Changes at Simplicity Admin Solutions

I have hinted at upcoming changes for a while now. This time I’ll give you the full story !

When I started my business a bit over a year ago, I planned to be your traditional Virtual Assistant offering various administrative tasks for small business owners. But over the last 15 months I have learned so much about Internet Marketing, Social Media, Websites and Virtual Events, that “Admin Solutions” seemed not to be the right company name any more. To keep it simple, brand aligned and because I love the word I decided to shorten the company name to “Simplicity”. The tag line changes to “Simple Small Business Solutions”. Because that is my goal: to offer simple solutions to small businesses. Be it administrative support, Social Media, Internet Marketing or Virtual Events; all my services are meant to help YOU, small business owner.

In order to reflect my newly defined areas of specialty I created a brand new website. The domain name stays the same though: www.simplicityadmins.com or www.simplicityadmins.ch for my Swiss folks.

When visiting you will find that my blog is now hosted under the same roof. So goodbye www.simplicityadmins.blogspot.com, hello www.simplicityadmins.ch/blog ! If you were receiving my blog posts by e-mail or were signed up by RSS, I invite you to fill in your e-mail again below to continue to receive my updates or click here to get my posts via RSS.

Enter your email address:

I have also created a FREE Resources page, where you will find some valuable information for small business owners about website traffic, online visibility, social media etc. I will continue to update this page on a regular basis.

When you visit for the first time I invite you to read my Welcome Message, and, if you have a minute, submit your feedback about the site. What you like, what you don’t like, what you’re missing etc. Thank you in advance !

Thank you for reading and being part of this exciting journey called “Entrepreneurship” !

I look forward to our future exchanges

Sarah
Simplicity – Simple Small Business Solutions

Facebook pages for small businesses

by Sarah Santacroce

If you haven’t been living under a rock, you have probably heard that everybody is talking about Social Media. Especially Facebook. So what is all the buzz about ? And how is it relevant to you, small business owner ?

Being myself the owner of a small business, let me give some insight about these famous Facebook pages and how I think they can benefit your business.

Why a Facebook Business Page ?

A ) It’s free
And not many things are, so why not take advantage of it ?

B) Huge audience
Facebook is expanding day by day. Here are some statistics from their website:

*Due to hit 600 million subscribers end of 2010

*More than 250 million active users, half of them log on at least once each day

*More than two-thirds of Facebook users are outside of university

*The fastest growing demographic are individuals 35 years old and older

*More than 8 million users become fans of pages daily

*70 percent of Facebook users are outside the United States

C) Optimized Search Results
Google and other search engines find and list your page. Even better is when you have more than 25 fans, you are allowed to customize the web address of your page. Instead of Facebook.com/and a long string of numbers and letters you can have www.facebook.com/yourcompanyname

D) Increased traffic to your website
On your Facebook page you will promote your website, post your blog posts and showcase your testimonials. This will automatically increase the traffic to your website and…

E) increase your sales
If you utilize your page the right way, you will increase your sales. This will not happen over night, since you will first have to establish a partnership and gain the trust of your fans. But in the long run, if they happen to need the services/products you offer, they will know you as the expert and come to you in the first place.

How can I measure my return on investment ?

True thing, Facebook does take quite some time to maintain. If you want your fans to interact and socialize on your page, you need to deliver daily updates, quotes, videos, articles, interesting facts etc. But will this time you invest be worth it in the end ? Below are two tools which help you to find answers to that question.

1. Facebook stats

Facebook will send you a weekly update with your Facebook statistics. In it you can see how many active users you have, how many weekly visits and how many additional “likes” you got that week. This basically shows you how popular your page is and let’s you adapt the style of your updates.

2. Google analytics

In your Google Analytics account you will find valid information on how many people come from Facebook to visit your website. In order to measure if they actually buy your product, you will have to set up a goal with your analytics account.

When preparing for this post, I asked the people in my network what they would like to know with regards to this subject. Here are a couple of questions I got:

Questions:

1. If I have a Facebook page, do I still need a website ?
2. I already have a Facebook personal profile, can I use that for my business ?
3. Is there a way that my clients can order directly through the Facebook page ?
4. I don’t know what to post on my page, can you give me some ideas ?
   

Answers:

1. In my opinion it’s still better to have a website. The site is where your clients find all the information about your business, your services and products. Facebook is just a door opener for your page, a way to bring clients to your website. However, if you feel confident that your main target public hangs out only on Facebook, you could probably get away with just the Facebook page. See also my response to Question 3 concerning a store front directly on your FB page.
   
   
2. I advise against using your personal profile for business purposes. The personal profile is to connect with your friends, share photos and experiences. But I would keep that separate from your business page. That doesn’t mean that you cannot share some personal info on the business page, but you will be more selective on what you share.
   
   
3. Someone asked me if there is a way to have a “store front” directly on your page, where clients can order and pay for your products and services, without ever leaving Facebook. Yes, there is. I have never actually used it myself, but I recommend you check out the Payvment application. Read this review for more information.
   
   
4. There are many things you can post on your wall. Here are some examples:
   
   - pictures of your products
   - pictures of your store front
   - quotes
   - interesting facts
   - links to your blog posts
   - polls
   - videos that you find interesting and relevant
   - questions and answers
   - discounts
   - etc. etc.
   
   Don’t forget that there are also many applications you can use to enhance the engagement on your page. Read this post on Social @ Blogging Tracker on how to increase engagement through applications.

If you have other questions, please leave me a comment below and I’ll be happy to answer. You can also e-mail me at sarah@simplicityadmins.com

I hope I supplied some valuable info on the benefits of a Facebook page.
I am not saying that every small business has to have a Facebook page. It does help in terms of the Search Engine Optimization, but it all depends on your target clientele. If your target public are other businesses, you might want to invest more time on Linkedin.

I’d be honored if you joined the discussion on my own page at http://www.facebook.com/Simplicityadmins. I’m looking forward to connecting with you !

Content Repurposing

by Sarah Santacroce

Content is king! That’s nothing new. In order to gain online visibility you have to create content. Every Online Marketer will recommend you create a blog and submit regular blog posts.

But that’s just the start. Since you have already invested the time in writing these blog posts, why not use that content and distribute it on other online channels ? This tactic has numerous benefits, here are just a few:

• brings traffic to your website
• creates back links (SEO)
• shows your expertise
• increases your audience outreach

To give you an example, let me tell you what I do after I have submitted a new blog post which I think is worth distributing on other channels

1. Submit it on Ezinearticles
   Ezinearticles is by far the best article bank out there. It is a great option to increase your SEO, since it let’s you create an author “resource box”, basically a short bio, with clickable links to your website. You will have to tweak your post a bit, since Ezinearticles does only allow a certain number of the same keywords and no links above the fold.
   
   
2. Submit it to Scribd and Slideshare
   After you have created a nice, clean pdf document (don’t forget to add your company details in the footer) you can upload it to different content sharing sites such as Scribd and Slideshare. I like those two because they are easy to use, and Slideshare can be linked to Linkedin so you can display your documents on your profile.

   If you create a series of articles, you can even create a small e-book and offer it for free on your website in order to build your list. Zinepal is one of the tools that simplifies that process for you.

3. Create a Autoresponder for your e-mail marketing list
   Sometimes, but not for each and every blog post, I let my subscribers know that I’ve just posted a new article or even send it to them in a pdf document.
   
   And here is what I don’t do, but know I should be doing :-)
   
   
4. Translate your content into another language
   If you work in a multilingual country like me, it also makes sense to translate your content into the other national language. Of course this costs either time or money, depending on whether you do it yourself or outsource it. That’s the reason why I usually just leave my content in English. But if you have the budget, a translation definitely makes sense since you increase your audience tremendously.
   
   
5. Create videos and submit them to Youtube or Tubemogul.
   If you are not camera shy, videos are definitely the way to go. Youtube is highly ranked in Google and video content really increases your chances of showing up on the first two pages.
   

Now it’s your turn. What other channels do you use to submit your content ? Please share your ideas in the comments below.

Plan now for a more effective 2011: Outsource non-core tasks !

by Sarah Santacroce

As a small business owner you constantly have to wear different hats: the Marketing Hat, the Social Media Hat, the Administrative Hat and many other hats. Honestly, sometimes you forget what your actual core business is. When things get really out of control, you even trespass the sacred personal time: you skip your daughter’s ballet audition, postpone date night for the third time and cancel the gym membership – because who has time for that, right ?

But this was 2010 – let’s focus on 2011. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could outsource some of your tasks to a helping hand ? Someone who could wear some of those hats for you ? Guess what, that someone exists and is called a Virtual Assistant.

There are numerous benefits of working with a Virtual Assistant (short VA). Here are 5 of them:

• Benefit Nr. 1: with a Virtual Assistant you do not waste precious time on training. If you choose the right VA, she comes highly qualified, experienced and skilled in her field of expertise.
  
• Benefit Nr. 2: if you hire a Virtual Assistant you don't have to pay fees to a temp agency. Let's say your business goes through a tough time and you need immediate help with your administrative tasks. If you go through a temp agency, you always pay a certain fee to help you find an temporary help. Just hire a Virtual Assistant and you can save yourself that fee.
  
• Benefit Nr. 3: Have you ever had an assistant that serves the net all day and makes too many personal phone calls? If you work with a Virtual Assistant you only pay for the time she spends on your project!
  
• Benefit Nr. 4: Since VAs work in a virtual world, place and time no longer matter. You could work with a Virtual Assistant who lives thousands of miles away, even in a different time zone. In fact, different time zones can actually work to your advantage. Your VA works while you sleep!
  
• Benefit Nr. 2: a Virtual Assistant is not affected by bad weather conditions, traffic jams & public transportation strikes

Now that we know some of the benefits, let’s look at how a Virtual Assistant could help you with those hats:

The Marketing Hat:

1. Add a press page to the company website
   Every website should have a press page. A Virtual Assistant can create a press page, and add links to articles in which your company appears on a regular basis.

2. A VA can post your company videos on Youtube
   Youtube and video branding becomes more and more important. Did you know that Youtube reaches 1 Billion views per day? You will have to agree that it would make sense that your company’s videos get posted and marketed on Youtube. A VA can set up an account for you, post the videos, send out links on Facebook and Twitter or embed them on your website.
   

3. Help you distribute your press release and articles on various directories
   It’s very important to write regular articles and press releases. But it’s even more important to distribute them online so people actually read them. A VA can help you distribute them to various directories online.
   
   

The Social Media Hat:

1. Create a Social Media Strategy
   You have made the decision to give Social Media a try – but you don’t know where to start. A Virtual Assistant can help you with that too. Together you will define your business objective, target audience and from there she will create a tailor made Social Media Strategy for your business and will help you implement it.
   
2. Update your Linkedin Profile
   Did you know that your Linkedin Profile is like a mini website and should be treated as such ? Many business owners get new leads through Linkedin, but only because their Linkedin Profile is complete and updated with their product brochures, links to their websites, keywords and even videos.
   
3. Create a Facebook Page for your business
   In my opinion every business who has a website should also have a Facebook Page. A VA can help you take full advantage of this marketing channel, customize it and teach you how to use it.

The Administrative Hat:

1. Organize venue arrangements: seating, meals, beverages, flowers etc
   Next time you have to organize a big event, why don’t you hire a VA instead of trying to prepare your speeches and organize everything at the same time? A VA can get in touch with the venue provider and arrange seating, meals, beverages, podcasting etc.
   

2. Setup an online backup system for your computer
   Honestly, when was the last time you backed up the data on your computer? A Virtual Assistant can arrange an online backup system so that you’ll never have a nightmare about loosing all your files again!

3. Enter the business cards you collect into your contact management software or database
   Is your desk drowning in piles of collected business cards ? Your Virtual Assistant is equipped to scan those cards and easily import them in your customer database. You really don’t have time for that !

These are just a few ideas to show you how a Virtual Assistant could help you make 2011 more effective than ever. You can find a more complete list here.
Plan for your outsourcing needs now, you will not regret it.

Sarah Santacroce helps small business owners with their administrative tasks, Internet & Social Media Marketing. You can contact her by sending her an e-mail to sarah@simplicityadmins.com

Newsletter Marketing - Tips

by Sarah Santacroce

This is the third and last post of a 3-post series about Newsletter Marketing. You can find the first post that explains the benefits of Newsletter Marketing here and the second post that features Newsletter Marketing Tools here.

So by now we know why it makes sense to write a regular newsletter and we have have chosen the tool to do so. In this post today I would like to give you some additional tips that will help make your Newsletter Marketing campaigns a success.

Ask for feedback
Since the success of your newsletter is entirely in your audience’s hand, don’t forget to ask them for feedback. You can ask if there is a specific topic they would like you to cover in the next edition, you can simply ask them what they think about a tool, product or service you are using (and have them post their comments on your FB wall) or you could add a poll and discuss the results in the following edition. Whatever you do, involve your readers !

Promote your newsletter
There are two moments to promote your ezine: before you send it and after.
Before you want to make sure that you have a pretty sign-up form on your website, your blog and your FB page. This way people will be added to your list.
After don’t forget to use Social Media to let your network know that you have just sent out a newsletter. Tweet about it, post it on your FB wall, tell your Linkedin friends, add a link to your e-mail signature, refer to it on your Skype status.

Archive previous newsletters on your website
If you sign up for a magazine or a paper you usually want to look at a couple of their editions before you commit, right ? The same goes for newsletters. People like to get an idea of what you are writing about, that’s why it’s good to give them that option – on your website. Create a specific page which explains the benefits and content of your newsletter. Below the sign-up form you should have links to your archive of previous editions, so they can browse through them before trusting you with their e-mail.
This is also beneficial from an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) point of view. The search engine spiders love regularly updated content on your site and will therefore come visit more often !

Measure your success
Don’t forget to measure the success of your newsletter. The online tools which we discussed last week come with handy reports. You can see how many e-mails have been sent, how many have been opened and how many people have clicked on your links.

Treat your “unsubscribers” well
You will also be able to track your “unsubscribers”. If they leave you a comment on why they unsubscribe, I think it’s a good habit to write them a short e-mail. Say that you are sorry to see them leave, answer their comment and learn from their feedback. Remember that 1 unhappy customer used to tell 3 others – nowadays with Social Media he might tell 3 Million.

So there you go, you should now have all the knowledge and tools to write your very own first newsletter. If you would like some help from my side, send me an e-mail to sarah@simplicityadmins.com.

To sign up for my newsletter simply fill in your name and e-mail in the form to your right.
Thank you.

Newsletter Marketing – Available Tools

by Sarah Santacroce

This is the second post of a 3-post series about Newsletter Marketing. Find the first post about Newsletter Marketing Benefits here. Come back soon or subscribe to my RSS to be sure to get the last article next week.

Which tools are available ?

This week I would like to show you which tools are available to simplify the newsletter edition and management for you. The truth is there are lots of  E-Mail Marketing tools on the market. But some of them are better than others. Below are my picks for small businesses.

Mailchimp

• Free Forever Plan for 1’000 subscribers
• Unlimited e-mails sent
• Cost per month: 15$
• Recommended for: Small businesses with limited ecommerce needs
• Special Feature: Can upload existing list
• Little extra: very funny interface

If you have a pre-existing list that you want to import, you will either have to choose Mailchimp or Contant Contact. However, since your readers have not actually subscribed to your newsletter, I would mention this in your first mailing and give them the option to unsubscribe in the first paragraph.

Aweber

• 1$ for first month
• Unlimited e-mails sent
• Cost per month: 19$
• Very complex reports
• Special feature: Blog integration
• Little extra: great customer service, very good videos

Constant Contact

• 60 days for free
• unlimited e-mails sent
• Cost per month: 15$
• Special Feature: Can upload existing list
• limited reporting features

Personally I have never used Constant Contact yet. But according to other reviews I have read, it is very easy to use. However their reporting features are not as advanced yet as the ones I know from Mailchimp and AWeber.

To summarize:

If you are a small business owner who tries e-mail Marketing for the very first time I would recommend you try the free version of Mailchimp. If however you think you will rapidly reach 1’000 subscribers and then also need more advanced reporting features, I suggest you take a pick between AWeber and Constant Contact, AWeber definitely being more complex.

Are you using another tool ? Tell us about it in the comments !

 

Next week I will give you some final tips before you start creating your own newsletter !

If you would like to start exploring this marketing technique but don't know where to start, contact your Virtual Assistant or send me an e-mail to sarah@simplicityadmins.com.

To sign up for my newsletter simply fill in your name and e-mail in the form to your right.
Thank you.

Newsletter Marketing – Benefits

by Sarah Santacroce

This is the first post of a 3-post series about Newsletter Marketing. Come back soon or subscribe to my RSS to be sure to get the next articles.

Did you know that e-mail is still the number 1 sharing method for content ? After Facebook and after Twitter ? Think about it… Do you know a person who does not have an e-mail account (Grandparents don’t count). Not likely… Do you know a person who still resists Facebook and Twitter ? I know quite a few and I’m sure you do too !

That’s why Email newsletters are still an essential part of an effective Online Marketing Strategy. Newsletters are a good way of building relationships with your existing customers and network. They are very targeted and effective and with the available tools also very measurable. But let’s look at what other benefits a well prepared newsletter has to offer:

Benefits

It creates trust
Receiving a regular Ezine (which is another word for Newsletter) creates a feeling of trust in your customers. They feel like they know you a little bit more with each edition and when the moment comes, where they need the services or products that you have to offer, they will think of you first.

It shows your expertise
If choosing the content of your newsletter wisely, you can demonstrate your expertise in your area of activity. So don’t just try to sell your product, act as an expert, give advice and consult your readers.

It offers continuity
Compared to other marketing channels, a newsletter offers continuity. Your subscribers know that they will hear from you every week, month or quarter. They will start to look forward to your e-mail.

It increase referrals
Every newsletter should have a “Share with a friend” button at the bottom. This way the subscriber can forward your e-mail to someone else who he thinks might be interested in your news.

It increases traffic to your website
I mentioned before that the point is not to just sell in your e-mail, but every once in a while it’s ok to slip in a special offer, coupon or just feature one of your bestselling products or services. And by default the footer of your letter will contain a link to your website, so chances are that your traffic will increase.

It increases sales
Let’s be honest here: we are not just writing newsletters because we are nice people and want to help the rest of the world. In the end our main goal is still to increase our sales. And this will happen if you apply all the above suggestions :-)

What do you think ? True or not true ?

Next week we will have a look at 3 of the best e-mail marketing tools on the market which will help you create a nice newsletter.

If you would like to start exploring this marketing technique but don't know where to start, contact your Virtual Assistant or send me an e-mail to sarah@simplicityadmins.com.

To sign up for my newsletter simply fill in your name and e-mail in the form to your right.
Thank you.

Perfect team work: a coach and her virtual assistant

by Sarah Santacroce

I like to work with different client profiles, that’s what, in my opinion, makes the job interesting. But if I had to describe my ideal client, I would probably choose an independent coach. I think that coaches (or public speakers) benefit the most of the skill set that a Virtual Assistant has to offer: marketing and self-promotion, organization and administration.

If you think about it, a coach has quite a lot in common with a Virtual Assistant. Both run their own business, usually as a solo-entrepreneur, both are responsible for their own marketing and both work with clients on a one on one basis.

In order to “walk the talk”, coaches should focus their energy on what they do best (and what produces income) and delegate the rest. There are many tasks which a Virtual Assistant can manage and by doing so, free up time for the core business. Below are a few examples.

What can a VA do for a coach ?

Marketing

• Blog Design & Maintenance
• Website Design & Maintenance
• Search Engine Optimization
• Facebook page Design & Maintenance
• Social Media Set Up & Management
• Powerpoint presentations
• Welcome Package Creation and Management
• New Client Questionnaire Creation and Management
• Event promotion (via offline and online marketing)
• Autoresponder Set Up & Maintenance
• Monthly newsletter creation
• Article Submission and Management

Administrative tasks

• Venue research and reservation
• Registration of exhibitions and fairs
• Contact & Database Management
• Email Management
• Survey Creation & Management
• Travel Arrangements
• General Research
  

These are just examples. Every coach has his/her own specialties and the corresponding tasks.
In most cases a Virtual Assistant will be able to help.

Are you a coach and new to the idea of working with a Virtual Assistant ? Would you like to start delegating some tasks but are not sure yet how this works exactly ? Please have a look at our website or contact me, I’d be happy to answer your questions.

Are you a Virtual Assistant? Who is your ideal client ?

Increase Your Online Visibility with Press Release Marketing

by Sarah Santacroce

Before web2.0, press releases were just for journalists and only big company changes were announced to the press. Today press or news releases can be used even by small companies, and the whole wide world has access to them. By distributing your press releases online (for example on pitchengine.com) you will be reaching out to a huge audience and therefore increase your website traffic (and hopefully your sales!)

Below you will find benefits, tips and tricks in a bullet point list.

Benefits of the new web2.0 Press Releases:

As mentioned above, the main benefit of the new approach of sending press releases, is that they don’t only reach a small bunch of journalists, but a vast audience of potential clients.

• people are informed about what’s going on in your business
• when somebody searches for you on Google, they will find your press releases
• press releases are indexed fast on Google
• press releases are a non-static part of your website which increases your chances of getting indexed by Google

What and when to write a news release:

It is key to commit to a regular schedule of press releases. If you decide to send a release every other month, than stick to that schedule. There are many reasons to write a release, including :

• the addition of new services or new products
• the reception of an award
• new staff
• the introduction of a special offer
• a publication of a free e-book or a whitepaper
• the publication of survey results
• a company event
• your point of view of an exposition or a fair you attended
• etc.

Tips:

You can find free samples of press releases on Google. It is important to:

• use your keywords
• include special offers
• post links to your website

Where to post it:

There are many Press Release Distribution Sites (see list below). Don’t forget to also post your releases on the media room on your website. This is a specific page on your website usually entitled “Media Room” or “Press Releases”. You would post the title of the release with a link to a pdf document.

• PR services (such as pitchengine.com or prweb.com ) Check out the full list of free Press Release Distribution Sites in this blog post from nakedpr.com
• Scribd.com
• Slideshare.net (not just for slides anymore!) and it’s linked with Linkedin!
• Your Social Media Accounts (Linkedin, Facebook Page, Twitter etc.)
• Media room on your website

If you found value in this checklist, you might be interested in my free e-book “21 Proven Ways to Increase Your Website Traffic”. You can download it by clicking on the picture below:

Free E-book helps you increase your Website Traffic

by Sarah Santacroce

Dear Fellow Entrepreneurs,

Imagine there is a great party, but nobody knows about it. The organizers spent a lot of money on the venue, the decoration, the hors d’oeuvres and the DJ. With excited anticipation they open the doors at 10pm but – only 23 people show up. The party is a complete flop!

See where I am getting at? A website is like that party. One can have the fanciest website on the market, but if nobody knows about it, it won’t get any traffic.

But don’t panic, I’ve got you covered. I wrote a report that should come in handy. In it you will discover some of the most important tools and tricks to increase your website traffic, attract more potential clients and boost your sales

- with your Blog

- with Link Submissions

- with E-mail, Press release and Article Marketing

- with on page Search Engine Optimization

- and with Social Media!

Are you ready to get this party started? So hurry and click on the picture below and then fill in your name and e-mail and you’ll receive my report immediately.

Send me a tweet @sarahsantacroce and give me your feedback ! Or just leave a comment below.

I appreciate your input !

How can a Bilingual Virtual Assistant help you?

by Claudia Amendola (IT), Sylvie Guiziou (FR) and Sarah Santacroce (CH)

A virtual assistant (typically abbreviated to VA, also called a virtual office assistant) is an independent entrepreneur who provides professional administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients from a home office.

A virtual assistant can help you with your daily tasks that need to be accomplished in order to run your business successfully. She or he can work on both short-term and long-term projects without becoming your employee. You can save money by hiring a virtual assistant as the costs will not include the usual ones related to having a permanent employee (equipment and rental costs, payroll, taxes, benefits and non-productive hours).
A bilingual VA who speaks and writes at least two languages fluently is highly beneficial for a firm which does business in those languages.

Below you find a non exhaustive list of some tasks that you can delegate to this administrative partner.

Administrative tasks:

A bilingual virtual assistant can organize and manage your correspondence or an email campaign for your business. She can manage your database, updating and entering new information. If you need travel arrangements, calendar management, email data research, date entry, transcription or other administrative services in two languages, a bilingual virtual assistant is the person that can solve all these things, while you focus on more lucrative work. All you need is a computer, a phone and an internet connection to stay in touch with a virtual assistant and delegate the tasks to her or him.

Marketing:

Some virtual assistants are specialized in Internet and/or social media marketing. They can help you set up an article or press release marketing campaign, improve the SEO of your website and give you other helpful tips on how to increase your client base trough Internet marketing. They are also experts in how to use social media to increase your leads: create a business blog, set up an engaging Facebook page, help you how to use Twitter and other trendy social media tools.

Customer Services:

If you are looking for customers worldwide, a bilingual virtual assistant can help you communicate with your clients in countries whose language you do not speak fluently. A bilingual virtual assistant can connect with your prospects or customers in their native language and help you develop your business.

Translations:

Bilingual virtual assistants can translate your website, articles, press releases or Powerpoint presentations to their native language or to another language they are fluent in. Human translations are always better than machine translations and a bilingual or multilingual virtual assistant can offer you a level of translation that will take your business to the next level. A virtual assistant is more involved in your business so the translation can be more accurate and more focused on your needs. Certified translators usually charge more for the same translations.

Internet Marketing and SEO:

A bilingual virtual assistant can also perform SEO for the targeted language, which is more than translating the text word by word. He or she will know which keywords are relevant in the target language so that your translated site will be better ranked in Google or Bing.
The efficient, cost-effective solutions offered by bilingual virtual assistants allow you to devote more time to your core business, increase productivity and save money.

***

Italian and Spanish native speaker, Claudia Amendola of MTvirtualassistant is a multilingual virtual assistant (it-sp-en) specialized in bilingual customer services, website translation and travel concierge. htpp://www.mtvirtualassistant.com

French national, Sylvie Guiziou, of Optim Office is a bilingual (fr-en) virtual assistant dedicated to working with small business owners and individual entrepreneurs to help them focus on strategic activities that require their full attention. Sylvie delivers virtual assistance in general administrative services, bilingual En-Fr services, transcription, copywriting, data entry, Internet research and much more at http://www.optimoffice.fr

Swiss national, Sarah Santacroce runs Simplicity Admin Solutions, a virtual assistance business working with small businesses and individual entrepreneurs to help them dedicate their precious time to their core business. Simplicity Admin Solutions offers tailor made virtual administrative solutions, Internet marketing support, translation service and much more at http://www.simplicityadmins.com. All services are available in English, German and French.

Website localization and multilingual SEO: a bilingual Virtual Assistant can help you

by guest blogger Claudia Amendola of mtvirtualassistant.com

What’s the key of a successful international website?

Over the past year, many of my clients with international websites have been asking me for an easy and fast way to optimize their sites for each country or the European market. That’s the reason why I wanted to make this post and share with you my thoughts. Please feel free to share yours too by leaving your comments ,-) .

You may know already that an “international” website is a website for an international audience. In order to reach an international audience you will need to Translate and Localize your website in other languages. English is the most common language but that doesn’t mean that everyone on this planet speaks and understand perfectly English. Only 37 percent of the world’s online population speaks English as a first language.

Translate your website in other languages such as Spanish, Italian, French, German ect will assure you a niche of market you will never get if your website is only written in English.

But translating your website is not the only thing you will need to do in order to reach multilingual audiences. Your website needs to be localized. WEBSITE LOCALIZATION is the process of modifying an existing website to make it accessible, usable and culturally suitable to a new target audience. It is a multi-layered process needing both programming expertise and linguistic/cultural knowledge as well as marketing knowledge. If a website is only translated to a different language, the chances to reach a new market are lower.

The website localization process comes normally first. Followed up by the website and content translation. At least this is what I normally do as I prefer to search and focus first on the market and audience niche. It is important to study the right words, the target audience age you are communicating with, the society class as well as your competitors in that particular country. In the majority of cases it is the lack of linguistic and cultural input that lets a website localization down.

Last but not least is: INTERNATIONAL or MULTILINGUAL SEO!

Multilingual SEO is an important component to an effective global Internet marketing strategy. Some search engines are better than others and work differently, too. Google results, for instance, may differ from country to country. Just because you’ve achieved a certain rank for targeted keywords for the U.S. doesn’t mean you’ll achieve the same results for Italy or Spain, for instance.

So, these are some tips you may take in consideration for your multilingual marketing:

- Know Your Audience first

- Modify Web Page Code for your new market

- Choose the right Domain or Domain Extensions

- Always use the Native Language

Claudia Amendola, Multilingual and Travel Virtual Assistant successfully provides an outsourcing alternative for clients who typically do not have the time, space or budget for in-house staff, but have the same need for bilingual and travel assistance. Claudia speaks and writes 3 languages fluently: English, Spanish and Italian. She can be reached at info@mtvirtualassistant.com or on Twitter @italianmtva

For French or German services contact the author of the blog, Sarah Santacroce at sarah@simplicityadmins.com or on Twitter @sarahsantacroce

Article Marketing: A Great Free Marketing Tool

Since I’m still in the middle of the big move (for those who are new to my blog: I’m moving from California to Switzerland) I continue my series of guest posts. This one is

by Jodi Crosby (@SmartVAforU)

Doesn’t everybody need more activity on their website? And wouldn’t it be great to find this activity through a free resource? Well, there are several free resources, but one of the best is article submission. You take the time to write a compelling, informative article and post it to the article marketing publisher’s sites. They get free content that can be employed by others looking for great information to post on their websites. The article publisher’s readers are then given the chance to click through to your site and your additional content. This additional traffic to your website should provide you with more opportunities to help out those clients.

Another aspect of article marketing is you get to provide informative content to help “Brand” yourself as an expert in your field, show your style, and provide a foundation for building trust. Most importantly, when writing articles or any other content be you, be consistent, and be authentic. The best way to build loyal followers is by being genuine and trustworthy.

What are some of the ways you can boost traffic and, in turn, revenue?

1) Remember to include a link to your site at the end of every article.

2) Provide the reader a little bit of information about your background and knowledge.

3) Give a short explanation of the benefits of visiting your site.

4) Inquiring minds want to know, so leave them a little curious about what you can do to help.

What if an ezine publisher picks up the article to be published in their newsletter? This provides an opportunity for thousands of the ezine’s readers to view your article and click through to your site. When someone publishes your article, they should include your entire article, including the information about you and your site.

The more click-throughs to your site the higher placement you will receive on the search engines.

If you continue to add to the number of articles submitted and where these articles appear, the number of links back to you and your website increase accordingly.

As you increase the number of links to your site, the search engines will give your site higher rankings. Your click-through rates will soar as you appear higher in people’s searches, and you will receive even more opportunity to help new clients.

The general consensus is, if you can get your website up to the top 6 for your search terms or keywords, you will create a lot more traffic on your site. Article marketing can make the difference and help you reach this goal.

Here are a few of the top article marketing publishers:

http://ezinearticles.com/

http://www.articledashboard.com/

http://www.goarticles.com/

http://www.articlesbase.com/

http://www.articlecity.com/

http://www.articlemark.org/

http://www.articlealley.com/

http://www.isnare.com/

http://searchwarp.com/

http://www.ideamarketers.com/

Each of these sites has different rules. Please take the time to understand their rules prior to submitting any articles so you don’t waste time having to edit your content. Submission to multiple sites is critical to a successful article marketing campaign. A Social Medial Virtual Assistant has the skills and knowledge to submit your article quickly and efficiently to the right sites for the most return on investment.

Jodi Crosby, Smart Virtual Assistant for You, is a mom and an entrepreneur committed to working with small business owners. My goal is to enable you to accomplish your goals while leaving the administrative tasks to a professional. I understand that being in business for yourself, while very rewarding is also very challenging. Smart Virtual Assistant for You can help. Visit http://smartvaforu.com. Follow Jodi on Twitter @SmartVAforU

Getting to know your future Virtual Assistant

by Sarah Santacroce

A couple of weeks ago, Christine Bearse, a fellow VA and champion for the advancement of the Virtual Assistant industry, asked me a couple of questions about myself and my business and posted the interview on her blog, VAProfiles. When choosing an assistant in the “real” world, you get to meet her in person, see her style, hear her voice and discover her hobbies. In the virtual world we have to work a little harder at getting to know the human being behind the gravitar. So Christine decided to start this blog to profile VAs with a bigger focus on their styles and personalities rather than on their rates and services. So in case you are looking for a Virtual Assistant, VAProfiles is a good way to start. Browse away and get to know your future VA.

Here’s an extract of my interview:

When I first “met” Sarah, she was living in California. Since then she has moved back to Switzerland where she has taken her VA business with her! Another great benefit of running a virtual office. Sarah Santacroce is the sole proprietor of Simplicity Admin Solutions. One of her unique talents is her ability to work in three languages (French, German and English). Her niche is multi-lingual assistance such as translations (English to German or French and vice versa) and internet marketing for small businesses or individual entrepreneurs. I asked her some questions about herself and her business, please see what she told me. Also be sure to check out her blog, I found lots of great information there.

Why did you become a VA?

I loved the idea of more flexibility, being able to be available part time for my kids, choosing the people I get to work with and just running my own business.

How do you prefer to communicate with clients? Phone, email, chat, combo?

I like to work with Skype and e-mail.

How do you stay organized? Do you have any organization tips?

I’m all about lists: to-do lists, task lists, priority lists, grocery lists…

How would your friends describe you?

Positive, good listener, usually in a good mood, very Swiss (meaning: on time, reliable, organized, picky about her chocolate)

How would your clients describe you?

Efficient, innovative, always finding better and faster ways

How do you feel about social media?

A must for small businesses! Social media offers small businesses so many free marketing opportunities which didn’t exist before. I’m thinking of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. It would be a pity if a business with a small marketing budget didn’t take advantage of them! Of course Social Media requires quite some time, so sometimes it makes sense to outsource these tasks to a Virtual Assistant.

To read the rest of the interview, click here.

Christine, thanks again for this great opportunity !
If you are a Virtual Assistant and would like to be get a profile on Christine’s website, please contact her through the e-mail on her site.

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Review of “Internet Marketing Specialist Class” by VAClassroom

by Sarah Santacroce

When I was researching the courses offered by VAClassroom, I was desperately looking for reviews from past class members to find out if this class was worth my money and time. I found some, but not as many as I’d hoped for. So this post is for YOU, who are considering to invest in yourself and attend one of VAClassroom’s high quality, intense content and very interactive classes!

Ok, so the class I’m attending right now (I’m in the 5th week of a 5 week long class) is called “Internet Marketing Specialist”. If you visit VAClassroom’s homepage, you’ll find a very detailed description of the lessons. Each lesson is not just a boring document to read at home, but a video presentation. It feels like you’re attending a private class in which Craig Cannings, co-owner and facilitator, talks to you in his lovely Canadian accent (eh!) and really wants you to understand all the details. You get 4 videos of average 30 – 40 minutes a week, plus 1 – 2 bonus demos of online tools. You can pause the video any time, review it as many times as you want, skip a part etc. On top of that, Craig gives you all the resources you need to implement and offer these Internet Marketing Services at your own business. Spreadsheets, checklists, links to online services, tips on how to charge for the services… you name, he has it. As if that wasn’t enough already, by signing up you also become part of the Internet Marketing Specialist Club, a community where members can connect, share ideas, ask questions and get feedback.

I won’t go over the details of each lesson, you’ll find those on their homepage, but here are just a few of the things that I’ve learned (and will soon be offering to my clients!):

• Develop a Marketing Strategy and Action Plan
• Create a Competitor Analysis Report
• Provide a Website Assessment
• Do keyword research and provide basic SEO on page guidelines
• Offer Link building services
• Article and Press Release Marketing
• E-Mail Marketing

So as you see, it’s very content intense and it will take you a while to not only watch the videos, but fully understand and implement all the services into your own business.

Once again, I’d like to summarize the benefits of this class:

• good value for your money
• high quality content through video lessons
• resources in form of spreadsheets, checklists etc
• demos for Online Tools (Google Analytics, AWeber, 1Shoppingcart, Market Samurai etc.)
• membership of the class community where you can ask questions
• “Internet Marketing Specialist” badge to promote your newly expanded skills on your website (can’t wait to get mine!)

I’m very happy that I decided to attend this class.
This is a very honest review and at the moment of writing it I’m not affiliated in any way with VAClassroom (it’s something I might consider in the future though, because I truly believe in their classes).

Now it’s your turn? Have you attended one of their classes? Please share your feedback in the comments!

Affordable translations provided by a bilingual Virtual Assistant

by Sarah Santacroce

Here’s the situation: you need to translate your website and have requested a couple of quotes from certified translators. But when you saw the prices, you had to sit down and after some thought, decided that it just wouldn’t fit in your budget for the moment. I’ll bet you any money that you haven’t received a quote from a bilingual Virtual Assistant!

Here are 6 facts you need to know about translations provided by bilingual or multilingual Virtual Assistants:

1. Compared to other cheap oversea translators, bilingual Virtual Assistants usually translate in to their native language, or a language they are VERY familiar with.
   
   
2. You get a human translation, not one created by a machine (such as translate.google.com)
   
   
3. You get a translation from somebody who is interested in your business and will be asking you questions about specific words, terms or meanings on your site or document
   
   
4. You get to ask for references of previous clients
   
   
5. Some bilingual Virtual Assistants are also specialized in SEO and internet marketing and won’t just translate the text, but also give you advice on how to market your site to the new target language. What’s the point of translating your site, if the potential clients of the added language don’t find it on Google, right?
   
   
6. Finally translations by bilingual Virtual Assistants are usually more affordable than those done by certified translators. Some VA’s charge by the hour, others by the word, but either way, you most likely get a better deal!

So, did I convince you to give it a try and hand your next translation job to a bilingual Virtual Assistant? Just ask for a quote and the VA will contact you to discuss your needs. Here are some contacts:

- for English to German translations (or German to English)
- for French to English translations
- for English to French translations
- for English to Italian or Spanish translations (or Italian and Spanish to English)

Please remember, most bilingual Virtual Assistants are not certified translators. So if you are looking for a more technical translation or just want perfection, I recommend you contact a certified translator.

Still not convinced about bilingual Virtual Assistants ? Find out more in these related posts:

- What exactly is a Virtual Assistant?
- How can a bilingual Virtual Assistant help you ?
- 5 benefits of working with a Virtual Assistant

1st Swiss Home Office Day: a big day for Virtual Assistants in Switzerland!

by Sarah Santacroce

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Today is a big day for Virtual Assistants and every other home based business owner in Switzerland! It's the 1st National Home Office Day ! The initiative, which is sponsored by Microsoft and other big national sponsors, tries to prove that quality of life, productivity and climate protection are not opposites. On the official website, individuals and businesses can participate by answering a couple of simple questions such as "How many days do you work at home per week?". The website will then calculate how much C02 the participant will save on average for the next year. My result was 163 kg of CO2!

The campaign is also supported by Swiss politicians. Moritz Leuenberger, Federal Council, is convinced that working from home will not only increase worker’s quality of life, but it would also have a big impact on the environment.
The website already counts more then 8000 participants, over 500 days of time savings and over 300 tons of saved CO2!

From my point of view this is a big step toward a new era: Swiss will start to see the benefits of telework and will be more open to outsource their non core business to people who are working from home. So let’s raise a glass and celebrate the 1st Swiss Home Office Day!!

Got you curious about Virtual Assistants? Find out more in the posts below:

- What exactly is a Virtual Assistant?
- Virtual Assistants in Europe
- How can a bilingual Virtual Assistant help you?
- 5 benefits of working with a Virtual Assistant

How a bilingual virtual assistant can help you

By guest blogger Sylvie Guiziou

In our global economy, businesses are searching for customers not only in their own country, but worldwide. We understand how difficult it is to communicate in a country when you are not able to speak the language fluently. Partnering with a bilingual virtual assistant, who can liaise with your customers and prospects in their native language, can be highly beneficial for your business.

A virtual assistant (often called a VA) is an independent entrepreneur dedicated to providing secretarial, administrative, Internet marketing, social media, website, languages, graphic, legal and/or real estate services from a home office to help businesses, solo entrepreneurs and busy individuals focus on the core aspects of their business, generating income, taking up new challenges, increasing their bottom line.

Whether you are the owner of a company conducting business in a French-speaking country, an executive on a business trip in Paris, France, or an expatriate living in Genève, Switzerland, a bilingual French-speaking virtual assistant can offer a full range of efficient, cost-effective solutions to help your business achieve a greater impact.

Business & event management

Planning a seminar in Europe? Your VA can handle logistics by finding and booking locations, making invitations, booking suppliers for the event and preparing your handout material.

Internet research and data compilation

There is so much information being shared online about your market, customers and competition. Your bilingual VA can collate important piece of information, translate them into English or summarizing them to you.

Marketing services

Have your bilingual virtual assistant:

- compile your material in newsletter format and send it out at the appropriate time,

- set up and implement your email marketing campaign,

- set up and manage your social media accounts,

- manage your blog and post new content on a regular basis

These are just a few examples of how a bilingual virtual assistant can help you.

She can provide you the support and assistance that you need at a fraction of the cost you would expect to pay if you had to hire a permanent or temporary staff member. Rely on this dedicated partner to handle efficiently the various tasks you want to outsource while you focus on more income-generating activities.

Sylvie Guiziou, of Optim Office is a bilingual (fr-en) virtual assistant dedicated to working with small businesses, entrepreneurs and busy individuals to help them focus on strategic activities that require their full attention. She has over 15 years experience in administrative support services at board level in France, and an education in bilingual business administration. She delivers virtual assistance in general administrative services, bilingual En-Fr services, transcription, copywriting, data entry, Internet research and much more at http://optimoffice.fr

Related posts that might interest you:

- 5 Benefits of Working with a Virtual Assistant
- Virtual Assistants in Europe

5 Benefits of Working with a Virtual Assistant

by Sarah Santacroce

This past week's event in Europe, the eruption of volcano Eyjafjallajokull and it’s impact on travel, made me reflect on the benefits of working in a virtual world again. I've heard so many stories of business people being stuck in Europe, having to rent a car, drive for hours to an other country just to find out that all the flights from there were already fully booked and they had to wait 2 more days to finally fly back home.

See, in a virtual world, this doesn't happen :-) So if you are working with a Virtual Assistant, she's rarely stuck somewhere and can't show up for work. And even if she is, she most likely has her laptop with her and can just work from where ever she is. So the first benefit is obvious:

• Benefit Nr. 1: a Virtual Assistant is not affected by cancelled planes, traffic jams & public transportation strikes (wink to my VA friends in France :-)

Let's look at the other 4 benefits:

• Benefit Nr. 2: with a Virtual Assistant you do not waste precious time on training. If you choose the right VA, she comes highly qualified, experienced and skilled in her field of expertise.
  
  
• Benefit Nr. 3: if you hire a Virtual Assistant you don't have to pay fees to a temp agency. Let's say your business goes through a tough time and you need immediate help with your administrative tasks. If you go through a temp agency, you always pay a certain fee to help you find an temporary help. Just hire a Virtual Assistant and you can save yourself that fee.
  
  
• Benefit Nr. 4: Have you ever had an assistant that serves the net all day and makes too many personal phone calls? If you work with a Virtual Assistant you only pay for the time she spends on your project!
  
  
• Benefit Nr. 5: Since VAs work in a virtual world, place and time no longer matter. You could work with a Virtual Assistant who lives thousands of miles away, even in a different time zone. In fact, different time zones can actually work to your advantage. Your VA works while you sleep!

This is a non exhaustive list as there are many other benefits. What is your favorite one? List it in the comments!

Related posts that you might like:

- VA Assistants in Europe
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- How can a Virtual Assistant help you
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Virtual Assistants in Europe

by Sarah Santacroce

In a couple of weeks, I will be moving back to Europe, Switzerland to be more precise. Everybody who has experienced an international move, will agree with me, that it is not an easy thing to do. Especially when there are children involved… But that story is for another time. Today I want to share with you my thoughts on the Virtual Assistance profession in Europe.

I feel blessed that I had the opportunity to start my business in the US, benefiting of an immense networking system of Virtual Assistants and taking advantage of a plethora of tools and information material on how to start your own business.

You see, in the United States, virtual work is extremely well developed. According to Kiplinger, 12/00 It is estimated that 100 million U.S. workers will Telecommute by 2010, that is over 30% of the population. Unfortunately this is not yet the case in most of the European countries. Here are the numbers:

Total number of teleworkers to overall working population:

Rank	Country	Teleworkers	%
1	UK	4 million	15%
2	Finland	300,000	13.6%
3	Norway	50,000	11.4%
4	Sweden	400,000	10.3%
5	Ireland	40,000	2.9%
6	Germany	800,000	2.4%
7	Pays-Bas	140,000	1.9%
8	France	300,000	1.3%

In France and other Latin countries, there is still a big resistance to teleworking. The term “assistante virtuelle” is not very common at all, and people often don’t know what it entails.

In Germany, the percentage of teleworkers is slightly higher, but here again the term “Virtuelle Assistentin” is often misunderstood, sometimes as a virtual helpdesk, sometimes as a cheap labor from India, China or the Philippines.

In the UK on the other hand, they are more progressive when it comes to new working methods and Virtual Assistants are beginning to be recognized and their number is increasing. “Bettina von Stamm of the London Business School said self-confidence, devolved authority and autonomy were keys to successful teleworking and the British style of management fostered those qualities.”

The self-employed in Finland are generally classified as entrepreneurs, and it's no coincidence that this country has also a very high percentage of teleworkers.

Switzerland probably fits in somewhere between France and Germany. There is a lot of prep work for us Virtual Assistants, informing potential clients about our profession and showing them all the benefits a virtual business relationship has to offer. But when it finally does take off, I will be there!

Now it’s your turn: what are your thoughts on Virtual Assistance in Europe? Are you a VA in a country that I did not mention? How is the situation in your country? Please share your comments below!

Are you a European VA? Let’s connect via Twitter!

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