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How A VA Can Help You Run Your Entire Online Business In Adobe Business Catalyst

May 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment

As a busy entrepreneur and CEO of a successful Virtual Assistant company, I recently decided that it is time to make a big shift in my business, and run things a little different.  In doing so, I’ve found what I think is a better, much more streamlined, complete package.  I am switching my ENTRE|LEVERAGE website from WordPress to Adobe Business Catalyst (ABC).

It can be tough enough just trying to survive in an economy like this. You know that your business represents the future, but you also know that there are so many ways of approaching your day-to-day operations. You can get conflicting advice from so many quarters and each bit of advice seems to steer you down a different path. If you’re not careful, you will continue to second-guess yourself and spend most of your time going round in circles instead of making definitive steps forward.

If you’re smart, and I have a feeling that you are since you’re reading this, you already realize how important it is to get a virtual assistant on your side. A Virtual Assistant can keep up with what’s new and important, allowing you to focus on your core message and what you do best, which is building your business. If you’re even smarter, you will have listened to your virtual assistant as they expound the virtues of Adobe Business Catalyst. This all in one solution can be even more of an advantage for the smart entrepreneur, as it helps us all to move away from the typically fragmented online experience and more towards a complete business solution for the virtual enterprise.

Perhaps more than anyone else, virtual assistants realize just how crucial it is to streamline an approach to online marketing. It’s not all about your website, nor is it all about your e-mail marketing campaign. From site analytics to hosting* to management of the customer relationship post sale, it should all be part of an integrated approach, where focus really makes all the difference.

Integration is the key word here. Your virtual assistant is going to be even more productive and beneficial in the corner of any small business owner when they use the best integrated online business solution available. A lack of integration has long been a thorn in the side of the entrepreneur as they push their way forward in the online world. Certainly there have been some excellent “standalone” solutions available, but because they are more often than not developed and marketed by independent organizations, they singularly fail to integrate, and they often have the opposite effect.

If you are operating a number of different systems in a variety of different areas each day, then your entire system is going to be less than optimal. What’s worse than inefficiency itself? Perhaps the fact that your client may start to notice that your business doesn’t seem to be seamless; if you’re placing extra hoops through which the client has to jump before an arrangement is consummated, you’re placing another hurdle in your path to success online.

Once your virtual assistant has set up your entire business operation to run on the Adobe Business Catalyst platform, a lot of the daily headaches will start to go away. More importantly your business will start to look even more professional and “with it” in the eyes of your consumer. The bottom line is that you don’t ever want the customer to second-guess the efficiency of your operation at any stage.

Related posts:

  1. Project Management for Virtual Assistant’s and Online Business Manager’s
  2. Create an Online Business Plan
  3. Online Communication Tools For VA’s, OBM’s & other Entrepreneurs
  4. 7 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Boost a Real Estate Agent’s Business
Filed Under: Client Creations, Coffee with a VA Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Everybody Needs Help

May 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Everyone Needs an AssistantDo you have someone that helps you in your day to day life like a personal assistant, a Virtual Assistant, or even a receptionist in your office?  If not, you may not realize that you are potentially leaving a lot of money on the table.

In my business, I have a team of Virtual Assistant’s who help me support my clients.  They range in specialties from real estate professionals to administrative support, to graphic design.  Without them, I wouldn’t be able to support the large client-base that I do, and I wouldn’t be able to “duplicate” myself life I am able to do now.

Recently, I took it a step further and hired a personal assistant who comes into my home each day.  She spends a couple of hours helping around the house with laundry, dishes, basic upkeep, and smaller organizing projects that would take me all day.  Then she spends a couple of hours helping me in my business with some social media, answering emails, and generally just “being me”.  These are all things I wish I enjoyed or had time for, but just don’t.

I know you can find a million things you’d want a Virtual Assistant or a personal assistant to do for you if you just sit down and think about it.  The biggest “excuse” that people find though, is that they think it’s too expensive.

And it can be, if you’re not doing it the right way.

My time, depending on what I am doing, is worth roughly about $50 per hour.  I can work with one person at a time for $50 per hour and make a decent living.  With the help of my Virtual Assistant’s, I can be working with multiple clients at a time, bringing in $50 per hour on each one, making it more like $200 per hour.  Now, of course I have to pay my VA’s, but I have a great business structure that ensures that my VA’s and I are both profitable (all U.S.-based and well-paid).

Having a personal assistant is the same.  I work from home, and a lot of the household chores are my responsibility.  Even though I’m running a business, the laundry still has to get done, the floors need vacuuming (I have 4 kids, so almost daily!) and other things need to happen in order for my house to be as clean as I like it.

Stopping work to fold and put away a load of towels can cost me close to $50, not to mention it pulls me away from focusing on what needs to be done at work.

It’s also freeing to have people support you.  I am free to focus on the big picture parts of my business.  I can plan for growth and expansion because I don’t have to focus on everything.  I don’t have to be everywhere; I hire and work with amazing people who allow me to appear to be everywhere.

What would it mean to you if you were able to free up some time?  How many different ways can you make your money back?  If you’re a real estate agent, your time is worth much more than $50 per hour.  If you could free up some time by hiring a Virtual Assistant to help with your marketing or transactions, you can quickly move from client to client, increasing your “hourly rate” exponentially.

If you’re still not convinced that this will work for you personally, leave me a message in the comments below or call me up and we can discuss your unique circumstances.  I challenge you to prove me wrong :)

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Are you ready to work with April, or maybe you'd just like to speak with her to find out more before making a commitment? Make sure you read our FAQ's before the call!
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  1. New Rates for the New Year
  2. Hiring A Virtual Assistant As An Event Planner
  3. Why You Should Hire a VA Before Your Next Vacation
  4. Is Fear Holding You Back From Hiring a Virtual Assistant?
Filed Under: Coffee with a VA, Ditch Your Desk, Real Estate Info Tagged With: , , , , , ,

How A VA Can Support You by Running LinkedIn Company Pages

April 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment

A VA Can Manage Your LinkedIn Company ProfileLinkedIn has not always been thought of one of the best social media sites for the entrepreneur, but it is quickly growing in stature and has become a worthy part of any small business owner’s online presence.  It can be a fabulous promotional tool for any business, so long as you understand what it’s all about, and pay as much attention here as you would to the other “heavyweights,” like Facebook and Twitter.

Maybe it is because Facebook & Twitter have such a high profile within our society in general, but LinkedIn often takes on the role of the poor cousin.  But any business large or small should focus on the fact that their target customer may be using LinkedIn already. When this is the case, it may not be enough just to have a “personal” presence, and because of this you should ask your virtual assistant to help you get a company page up and running.

Look at it as having a free website, if you want to. You will be able to detail all your services and products and take advantage of a number of different multimedia opportunities. Those videos that seem to work so well on your website can work equally as well on LinkedIn.

Arrange with your Virtual Assistant to update your LinkedIn company profile frequently, and even on a daily basis if you have a lot of content. You may well already have an action plan in place for Twitter and Facebook, so go the extra distance and update your LinkedIn company presence equally!

Due to the fact that LinkedIn has a very sophisticated search engine, enabling searches of great depth and specificity, make sure that your LinkedIn page is front and center and optimized as much as possible. It’s no fluke that references to LinkedIn pages appear often on the first page of search engine results.

Today many small business owners wear more than one hat. If you have a number of business operations, or simply have different activities within one corporate body, you can still have more than one company page on LinkedIn. Once again it’s worth the effort to delineate this properly and get your virtual assistant to set it up in such a way that each entity can be controlled and managed on a regular basis.

If several different people are involved in your organization, whether they are principles, associates or key contractors, make sure that their personal and professional profiles link to your company page and ensure that the description of your company or business entity is comprehensive and relevant.

Even though LinkedIn is seen as a marketplace that may be primarily aimed at the business-to-business sector, remember that each person viewing your profile is also a consumer. Depending on the type of business you’re in, exposure here can have an exponential effect on sales and general publicity. Once again, though, remember that you need to work to ensure that the up-to-date information is contained within, and that your page is frequently updated.

Also, remember that in the new world of online marketing and SEO, “social search” is the buzzword. This is why it’s important to spend time updating your LinkedIn pages and profiles.

Related posts:

  1. The Timeline Checklist All Facebook Pages Must Have
  2. Apps to Schedule Tweets
  3. Adding Real Estate Search to Your Facebook Page
  4. Facebook Fan Pages
Filed Under: Real Estate S & M, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

New Market Update Flyer – Perfect for Door Knocking

March 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Market Update Flyer Amy Mosely Century 21 Masters by Virtual Assistant Chick

Would you like a flyer created as well?  Fill out the form below!

Work With Me!

Are you ready to work with April, or maybe you'd just like to speak with her to find out more before making a commitment? Make sure you read our FAQ's before the call!
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  1. Monthly Market Update Flyer for WathenRealtyGroup.com
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  3. 10 Easy Ways Realtors Can Effectively Market Their Listings
  4. How To Auto Post Real Estate Listings To Your Facebook Business Page
Filed Under: Client Creations, Real Estate Info

VA Coaching

March 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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Filed Under: Real Estate Info

How To Blog Using the New Rules of SEO

March 4, 2013 By Leave a Comment

SEO VirtualAssistantChick.comEarly in 2012 a series of updates were imposed by Google that changed the face of search engine optimization (SEO) as we know it.

Many people wondered whether SEO was dead in the water or not, as the update seemed to imply that the “optimization” part of SEO was now considered a bad idea. While there were many repercussions in the small business world following these updates and quite a few knee-jerk reactions as a consequence, we are able to see things a lot more clearly, now that the dust has settled.

The truth is that there is still plenty of room for search engine optimization and it is still necessary for the small-business owner. However, the goal posts have definitely moved and it is now more important than ever to ensure that you understand the concept and do everything properly.

Google has decided that the entire online experience needs to be far more personalized to individuals. Social signals are very important and fresh, pertinent content is vital if your site is to be ranked successfully.

If your site missed the mark in this respect it is likely that it plummeted down the pecking order following the release of the Google updates. A lot of work was needed at that point to adapt your site to the new guidelines in order for you to join the new world order.

The new look SEO became an even more crucial part of your internet marketing plan, but with a completely new set of criteria upon which to base.

For example, in the old days a significant facet of SEO was engaged to target particular keywords based on their search volume. Today, you need to look at a much broader range of keywords that are much more likely to convert based on other data such as pay per click conversions.

Before, writers used to create online content mechanically by trying to achieve a certain, “ideal” keyword density. This was sometimes known as keyword stuffing and required, back then, that the chosen keyword represented a certain percentage of the overall content.

Today however, you need to make sure that you do not overly focus on this keyword density and try to ensure that your content is as natural as possible. You should focus on simply creating compelling content that engages the audience you are talking to and forget whether the search engines are going to count the number of times each keyword appears in order to “rank” your site.

Your page needs to be dynamic. You should not merely focus on text content, as important as this is, but multimedia inclusion is seen as creating a diverse environment for the visitor.

Podcasts, downloadable documents, videos (especially), presentations and other elements are far more important now than they were prior to the updates.

Far from SEO being dead in the water following the Google updates, search engine optimization is now even more important. We should be very clear however that the old-style optimization is likely to get us into trouble and it needs to be stopped immediately.

Let us help you get back on track

Work With Me!

Are you ready to work with April, or maybe you'd just like to speak with her to find out more before making a commitment? Make sure you read our FAQ's before the call!
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  1. How Your Real Estate VA Can Manage Your Blog
  2. I Deem Today SEO Day!
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Filed Under: Coffee with a VA Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Is Your Web Presence Just Okay?

February 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Basic RGBThere are 2.4 billion people who use the internet on a daily basis.  Is your web presence strong enough to reach them?

Most people I speak to who are interested in working with a Virtual Assistant already have a website.  It’s really easy these days to buy a domain name and purchase a pre-made website in order to prove that you have a business. You may just need to type in your company name, phone number and maybe a few services, and POOF, you’re legit.

But those days my friend, are long gone.  In 2013, you had better have a strong web presence, a well-designed website, and some really good SEO if you’re going to make a name for yourself online.

It’s not even about having the right platform, the right plugins, the theme, or anything else.  Those things are important, but it’s more about what it says, who it speaks to, and how well it is written.

Now I’m not saying that you need to go out and hire a copywriter to do it for you, but your web presence needs to be about more than just a nice color scheme and a list of your services.

So what makes a great website?

The “How”

  1. The right platform (WordPress)
  2. The right plugins – here is my list
  3. The right theme (StudioPress is my favorite source)
  4. Your “why”.  Why are you creating this website?  What should it accomplish?  Who is it for?
  5. Decide what you want visitors to view first.  A video, a free offer, a signup form?
  6. Strong branding – a great logo and coordinated branding make you look more professional.
  7. Clean layout – make sure your visitors are guided visually around the site.
  8. Call to Action – only one or two on the homepage.  Do not confuse your visitors!
  9. Keep advertising OFF of your site.  Seriously, you’re selling a product or a service already; ads make you look like an ass.  However, if you’re giving away information, a few targeted ads are okay.
  10. All links should be ONE color and easily distinguishable from other text.

And the “What”

  1. What type of business do you have?
  2. What is your business?
  3. What kind of people/businesses do you help?
  4. What can you help them with?
  5. What are you known for?
  6. What is your story?
  7. What do you do?
  8. What are your services?
  9. What do you charge?  Yes, there is a debate on this.  Yes, I think you need to be open about it.)
  10. What is the best way to contact you?
  11. What do you blog about?

There is a LOT that goes into creating great web presence, but when it’s done properly you will overwhelm your site visitors with your knowledge of your craft, and hopefully win their trust.

Do you need help?

I just wouldn’t be me if I didn’t offer to help you with this.  I have a few choices when it comes to creating websites that have a strong and attractive web presence:

  1. Do It Yourself with my group coaching program: Build Your Business Crazy Fast to Create a Life You Love.  You’ll have a strong web presence, a clear vision of your business, and a kick ass back office that will make you feel like a pro.
  2. Do It For You with my Website in a Week package.  After a strategy session, my team and I will build you a complete WordPress site in under 1 week.  Contact me for more info.

Question for you…

What do you struggle with the most when building or updating your website?  Does your website suck, or are you proud of it?  If you could get help RIGHT NOW, what would you ask for first?

 

 

 

Related posts:

  1. Making The Move From Template to WordPress
  2. New Website Header Created for Wathen Realty Group
  3. Making the Move From Template to WordPress Part 3
  4. I Deem Today SEO Day!
Filed Under: Coffee with a VA Tagged With: , , , , ,

I Don’t Do Technology I Do Real Estate

January 28, 2013 By Leave a Comment

While perusing Pinterest today for a post on my ENTRE|LEVERAGE blog, I came across this pin that is just for the Real Estate Agents.

Think back to just 4 or 5 years ago, and this probably could have been YOU saying this about your own Real Estate business:

 

“I don’t do technology… I do Real Estate”

Right?

And now they Real Estate and technology are inseparable, but you’re still expected to do it all.  Don’t forget that great help by the right people can help make you or break you in this business.

If you’re one of the many brave Real Estate Agents who decided to go out on their own, or your broker doesn’t provide staff, a Virtual Assistant with the right training can help you (pardon the overused phrase coming up) get to the next level of your business.

At Virtual Assistant Chick I have a team of VA’s that are here to help you, and all of my VA’s who work with Real Estate Agents are REVA Academy trained in listing coordination, social media management, transaction coordination, agent marketing, IDX, WordPress, blogging, and more.

Are you ready to reach the next level (even if it is a cliche′)?

Work With Me!

Are you ready to work with April, or maybe you'd just like to speak with her to find out more before making a commitment? Make sure you read our FAQ's before the call!
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Related posts:

  1. 7 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Boost a Real Estate Agent’s Business
  2. Another Great Real Estate Bar Camp!
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Filed Under: Real Estate Info Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Q & A: Can I Hire a VA if I’m Just Starting Out?

January 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment

New blog series!  I get a lot of questions in my inbox each week from entrepreneurs asking specific questions that may help others.  Here is an excerpt one from last week:

Hi April!

I am just starting my business as a life & business coach, and I was just wondering if it’s too early to hire a Virtual Assistant to help me with things like research, getting my website finished, marketing and finding clients.  Do you think it’s too early, and I should wait for money to start coming in first?

In a nutshell, if you can afford it, you should hire a Virtual Assistant to help you as soon as you need the help.

But is it always the best choice?  That’s a little more complicated because it depends on who you hire.  It depends on if you’re making a conscious, intentional decision, or just hiring anyone who is willing to help you.

If you think it's expensive to hire a professional...

If you need to build a website, make sure that the Virtual Assistant you are hiring is adept at web design.  If you want someone to do some simple research for you though, you can probably save some money by being very, very clear in what you are looking for and hiring a college student.

Personally, I love working with start-ups because there is so much passion and vision involved in the start up phase and it’s contagious!  I’m working on a website for a fabulous new business in Temecula, CA called From A Barrel where the owner gets old wine barrels from the local wineries, and then up-cycles them into amazing patio furniture, signs, coat racks and other beautiful pieces of furniture.

If you’re just starting your business, or you want it to take a dramatic turn, I would suggest first and foremost that you hire a mentor or a coach.

I believe everyone who works for themselves can benefit from working with the right Virtual Assistant, but I think in the very beginning it’s even more important to work with the right person who can help you create a road map to get you from where you are now, to where you want to be.  Once you have the what, then you can hire someone to work on the how.

Shameless plug

My other company, ENTRE|LEVERAGE has a New Business Group Coaching Program that is starting on February 18th.  If you want to get your new business or vision off the ground fast, then this course is for you.  It’s called “Build Your Business Crazy Fast a Create the Life You Love”.  ;)  You can get more info here.

Your Turn

Tell me how I can help you build a better business!

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Related posts:

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Filed Under: From My Inbox Tagged With: , , , ,

The Rant of the Angry Virtual Assistant

January 16, 2013 By 13 Comments

Disclaimer #1: The post you are about to read is not the norm for me.  I try to provide insight into the Virtual Assistant industry and educate business owners, entrepreneurs, and real estate agents on the services we provide, and what you can expect from working with my company, Virtual Assistant Chick.

You’re not going to get that today, because today I am irritated by my industry.  Disclaimer #2: I am not irritated by the entire industry, there are many, many, many fabulous examples of stellar Virtual Assistant’s who provide top-notch support.  This is not about them.angry-woman

Allow me to back-track a teensie bit first to give you the basis of my rant.  I own another company, ENTRE|LEVERAGE where I help women entrepreneurs build businesses around their lives.  I offered a free Business Performance Review on my site and in my newsletter which gave me the opportunity to speak with 17 amazing women.  Of those women, 6 were not or had not been in the VA industry.  All 6 of them however had hired VA’s before and it didn’t work out.  In all 6 cases, the VA’s who were hired caused the business owner to do MORE work instead of less, and to LOSE more many than they were making.

Now before you accuse me of ranting against an industry based on the complaints of 6 women, let me tell you that every week I speak with potential clients who need administrative support in their businesses.  They understand that they can’t do it all themselves, they know they need help, and so they get on the google and are hit with an onslaught of VA websites that say:

Hire a VA, we’ll do it for you!

Hire a VA, we’ll save you money!

Hire a VA, we’ll save you time!

But it doesn’t always work out that way.  Why is that?

I’ve hired (and fired) a few dozen VA’s myself that I trusted to help me with what they touted themselves as “experts” for.  Real Estate Virtual Assistants, Bookkeeping Virtual Assistants, Techie Virtual Assistants, Social Media Virtual Assistants, the list goes on.  In so many cases, the ball was dropped and I, or worse, a client was left in the cold.

Last week I was in a consultation with a Real Estate Agent in Las Vegas who was speaking to me about various parts of her business, asking if I could help her.  I told her I could, and she then explained to me that I am exactly what she needs, but she is fearful of hiring a Virtual Assistant due to the incompetence of one she had previously worked with.  I wish I could tell you I was shocked by this.

Not only was I not shocked, but I also already had a response prepared because I’ve had to use it SO MANY TIMES.

I am so sorry to hear that you were treated that way!  I can assure you that you would never receive that lack of service from me.  You see, this is my business.  It’s my livelihood, and it’s not a hobby or a side-job for me.  I have protocols in place just like I’m sure you do, to make sure your work doesn’t slip through the cracks or gets pushed-aside.  Taking care of my clients is my top priority during my working hours, and I have plenty of happy clients that can vouch for that.

In this day and age, any person can pop up a website, give it a clever name and call it a business.  Hell, I help people do that every single day but I am hoping that they have the intention to serve their clients the way that their ad copy says they intend to.  I hope that they have the same integrity that the guy sitting in the office down the street (you know, the guy with all the over-head expenses?) does.  Having the privilege of working from home in your PJ’s around the schedule you create for yourself doesn’t mean you have the right to do a half-ass job, or call yourself something that you’re not.

So what set off my rant for today?  Laziness.  Laziness, or a complete lack of services in this person’s business, but I’m pretty sure that it was laziness.  And to make matters even worse, she was showing another VA that it is okay to be lazy too.

Here’s how it went down:

In a LinkedIN group, a newbie VA (or so I assumed) asked what she could do to help her client, a Realtor®, market his listings better besides mailings and social media.  Simple enough question from someone new to this industry.  I don’t think she should be calling herself a Real Estate Virtual Assistant if she doesn’t know how to market listings, but we’ll save that for a different blog post.

The response from the more experienced VA (according to her LinkedIN profile only, as I couldn’t find her website via Google) was to either put a picture of the property and a brief description of it on his fan page, or post it on Craigslist.  ”Hope this helps”.

I am not going to bash this VA for trying to be “helpful”, but I am going to say this:  If you aren’t prepared to completely WOW your clients (and colleagues) with your expertise, your business savvy, and your ability to be innovative, then please do me (and the hard-working, kick-ass VA’s who rock) a favor and call yourself something else.  I am tired (so, very, tired) of having to spend extra time CONVINCING my prospects that I’m not a deadbeat like some other VA’s out there.  The question of “what happens if I pay you and I never hear from you again” should NEVER come up in a consultation.  EVER.

What can be done?

First of all, if you’re a Virtual Assistant and you know you need more training, please get it.  There is a great Real Estate Virtual Assistant training course that I happened to co-found with 2 Amazing VA’s that will teach you everything you need to know about working with Real Estate Agents.  If our course isn’t for you, there are others out there, but you’ll have to find them yourself. ;)

If you’re a VA who doesn’t want to work with Agents but needs training I would suggest The VA Apprentice Program or any of Michelle’s teachings.  She has helped me make huge strides in my business, and I think she can help anyone in any type of online business.

If you’re a business coach, real estate agent, or entrepreneur who is looking to work with a Virtual Assistant and I just scared the bejeezus out of you, please understand that there really are great Virtual Assistant’s out there.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions and find out what they really know.  Read their testimonials, email their references, listen to them when they speak.  Do they sound confident and knowledgeable, or do they sound insecure and like they’re making it up as they go along?

And finally, I want you to know that I didn’t write this post to offend anyone.  It’s meant to be somewhat educational and informative, and to shed some light on what this kind of practice does to our industry as a whole. </rant>

Related posts:

  1. Why You Shouldn’t Hire a Reactive Virtual Assistant
  2. Is Fear Holding You Back From Hiring a Virtual Assistant?
  3. Hiring A Virtual Assistant As An Event Planner
  4. 2009 Virtual Assistant Industry Survey
Filed Under: Coffee with a VA Tagged With: , , , , ,
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