How to Build a Successful Virtual Assistant Business
Second Edition
Written by Janice Byer and Elayne Whitfield-Parr, this NEW book includes information and tips to help aspiring and established VAs with every aspect of starting and building a Virtual Assistant business.
From naming your business, to upgrading your skills, to expanding your business, we have put together everything you need to know based on our combined years in this industry and the input of successful VAs worldwide.
Since 1999, we have been
publishing Virtual Tidbits filled with articles, links, tips and
resources to help small business professionals.
Now these articles and more are archived on our blog.
Reprinting of our Articles/Press
Releases is permitted as long as our contact information
is included. Also, please let us know when and where you will be
publishing.
We have several other areas on our website where we can provide a link to
our article on your site. Thank you
Be
an Expert Without a Budget: Write Articles (Part 1) by Janice D. Byer, CCVA, MVA
Docu-Type Administrative & Web Services
In
our first instalment on writing articles,
we discussed how articles can help your business without worrying about a
budget and where to get ideas for article topics.
With
all the ideas you will gather and the informative article you will put
together, now we need to cover where you can publish you article.
First
and foremost, your own website. Every article you write should be
archived on your website. Even if a particular article is referring to
something in your personal life as opposed to your business life, it
needs to be archived on your website where it can be seen by those
wanting the information or that are looking for articles on that
topic. It also will be indexed by search engines who return to spider
websites for new content.
Design a new article page on your site and divide your articles up by
category. That way people can scan through the sub-headings to easily
find articles relating to a subject they are interested in. Include a
note about how everyone is welcome to use the articles as long as they
leave your contact information in place. Speaking of, don’t forget
to have you bio/contact info on all of your articles on your site so
if someone simply pulls from your site, they will have it there to
include.
Research
publications whose readers are your target market and keep a database
of editors that accept article submissions. Be sure to keep that
database up to date. Your article will either be “returned to
sender” or filed under “G” very quickly if you don’t
personalize it to the right person. It is not always easy to find the
name of the editor but do your best.
Also, if possible, check to see if they have a preference on how they
like to receive submissions. Most will accept via email but would they
prefer the article be directly in the body of the email; as a Word
attachment; as a PDF attachment; or some other preference? If their
preference is not known, play it safe and put the article directly in
the body of the email.
There
are many websites that will allow you to submit your articles for
others to use in their publications. Many editors will go to these
kinds of sites to get their content when they are in need of an
article on a particular subject and don’t have anything handy to
use.
Share
your articles with others on your discussion lists, forums and chat
rooms. Keep the announcements of new articles to a minimum or don’t
announce them at all if the protocol on the list is no blatant
advertising. However, if a discussion is ongoing or a question is
asked on a subject that you have done an article on, then briefly
mention it and provide a link to it where they can go read more on the
subject or include the article under your signature lines of your
post.
Have
others pass on your article. We all have associates and friends online
and they have friends and associates as well. Ask people to pass on
your articles (or a link to them) to anyone that makes a plea for
information on a subject that you have written about.
Speaking
of, if you find out that anyone is looking for content for their
website or newsletter, offer your articles or offer to write a new
article.
Introduce
your articles in your own newsletter and include a note that others
are welcome to use it in their publications or on their website. Also,
include a link to the rest of your articles so they have a larger
selection to choose from.
As
was mentioned, writing articles can portray you as an expert in your
field. It doesn’t require a budget but it times require your time. You
WILL have to work on it in order to offer information that is both correct
& informative. Before you know it, you could be writing a book :-)
(To
read both instalments of Be an Expert Without a Budget: Write Articles,
visit our Article Archives at http://www.docutype.net/press.htm)
Janice Byer, owner of Docu-Type Administrative & Web Design Services, provides professional, creative and affordable virtual office assistance and small business website design. She is a Certified Canadian Virtual Assistant (CCVA) and Master Virtual Assistant (MVA). She is also the author of Surfin' The Net - Docu-Type's Virtual Collection of Links, which is filled with the secrets of her success. Visit her website for more information and to get your copy.
© Docu-Type - All Rights Reserved ~
Website Designed & Maintained by