VA Archives - Anne C Clark

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 to start working with a virtual assistant

by Anne Clark | Jun 25, 2020 | Business, Virtual Assistant

Your business is growing, and you’re ready to bring someone onto your team because you can no longer manage everything on your own. However, you don’t have the budget or need for a full-time employee, so the next best option is to hire a Virtual Assistant (VA).

What is a Virtual Assistant (VA)?

A VA is a business owner who provides support services to other businesses across various areas, such as administration, social media, graphic design, newsletters, online content management, project management, ghostwriting, and more.

VAs offer different services depending on their business. You can click here to see the services I provide.

Benefits of working with a VA

You can hire VAs on a project basis, for a set number of hours per week or month, or on a retainer package. This is something you can arrange with the VA service you wish to engage.

Where to start when hiring a VA

Before contacting VA businesses, I recommend writing a list of all the tasks you feel you need help with. Some tasks may fall under one area, while others could be more ad-hoc or one-off requirements.

Once you have an idea of the tasks you need assistance with, you can contact a few VA businesses, explain what you need help with, and ask what other services they offer.

If you’re unsure what you need help with but know you need support, don’t hesitate to ask VA businesses about their services. Also, ask your friends for recommendations—they may already work with a VA service or know of several businesses to recommend.

Alternatively, you can register your details here and grab a copy of my free guide to help you get started.

How do I know which VA business to choose?

As a business owner, it’s important to trust that your work will be done to the standard you expect. It’s crucial that the VA gives you confidence in their abilities. Working with a VA is like any other working relationship—sometimes personalities align perfectly, and other times they don’t. If a relationship doesn’t work out, don’t see it as a failure. Instead, view it as a learning experience. Identify what worked, what didn’t, and implement strategies to ensure smoother collaboration in the future. Be open and honest about why it didn’t work.

Sometimes, the simplest issues can cause a relationship to break down, such as unclear instructions or communication, unspecified deadlines, unreasonable expectations, failure to respond to emails (on either side), or simply not being on the same wavelength.

How to ensure success with your VA

Find the best system for you and your VA to communicate tasks, deadlines, information, and any other necessary instructions. There are many free tools available that can improve virtual communication. Check here for my suggested tools.

In my business, I adapt to various formats and styles because my goal is to simplify my clients’ lives. I work in their preferred style to reduce stress in their already busy business lives. However, if I see a way to save time and money, I’ll always offer suggestions.