BUCKEYE V.A.

Posts Tagged ‘va’

Article marketing is the act writing and submitting quality content that will educate your target market. When writing your article there are a few tips that you will want to incorporate into your article writing to insure you have success with your article marketing campaign.

You have mere seconds to capture a prospect’s attention. One of the single most powerful tools you have to accomplish this task is your headline. There are several keys to a compelling, and selling, headline and a few tips to help you get the job done.

#1 Tap into Your Prospects’ Emotions

According to psychologists our buying decisions are based first and foremost on our emotions. Use headlines which offer your readers a strong emotional benefit or reaction. Some possible emotions are:

For example, The 20-Minute Step that Will Make You a Business Genius taps into readers’ desires to feel smart and powerful.

Other emotions you can tap into are a desire to feel:

1. Attractive
2. Sexy
3. Assertive
4. Confident
5. Energetic
6. Pampered
7. A sense of belonging
8. In control of their own destiny
9. Wealthy
10. Proud
11. Respected
12. Safe

#2 Make it Active

To compel it’s important to use active language – language that shows movement and commands attention.

For example, “Stop Your Sugar Cravings Today With This Simple Step,” is a fine headline however it doesn’t command action nor does it really tap into any emotions. However, “Conquer Your Sugar Cravings With This Simple Step.” Conquer is an active and emotionally powerful word. Readers receive the benefit of feeling powerful and in control and it commands action.

#3 Let Your Reader Know They’re Important

The word YOU is a very powerful word. It let’s your reader’s feel as if you’re talking to them specifically and interested in solving their problems, issues and helping them achieve their desires. Instead of using I, Me or We in your headlines, use You. Using the headline example above compare the two options
“Conquer Your Sugar Cravings With This Simple Step.
“Conquer Sugar Cravings with Our System”

People want to know what’s in it for them and when they can assess that information in the headline, they’re going to be compelled to continue reading your copy and making a purchase.

Here are three more ideas for powerful headlines:

* Make a promise – Earn $1000 a day
* Make it newsworthy – New program guarantees you’ll earn $1000 a day.
* Ask a question – Do you want to ensure your financial future?

Three Simple Steps to Write Headlines That Sell

So now you have some ideas about what types of headlines sell, how do you begin to write those powerful headlines?

Step One – Get to know your audience intimately. What are their hopes, dreams, desires, and problems? Understanding your audience will help you create an emotional and powerful headline directed specifically at your audience.

Step Two – Determine how your products or services are going to make your prospects’ lives better or solve their problems. For example if you sell fitness equipment and your audience struggles with feeling attractive then you can create a headline that highlights a specific benefit your fitness equipment offers to solve that problem.

Step Three – Write ten to twenty, yes twenty, possible headlines. Not only will this give you practice writing compelling headlines, it’ll help you hone in on that perfect headline. And if you think you have a few winners you can always test them for conversion rates to find out which headline is more effective.

Marketing and copywriting experts consider your headline to be the most import element of any effective marketing piece. Take the time to craft a compelling, and selling, headline and you’ll reap the benefits for years to come.

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Buckeye V.A. is currently booking clients that are looking to save their time and money by outsourcing to an experienced and professional Social Media Manager and Marketing Assistant. Please contact me today to see if my services are good fit for you or your clients.

PS.  If you’re looking for a copywriting course, why not try Copywriting Sweetie Course & Software

We see all kinds of products for stretch mark removal, in the physical realm, but what about the business realm? Did you know your business has stretch marks? Maybe this isnt’ a real pretty picture to paint, but it gets the point across.

Stretch marks show growth and if your business is growing there should be proof. What steps are you taking to insure that your business is growing?Think back to the first year in your business, you didn’t really have any task to outsource. You probably didn’t have a need for a bookkeeper or an accountant.Now think to your second year in business; you feel the “time crunch” on certain tasks, you can’t keep up with your own record keeping, you don’t have time to write your own articles anymore let alone submit those articles to all of the submission directories.

Now you’re into your third year of business, you find that you really need help and NOW! But where do go to find help? What do you begin to outsource?

Besides doing your basic internet research for “virtual assistant” or “virtual assistance”, why not ask fellow entrepreneurs and online business owners for their recommendations. You can visit virtual assistant forums and see what virtual assistants are frequenting the board.

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Stephanie Fish owner of Buckeye VA www.buckeyeva.com offers a one time 30 minute consultation to new prospective clients. To request your consultation to see if my services can help your business grow, please contact me by email at buckeyeva@gmail.com

Delegating tasks to a virtual assistant can be  time consuming, but its well worth your time. Whether you’ve delegated tasks before or not is not the issue, communication is the issue. Your virtual assistant is a human being, just like you. They have a life, and work on a schedule, just like you. They want your business to succeed, just like you.

When you start delegating tasks its imperative to be organized before hand. Your virtual assistant is ready for the work, is competent in the services she offers and is willing to help you in anyway she can, but you must know what tasks you need completed and you must be willing to answer her questions in order to have your tasks completed efficiently.

By being organized with a clear vision of what tasks you want completed, you will have a stress-free relationship with your virtual assistant. If you find yourself confused on what tasks need to be outsourced, then your virtual assistant will be confused as well. While virtual assistants can help you with organizing your business, you must be willing to listen to their suggestions.

Disorganization can hinder even the biggest business owner and may cause you to think that you requested a specific task to be completed when really you didn’t, this causes frustration and confusion for all involved.

Here are some suggestions on successfully delegating tasks:

• Keep each task in its own email. There’s nothing more confusing than having several emails going back and forth with broken conversations. By keeping each task separated from another will save you and your virtual assistant from being confused plus you’ll both be sure to be on the same “page”.
• Schedule a phone or skype call weekly. If your a client who has many businesses, perhaps you have more than one virtual assistant. By scheduling a weekly call you will both be able to stay on target and get your important business tasks completed effectually.
• Invite your virtual assistant to join you in your business. A virtual assistant can be seen as a silent partner, but only if she knows what’s going on, on the other side.  You may find this helpful since your virtual assistant may pick up on something that you may not see for yourself.
• Let it go. Once you and your virtual assistant have worked out all the “bugs” let her do her thing! If you can’t let go of the task, then you’re wasting time and money.
• Pick a few! A few virtual assistants, that is! If you have a very involved business or more than one, then its best to have more than one virtual assistant to insure you are getting the best service for your business and in return, your clients are getting the best of you!

Be a Blessing and Be Blessed! Don’t give up, keep going and seek a mentor to keep you on track!

Stephanie Fish, Virtual Internet Marketing Assistant

~Getting your business seen one article and press release at a time.

For more information on article and/or press release submission services please contact me here.

In last week I’ve learned a great (hard) lesson about owning and running a service-based virtual assistant business, which is……
learning to say “NO”!

Saying “no” to things like:

• tasks you don’t like to complete
• tasks you are just learning about
• tasks that take too much time for very little return

It doesn’t matter what type of business you own, you MUST set boundaries for yourself and the clients who you work with, by completing this “little” list of boundaries you will save yourself and your clients a headache and confusion.

God Bless!

Steph

Does your business send out ‘Welcome Letters’ to new forum members, clients or customers? If so, here are few important aspects to consider including:

• Invite your readers to connect with you on your social media accounts, such as: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg and Hub by placing your active links within the body of your email message
• This is a great time to introduce them to your affiliate program and give them the link to your affiliate page for more information
• If you have a virtual assistant handling the customer service emails, introduce her at this time and let them know she/he can handle any issues OR place the direct link to your helpdesk ticket system
• Now’s the time to let your new readers know if you are looking to interview or be interviewed or need a suggestion on a hot topic (make sure you give them credit if you use their suggestions!)

That’s it for now!

P.S. Catch Me Here:

LinkedIn

Twitter

Facebook

P.S.S If you’re looking to outsource your business tasks please contact me today for your free consultation!

Before I even opened my virtual assistance business I heard other business owners talk about ‘elevator speeches’, I honestly didn’t think much of it..that is until this past month when I had some local business owners ask me what it is I do from home, exactly.  I told them I was a” virtual assistant servicing small and home-based businesses with their online business needs”, in return I received some blank stares and a quick ‘oh, that’s interesting.’  Needless to say, I completely failed the ‘elevator speech’ guidelines!

Enter challenge!!

Do you have a 30 second ‘speech’ memorized for potential customers/clients? It sounds like an easy question, but once you think you have it down and then repeat it out loud, what does it sound like? What is the reaction of your potential customer?

I’ve done that for my virtual assistant business over the past month and it just doesn’t sound right. It doesn’t sound natural. So my challenge this week, for you and myself, is to get your 30 second speech down without a hitch.
So the next time someone asks you ‘what do you do from home’ you can give them an intelligent answer that catches their attention and gets them to ask more questions about your business.

Good Luck!

P.S.Don’t forget to subscribe to my feed (on the home page).

P.S.S. I’m currently accepting new clients. This is the perfect time to outsource the day-to-day business chores, especially if you plan on taking a vacation and spend time with your friends and family! Contact me today for your free consultation!

Are you stuck for new marketing ideas for your handmade product? Let’s go back to the basics of your target market:

• When you’re crafting your product, who do you envision using it?
• What age is your product geared towards?
• Is it for men, women, children, teens, tweens, sports fan, casual dresser, professional, traveler, photographer?
• Is your product for the frugally minded or the no-budget necessary, type of person?

Let’s say your product is a handmade, custom designed watch. You might think that “all mom’s” could use this fantastic watch, but that may not be the case at all. Even though your custom made watch is beautiful and useful to women, a mom that stays home with kids all day and works in the garden, may not want to or care to have, a custom watch. However, a mom that runs a business from home and networks locally with other businesses may indeed want that custom made watch.

One thing I do on a regular basis is envision my target market and picture them actually outsourcing their small business tasks to me. I go as far as including their age, their customers, and what hobbies they enjoy! Just remember, you may have a great product, but it can’t be everything to everyone (this rings true to service providers as well).

 

Stephanie Fish, owner of Buckeye V.A. enjoys working with authors, life and business coaches, and small business owners at all stages of their business. You’re invited to schedule a free 30 minute consult with me today!

Articles Submissions+Weekly Basis+Customers=Success

 

 

O.k. I can hear you saying “Steph, come on..how is weekly article submissions going to get me customers?” Well, I’m here to tell you that the correctly written article, submitted on a (no less than) weekly basis can help you get seen (and noticed) by your target market, resulting in successful sales for your business.

Articles are like blood types; they come in positive and negative.

1. Negative: if your article is poorly written, bad grammar, incorrect
information, misleading or promotional.

2. Positive: written correctly, no grammatical  mistakes, correct information,
educational.

All of your articles should be written to educate your target market by telling them how your product/service can make their lives better or why your service is something they need. By educating your target market on the benefits of your product/service, your more apt to gaining their trust that you’ll provide what they need. 

A great way to find new topics to write about is by doing your online research: find out where your target market shops, searches for (keywords/keyword phrases), likes and dislikes,ect.  This is the reason why your research needs to come first! This is one reason why you have to have a focused business before marketing your business, otherwise, you’ll waste a lot of time and money. Remember, you can always outsource these tasks if you don’t have time to do them on your own or if you’d rather not do them on your own.

Well, if you decide not to write your own articles for whatever reason you have 2 choices:

1. Ghost Writer- This is a more expensive option in which you hire/contract with a professional writer to write exclusive articles that you are for your use only.

2. PLR (private label rights) Articles- These are articles written by professional writers, that give you the right to rewrite them anyway you want, the distribute them to your readers, blog, newsletter and website. These are both great options to help you get the content you to educate your target market and help you in your quest for better SEO results! (I’ve listed my affiliate link for EasyPLR.com for your convienence.)

Remember, your virtual assistant is willing and able to help you succeed in your business and is most likely a great source to go to for help with your marketing efforts. If you’re looking for a virtual assistant, please contact me! I’m currently taking new clients and would love to speak with you!

God Bless,

Stephanie Fish

Buckeye V.A.

*If your looking for a Virtual Assistant, may I suggest you contact me to see if my services can help you with your small business needs.

How is your virtual store working out for you? Have you spent more money the design than on the marketing? Don’t get me wrong, your website says a lot about yourself and products, but having a beautiful, hip website isn’t good enough in today’s tough market. If you are not actively marketing your business, you are missing out on potential customers.

Marketing doesn’t cost you anything except time. Either you spend your time marketing your business yourself or you spend money to buy time from a virtual assistant. When you buy time from a virtual assistant, you aren’t purchasing any marketing secrets, you’re purchasing her time to market your business in a professional way. Chances are, your virtual assistant has many marketing ‘miles’ under her belt, which means you’re getting more for your money than doing it yourself.

Marketing helps your business in a few ways:

• Helps the search engines ‘find’ you by the content your submit online, such as articles and press releases. Not to mention your blog posts.
• By regularly submitting ‘virtual’ information (as mentioned above) you become a ‘real’ person to your potential customers
• Can set you up as an expert in your field

Potential customers are spending hours every day searching for your products, but if you don’t actively market your website how will they find you? Perhaps you have a website that is not performing as well as you’d like, maybe the rankings are low.  Marketing is one of the most important business tasks you can perform, so do it well and do it often.

To your success!

I’m currently accepting clients, please schedule your free 30 minute consultation today!

I was so excited to see that I was nominated for the “Attitude of Gratitude” Awardby Tracy Zdelar of Hall of Fame Moms Thanks Tracy, this is so cool!

I’m no stranger to hard times, sad times and whacked-out crazy days! Most mom’s aren’t strangers of those things either. Growing up our family had much and lost much but always stayed together during it all.  My personal relationship with Jesus Christ (my Heavenly Father, Savior, Counselor and Friend) has been with me through everything. From the time I had to say good-bye to my daddy to the day I had to say ‘see you soon’ to my dieing toddler…my Heavenly Daddy & family have been there for me. When you’re faced with hard times you have 2 choices to chose from:

 1. Take the heavily travelled road where everything ‘looks’ easy and fun and miss out on the “blessings in the tears”

~OR~ 

2. take the road less travelled knowing that you might stumble and possibly get scrapped up knees and hurt feelings, and know that in the ‘end’ your Father will reward you and say ‘Well done, thy good and faithful servant’. You see, we all were given a ‘free will’ to chose!

According to the rules of this award, I need to nominate 10 blogs that I follow but I don’t have that many right now, so I’ll share these with you.

Bloggy-Friends

Tishia Lee: she’s a VA also and I enjoy reading her posts. Even when she’s ‘down’ she’s ‘up’ Keep smiling Tishia Lee…it ALL works out!

JoDitt Williams owner of OohandAahWeddingInvites.com: She’s one of my first VA clients and is so very talented with all those beautiful customized wedding invites (and graduation invites)

Regina Baker- she knows her business and her ‘why’!

Latara Ham-Ying: I enjoy reading her posts and talking to her ‘secretively’ via facebook…she’s genuine

 Erin Chase: She is the ’5 dollar dinners’ lady! I love the fact that I can feed my family healthy and on budget

Sheri McConnell: I just found her blog and can’t wait to dig in!

The Rules of Accepting and Sharing this Award

1. Put the logo on your blog or post
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs that show an attitude of gratitude
3. Link to your nominees within your post
4. Comment on their blogs to let them know they have received this award
5. Share the love and link to this post and the person who nominated you for the award. Tell us how you have come to have an attitude of gratitude.