Why You Need a VA to Manage Your Blog and Newsletter

by Anne Clark | Aug 10, 2020 | Business, Mailchimp, Virtual Assistant

Keeping your business in the ‘eye of the customer’ is essential in order for your business to grow. As a business owner, you can easily become consumed dealing with our day-to-day matters, and not giving our business the time needed to action strategies for growth.

Two of the best avenues to gently remind your customers you are there, are through your newsletters and blogs.

A virtual assistant (VA) can assistant you in maintaining your customer contact. Creating a regular schedule on when blogs and newsletters need to be composed and released, enables you to know your timelines and your VA to know what deadlines they are working to.

Before you start going crazy producing blogs and newsletters, you firstly need to determine how frequently you should create your content and will meet your target customers’ interest. You need to make sure you are not over or under-producing them. This can be a bit of trial and error. Once you have determined this, you need to commit to your schedule.

The best way to ensure deadlines are met is to talk to your VA about;

how much time they need to create the content
how much time you need to review the work, and
allow time for final edits and touch ups.

Once this is locked in, you can then start brainstorming the content needed for blogs and newsletters. Do some research to see what your customers love and don’t love. Don’t be scare to even ask your customers, using such means as a survey.

The best strategy when working your schedule is to try and keep 2 to 3 blogs ahead of yourself, you can preschedule these to be released on your website on a set date.

How can your VA get this all happening for you, so you’re not stressed trying to keep on top it all

BLOG:

Create a list of key topics you want covered in blogs. Don’t be afraid to create a series of blogs, if your content is going to be to long.
Create a schedule of when the blogs are to be released. Working backward to create the first draft due date.
Your VA can draft the article for your review and can incorporate a call to actions at the end of your blog.
Determine what type of call to action you want from your audience. It is always good to encourage readers to comment, offer feedback or share an experience. Or you can encourage them to buy a product or service. Ensure you communicate to your VA what key call to actions you want incorporated into specific blogs.
Source free images – there are many website that offer free image to use for blogs. Some require acknowledgement from you sourcing the images from that specific website. Otherwise, your VA can use programs such as PicMonkey or Canva to create original artwork for your blog.
Update SEO – It is vital that in order for you to be found that your blog has it’s SEO words added. Your VA can enter these, and research on what other keywords would be relevant to your blog/business.

Your newsletter keeps you in your customer’s inbox. Don’t make your newsletters too wordy. A lot of people don’t love to read a lot of words (unless it’s a novel). A great way to create a newsletter is to mix up words and images and make as many things as possible linkable to your website. Remember, Traffic = Sales Conversion on your website.

Include your blogs in your newsletter too, again make sure your newsletter is linked to various aspects of your website to drive your traffic across. For example, for your blog including your newsletter your title, image and the first couple of lines, then insert a ‘read more’ and link it to your website (also link the image).

The strategy behind this is to get your customers to your website, where you have the opportunity to convert them from visitor to a customer.

Brainstorm with your VA on the main section you want for your newsletter. Eg: The Blog, Shop, Latest News, Special, or Sales.

Your VA can create your newsletter template, and there are programs such as Mailchimp that have a free level for under a set number of subscribers. It is important that your business ‘branding’ is kept consistent through the newsletters. Why? Because branding is what people say about you when you’re not there!

Your VA can source and create content, create images and links to your various website sections. They can also create a draft of your written content, you will need to guide them on key aspect such as items on sales, specials coming up or key items you want to be highlighted in the newsletter.

Once your newsletter content is created and ready to go, make sure your VA checks all the links are working, and that they send you a copy to review.

Your VA can schedule and once your newsletter has gone, you’re VA will be able to advise you the open and click rates, as most newsletter programs advise this for you.

Don’t be afraid to test various styles and formats for your newsletter to see which format gets the most higher click rate with your readers.

If you have any questions, or would like to know more information feel free to contact me via my contact page.

5 Easy ways to source social media content for your business

by Anne Clark | Jul 30, 2020 | Business, Social Media, Virtual Assistant

One of the most common headaches business owners face is what kind of content to share on social media. Or they are simply finding themselves stress because they’re putting pressure on themselves to come up with new content all the time.

Headache be gone!

When it comes to content, we fail ourselves as business owners. Why? Because we are currently spending 80% of our time creating new content, but only 20% sharing our content. We should be spending 20% creating and 80% sharing (and re-sharing) content.

Here are 5 ways you can utilise previous content you’ve created for your social media.

Previous content/posts

Keep copies of content and images from previous post and don’t be afraid to reuse them. Very rarely do people go through a business’ content from 2 years ago, therefore if it’s still relevant re-use it. Even content from 6 months ago is reusable, or last week. If you have a series of images you use for people to sign up to your mailing list, then re-use it at least once a week, and more if you’re posting more than once a day.

Blog content

Most blogs should have a call to action, which could be signing up to newsletters, booking in discovery calls, purchasing a product etc. Re-share your blogs, especially if relevant. Take snippets of the blog content or write an intro and add a call to action, such as click on the link for more, or you could share the whole blog. If you’re blog was an article of tips, just like this one, copy a tip and tell readers to click on the link for the more tips. Use different images for social media to re-share old blogs (if you’re not comfortable using the same image).

Expertise Categories

In business, we all have niche areas, and under our niches are categories we specialise in. For example: in my coaching business, I am a coach who specialises in intuition, alignment, boundaries, balance and boundaries. Therefore, I would share content around those 5 areas. As a virtual assistant, I specialise in social media, newsletters, blogging, productivity/systems and online management. Again, I would share expertise content around these areas.

Testimonials / Feedback

Feedback sells, often when someone is searching for a new product or service, they check out what others have said about it. You might have testimonials on your website, in emails or have had awesome comments on your social media platform, use these to share with your audience. Feedback on your service are big sellers.

Hints of things to come

Entice your audience with some of the projects you’re working on, or perhaps the blog you’re writing about this week. Tease them with what is to come. Perhaps if you’re making a new product take a snippet image of it and ask them what they think it is.

It is okay to share and re-share your content. Don’t be afraid to do so.

If you’re making a branded quote for the week’s content, then why not make a whole heap of them for the next couple of weeks or months and save yourself time and effort. This is BULK acting.

Don’t be afraid to pre-plan your content, and then if additional items come up add them in. By pre-planning and scheduling your content it enables you not to feel so panicked that you haven’t posted anything or having come up with content.

If you’re struggling to create the time to manage your social media, then let’s chat about how I can help you manage this. Contact me today.

How to set up your Mailchimp Account

by Anne Clark | Jul 21, 2020 | Business, Mailchimp

Mailchimp is the All-In-One integrated marketing platform for small businesses, to grow your business on your terms. It’s free for your first 2000 subscribers, it enables you to use it’s automation functions for signs and sending welcome emails. It integrates with your website.

Some of the functions Mailchimp offers are:

• Sending Newsletter Campaigns
• Creating Automation Workflows
• Creating Landing Pages
• Creating Websites
• Posting to Social Media

It integrates with wordpress, zapier, slack and canva. And 300+ others.

It provides reporting analytics to enable you to enhance your campaigns.

You can sign up here.

Getting Started

Thing you’ll need in order to get started:

As Mailchimp is a web-based application. You will need to have an internet browser.
You’ll need to provide an email address that will be associated with the account you’re setting up. As you’ll need to verify and confirm your account and URL.
Your Mailchimp username must be unique, and cannot be reused.
You will need to provide a mailing address, I would recommend using a PO Box for security purposes especially if you do not operate your business from a physical premises.
All accounts start on our Free plan, so you don’t need a credit card to sign up.
If you choose to purchase add-ons or upgrade to a paid plan, you will be able to pay these via credit card or paypal.

Sign up for an account

Click here to sign up. It’s important to note that when you sign up you are agreeing to terms of use and anti-spam regulations.

Type in your Email, Username, and Password, and click Get Started!

A confirmation message will appear advising you to check your inbox to activate your account set up .

Activate your account

When you receive your account activation email from Mailchimp Client Services, you can complete the account setup.

Click the account activation link in the email.

You will need to confirm Humanity screen, check the I’m not a robot box, and click Confirm Signup.

Sign up for an account

Click here to sign up. It’s important to note that when you sign up you are agreeing to terms of use and anti-spam regulations.

Type in your Email, Username, and Password, and click Get Started!

A confirmation message will appear advising you to check your inbox to activate your account set up .

Activate your account

When you receive your account activation email from Mailchimp Client Services, you can complete the account setup.

Click the account activation link in the email.

You will need to confirm Humanity screen, check the I’m not a robot box, and click Confirm Signup.

The signup process

In setting up, Mailchimp will ask for required information. This information enables them to provide content that is relevant to you and your company’s needs, as well as to help make sure your account is compliant with our Terms of Use. In this section, you’ll learn how we use this information.

Name
Email Address
Organisation Questions
Organisation Name
Website URL
Physical Address

After you type in the information, follow the prompts to finish the process and log into your new Mailchimp account.

To busy to be doing all this yourself, then why not have your Mailchimp Partner assist you. Simply click here.

Learn More About My Mailchimp Services

Determining when you are ready to hire a Virtual Assistant

by Anne Clark | Jul 20, 2020 | Business, Virtual Assistant

You have started your business and you are finding yourself faced with people advising you to ‘get a virtual assistant’. I personally don’t think you should, and here is my why. If you have not worked in your business conducting all the day to day functions, how will you determine what you love, hate, need assistance in doing or simply don’t have the time to do yourself.

Whilst having a virtual assistant on your team is a great asset. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend bringing one on board at the start of your business.

In my years in business as a virtual assistant, on many occasions I have been hired by business owners/entrepreneurs in the making, wanting me to manage various tasks from administration, social media, blogs, websites and newsletter, as they have anticipated increase volume in workload. Even though they aren’t at that stage yet. Or it may be that they have a new product or services launching and anticipate a high volume level of work for them and their virtual assistant. Whilst I do truly wish their dream came to fruition, sadly it’s rarely been the case. As a result I have seen them have to admit they don’t have the funds or the work requirements for a virtual assistant, at this point in time.

My recommendation is to allow the work to flow in, and the demand levels increase so you can 1) learn how your business operates, and 2) clearly identify what functions would be best outsourced so you can utilise your time more effectively and efficiently in your business.

In saying the above, please note that if you don’t have the skill base or the capabilities/time to learn new programs, then of course outsource these functions to an expert. If you have the time to learn, then take the time to learn! (You’ll feel empowered conquering them.)

A virtual assistant, if available for your business, is generally ready to come on board and start immediately. You are better to get to the point in your business where you are ready to off load a higher volumes of work or the work you don’t want to be doing because you have more than enough work and the finances to fund having a virtual assistant on your team.

If you are at the point in your business where you are ready to outsource, and want to know more about what types of things you can outsource, then please sign up here for my free opt-in which is a starting guide on what to outsource.

How to clearly communicate your expectations to your Virtual Assistant

by Anne Clark | Jul 17, 2020 | Business, Virtual Assistant

I commonly hear business owners who have used virtual assistants previously before knocking on my door, mentioned how their VA went on a tangent doing things they hadn’t asked for or failing to communicate to them.

Communication is an essential tool between any business relationships.
If you have had a failed VA relationship or keen to start working with one, but not really sure on your what, who and how, here are some tips to assist you to creating the perfect relationship with your VA.

#1 Outline the task

Don’t assume they ‘get what you mean’. Be detailed in your description, the more familiar and longer they work with you, the trust will build and a clearer understanding of how you both work will develop. When starting out with a new VA, you need to be as detailed as possible, otherwise you’ll be pulling your hair out. Don’t just ‘tell them’ what you need, follow it up with an email.

You have heard people say ‘yes I got it’ and discovered they were completely off track. The English language is very interruptive. It is better if you can give examples.
More experienced VAs will know what questions they need to ask you. But newbies will need more guidance from you.

#2 Explain your preferred communication style

Having previously worked in the corporate world for Managing Directors, Chief Financial Officers and various General Managers. No two were ever the same in how they liked their work done and communicated. Some were self-sufficient, some old school and some just confused relying on me to tell them what to do.

So it’s important you advise your VA how you like to work and how you like to be kept up to date, and this should be done in your initial phone call with your potential VA. The reason is some VA prefer to work certain ways and if you’re requiring an alternative to what they prefer, then you may find your working relationship deteriorate quickly (and that is not what you want).

Types of communication streams you may prefer;

Your VA to just run with it and advise when completed, only asking questions when needed.
Communicate every step of the way so you know exactly where tasks are. You can use programs like ASANA (which is free) to help manage this, and is beneficial if your VA is working on multiple projects.Alternatively if you have multiple team members. It’s an effective communicating tool. Other alternatives are TeamWorks and BaseCamp. There are plenty of others, some free and some paid.

Communicate a strict guideline. No work is to be done ‘outside’ the specified task, unless asked first. Or that a task must be done within a certain number of hours, if they have reached those hours then to discuss with you first before proceeding any further. This is advisable especially if you are budget conscious, however a VA should advise you if the work is exceeding the perceived time.

Ways to communicate;

You can use online software programs as mentioned above, ASANA, Basecamp & Teamworks.

You may wish to have a face-to-face meeting with your VA on a regular basis, especially if you don’t want your inbox clogged. This can be done via Skype, or if the VA is local by meeting up at a location suitable to both parties. (Note expect to pay for their time and travel, as they are in fact working for you during this time.)

You may simply prefer to receive an email from them regularly on how projects are progressing.

#3 Conduct a regular review

Whilst you may feel this is tedious, it is in fact beneficial for your business. You may find your VA, or you could be, doing something that the other party doesn’t like, is confused by, or they may have a better suggestion to improve the system. Having a regular review enables both parties to highlight any concerns, praise what they love and be clear on where they’re heading. You are effectively wanting your VA to be your life long team member, so set it up correctly from the start.

#4 When communication is breaking down

Sadly, I hear this one all the time, and it does disappointment that some (not all) business owner goes sourcing other VAs without actually communicating with their current VA what their concerns are. 9 times out of 10, the VA has no idea they’re not happy.

If you are having issues with your VA, TELL THEM! Explain what your concerns are, and how you would like to see things improve. A VA is a business owner, and isn’t going to want a client being dissatisfied with their services, they are quite likely thinking you’re happy with their performance as you haven’t made them aware of your frustrations.

And of course, if their performance doesn’t improve, move on and find a VA that suits and meets your needs.

Remember, that any experience with a VA whether good or bad, is helping you in your own business identify what works and doesn’t work. No experience is ever a waste, it is educational.

If you’re ready to work with a virtual assistant, or online business manager (like me), contact me today.

10 reasons why you should hire a virtual assistant

by Anne Clark | Jul 15, 2020 | Business, Virtual Assistant

We, as business owners, are always trying to manage it all, especially in our start up phrase of business. Managing it all can have a detrimental effect in the long run. Why? We can easily become consumed with doing all the backend work ourselves, in turn chewing up our valuable time that we could be focusing on our business growth. Establishing your foundations from the start is a great way to ensure as you grow and build your business, you are on solid ground.

Many people become consumed with money, and the ability to afford a virtual assistant. However, did you know you can hire virtual assistants to work within your budget range. If you can only afford 1 hour a week or month, that is completely okay. Just make sure you are utilize their time on important tasks you need done, rather than just any old task.

Here are 10 reasons why you should be hiring a virtual assistant;

Time – getting your time back. Whilst a virtual assistant attends to your backend requirements, you can be focusing on clients or business growth.

Value – it’s more cost effective for your business to hire someone to attend to your administrative or online content management, than you.

Cost – hiring a virtual assistant against what your charging clients is a more cost effective avenue. You may be charging say $200 an hour, and hiring a virtual assistant between $30 to $50 an hour. You are making $150, doing what you love and know your business requirements are also being attended too.

Budget – you can hire help at a budget amount, just determine what your budget amount is. You might start at 1 hour a month, or a week, and then as you grow your hours with your virtual assistant can grow.

Expertise – Virtual Assistant specialize in certain industry or skills, so bring to your team a valuable resource.

Manage – A virtual assistant can manage your day to day, along with specific projects or even your teams.

Growth – some virtual assistants are more than just virtual assistants. For example, I’m also a business coach and life coach, and help businesses strategies their social media and business growth opportunities. So I have more understand of what your business needs are and should be.

Reporting – a virtual assistant can update and maintain daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly report for you, no boring tasks for you to do.

Customer Care – One of the biggest downfalls business owners make is getting caught up in administration, there customer care falls down. A virtual assistant can manage your customer care so your business reputation remains prominent.

Sanity – Yes sanity. Often business owners become so overwhelmed trying to keep on top of everything that they end up feeling completely overwhelmed. Having the right virtual assistant to support them helps eliminate this.

Finding the right virtual assistant is vital, as your relationship with them is what will help your business and you grow.

If you want to learn more about how to prepare yourself and your business to bring a virtual assistant into your team, click here and receive my free ebook outlining all you need to know.