The Business Building Potential of Facebook Fan Pages

I recently followed a comment in Facebook from another Virtual Assistant that was questioning the value of having a Facebook Fan Page to promote their business. Will it actually lead to new client and income opportunities? Well, my answer and thoughts on this are included in the video below. Take a look and please send your comments on Facebook Fan Pages and the impact (if any) they have had on your Virtual Assistant business.

VAClassroom Listed as One of the Top Websites for 2008!

Well, in business it is always nice to finish a year on a positive note! We have so enjoyed working with the 42 VAClassroom students who have been plowing through our live Social Marketing Specialist Training Program over the last 6 weeks. The Training program has exceeded our expectations and we have been super pleased with all the feedback received thus far. Also, we were honored today to be listed with such reputable websites as Copyblogger.com and Stompernet.com as part of Andrea Kalli's Top Websites for 2008 Thanks Andrea - much appreciated! As we close out December, I will be sharing a few of my predictions for 2009 as it relates to Blogging, Social Media and the Virtual Assistance industry, so stay tuned!

Charitable Organizations Using Social Media to Spread Christmas Cheer

Can you believe that December has already arrived - this Fall season has just blown by hasn`t it? I came across an interesting article that I thought might interest you. In these tough economic times, great charitable organizations like The Salvation Army are feeling the crunch and overall giving is down this year. The Salvation Army and other non-profits have gotten creative this Christmas season and are making use of the popular Social networks, Twitter and Facebook to connect with the younger generation and ultimately increase their donations! This article confirms an interesting trend taking shape with a growing number of non-profits and charitable organizations starting to use Social Media to spread awareness and bolster their donations. The emergence of non-profits using Social Media presents an ideal, niche opportunity for those considering working as Social Media Specialists and Consultants! Many of these organizations are just feeling their way through Social Networking and need a consultant to help them to chart the right course! As many of you know, we are currently running the Social Marketing Specialist Training Program to about 40 students. We just actually finished the training session involving Facebook and Twitter and talked about non-profits being an ideal client prospect! Check out this interesting article on The Salvation Army and the virtual `Red Kettle`. CNN Article on Salvation Army

Social Media Marketing Training Program Sold Out

Well, this has been a crazy busy week as we just starting the first run of our live Social Marketing Specialist Training Program. We have an enthusiastic group of about 40+ who are very pumped about learning how to position themselves as a Social Marketing Specialist in 2009. It is amazing to see the demand for this kind of niche! One of our students mentioned that she connected with one of her clients on what she had learned in the first session of the Social Marketing Training Program and the client wants her to get started right away with building a Social Media Strategy - very cool. Another Virtual Assistant mentioned that one of her clients was waiting to hire her once she completed the course. Also, last week, I got a call from a marketing firm, who asked if three of their Virtual Assistants could attend the program as they really wanted to bolster their Social Marketing efforts in 2009. All of this is pointing to serious opportunity for those seeking to offer a Social Media service in 2009! Although this course is sold out right now, we will be offering another opportunity in January. Free Free to jump on our alert list at our Social Marketing Training page here. Until next time!

Social Marketing Specialist Training Program is Now Live!

Well, it has certainly been a whirlwind of a week as we have finally opened the doors to our brand spanking new Live Social Marketing Specialist Training Program! I am not sure if you were able to attend the live webinar we did this week titled: "7 Profitable Social Marketing Services for 2009", but we had a rather big audience and a great response. We actually have just finished producing the recording of that event and I have included a link to view the 67 minute video webinar below: Social Marketing Webinar Recording Please note, the audio is a little quieter then expected, so you may need to crank up your speaker volume:) With our Social Marketing Course, we offered 40 seats and we are now have about 14 spots remaining as of today. There is such an interest among Virtual Assistants right now to develop their Social Media Marketing skills. I believe this will be one of the most highly sought after services moving into 2009! Enjoy the webinar!

Twitter - a Recruiting Ground for Mainstream Media?

While being a Twitter skeptic myself at the beginning, I have become increasingly fascinated with the different ways Twitter is intersecting with mainstream media. I read a great post from Small Business Trends today, "Grab Attention of Top Editors and Producers with Social Media". The blogger, Jonathan Fields, mentioned how the senior writer and blogger for the popular Business Week Magazine, was writing a cover story on blogging and social media and was regularly asking Twitter followers for input. Jonathan sent him a tweet giving his 2 cents on Social Media only to find that the Senior Editor loved the quote and included it in the article months later. Wow, from a Tweet to a quote in a major US publication! He also told of a top editor from Wiley Publishing (an avid Twitterer) who recently posted this tweet: "Pitch me a book idea in 140 characters or less. Go". How's that for an opportunity to get in the face of a senior editor of a major publishing company?? The net has certainly broken down conventional ways of getting things done! Take a read of Jonathan's full post as it clearly reinforces the dynamic relationship that is taking shape between mainstream media and Twitter. Okay I am officially a Twitter Believer - there is definitely untapped potential to make new business contacts, build your client base and even ink a book deal:)

VideoUtilityPoster - A Cool Web 2.0 tool For Driving Traffic To Your Blog

I came across an ultra cool web application that is ideal for all you bloggers out there. Now, I don't know about you, but there are times in a blogger's life when the creative juices aren't flowing and you are stumped with fresh ideas for your blog. While this might only last for a moment, why not take the opportunity to add some other people's relevant content to your blog that will interest your readers and ignite your Search Listings. Well, the VideoUtilityPoster does just that! This downloadable software integrates with whatever blogging platform you are using (Ie. WordPress) and allows you to quickly search for relevant videos that you might want to incorporate into your blog or website. VideoUtilityPoster features an easy "Drag and Drop" system, where you drag the video script into your blog post. This tool also allows you to automatically add keyword-rich descriptions (if you like) to further boost the SEO potency for your post. As you may know Google and other SEs love fresh video content, combined with keyword rich content - this makes equates to a winning formula for your SEO efforts. So, consider adding some great relevant video content the next time you experience a "writer's block"! The cost for this tool is $67, but they do offer a 30 day money back guarantee, so it might be worth adding to your blogging arsenal! Also, this might be a value-added tool to use for your client's blogs in helping them come up with new and relevant content ideas. Again, you can also just simply search for content ideas in YouTube, and copy and paste the embed link into your post. However,  VideoUtilityPoster basically simplifies and saves you time in researching and integrating video content into your blog. Check it out!

TweetBeep Your Way to New Client Prospects For Your Virtual Assistant Business!

Now, I am fairly certainly that many of you are becoming avid "Twitterers", but are you also a "TweetBeeper"? Okay Craig, speak English! I have started to use TweetBeep over the last little while and have been quite impressed with the potential for Virtual Assistants to connect with clients interested in hiring Virtual Staff - Your marketing strategies couldn't possibly get more targeted:)! TweetBeep functions similar to Google Alerts in the sense that you can receive daily or current alerts based on specific keywords listed in Twitter conversations. So, check out a segment of a TweetBeep email alert from yesterday for the keyword, "Virtual Assistant": (mind the less than stellar quality of the below image:) As you scan this list, you will see the first two are ideal "twitterers" to follow and connect with as they are both serious about hiring VIrtual Assistants. The 4th post demonstrates a very smart way of doing "Twitter Marketing" - Sharing a blog post relevant to prospective VA clients. The second to last post (Hi Frances!) also has a heads-up Twitter post by attempting to engage those that are seeking a Virtual Assistant - nice! There are no shortage of creative ways to connect with prospective clients in Twitter. We covered a number of these ideas in a recent teleseminar we did at VAClassroom, Marketing your VA Business in a Web 2.0 World." So, if you are not yet using this tool, it is time to start "Tweetbeeping" your way to a wave of new clients for your Virtual Assistant business.

The Power of Video Marketing for Virtual Assistants

Happy Canada Day! Yes, "I AM CANADIAN" (Molson Beer Commerical Reference) and singing the "True, North, Strong and Free" from beautiful and ridiculously hot Phoenix! Yesterday, I ran a teleseminar event to my VAClassroom Members titled: "Marketing your VA Business in a Web 2.0 World". We spent some time discussing the power of Video Marketing and the sheer potential it has for rapidly increasing website traffic and improving search listings. I had mentioned to the group that I had recently noticed that very few Virtual Assistants actually include Video on their websites nor have posted to YouTube. Now, I am sure some of you do, but I still think you would make up a small percentage. I posed the question to yesterday's group "Why are most Virtual Assistants not including Video in their marketing efforts?" Does it have to do with simply not having the right equipment to produce the videos or is there a "fear factor" involved here? Is there a hesitation to jump in front of the camera for fear of looking silly or not presenting yourself very well? Would you fall into this category? I have produced many YouTube Videos in my home office, back yard, park, coffee shop, hotel room and I have to say that I always feel a little wierd initially when doing the videos, but thanks to the editing power of Sony Vegas Movie Studio, I am able to clear my stutters, stammers and "duh" moments and actually produce a quality video. Creating videos is kind of like "public speaking" - the more you do it, the more natural you become. The first couple you might feel like a deer caught in headlights, but it gets easier!! The bottom line though is that Video marketing is way too powerful and effective to not include in your overall marketing strategies. Over the last few months, I have produced a number of YouTube Videos and continue to see targeted traffic and improved search listings for VAClassroom as a result. Let me show you.... If you go to YouTube and search for "Virtual Assistant", you will see that VAClassroom has the number 8 spot on that list. If you type in Virtual Assistant Training, I have videos holding down the #3,5 and 6 spots, which again bring traffic to our site. Finally, if you type in "Virtual Assistant Certification", you will see that we have spots 1 & 2. Again, these videos are sending targeted traffic back to VAClassroom. To elaborate further, if you go to Google and type in "Virtual Assistant Certification", we are not on the first page, but our YouTube video holds the 18th & 19th spot on the 2nd page of search results out of a total of 3.8 million search listings for this keyword. Now, these videos have had strong link building implications for VAClassroom.com. If you do a Google search for "Virtual Assistant Training", VAClassroom currently holds the 13th spot out of 387,000 listings. Now, it is very important to note that we only launched VAClassroom less than 2 months ago and we are already seeing some good natural search traffic which is great. Now, I must say that Video Marketing has certainly played a key role in some of our early success and can have the same impact for your VA websites! The other comment is that I have not seen too many VA websites that include a "Welcome Video" on their homepage. Again, this is an ideal opportunity to provide a personalized introduction to every prospective client hitting your page. People like to look at people, so it is just smart marketing to include a creative introduction video right on your home page that will further compliment your existing web copy. I would recommend using easyflv to add your videos to your website - very userfriendly! Again, you probably can tell that I am super pumped about Video marketing primarily due to the profound impact it has had on my traffic and search listings. There is no better time to incorporate Video into your overall marketing strategy then right now!

Summize.com - A great tool for Finding New Virtual Assistant Clients!

I don't know about you, but I love Web 2.0 and Social Media! There is never a shortage of cool social media applications and tools to simplify your life as a Virtual Assistant! In the VAClassroom Forum, one of our members mentioned Summize, a cool new tool for searching the conversations in Twitter. I have to confess.... Initially it took me some time to warm up to Twitter - I initially thought it was a total time drag and would take time away from my pertinent business actvities. I thought, "Do people actually really care what I am doing right now?" It seemed kind of trivial, but as I have closely observed a number of Twitterers over the last while, I now see how Twitter can be used to share and view relevant content and connect the Twitter audience to your blog and website. Summize has peaked my interest in Twitter even further as this social search engine allows you to search the Twitter conversations by specific keywords. My keyword specific searches in Summize pointed out a whole bunch of interesting Twitterers that would be worthwhile following. Not only that, Summize can help you track new prospective VA Clients! For example; check out the below results from the search term "Virtual Assistant" : Take a look at the 2nd, 5th and 6th twitter post - they are all related to hiring a Virtual Assistant. The last guy specifically says "Looking for a Virtual Assistant. Any suggestions are welcome". I don't know about you, but I would classify that as a HOT CLIENT LEAD!! So, not only does Summize enhance your Internet research efforts, but also serves as a great resource for connecting with new VA Clients - how cool is that?

Facebook Payday - A Great Resource for Facebook Marketing Virtual Assistants

As many of you know, we did a teleseminar last week titled, "How Virtual Assistants Can Profit from the Social Media Explosion in 2008". This teleseminar event was very well attended and we are still receiving great feedback and questions which is cool! You can access a recording of the event through our VAClassroom Membership Site. One of the topics I discussed in this teleseminar was the rapidly growing opportunities for Web Savvy Virtual Assistants to position themselves as Facebook Marketing VAs. We discussed the different services you might offer clients seeking to leverage this channel such as:

• Setting up and managing Facebook profiles.
• Coordinating Facebook Events.
• Moderating and participating in targeted Facebook groups.
• Inviting and adding new business friends for your clients.
• Creating and managing Facebook business pages for your clients.

The list goes on..... One of the advanced services we discussed involved implementing and managing Facebook Pay Per Click Ad campaigns which are becoming increasingly popular. A handful of Internet business owners are generating some excellent profits through this channel. A Business Collegue of mine, Peter Koning, has just launched an ebook and membership site called Facebook Payday. I have had a chance to review some of this resource and it is very impressive. The ebook will provide you with some of the skills and knowledge required to set-up and manage successful PPC ad campaign through Facebook. If you are seeking to grow a Facebook Marketing niche for your business then Facebook Payday is definitely worth checking out!

VAClassroom Social Media Teleseminar Event

We are excited to tell you about the upcoming teleseminar event at VAClassroom.com: "How Virtual Assistants Can Profit from the Social Media Explosion in 2008 and Beyond!" As mentioned in a previous post, one of the fastest growing areas on the Net right now is the exploding Social Media Movement. Internet businesses are very enthusiastic about leveraging the potential of many top social media channels such as Facebook, YouTube, Digg and LinkedIn, but find it difficult to muster up enough hours in a day to perform all the necessary Social Media Marketing activities. Talk about a huge "in-demand" niche for Virtual Assistants! This is precisely what we will be covering in the upcoming 1 hour teleseminar event at VAClassroom slated for May 19th at 6pm PST (9pm EST). This FREE teleseminar will essentially be a mini-course based on one of the courses offered from our soon to be released VAClassroom Training Center! For more details on the Social Media Teleseminar, visit the page below and sign-up to receive reminder alerts: VAClassroom Social Media Teleseminar Event We look forward to seeing you there!

The Niche Opportunities for Virtual Assistants in the Fast Growing Social Media Landscape

Over the last 18 months, I have become an incurable learner on the exploding Social Media Movement and the profound impact it can have for Internet Business Owners like myself. I have digested blog posts, articles, webinars and even wrote a couple of my own articles pertaining to Social Media. (Check out my SiteProNews Article, "Is Social Media Marketing really worth your time and effort?").  My overwhelming conclusion is that Social Media Marketing is a MUST for all business owners in order to realize their full potential in 2008 and beyond! We are currently seeing a major shift in thinking among Internet Businesses pertaining to Social Media. In 2007, businesses were asking the question (with skepticism): "Can Social Media Marketing really do anything for my business? Is there any value in hanging out in Facebook groups, commenting on blogs, networking in Linked.com and sharing my videos in YouTube? I think that question has been effectively answered by many of the Industry experts who have openly endorsed Social Media Marketing as a powerful business building channel. The real question Internet Businesses are asking now is: "Okay, we see that Social Media Marketing is a GOOD thing, but how the heck do we find the time to actually carry out all these important Social Media Marketing activities???? The answer......Virtual Assistants who have tapped in to this exploding Social Media Niche. There are Virtual Assistants who are becoming specialists in editing, producing and syndicating videos to all the major video-sharing sites. There are others who are Facebook experts who know the "ins and outs" on building industry-specific groups, business facebook pages and even setting up and managing Pay Per Click Facebook campaigns. There is even the whole emerging trend of "Presence Managers" where businesses hire a Virtual Assistant to represent or even be them in the various social networks they are targeting. Now, there are some ethical issues with that one, but a growing area for sure! Given that Social Media is continuing to experience explosive growth, there are no shortage of opportunities for Virtual Assistants to tap into this niche. So, with my collective passion for Social Media and Virtual Assistants, I have decided to run a teleseminar that might interest you, titled: "How Virtual Assistants can profit from the Social Media Explosion in 2008".  This will essentially be a "mini-lesson" taken in part from the upcoming release of the Internet Marketing VA Training Program at VAClassroom.com.  Also on the call, we will be making an important announcement and special offer regarding the launch of VAClassroom.com, so certainly worth checking out Please stay tuned to this blog over the next day or so as I will provide some more concrete details on how you can get signed up for this important teleseminar!