We've Moved and Other Big Changes!

You've probably noticed I haven't been around much the last few weeks. We've been busy creating the Chief Virtual Officer website and blog. Our goal is to help new and aspiring virtual assistants now that they are business owners and no longer employees.

We've launched our new website and blog! All the great information you found here can now be found at the Chief Virtual Officer blog. In addition to my blog posts, we're adding blog posts by two additional business coaches, Joel D Canfield and Jerry Kennedy. Joel is my husband and business partner. Together we offer coaching for virtual assistants. Jerry is another business associate and has been a sales trainer for many years. So come on over and join in the conversation.

Take 5...Minutes to Connect With Your Target Market

It's easy to feel overwhelmed with all the various ways to market on the Internet. Because we are so busy, we may feel there's not enough time to make real meaningful connections with our target market using social media.

Why not just Take 5? Take five minutes a day and do one of the following five things to connect with your target market.

1. Direct message (DM) a contact on Twitter. Perhaps you noticed they just posted a new blog entry you enjoyed reading. Let them know with a DM.

2. Send a message to a connection on Facebook. Did one of your clients just announce a new service or product? Send them a message and congratulate them!

3. Comment on a blog post. You should be following blogs relevant to your industry. Take 5 minutes to make a meaningful comment on a blog entry and add value to the conversation.

4. Write a short blog post. Take 5 minutes to write a short blog post with the top 5 tips on how to... Not every entry you post needs to be a novella.

5. Send an email. Have you recently met someone at a networking event that you would like to follow up with? Send a brief email asking when would be a good time to chat for 10-15 minutes by phone to learn more about their business.

You know you should market your business every single day. On those days when you just feel too busy and overwhelmed to do that, keep this list handy and remember, Take 5...

What can you do in 5 minutes to connect with your target market?

Commonsense Virtual Assistant Coaching Program Launched

I'm very excited to announce a new VA Coaching Program.

If you'd like to start your new year with a bang, subscribe to our 5-month program.

Benefits:
Access by email 24/7
One 1-hour phone call each month with Joel and Sue
Review of website, particularly in the area of marketing and SEO, any marketing materials, including business cards, brochures, postcards, cold calling scripts, etc., blog, articles and rates
Assistance developing description of your ideal client, creating a 30-60 second pitch, a one page business plan, one page marketing plan and marketing calendar
Products as listed below, one each month
PDFs as listed below, one each month
Questionnaire to determine your specific coaching needs
We only work with ten clients at a time

Books and CDs included, valued at over $100:
(one mailed each month of paid coaching)

The Commonsense Virtual Assistant: Becoming an Entrepreneur, Not an Employee
Motivation 101: 5 Steps to Activate Your Potential in Any Economy, An Audio Mastery Course
49 Commonsense Business Observations
The Commonsense Entrepreneur
Surprise bonus business book

Bonus PDFs included:

Self Promotion: Getting Started - includes marketing tools and resources
Blogging for Your Business: includes 3 Keys to Successful Blogging and 5 Ways to Promote Your Blog, Finding the Time to Write and What to Write About, Ideas on How to Get More Traffic to Your Blog and a questionnaire to help you get started
Article Submissions and Press Release Sites
Duct Tape Marketing Guide: 7 Steps to Small Business Marketing Success
Marketing and Promoting Your Teleseminar: a list of online sites you can post your teleseminars

Bonus for signing up by July 31, 2009!
Membership in VIP Business Heretics
Monthly Subscription
(Included for the duration of the coaching program; ongoing subscription is $25/month)
Weekly teleclass with coaches Joel D Canfield and Jerry L Kennedy
Digital copies of all Business Heretics products: audios and ebooks
First look at all new Canfield Kennedy content posted at the website

All for $250/Month for the 5-Month Program

To learn more about this program, visit Commonsense Virtual Assistant Coaching.

10 Tools to Promote Your Online Event

Creating a teleclass, teleseminar and webinars online can be very effective ways to build your list and educate prospects and clients.

Once you've created your online event, how do you promote it? Here are 10 tools you can use.

1. EventBrite.com - Here you can set up an account at no charge. EventBrite provides ways to post the event on your website, send out invitations to your contacts, and follow up with reminders to those who registered.

2. Facebook - You can create an Event and invite all your friends. You can also send reminders, post links, photos and videos, and others can post comments.

3. LinkedIn- You can also post events here and invite contacts.

4. Twitter- Use Twitter to post a brief sentence about what your contacts will learn with a link to your sign up page.

5. Blog - Post a blog entry about your event, focusing on what your prospects and clients will learn.

6. Website - Post the event on your website. If you've used EventBrite, you can post a 'Register Now' button that you created at EventBrite.

7. SeminarAnnouncer.com - This is another free tool you can use to post your events.

8. CCULearning.comm - Conference Call University is one more free place to post your event.

9. EventSetter.com - Post your virtual events here at no charge.

10. Local Online Newspaper - Your local paper may have an online version where you can post events at no charge.

These are all free and easy to use. Your virtual assistant could post to all 10 of these free sites within two hours. Where will you post your next online event?

Twitter Tip #3 of 6

Tip #3

If you have a newsletter or blog, post links to specific blog posts or to your newsletter sign up page.

Using Twitter Effectively

Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon to use Twitter. As an online business owner, how you can use it most effectively? Here are a few simple tips:

1. Make sure your profile bio has information about what you do and include a link to your website.

2. Post tips and answer questions you've received from clients and prospects.

3. Share your blog posts on Twitter.

As with other social sites, it can be time consuming. So plan your time wisely. I'm continually learning new things about using Twitter. And yes, I have had a prospect even contact me through Twitter.

How do you use Twitter in your business?

Should You Become a Virtual Assistant?

I was recently interviewed by Sharon Reed Abboud who just released her new book, All Moms Work.

Here's the entire interview on her blog.

How Do You Find Time to Post Blog Entries?

One of the challenges of being a blogger is finding the time to write and post those entries. There have been times when I have not been as consistent as I'd like in posting to my blogs. Something I've found very helpful is to schedule some time to sit down and write several entries at once.

If possible, I'd suggest you write a week's worth of entries each week or even schedule entries for an entire month if you post just two to three times each week. Once you start writing, it's easier to keep going. And with the tools provided by the blogging platforms, it's easy to schedule your posts to go out at future times.

Wouldn't it be great to take an hour right now and create five or six entries and schedule them to go out throughout the month? Then you could just sit back and relax for a while.

How do you find time to post blog entries?

Where do you come up with your blog ideas?

Recently someone asked me where I come up with my blog ideas. It can be very challenging to create fresh blog content regularly. Here are some of the ideas I shared:

1. Subscribe to newsletters and blogs about your industry to get ideas.
2. Read - books, magazines, blogs, newsletters.
3. Write down a list of words that describe you and your business. Then create a blog post for each word describing in more detail what you and your business is all about.
4. Go to BlogEnergizer.com for ideas.
5. Keep a notebook with you at all times. You'll be surprised the ideas you come up with while sitting at a meeting, networking with others, and just driving down the road. Jot them down in your notebook and then go back to create a blog entry.
6. Use questions (such as this one I received) to create a blog entry.

Remember, blog posts do not need to be long. In fact I think a short, one paragraph entry is just fine.

Where do you come up with your blog ideas?

4 Online Marketing Tips

1. Social Networking - Social networking is the rage right now and more and more people are using social networking sites to connect and build business relationships. There are many out there and they can be addictive and time-consuming. I suggest joining LinkedIn and Facebook and perhaps one more specific to your industry. Create an effective profile and start building relationships.

2. Blogging for Business - Again, more and more businesses are blogging. Yes, it can be time consuming. By scheduling a regular time to blog, you can increase traffic to your website and connect with your target market.

3. Ezines - Create an email newsletter and send it out regularly. Too often businesses are not consistent with this and lose subscribers. Commit to sending your newsletter out on a consistent schedule and you'll build credibility.

4. Articles - If you write an article for every newsletter you publish, you can then submit it to article directories and increase exposure for your business even more. This helps get more web site traffic and higher search engine rankings.

What other online marketing tips have you used?

3 Ways to Re-purpose Your Articles

1. Compile your "Top 10 Tips" articles and create a tip booklet. Offer it as a complimentary gift when prospects sign up for your e-zine.

2. Repost your articles on your blog.

3. When you go to networking events or speaking engagements, handout reprints of your articles. This is less likely to be thrown out than a flyer or brochure.

Special: Introductory Blog Package

Recently I've been able to help several clients create and set up systems to maintain their blogs and promote them. I've had other VAs ask me for this information too.

This Introductory Blog Package includes a 2-page Blogging Basics report that discusses why you should have a blog, the benefits, 3 Keys to Successful Blogging, and 5 ways to promote your blog.

The package also contains a 3-page report, Blogging: Beyond the Basics, that addresses finding the time to write, what to write about, creating quality content, and more.

The final 2-page report, Blogging: The Advanced Stage, gives you more ideas on how to get more traffic to your blog. The package also includes a questionnaire designed to help you get started with blogging.

I will be offering this package to clients (valued at $49.95). However, as a special introductory offer, I am offering it at a discounted rate for only $29. If you would like to purchase this introductory blog package at this special discounted rate, please email me directly at sue@awesomeassistant.info and in the subject line type: Intro Blog Special.

Getting Started With Your Blog

Recently I've had a few clients that wanted to start a blog and weren't sure where to start. So I helped them create their blog and setup a system to maintain it on a regular basis. They are very happy that they now have a blog and that it doesn't seem so overwhelming to maintain it.

The biggest concern seems to be finding the time to post entries and deciding what to write. Since they already had written marketing materials, there was a beginning. Then we set up a plan for them to set aside a certain amount of time once a week to create the entries and schedule them to post.

Another concern was how to make sure the world knows about their blog. So we submitted the blogs to several blog directories. And of course I'll mention them here.

Andrew Rogerson - Certified Business Broker
On The Right Track Life Coaching

Do you want to start blogging and need some help getting started? Contact me and let's work on it!

Helping a Client Create a Blog

This week I was able to help a client create their very first blog. Within a very short period of time we were able to create a nice blog that reflects the look of his website, post a couple of entries, and find his blog in a Google search within the first 3 pages after only two days.

Another prospect contacted me this for help with her blog. She set it up months ago and hasn't touched it since. I hope to help her maintain regular blog entries so she can maintain contact with her client base.

Many find starting a blog to be overwhelming. If you're not sure where to start, contact me and ask about my complimentary report: Blogging - The Basics.

Using Linked In to Connect

Earlier this year I created a profile on LinkedIn and started answering questions. It didn't take long before someone read one of my answers, found it interesting, and wanted to connect with me. That's how I met Mindy Krueger. Mindy and I connected on LinkedIn and enjoyed each other's comments so much that we connected by phone and eventually by email and snail mail.

Mindy is a relationship building consultant and independent distributor of Send Out Cards. Her website is here. She also has a blog. The connection we made initially through LinkedIn has been very valuable to us both. We've asked each other's opinions on our businesses and received valuable feedback from each other.

When I have a new idea and want an honest opinion, I ask Mindy. She's let me email her information about new aspects of my business and her comments have helped me fine tune what I'm doing. I've been able to mail her marketing materials and get her constructive feedback so I can improve what I do. She asked me about her business and what suggestions I had. So LinkedIn has proved valuable to me just in this one connection I made.

I hope you visit Mindy's website and read her blog. Have you made a valuable business connection on LinkedIn? I'd love to hear about it!

"The cost of traditional marketing methods can be a little daunting for a start-up business. Your plan utilizes much of the free marketing available if one is just willing to commit to a consistent plan." - Mindy Krueger

Blogging Basics and Beyond

Are you intimidated by the idea of starting a blog for your small service business? I have created two reports to help you get started with the basics of blogging. After you fill out a simple two-page questionnaire about your business and what you want to achieve by creating a blog, I'll provide you with my two reports and a Blogging Basics Plan with detailed strategies to help you start, maintain, and promote your blog.

Contact me for your complimentary questionnaire (Valued at $25). Based on your answers, I will provide you with a complimentary quote for your Blogging Basics Plan. Visit my website at Awesome Assistant and fill out the contact form for more information.

Just Do It!

Have you put off starting a blog or sending out your email newsletter because you're too busy, don't want to ask for help, or are afraid of giving someone else control? Just do it!

Sure, we think we can do it all ourselves, are afraid to give up control, are comfortable where we're at. But think of all you could get done once you make the decision and take that first step. You may need some help and guidance. Don't be afraid to ask.

What do you want to do but have held back from starting? Ask me how I can help!

Self-Promotion and Your Blog

As a solo professional you are looking for an simple, inexpensive way to promote your business. That's why I encourage you to maintain a blog. It's an easy way to keep in contact with clients and prospects. You can create a blog such as this one at no cost to you but a little time.

Use your blog posts to discuss issues relevant to your industry and business. Provide valuable information your clients and prospects want to read so they'll come looking for you. Ask for comments and start an interchange of communication.

Ask me how I can help you start and maintain a blog. Then let's have some fun.!