Using a WordPress.org Blog to Create a Dynamic Website

Great website option for solopreneurs and small budgets

Of all of the speakers, coaches, trainers, and other small business owners I have worked with, one of the most challenging tasks is keeping the website up to date and keeping it from being too “static”.

I just discovered a great way to do websites—I had a brand new website created in just a few hours—and it’s easily customizable, affordable, and easy to maintain and update. In fact, I did it without writing a line of code.
Here’s what happened: I decided to install a wordpress.org blog on my hosting account. By the time I set up the new theme and installed a few plug-ins, I thought “Wow, this would be a great website!” so that’s what I did. I created a WordPress.org website! It was so fast and easy and more important, easy to maintain. Another important feature is that these themes come with easy to manage SEO packages that will help your website get good Google search engine rankings.

This is a great option for any small business owner on a small budget. Instead of having to call up your web guy every time you want to change a phrase or add a sentence, you can log in and make the updates to your own website without knowing a line of HTML or how to work with sophisticated software. It’s great!

Plus, because of the time involved, hiring someone like a great Virtual Assistant for example, to do the installation and setup will not cost an arm and a leg.

This is such a wonderful solution and I’m so happy about discovering it!

Visit my website and have a look around at the new site and blog. I’d love to hear what you think!

Free Virtual Assistant Mastermind Group

Just launched, a free mastermind group for Virtual Assistants and other work at home professionals. A place to come together, share resources, advice, and best practices. Best of all it’s free to join!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VAMastermindGroup/join

Free Social Media Training

Last night I tuned in to a wonderful webinar hosted by Ian Griffin and Jim Carillo, two wonderful public speakers and social media experts. They polled other speakers and found out that many people, when it comes to social networking, are still a bit lost. So they put together this program to teach people how to effectively use social media for business.

It was a very well put together presentation and I must admit, even though I have been using social media myself for years, and helping my clients to use social media for business, there were a few things that I picked up that I either had not thought of or didn’t know.

It’s a great series, so sign up, it’s free!

Effective Outsourcing

One of the greatest challenges that I find my clients tend to struggle with is what to outsource first. It’s rare that my clients have a business plan, marketing strategy, and PR strategy all written out with specific tasks. Most of them have a goal in sight, but have not thought much about how to get there.

Here are a few points to consider when outsourcing so that you maximize the billable hours and enjoy the results.

1) First consider what the big picture outcome looks like. What does your business look like? What does your personal life look like? How is your business structured?

2) Thinking about the big picture, where are you one year from now? Two years? Three?

3) The distance between where you are and where you want to be can be large or small depending on where you are in your business, but it’s not unreachable. You just need a plan.

4) Determine your market. Who is your target client, specifically where are they located, how old are they, are they male or female, what is the income level, what clubs and organizations do they belong to, are they “internet savvy” or would they respond better to TV, Radio, or print ads?

5) Once you have identified where your clients live and who they are, you can think about how you will campaign for PR and advertising. Think about your overall budget and start with the most specific and focused method possible. For example, a business that caters to mostly women might advertise in a local women’s paper or magazine. This type of targeted advertising will be much less expensive then advertising with a national magazine or newspaper. Join online communities that serve and support women.

6) After you have determined what methods of PR and Advertising you will use to reach your market, you’re ready to formulate a plan and consider how an outsourced professional can help you to get there. Do you want to learn how to leverage Social Media, blogs, and articles? A Virtual Assistant can help. Most VA’s are willing to consult for a flat rate and assist with implementation on a low hourly fee. Do you have a website with outdated content or content that does not speak to your target market? A good VA can help to revise the website copy and make the updates live.

7) If you’re still not sure what elements of your business strategy you are comfortable outsourcing, start with this question: “What is the number one thing that I know I need to do to grow my business, that I either hate doing or procrastinate doing the most.” Whatever the answer, that will help you identify what key tasks to outsource. In business you should always start with what is most comfortable. As you grow you will sometimes find that your comfort level changes as you enjoy success. A VA can’t market your business for you 100%. When it comes to your business, you are the expert and you have to be willing to sell yourself as the expert. But a VA can help by “lightening the load” so that the process is a bit more comfortable to you.

Relationship Networking

I am a huge supporter of and believer in relationship networking.

Relationship networking is all about cultivating business and personal relationships that help you and your business to grow. It sounds rather self serving and maybe even a little shallow, but in reality it’s what deep and lasting friendships are all about.

It’s a two-way relationship. It’s about giving more than getting. It’s about rewards that are not always tangible or economic. The compensation that comes is deeper and more profound.

One of the questions that I am asked most frequently by other VA’s is “How did you grow your business?” and I used to think it was rather by luck. A closer look reveals that it was all about growing relationships. When I served a client above and beyond their expectation, a bond was formed. As I got to know these clients, the bond grew and deepened. One of my oldest and dearest clients knows my child (and asks about her all the time) and treats her as if she were family. It’s clients like her that have helped my business to grow, develop, and thrive.

Meeting new people and thinking about all of the ways that they could market their business and being ever watchful for opportunities for them is all a part of it too. I’ve learned this from a great friend who also helped me to launch my business. She is one of those rare “master connectors” who knows absolutely EVERYONE and is never shy about making a referral or introduction. She is such a wonderful relationship marketer and a great example of someone who is worthy of being called a mentor.

If you have heard the expression that good work is hard to find, it’s one expression that most people believe. People would rather ask their friends advice before investing time and money into a project, then to have to weed through all of the possibilities to look for the one “diamond in the rough”. This applies to more than just looking for a great VA, it applies to looking for an accountant, a Realtor, even comes in to play when deciding what consumer goods to purchase, where to shop, and more. We all listen to our peers and weigh what they tell us with our own thoughts and desires.

So how do you become one of those people who your friends and peers will refer their friends and peers to?

It’s not really that difficult. It’s all in how you treat people and how you leverage those relationships. If you are honest, ethical, and fair people will think highly of you. If you seek to serve others more than yourself, they will come to admire you. If you are good to your word, they will see that you are reliable too. Once you have shown how hard working, honest, and reliable you are, keep your name on the tip of their tongues. Show up, be involved, stay in touch, be noticed. You don’t have to constantly call and pester and beg, but saying hello and dropping an email just to see how they are, sending a birthday or Christmas card– let them know you care and are thinking of them and they will remember you.

A lot of people when starting a business skip immediately over their friends and peers and start cold calling and soliciting for business from strangers. I’m not saying that you should immediately start selling to your friends and peers, but let them know that you have started a business, let them know who your target market is, and what you can do to serve and further benefit your target market, and ask for their help in getting the word out. Be honest, sincere, and frank about wanting to grow your business and expand. You never know who you know that could know someone who could be your next big client. But you’ll never know unless you first ASK. I’m also not suggesting that you ask your friends every time you want something, but ask for their opinion on the big things. Ask them to look over your new website and give feedback. Ask them to look at your brochures and let you know if they are eye-catching enough. Again, don’t bombard them with requests all the time, but from time to time ask for their opinions. People love to give advice, and will often give it unsolicited, so give them the opportunity to give it.

Another thing to remember is to take the “me” and the “I” out of your networking conversations. Instead of talking incessantly about your new business venture or your new project, ask your friends and peers how they are doing, how their business is growing, ask them how they overcame certain challenges or obstacles. Make it about them, not you. Ask about their grand kids or kids or pets. Ask them about anything having to do with them, and REMEMBER what they tell you. Ask them about some detail that you learned last time you saw them so that they know you remember them.

Building a business based on relationships really and truly is all about the relationship. Often we worry too much about where the money is going and where it will come from, that we forget about the people involved. Get to know people again, and you will feel rewarded by your business every time.

Social Networking for Business- cutting through the confusion

A recent survey reports “More than half of all adult Internet users in the United States either visit or maintain a profile on at least one social networking site, according to a new study conducted by Forrester Research.”
The world of social networking for business can be confusing to someone who is just learning about how the sites function and how to optimize the time spent on the sites.

Here are a few tips to get you started and to help steer you clear of fatal flaws when social networking online.

1) Maintain a professional profile. Potential clients will Google you and your profile will come up. What does your profile say? How do you look to an outsider? If a potential client were to add you as a friend, what kind of comments would they see attached to your name? Would they be professional, thought provoking, and useful? Or would they be messages about how much you hate traffic, or how much you partied last night? The difference could kill your chances at landing that big client.
2) See #1—professional, thought provoking, and useful information that establishes you as an expert. It’s okay to post personal messages and messages about your achievements, but those posts should be worded in a way so that you are still regarded as the expert. Look for anything that could diminish credibility and nix it before you post.
3) Share other people’s achievements and posts by others that you find informative—but give credit. When you find good information share it! It will lend to your credibility, show that you are not just self-promoting, and offers a service. People will learn to trust you as an informed expert, even when the information isn’t yours.
4) Tie it all together. Don’t reinvent the wheel for each element of your business. Blog content can easily be broken into tweets and short social networking posts, developed into articles to post to article sites, and tweaked into Press Releases to be published to PR sites. Just make sure that you are not posting a carbon copy of the same information all over the web, and you’ll be fine. When you have come up with great info, use it!
5) Start with what feels comfortable. Get to know one social network at a time and move at your own pace. If you prefer one over the others, then use that one. When it feels right you will enjoy what you are doing and accomplish more in the long run then if you flight the “flow”.
6) Don’t spread yourself too thin. Don’t try to be everywhere at once. Stick to just a few social networks, develop a blog, and establish yourself online as the expert in your field. Just like developing a niche will help you to develop your business, focusing on a few effective social networks will do the same.

Sometimes we all need a few extra hours in the day, and sadly some of the easiest and most inexpensive things that we can do to market our businesses get passed by because we’re so busy focused on other things.

5 Signs That You May Need to Hire an Online Business Manager

This is a repost of an article that I received via an email newsletter.
It was so great I had to republish it.

by Tina Forsyth

Wondering if you should hire an Online Business Manager? Here are 5 tell-tale signs that it may be time for you to add an OBM to your team.
1. Your business is growing while your own free-time is shrinking.
I’m betting you started your business to create more freedom in your life yes? Freedom of time, money and choice. Let me ask you – as your business grows are you actually working more or less time?
If you are on the ‘working more time’ side of things you certainly aren’t alone… I can’t count how many times i’ve talked to business owners who have shared how they are actually working more hours in their own business than they ever did in their ‘old job’. However it doesn’t have to be this way… as a business owner you have the ‘freedom of choice’ to be able to make changes in your business, including hiring the right help to get stuff off your plate.
This is exactly what an Online Business Manager does – their main focus is to free up the business owner so that they can focus their time and energy on the things that only THEY can do in their business.
2. You are having to turn away opportunities because you are so busy!
This is a sad by-product of the first point. Are you so busy that you can’t take advantage of the opportunities that are coming your way? Do you ever find yourself saying “I would love to do X and know it would be a great new revenue stream… but I simply don’t have the time for it right now… “
Not only can an Online Business Manager help free up your own time to be able to explore these opportunities, they can also work on bringing some of these opportunities to life for you! An Online Business Manager is very focused on implementation, and can help manage the process of creating new revenue streams in your business from concept to launch.
3. You are still doing things the same things you were doing when you started your business.
Remember when you first started your business and had to wear many hats? You were the cook, hostess, waitress and busboy (so to speak, hehe.) Now that your business is growing, are you still doing the same things as you were in the beginning? Are you still updating your own website? Are you still managing your shopping cart? Are you still answering all your customer service emails?
As your business grows your role will (and should!) change. An Online Business Manager can lovingly ’slap your wrist’ when it comes to you doing some of these things… helping you let go of some of the ‘old’ stuff taking up your time that gets in the way of you growing your business.
4. You have a great team, but find yourself frustrated by them always ‘bugging’ you.
This is actually a very common complaint from business owners – they have a great team of VAs, webmasters and such. And yet they are constantly frustrated by how much their team needs from them. They feel like someone is always tapping them on the shoulder with a question or request.
The thing is, your team does need someone to manage them. They need someone who they can turn to with questions, to get what they need to complete their projects quickly and on time. And if there is not an Online Business Manager on the team who do they turn to? You – the business owner.
As a colleague of mine so eloquently shared:
“My VAs were doing a fine job – it was ME who was unhappy managing them.”
Most business owners really don’t enjoying being managers, and i’m guessing this may be the same for you. An Online Business Manager becomes the key point of contact for your team – all questions, requests and such go to the OBM instead of you.
5. You are stuck at $X revenue and can’t seem to get past that point!
When you find yourself stuck at a certain point in revenue there is usually one thing getting in the way – you! My business partner Andrea Lee calls this the quarter million dollar speedbump (can be more or less than that of course) and a big part of the solution usually requires you removing yourself from the day-to-day of your business.
Start to ask yourself as you go about your day – do I need to be the person to do X? (with X being the many things you spend your time on each day.)
Chances are many things on your to-do list could be passed along to someone else on your team. And an Online Business Manager can help with that process by delegating and managing those tasks on your behalf.

Virtual Assistant Trainers/Coaches

I’ve been researching “Virtual Assistant Training Certification” and I must admit I’m a bit appalled. There are no credible resources for VAs who want to be certified trainers. Sure a VA can say “I’m a trainer” but what makes that VA credible? What assures other VA’s that they have actually put in the time and dedication to studying and mastering the process and techniques that are necessary for educating other VAs?

I’m not here to say “introducing my program…” that would be unethical. What I am saying is – someone rise to the challenge! Create a CREDIBLE program backed up by certifications, a professional curriculum, and an ethical and responsible way for VA’s who want to train and coach others to become certified– to put the time and effort into proving that they are the real deal!

Someone please correct me if I’m wrong but I see no professional organization that his holding a standard for VA Trainers and Coaches.

A Great Blog on Providing Service

There was a great blog post I found about how to provide service to your clients. This is such a great article. In social networking and marketing that has always been my approach- providing yourself as a service, providing your expertise, and allowing people to then choose to come back to you when they have seen that you are an expert.
Read the article here.

Great Website Article- Developing a Website That Generates Traffic and Increases Sales

This is a reprint from a newsletter that I received and thought the information was great!

Begin Reprinted article:

When you own a business, your website is one of your most important tools that can be used to reach new customers and generate higher sales.
Whether you have an established website that is not currently working for you, or you are a complete newbie to the online marketing world, improving your website so that it generates traffic and increases sales is the right thing for your business.

Without a high quality website that attracts visitors and provides you with a way to capture information, you are not using the Internet’s power to its full potential. The information below can provide you with an idea of why a good website is so important for your businesses’ bottom line.

Why is a Quality Business Website so Important?

A high-quality business website provides you with a way to capture the enormous amount of traffic that is on the Internet. It also makes your business more accessible to your customers.

It does this, by giving website users a way to contact you or find out valuable information about your products or services without having to get on the phone, and during non-business hours.

There are literally millions of people searching the Internet for various reasons on any given day. If you are not trying to capture some of those visitors, then you are losing out on many potential sales each month. Just as your store gives you a physical presence a high-quality website provides you with an online Internet presence.

Benefits of Having a Good Website

As a business owner, there are many benefits to having a quality website that is able to not only generate traffic but also increase sales for your company. The first benefit that a business website can provide you with is it enables you to have access to customers that you otherwise might not have contact with.

Without a website, you are only able to reach your potential market through traditional means, and not those potential customers that primarily use the internet for their purchase research.

By enlisting the help of an internet marketing service company, you can create a highly effective direct response website that enables you to reach out to Internet traffic.

By adding an opt-in form to a quality website, you can increase your earning potential each year by at least 20%. An opt-in form provides a means of capturing visitors’ contact information. This is very valuable as it will allow you to send current and potential customers information about promotions, important updates, and special sales events throughout the year.

The visitors on your list will be people that you know are already interested in the services that you are offering, and by sending out a sales message to them your rate of return will be much higher than with an untargeted ad in the newspaper.

One of the most important benefits that a business website provides is that it allows you to remain a step above your competition. If other related local businesses do not currently have websites, you are already reaching far more people than they are.

By creating a high-quality website that can generate massive traffic and drive sales, you are ensuring that your site will be listed before the competitions’ in the search engine rankings.

How to Develop a High Quality Business Website

Unless you are professional, the best way to develop a high-quality business website is to seek out an Internet marketing company or web designer that can create a customized plan for your business.

These companies have experience marketing to those online, and they can help your website by marketing it for targeted driven traffic, and ensuring that it gets ranked well within the search engine listings.

Off-line business owners can increase their revenue by creating a business website or revamping their old one. Without a high-quality site that is able to generate traffic and increase your sales, your online presence will do you no good. Enlist the help of a professional Internet marketing company to develop a website that will help your business thrive.

About the Author: Aaron Howard – For more information on website development and online marketing, contact Aaron Howard, Business Development Manager with CU Innovative Marketing at http://CUInMarketing.com.