Meetup Groups - Bringing your Virtual World into the Real World!

Here are a few telling signs that you may need more offline social interaction in your life:

•    You start talking to the computer like it’s a real person.
•    Webinars are the social highlight of your week.
•    You call your pajamas your “work clothes.”
•    You’re so starved for human contact you go to the grocery store just to have real people to talk to.

•   The only way you know what the weather is like is by watching the Weather Channel.

These are extreme examples, but can you relate to a similar experience? While working from home as a virtual assistant or online professional provides great flexibility and convenience, it can sometimes be a little lonely. That’s why it’s crucial to have social outlets and a way of connecting with people who understand your profession and can support you in what you do.

Meetup groups are a great way to have offline events where VAs can meet socially and professionally with like-minded people in their industry to give each other moral support and help each other grow, build skills, and connect with clients.

These events can be organized through Meetup.com, a website that allows you to become a host of a Meetup group and plan offline events for members. For example, Ana Lucia Novak is the organizer of the Silicon Valley Virtual Assistant “sm” Meetup group, made up of local San Francisco Bay Area/Peninsula Virtual Assistants who live and work in Silicon Valley. These members meet once a month and have the opportunity to hear local speakers share their expertise about topics like Social Media Marketing, web design, virtual assistants and small business management.

Marit Fox, a member of this Meetup group, comments on the benefits of these monthly meetings:

“We are individual business owners that work solo. Frequently, our only outside communication is with clients. Connecting with peers within the industry gives me an opportunity to talk about things I deal with in running my business or in the work I am doing. I know my peers can relate and that has a lot of value. We may work alone but we are not in business alone. ”

So the next time you find yourself feeling isolated or looking for a way to network and meet potential clients, check out Meetup.com and see if there’s a group near you. If there isn’t, consider starting one up yourself. The Meetup.com website makes it very easy to create a group with a step-by-step process. A great starting point could be to connect with fellow Virtual Assistants through a social network like our VAClassroom Social Marketing Club and find out who lives in your local area.

Getting connected "in person" with like-minded colleagues might just be what the doctor ordered for your virtual business!

Virtual Events and Social Media - A Match Made in Web Heaven!

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, and we’re going to talk about marriage… no, not that kind of marriage – the marriage of Virtual Events and Social Media.

Virtual Events are already very popular because of their inherent benefits – they’re cost-effective, attract a wider global audience, generate increased exposure and save time – but Social Media enhances the power of Virtual Events by providing an effective channel to promote, create buzz and facilitate interaction for these online events.

Consider Twitter Hashtags. They are an extremely powerful medium to use for promoting and creating buzz around a Virtual Event, and the best way to explain them is to show them in action. Check out this excellent video by Krishna De:

Another way of pairing Social Media and Virtual Events is to make use of interactive chat alongside an online event. For example, Facebook tested a new feature during the 2009 Presidential Inauguration that allowed people to post status updates and comments beside live streaming video on CNN’s website. According to the Facebook Developers blog post “Posting the Stream in Real Time with the Live Stream Box,”

“It was a significant moment for Facebook Platform. We realized how powerful it was to see what your friends were saying, not just on Facebook, but right in context on CNN.com.”

Following that event, Facebook launched the Facebook Live Stream Box, a feature that website owners or developers can install on their website so Facebook users can share updates and content about a live event through Facebook Connect. With this tool, any updates posted will appear in the Live Stream Box, as well as on the Facebook user’s profile and friends’ News Feeds.

Additionally, Ustream, a website that supports live streaming presentations, includes a Social Stream that can be used to chat with people over Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and AIM while an online event is taking place. Ustream also allows you to incorporate the Live Stream Box within your Facebook Fan Page. According to the Ustream.tv website, this feature adds a new tab to the Fan Page, developed and customized by Ustream, with the live player residing both on Ustream.com and the Facebook Profile. Here, Facebook users can chat with the host and with each other through the Live Stream Box as well as through chat and Social Stream on the Ustream.com Show Page.

This combination of Social Media and Virtual Events contains untapped potential for businesses, Virtual Events Specialists and Social Media Specialists. Businesses are in desperate need of people with the skills necessary to set up events, promote them and facilitate interaction between attendees. Virtual Assistants can be the matchmakers that bring Virtual Events and Social Media together, creating a union that will most certainly generate more visibility for your clients’ businesses and take the Virtual Events niche to new heights!

Social Media Goes Local in 2010!

If you enter AJ Bombers restaurant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and slide into one of the booths, you’ll notice interesting graffiti written on the heavy varnished wood. As you look closer, you’ll find out that people have written Twitter user names all over the place.

Now why on earth would people be thinking about Twitter at a restaurant?

Well, believe it or not, Social Media is going local, and brick and mortar businesses are capitalizing on the power of Social Media to help generate more traffic to their business and to keep their current customers coming back.

Check out this fascinating Kitchen Table Talks video with Chris Brogan and Joe Sorge, owner of AJ Bombers and other restaurants in Milwaukee:

As Joe explains, “AJ Bombers was built by Twitter.”  Imagine business owners being able to monitor customers’ experiences from a distance, making adjustments and responding to complaints on the fly from their Twitter account.  Imagine loyal customers being offered daily specials through tweets from their favorite restaurant. That’s the power of Social Media.

However, according to a recent article in Social Media Examiner, “3 New Studies Show Value of Social Media and Businesses Slow Response,” only 47% of companies are experimenting with Social Media, and of those that do, many are failing to effectively build online community and provide a favorable platform for interaction and feedback.

This finding shows that there’s a definite need for Virtual Assistants with Social Media skills to fill that niche and educate businesses on best practices for using Social Media. For VAClassroom grads, the possibilities are endless, and brick and mortar businesses would surely benefit from your expertise in Social Media Marketing.

So survey the brick and mortar businesses around you and just imagine how a Twitter Account or a Facebook Fan Page could build their clientele and keep people coming in the door. The sky’s the limit with a little imagination and a passion for engaging people with the tools available in this exciting new Web 2.0 world!

NearbyTweets.com - Connecting with the Right Local Audience

Check out this scenario....

Sally owns a Wedding shop in Everett, Washington. In the current economy, she had been forced to reduce her marketing budget and needs to think more creatively about how to build her customer base...

Her brother is a Internet Geek and tells her that the best low cost/no cost marketing channel on the planet resides in Social Media sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. After much research, she decides to set-up a Twitter account even though she thinks the tool is trivial and ridiculous. She struggles with making any sense of Twitter for her local business for about a month.

Then, her Internet Geek brother tells her about this Twitter tool called, NearbyTweets.com. This tools is supposed to link you up with local twitterers and you can actually follow particular keywords in their tweets.

So, for the next week, she tracks words related to Weddings such as "Bride", "Wedding Dress", "Engaged" etc...

Much to her surprise, she starts to connect with people in her area that are planning their upcoming wedding and some that are still trying to find the right dress. BINGO!

Sally starts to connect with these individuals on Twitter and to make a long story short, two of the "brides to be" visit her shop and purchase dresses and accessories totalling $2600 US.

So, what was her advertising cost for this $2600 US - NOTHING!!. Just some time connecting with a highly targeted, local audience thanks to her geeky brother and NearbyTweets.com.

So, this gives you a practical snapshot of the potential for your local clients to strategically use twitter to creatively connect with their target audience - cool stuff!

I would highly recommend incorporating NearbyTweets.com into your regular Twitter regime!

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!

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!

Google Tools - A Productivity Gem

I know many of you probably have a Gmail account and may use Google Alerts and track your RSS feeds with Google Reader. But are you leveraging the wide array of Google tools to maximize your productivity? I am currently having a "love affair" with Google tools as I find that the more I incorporate the web apps into my daily work activities, the more organized and productive I am.  Here is why I am loving Google these days... I am tracking my work emails with a Gmail account and have actually added my other work emails via the POP tool into Google Mail to consolidate all my mail activity into one location. I am then using Google Calendar to track my schedule, meetings, and urgent time-sensitive tasks. Google Calendar has a cool feature that delivers email alerts at 5am in the morning with your scheduled appointments and activities. From a multi-tasking standpoint, I like that I can be writing an email and then quickly jump into Google Calendar to update my schedule. I then track all my spreadsheets and work documents with Google Docs, which again is nicely integrated into the Gmail Interface. I have all the VAs and contractors I work with use Google docs which enables us to quickly share and collaborate on documents. Not to mention, you can track all RSS feeds with Google Reader, which makes it easy to review existing feeds and add new ones.. Now, I know there are many other great productivity tools and web apps on the market, but my personal opinion is that it is hard to match up against the integrated, user-friendly and easy to access elements of Google Tools. In short, Google Tools ROCKS!

Is The "Virtual Assistant" Title Really That Important Anyways?

In a "reflective moment", I was recently processing much of the dialogue spurred on by Erin Blaske's thought provoking post last week: The Future of the Virtual Assistance Industry - An Open Conversation I think these kind of discussions are great for helping you to further evaluate how you want to be known in your business. Here are a few final thoughts for what it is worth.... I know there is much discussion pertaining to the "true" definition of a Virtual Assistant. But, is the Virtual Assistant title or ANY title for that matter really important to the overall success of your business - I would say NO! I remember attending my Grad Reunion a number of years ago and fielding the common question, "What do you do?" The natural inclination for most of us might be to give your title: "I am the CEO of VAClassroom.com (Well my wife is actually:)) or I am an Internet Marketing Specialist. I think as humans, we feel the need to label ourselves as if it gives us a higher level of recognition or something. What I have come to realize on a personal level is that is does not matter what title I have in my career, but MORE importantly, what I accomplish, the integrity by which I run my business and ultimately how I positively impact others! So, if you were to ask me what I do right now, I would not say I am the CEO of VAClassroom.... I would say that I help Virtual Assistants develop new skills to grow successful VA businesses. You see, I would rather not be known for the title or position I have held but rather for what I have done or accomplished that has helped or impacted others! So my point here is that you may want to be known by your clients, not as a "Virtual Assistant", but rather as: "That person that helped them skillfully set-up and manage all their webinar and teleclasses" "That person that coordinated all their business travel plans" "That person that effectively managed all their outsourced projects." "That Person that helped them expand their business presence in the Social Networks" The list goes on.... It is the skills that you bring to the table that will be mentioned and referred on by your clients to others. "Hey, I know a great person that can set-up and manage all your email auto-responder campaigns". The important thing here is the excellence you bring to the services you provide and the integrity by which you do it! That is the hallmark of a successful "Virtual Assistant" or whatever you want to call yourself - it really doesn't matter! I also really like this "Personal Branding" expert`s commentary on the topic of a job title here: Your Personal Brand Statement is NOT a Job Title. Just a few random thoughts percolating in my brain today:)

The Olympics and your Virtual Assistance Business

Okay, I have been glued to the Olympics over the last week and it is pouring over into my blog:) I have to say that the Olympics and watching the many amazing athletes have really fired me up about my business and maximizing the potential of what I am doing with VAClassroom. To close off the week, I want to leave you with a great post from a Small Biz Trends titled: Olympics for Small Business Owners In the post, Dr. Susan Reid outlines 15 Ways the Olympics exemplify success for small business owners like yourself. I am a BIG FAN of #7: "Stay the Course". When I started my first Internet Business, these three words were SO important in the early start-up days. My wife and I would constantly say to each "Just, Stay the Course", everytime we faced adversity or challenge in our business pursuits. The Olympic Athletes have really inspired me to achieve excellence in EVERYTHING I do including parenting, marriage and of course my Virtual Business. Enjoy the closing ceremonies tomorrow everyone!

50 Twitter ideas for your Business

Over the past week, I have had a number of interesting conversations on the "business value" of Twitter. Again, I was probably one of those "Twitter" naysayers initially as I truly thought it was quite trivial and a total time drag! I am now happy to say I am a Twitter convert and see the huge business and networking potential with this fast growing social media channel. In dialoguing with my VAClassroom members and other colleagues, there are certainly a whole variety of opinions and thoughts on Twitter such as: "Twitter is a waste of time - who wants to hear what someone else is having for lunch?" "Twitter is a place for me to dialogue and share ideas with my VA peers" "Do I really want to tell people "What I am doing"?" "Twitter is a fabulous to tool for strategically building rapport and relationship with prospective clients". "Twitter and my incessant beeps via my Tweetdeck app are driving me crazy" "Twitter is a place where I can be real with my peers and clients - it is authentic and casual" "I find Twitter a great "seed planter" for my business as it quickly connects me with potential JV partners and clients.." Those are just of the few of the comments I have received.... Now, Twitter like Facebook is one of those tools that can seriously hinder your productivity and focus if you allow it too! While some people prefer to just share random thoughts and dialogue back and forth with their twitter pals throughout the day, I personally find that it can become a distraction. If was a betting man, I would say that Social media apps like "Twitter and Facebook" have likely affected employee productivity:) But in saying all that, I believe Twitter is a serious force to be reckon with when it comes to building authentic relationships with key business contacts and clients and is dynamite for networking yourself and your business! I came across a very worthwhile list of Twitter Ideas for your business at Chris Brogan's Blog titled: 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for your Business Some of his ideas I really like such as: "Instead of answering the question, "What are you doing", answer the question "What has your attention" - that seems to lend himself to more business-oriented approach to Twitter. "Ask Questions - Twitter is great for getting opinions" - I have already found this useful in doing quick surveys and gather pertinent data for projects I am working on. "Twitter brings great minds together and gives you daily opportunities to learn" - great point. Chris also says to "Talk about Non-Business topics as well" - While I agree with him, I think this (like Facebook Fun Walls) can be a slippery slope! It is easy to lose an hour quickly by chatting on Facebook or tweeting back and forth. You just need to weigh out the time cost that this might have towards your work priorities. Again, this is fine balance that is not always easy to strike!

Is Your Virtual Assistant Glass Half Empty or Half Full?

Now, I am not looking to start a "Fire Storm" in the VA industry, but more to stimulate some productive discussion - there is my disclaimer:) I recently reviewed a Press Release from a Virtual Assistant Association (I will not mention names) that was promoting a 2008 survey for the Virtual Assistant Industry. Here is an excerpt from the first part of the Press Release: "Virtual Assistants are fed up. They've had it with inaccurate media portrayals and reporters who don't get the facts right. They're sick of exploitive industry outsiders who don't understand the Virtual Assistance business misinforming their marketplace. They're tired of constantly having to explain the difference between an employee and an independent service provider. And they're having their say about it all by participating in this year's third annual Virtual Assistant Industry Survey." Since many of you are Professional Virtual Assistants, I would be interested to hear if you share the above sentiment as this particular industry leader. Please send me all your comments and feedback! Let me give you my own 2 cents for what it is worth:) While I can appreciate the frustrations that some VAs may feel at the media's misrepresentation or misunderstanding of the VA industry, I am not sure if this kind of negative undertone is the most productive way of positively educating media reps and the business world. While the survey is very well done, I think the promotion of the survey through this Press Release presents a somewhat hostile perspective, which I don't believe is necessary. Yes, the media needs to be more educated on the varied roles and responsibilties of today's Virtual Assistants, but I believe the growing publicity of the Virtual Assistant industry is a great thing! Sometimes even less than accurate publicity can bode well for an relatively new industry as it will bring further awareness and expand the dialogue and interest. I know some VAs have felt cheapened by Tim Ferriss' portrayal of the VA in The Four Hour Work Week, but let me tell you.... this book has been HUGE in bringing further light and attention to the VA industry. It has awakened many island enterpreneurs who now realize their business and life could be that much more successful if they were to hire VAs... The bottom line is that the concept of a Virtual Assistant is still a new thing to a lot of people and it is our job to properly educate them on indisputable benefits of hiring specialist VAs to perform a whole variety of pertinent tasks. On a personal level, when I decided to leave my corporate job and jump into the Internet realm many moons ago, I received a lot of "interesting looks" and misunderstanding about what I would be doing working on the Internet:) You might laugh at this now but it shows how far we have come in 6-7 years. During the early years, I constantly found myself having to explain and educate people on what I do! Anyways, I am absolutely convinced there has never been a better time to be a Professional Virtual Assistant then right now as more businesses are outsourcing, more people are becoming familiarized with the VA industry and the Internet Biz continues to grow at a rapid pace. These are great days, so I think we need to keep a positive perspective even when misunderstandings or misrepresentations come our way! I would love to hear your thoughts and comments - agree with me, disagree? Please share.

Recording of VAClassroom Webinar with Freshbooks CEO

Hey, I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! If you didn't have an opportunity to listen "live" to last week's VAClassroom Webinar event with Freshbooks CEO, Mike McDerment, I have included the 77 minute MP3 recording below. Mike provided some excellent insights into overcoming many of the obstacles and challenges we face as solopreneurs or Virual business owners who work alone. Virtual Nivana: How To Remain Inspired and Productive When You Work Alone Enjoy!

Obstacles Virtual Assistants Face While Working Alone

As many of you know, we are running a "much anticipated" webinar event tomorrow (Thursday, August 7th at 2pm EST) with Freshbooks CEO, Mike McDerment titled: "Virtual Nirvana: How to remain inspired and productive when you work alone." Over the past week or so, we have been asking Virtual Assistants about the obstacles they are currently facing as Solopreneurs and have received some very interesting responses such as..... - Concerns over getting new clients (a very common one). - Learning to put plans on paper rather than “Flying by the seat of my pants”. - Time Management issues – when I am “at home” , I am not at the office and feel like I need to be always working (Common work/life balance issue) - Challenges getting my name out there. - Challenges deciding where to focus my marketing efforts and sticking to it. - Struggles in filtering the noise with all the things I need to do for the business. - Confidence in abilities (new Virtual Assistant). - Isolation, distractions within my home office. - Feeling that my virtual work intrudes on my spouse, my home – hard to get away from work, spend more time working than enjoying life. - Challenge keeping track of “To dos” and priorities. - Worry too much about client work (Should I have done this , Are they going to be happy with this etc – mind never slows down...). - Take on too much and then get overwhelmed. - Keeping motivated Can you relate to any of these obstacles? I sure can! I have been working as a Virtual Business Owner and have had to certainly overcome a few of these obstacles in the past few years. We have taken all the feedback we have received and have incorporated it into tomorrow's webinar to make it as relevant as possible. We also want to make the event as interactive as possible, so bring your questions! Oh, one last thing... Freshbooks will be providing a $25 discount coupon code to all participants on the call towards one of their small business billing software packages. PLUS, we will be giving away one "Pure Digital Flip" camcorder sometime during the call. Here is the link to our webinar page - hope to see you there! VAClassroom Event Page

VAClassroom Teleseminar for Virtual Assistants, Solopreneurs and Small Business Owners

I just wanted to let you know of an exciting free webinar event we are hosting at VAClassroom on Thursday August 7th at 2pm (EST) of this week. I have to say that I am unusually excited about this event! Let me tell you why... My friends at Freshbooks have graciously loaned their CEO Mike McDerment to us for an hour so he can share some powerful insights on: "Virtual Nirvana: How to Remain Productive and Inspired When You Work Alone." You see, Mike is a serial Entrepreneur who has already led two successful Internet start-ups before his roaring success with Freshbooks.com. When he first started out he was not as fortunate to have the talented staff he now has with Freshbooks - he was a "Lone Ranger." Mike has experienced firsthand the "Good, Bad, and Ugly" of working as a Virtual Solopreneur, like many of you! Our intent with this webinar is to help re-charge your Virtual Business batteries and keep you engaged and passionate about the work you do! Now, Mike and his Team at Freshbooks.com have graciously offered a $25 discount coupon on their small business billing packages for every participant on the call, which is awesome. Also, our team at VAClassroom will be giving away a "Pure Digital Flip Camcorder" to one of the webinar participants on the call, so be sure to stick around until the end! I own The Flip and have used it for all my videos on YouTube - excellent tool! To claim one of the 300 spots for this webinar event, just sign-up at the below link: http://www.vaclassroom.com/teleseminar.aspx Also, you will be able to access this event via the web at: http://www.vaclassroom.com/instantteleseminar.com This is going to be a great event and we look forward to seeing you there!

Where do I find Virtual Assistant Clients?

A couple days ago, I ran a seminar at VANetworking on how Virtual Assistants can create a powerful new niche as a Social Marketing VA. One of the questions that was posed by a participant was "How do I find the businesses that will be interested in these Social Marketing Services?" Good Question.... Well, one of my comments was that you need to go to where your most ideal clients hang out on the web - that is a good starting point. The follow-up question is: "Where do they hangout?" Well, I am going to get into all this in a post series I am starting this week, but I found a great place to start.... BMighty came out with the "Best Blogs for Smaller Businesses" - they list 10 popular, high volume blogs that cover topics for SMBs (small/medium businesses) such as business tools, productivity, business management, technology etc... Let me tell you.... The small biz audience that are reading these blogs are EXACTLY the type of clients hiring Virtual Assistants like crazy right now. I would highly recommend adding these blogs to your RSS reader and join the conversation on topics that matter to your prospective clients. This is a great opportunity to share relevant information and potentially talk about Virtual Assistance in a natural way. These blogs have covered Virtual Assistant-related topics and given the VA buzz we are seeing right now, they will likely continue to discuss the value of outsourcing and delegating small biz tasks to VAs like yourself. Look for more on the all important topic of finding ideal Virtual Assistant clients this week!

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!

A Social Media Widget to add to your Virtual Assistant Toolbox.

As I have discussed in previous posts, Social Media Marketing is a rapidly growing niche for Virtual Assistants to tap into. Some Virtual Assistants are positioning themselves as Social Network Specialists for busy clients who want to leverage the power of Social Media, but simply do not have the time. I came across this cool social media widget on Internet Girl Fridays' Virtual Assistant website. This particular Social Media Widget enables you to present all your social network profiles in own location on your website or blog. While this widget is great for showcasing your many Social Network Profiles, I do think it would be ideal for those of you who are seeking to add Social Network Profile Set-Up and Management services to your VA portfolio. It could serve as a nice marketing tool to prospective clients interested in expanding their exposure and business presence through the Social Networks. You would be able to showcase the quality profiles you have set-up for your own business and in turn give them a taste of what they could expect if they were to hire you to set-up and manage their online Social Profiles. Again, most businesses simply do not have the time to effectively manage and update their Social Network Profiles, so a most excellent "in-demand" service for a Virtual Assistant!

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?

Are You Managing Your Client's Online Reputation?

A few weeks ago, during the pre-launch of VAClassroom.com, I received a Google Alert regarding a forum post pertaining to our new training center. I followed the forum thread closely and while the comments were not negative or critical, they were based on assumptions and misinformation. Fortunately, one of the Virtual Assistants I work with was apart of the forum and was able to provide some accurate information about VAClassroom. This is a good example of Online Reputation Management. The beauty of the Internet and Social Networking is that we can easily find out what users are saying are about our products and services. Prior to the Internet and the information age, companies were more "in the darK" on consumer feedback. Now, I can set-up my Google Alerts to track any web posts pertaining to my domains or related topics and can quickly respond and dialogue with users talking about our products and services. Online Reputation Management is an "in-demand" tasks for Virtual Assistants today. I have a industry friend who runs a high-volume ecommerce site and recently contacted me to see if I had a Virtual Assistant that could handle their Online Reputation Management tasks (20 hours per week) - I actually just posted that position in our VAClassroom Members Site. This particular client does 1000s of sales on a monthly basis and needs to regularly dialogue with prospective consumers to ensure that they have accurate information about their products and services. The last thing any web company wants is a false rumor or misinformation being spread about that adversely affects consumer perception. So, this might be an "in-demand" task to consider adding to your VA service offerings. The tasks basically involve tracking online reputation via Google Alerts as well as through applicable Social Shopping and Ecommerce sites and providing accurate information about your client's products and services.