Virtual Buzz Assistant

If you have been on the fence about becoming a Virtual Buzz Assistant, this may change your mind. We just launched a private, Virtual Assistant Blog Network.

This is big. You can still contact writers and bloggers to have then write about you and your clients, but you now have access to a growing list of blogs where you can write articles and post them. This saves time and adds value to what you can provide your clients.

It is a small list of blogs, but we will be adding new ones every week until we have 100′s of blogs available to you.

My vision of the future is where members of the Virtual Buzz Assistant network are the trusted authors of artilces on many high-quality industry blogs. This is different from article marketing, where you hope people pick up and use your article. This is authoring quality articles and selecting the blog and category where you would like to publish it.

If you have a wordpress blog and would like us to consider it for inclusion, just email the link to us along with your request.

It does require blogs that have a Google PageRank and have been published for at least 6 months. We reserve the right to refuse anyone because we only want qualiy, non-spam blogs in the network with reasonable advertising and writing that is friendly for humans.

A new feature we are rolling out shortly to our Virtual Buzz Assistant members is the ability to publish articles on an extensive and growing blog network.  This is a way that they can get more exposure and links for their clients and also promote themselves.

This category on this site is reserved for members to write about themselves, about internet marketing and about things they have done to help clients.

The Virtual Buzz Assistant Network does not monitor these posts and we do not endorse or approve the content.  Always seek advice from the appropriate professional before using this information in any way.

I decided to add a Virtual Assistant job board to this site because it gives people more options.

1. The Virtual Buzz Assistant Job Board is a place that businesses can cast a wider net.  They should still submit their buzz marketing projects to the  private network, but some people want to reach 1,000′s of people and the job board leverages our members and also all our visitors that are exploring freelance and marketing opportunities.
2. Source of Leads for members – The Virtual Buzz Assistant Job Board pulls in job listings for freelance writing and similar jobs.  This can be a great resource for our members and visitors to find more work.

Remember, there is still no cost or obligation when you submit your free buzz marketing project request to our certified Virtual Buzz Assistants.

Chris Brogan has an excellent blog on Social Media.

Those of you that are Virtual Buzz Assistants, Virtual Assistants doing marketing or business owners trying to do social media in your spare time (yeah, sure) should read his blog.

One of the services that many Virtual Buzz Assistants offer is Community Manager.  Chris has an post (and explore those links) on what it takes to be a good Community Manager.

He is focused on bigger businesses that are employing full time managers.  However, a Virtual Buzz Assistant can help small businesses build vibrant, active communities in just a small amount of time each day by participating and engaging other members.  They can also spend some time inviting people that are your target audience to join.

Or you can go hire an MBA to do it full time for $80,000 per year.  Both ways should work.

Added: Connie Benson has a detailed post on this topic as well

I have tried outsourcing to India several times.  Most likely, I will try again because some of the benefits are just too tempting to not try.

However, here is what I have found.  When I outsource to India, I have had the following problems in all three cases:

1. Hours kept going up – and so did price.
2. I did not get what I expected.
3. I spent so much time managing the project that I could have done it myself quicker.
4. People thought they knew what I wanted better than me.

By no means is 3 attempts going to make me an expert, but I have heard similar comments from other people as well.

On the other hand, I am very successful and happy when I work with independent contractors in the US.  Time and communication is a non-issue, and the price actually turns out to be less because they usually get it right the first time.  And you can find very talented people in the US willing to do hourly work on the side for under $25 an hour.

I would go to India for outsourcing for the following two reasons :

1. Super simple tasks – redundant tasks that can be easily explained.  Such as collecting the emails and urls of marketing blogs.
2. Big project with big budget – If I was thinking about building a programming team, I would open an office in India for ongoing development.  Not per project, but as an extension of my business with US trained managers running the show.  (So they understand expectations and are comfortable with communications)

Unfortunately, too many small business owners try to go that middle road.  Outsourcing a small but somewhat complex project that does not get executed properly.  The business owner is not an IT project manager, and the people in India are likely low cost outsourcing individuals that are happy to have the work and may be talented programmers, but not good managers.  In one case, we spent considerable time helping the Indian contractor get trained only to have them use the job and experience to get a job with a big company before the project was complete.

I am sure I will outsource to other countries again for simple tasks.  However, if you are trying to outsource marketing activities you really need to stay with people like in the Virtual Buzz Assistant network.  And for technology, you can also find some talented people in our network or find someone local that is happy to help you on the side.  A local intern or tech person that is willing to do some work at night and on the weekends will often be cheaper in the long run.

Thinking about launching a Virtual Assistant Business?

I started out writing this eBook as a members-only kind of resource.  Then I realized it could be very valuable to anyone starting any kind of home-based or small business.

People were getting lost in what seems like overwhelming issues, so we lay it out day by day and make it easy to move from idea to income in 30 days.

We are giving it away.  Click here to get your copy.

Since we have launched several ventures, we know the basic stuff you need to get in place, and how important it is to focus on generating revenue quickly.  If you are thinking about starting a business or are trying to figure out what things need done for a business you recently started, this resource is for you.

One of the top reasons people join the Virtual Buzz Assistant network is to get virtual assistant jobs.  The network is far more focused than those big job networks, so you have less virtual assistant job opportunities, but also you have less competition.

To review the available Virtual Assistant Jobs, log into your account in the Virtual Buzz Assistant network.  (You must be a member of the network)  Then go to Clients & Projects and choose Available Projects.

Currently the system lets you contact people directly.  We also send out an email of each virtual assistant job once we review it.  We typically leave an job opportunity listed for 30 days unless we hear someone has been selected.

You may not contact clients unless you have reviewed all of the ethics materials.  This is because you will not be able to discuss services if you are not clear on what services break the ethical standards we set.

The best way to get a Virtual Assistant Job through our network is to respond quickly to VA Job requests and address their individual needs, not just a general virtual assistant summary.

You should also look at other broad directories for even more Virtual Assistant Job leads.  Some we suggest are:

• oDesk.com
• eLance.com
• Guru.com

Just keep in mind that in those broader networks, there are many virtual assistant jobs available, but also many low cost virtual assistant service providers competing for the work.

More free tips of finding virtual assistant jobs