How to set up an opt-in for your business

How to set up an opt-in for your business

You’ve thought about creating an opt-in on your business to entice your target audience to sign up to your mailing list. This is a great move, whilst social media is amazing to connect with your target market, you don’t own those platforms and if they were to close down tomorrow….you will have lost all your market. Therefore, building a mailing list is a great way to target your market and keep them. Creating an opt-in, which is like a freebie, showcasing your expertise is an attraction piece to entice your audience to join your mailing list.

For many business owners this seems easy but for others who have never done it before here is a guide to help you along.

 

What does your audience need?

Firstly, you need to define what your opt-in is. What is something your audience wants from you?  For example; people what to know how to start working with a VA, hence this is my website opt-in ‘How to start outsourcing’.

The types of opt-ins you can have are:

  • Email series
  • Ebooks
  • Video series
  • Worksheet
  • Mini e-courses
  • First chapter free of a book you’ve written
  • Discount on a product or service

 

Hosting your database

You need to determine which email system you want to use to manage your database and create your newsletters from.  Your options are MailChimp, Aweber, Active Campaign, Infusionsoft, Ontraport, Contact, and there are plenty more. How to do determine which one to go with.

 

Creating your autoresponder

Once you have created your opt-in, determined how you will have it run and selected your database company. You will then draft your welcoming email that will accompany your opt-in enticement.

Strategy Tip:  Don’t just have your opt-in information on your email, at the end of it, add information about your other products and services. This is your opportunity to advertise your business for free!

 

Test your system

Once you have created everything make sure you test it so you can see what you’re audience will experience and make any necessary changes you need to.

 

Marketing your freebie

Now that your system is set up, start marketing it. Post enticers on your social media platforms. Use your Facebook App to add a sign up feature.

Add a Pop up on your website to ‘say hi, sign in here!’ (so to speak). Don’t assume people will easily find your sign up.  Have an embedded sign up and a pop up one, so you have double opportunities to get your audience to sign up.

 

Unlimited opportunities

You are never limited to having 1 opt-in, so don’t be afraid to create others. Programs like Pop Up Ally allow you to have different opt-in feature on different pages of your website.  This is through the paid feature. You can learn more here.

 

Feels all too hard?

Guess what? I offer this service and can do it all for you.  Feel free to contact me to find out more.

What does a virtual assistant do?

What does a virtual assistant do?

A virtual assistant is a business owner that works remotely providing services from administration through to desktop publishing and website development, to other business owners. Virtual assistants work from their homes, providing support to businesses across the world. Virtual assistants are paid generally for the time spent working for businesses, at an hourly rate or project rate.

As many business owners start to grow their business, they can find themselves at a turning point where their focus truly needs to be on the business growth and development, not being weighed down with various administration tasks or business functions that could easily be outsourced and managed by external parties, giving them back their valuable time.

A virtual assistant is a great stepping-stone for the business owner who isn’t quite ready to hire a full time or part time employee, or have the needed finances to cover overheads such as computers, wages, insurance, and so forth.

In Australia, Virtual Assistant rates range on average from $30 to $70, depending on their skill and industry knowledge and experience. In my role as a virtual assistant, I work with multiple businesses providing a range of services from administration, email/diary management, social media and online business strategies, blogging, newsletter, desktop publishing and website updates.

Virtual assistants can be hired hourly for a one off project, or for a set number of hours per week or month.  When it comes to hiring, don’t allow yourself to be blocked by the price of a virtual assistant, as it is important that your business needs are being met. It is important to know, that whilst a virtual assistant might cost $50 an hour, that task that takes you 2 hours is mostly likely going to take a virtual assistant 1 hour or less.

 Virtual assistants work remotely, and use programs such as Skype, Dropbox, project management software, to enable them to work for businesses across the globe.

Business owners can source overseas virtual assistants, which can have many pros and cons. If your business need a 24 hour service, having a virtual assistant both locally and overseas can enable you to provide a 24 hour service.  There are many programs that can be used to streamline processes between your virtual team and ensure smooth running of your business.

When you feel you are ready to bring a virtual assistant into your team, but may be unsure where to start and how to hire one.

I recommend reading the following articles:

How to start working with a virtual assistant

How can a Virtual Assistant help you in your business?

Then seek referrals from colleagues and friends, on virtual assistants they recommend.  Another method is to review testimonials on virtual assistant websites to see what previous clients have to say.  Be sure to talk to several virtual assistant businesses, to ensure you feel comfortable with their ability to meet your business needs and understanding.  Also, see if they offer a trial period so you can be sure it’s going to be a perfect match!

If you have any additional questions on what a virtual assistant does, please feel to connect with me. 

How can a Virtual Assistant help you in your business?

How can a Virtual Assistant help you in your business?

Using the services of a Virtual Assistant is a great way to focus on what you love.  You know, as business owners, how quick your day can fly by and you just never seem to have enough time.  You find yourself spending so much time doing things for your clients, that you don’t seem to have time to focus on business development.

Working with a Virtual Assistant enables you to get back your time and have the confidence in knowing your various administration tasks/projects are being taken care off, whilst you do the things you love. 

Here are some common tasks a virtual assistant can help you get started with. It is important to know that not all virtual assistants offer the same services, so don’t limit yourself to thinking you have to have just 1 virtual assistant.

DAY TO DAY FUNCTIONS:

Assisting you with your ‘To Do’ list.
Preparing correspondence.
Co-ordinate mail outs, both hardcopy or electronic.
Create business forms, templates and ensuring branding is consistent.
Create your stationery requirements such as letterheads, business cards, with compliment slips, flyers and brochures.
Be your sounding board for new ideas, events, products or services.
Managing your emails.
Assist with streamlining your office systems to keep you on track, organised and efficient.

 

YOUR WEBSITE: 

Upload your blogs onto your website.
Source free images for blogs, or create original artwork.
Create pages, graphics and ‘call to action’ buttons.
Manage members.
Source guest bloggers.

 

YOUR BLOG:

Write your content.
Source or create accompany images.
Upload to your website and add in SEO components.

 

YOUR CUSTOMERS:

Attend to your customer emails.
Set up ‘canned’ responses for frequently asked questions.
Prepare an online ‘Client Questionnaire’ and review the returned results.
Undertake online research.
MailChimp e-Newsletters | Set up a template, import your list of contacts and create/compile your weekly/monthly/quarterly e-Newsletters.
Manage AWeber and Wishlist memberships, and creating newsletters.

 

SPECIAL EVENTS: 

Create invitations
Promote your special event, workshops & events.
Collate RSVPs
Setting up online ticket buying – Eventbrite / TryBooking
Coordinate with venues, suppliers on your behalf.
Preparing documentation and presentations for event.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Create your editorial calendar of content for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google+.
Create original branded graphics for your business.
Search for avenues to increase your followers and audience interaction.
Monitor your page and attend to any business private messages.
Create Facebook Ad campaigns.

 

AND MORE: 

Create a PowerPoint presentation.
Create an Excel spreadsheet for a mail-merge mail-out, reports, budgets, etc.
Create and format Manuals and Workbooks.
Format your e-book.

 

My role is to make your life as stress-free and efficient as possible.

 

Ready to explore more, contact me today.

 

 

 

How to clearly communicate your expectations to your Virtual Assistant

How to clearly communicate your expectations to your 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

10 reasons why you should hire a 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.