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The Virtual Assistant Industry is made up of professionals who provide a wide variety of administrative and technological tasks. Some pros develop a full featured practice and try to meet any and all needs that their clients may have, outsourcing some of the work if they have to. Others create a specialized practice and choose to limit their service offerings to what they personally do best.

Whether you craft a niche based on your specific skills or base one on the type of clients you wish to serve, differentiating yourself from other skilled service providers is challenging and absolutely crucial to your business success. When you brand yourself for a specialty you increase your referral rate and even find that you get referrals from other virtual assistants who do not share your specialty.

One of the reasons that you decided to create your own business is to be able to do work that you enjoy, right? Give your preferences some consideration when choosing your focus. Plan your business around the skills and training that you have.

Certainly in the beginning you’ll be doing all kinds of work that you may not prefer in order to reach your billable hours goal each month. That’s all part of building a business. Eventually though, you’ll be able to do more picking and choosing.

Choosing a market niche is about deciding you who wish to serve as a clientele. Your chosen target market will impact the kind of work that you do and even the level of rates you may charge. If you have a vision of billing your time at $75 an hour, you’d be smart not to target fledgling small business owners as a clientele. On the other hand, if you want to spend you time doing internet research and responding to emails, you won’t be targeting the legal profession.

If you are reading this you might be close to setting up your first website ever or you can be a person with experience that is just curious to see if there are things that you might have missed. Whatever the case is I hope to be able to provide you with a few of the things that I personally feel are important when you are picking the right domain name for your new site.

I assume that you have already found the topic that you are going to be focusing on and therefore I will not go into any of the things that relates on how to find a profitable market online. The reason I say this is that I assume that you new site will somehow have a business related theme as a personal website with pictures of your family and stuff doesn’t need much consideration when choosing the domain name.

So let us get into the things that I strongly feel you would have great benefit from.

It is a know fact that more and more traffic (aka visitors to your site) comes from the search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN (which has now launched their new site called Live). So with this fact in mind you will need to find out how to get the best possible placement in the search engines so that people will come visit your site.

Most online marketers agree that from a SEO point of you the right keyword rich domain name can help your site rank better that if you are not using a keyword rich domain name. You might say that site like http://Nike.com, http://Amazon.com and http://Ebay.com doesn’t have keyword rich names and you are absolutely right.

However the difference between you and the great site is that they have much larger advertising budget than you have and therefore they can get away with having names that doesn’t make much sense. So if you are on a small budget I suggest that you go for the keyword rich domain name approach.

Choosing a keyword rich domain name does not mean that you will have to end up with a name that nobody will ever remember. That can be the case but it doesn’t have to be. Let us say that you are going to create a site that deals with pets. Maybe you want to sell pet toys and other accessories.

What I would do is to go to the site called: http://www.wordtracker.com/free-trial.html and sign up for the free trial. Once you have received the e-mail from WordTracker you would enter “pets” in the field.

You’ll see that the word “pet supplies” has a count of 2,000-2,500 visitors in a 90 day period. If you had paid for the full version of WordTracker (I strongly recommend that you do) you would have found that for the keyword phrase “pet toys and supplies” and that 145 people are searching for that particular phrase every day and that there are only 857 sites competing for that exact phrase.

Now that is great information and you can now use it for finding a domain name that will 1) Tell your visitors what it is that you do and 2) hold some really great keywords that you will want to target to rank in the search engines.

If you go to the site called: http://idenion.dk/tools/multidomaincheck.aspx you’ll be able to enter domain names in the box and test whether they are available. I have just tested the domains http://pettoysandsupplies.com and http://pet-toys-and-supplies.com and both of them are available. That is great news as the domains names will help you some of the way to get the high rankings that you want.

There are various reasons why background checking of certain individuals or companies has become necessary. The reason may be as simple as a verification of the credentials of a newly appointed executive in the office. It may be as complicated as digging out the criminal past of a dishonest businessman. A background check helps in affirming the credibility of certain person or confirms the certainty of some rumors relating to the performance of certain business house. Thus when you are looking for the source of information for your investigation, you should be guided by the context and circumstances of the investigation, and not by convenience or cost factors.

Background check is a form of investigative research and there is a wide range of databases to help you find the necessary information. There are a variety of databases such as specialized databases, and regional and government databases that may be helpful in searching for different types of personal as well as public information. Then there are several research agencies that will supply you with the necessary information for a price. The most renowned among them are LexisNexis, Westlaw, ChoicePoint Online, AutoTrackXP and Accurint, which specialize, in various kinds of public records. For example, if you are tracking the address of a person over the past several years, Accurint will be able to provide you the most comprehensive information about address histories. But if you want to look up some incident in the recent past, then try AutoTrackXP’s database.

In a democratic country such as the United States, the public theoretically has the right to access the government records that may seem relevant to their business. However there are restrictions on how you are allowed to use this information. The investigators who perform the background checks, therefore are required to be familiar with the various laws governing the accessibility to various public information and their permissible uses. The provisions dealing with the permissible uses of different information change with each state. However, most of the laws generally allow access to the information intended to be used for litigation-related purposes.

Up to this point so far, you have identified the context of the research, and you have identified the possible sources of information and the permissible uses of those sources. The next step involves obtaining personal identification information including name, date of birth and Social Security number. Your client may have already provided this information; even so it is your responsibility to verify them. You should also investigate the places where the person had lived and done business previously.

After you have obtained and verified the personal identification of the person in question, you can now proceed to other aspects of the investigation. For example, if you are checking the credentials of an executive, you should then look into his educational background and past employment history. Or if you are verifying rumors about the shady past of a certain person, you should start by checking for any criminal record.

The two things I am most frequently asked about are how to get more advertising for your dollar (or pound in my case) and how to deliver copy that really works. So that is what this article will be about.

Many people, when asked their opinion on the best ways to advertise will tell you that “In this game you only get what you pay for.” And I some ways that’s true, however f.ree advertising definitely has it’s place and serves more than one purpose.

They say that anything worth having is worth working for and when it comes to f.ree advertising methods you may have to be prepared to put in a lot of time and effort before you start to see solid results. And in truth if the f.ree methods worked as well as paid methods then there wouldn’t be any need for anything else.

On the other hand paid methods require you to take a rather large leap of faith that they can actually deliver what is promised and when you’re first starting out with a smaller budget sometimes the paid methods just have to wait for a couple of weeks.

One of the best methods I have found is to actually combine the two.

How? Well we all know how important it is to monitor our results with ad tracking and that once we have found a system that works we should use it to it’s fullest potential. Well unless you have a large budget to begin with it can be quit difficult to get a large enough feedback from a wide enough group for you to be able to find out which of your campaigns really works and which don’t.

That’s where programmes like Traffic Swarm and other traffic exchanges can help.

First of all what is ‘Traffic’ and why would you want a swarm of it?

If you’re new to the net ‘Traffic’ is one the words you will be hearing a lot of and need to become familiar with. It simply refers to the volume of people that you have visiting your site, and clearly to make real progress online you need to generate good quality, high volume traffic.

There are lots of traffic exchange programmes available online where you generate credits by viewing other people’s ads those credits will then in turn relate to exactly how many times your own ad is displayed to other members. You need to take some time and decide which of the many systems is right for you.

As a f.ree member of Traffic Swarm you can display up to 10 ads at a time which means that not only do you have a whole market available to you to test your ad copy on to before spending a penny on paid methods; but that you have got the ability to compare and contrast which of your ads works hardest for you.

The ads that you place are like classified ads that get shown to TS members in groups of 8, people then just click on an ad that appeals to them and they are instantly redirected to your site.

All you then need to do is track each of your ads so you can tell at a glance just which of your campaigns are achieving a high response rate and which ones you may need to tweak or drop altogether.

Once you have used a system like that to develop your own killer ad you can then confidently use that headline or body in larger scale paid advertising methods.

Truck loads of people use traffic exchange programmes on a daily basis as they are one of the most well known and successful traffic generating systems available. So before you spend big, spend some time tweaking your own ads and find out what really works.

Happy Marketing
Denise Hamilton

If you think that working from home is all sunshine and roses, think again. Just like any job, there are advantages and disadvantages. One thing that many people fail to take into account when they begin to work at home is the isolation they may feel and how they can combat the loneliness that comes with working from home.

Ways You Can Avoid the Trappings of Loneliness When You Work at Home

Try and establish a structure to your day when you work at home. Nothing gives loneliness a chance to get its foot in the door when you are looking at time stretching before you like the hot desert without an oasis. When you work at home you should start each day with a plan and stick to it. Assign your tasks and carry them out according to plan. The best time to schedule your day is to do it the night before so you have it in hand when you awaken.

Reach Out to Others

When planning your day, be sure to include at least a couple of activities that will have you interacting with others outside of your home. You may love your family to pieces, but a harried spouse and demanding children will not satisfy your need for socialization. Some say the hardest part when you work at home is the lack of adult conversation. Schedule a break when you know a buddy can have a nice chat with you. Take a walk with a friend or your pet to take in the fresh air and connect with the outside world.

When you work at home, you can think about joining a club or a group. You can take a class or attend a trade show or seminar that pertains to your area of business. This will enable you to share the triumphs and pitfalls you experience when you work at home with others handling the same situations.

Get Your Muscles Pumping

If you work at home, joining a gym can be a great way to meet and talk to other people and get yourself feeling and looking good at the same time. You can schedule your time at the gym for the same time everyday and you will be surprised at how quickly you become friends with others who visit when you do.

Arrange a Party or Picnic

Don’t sit home and wait for invitations to come to you, plan your own get-togethers to ensure you have some fun and adult interaction. Whether this is in the form of an outdoor barbeque, a picnic at the park, or a night you plan with friends to get together and play cards or some other sort of game, it is a wonderful chance for you to relax and do some catching up.

You can organize a function that is business oriented and get to know others who work at home too. It is a terrific way to network and make contacts as well as share ideas and inspirations for juggling a home business and a family.

Use Your Computer

Using chat rooms, blogs and forums to stay connected with others is easy with the internet, but beware you don’t spend too much time answering emails and chatting. This can become a distraction if you let it, so if you intend to socialize online, schedule a time to do this too.

You’re better than me at Adwords. I’m better than you at list-building. Harry Potter’s better than both of us at magic. The point is, no-one can be perfect at everything and if your business is to grow beyond a mere “mom & pop store” then at some point you’ll need to start delegating responsibility and delve confidently into the world of EMPLOYING people. Someone creates your content. Someone else your website. Another markets. And you? Well you’re scooping up the profits and repeating the whole process with another project. And then another.

For the internet business entrepreneur, by far the best way of hiring is through OUTSOURCING. Here’s a small sample of the type of work that can be outsourced:

- Development of custom-built software & content.
- Customer support.
- Internet marketing.
- Site development.
- Graphic design.
- Creation of business plans/forecasts/research reports.
- Accounting.

I could go on for pages but you get the idea. While outsourcing tends to be associated mostly with huge companies it’s every bit as important to the small internet business entrepreneur. Consider these advantages of implementing outsourcing into your business:

- “Saving time”. Are you trying to do *everything* yourself? This may seem noble to you, and undoubtedly you ought to gain as much practical experience into how things need to be done in your business in case of emergencies. But after a time, if you’re doing a lot of menial tasks then you’re cheating yourself out of time you could be using to do the things that a CEO of a company should be doing to grow the business. Do you reckon Bill Gates sits down every week to do his own search engine optimisation? No, his team handles it for him. What about you? If you can identify the parts of your business that are taking up way too much time, you can potentially seek to outsource them.

- “Cost Effective”. With outsourcing, you only pay for services as and when you need them. In a lot of traditional businesses that employ their own staff this is not so. Often, there is over-capacity so old Dave is having a nice cuppa and reading Sports Illustrated and you’re paying him by the hour to do it. Not so with Outsourcing – you pay only for what you need. Further, when you hire staff you have to deal with additional costings such as insurance and taxes. This is simply too much to handle for a small business – again, something that isn’t a factor with outsourcing.

- “Let The Professionals Handle It”. Certain elements of your business need to be handled by the pro’s if you don’t have the required skills or experience to do it yourself. When you outsource to a reliable professional, you’re ensuring that the job is done right by someone who has the know-how.

So how can you get started growing your business by outsourcing? First, you need to take a long hard look at your own business and pin-point those areas that are either taking too long to complete, aren’t being done properly, or aren’t being done at all.

If you’ve been focusing solely on the market you could reach online, then you’re missing some big profit.

The World Wide Web can be a very big place, but let’s face it. More people are actually not interested with the Internet compared to the people who are regular web users. You may be servicing a bustling segment of the online market today, but how long would it take before that segment of the market becomes saturated%

There are several steps that you need to take in order to have good organization for starting a small home business. Following these basic steps will make certain that your new business gets off to a good start. It is important with everything you do in life to be organized but even more imperative in a starting a small home business.

One of the largest industries today for starting a small home business is the wellness and health industry. In fact there is a huge and growing market for skin care products, nutritional supplements and even fitness equipment. The first step in getting organized for starting a small home business is to decide which niche of the market you feel most comfortable. If you are comfortable with your products or services, you are going to have a larger chance of success.

Once you select which type of business you are going to operate, it is important to get funding for the business.You need to sit down and write a business plan. A business plan organizes your business before you ever make the first purchase or place the first advertisement. What will be the name of your new business? What are the goals of your business? How large will you start it?  What expenses will occur to start the new business? What will be your company motto? Where will you obtain your products or equipment for your services? These are all important questions that you should answer in your business plan.

Once you have a business plan set out, it is imperative to organize the finances. You need to sit down and write a realistic budget that you can follow for the new company. Think about all the possible different expenses that you will have daily, weekly and monthly. If an expense such as professional membership is annual, then divide it by 12 and add it to your monthly expenses. Having a working budget is important to starting a small home business because it allows you to see on paper if your goals and the expenses are realistic before you ever sink a penny into the company.

Now that you have all this planning done, you must talk to a financial source such as a bank to obtain the necessary starting funds to create your new business. You will also need to organize and obtain any licenses that are required for the new company in your particular area. Once the business licenses are obtained, go ahead and list your company with the Better Business Bureau of your area as well. This will help your credibility in marketing both online and offline.

Once your business is up and running you should have a calendar that is just for business related activities, deadlines and goals. Each day make a comprehensive to do list. Prioritize the tasks on it. Also, make a list of deadlines and goals for each week. Keeping a list of deadlines and goals will help you to achieve your business goals and not miss anything important to have to rush later on.  Following these tips will help you be successful with your new business.

Search engine optimization is the process of choosing targeted keyword phrases related to a website, and ensuring that the website places well when those keyword phrases are part of a Web search.

ON-PAGE OPTIMIZATION FACTORS:

The Major Factors Are:

Meta Tags, Header Tags, Text-body tag and Alt image tags:

1- META TAGS:

Meta Tags are code in your HTML that is invisible to the visitors of your web site but are read by some web spiders and search engines.

Meta tags used by a large percentage of the top search engines as one of the main guidelines on how they will index your site

The Main Meta Tags are:

• Title Tag
• Description Tag
• Keyword Tag

Targeting the right keywords:

Do keyword research- it is very important in building traffic

To do your keyword research visit this website http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

Select a short list of 3 to 4 keywords

Title tag:

The page title should include ONLY your main keywords. The least amount of words you can place in the title, the more weight Google will give to each of the keywords and the higher you will rank.

The title is the most important piece of information search engines use to index Web pages. Include the title of your page and 3-5 important keywords. Format your site title as follows:

Site title, keyword1, keyword2, keyword3

You may use your URL, or the name of your company as your site title.

• Make sure it specifically describes your product or service,
• Makes proper use of 3 or 4 keywords,
• Use between 10 and 80 characters long.

Tips:

• Taken out all of the “ands”
• Replaced one of the “ands” with a “|” character
• Always Combine Your Keywords In The Page Title

Description Tag:

The Meta description tag describes your site’s content, giving search engines’ spiders an accurate summary filled with multiple keywords.

• Use a descriptive paragraph or sentence that is relevant to your page.
• If possible, use a sentence or paragraph that is present in the content of your page
• Use up to 500 characters, including spaces.

Keyword Tag:

Use a list of keywords that are relevant to the content of your web page. Use your url as the first key word and separate the keywords with commas. Format the key words as follows:

www.sketch-plus.com, keyword1, keyword2, keyword3, …..

Add 5-10 Keywords

• For best results a tag sized between 50 and 250 characters.
• Note that keywords should be separated with commas.

Free Meta Tag Analyzer:

This Meta tag analysis tool will help you analyze your web pages and
check for search engine compatibility.

http://www.hypergurl.com/form.html

More Sites for SEO:

http://www.submitnet.net/

http://www.submitexpress.com/

2- HEADER TAGS:

Headers are used to break entries up into logical sections.

Add h1 header tags- (Place your most important keyword) it’s best to place your h1 header tag on the top left hand or top/middle portion of your page.

When Google reads a webpage, it views the text from the top left hand side of the page to the bottom right hand side of the page.

Add h2 header tags- (Place your 2nd most important keyword) should be placed somewhere towards the top half of your webpage.

3- TEXT- BODY TAG:

The body element defines the documents’ body. It contains all the contents of the document (like text, images, colors, graphics, etc.).

• When writing the content, try to evenly sprinkle your main keywords throughout the copy. Don’t overdo it though.
• Try to mention each keyword in a natural way as you are writing
• Include at least one of the keywords per 1-2 paragraphs, depending on how large your page is.
• Make sure to mention your main keyword at the very top left and the very bottom right hand side of the webpage
• Bolding, italicizing and underlining…Once we’ve finished writing the copy, we should go through and bold, italicize, or underline some of the keywords only 1 time each, maximum.
• Any keyword must be used 4 times or more in your site’s HTML body. This is highly recommended for best ranking results.
• Avoid Excessive Keywords- No word to be used more than 30 times throughout the page.

4- ALT IMAGE TAGS:

ALT tags are images’ descriptions.

• Place your keyword 1 in the alt image tag of the very top image in your webpage.
• Place your other 2 keywords plus an extra word like “picture” or “image in the alt image tag of 2 more graphics throughout your webpage.

LOAD TIME ANALYSIS:

If your Web site does not load in 12 seconds or less with a 56k connection, statistics show that about 45% of visitors will leave the site.

• Optimized you site for 56k modem users- Load time 12 second or less.
• Try to keep your homepage under 50k and your other pages under 40k.

SEARCH ENGINE GUIDELINES:

Always remember this general rule when building your site: “Search engines do not like to be fooled”. Do not try to manipulate your listings through sneaky methods. Provide useful, relevant content, and you will never have to worry about search engine guideline violations.

• Hidden Text – you never hide text.
• Excessive Keywords-Use keywords naturally in sentences and paragraphs.
• No word to be used more than 30 times throughout the page.
• Repeated Keywords- No keywords to be repeated multiple times in a row. We recommend using keywords naturally in sentences and paragraphs.
• Doorway Pages- Doorway pages are discouraged by most search engines.
• Harmful Redirects- Redirecting pages have a hard time being indexed by search engines.
• Frame Issues- It is recommended for sites that use frames to implement a descriptive NOFRAMES tag with relevant text content.
• Macromedia Flash Issues- Don’t create all-Flash pages for any content you want to get indexed – instead, put that content in the HTML portion of the page.

Enjoy!