A Place in the Blogosphere
Blogging has exploded both as a personal social media outlet and a great place to build your business. Blogging means, basically, starting a conversation with your target audience. Without blatant advertising of your products, it’s possible to connect with potential clients and share the information they need.

Because RSS feeds are standard on all major blogging applications, fans of your blog can be notified whenever you add content. They can also link to your blog, or individual posts, on their websites, blogs and Facebook pages. That’s the viral phenomenon that has built many a business online.

By linking your blog to your business websites, Facebook page and business networking sites, you can also create a nice groundswell of interest that will add momentum to your marketing.

A Facebook Presence
Opening a Facebook business page can boost your popularity on social networks, if done correctly. The key is connections, with fans, networks and other business pages. Gain inbound links and a loyal network of fans by offering interesting, useful content.

YouTube videos that discuss issues or solutions are a great example of the kind of content readers want. Hosting industry-related discussions is another way to generate interest and encourage inbound links. Adding links to sites and blogs you’ve found helpful can also help you gain popularity.

An Expert Voice
If you became known as an expert in your field, that would definitely help you gain lots of buzz on social networking sites. One way to do that is with comments made on discussion forums. Again, this isn’t the place to start talking about your products and services. The goal of social networking is information sharing, not advertising. Let your great comments (and a link to your website in the signature line) do your marketing for you.

Where do people who can use your products hang out online? Look for industry blogs and forums. It takes some serious market research to learn how your audience thinks, but when you do, you can find them on the Internet and start offering helpful comments and suggestions.

Instant Blasts of Information
Microblogging is also growing in popularity as a tool for sharing instant status updates. It’s enormously popular among those who attend special events, because it allows attendees to update their “followers” about what’s happening.

Some of the most popular microblogging platforms are Posterous, Twitter and Tumblr. Business owners can build a following by sharing microbursts of information that readers will find useful, interesting or amusing.

Linking your feed from these platforms to your Facebook page adds interest for readers, too. Remember, no product ads, but you can let readers know when you’re getting ready for promotions, holding special events or needing to share up-to-the-minute industry tips.

A Coordinated Effort
Having one of these social media outlets isn’t enough to win the popularity contest. It takes a coordinated effort of connecting to social networks, listening to people’s problems and offering solutions. It also takes creating useful content they’ll link to on their own Facebook pages, blogs and websites.

Winning the social media popularity contest means creating a great social business presence online. Learn how to socialize with people who might find your products useful. Become the online “go-to” person within your industry. Communicate with them often and well. The resulting business will last even longer than a popularity prize.

At a minimum you should know these things about your website:

• The number of visitors each month and the general trend (hopefully your site’s popularity is growing month-to-month)
• The average time visitors spend on your site
• Which pages are most and least effective
• Where visitors are coming from when they visit your website
• Your top five keywords

Review some Google Analytic reports to know how visitors are interacting on each page and learn what percent of visitors purchase your product. eBook X is selling like crazy, but eBook Y is not – and you really thought that Y would be the more popular of the two. Find out why by taking a look at your page content. Do you have more Buy Now or Add to Cart buttons on one page? Is your call to action stronger on one page? Are potential buyers abandoning their shopping cart? Google Analytics will give you information you can use to increase effectiveness.

Use your Google Analytics information along with your marketing plan to see what marketing campaigns work best. For example:

• You send out your ezine on the 15^th of every month and your web traffic always spikes on the 15^th.
• You sent out a large email blast last month on the 21^st announcing a new product launch. Traffic spiked only minimally compared to last month’s product launch.
• Your blog typically is your largest referrer, but wasn’t last month. (Maybe you missed one week of blogging).
• Last month’s coupon offer increased conversions for product A by 5%, but this month, conversions only increased 1% using a different coupon promotion for the same product.

The amount of data you can analyze is staggering can be overwhelming. Start by reviewing just the basics in the beginning and adding more sophisticated reporting later. Also, Google Analytics gives you the ability to graph data for easy visualization, allowing you to view trends at a glance.

Set up a dashboard with just the information you want to see:  top keywords, most popular pages, top referrers and more. Compare this month to last month, or plug in various date ranges you want to compare to review trends.

Once you have an overall picture of how your site is performing, you can use that knowledge to more effectively market your products. From conversions to product category performance, Google Analytics has you covered.

For more information on this and other sales and marketing topics, please visit http://www.championassistants.com/blog/.

Heather Nelson is the founder of Champion Assistants, a leading professional services company that implements sales and business strategies for small and medium sized businesses. The Champion Assistants team specializes in online shopping carts, online marketing, direct marketing, and sales support. To find out how Champion Assistants can assist you, please visit http://www.championassistants.com/services or email info@championassistants.com

What is a virtual assistant (VA) anyway? A virtual assistant is a professional, who like you, has decided to go into business for his or her-self. VA’s are technically savvy individuals who provide their own office equipment and offer services they are highly skilled at and trained in. Their goal is to offer valuable skills and excellent project results so that you can focus on what only you can do best.

Why can’t you just hire temp help? Sure, you could, but wouldn’t you rather have someone dedicated to helping your business succeed? By engaging a VA, you are using the expertise of a business owner who can perform a range of sophisticated tasks and has the skills to get jobs done quickly and effectively. A VA already has all the training, software, equipment and office space required to start right away. There is no need to train and re-train a VA as you would with a temp or new hire. Also, when you hire people you pay them for more than their time. You pay for their personal calls, internet surfing and coffee breaks whether you acknowledge this or not.

The best ways to find a good VA are by referral or finding one who is a member of a larger virtual assistance organization, such as the International Association of Virtual Assistants www.ivaa.org. VA’s who are active in industry-specific organizations tend to have more resources available to them to get a job done well. Also, additional certifications, such as QuickBooks Pro Advisor, can help indicate the credibility of a VA.

When first contacting a VA, instead of e-mail being your first contact, invest the time in calling that person. When you have them on the phone, ask a few questions about their experience, familiarity with the project you have in mind, availability, and most importantly, who will do the work. Some VA’s work in a team. If the work is going to a team member, ask about the qualifications of that person. It is essential to build trust and a solid rapport with your VA since this could become a lasting relationship. Always keep in mind; your VA wants your business to be more successful. The more they are kept informed of goals, the more input and suggestions they can provide, and the more they can make your life easier!

By turning over administrative tasks such as following up with clients or contacts, you free yourself to work on projects only you can do. A VA can track your sales and leads, and then provide you with the final reports for you to act on in that great way only you can do. Or, if you are expanding your business and don’t have the time to spend doing research or interviewing vendors, hand that over so that you can work at a higher level. Don’t create your own stress by taking on more than you have to do. Let your VA take on tasks you can delegate so that you can soar along with your business!

Heather Nelson is owner of the professional services business Champion Assistants. Heather focuses on helping small business owners achieve their goals by implementing strategic sales and marketing plans. Champion Assistants is a team of professional virtual assistants who specialize in online shopping carts, sales, marketing, web design, graphic design and translations. For more information, please e-mail info@championassistants.com or visit http://www.championassistants.com ]]> http://www.championassistants.com/articles/how-a-virtual-assistant-will-make-your-business-soar/feed/ 0 http://www.championassistants.com/articles/back-to-school-means-back-to-business/ http://www.championassistants.com/articles/back-to-school-means-back-to-business/#comments Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:15:06 +0000 admin http://www.championassistants.com/?p=507 Back to school signals to you that the summer distractions of kids, vacations, time by the pool, and leaving work early for baseball games are over and it’s time to get back to business. While the kids are settling into their new school-year routines, you’re getting settled back into your normal work patterns. Before you get too comfortable, though, take a look around to see if there are some basic business routines (or habits) you’ve developed that need changing. Also, do a quick review to make sure you’re on track to meet your revenue goals. To help you get and stay on track, do these things:

Take a look at your strategic marketing schedule. Have you done everything you set out to do this year?

Website revamped – check.

Article marketing plans on track – check.

Ezine developed and being sent out consistently – check.

Blog entries posted as scheduled (weekly, bi-weekly) – check.

Email autoresponder series developed for product launches X, Y and Z – check.

Shopping cart added to website – check.

Facebook and Twitter accounts set up – check.

All prospects and website inquires followed up with – check.

Likewise, review your sales goals to make sure you’ll meet your targeted income for the year.

With just four months left in the year and a holiday season that takes many people out of the office for extended periods, you need to know where you’re at in terms of meeting your revenue goals. If you’re behind, consider steps you can take to jumpstart your sales and marketing efforts now.

Take a quick review of the last several months of your calendar and to-do lists.

By doing this, you can get a pretty good idea of how you did in staying on track to accomplishing your various project goals. Were a few items pushed back and then pushed back again? Ask yourself why. Were you too busy to get to them, or did you neglect them because other things took precedence? If you’re happy with the results of your review, great, keep going. If not, consider what needs changing. If those things that didn’t get done or didn’t get done on time are important, consider how to re-prioritize going forward.

Consistently spend time on important tasks that move your business forward.

Sales and client management should be top priorities. As yourself, “Do my clients have big plans for next year that I’m not in the loop on yet?” If you haven’t begun scheduling your year-end review with each of your top clients, do so now. You and your client need to look back at this year and make strategic plans for next year. Reviewing what worked, what didn’t, and planning for what you will do differently is crucial to successful client management.

Answer honestly the question of whether you manage distractions well.

Most people complain that email is overwhelming. Make it less so by setting up rules within your email program that filter incoming emails into designated folders so that they can be read later. Then, block time daily (maybe several times daily) to check those emails and respond to those that need immediate attention. If you’re reading and responding to emails throughout the day as they come in, you’re not staying focused other important tasks, deadlines and priorities that demand your attention. Schedule similar blocks of time for other tasks such as responding to voicemails, so that you give your priority tasks the undivided attention they deserve.

Delegate those tasks that don’t require your personal touch.

In whatever you’re doing, always ask yourself, “Does this task directly impact sales and profitability?” Keeping that question central in your mind throughout the day will help you to more effectively manage distractions and changing priorities. It will also help you in deciding which tasks to keep for yourself and which ones to delegate to others. If you’re not a great writer, delegate all writing tasks to someone who is who will take care of your article marketing, your Ezine, your Twitter and Facebook posts, your blog posts and website content.

Be smart about the meetings you host or attend.

Most people complain that they attend to many meetings that are unnecessary. If you’re attending or hosting too many meetings (in-person or online) that are not productive, then you need to re-evaluate these time commitments. Components of an effective meeting include:

• A clearly defined purpose
• An organized and focused meeting host
• An agenda that keeps everyone on track
• Meeting notes that summarize the core aspects of the meeting

It’s time to put the warm memories of summer behind you gear up for your year-end sales and marketing push. Soon enough there will be another series of distractions to take your focus away from your business: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s. The fourth quarter begins soon, so gear up now.