Every so often I get emails from new VAs asking me to help them market their VA businesses. Here are my answers to the most common questions:
Q: "I want to market my VA business but I don't know where to start."
A: If you haven't already, you need to join the VA forums. http://www.virtualassistantforums.com and http://www.vanetworking.com These are the best 2 to join. These forums
are a great source of information and it's all free.
You must have a
website with a blog. A hosted website, not a free one, and it must be
on your own domain. If you want to market a virtual assistant business
then you must have a website. Please, no Google Ads and no affiliate links to products unrelated to your niche should be placed on your business website. (You could possibly place these things on your blog but that is a judgement call and a slippery slope at best)
Once you have a professional looking website then you can
market it.
You
need to get involved in networking. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the
VA forums are great places to be seen and heard. Blogging is a great
thing to do as well. It showcases your expertise and helps create links to your site.
Set up your
google alerts for your target market keywords and then read the blog posts of people in your niche.
Make
a point of commenting on those blogs. Make useful comments so that
other readers will read your words and be compelled to visit your site
just to find out more about you. This is a great way to drive traffic
to your site, increase your links, and get yourself known.
Q: "Can you recommend where I should purchase my domain?"
There are many places you can purchase a domain. Many VAs buy from GoDaddy.com
GoDaddy
also has a Website Tonight template you can use to put up a website.
It's not perfect by any means but it does the job for limited budgets.
I purchased my domain from Netfirms. They have excellent customer
support. Just make sure you read the terms and conditions of any place
you buy domains from.
You should also know about copyscape.com
It is a free site that VAs use to see if anyone is copying their
websites. As tempting as it is to copy and paste from one website to
another it is definitely not advised. Rewrite it to sound like your own
otherwise you may find yourself on the receiving end of a nasty email
from a VA who won't be happy that her website content has been
"stolen". (just a word to the wise)
Q: "Are there any legal forms that I will need to have my clients sign and
are there any legal forms that go along with a virtual assistant
company online?"
A: In the beginning I think it's a good idea to require a signed agreement. It ensures the expectations are met and agreed to. There should be no surprises.
You can buy forms here http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/virtual-assistant-business-forms.htm
Or you can find some good free forms in the document library at the Virtual Assistant Forums. (note: you must be an active member with 50 posts to access these forms)
Q: "How can I market my site to prospective clients? What do you think is the best way to get traffic to my site?"
A: You need to know who your target market is and where they hang out. Are
they online or offline? Knowing these things will help determine your
marketing strategy. You need to know as much about them as you can so
you will know how to attract them. I have always worked under the
assumption that my clients will find me if I provide the trail for
them. And it has always worked for me. I have never had to go and look
for clients.
Create the best,
information rich, informative site you can. Optimize it for search
engines and participate in social networking. Twitter and LinkedIn are
my 2 favorites. The VA forums are good too. You will get to know other
VAs and though them you might pick up some subcontracting work. It's
always good to know other VAs because it helps get you known in the
industry. Twitter and LinkedIn are good for making business
connections. Facebook is also a great place to connect with people. Create a Facebook business page and then link to it. 
Besides online networking, one of the best ways to get organic
traffic to your site and increase your search engine rankings is
through the keywords you use on your site, having lots of keyword rich
content on your site and by blogging. Blogging needs to be done regularly or not all. A stale blog attracts no one.
Offering your visitors a free report or a newsletter is a great way to build a list and give potential clients some useful information.
Check out HubSpot. They are
online marketing pros and they dedicate their business to "inbound
marketing". (driving traffic to your site) http://www.hubspot.com/marketing-resources/
Got a virtual assistant question? Ask it in the comments section.