Top Three Tips for Handling High-Maintenance Clients

Last week in our VAClassroom event, a question arose on how to deal with “Draining Clients”. I am sure we can all relate at one time or another to those clients who

•    Relentlessly invade our time and space
•    Assume they are our only client and should demand our immediate attention
•    Skype us late at night for an urgent demand the next morning
•    Are highly disorganized and “fly by the seat of their pants” all the time
•    Want us to be available full-time but are only willing to pay us part-time.

I could build a much bigger list, but I will stop there. Have you experienced those types of clients recently? Are they causing you great anxiety and sleepless nights? If so, what can we do to effectively and tactfully manage these high-maintenance clients?

Here are a couple helpful tips to consider…

1. Be honest with the client. Sometimes, clients are not actually aware of how they are behaving with you until you have a candid conversation with them. In talking with them, I would lead with the positive. Let them know the things that you enjoy about the work, but then be honest about those areas that need to be improved. These conversations are not always easy, but what is the alternative – more stress and sleepless nights?

2. Set clear communication boundaries with the client. This should be done from Day 1 (ideally), but let the client know the best ways that they can communicate with you and also clearly outline the times you are NOT available. If you hate the relentless Skyping, then present a more attractive communication alternative to them. It is important to let them know that you have other clients and that quick turnarounds on urgent projects will not always happen. You might consider setting a standard communication turnaround time that they can expect. For example, let them know you will always respond to their emails within a 24-hour period unless it is on the weekend. Setting healthy boundaries with your clients will liberate you. Yes, you run the risk of losing those “ultra-demanding” clients, but that might not be a bad thing.

3. If you have been honest with the client and reset new boundaries and the client continues their “old ways”, then it might be time to have that difficult conversation and “disinvite” them from your client list.

Important Note: In this challenging economy, it might not be financially viable to simply “fire” your client, so my suggestion would be to ramp up your marketing efforts and seek to find a client (sooner than later) that will fill the spot of this difficult client. Once you have that in place, then you can fire him or her!

Of course, the best way to deal with difficult clients is to avoid getting involved with them in the first place. This can be tricky, but the blog post “How to Spot Difficult Clients before Signing a Contract” first of all recommends listening to your gut:

Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his book, Blink, that “your mind takes about two seconds to jump to a series of conclusions” about people or situations.

So, don’t discount that ‘iffy’ feeling you get when you first start discussing a project with a client. That ‘feeling’ is your gut telling you to pay attention. If you get that uneasy feeling, jot down why you feel that way and see if they add up to a strong reason NOT to take the project.

This post also goes on to list a few easy-to-spot red flags you can look for during initial discussions with a client that can help determine his or her “potential for difficulty”.

In our upcoming Project Management Skills clinic, we will continue to address the issue of client relationships head on and discuss some communication strategies for managing projects if you do find yourself working with a difficult client.

In the meantime, though, we hope the above tips have been helpful in giving you some tools for handling high-maintenance clients. If you have any questions or advice from your experience as a Virtual Assistant or online business owner, please share your thoughts in the comment box below or on our VAClassroom Facebook Page.

YouTube, Facebook and Google – The Golden Marketing Triangle for Any Type of Business

Remember the Yellow Pages… you know, those thick yellow books with phone numbers and ads in them? In your virtual business activities, have you used one lately to actually find a phone number, or are they more likely to be used as a coaster for your cup of coffee or a paperweight for your desk?

These days, more and more people are moving online, a trend that could soon make the Yellow Pages obsolete. A December 2010 report from the Pew Research Center titled “Generations Online in 2010” lists certain key Internet activities that are becoming more uniformly popular across all age groups:

•    Email
•    Search Engine use
•    Seeking health information
•    Getting news
•    Buying products
•    Making travel reservations or purchases
•    Doing online banking
•    Looking for religious information
•    Rating products, services, or people
•    Making online charitable donations
•    Downloading podcasts

And what does this recent trend mean? Well, with Internet activities increasing among both younger and older adults, a lot of the people who would traditionally thumb through the Yellow Pages to find information about businesses could now be searching for this info online through sites like YouTube, Facebook and Google.

This creates an exciting opportunity for businesses to capitalize on. Check out the below video, where we talk about these three sites, the Golden Marketing Triangle for any type of business:

So, times are changing, and both online and local businesses could surely benefit by changing their marketing strategies from the yellow phone book to the golden triangle.

And as final food for thought, consider the increasing power of a local marketing strategy. A blog post by Econsultancy.com, titled “Why You should have a hyperlocal Facebook Strategy,” discusses their research on Starbucks Facebook pages and their engagement rate (ER) – how much fans engage, and response rate (RR) – how much the pages responds, in three months from November 2010 – January 2011. Here, measurements show that Facebook users are engaging on average three to four times more with local than global Facebook pages, with the local pages typically growing on average twice as fast as global communities.

Over the past year, there has also been a huge increase in the use of popular local social networking tools such as Twitter, Foursquare, Groupon and Yelp as local businesses are realizing the potential of leveraging this social medium to bridge the gap between the online world and offline customers.

Amazingly, for only a fraction of the cost of a Yellow Pages listing, these tools can quickly and easily boost a business’s brand recognition, stimulate meaningful connections with a target audience, build a loyal following and ultimately ignite a business’s customer base and revenue.

What are your thoughts on this? As a Virtual Assistant or online professional, do you see ways you could integrate this golden marketing triangle into the services you currently offer local or online business clients? Do you see an increase in the number of local businesses marketing online in your community? Please share your thoughts in the comment box below.

25 Top Marketing Strategies for Reaching New Clients (Part 1: Offline Activities)

In this current economic climate, many Virtual Assistants and online business owners have experienced the highs and lows in their businesses over the past couple years. In fact, you yourself may have cycled from a time of abundance with great “high-value” clients to a drought where you have struggled to fill retainer clients that you may have lost for one reason or another. The ebbs and flows of a virtual business can cause a lot of stress.

During these times, it’s important to evaluate your virtual business activities and ask yourself some key questions:

•    What marketing strategies are you currently using to connect with new clients?
•    What strategies or activities have been successful for you? What has not gone well?

As we’re focusing on virtual business marketing this week, we’d like to take some time to share some top marketing strategies for reaching new clients. In our free event on March 17, “Virtual Business Marketing Makeover in One Hour,” one of the things we’ll be talking about is the fact that you must market every single day even if you have enough clients now. So, to start off our list, here are the first seven tips for how you can consistently market your business and connect with new and potential clients through offline activities.

Offline Activities:

1. Join or start a business networking group in your local area – This activity can actually happen both online and offline. Through Meetups, Tweetups, Chamber of Commerce or Local Business Associations, you can connect with like-minded individuals for collaboration purposes or to get connected with your target client audience.

2. Do a presentation for a local business group or association (i.e. local hospitality association, real estate association, small business owners) – For example, you could do a social media presentation that demonstrates how restaurants can use social media to draw in more customers. In a previous blog post, “Social Media Goes Local in 2010,” we talked about how restaurant owner Joe Sorge uses Twitter to engage with customers.

3. Attend a business fair/conference in your local region – These conferences and fairs are a great way to have face-to-face encounters with people who might potentially hire VAs.
4. Host a local event in your area (e.g. Social Media for Hospitality Businesses) – This activity requires some planning and maybe a bit of a budget, but it can be very effective as a form of networking.
5. Research and target local business clients with a one-on-one presentation – You could visit certain restaurants or spas you want to target to see how they could use social media to grow their businesses.

6. Publish an article in a local newspaper or trade magazine – This activity requires a certain level of writing skills, but can be very effective in giving your business more visibility.

7. Send targeted mail-outs to business lists through an association like the Chamber of Commerce – This is not the number one strategy we’d recommend because it isn’t very measurable, but it could definitely lead to multiple client opportunities in the local business community.

Stay tuned for our next post, where we will talk about tips for marketing your business through online activities (our favorite kind of strategies here at VAClassroom :).

And in the meantime, let us know if you have any questions or comments about these offline marketing strategies. Have you used any in the past and found them successful? Please drop us a comment in the box below!

The Power of Online Video Marketing for Local Businesses!

As many of you know, at the beginning of 2011, I hosted a “Predictions Event” in which I shared my STRONG conviction that one of the hottest client areas for your business in the next 12 months would be the LOCAL Business Community! The reality is that the average local business owner has become increasingly dissatisfied with the diminishing return they are seeing on more expensive traditional advertising channels like radio, television and print media.

In my opinion, Local Search Marketing, Facebook Marketing and Video Marketing Services make up the most relevant and dynamic marketing trio for any local business across any industry. While we all know that Facebook had a massive growth year in 2010, so did Online Video and YouTube!

Check out the below video, where I demonstrate how we generated a Top 10 Google Result in less than 48 hours!

While the statistics quoted in the video alone should be a compelling enough reason to catch the attention of the average business owner, there are so many other clear-cut benefits why local businesses are increasingly excited about integrating online video into their overall marketing strategy:

• With the proliferation of the mobile web, online videos are being watched everywhere and anywhere.
• Online Video is the #1 weapon for igniting top rankings in the local search listings.
• Online Video spreads faster than any other marketing medium on the web today. Just ask Susan Boyle!!

Given the rapid growth of online video, combined with the local business owner’s fast-growing interest in this medium, there is a great need for Virtual Assistants and online professionals to develop and expand their Online Video Marketing skills and service packages. It is for this reason that we have unveiled our first official Online Video Marketing Specialist Training Program so that Virtual Professionals can offer cost-effective web marketing solutions that will ignite exposure, traffic and results for potential clients in their local communities.

The great thing about online video marketing is that it can be easily integrated into any existing Social Media services you are currently offering. As an example, for the average business owner, two of the absolutely smartest ways to build their brand and credibility on the web is to create a Facebook Page and launch an online video marketing campaign – a match made in marketing heaven!

If you have any questions or comments about Online Video Marketing, please write us a note in the comment box below. You can check out all the details on the Online Video Marketing Specialist Course here.

How to Get Started with Google Places for Business

If you attended our VAClassroom event last week, you’ll know that there’s a ton of buzz going on around Google Places for Business. This tool is positioned to be a Game Changer when it comes to location-based social networks and directories. Why thumb through the Yellow Pages when with the click of a mouse you can uncover even more detailed information about local brick and mortar businesses?

Now, an interesting question popped up during our event—whether or not an Internet-based business with no fixed address or a Virtual Assistant’s business with a private home address could use Google Places. It appears they can too, and here’s a video that explains how Service Areas can be used to refine a listing:

But as a Virtual Assistant or online business owner, the best way to leverage Google Places is to partner with local brick and mortar business owners because they’re the ones who will most benefit from this service. But before you get started with Google Places, you’ll want to ask the following questions:
•    How do I create a well-optimized Google Places page for my local clients?

•    What strategies do I utilize to ensure the best chance of getting top listings in Google Places (1st page of Google)?

•    What are the best types of clients to target initially?

•    How can I build up online reviews for a client?

•    How do I structure the service and set my rates?

•    What other specific services (social media) can be bundled here?

Google Places and Local Search have the potential of being a very profitable service niche in 2011 for Virtual Assistant businesses, as it will have mass appeal across all types of industries and has excellent potential to boost income that is not based on billable hourly work (flat rates and maintenance packages). That’s why we are also going to be offering a Google Places Mastery clinic that will take place on January 26th to unpack the important strategies needed to effectively leverage Google Places for local brick and mortar business owners. For more information on this exciting new training opportunity, check it out at the link below:

http://www.vaclassroom.com/local-search-clinic/

One final thought—Google recently announced the unveiling of a Google Places with Hotpot iPhone app, adding to their growing arsenal of Google Places apps for mobile users. Here’s what the official Google Mobile Blog says about it:

It can be pretty rewarding to discover a new place you love, but we also realize that there are some experiences you just can’t wait to share. So Places makes it super simple to rate a place with your iPhone while you’re there. Just fire up the app and hit “Rate now.” It will use your location to guess your current place and let you post a Hotpot review right from your phone. But it’s not just about getting to say what you think—the more you rate places, the more you’re sharing about your tastes and the more we can give you personally tailored recommendations.

So imagine the possibilities when Google Places and other local directories are paired up with not only a location-based recommendation engine like Hotpot, but also other social platforms like a Facebook Page, Facebook Places, YouTube channel and other location-based social networks—you have the makings of a local marketing masterpiece!

Do you know any brick and mortar businesses in your area that could benefit from a Google Places listing? Do you have any ideas for how you could integrate Google Places into your current Virtual Assistant service offerings? Please share your comments below!

The Many Faces of WordPress

A deep thought for today – the history of WordPress in a nutshell:

WordPress started in 2003 with a single bit of code to enhance the typography of everyday writing and with fewer users than you can count on your fingers and toes. Since then it has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on millions of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day.

Indeed, for some, the advent of this powerful web platform was life changing. This video by Glenda Watson Hyatt describes how using WordPress has given her a voice and brought new employment opportunities:

And now it’s no secret that WordPress has become the most popular web platform among entrepreneurs and small businesses today. On the WordPress site, you can even see a whole Showcase featuring the many websites that have been built using WordPress functionality. In the past, WordPress may have been seen as a platform for delivering blogs, but with new technology and lots of innovative plugins, WordPress can also serve as a platform for systems like Content Management, Social Networking and Ecommerce.

Even some high-profile Internet Entrepreneurs, including Ryan Deiss have been powering their latest online product launches with WordPress. They have been using this platform to build their list, share content, and socialize with their audience. This week we saw a perfect example when popular Information Marketer Ryan Deiss launched a brand new product at Facebook Evolution using the WordPress template, Optimize Press.

Here at VAClassroom we’ve been watching these trends, and we know this is a niche that could prove very profitable for the Virtual Assistant and online business community, so we’ve created a new “Product Launches Powered by WordPress” Clinic that will provide a compelling case as to why businesses should seriously consider WordPress as their preferred choice for product launches. On December 8th, we are offering an exciting opportunity for Virtual Assistants to enhance their WordPress skills and specifically discover the templates, plugins and tactics for being able to launch any type of product using WordPress. This live 3-hour clinic is scheduled for Wednesday, December 8th from 12pm – 3pm (PST). Here is a quick overview of a few of the topics we will be covering in this informative session:

•    Selecting the BEST WordPress templates and themes to create squeeze pages and product sales pages.

•    Integrating Powerhouse Plugins for a complete product launch, including sales pages, testimonials, product countdowns and content sharing.

•    Creating compelling videos for your WordPress squeeze / sales page process.

•    Building a powerful WordPress mini-site to strategically use during the pre-launch process.

•    Integrating the right Social Media Plugins to socialize your product launch campaign.

•    Setting up eye-catching optin forms and integrating autoresponder software.

•    Adding common CSS snippets to enhance your Squeeze/Sales Page templates.

•    Keyword Research and SEO tips for getting your WordPress sites found on Google.

•    And so much more!!

If you are looking to expand your services and opportunities in 2011, this clinic will certainly help you to carve out a nice WordPress niche for your business! If you have any questions about this program, please submit your comments below. Check out the new WordPress Clinic Here.

Five Tips for Simplifying Your Business Systems and Processes

A recent CTV report gave Canadians promising news last week. It described how a group of researchers in Ontario discovered a way to shave 20 minutes off the 90-minute time period it usually takes to get heart attack patients into surgery.

The report says that one of the key changes involves allowing paramedics to speak directly to the cardiologist on call at the hospital and then letting the patient completely bypass the emergency department and proceed directly to the procedure room. Dr. Sheldon Cheskes, the medical director of the Sunnybrook Osler Center for Prehospital Care, who led the research, explained that they now bypass anything that causes delays in the system. According to Cheskes, “From a mortality point of view, our mortality rate before we started our program was about 6.5 per cent. Our mortality currently is 2.1 per cent, which is a huge, significant increase.”

So what does this have to do with online business? Well, the life of a business often depends on the efficiency of its systems and processes too, and building a simpler yet stronger foundation can breathe new life and vigor into your work as a Virtual Assistant or online professional. For example, are you spending an excessive amount of time billing and invoicing when you could be out there networking and meeting new clients? Do you have a system for handling your clients’ tasks, or do you have to backtrack every time and try to remember how you did the same thing before?

Well, here are some quick tips for simplifying your business systems and processes:

1. Write a list of all the tasks you do more than once – According to Pam Ivey, six-figure Virtual Assistant Extraordinaire, everything you do more than once should have a system created around it, so start by determining which tasks need a system and which ones can be handled on a case-by-case basis.
2. Talk to a mentor or a “Systems Chick” like Kristi Pavlik, creator of www.systemschick.com – If you don’t enjoy outlining systems and processes, it is possible to find others who do, so don’t hesitate to find an expert who will sit down with you and figure out how to streamline your activities.
3. Put together a manual with templates and checklists – For tasks like responding to new RFPs, responding to FAQs or providing welcome packages to new clients, it helps to create a resource that allows you to quickly build customized content. Not only does it speed up these processes, but it also allows you to hand over your business activities to someone else if you need to take time off.
4. Find the best productivity tools for your business – Especially for activities like time tracking, invoicing and billing, it is imperative that you find a tool that works best for you and allows you to perform these tasks quickly and accurately. FreshBooks is an example of a great online invoicing, time tracking and billing software that can meet the needs of many types of virtual businesses.
5. Sign up for our newest VAClassroom Training Program, the “Virtual Assistant Business Success Blueprint” course – We are thrilled to have partnered with Pam Ivey to bring you this innovative new program, which is designed to help you develop the right systems, tools and templates for quickly growing your business heading into 2011. This program is ideally suited to both newbies as well as existing VAs who would like to improve and enhance their business systems and marketing strategies. It is both a start-up and a business-building program!

We hope these tips will help give you a plan of attack so you can grow a thriving and successful online business. With the right systems in place, your work as a Virtual Assistant or online professional will become much more enjoyable, and you may even free yourself up to take some much-needed time off!

If you have any other suggestions that have worked for you, please comment below.

The Worst Product Launches in History

William Shakespeare said, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” meaning that it doesn’t matter what something is called, only what something is. In marketing, this often holds true, as history shows us time and time again.

In our own lifetime we have seen some amazingly popular brands attach their names to some really bad product launches that provide us Virtual Assistants and online business owners with some pretty powerful lessons on what not to do.

For starters, you may have noticed the clothing retailer Gap’s recent attempt to update their image. On October 6, 2010, they debuted a new logo on their website and did away with the blue box that had become synonymous with their brand. Throughout the Social Media community, there was a huge public outcry against the new logo, prompting Gap to return to its original blue box logo only a week later on October 12.

The below video creatively summarizes how Gap responded to the Social Media community and finally reached their decision to pull the new logo:

A blog post entitled “The Gap: Defensive vs. Proactive Social Media Strategy” gives an insightful opinion of what the company may have done wrong here:

Its logo-creation process and the subsequent reaction reflects the transition from the previous era to the new one we’re in now. The logo was developed “internally” and “top-down.” It would have been better for the Gap to solicit input on a new logo proactively before rolling one out. But use of the “old” process put the company on the defensive, though it has been very good about communicating around the new design — after the fact.

In another blog post, the same author, Greg Sterling, goes so far as to call this incident “Gap’s New Coke Moment.”

Remember New Coke? What a mistake! This hugely unpopular reformulation of Coca-Cola was introduced in April 1985 and then discontinued only three months later after a major outpouring of negative feedback from consumers. It was the first time in recent history that a company rolled back a big product in response to public outcry.

By now you’ve probably thought of a few more marketing failures, but here are some we’ve retrieved from the annals of history:

•    Heinz EZ Squirt Ketchup – colored ketchup products that eventually included green, purple, pink, orange, teal and blue, introduced in October 2000 and discontinued in January 2006.

•    Windows Vista – Microsoft operating system released on January 30, 2007, that became the target of much criticism and negative press, making many PC users turn to Macs for solace.

•    Crystal Pepsi – a colorless caffeine-free soft drink made by PepsiCo from 1992 to 1993 and marketed as a “clear alternative to normal colas.”

We could call these some of the worst product launches in history for many reasons, but for Virtual Assistants and online business owners, one of the MAJOR stumbling blocks for Online Product launches is no strategy or proper system in place! This is why so many new businesses are in desperate need of someone to support them in building the right strategy and system for their product launches.

For this reason we have launched our fourth major certification at VAClassroom: “The Product Launch Support Specialist Program“. This cutting-edge training program will equip Virtual Assistants with the skills, tools and resources to effectively set up and launch all types of products on the web for themselves and their clients! The Certification Program starts on November 15th!

For more details or to register for this innovative training, check it out at:

http://www.vaclassroom.com/product-launch-specialist

And as food for thought, we’ll leave you with a quote from Yum! Brands Chairman David C. Novak, the creator of the Crystal Pepsi concept:

It was a tremendous learning experience. I still think it’s the best idea I ever had, and the worst executed. A lot of times as a leader you think, “They don’t get it; they don’t see my vision.” People were saying we should stop and address some issues along the way, and they were right. It would have been nice if I’d made sure the product tasted good. Once you have a great idea and you blow it, you don’t get a chance to resurrect it.

A Day in the Life of a VAClassroom Product Launch

Wow, what a week it’s been! Between improving our Membership Center and preparing for our upcoming Spanish Channel launch, things have been hopping around here at VAClassroom! On top of that, we are gearing up to release our fourth certification program, the Product Launch Support Specialist Certification. Well, last Thursday we experienced first-hand the emotional roller coaster involved in an online product launch when our new VAClassroom Membership Center and updated website went live!

As many Virtual Assistants and online business owners know, launching a new product online can be very stressful.  No matter how much you prepare for complications, unexpected things always pop up. This launch went relatively smoothly for us, with the exception of some minor hiccups that were quickly resolved, including a brief outage that was thankfully much shorter than the Great Facebook Outage of 2010.

For us, though, the important thing was to communicate with people and let them know what’s up. For example, we posted this on our Facebook Page to let everyone know things were back to normal again:

Hey, if you were trying to access our VAClassroom Site this morning and couldn’t, we had an outage, but it is back up again! Hey, our turn-around time was even better than Facebook:-) Of course they do a have few more members than we do!

Groundwork laid before the launch was also very important. As Ali Brown writes in her article, “Follow 5 Steps to a Powerful Product Launch,” a key strategy to a successful product launch is building up demand by communicating with customers through low-cost or no-cost Internet Marketing tools like e-mail newsletters, social media, group calls or teleseminars. Therefore, leading up to the launch, we made sure we outlined some of the upcoming changes in our Monthly Newsletter and Monthly Members Event.

So now that it’s up and running, we’d like to highlight some of the exciting changes you’ll see on our updated VAClassroom.com website:

•    New video on our home page – We are very excited about our new video featuring both VAClassroom co-founders, Craig and Kelly Cannings. You can check it out here:

•    New “My Training” layout – Students logging into their online training center will see a simpler layout in the “My Training” area with new tabs for certifications, courses and clinics.

•    New FAQs on our Support Page – Before submitting a Support Request, you can now take a look at our list of FAQs as most likely we have provided an answer to your question. If your question is not answered, you can simply scroll down and send us a message. We will add your question to our FAQs and get back to you within 24 hours.

•    New Membership Home Page and Additional Features – Our current VAClassroom members will notice a more streamlined home page when they log in to their “My Training” Portal. We have also added some additional features like Success Case Studies, “Take Ten” Demos and Special Reports.

•    The addition of a FREE membership and Paid Annual Premium Version – If you haven’t already signed up for a VAClassroom membership and would like to do so, check out our home page, where we outline the features of both our FREE and Premium Memberships. You can choose which membership best suits your needs and access it right from this page.

We are very excited about these changes and how they can help us better serve the needs of Virtual Assistants and online business owners heading into 2011. If you haven’t already done so, please check out our website and let us know what you think of the new features. We’re here to serve you, so we’d love your feedback!

It’s Here – VAClassroom’s Facebook Technology Readiness Clinic!

We’d like to share a few exciting details about our upcoming VAClassroom Facebook Tech Skills and Tactics Clinic. In today’s web world, Facebook has quickly become one of the most prolific brand building and marketing channels for virtually any type of business online today. As Facebook membership continues to grow and reach well beyond the 600 million mark, business owners are enthusiastic about the potential this social network has for growing the visibility and presence of their company online.

However, keeping up with Facebook’s continuously evolving changes and advancements in technology proves to be a challenge for a lot of Virtual Assistants and online business owners seeking to leverage this powerful social network. As we discussed in a previous blog post, there have been a few key changes and announcements from Facebook that have had a huge effect on Facebook Pages. Well, we here at VAClassroom have a reputation for being “Trend Spotters”, and so we made sure we created a course that will equip you with the technical knowledge, skills and tools to successfully navigate these changes and build a compelling Facebook presence for you and your clients.

Check out the below video, where we introduce our groundbreaking Facebook Tech Skills and Tactics Clinic:

Again, here are the topics we will cover in this highly relevant one-time training opportunity:

Skill #1: Strategies for selecting and implementing the right Facebook Social Plugins for your blog or website

Skill #2: Preparation tactics for the NEW Facebook Changes

Skill #3: Integrating Facebook Connect to a blog or website

Skill #4: Understanding IFrames

Skill #5: Setting up Facebook Insights for your website

Join us for this live, interactive half-day clinic coming up on Wednesday, October 13 from 12pm – 3pm PDT (3pm – 6pm EDT). The technological shifts and advancements at Facebook have created a unique and profitable opportunity for you to be your clients’ Facebook Technology Advisor. They will need you to help them properly address the new changes that will be coming at the beginning of 2011, and we will make sure you have all the skills you need to do that!

Six Simple Tips for Creating Your Own Online Video Studio.

Places everybody. Ten Seconds Until We Go Live….. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…. Lights, Camera, Action!!

This is a funny routine that I sometimes go through to amuse myself as “director” of my own private video studio at home! Yes, this is a far cry from 20th Century Fox, but for myself and our team at VAClassroom, Online Video is one of the most important components to our web marketing strategy!

For us and many other businesses, Online Video has quickly become one of the most portable, practical, profitable and not to mention personable avenues for building your business brand and visibility here in 2010. Why?

Businesses recognize that waves of people online are regularly watching videos as their preferred medium of choice and see huge potential in connecting with the right audience using compelling and interesting videos. Check out these stats:

The Pew Research Center reports that “69% of adult internet users, or roughly half of all U.S. adults (52%), have used the internet to watch or download video”. That is a staggering number, and it is growing exponentially every day.

So, I can’t emphasize the importance of creating your own promotional marketing videos to build brand visibility with your prospective client audience.

But where do you start?

We all have heard the expression “A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words”. Well, this also really applies to video! If you put together a fuzzy, low-quality video right from your home office as a promotional tool for your business, it could reflect poorly on you and your brand! So, if you are interested in using video for your business marketing efforts, it is important to do it the right way.

Here are a few simple steps to get started:

1. Purchase a Digital Mini Camcorder and Tripod (if you don’t have one already) – Average price $150

My recommendations are the Kodak Zi8 or the Flip Mino.  Both offer the option to produce high-quality high-definition videos. Here is an example of an HD video we produced for our recent VAClassroom Summer Skill Camp.

Also, if you are going to purchase the Kodak Zi8, then I would recommend spending an extra 10 bucks and picking up the Kodak Zi8 Remote Control so you can manage the record and stop features independently.

2. Purchase a Lapel Microphone or standing microphone. (Average Price – $30)

While the Kodak Zi8 does have an external microphone, I would recommend picking up a lapel mic or a stationary mic that you can place close to where you are sitting or standing as it will significantly improve the audio quality and make your video that much more professional.

There are many options to choose from so I would suggest going to eBay, Best Buy or Amazon and picking up a quality mic for less than $30.

3. Purchase a Professional “Soft Box” Camera Lighting Kit (Average price – $199 on eBay)

Lighting is EVERYTHING to producing a high-quality video, so it is important to spend a few bucks to get the professional lighting that will display you in a positive light:-) I would recommend searching on eBay for a 2000 watt Soft Box lighting kit. You will be amazed at the difference between videos that have professional lighting and the ones that don’t – miles apart!

4. Purchase a Green Screen and Stand. (Average Price – $149)

A Green Screen is an essential component of your video studio as you will want be able to do Chroma key and mix up your backgrounds. With the green screen and the right software or outsourced professional (i.e. Elance), you can put yourself in literally any background, from a cafe in Paris to a U2 concert – cool stuff! I would recommend checking out eBay or TubeTape.

5. Pick up some cool props.

Now, each video studio will vary in look and feel, but some general props will typically apply. I would look at picking up a couple bar tools and a circular bar table. If you are NOT using a Green Screen, then you might choose a nice plant, pictures and a light colored wall for your studio.

6. Purchase a teleprompter software. (Average Price – $59)

If you are not interested in memorizing your script, you might place a laptop strategically below your camcorder and use a teleprompter tool like PromptDog.com. This will help you stay on track with your script!

So, for approximately $600, you could fully outfit your own at-home video studio and be ready to start producing some top-notch video content for your business.

But, the next question you may have is…. How do I create some quality videos? What do they look like? Well, we are actually running a Live Online Video Skills Clinic that will provide a simple system for creating, editing, producing and distributing online videos for you and your clients.

I hope this has been helpful in giving you a starting point for creating your own online video studio. As they say in the movie biz….

That’s a Wrap!

Harnessing the Power of Free Information Products in Your Virtual Assistant Business

Recently we held our fourth Summer Skill Camp session for Virtual Assistants on “Leveraging the Power of Free Information Products to Attract and Win New Clients.” In today’s Web 2.0 world, a revolutionary new business model has developed that uses Free Information Products to build community, brand exposure, and lucrative results in an authentic way. This is in contrast to the old model, where free products had strings attached and were all about generating a sale.

Nowadays, Free Information Products serve to build connections, add value, grow brand influence and thought leadership in a way that can ultimately lead to new clients, all the while increasing the credibility of a business.

A July 2009 Reader’s Digest article, “Chris Anderson on the Meaning of Free,” talks about Anderson’s book Free: The Future of a Radical Price. In his book, Anderson describes how the comedy group Monty Python were frustrated by seeing low-quality pirated versions of their sketches posted on YouTube, so they created their own YouTube channel and posted their own free higher-quality versions, letting fans know that complete DVD versions of the sketches were available for purchase. Amazingly, sales of Monty Python DVDs rose by 23,000 percent.

Anderson explains:

“Free worked, and worked brilliantly … People are making lots of money charging nothing. Not nothing for everything, but nothing for enough that we have essentially created a country-sized economy around the price of $0.00.”

But what form do Free Information Products take, and as a Virtual Assistant, how do you know which ones would be suitable to offer on your site?

Here are some examples of products you can offer:

•    White Papers, Special PDF Reports, eBooks

•    MP3 Audio Interview Series

•    Screencast Presentations

•    Pre-recorded Tele-Events (with Transcript)

•    Email tips series

•    Visual Slide Show Presentations

•    Online Newsletters

•    eCourses

And how do you know which ones to choose?

Think carefully about your online business and decide which of these products would provide the most value to your target audience, which ones could serve as a solution to any problems they might be having.

Once you have created your Free Information Product, be sure to position it for mass distribution through multiple social networks so that it gains as much exposure as possible and reaches your target audience through a wide variety of channels.

You’ll see that providing this valuable information for free will help establish you as a thought leader, a mentor, and ultimately build the credibility of your business, potentially leading to the addition of new ideal clients. Remember: the most valuable gift you have to offer your clients is yourself.

What do you think? Has providing Free Information products led to increased sales in your virtual business? As a Virtual Assistant or business owner, how do you maintain a balance between providing free and paid products and services?

Please share your comments below.

Seven Ways to Have an Ultra Productive Summer for Your Virtual Business.

Before we begin, we just want to apologize to our readers “down under” for yet another reference to summer when you are experiencing the cold of winter right now. In many parts of Canada, summer is so short, we just love to talk about it while we can!

One of the things we’re talking about right now is how to stay productive in our online businesses during the summer months. When the weather turns warm and the kids are out of school, it’s tempting to want to sit back, relax and put work on hold for awhile. That’s definitely a healthy thing to do in order to be refreshed and rejuvenated; however, as Virtual Assistants, often we are unable to take a lot of time off from our work and need a way to stay motivated and productive even when the sun is shining and the neighbors are outside barbecuing.

Here are a few simple tips to help you have a productive summer:

1. Try to establish office hours for yourself that will still allow you to participate in fun activities with your friends and family. (Often the anticipation of an event will make you use your time effectively.)

2. Don’t burn the candle at both ends. (While making time for friends and family, do remember to leave yourself enough time to finish your work and get a good night’s sleep – one of the biggest thieves of productivity is lack of sleep.)

3. Get some fresh air. (Take advantage of warm summer weather and go for a walk or take your kids to the playground – refreshing for both the mind and body.)

4. Give your office a makeover. (Clear any clutter that could be distracting you and create a pleasant space to work in – maybe even treat yourself to a vase of fresh flowers.)

5. When you’re feeling distracted or unmotivated, use that time to try out some new reading materials pertaining to your industry (i.e. blogs, eBooks, ezines, or a new book from Amazon.com).

6. Connect with colleagues and fellow Virtual Assistants. (Keep each other inspired by talking via Skype, telephone, Social Networking or even Meetup groups.)

7. Enrol in a training program like the VAClassroom Summer Skill Camp and set a goal to learn some great business-building skills by the end of the summer!

We’re keeping ourselves productive here at VAClassroom by continuing to develop top-notch training opportunities for you during the summer months, and we’re excited that our very first Summer Skill Camp for Virtual Assistants and Online Professionals will be starting in just one week!

How do you keep yourself productive during the summer? We’d love to hear any tips or advice you have!

Mastering the Art of Email List Building.

In keeping with this week’s theme of “Continual Learning,” we wanted to touch on Email List Building, an important Internet Marketing skill that requires Virtual Assistants and Online Professionals to keep up to date and informed of the latest trends and skills.

Despite the fact that other marketing channels like Social Marketing and Video Marketing have gained prominence, Email Marketing is here to stay for the foreseeable future and will continue to thrive because it is still the top converting marketing activity and is very easy to deliver and test.

However, it’s important to take note of how this type of marketing has changed and evolved in 2010 so that you can form an appropriate strategy. It’s now a very different animal from the traditional brand of Email Marketing that was used in the past. Most importantly, the new Email Marketing 2.0 is about adding value and building relationships, loyalty and trust with a niche group of subscribers rather than direct selling and building a huge generalized list of subscribers.

In the blog post “Email Marketing 2.0 Explained,” Tyler Garns from Infusionsoft compares traditional Email Marketing 1.0 with the new Email Marketing 2.0 and says that Email Marketing 1.0 is like a bad sales rep:

“A bad sales rep will typically memorize the spiel and “data dump” on the prospect regardless of what the prospect says, regardless of the person’s body language and regardless of any buying signals. They are robotic and sell much less because of their rigidness and inability to adapt the message for different people.”

On the other hand, he says the new Email Marketing 2.0 is like a good sales rep:

“A good sales rep, on the other hand, will listen (a lot) and adapt the message to the prospect’s needs. Good sales reps sell significantly more because they are always able to share something relevant to the prospect. They listen, adapt, and share the right message for every individual prospect every time.”

So, given those differences, how do you master the art of Email List Building so that you can create a targeted list and start to build relationships and trust? Here are some simple tips to get you started:

•    Brainstorm the type of audience you want on your list.

•    Develop a free offer that would entice that audience to subscribe and make sure your landing page is optimized with the right keywords that are relevant to the offer.

•    Develop valuable follow-up content that would benefit the audience and help build relationships with them (i.e. emails with lists, tips or strategies they can use in their business).

•    Figure out where to promote or display your free offer and opt-in box (i.e. post in Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blog posts, Squidoo Lenses, Hubpages, targeted forums and industry websites).

•    Promote a free web event using event tools in LinkedIn, Facebook or other Social Networks.

•   Publish relevant articles with a call to action and a link to your free offer in the author resource box.

•    Identify the right email program for your campaign, one that will allow you to adapt autoresponders to suit your subscribers’ needs and responses.

We cover this topic in more detail in our Internet Marketing Specialist 2010 training program because it is such an important skill for Virtual Assistants to know. Remember that the important thing is to speak to the needs of your target audience and share high-quality content so that they benefit from your email communications and become part of a valued community of subscribers.

Developing that trust and relationship will help you build a niche audience that will stay tuned in to your communications and remain loyal customers as time goes by – a mutually beneficial relationship for you both!! In the new Email Marketing 2.0 world, you can even say that Email List Building becomes social too!!

Continual Learning – The Key to Developing a Thriving Virtual Assistant Business in 2010

I (Jena) finally got an iPod this year. What an improvement! Up until then I had been using a Discman, and it was the funny looks people were giving me on the bus that led me to believe I wasn’t carrying the hippest piece of technology.

Then there was my computer operating system. In 2007 I proudly updated it from Windows 98 to Windows XP… then discovered that XP had been released in about 2001 and was soon going to be replaced by Windows Vista.

With my love for science fiction, you’d think I’d be motivated to stay apprised of all the newest developments in technology. I mean how can you watch “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and not be interested in the future?

But without proper education and continual learning, it’s easy to get left behind, and this put me at a disadvantage in my personal life and especially in my business. I had neglected to stay on top of current trends in technology and was missing out on advances in functionality and even computer security. Perhaps it would have been wiser to spend a little more time reading Mashable.com and less time watching Capt. Jean-Luc Picard and his crew.

All professionals, from dentists to accountants, need to keep their skills current, but if you are a Virtual Assistant or Online Professional, you need to be an “incurable learner” in order to be successful in this fast-moving Internet Landscape. It is way too easy to get left behind in an online industry that moves at lightning speed.

Here are some of the things savvy Virtual Assistants must pay attention to so that they can develop a thriving business in 2010:

•    Technology trends – e.g. Innovations in SmartPhone technology are creating an irresistible platform for mobile marketing.
•    Internet Marketing trends – e.g. Video marketing is gaining prominence over traditional marketing methods.
•    Social Media trends – e.g. Twitter use for marketing purposes is increasing.
•    Productivity tools – e.g. Tools like Freshbooks and SmartSheet provide cutting-edge functionality that greatly enhances productivity.

Mashable.com is one excellent resource for keeping tabs on what’s happening in the world of Social Media and beyond. For example, a recent article called “We Might All be Watching Videos by 2015 [STATS],” discusses findings from the Pew Internet Project. Interestingly, this research reveals that 52% of the American population is watching videos online, the equivalent of 69% of all Internet-connected American adults. No wonder marketers are starting to leverage the power of video more and more!

Reading reports like this is a good way to stay informed of the latest trends, but it’s also important to receive training in the latest tools and strategies so that you can apply them in your business. We are always thrilled to hear how our VAClassroom students’ businesses start to take off when they acquire in-demand skills and have clients pounding on their doors.

Below are some places where you can search for topics related to your online industry so you can hone your skills:

•    Do a search through Google Blog Search.
•    Browse through eBooks.com.
•    Search through Ezine directories like EzineArticles.com.

•    Keep an open account at Amazon.com.

•    And, of course, new training courses and clinics through VAClassroom!

The Internet you see today can change in a heartbeat, so Virtual Assistants and other online service providers must cultivate an insatiable appetite for knowledge and a commitment to continual learning. This will pave the way for new levels of success in your career so that you can wow your clients with your skills and ability to nimbly ride the next wave in online business. Then they’ll know you’re not “stuck in the ‘80s.”

Well, that’s it for today – time to play Pong on my Atari Flashback game console!

What? An Xbox 360? When did they come out with that? :-D

Is Your Website or Blog Perfectly Optimized?

Do you ever watch those home renovation shows on TV, the ones where someone is having trouble selling their home and needs some help? Often there’s nothing wrong with the house itself, just an important design element missing. A team of experts is called in and, voila, the house gets noticed and sells! The home owners are amazed and anxious to learn the skills those experts used to make such a difference.

In your work, do you wish you could optimize your website or blog so that it attracts more attention? Are your clients anxious to optimize theirs too? The initial SEO work begins in the HTML, and consequently clients are now, more than ever, requiring their Virtual Assistants to have some level of HTML knowledge and skills. For some, that’s exciting… for others, worrisome. ;-)

SEOmoz has put together an excellent blog post that summarizes best practices for “Perfecting Keyword Targeting & On-Page Optimization.” They provide a diagram of the “perfectly” optimized page and list all the elements that contribute to its ranking. Many of these elements are quite technical and require a good knowledge of HTML.

Below is a list of the important elements to optimize in on your webpage:

•    Keyword Targeted URL
•    Page Title
•    Meta Description
•    H1 Headline
•   Image File Name
•    Webpage Body Content
•    Internal links

Now, if you’re starting to break into a cold sweat at the thought of tackling such technical aspects, you’re not alone. HTML is a very important task and one that requires specialized training in order to do it well. For that reason, we recently offered a special 3-hour HTML Training for Internet Marketing Success Clinic. The Clinic was taught by our very own VAClassroom Faculty Member, Christina Greenway, who helped demystify HTML and unpacked the important skills you need for your business and your clients.

So there’s no need to call in a team of experts to optimize your website or blog! With some HTML training, you can make Google stand up and take notice, and that’s as good as a “Sold “ sign on the front lawn!

A Podcasting Lesson from a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Remember the scene in the movie Star Wars IV: A New Hope where Obi-Wan Kenobi views a holographic recording that was downloaded into a droid named R2-D2?

Princess Leia had used the droid’s recording and downloading software to hide plans for the Galactic Empire’s Death Star (a space station capable of destroying an entire planet) and to create a message begging Obi-Wan to help her by taking the plans to her father so he could analyze them.

This scene seems like the stuff of science fiction, but is it really that far off from what we’re capable of today? With the advent of smartphones and iPods, we too can download and transmit important information at the touch of a button.

Although as a Virtual Assistant you may not be on a mission to save a whole planet from annihilation at the hands of Darth Vader, you might still be looking for new channels to communicate important information to the world about your clients’ businesses. One effective option is podcasting.

Check out this great video, “Podcasting in Plain English,” explaining the convenience and power of this new communication tool:

The implications for marketing are powerful and undeniable. For a low cost, businesses can build their brand and gain more visibility with podcasting than they had before using traditional media and email marketing. With more and more people buying iPhones and iPods, there is great potential to reach a large target audience of customers downloading and subscribing to their favorite podcasts.

To help you gain skills in this area and leverage podcasting as a successful marketing tool, we are offering a brand new mini-course – Podcast Marketing Success Strategies, taught by Andrea Kalli, one of our talented VAClassroom Faculty Members, who specializes in podcasting and video marketing. Grads of this innovative program will be equipped with the most up-to-date skills and tools needed to effectively set up, produce and promote podcasts for businesses.

Move over, George Lucas. You don’t need R2-D2 to get your messages across in this exciting new world of Mobile Media… The right skills and tools are right at your fingertips!

Should Virtual Assistants (Who are WAHMS) Market Themselves as WAHMS?

Last night I was watching a very thought provoking (and potentially controversial) video from the WAHM blog site, YummyMummy! Scott Stratten from un-marketing.com offered a interesting tip and challenge for Work at Home Moms.

He shared that WAHMS should NOT market themselves to their clients as a WAHM, but rather as a skilled and savvy business owner! He felt that promoting your WAHM status on your site would not serve any real purpose in building your business, unless of course your target audience is WAHMS! From a Virtual Assistant perspective, he felt it might not look favorable to a new client to think of kids hanging off of you while you complete his/her pertinent project!!

From my perspective, while I don’t think you need to hide the fact that you are a WAHM with your clients, I don’t believe it needs to be emphasized on your site or blog. Now your role as a WAHM might come more into play in your interactions with your peers and those moms who aspire to work from home in Twitter and other Social Networks.

Again, this is coming from a WAHD’s perspective who understands the freedom and flexbiility of working from home. I can also talk more about it at VAClassroom since a good percentage of my target audience is in fact WAHMs!

The many Virtual Assistants and Online Professionals I know definitely market their skills and experience first and not necessarily their role as a WAHM (or WAHD for that matter).

So, take a watch of this video at the YummyMommy site – I would love to get your thoughts and feedback on this interesting topic!

The Fast Growing Business of Blogging!

Just the other day, I was reading some stats on the WordPress site and was blown away by the massive growth of  WordPress Blogs over the last 24 months!

Here are some 2008 stats shared by the WordPress founder, Matt Mullenweg:

• Page Views grew from 1.5 million to 6.5 million per month
• 2 million new blogs created for the year
• 35 million new blog posts in 2008

In January 2009 alone there were 372,519 WP blogs created!

It is clear that not only is blogging growing at a rapid rate, but it is also evolving in some new and exciting ways.  This excerpt from WordPress.com puts it best:

Blogging is growing both in the US and especially internationally. Tens of thousands of new WordPress blogs are created every day – by regular bloggers, companies, large media publishers, and many others. In addition, we seeing a trend that’s potentially even bigger than blogging: Publishers are starting to use WordPress as a platform to create all kinds of sites beyond blogs – large and small company sites, online magazines, social networks, travel sites, scrapbooking sites, contact managers, startups, multimedia archives, video sites, sports sites.

Isn’t this cool? Ten of thousands of blogs being created DAILY! Businesses are using blogging technology to create company websites, social networks, video sites, membership sites and so much more.

The sad reality is that a good portion of these blog sites won’t last more than a year as they are lacking some key success strategies and tools for optimizing and marketing their blogs.

This is ONE of the key reasons we have created our newest mini-course called, Blog Marketing Tips, Tools & Tactics.  We want to provide blogsite owners as well as Virtual Assistants (who operate and manage blog sites) with some advanced marketing and optimization strategies for increasing blog traffic and visibility.

There are excellent opportunities right now for Virtual Assistants and Online Professionals to offer “in-demand” blog marketing services to this fast growing base of blogsite owners.

Our newest blog marketing training program starts on August 10th. Check it out!

Do you really need a Virtual Assistant Certification?

Is there really value in having some sort of Virtual Assistant Certification? Would this VA Certification lead to better clients, better work opportunities and better money? At the end of the day, do you really need it?

While I am sure there are some varying opinions and answers to this question, since this is MY BLOG, you have the distinct privilege (or NOT:)) of hearing my 2 cents on the topic of Virtual Assistant Certification.

First of all, I do NOT think anyone NEEDS a VA Certification to build a thriving, profitable Virtual Assistance Business. While there are success stories on both sides of the fence, I do know and work with a number of great Professional Virtual Assistants that are not certified. On the flip side, there are great VAs whose participation in certain training certification programs served as an ideal launching pad for their Virtual Assistant careers.

I think the important element here is not that you have a multitude of certifications (eventhough that can be beneficial), but that you are a “PASSIONATE LEARNER” and committed to continually improving and enhancing your existing skill sets. A couple Virtual Assistants I work with don’t have specific VA Certifications, but they have attended a ton of skill-based webinars, conferences, coaching series and read many ebooks, newsletters and blogs to keep their skills sharp and knowledge as current as can be! The key factor here is to NEVER stop learning and to invest time and money into regular Professional Development!

So, do you need a Virtual Assistant Certification to be successful? No, probably not! But, the interesting thing is that MOST people (Not all) still like to get certifications or designations behind their name. While our Virtual Assistant Training Center, VAClassroom, is not an Accredited Training Program with any State Education Board, many of our members still love to get the Internet Marketing VA Certified Logo that they can showcase on their sites and share with prospective clients! It validates the new services they are offering and provides clients whom are looking for these services with more confidence that they can deliver quality work.

Intrinsically speaking… I think Certifications or designations do give us a sense of accomplishment and recognition. I have a number of Virtual Business friends that hang their certifications and degrees on the wall of their home offices. Is it to impress their clients? Well, probably not, considering none come to their office:). Those certifications represents a marker of accomplishment and validates the work they are doing.

My oldest daughter is now in the first grade. When she comes home with a certificate from school, her face is beaming and she is thrilled to show me what she had accomplished. You might be saying.. “But, Craig come on…… This is just a child, we are adults and don’t really need certificates to feel accomplished and good about ourselves!” Really – do you think that is true? Again, this is my own “un-tested” theory that most people simply like to receive certifications – I still do:)

The well known Marketing Training Firm, Marketing Sherpa offers three day skill-training workshops in such areas as Email Marketing. At the end of the training time they provide a flashy Certificate of Completion. For those working in this field, this paper represents another accomplishment that further validates the work they do for clients in this area and will likely give them an additional competitive edge.

So, while you likely don’t NEED a Virtual Assistant Certification, or a blog design certification, or a Affiliate Manager Certification, or a Web Analytics Certification or whatever type of certification that relates to your field in order to experience good success, I think intrinsically we still like to receive them and do believe that they provide a tangible representation of our own Professional and Personal Development.

I would love to get your feedback on this one. Am I out to lunch? Do you agree with this – please share!