There are a lot of advantages to hiring a virtual assistant.  Because a virtual assistant is an independent contractor – you don’t have to pay payroll taxes or provided benefits. Another advantage to hiring a virtual assistant is the flexibility.  If you have 30 hours of work which needs done this month – but then need 80 hours next month – most virtual assistants can accommodate your needs.

No two virtual assistants are alike.

Some virtual assistants provide general administrative services like

• appointment scheduling and reminders
• Phone/voice mail monitoring and call response
• E-mail monitoring and response
• Mailings
• Faxing
• Shipping

Others will include light bookkeeping, data entry and personal assistance such as shopping, running errands and making travel arrangements.

Here at Vital VA Web Help, I focus on providing technical and creative assistance to business owners.  While I could perform the duties listed above – most of my clients tend to want me to focus my attention on the tasks that they find difficult.  Some of those tasks include:

• Creating professional power point presentations
• setting up email newsletters
• updating web site content
• working with WordPress
• creating  ebook covers
• shopping cart set up

One thing that has surprised me since I launched my virtual assistant business is how many clients hire me AFTER they’ve spent literally hundreds of dollars on “how to” instruction from various internet marketing gurus.

One dear client – after hiring me to update her WordPress installation and to create a series of posts – asked if I could create a power point presentation for her.  Her goal was to create the power point presentation – and then she would create a video and use to promote her business.  When I agreed – she sent me the files from an online training course she had purchased on how to make Power Point presentations.  While there wasn’t anything in the presentation that I hadn’t already discovered myself  – I realized that the 4 hours it took me to research and create her Power Point presentation was a much better investment than buying the program.

I seem to have a “gift” for figuring out technology quickly and easily.  Not only can I easily learn to use most software – but I have a creative streak which most “techies” don’t possess which means – in the case of a Power Point presentation – that the end result is a very professional piece.

Later – that same dear client began asking me to perform other general administrative tasks for her like making appointments.  Instead – I suggested she sign up for free online appointment scheduling and set that system up for her for a fraction of the cost of hiring me to manually schedule appointments for her.

Sometimes – the most valuable asset an online virtual assistant brings is knowledge – knowledge of software programs and other technologies that can be put to work to make your business run more efficiently.

Recently – I was asked by another client to find software to perform a specific task.  Research can be a time consuming task – especially if you don’t know what you’re looking for.  While my client asked me to find software which would allow her clients to create an online profile – it turned out that what she really needed was more of a “help desk” kind of program.  When she described why she wanted her clients to be able to create their own online profile I was able to save hours of research by focusing on the right kind of software products and services.

If you need my help with the technical and creative needs of your business – contact me.

I recently completed a really fun ebook cover design for the first in what will no doubt become a series of ebooks.  The first edition is the Down and Dirty, Quick and Easy WordPress Tutorial on How to Create Easy HTML Sidebar Widgets in WordPress.

I was allowed a lot of freedom in this project – probably because I’ve designed other ebook covers for Virtual Impax products such as the Fast Track to Blogging Success and the 8 Week Power Blog Launch.

The process of designing an ebook cover begins with understanding who the audience is for the ebook.  Once you know the audience for the ebook, then you can choose the colors, the typeface and the image for the ebook cover deisgn.

When it came to the Down and Dirty ebook cover design -  I had to choose between two images.  The first image was a little orange smiley face style guy wearing a mortar board and standing beside a chalkboard.  The second image was the little green monster you see on the cover of the ebook.

I really struggled between those two images.  Kathy at Virtual Impax had already let me know that she liked them both and that she would leave it up to me to make the final decision.

I struggled a bit.  The original image was definitely “more professional”… but something about the orange smiley face was bothering me.  Then it hit me.  Walmart used to use a yellow smiley face guy in their advertising.  I definitely didn’t want to “align” my client’s ebook with a store like Walmart.

Then, I thought about the little monster – was he professional enough?  When I asked Kathy, she said that she “set the tone” by naming the ebook “Down and Dirty”.  She appreciated my insight and I licensed the little green monster image for use in the ebook cover.

Oh, speaking of licensing images – using images that you (or your ebook cover designer) haven’t properly licensed is just ASKING for trouble.  If you’re reading this – and you’ve ever had someone design a website, ebook cover or logo – be sure to ask them about what source they used for the images.  See, if the “image police” come knocking – they won’t go after the designer you used in India – they’ll go after you.  After all, the image is appearing on YOUR website or ebook.   Once the company that owns (or manages) the rights to the image gets done with you – THEN you get to send your lawyer after the designer to try to recover the pound of flesh you lost in your legal battle with the image rights company.

If you can’t find your original designer – or if you don’t like the answers you hear – contact VVA Web Help.  We can help!

You can change the appearance of your WordPress blog quickly and easily by using THEMES.

Thesis is a great WordPress theme.

Assuming your content is organized and optimized for both search engines and people (SEO)  – Thesis can show off your content to it’s best advantage.

It provides exceptional accessibility – meaning that your content will display for mobile users as well as those using alternative Web browsers

But most importantly, it’s easy to make tiny alterations which can give your blog it’s own distinct look.

Not long ago, I created a new top image for the Ez Marketing Tools blog.

The blog started out displaying the traditional “plain” Thesis theme.

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It looks like every other website displaying the standard Thesis theme.

I created a new image for the header and updated the CSS and now this is how the http://ezmarketingtools.com blog looks now.

As you can see, the addition of a simple image and make a BIG difference on how the whole blog looks.