Moving Ahead Blog

How to Overcome 3 Main Challenges With Virtual Assistants

2012-05-16T11:32:00Z

Working with virtual assistants (VAs) is an innovative way to increase your productivity. The beauty of hiring assistants is that you have qualified professionals to help out and you don't have to worry about employee-related issues like vacation pay, Worker's Comp, etc. However, while the concept of hiring virtual helpers may sound ideal, there are often challenges when dealing with outsourcing project work.

In short, while outsourcing via a virtual assistant may seem like a good idea in theory, you should be aware of the challenges that may occur once you begin working together.

Finding Good Help

Outsourcing with the right help is the first challenge. While many virtual assistants say they are available online, for some reason, many bail or seem to have trouble hooking up to the web, after you hire them (when before you hired them, they always replied promptly to your communications). So take time to ease into new relationships.

Conduct basic background checks on any potential virtual assistants, and this doesn't mean police checks, but rather review online resumes, client feedback / testimonials, complete contact info via various means like chat, domain email (with a nice website portfolio), etc. Interview potential candidates and start on small project tasks together to establish a foundation to hopefully grow on. If you run into communications issues or missed deadlines, poor work quality, etc., pull back, address issues and either get work back on track or move on with other helpers so that your business stays in good shape.

Note: sometimes timing is just off when you are trying to establish or grow a relationship. So move ahead elsewhere where you can. You can usually go back to that trouble spot later to try again, if both parties are willing and able.

Open Communications

Communication is one of the common breakdowns in business relations. Therefore, remain in constant contact with your virtual assistants, leaving channels open as necessary, so that you can go through different issues step-by-step in order to resolve any breakdowns in communication when things go wrong. This means you may need to hook up to Skype or Gchat (Google's free chat via their Gmail account) to quickly touch base on some issues at times.

Skills and Flexibility

Look for virtual workers who can remain flexible, develop skills as needed and adapt to changes well. Your business module may change, the company structure may evolve, or you may need your helper to be flexible as your clients switch projects. Regardless of any work issues, be sure that you have helpers who can accommodate those needs or who are at least willing to try. Choosing VAs who are stagnant in their skills and their ability to be flexible, or having helpers who are unable to adapt to certain situations is a common complaint among those who hire virtual helpers.

In conclusion, virtual assistants can be excellent helpers for moving your business ahead in the right direction. However, even though many of these workers are useful, it is important to choose the right people to be on your team and projects. Therefore, in order to overcome potential challenges, be sure take time to choose good assistants, communicate regularly with them and effectively, and look for helpers who are adaptable to different situations

Advance with Affordable Business Support Services & Products, Outsourcing with Personal Virtual Assistants today at: http://www.ohiohelpgroup.com - visit the links to sign up for their free newsletter packed with tips!

Outsourcing With Virtual Assistants - 5 Major Avenues for Growing Your Business Today

2012-05-09T10:24:00Z

Whether you have a blog, personal website or hopes of running a successful online internet marketing business, you need to spread the word about your products and services, and share what your company is all about. In a nutshell, you can put forth all of the effort needed to build your site and create blog posts and get everything else up and running, but without exposure, you've got nothing.

The formula for success? A consistent marketing effort through both online and offline promotions is the success solution. To help with your promotions, here are five major avenues of focus.

1. Online Social Media & Website Presence - If you don't already have at least a basic website or blog and some social media presence, it's time to think about setting up shop online and branching out a little. Publish information about who you are, where you are located, offering Contact Us details, what you are selling, and something about your products and services. Also set up free accounts on Facebook, Twitter and any other social media network popular to your niche or field. Add these social media widgets to your blog and home page of your website, too, so other people can find you and interact. Post random facts and interesting pieces of information without sounding too "pushy" each day or so on your social media accounts and reach out to interact with others. You also want to publish content to your blog and website regularly as well. Post links, pictures, videos, etc. for best results.

2. Offline - If you want to maximize your profits offline as well, be sure to advertise your business or blog by other means such as via phone, word-of-mouth at local, regional and other event, via flyers, and business cards. You will be amazed at how much traffic you begin to pick up. You don't have to practice offline marketing every day. Some three or four times per week is highly recommended - at least until you've started to obtain a satisfactory amount of web traffic.

3. Seeking Help - If you're unable to keep up with your daily tasks and outreach, consider outsourcing, the hiring of a virtual assistant or team of them as you grow your business. Fortunately, virtual assistants are highly experienced and ready to help out with all sorts of tasks in affordable budget ranges from ghostwriting to data entry and much more.

4. Classified Ads - Never underestimate the power of the classified advertising, in the online and offline world. You can place ads online as well as offline in your local papers, in print magazines and in other places. When placing your ads, be sure to place as many as possible that fit in your budget, updating your ads once every few weeks, or posting new ones every month or as often as needed.

Don't give up if you don't obtain loads of traffic overnight, as the effort involved in getting good results may take a little bit of time. The key is to stay as persistent as you can. Think of the results of your efforts. Once you've started obtaining traffic, try not to ease off, but simply continue to utilize different marketing techniques so that you maintain a consistent amount of traffic.

HubPages Versus Squidoo Lens: Which Is Better?

2012-05-02T12:14:00Z

When it comes to online communities, Squidoo and HubPages rank at the top of the list. They both offer tools that allow the user to be creative, unique and productive, all without technical knowledge or software. But if you had to choose, which is better?

Both online communities provide a method to build pages, called lenses in Squidoo and Hubs with HubPages. Members of HubPages are called Hubbers and Squidoo members are called Lensmasters. Each community is free to join, simple to use and allow you to share your passions one webpage at a time.

In Squidoo, you build with modules, and in HubPages you use capsules. Both perform similar purposes that allow you to organize your webpage as you please. Each module and capsule can hold content: text, photographs, newsfeeds, links and each can serve as a conduit to monetization via Amazon, eBay or AdSense. You can also add your own products or affiliate products to either of these platforms, and you can get Kontera ads automatically on HubPages. On Squidoo lenses, you can add the Kontera Ad code via HTML in modules.

Each lens or hub is ranked by visitors, and each rises in the rankings based on the number of visitors clicking on the site. Building a quality lens or Hub will gain you a following that is reflected in the "Hubscore" or "Lensrank". In terms of referral commissions, you can earn $5.00 per referral on Squidoo if you meet their stipulations (check with their site for updates on this) and nothing upfront but 10% of any ad revenue that referrals make.

So, now that you've seen the comparisons, figuring out which platform is better actually comes down to a couple of things, plus your own personal preference. Squidoo lenses get a bit more traffic and offer various skins (similar to templates) that give lenses a slightly more professional look. Hubs are more standardized and don't have as many design features as HubPages. However, Hubs are easier to navigate, and links are easier to access. In addition, HubPages give more Google AdSense palettes, which can translate into increased revenue.

Search engine optimization (SEO) ranking for each platform is about even, but security features are somewhat better on Squidoo. This can be important in terms of deleting lenses where you need to enter a password prior to completion. Overall, it really comes down to personal preference, because both platforms have ups and downs, and the tools are about even.

How to Improve Communications With Your Virtual Assistant - 3 Steps to Success

2012-04-25T10:47:00Z

Once you hire a virtual assistant (VA), you may find that you and your assistant are both consumed with finishing tasks; however, you may also find that tasks are not being done correctly. For instance, you may think that you are being clear in your emails, chats and / or phone calls, yet some things are simply not being done or are not being done well enough to your liking. Or you may be unsatisfied with the overall quality of output.

This situation starts to brew tension between you and your VA, and in the long run, the tension may overwhelm other aspects of your business. Before you give up and become frustrated, practicing better communications and using better forms of communication usually solves this common issue. In a nutshell, what's happening is that your instructions are probably being miscommunicated and misunderstood.

To help improve your VA relationship, here are three steps to better communications:

1. Communicate well and as often as necessary with your VA, but don't over-do it. If you only need to communicate with your VA once a week or once a month, and that's all that is needed to set up the project tasks and keep them in motion, so be it. Communicating should be done on an as-needed basis, and it should be done in a way that is productive. Phone calls or emails several times a day or week to "check in" can disrupt the work flow and add unnecessary task handling into the mix.

2. Communicate about any problem areas promptly. If you notice that you are having problems in the same area time after time then there must be a breakdown in communication somewhere. Address these issues. Instead of becoming frustrated, talk or email through the issue, step by step, and point out where errors are occurring. Have the VA sum up the corrected solution, sending you a sample once the task is on track so you can make sure the trouble spot is tackled and smoothed over once and for all.

3. Use other forms of communication. If you communicate by email or by phone only, then it may be time to incorporate other types of communication tactics. For example, using a support desk with email tickets to track project work is a great way to get and stay organized - for your VA and you. And using Skype, Gchat (via Google's free gmail), Facebook chat or other chat software is a great way to communicate quickly and easily. Somehow, this cyber "talking" to someone can often yield better results than emailing or phone calls. Therefore, don't be afraid to experiment with different technology out there so that you can attain a better working relationship with your VA.

A breakdown in communication can ruin your relationship with added stress and tension. If you notice that your current communication method is not yielding positive results, it may be time to reformulate the way that you communicate with your VA. Use technology like a support desk and Skye or other chat software, communicate with your VA as often as you need to, and use a step-by-step communicating strategy to discuss insufficient areas.

8 Best Blogging SEO Tips

2012-04-18T11:39:00Z

Your blog must be search engine friendly if you want to generate the kind of traffic with it that can boost your online success. If it's not, you'll be your own best kept secret and who needs that! The following blogging search engine optimization (SEO) tips should help you get the results that you want.

1. As often as possible, include keywords in your domain name and if you're domain name is made with a keyword phrase, add dashes between each word.

2. Custom permalink search engine optimization is one of the most important elements in regards to blog SEO. This means using keywords in the titles of your blog posts, whereas the titles in turn become links to your blog. The primary benefit of being permalink optimized is that this method of blog marketing helps improve your keyword positioning in search engine results. Inevitably search engines are going to deliver targeted traffic to your blog with the end result of you achieving your online business goals: that's goal.

3. Incorporate keywords into the content of your posts as well, not over-doing it and making your posts appear to be spamming. And insert photos or other images, videos, podcasts, free downloads and other types of files from time to time, to make your blog more interesting.

4. Also sprinkle Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords throughout your posts that are relevant to the content on the post. LSI's are keywords which are very closely relevant to your primary keyword. You can find them by is using Google's keyword tool. Once you've picked your main keyword you can find out the LSI keywords under the results you found and sort by relevance.

5. Write articles for your blog that are original and try to update your blog. If you're serious about success, you'll find the time or outsource the blogging to ghostwriters or virtual assistants.

6. Add meta tags to each of your blog posts including, title, description, and keywords. Have the title keywords closely match the blog post title. And set up categories using keywords, placing blog posts in these categories.

7. Become a backlinking expert or hire someone to do your blog linking work for you. You'll want to make sure they're high quality backlinks otherwise your wasting your time and money.

8. Once your blog is set up with quality posts, register it with various search engines.

Being search engine friendly will eventually bring you the mother-load of visitors and cash flow. If you want a lot of quality blog visitors, your SEO efforts will be the key to your success.

Get Off to a Great Start With These Blogging Tech Tips

2012-04-11T12:49:00Z

If you're ready to start blogging and want to do it right from the start, you probably aren't sure where to begin. The following tips will help you get started in the right direction and help you generate revenue as a part-time job or a full-time business. Blogging can take some effort on your part, but the activity can be well worth it in the long run.

1. There are several blogs services out there however the most popular at the moment are WordPress blogs. They're very user-friendly, and Google loves them if they are set up correctly. These blogs are robust when it comes to creating pages, posting and managing your content, too.

2. WordPress provide numerous free, professional look themes for you to choose from, and these themes are very easy to install. You can also purchase a custom theme if you want something more personalized.

3. Come up with a domain name for your blog and get it registered. A good domain name will represent your brand in addition to helping you get noticed inside the blogging community and online world in general. Using keywords in your domain can also help attract more readers and search engines.

4. Choosing a web hosting company is one of the most important things you can do. You'll want to choose one that supports WordPress installs, offers email service, and other resources. Do your homework online reading reviews and comparing costs. Choose a company with a good reputation. Remember the old adage - you get what you pay for, so don't necessarily go with the cheapest option.

5. Take advantage of the power of plugins. They can really boost the power and functionality of your blog. Visit the blog service's online community to find out the best ones to use. You don't want to over-due it though. Too many plugins can slow down the load time of your blog.

6. Develop some type of plan so that you have goals for the outcome of your blogging work. Don't just want cash. In other words, how is the money going to be generated? Have plans and track them to make sure your system works. You don't want to drive traffic to your blog only to find that your affiliate links or shopping cart links don't work right, and as people click them, they lead to your competitors' sites or other places.

Get help as needed with virtual assistants and ghostwriters so that you have plenty of good blog posts. And keep up with technology and the web in the realm of blogging. As blogging evolves, so should your plans.

Advance with Affordable Business Support Services & Products, Outsourcing with Personal Virtual Assistants today at: http://www.ohiohelpgroup.com - visit the links to sign up for their free newsletter packed with tips!

How to Delegate Tasks to Your Virtual Assistants - 3 Steps to Success

2012-04-04T11:41:00Z

A virtual assistant (VA) also known as a personal assistant (PA) is often more than just an assistant. This wonderful helper is not only an expert in their field of choice, but often also an entrepreneur who provides one-on-one administrative support for your business.

These assistants are referred to as virtual because they may not be readily available for face-to-face contact. In fact today, most assistants operate from their home office or from their place of business. While this may not seem appeasing to some, a VA's limited face-to-face time assistance does not diminish results.

On the whole, while a VA is helpful, making the most of his or her assistance can be undermined if you are unsure of how to delegate tasks appropriately. So here are some tips to help.

1. Analyze your priorities. If you are unsure of what needs to be done or if your expectations are unclear, then it is hard to delegate tasks to a VA. Without prioritizing and separating your tasks, it will not only be hard to delegate to someone else, but it will be even harder to see your accomplishments and completed goals over time. Keep track of everything that is going in terms of time and what you want to accomplish. In doing this, you can see where your time is going and what tasks aren't being completed, so that you can delegate those tasks to your VA.

2. Communicate with your VA. Now that you have a clear-cut picture of what you need to delegate, you must now communicate those tasks and any additional issues with your VA. This is important throughout all stages of working with your helper so that you can correct any ongoing productivity issues as soon as possible to keep work running in an efficient manner and up to par.

3. Use technology to make not only communicating, but task handling and delegating a fluid process. If you have more than one member of your virtual team in different locations, then it may pose a problem to satisfy training, scheduling and sharing information like files and notes. So become familiar with technology like Skype, online file sharing via Google documents, video and chat activities to actively communicate as needed, especially for exchanging important information. Once a member of your virtual team is involved in this process, this activity will make it seem like the distance between the team members is less than miles apart.

While working with a VA may be a daunting task at first, it can be easier than you think. Make yourself aware of your project's overview. Then go over the concepts and associated tasks with your VA, using technology to communicate and share information. By doing this, delegating to your VA will become less daunting.

Advance with Affordable Business Support Services & Products, Outsourcing with Personal Virtual Assistants today at: http://www.ohiohelpgroup.com - visit the links to sign up for their free newsletter packed with tips!

5 Important Points to Note About Link Building With HubPages & Squidoo

2012-03-28T10:53:00Z

People who are interested in succeeding with Internet marketing more than likely have a website supporting and promoting their venture. As such, the website will need traffic, which is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into play. And popular avenues for traffic generation today focus on taking part in link building campaigns that use HubPages and Squidoo lenses.

What makes these communities so valuable for link building? Five main things, listed below:

1) The content component can have a powerful impact for your niche and among helpful member areas of HubPages and Squidoo. For example, when you place links on certain online venues that are bereft of content, you may discover the limited nature of such a presentation (i.e. little if any traffic results). The links are basically 'out there' with no context. However, when the links are integrated into the content of a well written HubPage or Squidoo lens, they gain more value to the person reading them. After all, they are connected to valuable content. And, of course, the links will be 'smiled upon' by the search engine robots since their integration with well thought out content will add to its value.

2) The comprehensive nature of what you can integrate into the content adds to the link building value. In short, with these popular content pages, you are not limited to solely presenting written content on the sites. You can also integrate video files, digital photos, audio podcasts and other multimedia, as well. The inclusion of these items can be critically important because this type of content can draw in traffic to the pages while also attracting the close attention of the search engine robots. From such attention, more direct traffic and indexed links can be a result.

3) The ease of use is always a major benefit with HubPages and Squidoo. It is not difficult at all to create or add content or links to the site pages of either place. This can definitely help boost the speed of the acquisition of the SEO impact.

4) Getting indirect and direct traffic as a result is great. You can acquire a significant amount of direct traffic from the links as well. When you add your HubPages and Squidoo links to blog comments or in link directories, for instance, you might get decent search engine results and direct traffic as well.

5) The affiliation with larger entities is awesome. It can take a little time to experience dramatic results from your link building. While we would all wish to experience overnight success with our link building ventures, this is not really going to be the case. The reason is that it may take a little time for the search engine robots to discover and index your links. Since HubPages and Squidoo are both considered 'serious' websites by the major search engines, odds are you won't have to wait too long to experience noticeable results.

Advance with Affordable Business Support Services & Products, Outsourcing your own SEO services with Personal Virtual Assistants today at: http://www.ohiohelpgroup.com - visit the links to sign up for their free newsletter packed with tips!

Search Engine Optimization - What, When, Where?

2012-03-21T10:47:00Z

Search engine optimization (SEO) has evolved over the past decade and a half to become one of the single most important factors for determining the success of any business, website, blog or other online platform or venture.

But it wasn't always that way, and SEO has come a very far way in a short period of time. Here's a bit about SEO and its history, and how it used to be:

- SEO started becoming used for the first time in the mid 1990's.

- The earliest steps were simply submitting a site to a search engine and using META tags.

- Manipulating META tags and keyword density led to sometimes poor results and led to innovation in the quality of the search engines.

- The algorithm that a search engine uses to rank its websites, and therefore what determines what is effective for optimization, makes SEO and the search engines themselves inextricably linked to one another.

Of course, today, SEO is far more complex and involved. Google's algorithm, for example, has hundreds of different factors going into what separates one website from another in the results that they display. Businesses and consumers alike also recognize the importance and value of SEO, making it an extremely competitive field, with a wide range of companies and individuals working to improve the SEO of other entities. Of course, along with this you'll find a lot of bogus "gurus", as well as sketchy "black hat" strategies which can end up penalizing you or getting you banned from the search engines.

The most effective way to increase SEO for a website incorporates numerous different factors, from keywords and other onsite techniques, to the strength and age of the domain itself, the quality and quantity of incoming links, and more. It's a long way from META tags and quick submissions, and it's a field that continues to grow as time goes on.

6 Point Press Release Checklist

2012-03-14T09:36:00Z

Writing a good press release can seem like a daunting proposition. There are a lot of individual factors and components that you need to remember to focus on in the content. Plus there are lots of details which separate high quality releases that often receive lots of attention, and the rest of the ones that don't. Use the following checklist to help ensure you always come up with a great press aka news release.

1) Attention-Grabbing Headline: The headline is one of the most important pieces of a press release, you need to be sure to attract lots of eyes to people will read what you have to say.

2) Strong Opening Paragraph: Your opening paragraph also has to be very compelling so that people want to know what your news is all about and thus continue to read the rest of the details.

3) No Personal Pronouns: News releases should not be directed towards the reader, nor should they talk about 'you' using words such as I, you, we or us. Instead, use impersonal pronouns and talk in the third person.

4) List Most Important Info First: Make sure that all of your most important information in the press release is shared first. Assume that you lose readers every paragraph, so cover your main points quickly and upfront.

5) Who Cares: Before finalizing any press release, be sure to ask yourself why people will care about this, or even, 'if' people care will about this news item. If it's not compelling and repeatable, then it won't get you anywhere.

6) Call to Action: In the final paragraph, include information so that readers know how to find you for more details. This can be a website link, phone number, email address and postal address. Also offer a freebie, as people love gifts. This could be a free report, coupon, special discount or trial purchase, for instance. Find some freebies that have captured your attention lately in other promotions, other press releases, for ideas.

The bottom line is this: don't stress out too much about crafting that next press release. With the above checklist, you should be able to turn any idea or draft into a high quality release that garners a great amount of attention for you and your business. Remember to pay attention to detail and to capture people's attention more than anything else. And review good press releases out there now for more ideas.

Advance with Affordable Business Support Services & Products, Outsourcing with Personal Virtual Assistants today to help with your press releases at: http://www.ohiohelpgroup.com - visit the links to sign up for their free newsletter packed with tips!

Search Engine Optimization - The Basics and Some Basic Methods

2012-03-07T10:29:00Z

There is a wide spectrum of different traffic generation methods that fall into the scope of search engine optimization (SEO), the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines. These methods range from the simple to the complex, and everything in between. And some methods are easy to implement; others may require help from experienced SEO experts.

For example, some traffic strategy focuses on improving the basic code of the webpages, to other basic techniques like using tags all the way up to very advanced and complex, multifaceted strategies like link building designed for concentrated optimization. Before you get started for yourself and see what you should be doing, here's a quick overview of a few ideas you should become familiar with.

1. Indexed Web Pages: Indexed pages are pages that have been found and recorded by the search engines, so to speak. It means that not only does the search engine know that the page exists, it also has it in its collection, and can display it for an appropriate search result when applicable. Having your main domain indexed is the most important thing, but that doesn't mean that all of your individual pages are indexed.

2. Cross Linking: Cross linking refers to the linking of your own various online presence, from one site to another. You can link from your blog to your website, from your YouTube page to your blog, and so forth. Internal linking, on the other hand, refers to the links that direct visitors from one page of one site, to another page within that site. Choosing keyword-rich anchor text within cross links and internal links can boost SEO.

3. Organic vs. Non-Organic Traffic: Organic traffic is all of the search engine traffic that comes to you naturally, through an individual typing in their query and finding your page. Non-organic traffic is also called paid traffic, and it's advertising to become a sponsored result for particular search engine queries. This can run up a large bill, but it can also push you to the top of the list and boost your exposure and traffic greatly.

Of course, there are many other basic, intermediary and advanced strategies, terms and concepts when it comes to SEO. But starting with the above methods is as good a place as any to get you moving ahead in the right direction. Learn more and seek help as needed to start and grow your online activity.

Popular Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Services to Outsource to Virtual Assistants

2012-02-29T10:15:00Z

Whether you don't have the time, the patience, or the know-how to complete all of your own search engine optimization (SEO), you may be interested in outsourcing some of these tasks to virtual assistants. SEO services can range from writing content to link building and on down the line, and many of these tasks can be seamlessly outsourced to save you time and hassle, while improving your search results.

Check out a list of the following SEO services that are popular to outsource.

- Keyword Research: Keyword research is the process of finding the appropriate keywords to include within your content and to otherwise target with your other optimizing and marketing work. Keywords need to be popular but not too competitive.

- Link Building: Link building can be very tedious and thus it's one of the most popular SEO services to outsource. The more incoming links, and the higher quality, the better your page will end up ranking in the search engines.

- Content Writing: Content writing can be difficult for some individuals, but for others who will be able to quickly complete all of your articles and website pages using the targeted SEO terms and topics you request, as well as following any specific guidelines you may have.

- Content Publishing: Writing content is one thing. Putting it to use is another. Avoid having your articles, blog posts, press releases and other content pile up. Make it work for you now by hiring help to submit it along with appropriate resource boxes that bear your anchor text links to directories, follow-up with any rejections to revise and resubmit your articles, distribute your press releases to publicity sites and insert anchor text links where they are allowed, post to your blog while also adding anchor text links and free stock images to enhance the presentation, and more. Content that's just sitting on your hard drive doesn't help your SEO efforts!

- PPC Campaigns: Managing a pay-per-click campaign can be very complicated and time-consuming, which is why outsourcing is not only a stress reliever, but can also save you time, energy and money.

Don't forget, SEO is an ongoing process. You can never simply stop your search engine optimization and believe that you're done. Instead, you always need to be changing, tweaking, adding and improving, and that's why outsourcing on a continual basis is a great strategy. Virtual assistants often have monthly or quarterly packages, making it affordable on the budget plus easy to always stay one step ahead of the competition.

Link Building With HubPages and Squidoo Checklist

2012-02-22T10:27:00Z

Using platforms such as HubPages and Squidoo are very advantageous to a website owner who wants to get the word out, and who wants to create back-link campaigns for their websites. Back-links are links coming to a website from other relevant websites; i.e. no website is any good if people don't know that it exists. So this is why back-linking is helpful. Back-linking allows a webmaster to get traffic to his own site from traffic visiting a different site.

In the past, people have done link building activities such as link trades, blog comment posts, forum posts, and social networking posts. All of these things can work, but depending upon what the niche is about, the competition can be very fierce, and the ranking may still fall very low. This is why using HubPages and Squidoo can help if the following tips are followed:

- Make sure that you create interesting and relevant articles that people want to read. Review many in your niches regularly to keep up to date with what's popular in your industry.

- Make sure that you are creating these articles with search engine friendly hyper-linked keywords that lead back to your website. Pull keyword lists regularly using good tools for this like the free Google AdSense Keyword Tool, to stay up to date with what your target audience is searching for online today. And adjust your content focus accordingly.

- Keep up with your articles and accounts overall. Don't let them die. Update your content, make edits and upgrades to your articles. Keep them fresh.

- Add plenty of targeted tags so people can find you and interesting modules to your pages. Popular modules are YouTube videos, images, RSS feeds, recommended link blocks and others. Check each site & network with fellow HubPages and Squidoo members for suggestions, networking among members for ideas, too, especially in your niche.

- Keep creating new pages, and make sure that the links and the keywords are relevant to the website that you are promoting. And get help as needed from good ghostwriters and virtual assistants, to publish on a regular basis.

It can't be stated enough that the key to this method is that the articles, the keywords and the other content on the HubPages and Squidoo sites must be relevant to the content on the websites that are being promoted. Google doesn't like the lack of relevancy, and your time will be wasted otherwise.

Advance with Affordable Business Support Services & Products, Outsourcing with Personal Virtual Assistants today for your HubPages, Squidoo and other project work at: http://www.ohiohelpgroup.com - visit the links to sign up for their free newsletter packed with tips!

Popular Positive HubPages and Squidoo Points

2012-02-15T10:34:00Z

For the last five years, Hub Pages and Squidoo have proven to be authorities when it comes to writing backlinking articles for article directories. When these venues first started, people posted articles to earn money directly from their content. They would compose and publish these articles on these venues, and then they would earn money through a system of revenue sharing. The companies that own these sites would pay the authors a percentage of the revenues that they earned, based on the number of visitors that visited these sites.

Now, these article directories are used for backlinking purposes. Webmasters and business owners have realized that they can get lots of free advertising for their websites in this way. They can do so by creating keyword and content rich articles. If you are a business owner, or a webmaster, then setting up accounts with HubPages and with Squidoo is free, and very easy to accomplish.

Here is a look at some positive points in creating accounts with these services:

- They are free. Yes, this was mentioned, but it bears repeating.

- They are very user-friendly. Just create articles in several paragraphs with headings, copy, paste, and publish your article.

- They are popular with Google right now. This means possibly good ranking and more visitor traffic for you.

- You can personalize them to a point. Squidoo and HubPages both allow HTML, but if that isn't your thing, HubPages offers an easier template to use.

The key in using both of these platforms for backlinking purposes is that the content must be search engine friendly, keyword rich, and relevant to the website being marketed. For example, if your website sells electronics, then don't write articles about your love of knitting, and then insert links to your electronics website. Google doesn't like that, and you will get a low ranking, killing your backlinking efforts.

If you need help writing your content or even learning how to set up your hubs and lenses, adding keywords links, images, other modules and more, don't be afraid to get help. Find plenty of good freelance contractors out there in Internet marketing forums and at contractor sites. Review their websites, work samples, testimonials from clients and other portfolio info they have, review rates and project work, then give web helpers a try, especially reaching out with more than one lens and hub. Get more than one of each underway so you can crank them out on a regular basis.

Advance with Affordable Business Support Services & Products, Outsourcing with Personal Virtual Assistants for your Squidoo and HubPages work and more today at: http://www.ohiohelpgroup.com - visit the links to sign up for their free newsletter packed with tips!

10 HubPages and Squidoo Mistakes to Avoid

2012-02-08T11:24:00Z

Squidoo and HubPages can be wonderful resources to get the word out about your blog or website, to earn an extra stream of money, or to practice and to showcase your writing skills. If you are a business owner, then your first priority might be focused on creating interesting articles that will inform your readers about main news or other interesting information related to your business, products or services, and invite website guests over to your blog or website to learn more.

The beauty of using platforms such as HubPages and Squidoo, is that both websites are free to join. However, there are many common mistakes that new authors of HubPages, and of Squidoo make. These mistakes are time wasters, because they leave your articles unpublished and in some cases, get you banned from publishing on these sites. Here's a look at some of the most common mistakes to avoid on these websites:

- Don't skip reading the FAQ pages and the beginning writer's pages. So many questions can be answered here, and these are designed for newbies.

- Don't plagiarize or publish duplicate content.

- Don't create pages that are too spammy or promotional.

- Don't post explicit content if it's not allowed.

- Don't ignore the forums or the groups. They are networking opportunities, and they are there to help you
learn the ropes and about opportunities.

- Don't forget to promote your pages (hubs and lenses). Really, it won't happen on its own.

- Don't create irrelevant, sloppy, uninteresting, or otherwise bad content.

- Don't use bad grammar, spelling, or other poorly written content.

- Don't portray yourself as an expert, when the quality of your content betrays you as otherwise.

- Don't forget to get help as needed. If you find your work in Under Construction status at Squidoo, for instance, follow up with member forums there or support to find out how to fix your lens and revise it, as needed. There can be any number of reasons that trigger this, and not all are permanent or bad. In fact, many can be fixed quickly and easily by adding a little more content and / or modules.

These might seem amusing to appalling, but these mistakes happen all of the time. However, if you stay away from these mistakes, and if you are very clear on the guidelines, then you should have no problem getting your work published, or with getting lots of visitors for your pages.

Classified Ads - What Works & What Doesn't

2012-02-01T11:12:00Z

Do classified ads really work? Should you include an email address or fax number in them? How about a call to action?

Questions like these are often brought to the attention of OhioHelp.net, an Ohio-based company specializing in helping businesses worldwide with their marketing, public relations and freelance writing services. Here are some top tips they offer based on their own client projects.

TOP TIPS FROM OHIOHELP.NET

I. CLASSIFIED AD PLACEMENT

Study the ads in publications where you would like to place yours to see what works. And STUDY them like you'll have an exam over them. If you didn't see the ad before, skip it. Only focus on those who repeatedly placed the same ads - -these people are selling off of them: bottom line.

While you're at it, call some of those companies who are not your direct competitors and ask how their ads pull (and log their replies for reference). Exchange contact information and follow up so that you can possibly team up with them later in a joint venture and send clients back and forth.

Results show that small ads placed in inexpensive publications generally bring in phone calls and clicks to websites, but no email replies. And on the average, these callers reported having limited or no Internet access along with limited or no computer / email capabilities in their homes. If they had access at work, it was limited and did not offer personal / private email. Toll-free numbers brought in more responses than local numbers with area codes. And fax numbers brought in nothing at all.

II. CLASSIFIED AD GIFTS

Sales increased with the inclusion of Gift and Reward items in a call-to-action ad. Popular items were:

A. A No-Cost Information Kit that included a variety of tip sheets,electronic books and software sent via downloadable links in printed sales letters and included on disks or CDs. All items were mailed Flat Rate via Priority Mail.

B. A Book / workbook set sent the same way or mailed Media Rate in a manila envelope. Sets were for a trial period before purchasing. And No-Cost Information Kits above were included in the package.

C. A special "Freebie" item of their choice from our bookstore was mailed or emailed with mention of the ad.

III. CLASSIFIED AD COPYWRITING

To increase customer contact, communication and overall sales, include specific pricing in the ad; for example, say, "rates from $39." Also list an email address with a domain name and specific person to contact. In other words, instead of emailing info@aol.com, email diana@ohiohelp.net using a first name for familiarity. (Note that some classifieds charge a 3-word count for URLs but only a 1-word count for email addresses.) And use an action verb in your call-to-action, "Mention Ad for..."

So sharpen your pencil or grab your keyboard and tune up your classified campaigns. Testing and improving your ads can definitely increase sales.

To learn more top tips and receive them on a regular basis at no charge in your email, sign up at http://ohiohelp.net today or email diana@ohiohelp.net. Preview your own "MAP: Move Ahead Plan" book and spiral-bond workbook set today and receive your No-Cost Information Kit along with it by visiting http://help-plan.biz

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated - send to: diana@ohiohelp.net

About The Author

Diana Barnum, president of http://movingaheadcommunications.com and CEO of http://ohiohelp.net. For more help with marketing, public relations and writing, email diana@ohiohelp.net or call: (614) 529-9459

Advantages of Working with Outsourcing Teams and Virtual Assistants

2012-01-25T11:36:00Z

If you are a business owner and you do it all yourself, you may be a little overwhelmed and stressed out. You may often find that there is just not enough time in the day to do everything.

In fact, if you admit it, you more than likely need help. So hire a virtual assistant and team.

To put it simply, virtual assistants and their teams do not work in your office, they most often work from their homes, a center business location, or a combination. And hiring a virtual assistants and teams is becoming increasingly popular in the world today, as some advantages of having one include the following.

1. If you have no employees working on-site, you have no responsibility for them. This means you are not responsible for giving them any benefits (sick leave, vacation, insurance, etc.), no worker's compensation, taxes, no pensions, no training, no maternity or paternity leave. Virtual assistants are self-employed, so they are responsible for all of these extra expenses.

2. When using a virtual assistant you do not have to deal with them sitting around talking to co-workers and telling you their life story. Virtual assistants are all business. This way you are not "paying" for personal phone calls, crises, lateness, childcare problems, etc. Having a one means they support your needs not you support theirs. For most business owners, like you, this is a selling point.

3. When you have a virtual assistant, you do not pay them if they are not working on a project. With normal employees you pay them for the hours they are in the office (in other words on the clock) each day. They record the hours they work for you. Therefore, you only pay them for work accomplished. You never have to pay for them to take breaks, lunch, or run personal errands.

4. Working with a virtual assistant means flexible hours. Being that they are self-employed like you they know how important to have the availability when you need it. They can provide service outside of normal business hours when needed. They are there for your business and your needs not for their convenience.

5. Having a virtual assistant can be a lifesaver. They can be ready and available to work when the chips are down, when you need to run to the doctor, when guests drop in and you want time off and any number of other things.

Hint: when you decide that a virtual assistant is right for you, you do make sure you hire one who will fit your needs. Do a little research and don't be afraid to ask some questions. Check into getting a detailed list of the services the assistant can provide as well as a price list. And be willing to have open communications with a little instruction as needed to get to know one another, and to learn the tasks you need completed.

Advance with Affordable Business Support Services & Products, Outsourcing with Virtual Assistants today at http://www.ohiohelpgroup.com

Yanik UG8 - Don’t Miss the Underground Online Seminar of 2012!

2012-01-19T14:31:59Z

For those of us who are seriously into hard core online marketing and for any and all "wanna-be's" as well, missing Yanik Silver’s Underground Online Seminar is almost sinful. You’ll never forgive yourself if you do.

The Underground Online Seminar will feature Yanik Silver as well as other seriously talented and successful entrepreneurs sharing their secrets on high-level internet marketing. These speakers are already making millions online and they’re willing to share their secrets with you! They’re making money from home while you’re not.

5 Awesome Reasons to Attend

Social Media Marketing Secrets-Social media marketing secrets will be shared by individuals actually putting their theories into practice and making a living doing so. Money talks, and these speakers are rolling in mega money!

Content is King- Do you know the secrets to selling content online? Yanik’s speakers certainly do! Find out how to sell and resell unique and original content online from people who are already doing it successfully.

SEO, Do You Even Know What it Means? – Most people don’t know what SEO is, let alone how it can help them generate loads of cash. Get up to the minute information on the latest developments in SEO from people who know all the tricks of the trade!

Email Marketing – Can you generate genuine interest from your email marketing efforts? Our speakers know how. They’re getting good results while your emails and collecting digital dust in the spam and trash folders. Find out how to get your emails read and how to generate interest from pros who do this every day.

Everyone & Their Dogs Have Blogs- Do you have one? Do know how to use it effectively to generate income and massive amounts of traffic. Find out how as Yanik’s speakers share jealously guarded secrets about blogging.

The unique experience offered by the Underground Online Seminar is reason enough to attend. It won’t be a boring lecture for sure, but there are more reasons than that to attend. Get trusted and tested advice from industry professionals with very large portfolios. These folks are making serious money and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t. Attend the Underground Online Seminar hosted by Yanik Silver. You’ll be very glad you did.

By the time you return home from attending the Underground Online Seminar you’ll be fully armed and prepared to do battle in the competitive world of internet marketing. You’ll have a firm foundation to develop your home based business and you can begin implementing our secret strategies to make money from home right away. In very little time the cash could be rolling in and you could be laughing all the way to your bank.

Don’t miss out on this awesome opportunity to obtain top secret information from some of the richest online marketing professionals who started out just like you. Get a jump start on making money with your home based business. Get a chance to meet other motivated professionals like yourself with similar goals. You won’t be sorry.

To find out more about this event, click: HERE next!

How to Use Outsourcing and Virtual Assistants With the 3 Most Important Business Tasks

2012-01-18T10:26:00Z

Virtual Assistants are a great addition to your business. In fact, outsourcing with a virtual assistant can save you an incredible amount of time, allowing you to focus on the foundation of your business.

While a virtual assistant will help you and your business by answering phones (even during off hours), filing papers and keeping your business organized, there are so many more things a virtual assistant can do for you. Outsourcing one might be the best thing you can do for your business, and you might be surprised at what they can do for you and your business.

There are three of the most important business tasks that your virtual assistant can take care of for you. These three tasks are vital for your business. They will not only do them for you, they are professionally trained to do them for you.

The 3 Most Important Businesses Tasks For Your Outsourced Virtual Assistant -

Just by glancing over the three most important tasks for your business you can easily see just how important they are. These are the three things that keep your business going. These three things keep your business bringing in profits, as well as increasing those profits for you and your business.

1. Research

Use your Outsourcing and Virtual Assistants for your business research. Your virtual assistant can conduct eBay research tools, and other online research such as studying the Best Sellers list at Amazon.com. He or she can also conduct keyword searches as Google AdWords and AdSense "Tools" areas at Google to find what people want to buy. This type of research is pertinent to your business. Your virtual assistant can do all of this for you very easily. After he or she is finished with this period's research, he or she can tell you what people want to buy so you can design your promotional, advertising and marketing towards those people.

2. Product Creation

Yes, your outsourced virtual assistant can create new products for you. Use your virtual assistant to create products you can sell such as ebooks, videos, reports, PLR (private label rights) content, MP3 files, downloads, guides, and more. This can help you free up a lot of your time because you will not have to create these products yourself, plus you will not have to spend time looking for a qualified individual to create each one for you.

3. Sales and Marketing

Use your Outsourcing and Virtual Assistants to make websites, set up and manage affiliate programs, run your online campaigns, do your sales and marketing, and so much more. Imagine how much time and money you can save by having them do all of this for you. Otherwise you would have to spend so much time hiring many different individuals for each project. Now you have just one person to go to for all of these needs.

Your business will never look so good to you until you outsource a virtual assistant. You can get them to do three of the most important business tasks. You will save a tremendous amount of money and time. Your time will be freed up for other business projects and tasks so you can focus on growing your business and making more money.

Advance with Affordable Business Support Services & Products, Outsourcing with Virtual Assistants today at http://www.ohiohelpgroup.com

FAQs About Outsourcing With Virtual Assistants

2012-01-11T11:16:00Z

Organization is the number one virtue any business must have to be able to succeed. Whether your business is large or small, a virtual assistant may just be what you need to keep organized. Here is a list of concerns about outsourcing for your business.

1. A virtual assistant (VA) could be more efficient than a secretary who comes to the office everyday.

You won't see your VA, but you can coordinate your work schedule so that what you need to be done gets done. No worries about coffee breaks, lateness, sick leaves, maternity leaves, and so on. If a virtual assistant is committed to work for a period of time, it is all work.

Virtual assistants are usually hired on a contractual basis, either working per project or for a specified number of months. You can choose them according to particular skills that you might need and because they do not work for you for long terms, you can hire different VAs when your needs change. Or hire more than one at the same time.

These assistants have other clients and are not dependent on you as their main source of income. Therefore relieving one of their services to hire another is not as difficult as firing your in-house assistant to look for a new one.

2. A VA may not be cheaper than a live secretary but she / he can still save you a lot of money when it comes to payroll time.

Cyber-assistants are not inexpensive, but you do not have to pay extra for office space, utilities, and worker's compensation. Outsourcing means that you will pay them by the hour for equivalent requested work.

Also, they come complete with their own utilities, hardware and software: internet connection and email, phones, fax machines, and basic software. If a virtual assistant lists down Joomla! and Photoshop as skills, then they should have the programs already installed in their computer. You need not buy the software, nor any other basic utilities that they will need to do a good job.

3. A VA need not replace the secretary who comes to the office everyday.

You can hire a virtual helper and still maintain your in-house assistant. Live secretaries can take care of real time services, such as phone call management, dictation, and event management, while a VA can do all online transactions, such as client management and travel arrangements. Of course, a virtual assistant can do all these, although they probably won't be able to make you a cup of coffee.

4. A VA does not need to be retrained to do her job.

VAs advertise their list of skills so that you can get one who can fulfill all your requirements. Of course, when you start working with anybody, there will be specific ways of doing things that you'd like to be followed. After that, a very efficient assistant should be able to pick up on those details right away and do the rest of their work smoothly, without any trouble.

Whether you run a large company looking to either replace or merely append to your work staff, or a small business, outsourcing a VA more than justifies the minimal additional cost, if any. In the long run, with increased productivity through efficient organization of your work flow, virtual assistants would have been a big factor in your business' success.

Advance with Affordable Business Support Services & Products, Outsourcing with Virtual Assistants today at : http://www.ohiohelpgroup.com