PROMOTE YOUR

SERVICES
VA FREE HOW-TO GUIDE

The Ultimate Free Guide for Virtual Assistants

Learn how to use Linkedin properly

SEO tips and how to write blogs
Useful resources for Virtual Assistants

AND MORE …..

Contributions by

Linda Semeins-Allen Helping you get your VA business online for less
www.cleverpins.co.uk Guide written and produced by Darren Strudwick
Jemma Bond
www.v-assistants.co.uk www.va-websites.co.uk

© Darren Strudwick
Contents

Introduction
Ÿ Are you struggling to get clients? ...….…..….…..….…..….…..….…..….…..….…..5

Make Yourself Appealing

6
Ÿ Removing unprofessional content from social media ...….…..….….….…..….….…..……
6
Ÿ The importance of a professional email address ...….….…..….….…..….….….…..….…..
7
Ÿ Why you need a professionally designed website ...…..….….…..….….….…..….….…..….
8
Ÿ My unique all-inclusive website design package …..….….….…..….….…..….……

Blogs
10
Ÿ Why write a blog ...….….…..….….….…..….….…..….….…..….….…..….….….…..
11
Ÿ How to write a blog ...…..….….….…..….…..….….…..….….….…..….….…..….….….
Ÿ What to write ....….….….….…..….….….….…..….….….…..….….….….…..….….….…
12

Niche
13
Ÿ The importance of specialising ...…..….…..….….…..….…..….….…..….…..…..……
Ÿ Benefits of having a niche ...….….…..….…..….….….…..….….….…..….….…..…
14
Ÿ Choosing your niche ...….….….….…..….….….….…..….….….….…..….….….….… 14

Facebook
15
Ÿ Your personal profile ...….….…..….….….….….…..….….….….….….…..….….….……
16
Ÿ Your business profile ...….….…..….….….….….….….….…..….….….….….…..……
Ÿ Facebook groups ...….….…..….….….….….….….….….….….….…..….….….……
17

Linkedin
25
How Linkedin works ...…..…..….…..….…..….…..….…..….…..…..….…..…..……..….
25
The entire Linkedin strategy summed up in 2 pages! .….….…..….…..…..….…..…
Ÿ Optimising your profile to appeal to your niche ...….…..….…..….…..….…..…..….…
28
Ÿ Posting on Linkedin ...…..….…..…..….…..….…..….…..….…..….…..….….…..…..….…
31

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Contents

Pinterest - Written by Linda Semeins-Allen

Ÿ Pinterest for VAs! ...….…..….….…..….…..….….…..….…..….…..….…..…………….
32
Ÿ What is Pinterest and how does it work? ...…..….…..….…..….…..….….…..….……
33
Ÿ Starting successfully on Pinterest ...…..….…..….…..….…..….…..….….…..….….
34
Ÿ How Linda can help you ...….…..….…..….…..….…..….…..….…..….…..….….…36

Instagram - Written by Jemma Bond

Ÿ Why you should be using Instagram .…..…..….…..….…..…..…..…..…..…..….….. 38
40
Ÿ How to share a feed post to your story ....…..….…..…..…..…..…..….…..…..….…..….
Ÿ Hashtags ..…..…..…..…..…..…..….…..…..…..….…..…..…..…..….…..…..…..……
40
Ÿ Stories ….…..…..…..…..…..…..…..…..….…..…..….…..…..…..…..…..…..…..…..….
41
Ÿ Story content ...…..…..…..….…..…..….…..…..…..…..….…..…..…..….…...….….42
Ÿ Getting engagement ….…..…..…….…....….…...….…...…..…..….…...…..…..…..….…
43
Ÿ 1-to-1 coaching with Jemma .….…...….…...….…...…..…..…..…..…..…..…..…..…..….
45

SEO
47
Ÿ Why SEO is a waste of time for your VA website! ...….….….….…..….….….….…
48
Ÿ SEO basics ...…..….….….….…..….….….….….….…..….….….….…..….….….….…

More Ways to Market Yourself

Ÿ Quick checklist ..…..….….….….….….….….…..….….….….…..….….….….…..…50

VA Support Communities
54
Ÿ Society of Virtual Assistants ...….….….…..….….….…..….….….…..….….…..….…
56
Ÿ The VA Handbook ...….….….….…..….….…..….….….…..….….….….…..….….…
57
Ÿ Amanda Johnson - Coaching, Training and Mentoring ...…..…..…..…..…...…..…..…..

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Contents

VA Books
Ÿ Catherine Gladwyn - How to be a Virtual Assistant ...….….…..….….…..….….…..….
59
Ÿ Suzie Flynne - Get More Leads by Understanding Your Niche ...….….……..….….…..
60
Ÿ Keri Watkins - Plan and Write Marketing Emails Like a Pro …...….…..…..….…..……
61

Legal
Ÿ Annabel Kaye - Legal Documents for VAs ...…..…...….…..…..…..…..…..…..…. 62
Ÿ Professional Indemnity Insurance ....….…...…..….…...…..…...….…..…..…..….…...….…
63

Social Media
64
Ÿ Helen Pritchard's FREE 5-day Linkedin Challenge ....…..…..….…..…..…..…..…..…..……
65
Ÿ Linda Semeins-Allen, Cleverpins - Specialist Pinterest Marketing Services ….…..…..……
65
Ÿ Jemma Bond - Instagram Training …..….…...…..…..….…..…..…..…..…..….…..……

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Introduction

Are you struggling to get clients?

Well, the truth is, you shouldn’t be. Right now there are millions of business owners overwhelmed
with admin tasks who need your help to relieve the burden. There is no shortage of work to go
around. There are plenty of Virtual Assistants who, even during the pandemic, are picking up new
clients.

To get clients, all you need to do are two simple things ….

1) Make yourself as appealing as possible

2) Make yourself as visible as possible

The aim of this guide is to show you how to do those things. It’s really not that difficult and what’s
even better is most of the steps outlined will cost you little to no money. But what they will cost you
is a little bit of time and work. You must be prepared to put in some effort.

The key to it all is perseverance and patience. As the saying goes, Rome was not built in a day,
and neither was any successful business. Once you have set yourself up as a VA, do not expect
to get your first client the next day. In fact, do not expect to get your first client the next week or
even the next month.

You need to network, build up relationships with people, spread the word about your services, it
takes time. Realistically, if you follow all the steps in this guide, don’t expect your first enquiry for at
least a couple of months. It might well happen sooner, but if it doesn’t that’s perfectly normal.

So let’s see how we can go about making you more appealing and more visible ….

5
Make Yourself Appealing

In this section we are going to talk about how to make yourself as appealing as possible to your
potential clients. It’s all about coming across in the most professional way you can. You want to do
EVERYTHING you possibly can to make your clients think you are PROFESSIONAL.

The keys things to consider:

1) Removing unprofessional content from personal social media profiles

2) Having a professional email address

3) Having a professional website

Removing unprofessional content from social media

This is something which is often overlooked and yet it is vital to consider. Many potential clients
and employers, when deciding whether or not to hire you, will often check out your personal social
media profiles such as, for example, your personal Facebook page. No matter how good you
might be at your job, often decisions to hire and fire will be made based on what is displayed on
your personal profiles.

Think twice before uploading infinite selfies, pictures of what you ate for lunch, motivational posts,
political posts and so on. This kind of content can be very revealing about your personality and
deter potential clients from deciding to use your services.

Always be aware of what you are making public and who might see it. On the other hand, do not
go to the other extreme, post nothing and have every setting on private. A totally blank personal
Facebook profile can equally be seen as a red flag.

The importance of a PROFESSIONAL email address

Put yourself in the position of a potential client. Imagine you are given the email addresses of two
Virtual Assistants to contact, one email address is [email protected] the other is jane@va-
services.co.uk. Without knowing anything about those 2 VAs Jane is already coming across as
more professional than Sarah just by her choice of email address.

The most unprofessional thing you can ever do is make first contact with a client using a web
based email address such as hotmail, gmail, yahoo. This is just purely for no other reason than
aesthetics, but EVERYTHING you can do to look professional helps.
Make Yourself Appealing

Get a PROFESSIONAL website

A website is essential for obvious reasons, but a poorly designed website is just as bad as having
no website at all. Some would argue a poorly designed website is more harmful than having no
website. Potential clients will judge you by the quality of your website. The colour scheme, overall
look and feel, the way items are positioned on the page, the logical order in which information is
presented, will determine if the client stays on your website to find out more, or clicks off after 5
seconds.

DO NOT make your website yourself

By all means, if you have any experience with design, or are artistically inclined, then attempt to
have a go, but if these things are not your strong points, don’t do it. Not all, but many people who
make their own websites end up producing something that looks amateur at best. Your potential
clients aren’t silly, they can spot the difference between a professionally designed website and a
website which you have made yourself. You have one chance to make a first impression, you
must look as professional as you can.

Never forget that whilst you are presenting an amateur-looking DIY website to your potential
clients, those potential clients are also looking at beautiful professionally designed websites
belonging to your competition.

NEVER go for the free option

The absolute worst thing you can do is not only make your website yourself, but use the free
options provided by companies such as WIX or Squarespace. In return for not having to pay for
their monthly subscription services, these providers will place advertising on your home page.
There are countless Virtual Assistant websites with big visible notices at the top that say “FREE
WEBSITE MADE WITH WIX”. To have a DIY website is one thing, but to also let your potential
clients see that you didn’t feel like paying for it could be the nail in your coffin.

You MUST do EVERYTHING you can to look as professional as possible.

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Make Yourself Appealing

Website design options

1) The all inclusive package exclusively for VAs - £99/year
Most VAs are of the belief that getting a professionally designed website plus all the necessary
extras is an expensive process, hence DIY services like WIX and Squarespace have become
popular.

If you are a VA, then WIX and Squarespace are actually the more expensive way of doing it. At a
price of £99/year which is intentionally set below the rate charged by any other services, you can
have everything you need:

• Domain registration
• Hosting
• Website design
• Email address
• GDPR Privacy Policy
• Cookies Policy
• SSL Certificate

What’s more, all of this is done for you. Your website is designed for you, your domain is
registered for you, you don’t have to do anything. For details visit www.va-websites.co.uk

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Make Yourself Appealing

Website Options
1) FREE 1-YEAR WORDPRESS BUNDLE
In terms of functionality, range of features, design themes and so on, WordPress is the best DIY
web builder out there, however there is a lot to learn. It can be very overwhelming. Many people
need to attend courses to become proficient.

WordPress itself - depending which features you use - is free. However, you still need to pay for
all the standard extras such as hosting, email addresses etc.

Va-websites.co.uk offers you the chance to try out WordPress free of charge for one year by
providing you with hosting, email addresses, and an SSL certificate.

At the end of the year, if you want to stick with Wordpress, then at that point you’ll need to start
paying for the bundle which is £70/year. There is no obligation to renew at the end of the first
year.

• Wordpress Hosting
• Email addresses
• SSL Certificate

For details visit www.va-websites.co.uk/free-wordpress-hosting.html

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Blogs

Why write a blog?

It’s up for debate as to whether or not it is worth the time and effort writing blogs. How beneficial it
can be really depends on how many blogs you plan to write, how often you plan to write them and
for what purpose.

1) SEO
Just in case anyone is unaware, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and is the term used
to describe the process of getting your website to rank well in the search engines, primarily
Google. A major ranking factor that Google looks for is websites which are regularly being updated
with lots of valuable content and a blog is a great way to do this.

If you write a blog once or twice a week, and you keep doing this, then in just a few months you’ll
have added another 100 pages of content to your website and you’ll rank number one in Google
for every search phrase! Well, that’s the theory. However, it’s not so easy.

First of all, to think of 100 blogs to write can be difficult especially as Google is interested in high
value content, so all your blogs need to be well thought out, several hundred words in length and
no two blogs can be the same. Whilst it is possible to rank on page one of Google doing this, it’s a
very time consuming exercise. Also, if you do manage to write 100 blogs, if everyone else has
managed to write 101 blogs, your efforts have been for nothing.

To rank on the first page of Google for a phrase like “Virtual Assistant” is probably not achievable
just by writing blogs and if it is, you’d have to write more than 100, but there are plenty of other
search phrases such as “Affordable Virtual Assistant”, “London Virtual Assistant”, “How much
does a Virtual Assistant Charge?”. It’s worth writing a few blogs on the off chance Google starts to
rank you for some of these phrases.

2) Establish yourself as an authority

A very good reason to write blogs is it shows potential clients that you are an expert. It requires a
knowledge and skill to write blogs on specialist topics. If a potential client should happen to land
on your blogs page and you’ve written blogs on topics that are relevant, it is very likely to impress
that potential client, especially if that potential client is themselves looking for a VA to write blogs.

10
Blogs

3) Share your blog on Social Media

Perhaps the best reason for having a blog is to share or post your blog entries on social media. If
you’ve written a blog about a topic which could be of interest to a potential client, you can post a
link to that blog on any of the main social media platforms, probably the best one being Linkedin.
People on Linkedin will see your post, click onto it to read more, at which point they are now on
your website. So having a blog and posting your blog entries on Social Media is a great way to
drive traffic to your website.

How to write a blog

When you write a blog, you should take two things into account … 1) Google, 2) Your Audience.
Both of these things will shape the physical structure of your blog and the way it’s written.

As far as Google is concerned, you want your blog to be written in a way which is “optimised” so
that it might increase the chances of your website ranking well. With respect to this, the first thing
to consider is the title of your blog. The title of the blog is usually displayed at the top of the blog in
a bigger and bolder font than the rest of the text. As a result, the words in the title carry a little bit
more weight or have more importance. Google will pay more attention to the title than the rest of
the text, so in the title you ideally want to have some “key words”. These are words which clients
might search for in Google, If you can get the words “Virtual Assistant” into the title of most of your
blogs, that could help your rankings. For example, the title of one of your blogs might be “Why Hire
a Virtual Assistant”.

The blog itself should be in the region of 1000 words. Slightly more or slightly less is ok. You want
it to be this length for two reasons. First, if you are writing the blog for SEO purposes, quite often
Google will not scan your whole page. Anything over 1000 words will not be indexed and so you
are wasting your time writing more. Likewise, your audience probably will not be interested in
reading anything past a 1000 words. The last thing you want is your audience to get bored reading
your blog!

Not just in the title, but throughout the blog, you want to scatter your key words, So if your key
words are “Virtual Assistant” get those words repeated a few times. But DON’T OVER DO IT, you
only need to slip your keywords into the text 4 or 5 more times at most, unless what you are
writing actually calls for your keywords to be repeated more.

Lastly, break up your blog with images and bullet points. Never have large chunks of text. If you
find that you’ve written an extra large paragraph, look for places where you can cut it up and turn it
into several small paragraphs.

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Blogs

What to write
There are an almost infinite number topics you can write about, but as many topics as there are,
nothing you write is going to be original. If we take a blog title such as “How a Virtual Assistant
can help you”, the chances are that blog has been written by a million other VAs a million times
before, but your potential client reading your blog might never have looked at another VAs
website before, so as far as they are concerned, you are being original!

Topics to write about:

1) Subjects of interest to your “niche”

If you are specialising in working with a particular type of client (something that is highly
recommended and will be talked about later in this guide), then write about things that will catch
your client’s attention. For example, if you are a medical VA specialising in admin work for the
medical profession, watch the news, try and find current issues relevant to the medical world.
This is an excellent way to demonstrate to your potential clients a real knowledge and
understanding of the field within which they work.

2) Issues directly related to the hiring of a VA

Write different blogs each one of which is in effect an advert for your services. So, for example
write a blog about the benefits of hiring a VA, or what to look for when hiring a VA, or how much a
VA is worth and what clients should expect to pay.

3) Showcase your work

You might have case studies of jobs you have done. Maybe you’ve done work for a famous
client, or maybe you’ve just completed a major task, Use your blog almost as an opportunity to
show off about how great you are as a Virtual Assistant and show what work you’ve done in the
past.

—-------------------------

What ever you write, the key thing is to make it appeal to your chosen audience. All blogs are
ultimately a sales pitch, so make sure you write content which your target audience will find
interesting and useful.

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Niche

The importance of specialising

Your skills as a Virtual Assistant are more than likely transferable across a range of sectors. If an
accountant needs your services or if a hairdresser needs your services, you can probably help
them both. So why advertise that you specialise only in helping one, thus alienating the other?

It may sound counter-intuitive to “niche down” and specialise in servicing the needs of one
particular type of client when so many other types of client also exist and yet it is the best thing
you can possibly do.

Let’s try and demonstrate why this is the case...

Suppose you are a Virtual Assistant, and all of your advertising - be it on your website, or social
media posts - makes it clear that your services cater to “everyone”. You will, as a result, actually
appeal to no one, much like the saying “a friend to many is a friend to none”. By trying to appeal
to as many people as you can, you’ll have nothing to catch anyone’s interest.

As soon as you start to become just even a little bit specific, you will catch the interest of a few
people. The more specific and targeted your services become, the more people’s attention you
will attract.

Let’s say instead of trying to appeal to everyone you pick a niche, or what’s commonly known as
an ideal client type, or to be technical an ICA (Ideal Client Avatar). And let’s say your ideal client
is a Doctor or a Dentist, in other words your niche is the medical industry. If you now advertise
that you are a VA specialising in the medical sector, suddenly all the Doctors and Dentists who
ignored your past adverts are going to be interested in your services. Instead of trying to appeal
to everyone but appealing to no-one, a change of strategy means you are now appealing to
someone!

You can even take it a stage further. Instead of trying to appeal to Doctors AND Dentists, why
not just only appeal to Dentists? Doing this will cause you to lose a few potential Doctor clients,
but will make every Dentist in the country interested in you!

In this way, having a niche and specialising will make you very attractive to certain types of
people and will increase the amount of enquiries you get.

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Niche

Benefits of having a niche

Aside from the benefit of gaining more clients, having a niche will actually make your life easier in
many other respects:

1) Advertising
If you know who your target client is, then advertising becomes so easy. Let’s say you want to
specialise in admin work for hairdressers, you can research the exact problems a hairdresser
might need help with - thus you know what content to put in your advertising, but better still, you
know “where” to do your advertising. You can attend hairdresser conventions, advertise in
hairdressing trade magazines and do highly targeted advert campaigns on Facebook and Google
Ad Words.

2) Expertise and Knowledge

Specialising in a particular field means you will soon become an expert in that field and very
familiar with all the associated admin tasks that you might be required to do. Your job will become
easy!

3) Word of Mouth
People talk! If you are specialising in working in a particular sector, for example helping
hairdressers, the chances are hairdressers will have friends who are also hairdressers. Your
reputation for being the go to VA in the hairdressing world won’t take long to spread and you’ll
quickly be recommended to others within the same industry.

Choosing your niche

How do you decide what is the right niche for you? Many books have been written on this subject,
one of which one is recommended in the useful resources section of this guide.

1) Pick a niche that interests you

Let your hobbies and interests dictate your niche. If you like music, try and set yourself up as VA
in the music industry. Find a niche which interests you and which you know something about.

2) Go where the money is!

During the pandemic for example, some industries have suffered whilst others have thrived.
Simply pick a niche where there are lots of potential clients who are doing very well.
Facebook

Personal Profile
As mentioned earlier in this guide, potential employers WILL look at your personal Facebook
profile. Therefore, it is vital to make sure you carry out all the items on the checklist below:

1) Make your personal profile look professional

You are about to try and launch a serious career as a Virtual Assistant, therefore you need to
make the decision …. Is the purpose of your personal profile to impress friends and get as many
likes as possible or is it to impress clients and ultimately earn you as much money as possible?
Remove all content which will make you look silly. Any political content, endless selfies posing in
front on the mirror and so on. And pay particular attention to your main profile image. Try and use
an image which is semi-professional. You don’t have to be wearing a suit, as it is after all a
personal profile, but try and come across at least as a little bit conservative.

With respect to joining Facebook Groups, which will be mentioned later in this section, many
Groups will not let you join using a business profile. You can only join, and hence post and
comment, from your personal profile - which is another reason why your personal profile needs to
look professional.

2) Think about your profile banner image

If the current banner image across the top of your profile is of your cat, or your dog, or your new
car that you are proud of, it needs to go. Instead, replace it with your business logo, or some kind
of image or graphic which represents what you do. There are a lot of free services online which
will let you create this type of graphical content - Canva being the most well known. Again to
stress, your logo or branding should be across the top banner, your main profile picture should
NOT be of your logo but should be you. “People buy from people”, if your main profile pic is not of
you but of your logo, people can’t see who they are buying from, and this ups the chances they
will not buy at all.

3) Include links to your website and other social media profiles

It is possible on the side of your profile to include links to any websites, profiles etc that are
relevant to your business. Believe it or not, most people simply fill this area with a couple of words
letting people know their marital status and the name of their favourite pet. If you post something
in a Facebook group which catches the eye of a potential client, that potential client is going to
visit your profile, and if at first glance all they can see is you are married and like cats, you’re going
to lose them. Make it so the first thing they see are links to all the various business-related things
you do.

Please see overleaf a screen shot of the left-hand side of my personal Facebook profile.
Facebook

Include links on your personal

profile to all your business profiles
and websites.

Business Profile
A business Facebook profile can in many ways be seen as an extension of, or even an outright
substitute for, a website. Facebook have incorporated many features into business profiles such
as galleries, call-to-action buttons, mail inboxes, etc to the point that you could almost get away
with not having a website and instead just have a business Facebook profile, although it’s much
better to have both.

Similar to your personal profile, the main banner image should be an image which represents what
you do. However, unlike your personal profile, the profile image should not be of you but should be
of your company logo.

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Facebook

There are a lot of sections to fill in on a business profile including details of your website address,
a description of your services, opening times and so on. Be sure to fill in all the sections and make
your profile as complete as possible.

Once this is done, your goal is to get as many “Likes” for your page as possible, so it’s time to get
the word out that you have a page. This can mostly be done via Facebook Ads and posting in
Groups. The important thing to note is you must be pro-active. If you just sit around and wait for
people to like your page, it won’t happen.

Put links to your Facebook page wherever the opportunity should arise, and also make sure there
is a link from your website to your Facebook page.

It is key to constantly update your Facebook page with new content. Add images to the gallery,
post special offers. Even just do a post which says “Good Morning” everyday. The more you post,
people will start noticing your posts. Hopefully some of these people will “like” your posts. This
starts to make your page more noticeable within the Facebook world which, can in turn lead to
more people liking your page, and so it starts to grow.

It can take a while, but once you have a few hundred likes, then the snowball effect kicks in and it
will be easier to acquire more likes at a faster rate. The goal ideally would be to have between
1000 to 2000 Likes at which point, as long as you continue to post regularly, you will start to get
enquiries from your page.

Facebook Groups
Joining Facebook groups is a major way to promote your business and help it grow. As mentioned
earlier, you should always join a Facebook group as yourself or in other words from your personal
profile. Some groups will only allow you to join from your personal profile. However, some will give
you the choice if you want to join from your personal or business profile. Where the choice exists,
still choose the option to join from your personal profile.

If people can see who you are, and more importantly they know your name, it’s much easier for
them to build a relationship with you. Far fewer people will interact with you in groups if you join
using your business profile, and you’ll get even less enquiries.

17
Facebook

As a Virtual Assistant, there are 4 types of Facebook Group you should join …

Ÿ VA Community & Support

Ÿ VA Jobs
Ÿ Networking
Ÿ Specific to Your Niche

Community & Support Groups

There are several groups which are very much community-based offering excellent support for
VAs both at the start of their journey, as well as for those who are a little further along. These
groups are free to join, and although in some instances the owners have a product they want to
sell, you are not obligated to buy anything. You are free to post questions to which you’ll always
get a reply and you are free to browse and comment on other people’s posts. In this way you can
pick up at a lot of tips, tricks and advice.

Recommended to join:

Group Name: The VA Handbook

Group Owner: Joanne Munro
Group Description: This is a friendly and welcoming community where both wannabe and
existing Virtual Assistants exchange ideas, share experiences and support
each other on their freelance journey.
Join Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/vahandbookers

Group Name: The VA Help Desk (from VACT)

Group Owner: Amanda Johnson
Group Description: A place for Virtual Assistants to share hints, tips, tricks and be awesome!
Ideal for new VAs with questions about getting started.
Join Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/vahelpdesk
Facebook

Group Name: Society of Virtual Assistants

Group Owner: Caroline Wylie
Group Description: You must ALREADY be a member of the Society of Virtual Assistants
before joining this group. Membership of the SVA will be mentioned later
on in this guide.
Join Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/societyofvirtualassistants

Group Name: The VA Boulevard

Group Owner: Kylie Jones
Group Description: Support group for new and aspiring Virtual Assistants. If you are new to the
VA world or thinking of making the leap to become one, then this is the
group for you!.
Join Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thevaboulevard

Group Name: The No BS VA Guide

Group Owner: Dionne Slater
Group Description: In this group, we share the best tips and tricks to help you become as
successful as you'd love to be.There are weekly live sessions on particular
topics as well as lots of other incredibly valuable advice.
Join Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/3463904343673765

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Facebook

Group Name: VA School. Make Work Life Balance A Reality.

Group Owner: Alison Cooper
Group Description: Hi. Welcome to VA School. If you are thinking about becoming a Virtual
Assistant, you are in the process of starting up or you are an established
VA then you are in the right place!
Join Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/AlisonCooperVASchool

Group Name: The VA Networking Community

Group Owner: Michele Ibbs / Tristan Martin
Group Description: This group is designed to support Virtual Assistants in gaining genuine
connections and helping each other. It is social, people buy and support
from people they like, so get to know your colleagues around the world.
Join Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheVANetworkingCommunity

Group Name: Be a Stand Out VA

Group Owner: Jo Hawkins
Group Description: A group for newbie and existing VA business owners who want to
collaborate, learn more, share their awesomeness and build blooming
wonderful Stand Out businesses.
Join Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/beastandoutva

20 www.va-websites.co.uk
Facebook

Group Name: Boderlands VA Network

Group Owner: Gwen Backhouse / Amanda Ryan
Group Description: Supporting virtual assistants in their growth and development.

Boderlands isn’t really a Facebook group as such, but they offer a range of
support services for VAs, so I shall put a link to their Facebook page.

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/borderlandsVAnetwork

21
Facebook

VA Jobs
There are numerous groups where VA jobs can be found. If you are looking for associate work, or
to pick up new clients of your own, these groups are worth joining.

Typically when work is advertised, there can be a lot of comments and replies. The competition is
fierce and you may end up having to work for less than you are worth. Working for discounted
rates at the start of your journey can be worth it as it gets your name out there and can lead to
repeat work and referrals.

Recommended to join:

Group Name: UK Virtual Assistant Jobs

Group Owner: Claire Sturges
Group Description: A group for Virtual Assistants to find work in the UK. Welcomed members
are VA’s and companies looking to take on a VA (or team of VA’s).
Join Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1129182517273456

Group Name: Virtual Assistant Work UK

Group Owner: James Johns
Group Description: For those seeking to post and pick up Virtual assistant work (remotely from
home).
Join Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/703164760084656

22 www.va-websites.co.uk
Facebook

Networking Groups
Networking groups are a great way to attract interest from potential clients. There are a few key
rules you should follow in order to get results in these types of groups.

First, always join from your personal profile. If people can see who you are, as opposed to you
appearing as a faceless corporate logo, they will be far more likely to interact with you.

Secondly, do not spam these groups with posts for your business. All that will succeed in doing is
make people dislike you.

Thirdly, the real secret is to hardly plug your business at all. Instead join in on debates, comment
on other people’s posts and just generally make your presence known. In this way you’ll start
building up relationships with other group members. Everyone will begin to know you’re a VA, and
you’d be surprised how quickly you’ll get recommended when someone in the group asks for the
services of a Virtual Assistant.

Networking isn’t easy, and it’s very time consuming. You need to spend at least 20 or 30 minutes
a day in Networking Groups commenting and posting. It can take a couple of months before
people start to remember you.

Recommended to join: (This is a little plug for my own Facebook Group!)

Join Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/darrenslocalbusinessnetwork

23 www.va-websites.co.uk
Facebook

Niche Groups
There are an almost infinite number of groups on Facebook that cater to virtually any Niche you
can think of.

Let’s suppose you have chosen to specialise in providing administration remote support services
to the legal profession, for example solicitors. Simply go to the Facebook search bar and type in
the search phrase “Solicitor Groups” and hopefully groups for solicitors will appear.

The trick is to try and join as many of these groups as you can. By doing so you’ll be coming into
direct contact with hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are your target/ideal client.

Just keep an eye on the posts being published in these groups. At some point a post will be
published where reference is being made to subject matter which is relevant to the services you
offer. Jump in with a comment, and you might just pick up a client.

If I use myself as an example, I provide services to Virtual Assistants, therefore I have joined as
many VA Facebook Groups as I can, or as it turns out, in the case of Amanda Johnson’s VA Help
Desk Group and Caroline Wylie’s Society of Virtual Assistants group, I was kindly invited.

Every once in a while, members of these groups will do a post where it is clear they require the
services I offer, and so there I am ready to contact them, and hopefully provide a service.

24 www.va-websites.co.uk
Linkedin

How does Linkedin work?

The concept behind Linkedin is simple … it’s all about connecting with people. But you need to
connect to the right people, ie the people who want what you are offering; and then you need to
make these people aware that you are offering what they want.

The way you make them aware is by constantly posting about your services, and commenting on
other people’s posts where relevant. Consistency is the key, you need to show up every day if
possible, just keep posting and you will eventually start to be noticed.

What you don’t want to do on Linkedin is sit back and wait for everything to come to you. It doesn’t
work that way. You might have an amazing profile, a good CV, a handful of good testimonials, but
if you are not being pro-active, if you are not trying to connect to as many of the right people as
you can, and if you are not posting on a daily basis, you’ll get nothing.

There are so many profiles where the profile owner has 100 or 200 connections (which is no
where near enough), a bit of text in the about section and a CV uploaded and that’s about it. That
is almost as much use as having no profile at all.

The entire Linkedin strategy summed up in 2 pages!

I will expand on all the points below in the next few pages, but if you don’t want to do lots of
reading, then I am going to get right to the point. Read these instructions and follow all the steps.

1) Pick a niche
The reasons for doing this have been explained earlier. Let’s go with the example niche of Law.
Therefore, your chosen speciality is going to be in providing admin support for people in the legal
profession, such as Solicitors. Picking a niche is the key to it all, if you don’t do this, you’ll get
nowhere on Linkedin.

2) Optimise your profile to appeal to your niche

Now that you have decided on your chosen niche, (in our example - Solicitors), you are going to
want to start sending connection requests to everyone in that niche. However, most connection
requests are rejected or declined, so your profile must be optimised to appeal to the intended
recipients.

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Linkedin

You want to start by editing your profile headline to clearly state who you are and more importantly
who you are trying to help. Thus in the case of our example, you would say you are a Virtual
Assistant specialising in providing remote admin support for Solicitors. The more clear you make
it that you are trying to appeal to a specific niche, the more you will catch their attention. If your
chosen niche is Solicitors, you have now massively upped the chances of hundreds, if not
thousands of Solicitors taking an interest in your profile and accepting your connection request.

We then take it a stage further and optimise the “About” section of your profile. The trick here is to
not actually write about yourself at all! Your chosen niche doesn’t care what your hobbies are or
how many children you have. In this section write about the problems your chosen niche might
have, such as being over worked, not having time to take care of admin tasks and so on, and then
write about how you can help them with these problems. Write about the solutions you provide.

Thus if we relate this to our example and your chosen niche is Solicitors, you now have a profile
which has a headline stating you specialise in helping Solicitors, and an About section which not
only lists all the problems a Solicitor can relate to, but then goes on to mention that you can help
with all these problems. Imagine what a Solicitor is going to think when they see your profile. Not
only will they accept your connection request, but they might actually thank you for connecting
with them. As far as they are concerned, you are the answer to all their problems!

3) Send out lots of connection requests to your chosen niche.

You are now ready to send out connection requests to your chosen niche. Whereas before it
would have been a waste of time doing this, there is now a group of people you can connect with
who need the services you offer and who you now directly appeal to.

Simply go to the Linkedin search box at the top of the screen and type in your chosen niche. In our
example this would be “Solicitor”, then press the return key. Underneath the search box should
then appear some options, namely ..”People”, “Jobs” and “Events”. Click on People, and then it
should list page after page of people who you directly appeal to. Next to each one, you’ll see a
“Connect” button. Simply click on that to send the connection request.

IMPORTANT: Once you have decided on your niche, you need to connect to as many people in
that niche as possible. Connecting to a few hundred is not enough, you want to connect to
thousands.

When sending connection requests, there is a limit. After a few hundred connection requests, it
will stop you sending anymore. Wait 24 hours and then sometimes it lets you start doing it again.
If it doesn’t then you need to wait until the start of the next month and you can start doing it again.
At the time of typing this, I have 3000 connections, and that took me a year.

26 www.va-websites.co.uk
Linkedin

4) Start Posting
When you do a post on Linkedin, it shows up in the news feeds of all the people you are
connected to. So, imagine you are a VA specialising in providing remote admin support for
Solicitors. Your whole profile is designed to appeal to Solicitors, and every time you do a post
advertising your Solicitor admin services, that post gets seen by thousands of Solicitors. The more
posts you do, it’s only a matter of time until you start getting enquiries from Solicitors.

There are different types of posts you can do which I shall talk about later, but the trick is to post at
least every other day, and also to try and make your posts engaging so that other people will
comment on them. Every time someone comments on your posts, that increases the reach of
your post and more people will see it.

I would recommend joining Helen Pritchard’s Facebook group.

Every few months Helen runs a FREE 5-day Linkedin Challenge which has helped a lot of people
to get the most out of Linkedin. Dates for the Challenge are advertised in her group.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/groupforlinkedinmarketing

27 www.va-websites.co.uk
Linkedin

Optimising your profile to appeal to your niche

Your Linkedin profile can be broken down into several sections. I like to think that I have the
perfect Linkedin profile! So we will use mine as an example!

Again it’s all about niche. For years my profile advertised that I provided website design services
for everyone, but as a result I appealed to no one. As soon as I chose my niche and tailored my
profile to appeal to Virtual Assistants, the interest which I received from VAs was almost instant.

QUICK TIP: Don’t waste your time with a business profile. By all means you can create one. It
doesn’t hurt, but they receive no interaction, no engagement, people can’t leave reviews on a
business profile, they are very impersonal and anonymous. You have 99% more chance of
acquiring customers through a personal profile than a business profile.

Let’s look at my profile and analyse what I have done to make it appeal to my niche …

1) Profile Banner
This is the first part of your profile that gets seen and it is very under used by a lot of people. Don’t
leave it blank or upload a random picture of a landscape or office. Take advantage of this area
and upload a relevant image with some text superimposed on the top.

My banner might not appear to be that great or artistically brilliant, but it quite cleverly sends out 4
messages. First, it lets people know at a glance what I do. Secondly it lets Virtual Assistants know
that I provide a service which could be of use to them. Thirdly, by making reference to my other
business being responsible for managing 1000 websites, it gives confidence to my potential
customers. Fourthly, even though it’s not the best banner in the world it’s neat and tidy, the exact
right dimensions and looks professional, thus conveying the idea that I might be a professional!

If you are a VA looking for a website, straightaway I’ve got your attention just with my banner.
Linkedin

2) Profile Headline
Now that I’ve got your attention with my banner, I don’t want to blow it with a badly written
headline. I need to reinforce the concept that I specialise in providing services for Virtual
Assistants. The more you start thinking I specialise only in providing services for VAs, the more I
am going to appeal to you.

Just as I have done in my headline, you need to make it crystal clear in your headline who you are
trying to appeal to so that you will end up appealing to them. In 15 words I’ve got my message
across perfectly, and of course that message is going to be seen by the thousands of people I
have connected to who are my chosen niche.

Yes, it’s true, if someone who is not a Virtual Assistant sees that headline, it’s an almost zero
percent chance they are going to contact me, but for the handful of people who aren’t going to
contact me for a website, the number of people who will is a far greater gain.

3) Contact Info
Make sure you have entered as much contact information as you can. So many people don’t have
anything in this section, other than an email address which is usually a hotmail, gmail or yahoo
address. How much more unprofessional can you get?

For reasons already discussed earlier in this guide, get a proper email address, get a website,
make a business Facebook page, and put links to ALL of these things in the Contact Info box.

Always reverse things round and put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Would you consider
paying and trusting a “professional” person to manage all of your admin if the only point of contact
was a yahoo email address on their Linkedin page?

29 www.va-websites.co.uk
Linkedin

4) About Section
Despite the name of this section, don’t write about yourself. Think back to the last time you hired
anyone to provide you with a service - be it a plumber, electrician, or builder etc. Did you ask
them about their past achievements or their hobbies? No you didn’t, you probably wouldn’t have
cared. Your only interest would have been in asking them if they can do the job for which they
have been hired.

Use this section to write about you niche’s problems and how you can provide the solutions. Let’s
analyse my About Section.

This is my opening paragraph …

“Have YOU just become a VIRTUAL ASSISTANT? Want to get your new VA business online but
don't have the time, budget or any idea where to start? Then my unique offer is definitely
something you need to know about .....”

Straightaway I have described the problem which all new VAs face, and then within the same
short paragraph I’ve let it be known that I can provide the solution.

My next 2 paragraphs are as follows ….

“Pretty obviously my name is Darren! I'm a musician extraordinaire, I have a Facebook networking
group with 6000 members and a web design business established in 2003 which now serves 1500
clients.

I am helping VA's like YOU get online. I have put together a package which is worth a hell of a lot
more than the £99/year asking price. You can try looking, but you won't find an offer like this
anywhere else:”

I’ve now let people know who I am, and then started to explain the benefits of using my service. I
then go on to list in bullet point format all the services I provide.

So at this point, if you are a Virtual Assistant, I have well and truly established in my profile that I
am providing a service that not only do you need, but you might not be able to live without!

Whatever you chosen niche is, you too need to establish how much the people reading your
profile need your services.

30 www.va-websites.co.uk
Linkedin

5) Recommendations Section
Think of the Recommendations Section much as you would the seller reviews on eBay and
Amazon. These can be critical in giving a potential customer the confidence to make an enquiry.

Obviously at the start of your VA journey, you’re not going to have any recommendations.
Therefore, contact people within your chosen niche and offer to do just a few hours work at a
discounted rate or even free of charge in return for a recommendation on your Linkedin profile.

Posting
If your profile is basically a big advert for your business, then posts are a way to direct people to
your profile. Without posting regularly, no one is going to see your perfectly written profile.

The goal is to get people to engage or comment on your posts. If they do this, then your posts will
become visible to their connections, which opens it up for even more people to comment on your
posts.

Ironically no planning went into my most successful post of all time. I did a simple post asking
whether my new logo should be dark blue or light blue. That post received hundreds of comments
and got thousands of views. Most of those views of course being from my target niche as that is
with whom I have mostly connected. That sent a lot of VAs to my profile, which is designed
specifically to appeal to VAs which in turn lead to a lot of enquiries.

Ideally, you should try to mix it up a little. Do some posts which are outright adverts for your
business, do other posts which are a bit more fun such as asking a question or trying to start a
debate, and if you are really brave, talk into your phone and post videos.

As long as you have connected to the all the right people, and as long as your profile is designed
to appeal to those people, then keep showing up, keep doing these posts and you’ll be constantly
on view to your target client. It’s only a matter of time until one of them contacts you.

The moment I decided I wanted to focus on having a niche, at that point I was totally unknown in
the VA world, but after optimising my profile to appeal to Virtual Assistants, connecting to as many
Virtual Assistants as I can, and then doing post after post, that has resulted in hundreds of
enquiries. Stick with it, put in the effort, do it correctly, do what I’ve done and Linkedin will deliver
you the results you want.

31 www.va-websites.co.uk
 Pinterest
Written by Linda Semeins-Allen
(Pinterest Marketing Strategist)

www.cleverpins.co.uk

32
Pinterest

Pinterest for VAs!

Pinterest is a visual search engine and as such very well suited to market products but also
services, like for example VA-services. It is a fast-growing, free platform and if you are not part of it
yet, you will want to be!

At the end of July 2020 Pinterest officially had 400 million active monthly users! Each month these
users perform 2 billion searches! That is a lot of searches you can tap into to promote your
business. There is a misconception that Pinterest is for women and yes, 71% of Pinterest users
are female, HOWEVER 40% of new signups are men! This provides a huge opportunity.

Pinterest is not just a great platform for VAs themselves, it is also increasingly important for VAs to
understand and know where you can get Pinterest support to be able to provide the ever
increasing demand for Pinterest marketing services by companies.

What is Pinterest and how does it work?

Pinterest started back in March 2010 as a platform to curate ideas. Hobbyists used the platform to
collate inspiration related to their hobbies. You had to be invited to join the network and by the end
of that year Pinterest had gained 10,000 followers. Two years later Pinterest opened the platform
up to companies and business accounts could be created.

Although it started out as a social network, in recent years Pinterest has rebranded itself as a
visual search engine and e-commerce platform and rumours are that they want to become THE
platform for content creators.

Like Google, Pinterest will show you results for a search you put in the search bar. The difference
is Pinterest will show you images which link to content. And images in marketing are extremely
powerful.

Did you know, for example, that 90% of the information processed by the brain is visual? That the
human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text and that 80% of people remember
what they see, compared to ten percent what they hear and 20 percent of what they read? Those
are some incredible statistics.

33 www.cleverpins.co.uk
Pinterest

Pinners come to the platform to either look for inspiration or to get a solution to a problem they
have. As a business, knowing your audience, you can use Pinterest to create content to provide
this inspiration or to help solve your clients pain points and give them a solution for their problem.
So with this in mind, you have to change your mindset and start thinking SEO!

Service-based companies do well with creating blogs and content. You can provide your audience
with hints, tips, tricks, how to’s, guide etc that can all lead to your website, optin, lead magnet,
youtube channel etc. Pinterest is a great platform to build your audience. .

Starting successfully on Pinterest

Set up a business account
The first thing you need to do is set up a business account. There are a couple of options here.
You can convert your personal account, if you have one, to a business account, you can connect
your business account to your personal account or you can start a completely separate business
account.

Do your keyword research

As said Pinterest is a search engine and the quicker you can get yourself into that mindset the
better. Before writing out your profile, board descriptions etc. make sure you do your keyword
research on Pinterest and on Google. This will give you the relevant words you need to use to
optimise your account

Profile
Your profile is very important, it will tell pinners who you are and what you do. Your profile name
should be your business name, you have about 20 characters for this.

Your bio is the little description that goes under your profile name and is a maximum of 160
characters long. This is where you tell your audience what you do, including the relevant
keywords. You can use hashtags on Pinterest as some pinners do search on hashtags but it is not
recommended to use more than one or two.

For your cover image, make sure you choose a clear photograph which is at least 800 pixels wide
and 450 pixels tall. Use a horizontal image with a 16:9 aspect ratio.

34 www.cleverpins.co.uk
Pinterest

Set up boards
After you have set up your profile the fun stuff starts! It is time to set up your boards! This is where
you need to think strategically about the content that you are going to be pinning. You need to
create boards that are relevant to your business. Once you have come up with a list, create them
one by one, give each one a description including the keywords you researched earlier and put
about 10 pins on to start with.

Creating pin templates

The pin template should be of a ratio of 2:3. Pinterest likes templates of 600x900 pixels or
1000x1500 pixels. SEeing Pinterest is a visual search engine, you need an eye-catching
image/photo.

Next is great copy. Whilst the image is important, you also need great copy. This means a catchy
headline and possibly a subtitle. Make sure you use fonts that are easy to read. It is better to use
Sans Serif fonts and you can use 2-3 different ones on the same template. Brand your pins with
your logo and/or your website.

Remember that a lot of pinners access the website via their mobile, 85% in fact, so having a great
pin template is crucial! Your aim is to stop them scrolling.

You can now also make video pins, above rules for pin design also apply to video pins. Always
make sure the video is of high quality.

Story pins is a feature Pinterest brought out in the second quarter of 2020 but is currently only
available in the US.

Pinning
Pinterest favours fresh content that is relevant and pinned consistently. This means that if you
stop pinning for a couple of days Pinterest will know and put you lower down in search results.
Something we don’t want.

All pins need to have a pin title and a pin description. Again think SEO here as these are great
places to put your keywords in. Your pin title has a maximum of 100 characters whereas your pin
description has space for 500.

35 www.cleverpins.co.uk
Pinterest

Scheduling tool
Pin your content and other people’s content, ideally to a 80:20 ratio, the first number being your
content. Obviously when you are just starting out and you don’t have that much of your own
content you have to build it up slowly. That is absolutely fine, as long as you stay consistent with
your pinning schedule.

Each company is different as to the ideal amount of pins to pin so you will need to find out what
works for you. Some companies pin 5 pins a day, some 40!

To help you to stay consistent with pinning, it is easiest to use a scheduling tool like Tailwind. A
scheduling tool will help you to batch your pins so you don’t need to worry about it every day all
day.

Hi, my name is Linda and I am the owner and

founder of Clever Pins!

I am passionate about helping SMEs and

creatives leverage the power of Pinterest to drive
traffic to their website, create more brand
awareness and complement their wider social
media marketing strategy.

Pinterest statistics show that people spend more

money via Pinterest than ALL other social media
platforms together!

Pinterest is ever changing and can be

challenging to navigate, which is why more and
more business owners are using services like
those provided by Clever Pins to help build a
presence on the platform. Like anything worth
doing, getting the most out of Pinterest can take
time and businesses can really benefit from
external support.
Pinterest

I have been active on PInterest for some time and have seen the very real benefits it provides as a
platform for businesses, promoting their products and services to a highly engaged audience in a
visually creative way.

As well as offering bespoke packages to companies directly in need of Pinterest marketing

services, Clever Pins can also provide help to VAs in support of their clients.

Feel free to get in touch [email protected], to discuss how Clever Pins can help to:
Ÿ set up professional looking Pinterest business accounts for you and your clients.
Ÿ plan an effective pinning strategy ensuring engagement and SEO.
Ÿ provide coaching for you or to enable you to add real Pinterest value to your existing client
services.
Ÿ partner with Clever Pins to drive traffic to your blogs/websites using the power of Pinterest and
grow your business.

Sounds interesting? Get in touch for an informal chat.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/LindaCleverPins/
https://www.instagram.com/clever_pins/
https://www.facebook.com/cleverpins.co.uk/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-cleverpins/

Happy pinning!

37 www.cleverpins.co.uk
 Instagram
Written by Jemma Bond
(1-to-1 Instagram Coach)

www.v-assistants.co.uk

38
Instagram

Why you should be using Instagram

Are you using Instagram to generate leads and sales for your product, service or business?

If not, why not?

Did you know that over half a million active users use Instagram stories every single day. It’s (in
my opinion) the best way for you to share real-time photos and videos and gain engagement and
interaction with your audience.

I personally love Instagram stories because you are easily able to share an announcement, a
teaser for an up-coming product launch, or create countdowns for special events. Stories allow
you to be able to give a sneak peek of “behind the scenes” and they allow you to provide a real
sense of you, the person behind the product or brand.

I am going to share my knowledge of the platform with you and also give you some simple, yet
effective tips and tricks which will help you gain more interaction and engagement on Instagram.

It is really important that on instagram you are being discovered by new people, and a great way
to get discovered is by creating content which is both saveable and shareable.

Shareable content can not only make you go viral, but it can grow your audience and turn them
into paying clients.

Instagram users are looking for value, and if people are sharing your content then it usually means
that your posts are aligning with your audience and their values. I can hear you asking, yeah, ok
but what do you mean by ‘value,’ I still don’t know what kind of content you mean… Let me
elaborate a little bit more, things like:

- Content which your audience can relate to

- Funny, entertaining content such as Memes
- Content which educates your audience
- Success stories, case studies and testimonials

39 www.v-assistants.co.uk
Instagram

When you have created content for your feed, always remember to give a strong call to action in
your text. Ask your followers to share the post to their story, and if they do, be sure to give them a
shout out back. People will be more inclined to share your posts if they know that you will also give
them a mention.

Connecting with your audience is super important.

How to share a feed post to your story

You can share your own feed post to your own story, and you can also share someone else’s feed
post to your story in a couple of clicks.

When you have posted your image and it appears on your feed, underneath it you will see three
symbols, a heart, a comments sign and next to that, a paper aeroplane symbol. Click the paper
aeroplane, and then at the top of the next page choose add posts to story.

If you’re having trouble sharing someone’s post to your story it may be that the user has got their
‘resharing to stories’ turned off.

When you have shared something to your story add some text, or use gif’s to make it stand out
and say something useful and positive about that post and why you are sharing it.

Hashtags
Hashtags are mega important if you want to get noticed on Insta and grow your audience. When
used correctly they will help you get more engagement and attract more followers.

But you can’t just throw any old hashtags onto your posts, they have to be relevant to the photo, or
the text which is linked to the image so you have to be strategic about which ones you use and
how you use them.

What I mean by this is, that just because a hashtag has been used millions of times, it doesn’t
necessarily mean that if you use it you’re going to get loads of engagement on your post.
Sometimes, less is more when it comes to using hashtags, in my opinion, smaller ones can often
get you noticed more.

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Instagram

When using hashtags you also need to bear in mind that they need to be relevant to the content
that you are posting.

For example, if you’re posting an image and text which is related to a fitness workout, instead of
using the hashtag #fitness (which has had over 414 million posts) try being more specific and use
#fintessworkout which has far less at only 274 thousand posts.

It’s worth spending some time searching for relevant hashtags, check out what you competitors
are using and compile a list of ones which represent your business.

To search for hashtags, go to the magnifying glass at the bottom of your screen, then when the
search bar appears at the top of the page, choose ‘tags’ and then type in words which are relevant
to your post. A list of relevant hashtags will appear once you have entered a word into the search
bar, and each one will tell you how many uses it has had so you can see how popular each
particular tag is.

Once you have compiled a list of relevant hashtags you can copy and paste them into your post,
you don’t need to type them in manually every single time. This is whey too time consuming. But I
would suggest that you have several different lists of hashtags which all relate to your business
but so that you can change them up.

If you’re serious about growing your instagram account then I strongly recommend that you use an
outside scheduling platform. My personal preference is ‘Later’. This platform allows you to create
and save hashtag groups for easy posting, and will also generate hashtag suggestions for your
posts too.

Finally, don’t forget to check your hashtag insights. This can be done on any Instagram business
account by going to the post on your feed. Beneath the post you will see blue text that says ‘view
insights’. Click on this and use your finger to pull the page up. Here you can see how many
impressions that post has had, and where those impressions came from.

Stories
Using your stories are a great way to be visible on Instagram. Every time you load up something
new to your story, your profile photo will get a pink circle around it and you will move closer to the
profile photo on your followers feed.

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Instagram

This pink circle lets your followers know that you have recently added something new and by
being closer to their profile image, encourages them to click on your story to check out the
content.

The more frequently you can update your story, the better, but I would recommend a minimum of
3-4 times per day for maximum visibility.

Once you have created a story it will only stay visible for 24 hours, unless you add it to your
highlights.

Your highlights are circles which appear on your Instagram page. They are a great way to let your
followers know what it is that you do, and to learn more about you without having to scroll down
through your feed.

Highlights can be created by going into your archive. From there, choose stories and then click on
which story slide you want to use. At the bottom select highlight, and choose new (or add to
existing highlight.) Name the highlight appropriately and repeat this process with as many stories
as you would like.

Story content
When creating content for your stories don’t try to be perfect, share your wins, but also share your
struggles. Your audience will relate better to you if you can take them on a journey where you
have been open and honest and shared the not-so-good times as well as the celebrations.

The key in any business is getting your audience to know, like and trust you, and in my opinion,
stories are the best way to do this.

Stories provide you with the ability to give your audience little snippets into your day to day life and
a behind the scenes look into your business. Think of it like reality TV. People watch because they
want a behind the scenes look at what you do.

Offer value, people need a reason to follow you. They will lose interest if all you do is sell sell sell.
Think about how you can offer value and provide solutions.

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Instagram

We all know that video is the quickest way for your audience to get to know who you are. You can
record videos directly into your instagram story, and you can also use the ‘hands free’ option if you
prefer to have your phone on a tripod so that you’re not too close to the camera.

You can also load up videos which are stored in your photo gallery, but instagram will only load up
the first 60 sections so if your video is longer than that then I would advise you to trim it using an
app called ‘cut story.’

Whether you have recorded a video directly or loaded one in from your gallery, always subtitle it
before you send it to your story. Most people scan through their IG stories with the sound off, so
use short captions to explain what you’re talking about so that people can add sound if they want
to hear it in full.

Getting engagement
Using stickers will not only make your stories more fun, but they can also help you to gain more
interaction and engagement.

Stickers can be added to both still images and videos and will allow your audience to interact
directly with you.

To add stickers into your story simply choose the square smiley face at the top of the screen and
choose which one you would like to use.

Stickers include hashtag, mention, location, music, poll, quiz, questions, countdown, and several
others.

Once you have chosen your sticker, you can move it about on your story with your finger and
resize it by pinching it in and out.

My personal favourites are polls, questions and countdowns.

Polls allow you to ask your audience a question and they respond by choosing from two answers
which you have set. The poll will be added to your story with YES NO as as the default answers,
but to change these to something else, simply click onto the poll itself and type something
different.

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Instagram

And finally
As with any social media platform, consistency is key, and the more you show up the more visible
you will be. Try to get your audience involved in your posts as often as you can, tag people,
reshare other users content, and engage with your followers, particularly in stories.

Stay real, authentic and relatable. By this, I mean, share your struggles as well as your wins. Your
followers will thank you for it.

Tell a story, capture funny moments, maybe do a tour of your office, create a tutorial, ask and
answer questions and show the real you.

Don’t compare yourselves to others and don’t over think it.

There are so many social media platforms available for you to get visibility and generate leads for
your business, but I believe that Instagram is the best platform for you to engage with your clients.

You also have the ability to link your Instagram account to your facebook account meaning that
you can reach both audiences simultaneously, so when you post on Instagram it will automatically
post your content to Facebook.

44 www.v-assistants.co.uk
Instagram

Book a coaching session with Jemma

Instagram provide you with so many tools to help
you grow and engage with your audience, it just
isn’t possible to explore every single one in a
written document, however, I do offer private one
to one sessions priced at just £99 for one hour.

My 1:1 training provides you with all the skills that

you need to create engaging instagram story
content and by the end of our session you will
have the confidence to post content into your
stories and onto your page every single day.

If you want to use Instagram to gain leads but you

don’t know how to create stories which will engage
with your followers, or you just don’t have a clue
what kind content you should be putting in there, Follow me on Instagram, my handle is
then a 1:1 call with me will change all of that. @iamjemma__

In just 1 hour, you will get the knowledge, the skills, and the guidance you need to:  

­ Create stories which will engage with your audience 
­ Get maximum interaction from your followers 
­ Learn what type of content you should put into your stories   and posts
­ Learn how to create visually pleasing stories 
- Learn what to do do to get your ideal clients not only following you, but buying from you
 
All of the sessions are recorded so there is no need to make notes.

You don’t need to have any knowledge of Instagram to make this work. I will take you through
everything step by step. Simply show up and I will give you all of the information and tools you
need to make your Instagram stories stand out. 

To book, email me at:

[email protected]

45 www.v-assistants.co.uk
46
SEO

Why SEO is a waste of time for your VA website!

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the collective term for a range of things that need to be done
to a website in order that it might rank on Google’s first page of search results dependent upon a
given key word phrase entered into the search box.

In this section I am going to describe the basics of how SEO works, but I am going to start by
explaining why, if you are a Virtual Assistant, SEO is a complete waste of time.

On the first page of Google, there is room for 10 websites to be displayed. If I were to ask you
what search phrase you would like your website to appear for when searched, you’ll most likely
say the phrase “Virtual Assistant”. If I were to ask 50 000 Virtual Assistants, or even a million
Virtual Assistants, that same question, they would all give the same answer.

Therefore we have a situation where every VA in the world wants to be on the first page of Google
- a page of which only has room for 10 Virtual Assistants. You probably have more chance of
winning the lottery than appearing on page 1. A lot of VAs obsess over making sure their “key
words” appear on their websites, and that various other best practice SEO methods have been
used, but again if every VA is trying to utilise the same methods as you, you’re back to square
one.

With respect to WordPress websites, there are many “plugins” you can install to help with SEO.
SEO companies charge thousands of pounds per year to get websites to rank well in Google, so
be realistic in your thinking that just simply downloading a plugin onto your website will get you to
page one. If it was that easy everyone would do it, but then if it was that easy you would have the
same problem - 1 million VAs, when there is still only room for 10 on the first page.

Google ranks websites not based on whether a plugin has been installed or keywords have been
placed on a page, but on their age, how well established they are, how useful is the content they
provide and how much content they provide. Thus, if you type “Virtual Assistant” into Google the
websites that appear on the first page are the VA Handbook, and Society of Virtual Assistants.

These are massive websites, with lots of content which are very well established and cost
thousands of pounds to build. Just common sense should tell you, if you put together a website in
a day, what ever you create is not going to come anywhere close to impressing Google in the
same way as the VA Handbook and or the Society of Virtual Assistants websites.

Don’t chose or not choose to use WIX or Wordpress based on the supposed SEO benefits they
claim to offer because it will make no difference to your Google rankings.
SEO

SEO basics
Even though SEO is a waste of time, and even though some people might choose Wordpress
over WIX or vice versa based on their perception of which is best for SEO, I am going to explain
what is actually required to get a website to page 1 of Google.

1) Age and Authority

Suppose you have 2 websites, one which is brand new and the other has been around for a few
years. If you were to then carry out identical SEO procedures on both of them, the results would
be very different. Google gives much more priority to older established websites. If you built your
website today, it could take years for it to rank on the first page of Google for a phrase like “Virtual
Assistant”. So patience is the key, or instead of buying a brand new domain, purchase a second
hand domain that is a few years old - although the going rate for old domains can be thousands of
pounds.

2) Website Content
There is a saying in the SEO world - Content is King. This refers to the concept that Google ranks
websites according to how much content they have. If your website has 5 pages worth of content,
but you know for the search term “Virtual Assistant” that all the websites appearing on page 1
have 100’s of pages worth of content, you need to start adding a lot more content to your website.

3) Valuable Content and Bounce Rate

The easiest and most common way to add content to your website is via a blog - as discussed
earlier in this guide. However, it’s not so easy. You can’t just type out pages and pages of text for
the sake of it. “Bounce rate” is a measure of how engaging your content is. If a visitor to your site
spends half a second on the home page and then clicks straight off, this is known as a “bounce”. If
you have a “high bounce rate” it means no one is staying on your website, or in other words they
are not really interested in all the content you are adding. Google places websites with high
bounce rates lower down the rankings. The VA Handbook and Society of Virtual Assistants for
example, have a lot of quality content and you could easily spend a long time on those websites.

4) Keyword Placement, Coding, Meta Tags

Almost last on the list is what people tend to place the most importance on. Hopefully after having
read the above 3 points, you can in comparison see how little effect adding a few key words onto
your page really is. Nonetheless, you must still place some keywords on the page as it does help
the cause. Also you want to place your keywords into a “meta tag” known as the title tag. If you
are using WordPress or WIX, there should be an option to let you edit the meta tags.

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SEO

5) Backlinks
Backlinks are incredibly valuable when it comes to trying to get your website to rank well in
Google. A backlink is a link to your website which has been placed on another website. This is
something that you yourself can’t physically do, rather the owner of the other website has to do it.

Just to clarify as confusion often arises with this. It’s not you linking to other websites, but other
websites linking to you.

The more websites that link to you, the more important Google thinks you are! And so your
website will get promoted in the rankings. However, once again, nothing is ever easy. It’s not just
quantity of backlinks but also quality.

There is only value in backlinks if they are from well established websites of a similar theme to
yours. For example, my website is mentioned on the Society of Virtual Assistants website in the
useful resources section and there is a link back to me. That is probably the best link I could hope
to have, although still if you type “Virtual Assistant” into Google, my website does not appear on
page 1 of the search results.

6) Social Media
Google actually picks up on what’s known as “Social Media Signals”, meaning that external off-site
factors can have an affect on your rankings. For example if you have a Linked Page, Facebook
Profile, Instagram, YouTube Channel, all these things can boost your rankings. But you MUST be
active on these profiles, you can’t just set up an Instagram page and then never use it. You need
to be constantly posting and gaining followers, likewise if you have a Facebook page, you need to
build the audience so that it has thousands of likes.

In conclusion, I hope you can see there is so much more to SEO than just installing a plug in on
WordPress, or signing up to the right package on WIX.

For the amount of work and effort required, it’s really not worth it. Take into account that the
majority of people who search the phrase “Virtual Assistant” in Google, are actually other VAs
looking for information about the industry, and not potential clients.

When it comes to online marketing, focus your efforts on Linkedin, Facebook, Pinterest and
Instagram.

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More Ways to Market Yourself

1) Network
Networking basically means getting your name out there by speaking to as many people and
making as many contacts as possible. If you are not confident in yourself or your abilities and are
some what introverted, then you’re going to find networking a little difficult, but you have to believe
in yourself and overcome your fears.

Seize every opportunity to widen the circle of people you know. Connect to as many people as
you can on Linkedin, follow as many people as you can on Instagram, join as many Facebook
groups as you can and actively post and comment. If you see a question posted on Linkedin or in
a Facebook group and you know the answer, then comment with a reply and make others aware
of how much knowledge you have.

Some Facebook groups, such as mine, are almost more social than business, but nonetheless
there are thousands of members with businesses, My own group now features a weekly slot
where one member is interviewed live each week and given the chance to promote themselves.

There are networking groups you can join that hold both offline and online networking events.
Probably the biggest networking organisation would be BNI. I have no personal experience with
BNI, so I can’t recommend them as such, but it might be worth visiting their website :

https://bni.co.uk

2) Hand Written Letters

This is something you might never have considered! When was the last time you deleted a sales
email? Most likely no more than 24 hours ago. But, when was the last time you didn’t open an
envelope posted through your door with your name and address hand written on the front?
Nobody ignores handwritten addressed envelopes in the mail!

Use Linkedin or some other platform to search out potential clients who could benefit from using
your services. Buy some high quality envelopes, a few stamps, hand write your client’s name and
address on the front, then insert a typed letter on nice paper with your signature hand written at
the bottom. Also include a business card and compliment slip - making sure your business card
has a professional email and website address.

You are guaranteed that your potential client will take the time to open the envelope and read
what you have to say, and in the process you might have just impressed them a little bit more than
all the other VAs who have sent emails instead.

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More Ways to Market Yourself

3) Join Your Local Chamber of Commerce

The mission of the Chamber of Commerce is to help firms of all sizes to achieve more. It is the
only organisation that helps British businesses to build relationships on every level. Across the
network, they can connect your business locally, nationally and internationally, with other
businesses, with decision-makers and with opportunities. As stated on the Chamber of Commerce
website … “We help businesses to connect, succeed and grow.”

The Chamber of Commerce is a National Organisation split up into many regional divisions. Visit
the Chamber of Commerce website to find out more about your local Chamber and how it might
be able to help your business.

https://www.britishchambers.org.uk/page/join-a-chamber

4) Paid Advertising
Place adverts in your local press. A quarter page advert in a local newspaper, or smaller adverts
in the classified section, might catch the eye of someone looking for admin support. Going back to
a point which has been stressed a lot in this guide, if you have chosen a niche and are
specialising in providing admin support to a particular type of client, then research the publications
your client might be likely to read - advertise yourself in the appropriate trade magazines.

5) Attend Trade Shows & Exhibitions

This again is really just another form of networking, but these events are a great place to meet
people. Either attend exhibitions where your potential clients are likely to be, or for general VA
advice and guidance, but also potentially for the chance to meet new clients, attend the specialist
VA Exhibitions. The main one is “The PA Show” held at London’s Excel Centre every year.
Despite the name, it’s not just for Personal Assistants but also Virtual Assistants. Visit the PA
Show website for details of the next event, dates and how to get tickets:

https://www.thepashow.com

6) Give Something Away Free

In some ways this free guide is the ultimate in what I could have personally done to market
myself. Obviously writing a 60 page guide is a bit extreme, but it serves as a good example. If
there is something you can give away, perhaps you too can write some kind of a guide on a topic
which might be of use to your potential clients. Or maybe run a competition or promotion where
you give some of your time away free or at a discounted rate. Just anything that will draw a bit of
attention to what you offer.

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More Ways to Market Yourself

7) Google My Business
Google offer a free listings service whereby your details are shown to anyone in your local area
who might be searching for a Virtual Assistant, or some type of admin support.

You may have noticed this yourself that when searching for a local service such as a plumber, or
electrician, at the top of the search results, Google displays a map and highlighted on that map
are businesses located within close proximity. If you should happen to click on any of the
business on the map, each business has it’s own profile page which you will then be taken to. On
that profile page are more details about the business, contact details, possibly some reviews and
a website link.

Obviously, as a Virtual Assistant, your services are national or even international. You can work
for anyone located anywhere, so appearing in Google’s local free listings is probably only going to
make you more visible to what might amount to less than 2 or 3 per cent of your potential client
base, but nonetheless every little helps. There is no cost so you might as well do it.

To get yourself listed, you will first need to create a Gmail address. This can be anything you want
eg. [email protected]. Then once you have a Gmail address click on the following link below
to get started:

https://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/business

8) YouTube
Having a channel on YouTube is a great way to get noticed. What you would ideally want to do is
make not one, but a whole series of videos on VA-related topics. For example, there might be 100
things you can do with a spread sheet, so make 100 videos about all of them. Make videos about
how to add an email address to Office365, or how to use G-suite. There is plenty of free software
you can download which will let you do a live screen capture of your computer and add voice over
commentary.

If you consistently post this type of content on YouTube, it’s a lot of work but after 8 or 9 months
and 100 or 200 videos uploaded, you could start getting thousands of people subscribing to your
channel and thousands of views of your videos. Once you have an audience of that size, you
never know what it will lead to.

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More Ways to Market Yourself

9) Yell.com Free Listing

It’s common knowledge that to advertise on Yell.com is not the cheapest thing you can do, but you
might not be aware that Yell offer you a free listing for your business. There are some limitations
to it, and obviously your advert will not be displayed as prominently as paid advertisements, but I
have actually had 1 or 2 enquiries from my Yell free listing, so it might be worth registering.

To get started, click on the link below:

https://www.yell.com/free-listing

10) Posting on Linkedin

Even though a large section of this guide has already dealt with Linkedin, I am going to come back
to it once more as I believe it really is the best thing you can do. Choose a niche or particular
type of client that you want to work for. Send out as many connection requests as you can to
everyone on Linkedin who is in that niche. Keep sending connection requests until after 6 months
or a year you are connected to thousands of potential clients. Then every day, do a post about
your services and that will be seen by the thousands of people you have connected with.

11) Widen Your Circle

This point is kind of a repetition of all the others, but go on Linkedin and connect to everyone,
follow as many people as you can on Instagram, join as many groups as you can on Facebook,
Network, talk to people, make friends. The more people you know, or more importantly that know
you, the more likely you will be to get work.

BE PATIENT
BE VISIBLE
PUT IN THE EFFORT
DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN
BE IN IT FOR THE LONG TERM

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VA Support Communities

About the SVA

SVA (Society of Virtual Assistants) was formed in 2005 quickly mushrooming into the largest
organisation for UK based VAs with nearly 3,000 members. The SVA’s aim is to help virtual
assistants set up and stay in business by encouraging and supporting one another whilst
promoting best practice in the VA industry.

Mission
Ÿ Raise the general awareness of virtual assistants to the UK business community
Ÿ Provide a searchable database for clients looking for a virtual assistant with specific skills
Ÿ Act as a resource base for member virtual assistants
Ÿ Encourage virtual assistants to share their experiences using our discussion forum and blog
Ÿ Help to provide UK-based VAs with relevant publications
Ÿ Support virtual assistant development
Ÿ Where possible, provide a presence at exhibitions

Join the SVA

Membership is FREE and open to virtual assistants based in the UK. We offer free advice, a
forum, discounted products and services and a number of best practice guides.

Standard community membership - includes access to the forum, our

monthly newsletter and our "Community Member" logo. Suggested for
new VAs, people wanting more info on becoming a VA, or those who
don't have all the criteria in place for becoming and approved member
yet. Membership is FREE but our suggested donation is £10 to cover

Approved VA membership - members must abide by all the terms of

our Code Of Practice and in addition to their standard membership get
a special "SVA Approved VA" logo. You must already be an ACTIVE
standard member before applying & will be invited to join along with all
T&Cs for being listed.

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VA Support Communities

Available exclusively from the SVA

Society of Virtual Assistants' annual survey

designed to take a snapshot of the UK VA
industry answering business critical questions
like:

Ÿ How much can I charge?

Ÿ What are the most effective marketing
strategies?
Ÿ What services are most popular?
Ÿ Where do I find clients?
Ÿ Essential statistics for writing a virtual assistant
business plan.

“Having access to the survey has helped me with my marketing, giving credibility to claims, which
in turn has helped to win new clients. It’s also a great benchmark to check for compliance, rates
and lots of other useful information.”
Amy Russell, Crescent Virtual Assistant Limited

The survery is delivered as a PDF, consisting of over 50 pages of information on the UK VA

Industry.

PRICE £35
For more details, and to purchase, CLICK HERE

Visit the Society of Virtual Assistants website and apply to become a member today:

www.societyofvirtualassistants.co.uk

55 www.va-websites.co.uk
VA Support Communities

The VA Handbook was founded by Joanne Munro in 2009 and is a website which provides
content, training, guides and downloads all dedicated to helping you set up and run a bulletproof
Virtual Assistant business.

The courses on the VA Handbook website are very much DIY, insofar as they are downloadable
and you need to work through them yourself, but if you don’t have the budget for a mentoring or
coaching course provider, then the VA Handbook provides a very reasonably priced alternative to
an online course.

Aside from the paid-for downloadable courses, there is also a wealth of free information. It’s a
website you should check out. Below is a link to the training and downloads page:

https://www.thevahandbook.com/downloads-training

56 www.va-websites.co.uk
VA Support Communities

Are you looking to become the “go-to” Virtual Assistant while having a VA business that
will give you…

Amanda is a Business Coach who specialises in supporting Virtual Assistants or those wanting to
start a VA business. She is known for her honest, no-nonsense, straight-talking, but
compassionate support and advice.

As best described in Amanada’s own words … You already have the skills and experience of what
it takes to be an awesome PA or EA but through a hybrid of coaching, training and mentoring, I
effectively give you the roadmap and the tools you need to become “the go-to VA”.

Free Resources from Amanda’s Website:

Ÿ VACT S.W.A.G Bag

Ÿ Top Tips for Success as a Virtual Assistant
Ÿ VA Essentials needed to launch your VA Business
Ÿ 75 Services to Offer as a Virtual Assistant
Ÿ Discover Your Ideal Client Avatar
Ÿ Discover Who Are Your Competitors!

All of these guides are available to download free.

https://www.vact.co.uk/va-free-resources
…

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VA Support Communities

VA Mastery Course
“Become an Awesome Virtual Assistant With the VA Mastery Course”

Delivered through a combination of webinars, worksheets, reading materials and sample

documents, this course is practical, hands-on and comprehensive. The new VA Mastery Course
covers everything from business strategy, and tools and technology, to client management and
marketing, to financial planning and working with associates.

PLUS all the content is broken down and delivered in 6 easy-to-digest modules.

The new VA Mastery Course is an in-depth, DIY Virtual Assistant training course, designed with
you in mind. By the end of the modules, you will have “The VA Knowledge – Your Business Bible”
which will act as a resource for you for years to come

VACT Graduates currently earn at least £2k* more than VAs who have
trained with any other UK training course provider!
“Source: UK Virtual Assistant National Survey v9 (2018)

This course is for you if you want to know the following:

Ÿ How can I ensure success?

Ÿ What services do I offer?
Ÿ What do I charge?
Ÿ How will I find the right clients?
Ÿ Will I make enough to replace my employed income?
Ÿ Can I manage to set up my VA business while still working?
Ÿ How can I find out about marketing my business?
Ÿ Will I be able to work alone?
Ÿ How will I build a team of VA Associates?

For more details visit: https://www.vact.co.uk/training/va-mastery-course

58 www.va-websites.co.uk
VA Books

How to be a Virtual Assistant

Start and run your own successful VA business
By Catherine Gladwyn

How to be a Virtual Assistant is my multi-award

winning, bestselling business book for anyone who
wants to start and run their own successful business
as a VA.

Ÿ Amazon Bestseller – 2020

Ÿ Amazon Number 1 Bestseller – 2019 and 2018
Ÿ Winner of Best Book for VAs – 2020 and 2019
Ÿ Listed as one of ten best business books in The
Independent – 2018
Ÿ Mentioned in The Guardian
Ÿ Available on Kindle, Audible and in Paperback.

About Catherine
Catherine is a full time VA regularly featured in the
national press and media purely to help raise the profile of
Virtual Assistants, including The Guardian, Forbes, iNews,
Mail Online, BBC Wiltshire and BBC Radio Scotland.

In 2019 she published her award winning book, “How to

be a Virtual Assistant”, to show people it is possible to
change direction, no matter how difficult it might seem.

“Sometimes, you just need to get out there and do it. If

something is worth having, it’s never going to be easy”.

Buy Direct from Catherine’s Website:

https://howtobeava.co.uk/buy-the-book

Buy from Amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Virtual-Assistant-successful-business-ebook/dp/B07BTT8YLB

59 www.va-websites.co.uk
VA Books

Get More Leads

By Understanding You Niche ….
And Stand Out From The Crowd
By Suzie Flynn

This book will help you get clear on…

• Who you want to work with and why

• Where to find your ideal clients
• Where you get the most joy in your work
• How you can stand out from the crowd
• The importance of having a niche
• How you can reach more clients

About Suzie

Suzie worked as an Executive Assistant in corporate

London for 22 years, but was never content! …. “I knew I
was meant for so much more, but I didn’t know how to
get started and I most certainly didn’t have the
confidence to build my own business”.

In 2016 she retrained as a Virtual Assistant and then in

2017 realised her true desire to build a coaching
business and help Executive Assistants build their Virtual
Assistant business.

The VA Freedom Startup

At the time of writing this guide, Suzie is offering a six week coaching programme 'The VA
Freedom Startup', which will give you all the foundational pieces you need to get set up so that
you can start attracting clients.

Buy Suzie’s eBook: Learn More About the VA Freedom Startup

https://suzieflynn.com/get-more-leads-ebook https://suzieflynn.com/work-with-me
VA Books

Plan and Write Marketing Emails

Like a Pro
By Keri Watkins

This is a recommended book if you want to be able

to send customer emails, but struggle to know where
to begin and don’t really know what to write!

In her book, Keri shares everything you need to

know based on plus 15 years marketing experience
and 1,000’s of email campaigns. Key features:

Ÿ What system to use if you don’t have one

Ÿ How to plan your strategy
Ÿ How to set up your templates
Ÿ How to write your content with no waffle
Ÿ How to create an automation
Ÿ How to review your results

Keri has a Marketing Management degree and has

predominantly worked in the financial services and energy
industries. She managed the design and production of the British
Grand Prix at Silverstone onsite branding for Santander, the
design and launch of E.ONs six month pop-up shop in
Nottingham plus all of the related marketing, press activity and
email campaigns to 1000's of customers.

For more details about Keri’s book, visit her website:

https://tdooly.com/product/plan_and_write_marketing_emails_like_a_pro

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Legal

Annabel Kaye - GDPR & Legal documents for VAs

It is a legal requirement for certain documents to be downloadable from your website. These
documents are also a requirement if you wish to be accepted as an approved member of the
Society of Virtual Assistants:

Ÿ Website Terms and Conditions

Ÿ Cookie Policy
Ÿ Privacy Policy
Ÿ Acceptable Use Policy

Note: A cookie policy is only a requirement if your website uses cookies to track your visitors, for
example Google Analytics. The acceptable use policy is mainly if you have interactive content
like blog comments / forums etc. so you set out what is/isn’t acceptable to post.

All of these documents can be found freely online and even be purchased from eBay. However,
the recommended provider - specialising in legal documentation for Virtual Assistants - is Annabel
Kaye, from KoffeeKlatch.com

KoffeeKlatch provides a wide range of industry specific contracts, policies and support for
businesses of all sizes so that they can ensure they remain compliant, legal and stress-free.

For more details, visit the Virtual Assistant section of the KoffeKlatch website:
https://www.koffeeklatch.co.uk/virtual-assistants

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Legal

Professional Indemnity Insurance

Why Have Professional Indemnity Insurance?
No matter how careful you might be, mistakes happen. As a VA, you are likely to be given access
to email accounts, websites, bank accounts, confidential information and so on. If anything should
go wrong, for example something as simple as accidentally hitting delete when you meant to hit
save, you’ll be held accountable.

Indemnity insurance not only gives you piece of mind that you are protected from the financial
fallout of any unforeseen circumstances, but it also gives your client piece of mind knowing they’ve
hired a VA who takes the potential for accidents seriously.

Where to get Professional Indemnity Insurance

All of the Virtual Assistants I have come into contact with, who have opted for Professional
Indemnity Insurance, have obtained it via Policy Bee.

Below is a link to the relevant page of the Policy Bee website which expressly deals with cover for
Virtual Assistants.

https://www.policybee.co.uk/virtual-assistants-insurance

63 www.va-websites.co.uk
Social Media

Helen Pritchard's FREE 5-day Linkedin Sprint Challenge

Helen is one of the leading authorities on Linkedin. She offers her highly rated “Mastermind
Course” which has helped many people get new customers. She also offers a free introductory
course, more commonly known as the 5-day Sprint Challenge. This runs every few weeks and you
can sign up completely free.

On the 5-day Sprint Challenge you’ll learn:

Ÿ How best to search and connect with high quality leads for free.
Ÿ Simple and effective ways to create content that lures your ideal clients Into connecting with
you for help.
Ÿ Plus lots more.

For details and to get signed up FREE, visit Helen’s website:

https://getleadsfromlinkedin.com/5daychallengereg

Join Helen’s free Linkedin Marketing Facebook Group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/groupforlinkedinmarketing/

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Social Media

Linda Semeins-Allen, Pinterest Marketing Services

Linda, from Clever Pins, is specialist in helping
small business owners leverage the power of
Pinterest. She offers coaching, account sets
and audits, monthly maintenance packages and
an A la Carte menu for services like one-off pin
design, one-off analytics review and design of
branded board covers, to name a few.

https://cleverpins.co.uk

Jemma Bond, Instagram Coaching

Jemma, herself a Virtual Assistant, is specialist
in helping people become more visible on the
Instagram platform. Her 1-to-1 coaching
sessions provide you with an ideal foundation
for helping you make the most out of Instagram
and finding new customers.

https://www.v-assistants.co.uk/instagram.html

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www.va-websites.co.uk