Modern Marketing Blog

After reading a helpful article on link building at Website Magazine.com I decided it might be fun to invite a guest blogger to write a blog post on the Modern Marketing Blog.

So, if anyone is interested in a free link from my site to yours then please email me with your guest blog post. I will publish any post that is related to internet marketing or virtual assistance as long as it remains business related and is professional. Please find a way to link back to your site in the blog post.

If you're a VA thinking of expanding your skillset, or are simply researching the field to decide if internet marketing virtual assistance is a worthwhile business then let me say this: there are an abundance of opportunities available for Internet Marketing Virtual Assistants (IMVA) because there is an increasing demand for our specialized skills. Since opening my business in 2007 I have seen a steady increase in both prospective and actual clients wanting my particular skill set of services. I think it's safe to say that entering the field of virtual assistance is a worthwhile pursuit. Specializing as an internet marketing virtual assistant is even more so.

Virtual Assistance is a "business" not a job. 

Let's be clear that Virtual Assistance is about owning and operating your own business. If you're looking to make a quick buck then virtual assistance is not what you need. You need a telecommuting temp job or something similar. I know there is debate about the meaning of virtual assistance but I'm not going to address that here.

What I will say is this; if you're looking to start your own business as a virtual assistant there is no better place to learn the ropes than VAnetworking and Virtual Assistant Forums. I belong to both forums and they provide invaluable information for aspiring and established virtual assistants. You'll learn what you need to know and develop an amazing support group of other virtual assistants at the same time. And it's all available for free! You simply need to invest the time in learning and researching.

Get training

The field of internet marketing virtual assistance is still newly emerging yet the demand for skilled IMVAs is overwhelming. Just recently VAClassroom started a training program for those VAs interested in offering internet marketing virtual assistance as a service to their clients. I checked out their 7 day free trial that was offered in June and I can honestly say it's an excellent program and I highly recommend it. It provides valuable hands on training for anyone wishing to pursue a career as an internet marketing virtual assistant.

Providing hands-on service is valuable. But, I also find value in knowing search engine optimization (SEO) and other aspects of increasing your online presence. There is an increasing demand for VAs who can effectively optimize a website for search engines and otherwise bring value to a client's website. This is a true specialty and if you can become an expert you can add this skill to your list of services and attract clients who need this valuable service. As more people turn to the internet for marketing their businesses they will appreciate a savvy VA who knows how to effectively optimize their website for search engines and potential customers.

Set up your Google Reader and subscribe to the HubSpot blog, Aaron Wall's Blog, Seth Godin's Blog and Marketing Profs. Then subscribe to other internet marketing blogs you find interesting.

What other IMVA services can you offer?

Lots! Old traditional outbound marketing is giving way to the new inbound marketing. This includes social media. Social Media marketing is a huge niche right now. Assist clients with creating, setting up, and maintaining their online profiles. Assist them with choosing the right social media for their business. Get your clients LinkedIn, Twittering and involved in Facebook and others.

Of course, there's also podcasting, videos, teleseminars, webinars, email marketing campaigns, blog installations, website maintenance, affiliate marketing, copywriting, etc.

Let me know if there's something you'd like to know about  becoming an internet marketing virtual assistant that I haven't covered here and I'll answer it for you! And if you're already an IMVA and have something to share please do. :)

I spend a lot of time on Twitter. Perhaps too much time. And the one thing that drives me crazy above all else is the automatic direct message from those I choose to follow. I don't even know how to set up the automatic message let alone send one. Even if I did know how to set it up I wouldn't use it. And here's why...

It's impersonal. It says "hi, thanks for following me. Check out my website and by the way, I can't be bothered to send you a personal thank you so I'm sending you my canned message because you're not important enough for me to do otherwise."

Why do people do this?  It seems to me it's becoming a trend to send the canned message. Twitter is "social media" with the emphasis on "social". How social are you being if you're sending out canned replies. Would you do that at an in-person event - if you could? I hope not. So why is it okay to do it at an online event. Because that's what Twitter is...it's an event. It's entertainment, it's information gathering, it's sharing. It's SOCIAL!!!!!

As business owners we need to be aware of our public persona and the image we project. In these days of looming recession and tight wallets it's more important than ever that we convey a message of caring. Caring enough to personally acknowledge a new follower on Twitter and not send them a canned hello. A new follower could be a potential customer. Sending a generic response implies you can't be bothered. If you can't put forth the effort with your twitter response then who's to say you'll put forth the effort in your customer service.

I spoke with a solo business owner this morning who mentioned he doesn't have time for social media networking even though he knows he should. "I'm too busy trying to sell my products" he said. "That's precisely why you should be networking on Twitter or Facebook" I said. Who do people buy from? They buy from people they know, trust and like. Or, they buy from someone who has been recommended by a friend. Twitter and Facebook are full of friends; old, new and soon to be.

The beauty of Facebook and Twitter is they are "social' by nature. Twitter is like a business mingle. It isn't the place for pushy sales pitches. Subtle yes, pushy no. Twitter is a great place to meet people and engage them in conversation. Curious as humans are they will want to check out your Twitter profile, with your website URL, allowing them to follow and learn more about your business. 

I think of Facebook as more of a town square. It's a place where friends gather to meet as well check out the offerings in the marketplace. I can go to my Facebook account and see the goings-on of all my friends at a glance. I can catch up with old friends and check out the new groups I've joined all at the same time. I can see who's offering what and decide whether I'm interested or not. 

The bottom line is this: if you're a small business owner interested in selling online you need to make the time to network on Facebook and Twitter. Granted, there are some online businesses that may not benefit from either of these 2 social media outlets. But how will you know if you don't at least see what they have to offer. There's no debate that both places provide an opportunity for you ,and ultimately your business, to be seen, heard and recognized. That's a key component to marketing.

I'll get you started. Connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.  Mention that you read this blog post. 

A few days ago I contracted a Trojan on my computer. This is the first time since I began using F-Secure software in 2005 that it didn't catch the sneaky suspect in time. Within a few hours my computer was so infected it was barely functional. After many useless attempts to remove it myself I finally relented and took it to my friendly neighborhood computer shop.

2 days later my laptop was back from the cleaners as good as new. The miracle cleanser used to rid my Dell notebook of it's unwanted intruder was a handy little tool called Malware Bytes. This amazing defender against all things malware has a free version which is now installed on my trusty Dell Inspiron. 

If you're a VA or small business owner looking for another tool to add to your arsenal of weapons to fight against malicious software I recommend Malware Bytes.

Someone asked me today "how do you come up with content for your blog?" The answer is simple...in your everyday life. Blog topics are everywhere if you look for them. The best places to find topics for a blog post can be found in your email. Do your clients ask you questions? If so, those questions and your answers can be great topics for a blog post.

I used the question posed to me today as a topic to write this blog post. 

Maybe something happened that you think might make a good topic to write about. My laptop was infected by a Trojan virus last week. I'll be writing about that for my next blog post.

Other sources of blog posts are community forums. The Virtual Assistant Forums and the VA Networking Forum are great places to find blog topics. There is sure to be someone asking a question at the forums to which you have the answer. Why not write a blog post about it?

Your Google Reader is another great place to find topics for your blog. Oftentimes when you read a blog post written by someone else you can be inspired enough to write a post of your own along similar lines.

The main point is to Blog. So go and check your inbox to see if there's something in there you can write about. I'm sure there is if you look for it.

Have you ever read something so good that you just wanted to Blog about it? Or maybe you’ve attended an awesome teleseminar and wanted to Blog about that. Just remember, that if you do, you must adhere to copyright and intellectual property laws or else you could face the threat of a potential lawsuit.
 
No one wants to be on the receiving end of an email telling you that what you’ve written on your Blog is proprietary information and you can’t have it. Well, maybe you can have it; as long as you give proper credit. That takes the form of citing your sources. And, in the case of blogging about something you heard in a teleclass somewhere, you need to be especially careful about making that information publicly available.

Authors own their *intellectual property* and they can do what they want with it. Everyone else cannot. If there is an article written by someone else, that you find inspiring enough to want to share with your own audience, it is imperative that you quote the original author. If you copy the whole article you must make mention of that in your post and include a link to the original article.

If you take bits and pieces of that article and weave them into your own, you must place quotations around those parts that are not your own words. And then you must make mention of this in your post and include a link back to the original article.Same goes for commenting on information you may have gleaned from a teleclass or webinar you attended. You may think the information is great and wish to make a Blog post about it. In this case it is best that you seek permission from the original speaker. They may have other plans for their information. They may be planning on writing a book or an article using the same information. That is their right as owners of the material.

Always ask for permission first or else you may regret it later.If you do not give proper citation or seek permission first, you could be accused of plagiarism and find yourself on the receiving end of a document threatening to sue you over intellectual property theft or copyright infringement.

To learn more about proper citation methods and copyright information please go to http://www.carrollcc.edu/library/research/citing/faq.asp

I’ve noticed that many VAs do not make use of their web site’s title tags. If you click on your home page and it says “home” in the blue bar at the very top of your screen then you are not taking advantage of a very important piece of your marketing puzzle.

I encourage you to read about SEO at your favorite VA forum and take particular notice of any threads that discuss Title tags and Description tags.

There are over 100 million active websites on the internet. If you want your website to be found you *must* take advantage of your title tags. It’s not a cure-all but it sure puts you ahead those of who don’t use them.