Which domain for your business?
by Jonathan Senior of Sharp End Training
Which domain for your business?
If you are a start up, work from home, “mumpreneur” or any other 21st Century “new age business”, it’s likely that your website will be your primary marketing vehicle and shop window.
As far as “buying” it – you don’t actually buy it. You effectively lease the rights for sole use for a specific period. If you don’t pay the renewal fee – the domain will “drop” (watch for a future article) and the website and email attached to it will stop working.
Remember, some domains are valuable and it is worth paying for more than one year and making a note of when it expires – so you don’t lose it.
It is obviously a vital choice. Something you need to get right – so which domain to buy?
If you are a solo professional or 1 person business, you should always register your own name .com and preferably .net. If you are outside the US, get the country top level domain also. So in the UK – this would be .co.uk
Registering your own name will stop so called “cyber squatters” putting up site and asking you for a lot of money to buy it off them. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Marketing | 
Tags: Cybersquatting, Domain name, Domain name registry, ICANN, Top-level domain, Website | 
No Comments »
Getting started on Twitter for Virtual Assistants
To tweet or not to tweet? That is the question. Well actually, to me there is no question that its essential to getting your business and you noticed.
By following a few simple rules I have managed to grow my business much faster than I ever believed possible.
* Be yourself - people buy from people, so use your name and have a photo, and do tweet personal information, believe it or not people do want to know what you are doing right now, remember, unlike other forms of networking Twitter is very social, this is your chance to get your real personality across. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | Tags: Online Communities, Social network, Twitter, twitter for virtual assistants | No Comments »
Setting up as a Virtual Assistant
Being a Virtual Assistant is a great job, and has lots of benefits:
* Flexible hours - work when you want
* Low Overheads - you don't have to rent office space if you have dedicated space at home
* Being your own boss - no more wading through red tape, if you want something done its done
* Satisfaction - its so rewarding running your own business
However, please don't think of this as an easy option. Since starting my own business I have probably worked more hours than I ever did for any employer. Flexibility is great but you also need to be avaialble when your clients need you. It's fine starting your business 5 to 9 but doesn't quite work when the client needs someone to do work between 9 and 5 each day.
All that being said it is the best decision I ever made. Read the rest of this entry »
Just what is all this MLR, ICO and PII regulation rigmarole about?
Starting any business can be challenging enough without a plethora of regulatory and legal issues being presented as a barrier.
However to ignore such laws and regulations can be foolhardy for both your business and the service that you offer to your clients.
Providing Bookkeeping - What you need to do
If you are offering even the basic of bookkeeping services to your clients there are mandatory regulations that you have to adhere to: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Accounting, Elaine Clark, Guest Blog | Tags: Data Protection, HMRC Compliance, Indemnity Insurance, Money Laundering Regulations, PII, Professionalism | 3 Comments »
Money Laundering Regulations for Virtual Assistants
This article has been written by Nicola Wilson, our resident Xero expert and qualified book-keeper.
I have recently been asked if Virtual Assistants who carry out some bookkeeping services for their clients should be registered for Money Laundering Regulations. This is my understanding of the requirements put as simply as possible. Further details can be found on the HMRC webite.
If you are undertaking any form of bookkeeping or payroll (even for one client only) with reasonable continuity, with the aim of making a profit. you should be registered.
If you are a member of a designated supervisory authority such as the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers or the International Association of Bookkeepers, you are already supervised and do not need to register with the HMRC. Read the rest of this entry »
Facebook Business Pages
Do you have a facebook business page yet? You should have a separate personal profile for you and a business page for your business. This helps keep your business and private life separate. You wouldn't want your clients to necessarily see what you get up to at the weekend for example, or perhaps see photos of your family and friends.
It's very simple to create a business page on Facebook, go to the main log in screen (you need to log out). Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will see the option to create a page for a celebrity, band or business. (It's just under the green sign up button). Click on this, select local business, you even get to select a sub local business category so you can make it more relevant to your requirements, give your page a name, tick the box to say you're authorised and click the blue create official page box. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | Tags: Facebook, Facebook features, Likes, Social Networking, Vanity URL | No Comments »
Email Marketing – Stay Legal
by Emily Robe
It's all too easy to have a great product, a stack of business cards and a newsletter that you want to use to promote that great service or product ... but did the people, when they handed over their business card, also give you permission to add them to your newsletter system? If yes then that's good, if no then technically, if you do add them you are now in the realms of spamming.
Most email newsletter companies now require you to have a single or double opt in system, whereby your readers initially sign up to your list, and then have to click on a follow-up email to confirm their acceptance. If you are adding people from business cards or from a third party mailing list, then you do not cover this important aspect of the mail campaign. Read the rest of this entry »
5 reasons why you must package your Virtual Assistant services today
As a virtual assistant, it is essential for you to package up your services. Packaging is where you offer, for example, a block of hours or a retainer package. Just like a physical product, a package has a list of contents and a specific price. Here are 5 good reasons why you should do this today.
1. You will eliminate time wasters
Time wasters will be scared off by knowing they have to commit to paying a minimum in advance. It will also mean you do not waste time chasing payment for small amounts. When your client has used up their block of hours they just buy another block and pay you..
2.Your prospects will prefer it
People like to know what they will be paying and having a clear package system will make it easier for clients to say yes to give working with you a try. Read the rest of this entry »
Cloud Computing
The arrival of cloud computing or SaaS (Software as a Service) has revolutionised how we can do business. We really can become fully virtual, and yet still offer our Clients an excellent and efficient service.
What is even better is that many of these systems actually integrate with each other, meaning data entered in one system such as your CRM can be shared with your accounts system, thus reducing the need for multiple entries.
Our preferred partners are CapsuleCRM for our database, this integrates with the contact form on our website, our accounts system Xero, our newsletter in MailChimp and also works with Google Apps. Our time tracking system MinuteDock integrates with our accounts system Xero as well, meaning that it generates invoices from the time worked, which are then syncronised with our CRM via the CapsuleCRM/Xero integration. CapsuleCRM integrates with Outlook and other mail clients so that emails are copied directly into your CRM for you. More information on these can be found on our Tools of the Trade page under Resources. Read the rest of this entry »
How to choose the right PC
by Ryan Mittleman of WeWillFixIt
Over the years I have supplied hundreds of PC’s and laptops and for each and every one of those I have gone through the process of questioning the client on what exactly it will be used for; will it be used purely for business, a home pc for Internet & letter writing, gaming PC etc. As this blog is aimed at the VA industry I will concentrate on choosing a PC for business purposes.
Firstly, we need to decide if you would require a laptop or desktop PC and in order to determine if you require a laptop just answer these simple questions:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in I.T | Tags: choosing new pc, Desktop computer, Hard disk drive, Laptop, Laptop or Desktop, Personal computer | No Comments »
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