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.