Do you want to learn more about your website visitors? Are you interested in what pages of your website they look at and most importantly, where they leave? A simple and free tool is available from Google Analytics. Download it for free and start evaluating your website.
Hints and Tips
Advertising Your Virtual Assistant Business on a Budget – Lesson Six – Test Everything
As much as is possible, you should always test your advertising and marketing efforts. You might want to jump in and try a range of different ideas and formats and that’s great, but try and keep tabs on where each enquiry comes from, and which enquiries go on to convert into paying customers.With this data to hand you can then look at has been cost effective and what has not. For example if you paid £500 to join a networking group and attended 50 breakfast meetings costing £10 each over the course of a year, and as a result you got one new client, that client would have cost you £1000 to source. If you put an advert in the UKAVA Directory for £49.95 and over a year that advert resulted in 5 new clients, each client has cost you less than £10 to source. In this scenario you may decide to drop the networking group and advertise more widely in the Directory.
The important point is that you can’t improve on what you don’t measure so if you don’t know what is working for you, and what is not, how can you expect to improve your results next time around?
Sometimes you may find that your lower cost advertising and marketing strategies are the ones that bring you the most business.
For a listing in the UKAVA Directory visit:
https://www.ukava.co.uk/html/join_the_uk_association_of_vir.html
Advertising Your Virtual Assistant Business on a Budget – Lesson Five – Online Presence
 It goes without saying that as a virtual assistant you need a website. But have you really thought about the best way to use it? Some visitors will arrive at your website as result of you telling them about it or seeing the URL on your business card or marketing material.What you really want though is the visitors who have arrived at your website because they are actually searching for a virtual pa. These are not just visitors these are prospects. They have actually gone to the trouble of going to a search engine and entering a relevant term into the search bar and are busy looking through the results to find someone they want to work with. So how do you make sure your website ends up in front of them?
Well search engine optimisation (SEO) companies charge a small fortune for ‘optimising’ your website in an attempt to make is appear at the top of that search engines results. And with good reason. The search engines constantly change their indexing criteria to keep out the spammers so the SEO companies have to consistently keep one step ahead. If you don’t have the budget to compete with the big players the best thing you can do is get listed on their websites. Visitors to their websites will then see your information and click through to your website.
There are several directories advertising virtual assistants and their services in the UK. Ours consistently appears on the first page of Google and can be found at https://www.ukava.co.uk/
Advertising Your Virtual Assistant Business on a Budget – Lesson Four – Press Releases
 Press Releases are useful for generating a buzz about your virtual assistant business. The business editor at your local newspaper will always be on the lookout for a good business story to fill the business news section of the newspaper.
Of course, the business editor understands the economics of running a paper and is more inclined to run your story if you buy advertising in his/her publication, but will still print
stories for special events and openings. Think of an angle, could you offer a competition prize, could you help a local charity.
The important thing to remember about Press Releases is that it must be constructed in the form of a news story. Even if you are a sole proprietorship, quotes from you should be written in a third person format: Jane Doe said, “Your quote here.”
A Press Release should pack the most important information at the beginning of the copy, and leave extra details towards the end.
You should always provide the reporter who gets the task a simple and easy way for him/her to contact you directly. Often the reporter will want to contact you to get details that will enhance their take on your story.
For more information about How To Do Your Own PR visit:
http://www.doyourownpr.com/SJSE-4500/products/do_your_own_pr_ecourse.asp
Advertising Your Virtual Assistant Business on a Budget – Lesson Three – Networking
If up until now you’ve been an employee, you might never have been to a networking event before. The whole idea is that everyone who goes along is a business owner or key decision maker in their business and is there, like everyone else, to promote their product or service. The beauty of networking is that if you attend groups regularly, people get to know and trust you and are happy to work with you if they need a virtual assistant or refer business your way.Now I could write a whole series on the subject of networking alone but these are the basics. If it is your first time networking I would initially go to an informal group as this will help you get your confidence and see how they work. Do an Internet search on networking and you town and you should find a whole range of groups in your area. Have a look for one that takes your fancy and book on. Most groups will let you attend one or two meetings before asking you to take out a membership so make full use of all the free trails until you find a group that you like. Some groups are free but you will find that those that charge a membership fee are often more formal business networking groups and produce more clients and referrals.
Again don’t forget that anyone you speak to may know someone who needs a virtual assistant so don’t dismiss anyone on first impressions and also remember that networking is two way so if you can put those you meet in touch with anyone they would be interested in, do it. You will be remembered for it and that’s the first step in getting referrals.
For more information about virtual assistants and pas visit: www.ukava.co.uk
Advertising Your Virtual Assistant Business on a Budget – Lesson Two – Referrals
Sometimes it’s not about whom you know, but about who they know. We’ve all heard the theory about the six degrees of separation, that you are only six people away from anyone you want to get to know. Well the same applies to business. The person you are talking to may not have any requirement for a virtual assistant but who do they know that might?If you make an impression on the person you are talking to they will remember you and possibly refer on to you anyone who may need your services. This is particularly true at networking events, which we’ll cover next time. But how can you make sure that they will remember you and refer you when appropriate. How about offering a referral fee?
A referral fee can be a gift or cash and is usually related to the amount a referred new customer spends. You only pay out on the referral if the potential new client signs up so you have nothing to lose. You may want to offer a free bottle of champagne or gift vouchers for each new referral or perhaps 10% of the first invoice total. It’s up to you but it can be a very effective way of getting your contacts to refer their contacts to you.
For more information about virtual assistants visit: www.ukava.co.uk
Advertising Your Virtual Assistant Business on a Budget – Lesson One – Word Of Mouth
If you’ve just started out as a virtual assistant and you’ve done a piece of work for a client who is pleased with the results, they will talk about it. If you’ve completed a piece of work for a client and they had cause to complain, they will talk about it a lot more.
My advice in the early days is to under promise and over deliver. Think about how you can ‘delight’ your customer. What can you add or improve that would really ‘wow’ them? Could you deliver the work early, could you suggest some ideas that might improve it, could you put them into contact with a potential new client that you know? Anything that is seen as going the extra mile and helping your client within their business will be appreciated. When they thank you for it, ask them if they know anyone else who might need your services. Put it in their mind that you are looking for new clients in this way and they may send you referrals. More on referrals next time!
 For more information about virtual assistants visit: www.ukava.co.uk
Advertising Your Virtual Assistant Business on a Budget
When you are starting out as a Virtual Assistant and no one knows who you are or what you do, one of the biggest challenges you will face is how to drum up new business.
You probably have already done some research and already know that there are people who need your services or you would not have started your business in the first place. But once you have spoken to those you already know who may need you, your next task is to find others who will help you make your business a success. At this point most people turn to advertising. If I had a pound for every VA that has said to me, ‘There’s a little local magazine that comes through my door each month. Should I advertise in it?’ I wouldn’t have to run a VA business myself; I could retire on the proceeds. The answer, by the way, for many reasons is no. There are many better ways to spend your limited advertising and marketing budget.
It is a misconception that you have to spend lots of money to advertise your Virtual Assistant business. Unless you have some sort of financial backing, it is unlikely that you will have a huge budget so it’s better to get a little bit creative and use what you have wisely.
Â
In the rest of this series, I will be letting you in on a few tips and some of the lessons I’ve learned on how to advertise your virtual assistant business on a budget.
 For more information about Virual Assistants visit: www.ukava.co.uk
Networking With Virtual Assistants AND Potential Clients
We all know we should network and most of us manage to attend some events and network a bit online through various groups. We also like to have a bit of a chat with other virtual assistants to find out what is going on in the industry, occasionally pick their brains and share experiences. With Ecademy you can do both. In the comfort of your own home in front of your pc you can network with both potential clients and fellow VA’s. It’s simple and free to join and you can join clubs such as Virtual Assistants Club and others related to your client niche.
Sign up today and stay informed of all the VA industry’s latest news and find yourself some new clients while you’re there!
For more information, visit: http://www.ecademy.com/?xref=103223
Simple Inexpensive Legal Documents to Protect Your Business and Your Clients
It was such a relief when I found this resource that I though it was about time I let you all in on a little secret. If like me you have an incomprehensible but still very real fear of solicitors, not only because you don’t understand half of their jargon, but also because before you walk through the door you know its going to be expensive, this web site is a little gem. Clickdocs produce a whole range of business documents for use by businesses based in England, Wales and Scotland from Terms and Conditions and Confidentiality Agreements to standard formatting and detail of what must be included in your Invoices. If you’re thinking of setting up as a Limited Company there are forms for this as well as advice on the differing legal entities for businesses. You can find a whole range of other documents you may also find useful including standard agreements for property letting, wills, power of attorney and financial agreements. There is practically a form for every eventuality and when they start from less than £5 and are emailed to you instantly, what could be more cost effective and convenient.
For more information about the range of documents on offer visit:
How to Get Involved With Social Media – LinkedIn
LinkedIn is more of a business networking tool than strictly a social one. It is structured in such a way that your occupation and education are featured more than hobbies and interests for example. However, it works in much the same way as Facebook in that you can invite people to connect with you and join common interest groups. It also has a feature where you can recommend people so it’s great for asking for testimonials.
For lots of advice and free tips, check out the FREEBIES page at the VA Success Group