How a Virtual Assistant Can Help You to Use Local Marketing

Marketing, Online marketing, Virtual Assistant0 comments

As someone who runs their own virtual assistant business, I know how essential it is to have an online presence.  However, it can sometimes be very difficult to make yourself heard above all the other marketing messages being broadcast whether it’s via Twitter, Facebook or blogs.

So if you’re a business owner like me who wants to reach out to people in your area, how can you do this?  Well this is where the power of local marketing comes in.  By targeting your marketing to people within a specific area, you are able to become more effective in communicating your message.

So if you want to make yourself heard, here’s a list of the top 5 local marketing tools and how a virtual assistant can help you to set them up.

Google places. This free local listing service is the quickest and easiest way to get on the first page of Google.  A virtual assistant can set up your profile with all your company details, including information on your services, location and opening hours.  They can also upload any images or videos, and will include specific search terms within your profile so that your place appears when people are looking for your services or products within your area.

Facebook Places.  A VA can create a Facebook Places account for you where they will set up or claim your “place”, ie your business address and then complete your profile with details of your location, services and products.  Once this is set up, then people can “check in” when they visit your business and by doing this, they tell their Facebook friends about you.

Facebook advertising is like Google Adwords where you set a budget and then pay every time someone clicks on your ad.  A virtual assistant can create an ad with images and text and then specify who sees the ad by selecting criteria such as age, gender, interests and location as specified by you.  They can monitor the performance of your ads and manage your budget.

Foursquare is very similar to Facebook Places, and again a VA can create or claim your place, and set up your profile with any exclusive discounts or special offers for people who check in to your location.  When people check in, they share their location via social media which spreads the word about your business.

Google Adwords works in the same way as Facebook advertising where you set a daily budget and then pay every time someone clicks on your ad.  A virtual assistant can create an account on Adwords with criteria specified by you.  This includes where your ads are displayed, eg in a particular country or city, your cost per click budget, and which keywords you want to use – you can use location-based keywords so that your ad appears when people are searching for your services or products within that area.

So if you want to communicate to potential clients within your local area then these tools will help you do this and keep you one step ahead of the competition.  By using a virtual assistant to set these up and monitor them for you, you can focus on following up the leads that have been generated from these marketing activities.

5 Things That Spell Disaster for Your Website

Marketing, Online marketing, Websites0 comments

A lot of people set up a website for their business and then forget about it, thinking the job has been done.  Well, maintaining your website is an ongoing process (see my previous blog on this topic: Why Updating Your Website is Crucial for Online Success) and if you don’t get it right, it can actually deter people from doing business with you.

Here are five things that can spell disaster for your website but can be easily fixed for very little effort and far less money than you might think.

• No call to action.  When visitors arrive at your website, they only stay a few seconds before they decide whether what you’re offering is for them.  That’s why it’s important to have a call to action on each page so people know what you want them to do.  This can be a telephone number to call, contact form to complete or free eBook to download.

• Slow upload.  Images on a web page are a great way to attract the reader’s eye and break up the text.  However, remember to optimise your images before uploading them on to the site.  If your page takes ages to load, then the visitor will bounce right off it.

• Broken links.  One of the worst things you can have on your site is links that don’t lead anywhere.  It looks totally unprofessional and makes you look like someone who is not serious about your business.  So if you redesign your site or change the structure, make sure that all the links on your pages still work.  If you’re using WordPress, there are plugins that can check broken links for you.

• Out of date content.  Whether it’s an old copyright date at the bottom of the page or latest news which is over 6 months old, out of date content can look like either your business has closed down or you don’t care enough to keep visitors to your site updated.

• No contact details.  You must put your full contact details on your website if you want to look credible, eg phone number and business address.  This is actually required by law if you are a limited company.  Be careful with email addresses as spambots can pick them up so either add your email as an image, or put spaces in the address.

All the above are easy to fix without breaking the bank.  You can either do this yourself if you have a content management system or you can outsource it to someone else.  In fact, many virtual assistants now offer either a web design service or understand HTML.  Here at Smart VA, we can edit web pages with keyword rich content, add and optimise images, and check links, and all this at a far lower rate than a web designer.  So if your website is looking a bit tired and outdated, then find out how our website update service can help you.

7 Steps to Social Media Heaven!

How to, Marketing, Online marketing0 comments

As business owners, we’ve all heard that social media is a great way of promoting our products and services.  However, many people still aren’t using it – writing it off as too time consuming and unable to see the benefits it can bring to their business.

When I set up my own business, I had never used social media before.  However, once I’d got going, I soon realised that it was actually a great way to get my name out there to potential customers, and now I really enjoy using it and have made some great connections.

So if you are struggling with social media, here are some tips to take you to social media heaven!

• Social media is another part of your marketing strategy so you need to know what you want to achieve with it.  Do you just want to use it to get your name out there; find potential partners and suppliers; or to generate business from it?  So before you get stuck in, start off by setting some actions and goals.
• Remember that each social media application is different so don’t try to use them all in the same way.  How you use and interact on Twitter will be very different from how you do so on Facebook, and the same goes for LinkedIn.
• Once you have signed up, ensure that you fully complete your profile, with your bio of what you do, a link to your website, and a picture – ideally one of you if you’re running your business by yourself.
• You can save time managing your social media accounts by using third party applications such as TweetDeck and HootSuite.  You can use these to schedule updates, as well as track click throughs on links, and manage followers.  It can be tempting to post one update to all your accounts at once, but remember that all social media is not the same.  That funny remark you make on Twitter may not go down so well on LinkedIn!
• Use the search features to look for relevant followers, fans and connections who could potentially be interested in your business.  You can also use the search in Twitter and Facebook to find hot topics relating to what you do.

• Think like your customer.  As with all your marketing activities, when using social media you need to think about what your potential customers might be looking for.  Obviously use it to share personal stuff about yourself, but when it comes to the business side of your updates, keep in mind what your contacts would find useful.
• It’s not all about you!  Don’t spend all your time broadcasting messages about you and your business though.  Engage with others by asking and answering questions, retweeting people’s posts on Twitter, or commenting on someone’s wall on Facebook.  People love it when others share their content and engage with them, and this helps build up a relationship with your contacts.

How to get inspiration for your blog

How to, Marketing, Online marketing4 comments

We’ve all heard how blogging is a great way to raise your profile.  As I already mentioned in my previous blog “To blog or not to blog”, you can use it to show off your expertise and knowledge to a wide audience.  What I would call a “soft” way of marketing to them so that they can see that you can walk the talk without any hard sell.

But what about the challenge of knowing what to write about?  Well this is something that a lot of people struggle with and it’s what puts people off starting in the first place.  In fact I had this problem the other day when I realised that I was due to write another article but had a complete mental blank on what to say.  So what can you do when the muse doesn’t strike and you’re sitting there scratching your head trying to think of something to write?

Well, here are some tips that I use to get the creative juices flowing!

• Take a break.  If you’re sitting in front of the computer, staring at a blank document and there’s nothing happening, then get up and walk away.  Make a cup of coffee, have a chat with a work colleague, or just do something else.  I bet that when you come back later, you’ll find that inspiration will strike and you’ll be able to write what you want easily without any effort at all.
• Get some exercise.  Physical exercise doesn’t just motivate us physically, but also mentally.  Whether it’s going for a walk in the park, a run round the block or a session at the gym, taking exercise can help relieve stress and clear the mind.
• Be prepared.  Inspiration can hit us at any time so always have a pen and paper handy to write down any ideas as they come to you.  If you’re researching an answer to a question or found out some useful information that could be helpful to others, then share it in your blog.
• Ask for help.  Get ideas from other people.  Ask your contacts and clients for any subjects that they would like to know more about.  It’s great having your own ideas but if you are writing blogs to attract clients then wouldn’t it be better to write on subjects that they are interested in?
• Don’t do anything! If for some reason you can’t think of anything to write about then leave it.  Better not to write anything at all than to just put something on your blog for the sake of it.  Remember that your blog will only attract readers if you have something interesting to say.

These are just a few tips that I use to help me get some inspiration – I’d be interested to hear yours!

Are Your Newsletters Being Seen?

How to, Marketing, Online marketing1 comment

Have you ever received a newsletter from a company that you couldn’t see?  You know the ones I mean – you open it up and all you see are a couple of small red Xs.  The company seems to have forgotten that many people automatically block images in their email browser.  I very often just delete messages like this because I either don’t have the time or can’t be bothered to click and download the images.  This means that these companies are sending out messages that are literally not being seen by their recipients.

Using images to design your email newsletter is great but remember that only a minority of email users have their images turned on by default.  So if you want your emails to be displayed properly, here are 3 tips on how to get your messages seen by your recipients.

1. Keep it plain. When you send out your first newsletter, it’s very tempting to focus on creating and designing an HTML email with layout, colours and images.  But if we are really honest with ourselves, how necessary are some of these design elements?  Can a plain text email be just as effective?  So think about what kind of message you want to put across and whether this can be done with a simple and personalised text only message.  If you do go for an HTML newsletter, make sure that you have plain text version as well.
   
   
2. Use image tags. As with website design, it’s essential to use ALT-text when inserting images into an email message. So if the image cannot be viewed then a text description of the image will appear instead.   Be specific when describing the image or link, eg “businesswoman on the phone” or “Link to latest offers”.
   
   
3. Design with tables. You can design messages using tables which allows you to retain the basic structure of your HTML messages, including columns and image sizes.  You can also use the table to add colours and pictures which can be seen by the recipient even if they have images turned off.

These are just 3 essential tips to help you ensure that your email newsletters can be seen by your recipients and not sent straight to the delete or junk folder.