Wow! You’ve opened your door for business, (albeit via a website), and you’re anxiously awaiting your first sale. And you wait… and you continue to wait… and after 2 weeks nothing’s happened. Whoa! Wait a second here – what’s going on? Why aren’t the masses flocking to your website to purchase the latest and greatest shazam shiner or whatever product/service you happen to be offering?

Before you start revamping your whole website and spending thousands of hard-earned dollars on new graphics, designs etc., what exactly is your landing or home page saying about you and your company? Have you made it perfectly clear from the nanosecond your potential client’s mouse lands on your first page, what wares or services you provide? Or have you done what I call the ‘song and dance’ online writing routine where you’ve used heaps of flowery, flattering prose and all you’ve managed to do is confuse the reader to the point they have no idea what you have to offer? I’ve seen hundreds of these sad sites which I’m sure you as an avid internet surfer have as well. They’re the sites that have amazing flash animations, surreal voice-overs welcoming you to “LaLaLand” and bedazzle your eyes with colorful images dancing across the screen. Yet when the flashing lights have dimmed, you still have to have text for the reader to absorb – and crystal clear words at that – or your potential client is off to visit another dancing duck site quicker than you can say ‘Ptizlefik.’

The landing or home page of any website that aspires to do e-commerce has to be as close to perfect as a carefully prepared and baked soufflé. One bad ‘ingredient’ or doing jumping jacks while your creation is cooking and poof – there goes all your hard work into the kitchen garbage can. Or in the case of your website, no clicks equal no sales. Here are 3 super simple ways to ensure that your landing page provides ‘eye candy’ and information simultaneously:

1. Get straight to the point. Whatever business you’re in, state it in the opening paragraph. Don’t make the reader guess or even worse, make an assumption on what they ‘think’ it is that you do, because we all know where that wonderful word ‘assume’ can lead, right? If the reader can’t figure out what your business is about in 5 seconds, trust me, you’ve lost them and they’re on to the next company they found in their search list.

2. Offer the reader a free sample of your wares. Hey, you wouldn’t buy a car unless you took it for a test drive would you? Then offer your potential online customer the same deal. Give them a small sample of your services or products for free because after all, everybody loves the notion of getting something for nothing. Whether it’s a free report that is directly linked to your services, or a free trial sample of your products, your offer will have left a wonderful warm and fuzzy first impression. And yes, even online first impressions DO count!

3. Watch your adjectives! Remember when I mentioned about using flowery, flattering words? I call this sort of text ‘fluff filler’ – done by people who love putting in reams of meaningless words for the sake of seeing ink marks on the page (or in this case, the computer screen). Be careful of the adjectives you do use and place them wisely! Overused and worn-out words such as ‘fantastic, wonderful, amazing’ etc. should be used sparingly and not repeated over and over ad infinitum. After the reader has seen the word ‘fabulous’ for the 35th time, they may start to think of you and your product as ‘frivolous.’ When I write copy for my client’s website pages, I endeavor to use as few words as possible on their home/landing pages, as well as cram in as much information I can in the simplest manner possible.

Those precious 5 seconds which you have to make a lasting first impression doesn’t leave any wiggle room for errors with mere words. I guarantee you that if you make each syllable count you’ll see your bottom line soar. And isn’t that why you went into business for in the first place?

Marlene Oulton, wordsmith extraordinaire, is the writing/editing whiz of  MarleneOulton.com. She derives great satisfaction from assisting authors, writers, coaches and SOHO entrepreneurs produce clean, crisp, and concisely written articles, newsletters, website copy, and other literary works. Visit http://www.MarleneOulton.com to get your copy of her FREE report, 5 Steps to Writing Winning Website Copy and find out more on how she can make your words sing and dance… without adding music!

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So, we venture off on the long and sometimes arduous journey to build our network of solid, paying clients to keep our business viable, and then WHAM! We get hit with a dose of cold, harsh reality when one of our first potential clients says those dreaded words… “You charge WHAT to do THAT?” As you’re scrambling to find the right words to justify why your price is set at what it is, you’ve just lost your credibility in one fell swoop. Want to know why?

It’s NEVER about the price! And it’s all about value!

Are you shocked to read that line? You shouldn’t be. Early on in the start-up phase of my business, Gair Maxwell, a very effective seminar leader/guru suggested that I read Jeffrey Gitomer’s “Little Red Book of Sales Answers”, because ultimately we entrepreneurs are our ‘own’ salespeople and need to know how to ‘sell’ our business effectively. That has to be one of the best pieces of advice I’ve received and I devoured this book! And along the way I learned that it’s never about the ‘price’ you charge – it’s about the ‘value’ you have to offer to your prospective clients that matters more.

You need to tune in to the station called “WII-4M” – the station that clients listen to – the ‘what’s in it for me” direct hotline that gets them listening to you. You need to find out first what area they REALLY need your services most for i.e. what stress relief you can provide them with by solving some of their dilemmas. This involves listening to what your clients are telling you what they detest most about doing in their business, determining whether you can provide a service to help them, and then telling them that you’ll take care of it – and mean it! It’s called ‘listening’ and you need to learn to do it well.

It’s all about two factors – being a great listener and building trust. You need to convey your sincere desire to help your clients and stand by the words you use. Never make false promises and then not deliver because that will kill your credibility faster than a speeding silver bullet to the heart. Follow up on sales calls/emails promptly. The longer you wait, the wider the door opens for a competitor to come marching in and woo your potential client away.

I love the phrase from the movie “Field of Dreams” where they say, “If you build it, they will come.” If you cultivate a practice of being open, honest and trustworthy with all people whom you come into contact with, the clients WILL come. Plus if you follow it up by providing consistently great service coupled with reliability, they’ll tell THEIR friends and business colleagues as well.

Plus once you’ve established yourself as a “get it done right the first time” person, price will NEVER be an issue. You will have indelibly inked your name and business in the minds of your satisfied customers forever, which in turn, will bring you increased sales and more personal satisfaction into your company’s worth.

So, the next time someone says “You charge WHAT to do THAT?”, respond quite firmly “Yes, I do and here’s the value I bring along with that price.”

The bottom line of your business will be kicking up its heels… and wearing a lovely ‘black’ outfit minus the ‘red’ dancing shoes!

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1. Travel For Your Business? A Virtual Assistant Can Help! One of my regular (and rather favourite) duties for several...

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I’ve made a point of perusing mosts of the North American (and some European) travel and airline web sites to get a feel for booking, pricing, sales and more.

This was because I’ve been called on many times by several of my corporate coaching clients to set up regular trips to visit clients in both the U.S. and Canada.

A virtual assistant will certainly never replace a qualified travel agent.  But a V-A can quickly research flights, pricing, hotels, event venues and anything else that the client might require for their client meetings – and do so with the ultimate goal of complete client satisfaction.  The internet offers up everything a traveller needs to find out about their destination, their hotel, their airline and more.  And as a virtual assistant, I can quickly access the information, make the bookings and give the client a virtual “bon voyage” wave as they head out to the airport on their way to meet their own customer’s needs.  It takes little time to research – and the rewards to the business traveller can be great!  I’ve come to rely on multiple search engines for airline pricing, hotel deals and more.

One of my clients travels almost monthly on business – and I’m pleased that she relies on me exclusively to book flights, hotels, client dinners and team event planning.  She recently completed a stint in Canada where she flew up monthly to do team relationship building, executive planning and the like.  This always involved finding a value priced airline ticket, a comfortable 3 or 4 star hotel (at a reasonable price) and set up dinner or leisure events for her clients as required.

To do this, I would:

1. Provide pricing from three or four different airlines (including travel services like www.hotwire.com or www.travelocity.com
2. Ensure that online check ins were done and documents sent (usually to her smart phone).
3. Research (and book if applicable) hotels in the region where she would meet her clients for meetings (even though it was the same city, the location changed frequently due to the distribution of the executive staff of the company to which she was contracted).
4. Research and book leisure events (restaurants, dinner theatres, etc.) and provide the information both to her and to her clients
5. Provide telephone support to her destination clients when she was unavailable (in flight).

Even trouble-shooting airline delays, re-bookings and more – all in a day’s work for me as her virtual assistant!

Many virtual assistants have the ready knowledge to help a business owner with their frequent business travel.  And don’t we all need that little extra help – to make our business run smoothly and eliminate oh-so-many of those headaches!!?

Talk to Daily Planet Virtual Services today if you need help with your business travel arrangements.  We’re here to help!

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It’s been snowing almost every day for a month and if you look outside my office window, it just seems deeper and deeper.

Then my dear colleague, Marlene Oulton made a comment (she’s a word smith which is what I adore about her).

“Isn’t this a lot like marketing your business?

The snow falls on your roof and your deck and it sticks and people grumble and complain about it – everybody notices and talks about it forever…

Then the weather warms up and the snow disappears but people still talk about it for weeks afterwards!”

(Yes, we actually DO talk like that! – LOL)

This “kind of” segues into a quick thought on the strategic marketing of your business.  Believe me, I’m no marketing expert.  But as my virtual assistant business has evolved, so to have my ideas for successfully marketing myself…

One thing I’ve heard discussed over the last six years is planning.  ”Make a plan – stick to it!”

Throwing ideas in the air and seeing if they fly just won’t cut it.  Sure, you can call yourself a coach or an entrepreneur and throw up a web site.  But is that all you need?

Nope…

• Who are you going to market yourself to?
• Do you have a particular niche market in mind?
• What are you going to charge them?
• How are you going to carry out the work once you get the clients?
• Are you going to follow up with those clients after the work is done?

Plus, you need to have the necessary tools in hand when you start out to ensure that you can grow your client list (and find new propspects along the way).

1. Are you going to sell products or services online?  If so – then you’ll need a service like 1-Shopping-Cart.  3rd party services like 1-Shopping-Cart are essential for automating your online business and delivering your product to customers quickly.
2. If you’re not ready to sell products online but would like to develop a prospect marketing list, think about a service like aWeber.  Email services like aWeber are useful for building your list, marketing your upcoming events to prospects and keeping in touch with past, present (and most importantly, FUTURE!) customers.
3. Will you need assistance with keeping your business running?  If so, think about calling me (LOL!).  Think seriously about talking to a virtual assistant as you move forward with your marketing plans.  There are virtual assistants that serve every need from setting up your web site or your blog, to coordinating your events and tele-classes to creating your Facebook page or keeping on top of your social networking tasks.  It’s an affordable alternative to trying to stay on top of this yourself (and staying up until 4:30 a.m. trying to do it all).  :-)

Sit down and write out your plan.  Pay attention to every detail you think might pop up in the course of starting and running your business.

Share your draft marketing plans and ideas with colleagues to see if they have any suggestions as to other things to include in your plan.

And once that plan is in place – stick to it!  Review your plan on a regular basis (every few months) to make sure that your goals and strategies are up to date.  Add any priorities or ideas that you think might grow your business even further.

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We all hear about the importance of your 60-second “elevator speech” (you need to impress potential clients within 60 seconds or you’ve already lost them).

The one way that seems to be effective (for small and global corporations alike) is memorable marketing.

I’ve always admired the techniques used by Ikea in their television ads – no matter what they are featuring, the commercial is always amusing and you remember it long after the advertisement is done.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Find that “hook” when marketing yourself and your services.  Something that the customer will remember long after your first cold call or introduction at a networking event.  Even something like an out of the ordinary logo (like mine!) will make people remember you down the road when they’re looking for the product or service you’re offering.

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I installed this blog on the web site over a year ago and then promptly forgot about it…

There it lay, unwanted and unloved…

Until now.

I make it my New Year’s Resolution to try (at least as often as I can) to write up any tricks, tips, suggestions or just plain rants to help clients, prospective clients or any visitor thinking of working with a virtual assistant to better understand the relationship and/or – how to get things done.

Happy New Year!!

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This s a wonderful way of getting your brand and services noticed… Give them a sample of what you can do for them in a free 60 minute call, invite questions and debate and then send the registrant list a link to listen to or download the MP3 audio file to review at their leisure.

Mention your featured product or service at least once every ten to fifteen minutes while moderating the seminar and try where possible to loop back your answers to any participant’s question (how can I help you with that issue??).

One word of caution from your humble virtual assistant, however…

If you plan to offer a lot of these audios, always be sure to check how much bandwidth allotment your host provider (the company that hosts your web site for you…like GoDaddy or HostPapa) provides to you each month and make sure that this is NEVER EXCEEDED!!!

If you’re not sure what I mean by bandwidth allotment, think of it this way…

Each month, your host provider gives you a Visa gift card with say, $3000.00 on it (*sigh*, I wish!). The $3000 represents the amount of data that can be transmitted from your web site (in this case $3000 means 3000 megabytes).

Now, when you post a 50 megabyte MP3 file on your web site and it’s downloaded ten times – you’ve just used up 500 megabytes of your monthly allotment (or to go back to the Visa card analogy – $500.00).

If you only post one or two audios per month and have twenty people listen to them – that usually will keep you inside the limit that your host has provided.

If, however, like one client I know of, you post two or three flash movies (which are large) and a dozen audios for class participants to download – all in a one week period… Well, your Visa gift card runs out very quickly…

And here’s the worst part – if you exceed that limit – YOUR WEB SITE SHUTS DOWN!

There’s no need to panic after reading this post. The quickest and easiest way to prevent such a disaster scenario is to regularly log into the control panel (administrative back end account) of your hosting account. No matter which type of control panel your hosting company uses, there will always be a way to check your bandwidth usage in any given month.

And should you be close to your monthly limit (and it’s only one week into the month!) here are some suggestions:

1. Use an outside audio streaming service like Audio Acrobat or Audio Generator. These services are simple and easy to use – upload the audio file to their service and then copy and paste (or have me do it for you -LOL) the code into your web site. The viewer is then presented with a set of play>rewind>fast forward buttons to listen to the audio. If you want to offer the option of downloading, Audio Generator will allow you the option of offering a download link.
2. Call or email your hosting provider as they frequently have upgrades that are available to any hosting package to allow for increased bandwidth usage. Pricing may vary, depending on who hosts your web site, but this might be a cheaper alternative to using a third party service.
3. Remove older recordings from your web site.

If you’d like more information on how to use streaming audio or would like help in setting up a third party service like Audio Generator, feel free to give me a call, toll free at 1.800.355.8785 (8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern time, Monday to Friday) or contact me via the web site!

Happy streaming!

Jef Keep

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After putting this blog up almost a year ago (and promptly forgetting about it), I’ve decided to use it to (like my wonderful friend Marlene Oulton) share tips, tricks and suggestions for working – not only with me as your virtual assistant – but with any internet specialist.

I can’t promise that I’ll remember to post daily… But I’ll do my best!

Okay, today’s topic…

If you’re using 1-Shopping-Cart, aWeber, Constant Contact or any other list building service, do yourself (and your virtual assistant) a favour!

Submit content as early as possible, especially if you’re planning on sending out a glossy, HTML announcement or newsletter (one with graphics, special fonts and so on).

Submitting it the night before and expecting it to come out right the first time? Certainly possible, but not likely.

Remember…

A virtual assistant can have many clients – all of whom he or she may deal with daily. Submitting last minute items and expecting your VA to get it right the first time is unrealistic.

Your assistant needs time to create the template (if this is the first time) or at least format the content in a pleasing manner (not to mention include the pictures, graphics, pie charts or what have you).

48 hours is a good rule of thumb if you’re planning on submitting your eZine, newsletter or product launch announcement.

This allows your assistant enough time to turn around the draft, make any revisions you may wish to add and upload the finished product to your shopping cart or broadcast service.

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