3 Quick And Dirty SEO Tips

Looking for a quick and easy way to give your website a boost in the search engine results?  Here are 3 straightforward and easy tips to get the job done.

1. Add new content regularly
While that may seem obvious, it is really the best way to improve search engine results. There are a number of ways to add content including a blog, reviews, testimonials, articles and so on. Forums are also a great way to have new content added to your site by others.

2. Choose the right keywords
Select specific keyword phrases that are relevant to the webpage you are optimizing rather than general terms. Specific keyword phrases will be searched less frequently, however you will receive more targeted traffic and a higher page ranking for these phrases.

3. Linking
To achieve a high search engine ranking it is important to have other sites linking to your site. These can be one way links, or reciprocal links, where you link to another site in return for them linking to you. Internal linking also helps build the prominence of pages within your website.

Of all the types of links, one-way links have the most weight. To obtain more one-way links, writing quality content is the singular best way to motivate others to link to you. Additionally, posting on social networking sites, and linking to your site, and posting on blogs are other ways you can take control of building links to your website and web pages.

When it comes to improving your search engine ranking there are a lot of little things you can do to boost your page results however the three most important and the strategies you cannot survive without are obtaining links, choosing the right keywords and of course publishing quality content on a regular and consistent basis.

5 Simple Ways to Get More out of Twitter

I am often asked about how to use Twitter effectively without spending a ton of time. While there are ways to automate some of your Twitter activity, an even better option is to participate strategically while you are there in order to get the maximum benefit in minimum time. 

The very first thing I advise my clients is to understand why you are even using Twitter.  What is your strategy and what is your end goal?  Are you trying to get more blog readers?  Build your newsletter list?  Find joint venture partners? Tweeting randomly and aimlessly isn't going to be very effective.

Second, you'll want to spend a good amount of time interacting. There is nothing wrong with letting others know what's going on with you or your business. Just be sure to intersperse your tweets with some two-way conversation. This builds community and keeps things balanced and interesting.  You don't want to be a "hit-and-run tweeter" who swoops in, tweets and leaves!

Third, I tell people to follow the "10/1 rule"--10 non-promotional tweets to every 1 promotional one.  You don't have to hit people over the head.  I saw a good example of this recently where a pet accessories seller regularly tweeted a "bizarre animal fact of the day."  It's a way of promoting indirectly while still providing your community with value and interesting (and memorable!) tidbits of info.

Fourth, you want to find and follow people in your target market so that they are able to hear your message. Twellow.com and Wefollow.com are Twitter directories you can search by category. They're essentially the Yellow Pages of Twitter.  If your business is local, a great way to find other local Twitter users is to use nearbytweets.com.  You can use this site to search by both location and keyword.  A lot of people like to use tools like this to set up "tweetups" which are basically local meetups of Twitter users in your area.  These can be great for networking.  Another technique if you are already following some people in your target market is using whoshouldifollow.com or mrtweet.com.  Both of these sites recommend you new people to follow based on whom you are following already.

Finally, don't let your fear that you have nothing interesting to say stop you from tweeting. People want transparency and authenticity. They want to connect with real people.  You probably have a lot more interesting things to say than you give yourself credit for.  If you are still stumped for what to tweet, here are some suggestions:

• Share links--some can be to your own stuff, but mostly link to others'
• Go to Twitthis.com and grab the bookmarklet to drag to your toolbar.  This allows you to share content that's on any site outside of Twitter and post it to Twitter without even having to login
• Ask and answer questions--this often triggers conversation and helps you engage with others
• Use Twitpic.com to upload a picture, Utterli.com to post an audio tweet, or 12seconds.tv to post a video clip--these types of tweets add variety
• Re-tweet others, thank someone for re-tweeting you, be supportive, tell a joke, share a fact, offer a tip, comment on someone's twitter picture or background, congratulate someone, live-tweet an event, invite others to an upcoming event of your own, share an inspiring quote, solicit for guest bloggers, suggest someone to follow on #followfriday, post a poll...you get the idea.

The list is endless!  At first glance, it may seem like this is a lot to do.  In reality, you could implement these strategies a couple times a day or even just a couple times a week.  It's the cumulative effect you're going for--which will pay off in the end!

© 2009 Communicate Value. All Rights Reserved.
Christine Gallagher, The Online Marketing and Social Media Success Coach, is founder of Communicate Value, where she is dedicated to teaching small business owners and professionals how to conquer the overwhelming aspects of online and social media marketing to increase business and maximize profits. To get your F.R.E.E. 5-Part E-Course and receive her weekly marketing & success articles on leveraging technology, building relationships and boosting your profits, visit http://communicatevalue.com.

The Difference Between Spam and Marketing on Twitter

When we begin speaking in terms of marketing, invariably the question comes up, are my marketing efforts true marketing efforts or are some viewing them as spam?

Spam is about taking the choice away from someone and delivering them information about products and services without their permission. Spam comes in the way of unsolicited emails, junk mail and telemarketing.

Spam leaves a bad taste in our mouths and for good reason. We have not asked to be inundated with the information that we find floods our inboxes these days.

Marketing when done responsibly can be fun and witty. Commercials that reach us emotionally are effective marketing tools. People who care about their audience take the time to consider their message and how it will reach others.

On Twitter we each have an option as to who we will follow. And one might suggest it is that choice that gives others the right to “spam”. Wrong. Spam is irresponsible and annoying. More will tune out than tune in.

Take time to consider your message and how it will connect with your followers. Are you sharing a valuable service, product or resource? Do you take the time to share on a personal level as well as sharing on a business level? Have you established a relationship with your followers? Is the information you are providing timely and appropriate?

If you can answer these questions with a yes answer then your message can effectively be considered marketing rather than spam. Your followers will welcome your post rather than turn away from it. Share your tweet with others and in turn respond in kind to their own messages and tweets. After all, marketing is all about the relationship and spam is about nothing more than the bottom line.

What Should You Be Tweeting About?

Many of us have taken on the social networks as marketing tools for our businesses. And in doing so, we have decided to use Twitter. Now we have accounts, at which we stare blankly.

What should we be tweeting about?

We have 140 characters to work with and while that seems easy, it can prove more difficult to provide a valuable post in 140 characters or less. We want to engage our audience, but the question then becomes how.

What should you be sharing with your followers? What is it that they want to see?

They want great conversation. Give them a statement worth replying to. Reply in kind and open the lines of communication.

They want to get to know the person behind the tweets. Give them the opportunity to get to know you, your personality, as well as your company and services.

They want links to great sites, videos or information. If you find it relevant and useful, chances are someone else will appreciate the resource as well.

They want a tweet worthy of sharing with their own followers. Whether that comes in the form of a particularly humorous quip or a great article you have read, give them something they can retweet.

While you want to engage your followers, they want to engage you as well. Don’t be afraid to jump in and get involved yourself. Join in on the conversations, thank a fellow Twitterer for sharing a resource you found helpful. Retweet their posts as well.

In any good relationship there is balance, give and take. Don’t ask anything of your audience that you are unwilling to give yourself. If you are afraid to take your social networking to the next level, don’t expect that others will find you approachable and worthy of their time and effort.

Give them what they want and what you will get in turn will be invaluable to you and your business.

Who to Follow on Twitter

Knowing who to follow on Twitter is important in your marketing efforts. You want to follow those who are of interest to you. You want to follow those who are of use to you and your business. Your hope is that they will in turn follow you back, if they aren’t already following you, thus opening up the lines of communication between your business and your audience.

There are several tools that can be used to make these efforts easier and more streamlined.

http://mrtweet.com/
Mr. Tweet - Show the influencers and followers you should follow and suggests you to enthusiastic users relevant to you.

http://justtweetit.com/
Just Tweet It - A user directory for Twitter organized by genre to allow for users to easily find other Twitter users to connect with.

http://www.retweetrank.com/
Retweet Rank - Retweetrank lets you find rank of any twitter user. With the rank, latest retweets of the user are shown and an RSS feed can also be grabbed for the same.

http://www.twellow.com/
Twellow - A directory of public Twitter accounts, with hundreds of categories and search features to help you find people who matter to you.

http://twitterel.com/
TwitteRel - By using Twitterel.com you can make your life a lot more interesting, we thought of a way to connect to other twitter users who share the same interests as you do.

http://friendorfollow.com/
Friend or Follow - Who are you following that's not following you back? Who's following you that you're not following back?

http://twitoria.com/
Twitoria - Twitoria is a web app that tidies up your Twitter friends list by revealing inactive friends that haven't tweeted in a long time so you can unfollow them.

http://topify.com/
Topify - Twitter application that improves Twitter's email notification and allows to follow and reply to direct messages by email.

http://tweepler.com/
Tweepler - A Twitter application that allows you to organize followers.

http://twimailer.com/
Twimailer - Tired of shallow e-mails from Twitter when someone follows you? Want to know more about the people who are following you? Twimailer is a free service that delivers that information right to your inbox!


Have a question you need answering? Find relevant people on Twitter to ask.

Reasons to Tweet about Your Business

If you've done any reading on the Twitter marketing, you probably realize that tweeting can be an effective, cost-free or low-cost solution for marketing your business. All too often, however, we may be left wondering what to tweet about our businesses. We are under the mistaken impression that we simply have nothing worthy of sharing.

A good tweet can not only inform your followers about new developments in your company, but it can also educate, inform, or entertain them. .Once you achieve visibility, both your company profile and your client prospect levels will rise. The word of mouth that can come from a particularly intelligent tweet or series of tweets can result in hundreds or thousands of dollars in free advertising.
If you provide tweets that appeals to your followers, you'll gain credibility and be on your way to forming a valuable relationship. This can be very powerful from a marketing point of view.

If you’re looking for things to tweet about in relation to your business, consider some of these ideas. This is a list of 19 reasons to tweet about your business and help you get started today in utilizing this amazing promotional strategy for your business:

• Starting a new business
• Celebrating a company anniversary
• Publishing of a new article or series of articles
• Publishing of a new blog post related to your business
• Publishing of a book or ebook
• Promote a book signing
• Receiving an award
• Announcement a partnership
• Promote a specific product, service, event, contest or fundraiser
• Promote a product or service that is holiday themed
• Promote a sale or holiday sale
• Promote a campaign using your company products that promotes a cause or creates awareness about something important
• Announce that you're available to speak on particular subjects of interest
• Promote a public appearance on television, radio or in person
• Launching of a website or blog
• Website or blog anniversary
• Announce free information or resources are available
• Sponsoring a workshop, seminar, conference or tele-seminar
• Announcement of a new strategic partnership or alliance

While there are many other reasons to tweet, these ideas should help you jumpstart your creativity.

The Virtual Assistant Internet Researcher

The Internet is an amazing tool for many people but it is not necessarily easy to decipher. A virtual assistant with the skills to dig out relevant information from the rest of the jumble can specialize in research. Internet researchers are in great demand for all sorts of clients.
In school they teach students to pick out the theme of a paragraph or story. After reading it is the job of the student to figure out what is the most important part of what they have read. As a researcher, that is what you will do for others who do not have the time or the skill to find it themselves. Compiling information that is useful to others is a part of your business.

The Market
The Internet provides access to a massive amount of information. Experts in different fields post their knowledge in articles and blog posts. Governments, agencies and professional organizations have digitized their databases and directories for use on the Internet by anyone who desires the information.

With so much information it is easy to see how the average person or business owner may get lost in the sauce, so to speak. Who uses that information? Businesses use the Internet to compile statistics and to learn about their competition. Writers, book authors, journalists and television professionals use information from the Internet for their work. With their busy jobs, they don’t have time to research.

Conducting research can be a lengthy process. On the Internet, it begins with knowing how search engines work and the best way to find exactly what you are looking for from them. Most people use Yahoo!, Google or MSN but there are plenty of other search engines that the average person doesn’t know about. An Internet researcher is familiar with all of them and uses the one that will yield the greatest harvest of useful information.

Virtual assistants who want to niche into Internet research provide some of these services to their clients:

• Compiling current statistical data
• Knowledge of all relevant databases and search engines
• Uses proven methods for information gathering (relevant use of keywords)
• Spreadsheet and Word document expertise for presenting information in useful manner
• General and specific knowledge of client subject matter

Writers may ask for research on specific subjects like snake venom or 18^th century London for their next novel. A business client may want statistics on auto maker revenue in the last ten years. Each is a different subject, but methods of researching are similar.

As a virtual assistant Internet researcher you may find that you have a niche subject in mind for your business.
Maybe statistical information gathering and analysis are your forte. You can build a client base around just that for small and large corporate-type businesses. It is not easy to perform research and your clients will want the best.

The Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant

As a virtual assistant, you know how important it is to have an online presence. Making yourself visible in as many places as possible is important for anyone in business. If you have the skills, you can be an Internet marketer and help others.

If you have never been on the Internet you are living in the Stone Age. The cyber world is filled with businesses with virtual storefronts, advertising and people talking on forums and in real-time. Those businesses want to know what those people are talking about so they can tailor their advertising to bring in sales. That is where you come in as an Internet marketer.

The Market
Every online business needs a marketing plan. The plan is designed to get the products or services in front of the millions of people surfing the Web each day. Unless people know about the product and its advantages, they will buy from someone else. Implementing a marketing plan takes time and effort that many business owners just don’t have with all of the other jobs on their plate.

There are no easy shortcuts to Internet marketing success. Most business owners use the trial and error method to see what works. With the help of an expert Internet marketer, that process gets a whole lot easier.

As a virtual assistant Internet marketer, you can make the difference between creating a powerful new brand and obscurity.

Virtual assistants who can function as Internet marketing experts are in high demand. You take the pressure off of companies both small and large that want to concentrate on their product or service. It is your job to draw the traffic to the site to see the products.

Some of the tasks you can perform as an Internet Marketing VA include, but are not limited to:

• Article marketing
• Pay per click advertising (PPC)
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Email campaigns
• Direct mailing campaign
• Keyword research
• Social networking
• Link building

Your clients may have an idea of where they want to start with their marketing plan or they may not. It takes a combination of marketing tools to increase the visibility of a business online and off. For the business owner who doesn’t have time to explore and learn each one, the virtual assistant Internet marketer (that’s you) already possesses these expertise and can hit the ground running with a plan to get the business going online.

Each of these areas is a part of Internet marketing but you don’t have to offer each service. You may be interested in email campaigns or search engine optimization. You can further niche into these areas to build foolproof campaigns no business can ignore.

Build your business by bringing business to others as a virtual assistant Internet marketer. As the industry grows, you will profit from being on the forefront of technology and an expert in your field.

The Virtual Assistant Bookkeeper

Keeping the books organized is a major battle for most small businesses. Sure, the business receives money from clients and pays for equipment but as far as the bookkeeping goes, it may be a drawer in the office with tons of paper receipts. The virtual assistant bookkeeper sorts through these papers to sort out the books.
Someone has to do record keeping. In a small online business, that person is the owner. If they don’t have time during the day, then after they have dealt with other issues, it is time to record some numbers. That makes for a long day – every day.

The Market
More than one business has ended up bankrupt because of bad bookkeeping. One day, the owner looks up and sees that they have sucked their resources dry. Not keeping accurate records can lead to problems with the IRS and no one wants that.

When a business owner doesn’t possess a certain expertise, they hire someone to do it for them. For small businesses, hiring a bookkeeper is not just interviewing and choosing one from many. An employer has to pay for health insurance and other particulars for each employee and that means money they don’t have.
Another solution is a virtual assistant like you. With a virtual assistant, businesses don’t pay for space, insurance or sick time. They pay for services rendered and that is it. In today’s economy, that is a smart business move.

You might say that a virtual assistant bookkeeper is a hot commodity. You provide a needed service for small and large businesses. Keeping on top of business accounts is easy for someone with the knowledge.
Some of the services you might offer are:

• Payroll
• Reconciling accounts
• Daily record keeping
• Entering transactions in the proper ledgers
• Month-end statements
• Software bookkeeping management

Think of all of the time and energy you will save each business owner? Clients can depend on you to record receipts and let them know how much cash they have on hand. Bookkeepers invoice account holders for work to be done and finished jobs.

There are a number of ways to conduct your business. Local clients can mail their receipts to you for your expert help. All of the information can be organized using bookkeeping software and sent as an attachment to your clients. For online clients, you can reconcile the software that they use with their account records.

A virtual assistant bookkeeper can feel good about the job that they do for businesses. Staying ahead in financial matters is at the crux of business success. Your management of the books gives them one less thing to worry about.

The Virtual Assistant Transcriptionist/Translator

Audio and video media are becoming commonplace in online business. It is easier to record this way for later use. Businesses will need the services of a virtual assistant to turn the recorded media into print.
Medical professionals have used Dictaphone and dictating services for a long time. Doctors later have their notes transcribed for patient and hospital records. The same goes for legal proceedings. It is more convenient to use a recording device and later create a written copy.

The Market
Online businesses have found ways to market their products with audio and video. Tutorials, how-tos and interviews are uploaded to websites for viewing and hearing. But, we all know that sometimes you can’t always understand what is being said. That requires the need for a transcribed record of the recording.
Just like movies, audio and video can be translated into other languages to increase your marketing efforts.

Many business owners would like to do that but they don’t know how to transcribe or translate. They need the help of a professional like a virtual assistant well versed in transcription and translation.
Transcribing recordings is not as easy as you might think. As a virtual assistant transcriptionist your clients will not have to struggle with this issue. Using your transcription software you will be able to handle all sorts of recordings for them using the format that they choose for the written copy.

Some of your services can include:

• Medical Transcription
• Legal Transcription
• Video Transcription
• Podcast Transcription
• Transcription Translation
• Audio transcription for business meetings

Clients can email their work to you as audio or video files according to what file extensions you accept. They may even want to mail CDs or tapes for non-rush jobs. Depending on their needs, you can provide verbatim transcription or cleaned-up transcription that is grammatically correct.

For the virtual assistant transcriptionist who is also fluent in another language, you can offer translation services to your clients. This gives them the opportunity to expand their customer base with products for non-English speaking customers. Each area of transcription can become a sub-niche if you want to specialize further.

Medical or legal transcription alone can turn into a lucrative business.

Transcription services are one area that a virtual assistant can specialize in as a business idea. As more and more online businesses use other media as marketing tools, they will need the skill of a transcriptionist and even a translator for their work.

Database Management Virtual Assistant

Businesses are all about the client and the product. There are files for clients and files for products. With so much paperwork, it is hard to keep everything organized. Businesses, especially smaller ones, need a virtual assistant database manager.

It would be nice for business owners if they could just talk about and sell their products or services all day long. Unfortunately there is more to it than that. Nowadays, businesses live and die on statistical analysis and other reports. In order to generate these reports you need the data to back them up.

Poorly organized data can weaken a company. For instance, how would a business ever know how their products are doing in certain areas of the country? What about customer feedback?

The Market
A business captures data in order to grow. They would never discover their strong areas, weak areas or whether marketing campaigns were a success. Information is king in the business world.

To that end, it is important to manage data in an organized fashion. Customer names and information need to be logged, reports need to be generated about product demographic, customer surveys and profits to name just a few important areas.

Database management is another area that small business owners especially don’t have time to look after. It takes time to organize this information and that takes away from the business of promoting and creating new products. It is a catch-22 that a virtual assistant can help with.

Do you have expertise in the area of setting up databases in different formats? You can assist online and offline businesses. Each business keeps records of customer names, demographic data, product inventory, monthly revenue and other vital information.

Virtual assistants, who specialize in database setup and management, provide such services as:

• Database design and maintenance
• Data entry of customer names and information
• Create data spreadsheets from compiled records
• Process new data
• Create reports for clients
• Create graphs and other visuals
• Tech support for clients using new databases

Databases allow your client’s employees to retrieve information that they need to do their jobs. With a little training by you, everyone can learn to access the databases that you create. The business of information gathering is streamlined for greater efficiency.

The basic infrastructure of the company’s records is in your hands. A small business can go from a desk full of loose papers with information to a well-organized database that can be updated in a few keystrokes thanks to you. Any information that the client needs right away, you can access with ease.

Businesses thrive on information and as a virtual assistant database manager; you are a major part of that winning equation. If you like working with data and are good at organization, this might be the niche for you.

The Virtual Assistant Customer Service Expert

Customer service is an important aspect of every business. When customers aren’t satisfied they go elsewhere. For business owners that don’t have the time to provide proper customer service, they can hire a virtual assistant with the skills to do the job.

What is customer service? It can be as simple as answering an email from a customer in a timely fashion. Or, it is providing a FAQ page on the business website. To a customer, having their needs met is the definition of good customer service.

The Market
After business gains clients through marketing and advertising, that is only half of the job. They may have fifty one-time customers who spend $100 each on the site. That is $5,000 worth of business.

If poor customer service drives them away, that $5,000 will seem like small change in the long run. Better still are the same fifty customers spending $50 each time they visit because of customer loyalty inspired by great customer service. Now, the business makes $2,500 each time these fifty customers visit. A satisfied customer is the best marketing tool a business can have.

Because the customer has the power to make or break a business, treating them like they are important (which they are) is a crucial step in the business plan. Businesses use email systems, answering services, automated phone messages and instant messaging services to deal with customer issues. But, each of these types of service ideas needs someone to effectively manage them in order for it to work.

Customer Service Expert Virtual Assistant Tasks
When sales drop off because of customer dissatisfaction, it’s time to get help. Virtual assistants are trained in communication skills. These skills not only benefit you in finding clients but doing your job as well. As a virtual assistant customer expert you will be working with the client to solve their customer problems. Your work for them will be done with their customers and reported back to them.

Part of your job will be:

• Addressing customer complaints (calls, emails, IM)
• Handling product issues between client and their customers
• Answering customer questions
• Sending out emails, catalogs and newsletters to subscription customers

How broad your services really depend on what the business is in need of. They can give you leeway to offer customer refunds, exchanges and other offers depending on the situation at hand. This requires that you have access to customer accounts databases and privileges to update them.

Much dissatisfaction with outsourcing customer service by customers is the lack of knowledge of the product or the company. As a virtual assistant specializing in customer service, you will become familiar with the company and their products as a common practice so that you can do your job well. It is an added bonus for you to have worked in the customer service industry before.

A virtual assistant brings skill in communication to the table when dealing with customer service issues. Your work with create lifelong customers for your clients.

The Virtual Assistant Web Designer

One niche that virtual assistants are pursuing is that of a web designer. More and more brick and mortar businesses are taking their products to the Internet. Without the savvy to create the base for their online presence, they will need your help.

What is a web designer? A web designer is someone who works to set up websites for other businesses. If you have knowledge in this area and are talented to boot, you can take your virtual assisting business in that direction.

The Market
The Internet is the next great frontier. Millions upon millions of people use the Internet everyday to look for information, conduct business and buy merchandise or services. The way into this world is through your online presence. It is the way that people learn about you and your business.

Web designing has a tremendous learning curve. Most people don’t know anything about HTML or RSS except that they are letters. It can be intimidating for someone who wants to build a website (for an existing business or as an Internet business) to do so and not make mistakes.

Mistakes can cost you business. Pages that won’t load or graphics that are too loud can turn visitors away before they can see what the business has to offer. Many businesses would avoid this part if they could.

The area of web design is ripe for the picking for any virtual assistant with experience. Website designers who can take the ideas of the business owner and turn them into reality are and will continue to be in demand.

Virtual assistant website designers perform tasks like:

• Website setup
• Blog setup
• Monitoring forum discussions
• Page setup
• Search engine optimization of pages
• Uploading files, videos, audio and podcasts
• Troubleshoot coding problems
• Website maintenance

Visitors look for different things in a website. Placing ads at the top of the page are more eye-catching. Dedicating each webpage to a different product allows more information about the product to be readily available. Well-informed visitors are more likely to buy the product that way.

These are just a few of the tasks you may be called upon to perform. Believe it or not, just taking care of the website duties is a weight off of the mind of business owners both small and large who want to concentrate on the business side of things and not pulling their hair out trying to manage graphics or blog posts.

The good news is that any one of these areas can further be defined as a sub-niche. Within web design you can concentrate on website maintenance or simply the initial setup. Both are much needed services. Any virtual assistant, who likes the technical side of the Internet, will see their passion fulfilled as a website designer.

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The Real Estate Virtual Assistant

Many virtual assistants worked in other areas of corporate America before they went into business for themselves. If your area was real estate, think about the opportunities waiting for you as a real estate virtual assistant.

Real estate agents either work for a company or they can go out on their own and work as an independent. To make money, they sell homes and other properties. Agents stay busy with listings, showings, sales and other projects. Combine that with their office responsibilities and the “little details” and you have way too much for one person to handle.

The Market

As any business owner will tell you, it is hard to juggle promotion, client satisfaction, daily operations and professional affiliations all at once. Many new businesses like an independent real estate agent are not in the position to hire new employees at first. Besides that, the pick of local applicants may be less than qualified to do the job without some hand holding at first.

The real estate industry was among the first to use virtual assistants to meet their needs. Virtual assistants had the necessary skills to handle bookkeeping, accounting, database management and various other office activities. Virtual assistants that once worked in real estate decided to use that knowledge to build a niche business for themselves. As such, they were able to expand their services to real estate agents beyond just the basics.

Duties of a Real Estate VA

Virtual assistants that have been in the real estate industry know that an agent needs help with basic office needs and much more. With that in mind, virtual assistants, like you can offer services like:

• Business marketing plans (creating company logos, brands)
• Website management (virtual tours, website content)
• Contacting potential clients (home sellers, home buyers, FSBOs)
• Coordinating listing activities (data entry, promotional info, presentations)
• Closing activities (escrow, inspections, signings)
• Keep track of appointments
• Create new business leads

With the knowledge of real estate, clients will seek you out to make their job easier. You will be able to propose new areas for business growth, create sales copy depending on the area and the situation with the housing market and deal with the questions that customers ask but agents don’t always have time to answer.

Many real estate virtual assistants work with local agents and develop a professional relationship. With your expertise, you are not limited to that though. Maybe you deal mainly with website services. In that arena, you can create stunning websites and virtual tours for clients in any time zone as long as they provide the needed information for you to get started.

A virtual assistant in the area of real estate is a vital member of the team. Your knowledge helps the agents to concentrate on the business of helping clients to buy or sell property and leave the rest to you.

How to Specialize as a Virtual Assistant and Why You Should

The virtual assistant business is booming. Businesses have realized the advantages of hiring someone to help them with their business tasks. As a virtual assistant you can work to meet the needs of any and every client or you can change your tack and specialize in one or two areas of business.

Have you heard the phrase, “Less is more”? It’s true when you are talking about virtual assistants. A general virtual assisting business lets you take in clients from all walks of life. That’s good if you like that, but sometimes the learning curve can be quite big with certain projects. When you specialize, the client gets the benefit of your accumulated knowledge on each and every project.

The reason you started your virtual assisting business in the first place was to go to work for yourself. Going into business as your own boss shouldn’t be an unhappy proposition. If it’s not a law it should be, wouldn’t you agree? As the person in charge, you have the right to decide what work you do or do not do.

Take your virtual assistant business to the next level with niching. Niching involves tightening your business plan to include one main area of expertise. When you stick to one thing, you become good at it. You can even call yourself an expert in the field. Clients will pay a lot of money to work with someone who knows their stuff. You can be that person.

Specializing

How do you specialize? First, decide what services you enjoy doing for your client. It could be website design, social networking, handling personal matters or another area altogether. Many virtual assistants worked in the public or private sector before they became entrepreneurs. Use that knowledge to create a niche for your new business.

Reasons to Niche

The first reason is more money for your services. Because you provide the same services to all your clients, you can ask for a higher rate. You can make the same profit that you did before but with fewer clients.

Secondly, niching lets you work at something that you love to do. It is a proven fact that when you are happy, you work better. That goes for employees and business owners. You gladly answer questions for customers or take on a trying task.

Thirdly, you can keep your clients satisfied with great customer service and job integrity. Your clients get your best work always and will recommend you to others. You build a solid faithful client base.

Specializing as a virtual assistant is a way to increase your business. Clients get an expert in the field and you get to work a business that you love.