Take a good look at your website – is the message consistent to your brand’s message? If you are marketing your company as “the best in your field” – does your website convey that message in both content and marketing about your business and in its level of professional functionality?

In my business, we work with Speakers, Authors and Trainers and we have found some must have elements that their websites demand in order to position them at the top of their field – and ultimately get them more ideal clients.

Website Elements for Serious Speakers

Before you even begin to think about the elements in your website, or any of your marketing material – there are some things you need to nail down first.

• YOUR BRAND – What does your company represent?   Who is your ideal client?   What are you all about?
• YOUR ‘UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION’ – Why are you different? What is it about your company that will entice your clients to hire you over the competition?

Once you can answer those questions confidently – then it is time to get to work on your website!

These are the elements we have found work best for our clients.   They are listed in no particular order.

1. Biography with professional photos
2. Client list (if not confidential in nature)
3. Testimonials (written and video) – make sure you have reciprocal links from their websites if possible.
   Hint – outgoing links can lower your website ranking – but links TO your website raise your ranking.       Also, make sure those links open in another page, never encourage clients to leave your site! 
   • Brag - if you have worked with popular clients – put them front and center.   Include a photo of you with them as well as the testimonial.
4. Speaker’s page (outlines topics)
5. Articles you have written, or that you recommend.   (Adding value is a big component to attracting the clients who you want to work with.   If you are publishing – and they come to you because they like what you have to say, they are already pre-qualified and are now a ‘warm’ lead and therefore it is much easier to close the deal)
6. Videos with various audiences and topics – always incorporate humor
7. Information for meeting planners
8. Downloadable and online speakers package including:
   • Top 5 or 10 reasons to choose you
   • Meeting checklist
   • Sample contract (including fees and travel expense guidelines)
   • AV requirements

What you might not have thought about

• Opt in section to gather email addresses with give a value driven give away
• Do you have a blog?   If you do – link to it!   If you don’t – get one!
• Are you listed with a speaker’s bureau – make sure the link is visible on your website
• Invitations to follow you on Twitter, Linked in and Facebook.
• Affiliate links – are you recommending an amazing book – see if they offer affiliate programs and make a commission every time someone buys from your site.   For that matter – are YOUR books and products set up with affiliate properties?   Are you taking advantage of someone else’s website sales?
• Are you recording any smaller presentations that are relevant to the masses?   Package them along with telecasts and webinars to create passive income products.
• A shopping cart to sell those amazing passive income products you have just created
• Links to media and newspaper articles where you have been featured.   Don’t just get the initial kick when it airs or is published – use it to gain credibility for months to come.

So now you know what you need – but do you know how to do it?   This is where hiring a qualified Virtual Assistant or Virtual Business Manager comes into play.   I have a few tips here too.

When you ask for help – plan first what you need.   If you do not understand what you want, it is much more difficult to help   someone give it to you.

Interview your prospective VA.   Don’t just rely on what they say when they respond to your RFP.     Ask to see samples of their work and ask to speak to their clients.

Hiring a VA and taking the ‘website plunge’ are   big decisions
but using the right strategy can help make it a   simple choice.

                          

When large companies actually do television commercials where they mention their Facebook or Twitter accounts instead of pointing the public to their websites, it is evident that they have recognized the power of Social Media.

However, recently many Social Media sites, Facebook and Twitter in particular, have made some big plans and changes in the way we use them in order to enhance the services provided. Sometimes these changes are announced well in advance and sometimes they happen overnight. It can be a big headache for companies who haven’t expected or planned for the changes and dictates rethinking the way they do their marketing on Social Media sites.

TWITTER recently changed their interface and it is rolling out in phases. If you check your Twitter account and notice that suddenly the customized background you created or paid to have created is barely visible or distorted, you will notice that the old area for the postings and the long sidebar on the side have now expanded across the page and there is very little “real estate” in order for you to customize your background to display your brand and other pertinent information you want there to market your products or services.

FACEBOOK, amongst all the many changes they have made in 2010, are now giving notice that come end of December or beginning of January, no longer will they be allowing the familiar FBML application to create boxes on your site or to create Welcome Pages or Speciality Pages where you can announce events and new product launches and services.   All new pages will now have to be created in iFrames. Most people, including Social Media Experts, are unsure what iFrames really are and how to recreate those special pages within their Business Page. But understanding it or not, everyone will have to adapt to these changes.   Most changes are decided upon to enhance the user’s experience with Social Media sites and don’t forget, the accounts are almost all free advertising for your business.

Whether you have created your own Twitter background and/or the individual pages for your Facebook Business Page, you are looking at having them redesigned and rethought in the immediate future. If, like a lot of us, the changes are a bit beyond your technical capability, why not consult a Social Media Marketing VA who can help you take full advantage of the changes and make them work for you and your business.

                          

Google Places

A Google Places account allows a business to:

• Have that prominent Google map show up beside the web address in the Google listings
• Add up to 10 photos in the listing to showcase the outside of the building or the goods and services sold within the establishment
• Create coupons for promotions
• Solicit reviews/testimonials which give further clout to the benefits of dealing with that business

Google Maps

So how do you set up a Google Places account for your client, follow the steps and your done!

1. Google Account: Set up a Google account for your client(which is free) by going to http://www.google.com. You will need a Gmail account and username to create the Google Places.
2. Activate the Account: Click https://www.google.com/accounts/ManageAccount and click on Google Places.
3. Complete Information: You will then be asked to fill in a number of areas regarding your client’s business info….make this as detailed as possible.

• Basic Address Info including website and a description of the products or services they offer
  • • Service Areas and location settings
    • Hours of Operation
    • Payment Options
    • Photos: add up to 10 photos of the storefront or products
    • Videos: you can upload up to 5 videos to Youtube and have it listed as part of your listing

Google needs to verify the information so warn your client that they will be receiving a phone call from an automated system at Google with a verification code….this is very important as you need the code to finalize the Google Places account.

Next Steps:

1. Ask current or past customers to post a (positive) review on the site…the more the better 
   

   Add Reviews for Google Places

    

2. Add or change up the photos as necessary to reflect the current look of the storefront or products
3. Use the insights/analytics feature on a monthly basis to gain information about the number of people visiting the Google Places account

Monitor the Google Places Stats

If you can set up a Google Places results for your clients and demonstrate the importance of this tool, they will be eternally grateful!… just another way partnering with a VA is a wise decision.

For more information on other local business listings, please review Diane Coville’s post titled Social Media Marketing You can Go Local Now at http://www.vanetworking.com/blog/social-media-marketing-you-can-go-local-now/.

                          

• More than 500 million active users
• 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• Average user has 130 friends
• People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
• There are over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages)
• Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
• Average user creates 90 pieces of content each month
• More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month.
• There are more than 150 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
• People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on Facebook than non-mobile users.
• There are more than 200 mobile operators in 60 countries working to deploy and promote Facebook mobile products

http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

If the above statistics are in fact true, which I personally believe that they are, then what stops one from using what is given to us on a Silver platter?   Keep in mind that Facebook is not just for socializing with people that we may already know.  Facebook is used in many ways such as, making new friends, acquiring new clients, customers, and Virtual Assistants alike. Yes there are sites that enable you to find clients, and enable you to find the VA of your dreams which is fantastic, but what better way to showcase what you do for both the client and the VA than a Facebook Fan Page! With that being said one has the opportunity to speak to potential new clients, customers, VA’s and leads in real time or via email right through Facebook’s platform. How easy is that! I guess that you can say that while a free lunch is hard to come by, this is one of those rare grand lunches that is in fact free for all!  Why not utilize the biggest and grandest social media outlet available to us at our fingertips and is free to boot!

Going back to the older ways of the world, when people know you, or get to know you they begin to trust you. Trust spurs long lasting friendships, new customers, clients, Virtual assistants, and so much more! A client that would like to do a search on a Virtual Assistant will not only find them in Google, but can also find then in Facebook as well, if they are a member, or has a fan page. Doesn’t it make sense to join the largest social media venue of our time? I think so! What do you think?

                          

Imagine the possible loss of business this establishment would have experienced if they had not seen that “tweet” or worse, if they had just ignored it. Instead, as a result of one tweet, they immediately contacted a pest control company and had the whole facility investigated for the pests. Guess what? They got a clean bill of health. But they didn’t stop there. They made sure the media in that city heard about the tweet AND  the actions they took to resolve the complaint. It became quite the hot news item on the radio and television for a few days. So they turned a negative into a positive and illustrated their concern and their desire to rectify the problem.

This is a prime example of “Reputation Management” and how to handle issues with customers. If you do not make a point of monitoring what your customers are saying about you – if you ignore customer service issues or worse still, do not make the effort to resolve those issues – you most likely will suffer some loss – the reputation of your business, customers, revenue and/or future growth.

Today’s consumers are very sensitive to customer service and in a challenged economy that we are still experiencing, it is hard enough to acquire new business:.don’t make the mistake of ignoring your past and present customers because referrals are the best way to gain new business.

Another example would be a manufacturer of locks for bicycles. They were the “crème de la crème” in the industry.   Then someone had an issue with how easy it was to actually break those high quality locks:..and the dissatisfied customer made a video and posted it on You Tube. Word spread fast and sales dropped. But the manufacturer was not monitoring their reputation on the internet. They didn’t know why their sales were dropping until they finally became aware of  the video.   By that time it was too late. Now, they would have to try to recover from this incident and earn back their reputation but probably will never rise to the status they experienced before when their products were highly regarded and trusted.

Do you know what your customers are saying about you?

Don’t make the mistake of ignoring the power of the internet and social media.  It can make or break your business in a flash!

Do you know that an experienced Virtual Assistant can handle that task for you? There are systems they can set up that will monitor what your customers are saying about you, they can alert you to problems so you can address them quickly OR notify you of rave reviews where you might want to offer  a special discount in appreciation of their testimonial.

                          

There is still Outbound Marketing like ads in newspapers, magazines, the Yellow Pages, billboards and mailouts to name a few. And then there is Inbound Marketing where you draw your Target Market to your website. Inbound marketing can include Article Marketing, Email Marketing, Blog Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and more recently Video Marketing.

Some stats on the top Video Channel You Tube:

October 2008: 1 billion views per day of videos on You Tube

May 2010: 2 billion views per day of videos on You Tube and more than 24 hours of video is uploaded to You Tube every minute.

In a recent report released by Social Media Examiner, the “2010 Social Media Marketing Report”, statistics showed that 40%+ of Businesses were already implementing Video Marketing but a significant 73% of marketers plan on increasing their YouTube and/or video marketing.

7 Reasons Why You Should Consider Video:

* A Personal Connection: It is said again and again that people will buy when they know, like and trust. A video will introduce you to your prospects so they feel they have actually met you.
* Social Proof: Video puts a face to your words and lends credibility and believability.
* Traffic: With the stats illustrated above for just You Tube, not to mention all the other video channels out there, you are missing a lot of opportunities and links to your site.
* Emotional Influence: A great presentation accompanied by music or your voice will create a lasting impression of you and your brand.
* Portability: Not only can prospects find you over the internet but with the massive increase in smart phone users, your videos can be viewed anywhere, anytime.
* Demonstrations: An Article or Presentation on it’s own can suddenly go dynamic when presented in a video.
* Engagement: There are proven stats and success stories that you can easily find which verify that videos enhance social media activity and encourage response and conversion rates.

And to take this one step further, videos are not only being used as a valuable way of distributing content, but are favored to introduce new products and services as well as a new format – Video Blogging. Bloggers now have a choice of writing their regular blogs, doing audio blogs or maximizing their messages in video blogs.

There are an abundance of businesses that can provide a professional video for you but why not consider a Virtual Assistant who is a Video Marketing Specialist?   Not only can they provide guidance in choosing the right kind of video and marketing strategies for you but they can offer you many choices to fit within your budget.

                          

Social Media now allowed people to contribute and share content in various ways throughout the internet, over and above their own websites and suddenly there was a resurgence in popularity of blogging, article writing, list building and email marketing.

However, Social Media Channels were in their infancy and were better suited to international and national on-line businesses. It was difficult if not impossible for local stores, brick and mortar businesses, restaurants and bars and almost anyone else to effectively use Social Media to get to their local target markets.

The Social Media realm listened and where they saw the need, they came up with ways for local businesses to now utilize their Channels.

Examples:

A burger restaurant in Milwaukee and a savvy owner who chose to market his new establishment through Twitter.  He accounts for 75% of his customers discovering his restaurant through Twitter. And his business grew so quickly he opened 2 other restaurants. How cool is that?

Or a local bakery who is off the beaten track and newspaper and Yellow Pages ads were not showing any results. But one of their customers started using Foursquare and every time she used her iPhone to mention on Foursquare that she was at that bakery, their sales went up substantially for the day. You can be assured they are now developing a social media marketing plan because they have already seen results.

And speaking of Yellow Pages, have you listed your business on Google Places? It is the Yellow Pages of Google. Anyone with a smartphone or computer and can access the internet can use local search terms to find your business even if they have never heard your Company Name.

There are many new LBSN’s (Local Business Social Networks) popping up every day.

There are also MeetUps. Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook connections are taking their interaction off the Social Networks long enough to meet up locally “in person”  to build the connections they already have and make further connections. Recently there was a Social Networking Day, June 30^th to be exact, and Social Media participants everywhere attended local Meet-Ups to celebrate. Lots of new connections were made and everyone announced it was a big success.

If you are having an Event, there is Eventbrite where you can not only announce your Event, but issue tickets (paid or free) to  interested participants and post to your Social Media accounts with a link to send them to your Event listed on Eventbrite.

Social Media is not just for international business anymore! Whatever your local business, you too can achieve amazing results!

If you don’t know where to start or are confused about what best strategies would work for your business, ask a Social Media Virtual Assistant. They will be happy to help you.

                          

Sales Page:

• write text for sales page – if your VA is a great copywriter, have them work with you to write up the sales page content
• format and upload the sales page to your server
• add product image
• add shopping cart link

Pre-Launch Set Up:

• set up the product in the shopping cart and include all relevant state or provincial taxes
• add the product images to the cart and to the headers in the checkout pages
• set up coupons in shopping cart for discounts for preferred members, clients or joint venture partners

Launching Product:

• draft broadcast that announces product
• manage support email account if customers issues arise

Social Media Support:

• format blog post about product launch and upload to blog
• makes sure blog post feeds into Facebook page, Twitter and Linked in accounts
• add product banner to Facebook page and blog

Affiliate Marketing:

• connect with core affiliates to “get the buzz rolling”
• add new product banners to affiliate area
• format affiliate broadcasts – help write pre-written Tweets, Facebook posts and blog posts
• broadcast affiliate email
• interact with affiliates to answer questions

Follow Up Marketing

• format follow up broadcasts
• schedule tweets for Twitter
• help set up an information webinar

Now you could do this all yourself, but why would you?

                          

If you don’t know the answer to these questions, you need to do an audit of your website. You can make up a checklist and answer each item appropriately. It might look something like this:

1. Does it display your “brand” and logo?
2. Is the title line at the top of each page SEO optimized?
3. Is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) prominent on the Home page?
4. Is your contact information clearly visible?
5. Is your “call to action” clear and relevant?
6. Do you have relevant images on your site?
7. Is your content clear and pertinent to the products/services you provide? Is it SEO Optimized?
8. Is the font size big enough to read easily?
9. Is your site designed well and have well positioned “white space”?
10. Do you have clear messages: Bolded? In a different colour?
11. Do you have your pages structured to make for easy viewing by your visitors?
12. Do you have an Opt-In box to build your List?
13. Do you have a welcome video on the Home Page? Is it SEO Optimized?
14. Do you have a blog on your site to add fresh content? Is it SEO Optimized?
15. Do you have RSS and Share/Bookmarking buttons on your pages?
16. Do you offer free content: Articles, eBooks, Audios, Videos?
17. Do you have a Site Map tab?
18. Is the navigation on your website consistent and easy to use?
19. Do you have testimonials on your site?
20. Do you have links on your site and are they working properly?

Once you have gone through the above checklist, you should have a good idea of where to rate the performance of your site and what needs improvement.

To get a better idea of how to improve your site, you might want to check out competitor’s sites and how theirs compares to yours. This may provide you with some excellent creative ideas.

And, if you know you must edit your site but you don’t know how to start, consider hiring an Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant who can help you make it happen.

                          

One of the growing tasks Virtual Assistants are taken are is the development of affiliate communication geared towards these social media channels. Here’s some examples of how a VA can create materials for promotion.

1. Affiliate Newsletter

Create consistent communication with your affiliates by producing a month or quarterly newsletter. A VA can format it in html or plain text format and set up a broadcast through your email marketing system. I find it advisable to include a merge code of the affiliate link for each affiliate. This way they don’t have to go searching for their affiliate URL; make it as easy as possible for your affiliates to get the information they need. The clients’ email marketing system should have the ability to automatically pull each affiliates default link into the broadcast.

2. Pre-written Tweets

Within the newsletter, supply your affiliates with pre-written tweets. You can’t deny the popularity of twitter today for delivering communication quickly and effectively. Have your VA draft up 6 tweets for you to approve. The tweets will need to be 140 characters maximum and include the affiliate link. We encourage affiliates to shorten their links using tinuyurl.com or the link shortening software within Hootsuite.com, Tweetdeck.com or Seesmic.com.

3. Pre-written Facebook Posts

As with Twitter, your VA can draft up 2 or 3 quick Facebook posts for the affiliates to add to their profile or page. These posts can be a little longer to suit the conversational aspect of Facebook. Encourage your affiliates to augment the message for their own language if necessary. Remember, the key is to make it as simple as possible for your affiliates to “get the word out” about your products or services.

Affiliate marketing doesn’t have to be difficult and with today’s surge in the use of social media channels it just makes sense to utilize them. Your VA can be an integral part in building your affiliate numbers and sales.