up a database, maintain it, keep your list organized. A VA can also use your database to send out your ezines, newsletters, mailings – however you keep in touch with your list. Think of the missed opportunities you’ve had, that you’ll now be able to take advantage of by having your database up to date and being utilized correctly!
This is just a small example of daily administrative tasks that you can hand off to your Virtual Assistant. Passing these tasks off to a Virtual Assistant will allow you more time for the activities you prefer. You can take time off, spend time with your family, follow your passion, and spend time on projects that will make you more money. After all, you started your own business to do what you love, make more money, and have more time, not to spend time on tasks you dread. A VA can get you back to doing all those things that you actually do enjoy quickly and easily.
Have a great day!
My First Online Interview!
Posted by: | CommentsOk, I originally had another post already written and pre-scheduled for today. But then I realized my first interview came out today, so of course I had to brag a little! I am really excited, and am sure that this is the first of many to come.
I ran across Kelly Hupcey through one of my daily Google Alert searches. She has a fairly new blog which I fell in love with right away, because she is reaching out to other women just like me – moms who work from home and do so because they want to add to the family income without taking time away from their children/family.
So, please go and check out the interview, and while you’re there take a look around. I think you’ll like Kelly’s blog – I know I do!
