Virtual Management

August 30, 2008 | 1 Comment

Why am I writing about Virtual Management when this is a virtual assistant blog?

Well, if you have ever had a really skilled virtual assistant, you know that they can actually manage a big part of your business. In fact, once you have tried them out, why not call them your virtual management team?

A virtual assistant only becomes part of your virtual management team if they are actually managing an aspect of your company and reporting back to you. Lets look at a few options where a talented virtual assistant could actually be a virtual manager.

Virtual Manager of Google AdWords and Online Advertising
Manage all ads, keywords and track cost and results for every single expenditure.
Virtual Manager of Online Customer Relations
Management of customer relations. They see support emails, get info@ requests and search the web for people that are talking about your organization - and respond if appropriate.
Virtual Manager of Internet Publishing
Your Internet Publishing Editor is the management person in charge of getting your articles out on time and following your schedule.
Virtual Manager of Virtual Assistant Team
If you have several virtual assistants doing regular tasks for you, then it is time to hire virtual management to manage your virtual assistants.
Accountability Boss
OK, call me crazy, but maybe you need virtual management to manage you. They keep your calendar up to date and hold you to your goals.
Virtual Marketing Manager
For many smaller organizations, having a virtual marketing manager is the next best thing to having a full time employee or working with an expensive marketing agency.

The only things that make someone a virtual manager instead of a virtual assistant is the desire to take on more responsibility, be highly organized and clear on outcomes. A virtual management position can be in the future of any virtual assistant.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog

Social Media Manager

August 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment

A Virtual Buzz Assistant can easily also be called a Social Media Manager.

Here are the differences

A Social Media Manager works full time and explores all kinds of avenues for developing relationships and information online. A Virtual Buzz Assistant focuses on the specific social media tasks as defined by the client.
A Social Media Manager can handle complaints, bad reviews or negative comments. A Virtual Buzz Assistant will point these items out to the client and the client should address them.
Social Media Managers are doing many social networking tasks. Virtual Buzz Assistants focus on a few high value tasks and leave experimentation up to the client.
Social Media Managers need to be able to create great original content about the organization. A Virtual Buzz Assistant might create content, but rarely are they the main messenger of the organization.
A Social Media Manager monitors the web for information EVERY DAY. A Virtual Buzz Assistant can do that, but rarely do clients schedule enough hours to include that service.
If you employ a social media manager, they are going to be going to all kinds of conferences and group meetings, because those online relationships actually get stronger when you meet people in person. A Virtual Buzz Assistant can do that for you, but I am thinking you will not want to send a VA.

This post is not to say that Social Media Managers are better than Virtual Buzz Assistants. It is simply a budget issue. If you cannot afford a full time social media manager then a Virtual Buzz Assistant, with some great involvement from you, is the next best thing.

Go here to read a great example of what a Social Media Manager would do?

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog

Home-Based 100 Competition

August 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Deborah, one of our Virtual Buzz Assistants, entered a contest for top 100 home-based businesses.

I voted for her, but I also signed up the Virtual Buzz Assistant network. VOTE HERE.

Entering contests is a great way to get some buzz. It provides a link back and nice visibility even if we do not win. But go vote for me and maybe I will win. Or go sign yourself up - and enjoy the extra exposure.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog

Virtual Assistant Tools

August 29, 2008 | 2 Comments

A good Virtual Assistant Tool is a web-based tool that allows the virtual assistant to be more productive, save data in a safe place and collaborate with clients. Here are some of my favorite tools, most of which are either free or at least have a trial free account.

Google Docs - This is a great way to have web-based documents stored and you can share them out.
Google Reader - You may not know this, but you can use Google Reader to subscribe to web searches (via the RSS of the search) and with that tool, you can aggregate industry information and quickly become and expert on what you need to.
Zoho CRM - Free CRM that is very good. A crm is a tool that helps you close sales by tracking everything through the sales funnel.
Survey Monkey - You should be using this or a similar tool to get feedbackfrom clients periodically.
BaseCamp - Simple, interactive project management system that really focuses on collaboration. Collaboration with clients is the key to providing more value.
Wordpress - Yes you have to pay a few dollars to host it someplace, but the Wordpress developers are not getting that money. That is the best free software I have ever seen.
DocStoc.com - Officially, you should always hire a legal professional. The reality is some of use go out and find a document we can modify ourselves. You can save on legal fees just by having one done first and asking a lawyer to review it after.
HighRise - There is a free version of this software. It is excellent for sharing contacts. If you are doing online advocacy, this tool is a must for you to work with your client.

If you know of some other tools that you use for your virtual assistant agency, please share them in the comments below.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog

Executive Assistant

August 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment

An executive assistant is a person that helps the executive be more efficient by doing many of the repetative tasks that can be delegated.

A Virtual Assistant can be an excellent executive assistant, if the executive wants to achieve the following:

Higher Visibility in their Industry
PR Results
Higher Degree of Expert Status
Speaking Opportunities
More Interviews and Exposure

An executive assistant can do these things, but they are often bombarded with many tasks for the chief executive. That is why executives that want higher visibility need to not only have an executive assistant, but also a virtual assistant that focuses on Buzz and PR.

And the best thing is that the Executive does not need to manage the virtual assistant. The Executive Assistant should be the one working with the Virtual Buzz Assistant to organize opportunities and schedule interviews.

Here are the things your virtual buzz assistant can do in conjunction with the executive assistant.

Manage online profiles and grow links, friends, etc.
Distribute articles
Post blog posts to the executive blog
Twitter
Email Bloggers, Podcasters and other new media experts and offer a chance to interview the executive.
Organize New Media Content so the executive can skim only the most important new articles

The executive assistant can do these things as well. But an expert in internet marketing will be more proficient in most cases and they will make the executvie assistant (the gatekeeper) look great because of all the extra results and opportunities they generate.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog

Virtual Assistants Jobs - New Customers

August 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment

One thing I do not like about running a network like this is that some people sign up and then think they should get all their sales leads from us. For a virtual assistant to get jobs with new customers, it is going to take some effort in more than one or two strategies.

Many of these tips are not just for virtual assistant jobs, but for any business that wants to generate new customers.

Finding Virtual Assistant Jobs Tip List

Local networking groups like IRN, BNI or B2BConnect
Local Chamber of Commerce
Bowling Alleys (Just seeing if you are staying awake)
Webinars (Participate and follow up with people)
Local Training and Seminars
Online Forums
Online Social Groups
Local Clubs
Charity Events as a volunteer
Asking your existing clients for referrals
Conferences
Educate local business incubators about your services
Hold a contest
Offer to do overflow for marketing agencies
Join VA Networks
Go to local meetup meetings (Not the weird ones)
Clearly articulate virtual assistant jobs you do so other people can tell their friends
Email local businesses
Attend Local blog groups
Teach a workshop at the local library
Write guest post on blogs (and offer to do a regular paid post if the blogger likes your work)
Network any way and every way you can
Write articles about how to do the services you do and offer help in your bio - add these to article repositories.
Offer a finders fee
Use freelance sites like guru.com, odesk.com and elance.com

I love all the web options for getting virtual assistant jobs because I am one of those dorky web guys. I am also smart enough to know that when you meet new potential customers face to face, you are much more likely to work with them. If you need work fast, start networking fast, in person and regularly.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog

Virtual Assistant Blog

August 27, 2008 | 1 Comment

Welcome to the Virtual Assistant Blog

This virtual assistant blog is written for all virtual assistants, but especially virtual assistants that choose to focus on marketing to create a higher value for their clients and have a more specialized set of marketing skills.

Blogging is a critical skill for virtual marketing assistants. If we did not produce a virtual assistant blog that is of great value we would not be setting a very good example.

If you join our virtual buzz assistant network, an entire area of courses cover how to make blogs more effective. How to write more effectively for them. How to write for search engines and people. Which wordpress plugin tools get the best SEO results.

These are the kinds of skills that our virtual buzz assistants develop so that they can use blogs and other new media tools to create buzz and internet marketing results for clients. And some of them have a virtual buzz assistant blog for themselves as well, which is an excellent way to show your skills and demonstrate your blog buzz knowledge.

If this is your first visit to our Virtual Assistant Blog, I suggest that you subscribe to the RSS or the email subscription on the right. The email option is automated through feedblitz and it will send you an email summary every night that we have posts. That way you never miss an important article.

I always subscribe to my favorite blogs because commenting on a blog right after it has a new post can generate some buzz and visibility for you. Plus that way I never miss a blog post. Sure, I get some I don’t care about as well, but it only takes a second to delete it or move on in the RSS reader.

If you have a virtual assistant blog, be sure to comment on this post and link to yours. I hope that this post can become a central point where we can list many virtual assistant blogs and anyone interested in the topic will be able to find more information than they could ever read.

Do you have a virtual assistant blog? Comment below and let me know!

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog

Virtual Assistance with Internet Marketing

August 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Virtual assistance with Internet Marketing just makes sense. Can you get any more virtual than Internet Marketing?

First, how do you request virtual assistance that will be effective?

Begin with a limited request. Don’t make a long term commitment until you have tested out the virtual assistance quality of service.
Do not pay a fee to make your request. There are lots of places to request access for virtual assistance. For example, here at the virtual Buzz Assistant network you can post your request for free and work directly with the service provider of your choice.
Clearly define the assistance you need. The advantage of working with a virtual assistant is that it is MUCH cheaper than hiring a marketing firm. But you have to know what you want as far as virtual assistance goes. The more clear you are on the marketing tasks, the more effective you can be with assessing the value you are getting back.
Hire someone that can provide virtual assistance that has the background to help you succeed. Our virtual assistants get Internet Marketing training in the network, so they can be of the highest value to you.
Respect your service provider. Do not ask for unreasonable things. They need to make a living too, and if they turn out to give you great assistance, you do not want them to go get a job because the pay was too low. Find something that works for both of you.

The advantages of virtual assistance are:

lower cost
short term commitment
no equipment, utilities, benefits
contractors that want to keep you as a client
less administration

Seeking virtual assistance with Internet marketing, as well as many other business activities will help you keep costs low and build relationships that are more valuable and better focused on outcomes.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog

Build a Virtual Assistant Team

August 26, 2008 | 4 Comments

What is better: A virtual assistant team or one great virtual assistant?

My Virtual Assistant Network may not like this article. However, I exist in that vague in-between region of helping virtual assistants become better marketers and a higher value to their clients vs helping business people use virtual assistants to improve their business process and get the best return on the money they spend.

So let me recommend something to you - do not hire a virtual assistant. Hire a team of virtual assistants. Not a pre-built team. Build your own.

Here is why.

Not all your eggs in one basket.
Focus on a few tasks for each VA
Measure the effectiveness of each virtual assistant and expand or cancel based on individual performance.
Get one experienced virtual assistant to manage the team of other virtual assistants
If one person stops being a VA, you are not so dependent on one person. You can more easily replace a limited skill set and focused tasks instead of one person that has been running your entire Internet marketing strategy.
You can leverage better pricing by expanding your work with someone slowly.
A business can see how a Virtual Assistant performs on a small number of tasks before entrusting them with more tasks.

Building a team of virtual assistants is cost effective and more stable for you in the long run. It is also wise because you can hire the best VA for each task. Blog writers are not necessarily good at online advocacy or link building.

Define how you would like to measure the success of each virtual assistant and hire a virtual assistant manager to coordinate and send you reports. Of course, this only happens after you have a few VA’s that you have engaged and are working with.

This is even true if you are only hiring writers. Hire 3 to do 2-3 articles or blog posts each. Compare all the articles. Which ones are most likely to get linked to? Which ones are best for search engines? Then hire all three if they are good. Or hire the best one. But remember, if you only hire one, he could later stop writing, become exclusive with another client or raise his pricing. So having a team of writers is safer for you.

A virtual assistant can help you. A virtual assistant team can transform your business and help you exceed your goals in less time.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog

Marketing Your Book on the Internet

August 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Authors with upcoming books or newly released books are a great candidate to hire a Virtual Buzz Assistant. Here are some tips on how to utilize this great resource to get your book into more hands.

A virtual Buzz Assistant can contact influential people and ask them to review the book.
A VA can help organize a virtual book tour.
A VA can help organize an in-person book tour.
A VA can ask bloggers to review sample chapters of books.
A Virtual Assistant can solicit reviews on amazon.
A Virtual Buzz Assistant can read your book and then help write your blog to keep fresh content out there.
A Virtual Assistant can build a squidoo lens about your book.
An assistant can help you organize testimonials for your website and markting.
If your book gets you consulting, your VBA can help you find people to send a free copy of your book to.
Your Virtual Assistant can answer questions about the book.
The Virtual Buzz Assistant can help you expand your online profile on sites like LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook, MySpace and more.
Article marketing is a great way to create interest and the “find out more” can point to your website, blog or place to purchase the book.
Your virtual marketing assistant can make sure your book is listed in online directories.
Many virtual assistants know how to modify a webpage or blog post to get better search engine positioning.
Your virtual buzz assistant can participate in forums and create relationships with people that care about your topic.
Virtual assistants can market your book directly to book clubs and online reading groups.
A virtual assistant can help you write and publish your enewsletter.
Virtual Assistants can also help you grow your list of subscribers.
VA’s can also help you write white papers or case studies that people must sign up for to get.
And most importantly, your Virtual Buzz Assistant can promote this book and help you run your business while you get busy on that next book.

Hiring a virtual assistant is easy, and it is free to submit your project request. The virtual buzz assistant network has members that have experience promoting books on the internet and they get the training to be effective with internet marketing techniques that work very well with may types of books.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog

Virtual Buzz with Virtual Assistants

August 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment

You can create a lot of buzz with your employees via great customer service and great products. But how do you create virtual buzz on the internet without distracting your employees?

Virtual Assistants can easily be trained to create virtual buzz on the web for you one a regular basis. Not getting exactly what you want? Great, move on and try another. It is not like they are employees - and they know that. Virtual Buzz Assistants want to keep you happy long term and perform better because of it.

Here are some Virtual Buzz Tasks that a Virtual Assistant can do for you.

Blog Writing
Blog Commenting
Blog Management
Website Updates
Affiliate Management and Recruiting
eBook Writing
White Paper Research and Writing
Contest Management and Promotion
Online Advocacy
Profile Management
Social Network Management
Press Release writing and submission
Article Marketing
SEO
eNewsletter writing and publishing
Link Building
Video development
Directory listings
Social Network Expansion
email followups
CRM Management
JV Development

There are more, but if you did all of these, wow, you would be well known on the web. You can create all the virtual buzz you want with a virtual assistant. Just don’t expect to have sales leads gushing in after only a few weeks. These strategies take time.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog

Hire a Green Virtual Assistant

August 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment

It is no surprise that a virtual assistant is cost-effective. But just for giggles, lets think through how a virtual assistant compared to an employee effect the environment. Are Virtual Assistants Green?

#1 No commute - Your virtual assistant usually works from their home. Not only are you saving the earth from all those emissions, you are also enabling someone to work from home that might have had to go out and get a job with a commute with someone else. Bravo!

#2 Electronic Communications - Since everything is virtual, the need and temptation to print things is much less.

#3 Clarity - Since you do not see each other face to face, you are forced to be very specific and clear in your instructions. This will reduce errors that could have a negative impact on the environment as well as an additional cost to redo the project.

#4 Utilities - Chances are your virtual assistant was going to have heat and utilities in their home anyway. When you have fewer employees in an office and have more people in homes where the utility use does not change much more, you get a great environmental bonus.

#5 Sick Leave - OK, this one is more of a proficiency issue, but if you do not have everyone in one office, you cut down on illnesses getting past around. And when people work from home, they can suffer though some issues that may have required them to call off if they were going to come into the office.

#6 Relocation - If you have a fast growing business and everyone is in an office, you will find that when you outgrow that office you lose a lot of hours moving as well as the negative impact on the environment when you need to move.

#7 Less Printing - A virtual assistant is going to be much less likely than an in-office employee to print things out. After all, when they need to send their client something, they will usually use email. Keeping documents and reports electronic is the only option that makes sense.

I do not know how big the GREEN impact is. However, it is not hard to see that replacing some of your staff with virtual assistants will have a big impact on the environment and on your bottom line.

Are you worried about work at home issues? A virtual assistant that is contracted will usually go to great lengths to achieve results for you because they want to maintain the relationship. So hiring a virtual assistant is going to give you leverage that you may not have with work at home employees.

This is probably the best example of green also making fast financial sense. You just have to be ready to make a shift in your thinking.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog

Real Estate Virtual Assistant

August 24, 2008 | 1 Comment

A realtor needs help marketing real estate. Real Estate sales online can be very effective, but keeping all your information current and marketing it to the local home searchers takes time.

That is why a Virtual Buzz Assistant is a perfect match if you are a realtor looking for a Real Estate Virtual Assistant.

I have known a few realtors in my day, and let me make some broad generalizations.

They do not like to spend large amounts of money on the web. (Especially in 2008)
They like to be able to show clients what they are doing for them.
They are much more effective with a good support staff.
They often need to write listings, update pictures or video and market homes on the web.

A Real Estate Virtual Buzz Assistant can help you in a variety of areas. They may not help you with your calendar or scheduling, but they will really save you time on the web. Here are some tasks to consider.

Updates to websites and blogs
Set up local housing blog and keep it updated
Monitor search engine traffic to improve listing performance
Update real estate listings
Optimize images and video
Upload images and video
Reach out to local housing market and try to grow email lists
Publish email newsletters with home listings

The biggest reason to get a real estate virtual assistant to specialize in your online marketing is because they will help you be more effective and free up your time to show homes and network. You can start out with one small trial project and decide how you will proceed.

Marketing Real Estate on the Internet does not need to be expensive and involve marketing firms and web designers. A virtual assistant that has solid internet marketing skills can meet the vast majority of your needs.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog

Virtual Assistants – Recession Busters?

August 23, 2008 | 1 Comment

If your business is experiencing a slow down and you are cutting back, you should know a few things.

There will be less competition now for people that were spending a lot on SEO and web development. This is a perfect time to start building a higher web profile.
Rates are down – Many new people are becoming virtual assistants because of being downsized. You may be able to get a really great rate on a virtual assistant to write for you while you focus on sales.
Downsizing may be good – Even if you do not have to let people go, it may be a good time to cut positions that are not paying for themselves and hire virtual assistants and contractors to fill those positions on an as-needed basis.
Don’t just hire virtual assistants. Maybe the economic slowdown means it is time to become a virtual company. Imagine less utilities, no lease and a write off for your home office.
Monthly Performance Concerns – A contractor or virtual assistant is going to be concerned each month with demonstrating value because they want to have more work next month, and maybe even some referrals. Many employees expect to have a job until they find out otherwise.

When you hire a virtual assistant, you should pay as much attention defining their tasks and training them as you would an employee in your organization. If you do that, you are going to reap big cost savings and get more work done.

During a time of recession it is also a great time to strengthen your position on the web and gain market share and search engine dominance.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog

Marketing Jobs for Virtual Assistants

August 23, 2008 | 2 Comments

Wondering what marketing jobs a virtual assistant can do for you?

Here is a list of the top 10 marketing jobs a VA can do that will generate web results.

#1 Virtual Assistant Marketing Job - Content Creation

By creating a steady steam of articles and blog posts, you will create more traffic and more long term search engine hits.

#2 Virtual Assistant Marketing Job - Email List Development

Helping you create a compeling offer and invite people to sign up for your email list can increase your leads significanltly over time.

#3 Virtual Assistant Marketing Job - Interviews

Whether you are doing podcast interviews, blog interviews or enewsletter interviews, having your VA contact and organize the interview helps you connect with more people and create great content.

#4 Virtual Assistant Marketing Job - Online Advocacy

A virtual assistant can contact people in your target audience and solicit links, offer free trials and create awareness that can significantly increase your exposure.

#5 Virtual Assistant Marketing Job - Forums and Groups

A VA will visit forums and groups on your behalf and develop relationships and sometimes post links to products and services - but with full transparency.

#6 Virtual Assistant Marketing Job - Profile Management

Having trouble keeping up with growing your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other online accounts? A VA can help you manage these accounts and use the tools to grow your network.

#7 Virtual Assistant Marketing Job - Social Bookmarks

A VA can maintain social bookmark accounts for you and your business to use to bookmark industry sites as well as your own sometimes. If you only bookmark your own, you could get a penalty.

#8 Virtual Assistant Marketing Job - Web Updates

You can pay a web designer or a marketing firm, but in many cases a VA can do your website updates for you for much less.

#9 Virtual Assistant Marketing Job - Google Adword Management

If you are running Google Adwords, you can quickly train a Virtual Assistant to manage your accounts for you, track results and compile reports for you.

#10 Virtual Assistant Marketing Job -Research and SEO

VA’s can do market research and even look at Google Analytics and enhance pages to get better SEO results.

This is not even the entire list. They can help you develop communities, manage affiliate programs, write white papers and ebooks, proof read you inhouse materials, etc. When you need an affordable, English-fluent and internet marketing savvy person, you can submit your marketing job to our Virtual Buzz Assistant network.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog

Virtual Management

Social Media Manager

Home-Based 100 Competition

Virtual Assistant Tools

Executive Assistant

Virtual Assistants Jobs - New Customers

Virtual Assistant Blog

Welcome to the Virtual Assistant Blog

Virtual Assistance with Internet Marketing

Build a Virtual Assistant Team

Marketing Your Book on the Internet

Virtual Buzz with Virtual Assistants

Hire a Green Virtual Assistant

Real Estate Virtual Assistant

Virtual Assistants – Recession Busters?

Marketing Jobs for Virtual Assistants

Join the Network

Want a Virtual Buzz Assistant?

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