Doing a Newsletter for Your VA Business...

When you own an internet-based business, it might be hard to figure out all of the moving pieces and to know what to do to push your business forward. When you’re just starting out, it’s made worse by overwhelm and overload of ideas, options, etc.

As a virtual assistant, you still need to be thinking like a regular, internet- based business owner since that is exactly what you are. You may not think that you need a newsletter or ezine but the thing is, you really could benefit from it.

A newsletter does a few things for you as a virtual assistant business owner. It allows you to illustrate that you know how to do this particular task and it also allows your clients to stay in the know with your business.

You can also use it for sales, specials and other important announcements.

When a brand new entrepreneur comes to our business, Business Services, ETC, looking for advice about his or her business, the first thing I always say is start building your list. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know right now how that list will be used, just do it.

The reason is because a list helps to do two main things:

(1) Keep Your Best Customers in the Know

We all know that keeping someone’s attention can be difficult at times.

On the Internet, this is made even more difficult because there is just SO much out there. What you want to be doing is capturing the attention of people immediately and letting those people register on your site so that you can keep in touch with them in future.

The thing is, those who register for your information or your newsletter, will become your best customers. These are the people who knew, right from the beginning, that you could help them in some way. Now it’s your job to find out what they are most interested in.

(2) Provide You With a List of People to Market Your Products & Services to Over and Over and Over Again

If you think about all of the work that goes into building a website and setting up a web presence, you may not be thinking about the work that goes into marketing that site once it’s built.

Marketing is one area that a lot of people freeze up in because there are just so many options and ideas out there. The best way to market your products and services is to have a captive audience that you can deliver your message to over and over and over again.

There is a theory that people need to see your message at least three times before they’ll commit to purchasing. Combine that with the need for trust and credibility and you’ll find that marketing takes time.

How do you get people on your list?

Many people build their list by offering a newsletter or a freebie to those who register. Although some people say e-books and special reports that are given away for fr*ee to those who register, I think you should still offer something.

What I find works really well and is growing in popularity is the fr*ee e- course. On our website, www.bsetc.ca, we offer a fr*ee e-course called, ’30 Days of Delegation’, in which we illustrate thirty ways you can delegate and outsource to free up your time.

What sort of follow-up can you do with the list?

Once someone has subscribed to your list, there are a few ways you can keep in touch. If you were offering an e-course that is delivered over the course of a few days or weeks (even months or a full year) then you may only want to do that keep-in-touch strategy since it’s a lot of e-mail.

If you are offering a fr*ee report or e-book, you can setup your autoresponders to automatically send out messages at pre-planned intervals to check in with your prospect and see how they are doing. You can also cross-promote other products and services.

You can also do a newsletter (also known as an e-zine) where you can deliver your messages to your clients and promote your products and services there.

Whatever you decide, be consistent and start building your list from the get go. You’ll be glad you did!

Did you find the information in this post helpful? If so, check out our Build Your Virtual Assistance Business course! The course contains information like this to help you build, grow and manage your virtual assistance business.

Setting Up Your Virtual Assistance Website...

When building your website there are many options to consider. It generally boils down to (a) your budget and (b) your experience level. If your experience with websites or blogs is high, you can probably get away with doing it yourself. Otherwise, you may need the help of someone else to get your website up and running.

Let’s look at the various ways you can setup your website and the pros and cons to each.

#1 – The Standard HTML-based Site

This website is your ordinary website. It’s coded with HTML, which is hyper text markup language, and generally requires the skills of a website designer and coder. Most people have this type of website designed by a website designer or create their own using a combination of PhotoShop and Dreamweaver.

The pros to this site are that you have ultimate control over the design. The cons to this site is that you need to have experience to get yourself started. You also need to know about FTP clients and/or HTML in order to make updates.

#2 – Template Based Site

Two examples of template based hosting sites are Yahoo or GoDaddy. Both have built-in site builders and when you purchase hosting there, you can setup template-based websites. Most of them look very professional and they are really easy to update. You don’t need to have a working knowledge of HTML to use these.

The pros to this site is that you can get in there and do most of the work yourself thus saving yourself money. The cons is that you are limited to the template and certain things you may want to do down the road may not be available.

#3 – The Blog Site

This is the type of website I use for my website at www.bsetc.ca. It is powered by a blogging platform called WordPress.  The benefits of a WordPress based website vastly outweigh the benefits of an HTML site or a template-based site.  With WordPress you will receive instant search engine optimization, ease of use and a more interactive platform on which to interact with your community.

So, once you’ve chosen your website type, it’s just a matter of starting to put the pieces together!

The first step is to outline your plan.  There are many, many things that can go onto a website and it’s a really good idea to outline what you want on yours before you even begin the design process. This way, you can be sure to only have the data on your site that you want and you have a clear picture of your website outcome before you begin.

A lot of people don’t start out with a plan and then they get confused by their own website. A great book that I highly recommend is Steve Krug’s “Don’t Make Me Think.” It will teach you a lot about what people do when they come to websites and how best to optimize your website for the best possible results.

There are certain things that you must include on your website. This list is specific to our industry but some of these items should be present on any website. These include:

• Home page – This will give your website visitors a starting point.
• About page – It’s important to let your website visitors know a bit more about you. This will help build trust and credibility.
• Services page – Let your potential clients know what it is you do.
• Rates page – This is optional but by posting your rates, you can be sure to only receive serious inquiries.
• Resources or Links page – This page will help you do two things. (1) Create outgoing links from your website which help with page rank and (2) You can embed affiliate codes into the links to help create passive income.
• Contact Us page – this is vitally important. Make sure to also post your e-mail address and telephone number. Again, this helps build credibility and trust.
• Articles You’ve Written – if you wish, have an articles page. This will give your website visitors a chance to see your knowledge in action.
• Lastly, decide whether or not you’re going to build an e-mail list. The reason that people do this is so they have a great list to market their products and services to. On my website, I give out 30 days of delegation where I teach people over the course of 30 days how they can delegate and what they can delegate to me as their VA.

The next thing to think about and write out in a plan format is your general design. What do you want the website to look like? Describe your colors, layout, etc. This will also help ensure that you are on the right path when you start working with your web designer.

Did you find the information in this post helpful? If so, check out our Build Your Virtual Assistance Business course! The course contains information like this to help you build, grow and manage your virtual assistance business.

How to Choose a Hosting Account...

Your hosting account is where you will upload files so that your website can take shape and be visible to the outside world. It is also where you can track statistics, install applications, setup e-mail addresses and setup FTP accounts.

For those who do have an existing hosting account, take note of the features I will recommend you have with your hosting account. See how it compares to what you currently have. For those who do not have a hosting account, please take note of the things that I recommend your web hosting company have.

#1 – Good Technical Support – The best support is probably the most important aspect of your website hosting company. If you think about it, that company will be responsible for making sure your website is online and that your e-mail is working so you want to make sure that they are responsive when you need them.

#2 – Disk Space – It’s important to see how much disk space they offer because you don’t want to run out. If your website is going to contain a lot of images and add-ons, you may want to consider a website with more disk space. Otherwise, a simple website with not many images doesn’t take up much space.

#3 – Bandwidth – Bandwidth is the amount of data that is being transferred from your website to the people viewing your website. If your website has a lot of photos or downloads, it will eat up bandwidth. So, check to see how much they allot to each site.

#4 – Uptime – Make sure that the website guarantees a certain percentage of uptime. This is how often your website will be shown online. You will always, no matter what, experience some downtime but it should be less than 1-3% of the time. Uptime of 97-99% is good.

#5 – MySQL – This application allows you to run scripts on your website. Some programs that you may want to install down the road, WordPress, Moodle, etc., do require MySQL.

#6 – FTP Access - Unlimited and unrestricted FTP access to your site is mandatory. You will need an FTP program to transfer files.

#7 – Control Panel – Check to see if they offer a control panel. The easiest one to use out there is Cpanel. It offers a GUI (graphic user interface) and is very easy to understand.

It’s important to review the things you need right from the beginning because it can be a hassle to move your website at a later date. Make sure to check and see if your website company can accommodate your needs and then you will feel more confident with moving forward with your website.

Also, as I mentioned, if you plan on creating a blog site, you will need to check to see if they have WordPress as an available installation. Most times, it’s bundled with something called Fantastico but the easiest way to find out is to give the company a call.

When you are ready, setup your website hosting and be sure to record all of the information in a safe place.

Did you find the information in this post helpful? If so, check out our Build Your Virtual Assistance Business course! The course contains information like this to help you build, grow and manage your virtual assistance business.