Build a Virtual Assistant Team

August 26, 2008 | 4 Comments

Siluetas 2

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 

Virtual Marketing Agency

August 18, 2008 | 1 Comment

Buzz playing Twister at a basketball game

Wouldn’t it be great to have a low cost virtual marketing agency working for you all the time?

The virtual buzz assistant network is a group of internet marketers that will work for you from their home to help you enhance visibility.

If I were just starting out, here is what I would do to create a low cost, high impact virtual marketing agency that would help me succeed long term.

  1. I would begin with a marketing plan.  Not too lengthy, but I would have clear goals, clear target audiences and clear ways to make money.
  2. I would then define multiple roles I would like the members of the virtual marketing agency to do for me.  I would prioritize the list and would place different virtual buzz assistants in different roles.  Some would do PR while others did technology while others would do writing.
  3. I hire one virtual assistant at a time and get each up to speed.  I would send them examples of the reports I want each month and I would send them clear instructions on the tasks I would like them to complete.
  4. I would then create my own virtual marketing agency with these various virtual assistants.  Eventually I might hire one to manage the others and submit the overall monthly assessment to me.

I would NOT just take what people give me.  If you start with clarity on your part, you will achieve incredible cost savings, decreased headaches, a clear conscious if you need to fire someone and a roadmap to your success.

A DIY Virtual Marketing Agency is within your reach if you are willing to do that upfront work, or hire someone to do it for you.

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Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

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