Today I would like to share with you a great post by Michelle Mangen, one of my online connections.

Understanding Differences with Virtual Assistants

Frequently I am asked during consultations with new clients why there are so many “variations” between Virtual Assistants, especially with pricing .

If you own a brick and mortar business compare employees you currently have and have had in the past. When you interview a candidate what makes you chose one person over another? Why do they not all ask for the same pay?

Some of the criteria used to determine which employee to hire was probably one of the items on this list:

* past experience/skills
* education
* cost of living (geographical)
* belief in themselves (confidence)
* Personality

The same holds true for Virtual Assistants. Like any service industry no one mandates what can and should be charged.

I know Virtual Assistants who charge $20/hr for bookkeeping and others who charge $65/hr for setting up a Facebook Fan Page.

As with a true brick and mortar company you can’t always hire one person to do all things. The same holds true when hiring Virtual Assistants. Maybe you interview a VA who cannot help you with email management or handling your Aweber newsletters.

Many Virtual Assistants can do much more than what may be listed on their website. When in doubt – ask. If you believe your VA can’t perform a specific task ask if she can refer someone she can trust.

At the end of the day hiring a Virtual Assistant is very similar to hiring an employee. We are all different, yet our goal is the same … to assist you in growing your business and alleviating any stress and anxiety you may feel with running certain aspects of your business.

I welcome any questions you may have in regards to services you may be seeking but have not yet asked me about.

To YOUR success,

Michelle Mangen
The VirtualAssistant.com

P.S. I have been networking with Michelle and her specialties are bookkeeping and dealing with aWeber. Feel feel to visit her site and if you decide to try her services, please mention that Jan Tallent referred you.

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 plates.

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 the 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.

Jan Tallent
Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance

Jan Tallent is a Virtual Assistant who LOVES to do editing, proof reading and transcription assignments!

About a year ago I got a bright idea to be a Social Networking assistant. Actually, it was first thought of as a service to offer for others on Twitter where I had just started getting pretty active.

I had been told by a couple of people that I was in constant contact with that if they had more time to devote to this method of interacting, they would be as active as I was and they wished someone could find the type or category of people they would like to interact with and also maybe make some postings on topics that held their interest and I decided this was something I would like to do.

Now, a year later, I am very active on Twitter, reasonably so on FaceBook and have joined several great groups of like minded business people on Linkedin and it has seriously helped my businesses to interact with the terrific people I am connected to in these and other social mediums.

This might be something for you to consider if you are or plan on becoming a Virtual Assistant or if you are a potential client reading this post, you can send me a message detailing your social networking needs and we can explore the ways I might be able to help you.

I can search for compatible people for you to follow or connect with, welcome your new followers with a pre-written message, post your contribution at selected times, follow back the people you want to continue to be connected with and even UNfollow those you do not want to be associated with and more!

Jan Tallent
Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance

http://www.tallentagency.com

p.s. I love the interactions with MY wonderful network of intelligent, helpful and just plain NICE connections!