Anne Clark Archives - Page 4 of 6

Why I love having a virtual business

by Anne Clark | Jul 29, 2021 | Business, Virtual Assistant

Once upon a time, pre-children, I worked in the blue-collar corporate sector. I was a Personal Assistant to the Managing Director and the Chief Financial Officer, along with supporting the Executive Team and liaising with the Board of Directors.

I also wore the hat of Office Manager, attending to all things office-related from corporate events, office maintenance and renovations, and the day-to-day functions. I liked my job, but truthfully I never really loved my job. Like all jobs, there were functions you had to do that you didn’t like, and occasionally working with people you didn’t necessarily see eye to eye with or enjoyed being around.

Whilst on maternity leave, I was getting nearer to returning to work. For various reasons, I decided to explore the avenue of becoming a virtual assistant. My thoughts were ‘I can type, surely anyone would want that skill’, but there were many lessons to be learned along the way.

Things I learned along the way

Boundaries (mine and clients)
Networking (the good, bad and interesting!)
Working to meet my needs in business, family and clients
Saying ‘No’
Getting back on ‘the horse’ when you’ve fallen off
Learning to identify what I want for me, my business and what direction I want to head in
And the list goes on.

Like with any journey or adventure we take in life, there are some cringe-worthy moments, some high five (or fist pumps) and some enlightening moments.

I have had my virtual business for 5 years, and I can easily say I LOVE who I work with, what I do in and where I’m heading.

The things I love most about my business are

I’m fulfilling a dream
Being readily available for my children
Staying at home with my children and not missing those special moments
I get to be a role model for my children
Work the hours that meet my needs
I work with the most amazing clients
I earn my own income
I get to stay in my casual or pyjamas some days
I am not being questioned by a boss on what I’m doing, or not doing
I am recognised for my skills, services and expertise
I have created my own brand, which of course is 100% me
I get to choose who I’ll work with and what services I offer
I can work from any location with the assistance of a mobile, Wi-Fi and laptop
I get to create the vibe and feel for my business that resonates with me
I work harder now than I ever did in a corporate job and I love every single minute of it, even the crazy ones.

Running your own virtual business isn’t for everyone, and it does take commitment and openness to always learning. You need to learn and understand your customers and their needs, along with establishing your own boundaries. You need to create support around you that meets your needs, and you need to have the drive to see it succeed.

If you think you’ve got what it takes and want to establish a virtual business, and avoid the ‘time wasters’ I experienced, please feel free to visit my ecourse ‘How To Become a Virtual Assistant‘, or my 1:1 private VA mentoring, and together we can get you on the road to success.

Perhaps you are unsure of your direction, then let’s chat and get some clarity happening for you.

30 Blog Topic Ideas

by Anne Clark | May 13, 2021 | Business

Writing a blog can feel daunting for business start-ups, or even those who are frequent bloggers and finding themselves block on topics to write about. Here are 30 blog topic ideas to help you get your blogging on track.

For the start-up business, you feel you want to write blogs for your business but you don’t feel confident in doing so. Many people have the perception that blogs need to be lengthy masterpieces, but that is not necessarily the case. The purpose of blogs is to educate, inspire or communicate your audience about your expertise and to help drive traffic to your website.

To help you get started or back on track, I have put together ideas and suggestions you can use to help create content for your website without having to be an award-winning writer.

Before you start going crazy, determine what type of information your target wants to learn from you. What is that they are most likely going to seek from you, or what is the expertise they need from you.

How To Instructions

Give instruction on how to do something that is relevant for your business and audience. Include things like screenshots of what people can expect to see.

Latest Industry News or Information

Share with your audience important information that is relevant to them.

Topical Latest News

I was listening to a podcast by Darren Prowse from Probloggers, and he talked about how he wrote a blog predicting the winner of the American Idol show (or maybe it was Australia Idol, whichever!). Because the show was nearing its end and people were dying to find out who won, and of course, searching the net for answers, his blog traffic was huge. So don’t be afraid to add completely un-business-related topics, you never know how they might pay off.

Lists

People love lists and quick and easy ones at that. Here is a blog I wrote which is 50 call to actions phrases. Quick and easy.

Controversial Topics

Something bugging you, why not write about it. But be warned, social media does bring out the worst in some people!

Checklists

Give your audience a checklist of what they need to ensure something runs smoothly. A little freebie download always helps too.

Cheat Sheets

We are always looking for a better way to do some of the things in our business, so got a hack on how they do it, share it!

Case Studies

Case studies are a great way to teach people things and give examples to enable them to learn and understand better.

External Resource Lists

Have your own list of going to’s for your business, why not give your audience one.

Interviews

Interviews are a great way to build exposure for your business, those you interview will share your post with their audience too.

Reviews

Using a product or service you love, rave about it. Or perhaps you want to review two products against each other weighing up the pros and cons. Also, this is an effective way to review a product that you have an affiliation with.

Advice

Find out what your audience wants advice on, and write about it.

Monthly Summaries

Write a monthly summary on those who have been inspiring you, or teaching you new things.

Problem Solving

What are the most likely issues your audience has, problem-solve for them. Give them suggestions on what they can do to resolve the issue.

Video Blogs

Create a video if you don’t like writing/typing. Or create a stream of videos you find inspiration and share them with your audience.

Guest Blogs

Invite others to come and guest blog on your website.

Inspirational Stories

Everyone loves to be inspired, so share real life inspirational stories. Yours or others.

Quiz

Give them a quiz to complete relevant to your expertise.

Facts / Statistics

Share the latest important facts and statistics relevant to your audience and/or industry.

Contests

Prizes!!!!! Yes every sure does love to win something for nothing!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the most commonly asked questions you receive in yoru business? Answer them. Feature one per week or month and make it a series.

Event Summaries

Attended any events? Talk about them, link to them and share photos from the event. (psst….links are good for SEO!)

Infographics

Sometimes pictures tell a thousand words, rather than type a 1000….draw it! Pictures are great for giving people overviews or quick summation on topics. You can use free online tools like Canva to create infographics….they even have templates.

Podcast Show Notes

Got a podcast, post it on your blog page with additional notes or references for readers.

Round Ups

What’s been happening? Do a monthly round-up of what or who you’ve been dealing with, watching, talking to, learning from, following, stalking (just kidding) and admiring.

Behind the Scenes

People love to learn and gain an understanding on how things happen. So why not share with them.

Quotes

Looking for quotes to share with your audience? I know I always go searching. So why not do one better, and create a list of your favourites so when others go searching for quotes, they land at your website.

Affiliate Product Review

Affiliate products are a great way to get extra money in your pocket. So why not write about the product or topic and embed the affiliate links so you can convert sales.

Blog Series on a specific topic

Got a big juicy topic, don’t just write about it. Break it down down down and make a series on the topic. Keep them coming back for more.

Your own real-life story

Nothing connects better than real-life adventures or stories, so don’t be afraid to share them. Be a storyteller.

I hope this blog has given you lots of ideas. Psst…wish you to outsource them, then please check out my blogging service here.

5 ways I use Evernote in my business

by Anne Clark | Mar 9, 2021 | Business

Evernote is known as the modern day workspace, and it is definitely a program I use daily within my business and highly recommend it my clients.

How Evernote has helped me in my business.

Accessibility and Control

I operate form a desktop, laptop, ipad and iphone. Evernote allows my notes to sync across all devices, so I always have all my data available to me at all times. It allows my clients and I to share specific projects with teams, and always have the information at our finger tips.

If you’re a business and have multiple team members working on a project. Under an Evernote Business account, you can control who is accessing what information, and if anyone was to leave the team, the information collated by that person remains with your business (not them). Which is always a great reassurance for businesses who could be at risk of losing their valuable research information and time.

Taking notes whenever and wherever

I attended an event recently and wanted to captures note and pictures from the event. I had left my writing pad and pen behind and then remembered I had Evernote on my phone. So, rather than having pieces of paper, and then photos on my camera. I was able to use Evernote on my iphone and capture everything, and house it all in the one location (no more searching for where I had put them). Time saver and definitely efficient.

Sharing Research

Working with clients and conducting research on their behalf, we are able to collaborate together compiling all our researching the one spot. This allows all those involved in the project to know what information has been collated to date and what is still outstanding. Reducing double on work and opening the communication doors.

With Evernote all the file note written can be created into a table of content for easy access. You can create project specific tags. And keep them all in the one folder.

Business Evernote also allows you to add and remove people from various projects.

Writing notes/drafting reports & blogs

Our ideas often come to us at the worst time, and prior to Evernote I was forever forgetting those brilliant ideas. (Drove me crazy!) Now, I’m able to voice record my notes, type my notes, add articles/research, photos, whatever I find to my ideas folder in Evernote.

I can then go back to my ideas folder later and then convert my notes into a project folder and get things happening.

Presentations

Need to quickly show a client or colleagues an update on a project. Rather than spending hours creating a Powerpoint presentation, you can actually use Evernote to create the presentation super fast. This is a fantastic function, than save you time, doubling up on work or replication what you’ve already create, and you can present it from your computer, phone or iPad…wherever you have Evernote installed.

Evernote Consultant

My love for using Evernote, make me take it a step further and undertake training so I can help others utilise the benefits like I am. If you’re interested in learning more or signing up to Evernote. Please let me know.

No more waiting download you copy of Evernote today.

Why You Need a VA to Manage Your Blog and Newsletter

by Anne Clark | Aug 10, 2020 | Business, Mailchimp, Virtual Assistant

Keeping your business in the ‘eye of the customer’ is essential in order for your business to grow. As a business owner, you can easily become consumed dealing with our day-to-day matters, and not giving our business the time needed to action strategies for growth.

Two of the best avenues to gently remind your customers you are there, are through your newsletters and blogs.

A virtual assistant (VA) can assistant you in maintaining your customer contact. Creating a regular schedule on when blogs and newsletters need to be composed and released, enables you to know your timelines and your VA to know what deadlines they are working to.

Before you start going crazy producing blogs and newsletters, you firstly need to determine how frequently you should create your content and will meet your target customers’ interest. You need to make sure you are not over or under-producing them. This can be a bit of trial and error. Once you have determined this, you need to commit to your schedule.

The best way to ensure deadlines are met is to talk to your VA about;

how much time they need to create the content
how much time you need to review the work, and
allow time for final edits and touch ups.

Once this is locked in, you can then start brainstorming the content needed for blogs and newsletters. Do some research to see what your customers love and don’t love. Don’t be scare to even ask your customers, using such means as a survey.

The best strategy when working your schedule is to try and keep 2 to 3 blogs ahead of yourself, you can preschedule these to be released on your website on a set date.

How can your VA get this all happening for you, so you’re not stressed trying to keep on top it all

BLOG:

Create a list of key topics you want covered in blogs. Don’t be afraid to create a series of blogs, if your content is going to be to long.
Create a schedule of when the blogs are to be released. Working backward to create the first draft due date.
Your VA can draft the article for your review and can incorporate a call to actions at the end of your blog.
Determine what type of call to action you want from your audience. It is always good to encourage readers to comment, offer feedback or share an experience. Or you can encourage them to buy a product or service. Ensure you communicate to your VA what key call to actions you want incorporated into specific blogs.
Source free images – there are many website that offer free image to use for blogs. Some require acknowledgement from you sourcing the images from that specific website. Otherwise, your VA can use programs such as PicMonkey or Canva to create original artwork for your blog.
Update SEO – It is vital that in order for you to be found that your blog has it’s SEO words added. Your VA can enter these, and research on what other keywords would be relevant to your blog/business.

Your newsletter keeps you in your customer’s inbox. Don’t make your newsletters too wordy. A lot of people don’t love to read a lot of words (unless it’s a novel). A great way to create a newsletter is to mix up words and images and make as many things as possible linkable to your website. Remember, Traffic = Sales Conversion on your website.

Include your blogs in your newsletter too, again make sure your newsletter is linked to various aspects of your website to drive your traffic across. For example, for your blog including your newsletter your title, image and the first couple of lines, then insert a ‘read more’ and link it to your website (also link the image).

The strategy behind this is to get your customers to your website, where you have the opportunity to convert them from visitor to a customer.

Brainstorm with your VA on the main section you want for your newsletter. Eg: The Blog, Shop, Latest News, Special, or Sales.

Your VA can create your newsletter template, and there are programs such as Mailchimp that have a free level for under a set number of subscribers. It is important that your business ‘branding’ is kept consistent through the newsletters. Why? Because branding is what people say about you when you’re not there!

Your VA can source and create content, create images and links to your various website sections. They can also create a draft of your written content, you will need to guide them on key aspect such as items on sales, specials coming up or key items you want to be highlighted in the newsletter.

Once your newsletter content is created and ready to go, make sure your VA checks all the links are working, and that they send you a copy to review.

Your VA can schedule and once your newsletter has gone, you’re VA will be able to advise you the open and click rates, as most newsletter programs advise this for you.

Don’t be afraid to test various styles and formats for your newsletter to see which format gets the most higher click rate with your readers.

If you have any questions, or would like to know more information feel free to contact me via my contact page.

How can a Virtual Assistant help you in your business?

by Anne Clark | Jul 31, 2020 | Mailchimp, Social Media, Virtual Assistant

Using the services of a Virtual Assistant is a great way to focus on what you love. You know, as business owners, how quick your day can fly by and you just never seem to have enough time. You find yourself spending so much time doing things for your clients, that you don’t seem to have time to focus on business development.

Working with a Virtual Assistant enables you to get back your time and have the confidence in knowing your various administration tasks/projects are being taken care off, whilst you do the things you love.

Here are some common tasks a virtual assistant can help you get started with. It is important to know that not all virtual assistants offer the same services, so don’t limit yourself to thinking you have to have just 1 virtual assistant.

DAY TO DAY FUNCTIONS:

Assisting you with your ‘To Do’ list.
Preparing correspondence.
Co-ordinate mail outs, both hardcopy or electronic.
Create business forms, templates and ensuring branding is consistent.
Create your stationery requirements such as letterheads, business cards, with compliment slips, flyers and brochures.
Be your sounding board for new ideas, events, products or services.
Managing your emails.
Assist with streamlining your office systems to keep you on track, organised and efficient.

YOUR WEBSITE:

Upload your blogs onto your website.
Source free images for blogs, or create original artwork.
Create pages, graphics and ‘call to action’ buttons.
Manage members.
Source guest bloggers.

YOUR BLOG:

Write your content.
Source or create accompany images.
Upload to your website and add in SEO components.

YOUR CUSTOMERS:

Attend to your customer emails.
Set up ‘canned’ responses for frequently asked questions.
Prepare an online ‘Client Questionnaire’ and review the returned results.
Undertake online research.
MailChimp e-Newsletters | Set up a template, import your list of contacts and create/compile your weekly/monthly/quarterly e-Newsletters.
Manage AWeber and Wishlist memberships, and creating newsletters.

SPECIAL EVENTS:

Create invitations
Promote your special event, workshops & events.
Collate RSVPs
Setting up online ticket buying – Eventbrite / TryBooking
Coordinate with venues, suppliers on your behalf.
Preparing documentation and presentations for event.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Create your editorial calendar of content for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google+.
Create original branded graphics for your business.
Search for avenues to increase your followers and audience interaction.
Monitor your page and attend to any business private messages.
Create Facebook Ad campaigns.

AND MORE:

Create a PowerPoint presentation.
Create an Excel spreadsheet for a mail-merge mail-out, reports, budgets, etc.
Create and format Manuals and Workbooks.
Format your e-book.

My role is to make your life as stress-free and efficient as possible.

Ready to explore more, contact me today.

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