The Virtual Assistants Website

We have put together a resource and general articles on website promotion and Search engine techniques. They are well worth a look as all Virtual Assistants need websites and on-line resources

A website should be your best and most cost effective marketing tool if you really want to become a virtual assistant. Many of the top Internet marketing Guru's give help and advice as to what your website should contain, working within these guidelines to ensure your site is not just a pretty selection of pages but actually does what YOU want it to do is important.

You need to have pages and layouts that not only attract your clients but also to attract surfers using the major search engines. One of them could be a prospective client - they just do not know it until they find your website. I have done many hours of research and have managed to get sites into the search engines but I do not use any of the companies that 'guarantee you No 1 spot in a week'. Google even suggests certain products should not be used.

I do it the old-fashioned way which can take months but has lasting results. One of my clients has been in the top three of all the major search engines for their chosen keywords for the last four years - no on-going work for me but referrals. If you are going to build your own site, use a good program such as Komposer (Free) Dreamweaver, or Xsite Pro which I have to say is the best program I have ever come across (Click here for more information on XSitePro).

What will I need if I want to become a virtual assistant with a website?

You will need a domain name. For domain names I use GODADDY

You will also need hosting - for the best hosting company with really superb prices I recommend HOSTGATOR.

You will need to check your business name if you are just starting out to make sure that the domain name is available and to make sure that you are not duplicating another business name in either respect. Become a virtual assistant with a unique name and you will stand out from the crowd.

Cost is always an issue when you are starting out but do not be tempted to use free space from your ISP. This does not look professional and your clients will expect a professional service so you have to make sure your site does not look cheap. I am afraid that you will have to spend some money on this part of your business but if you don't look professional you will not be perceived as professional and to work virtually you must have a virtual presence.

There is no point in having a website if it is not updated regularly to keep the visitors coming back. You need to try to update your site with information that your clients will find interesting.  It is a fact that you can make a lot of money from an ugly website, you will make very little from a short, uninteresting and uninformative boring site. If your site does not work and pages show as broken links (and YES that does happen to all of us some time) it really looks bad so check your stats to see if they show broken links and do it regularly.