Details of Delegation, from Blog Owner to Personal Assistant
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Transcript of Details of Delegation, from Blog Owner to Personal Assistant
The Details of DelegationFrom Blog Owner to Virtual Assistant
Chelsea Day@MillennialBlogs
When to Hire a VA● Change in personal circumstances.
○ Baby, marriage, illness, move, etc.● Increase in workload.
○ New endeavors, more clients, expanded responsibilities.
● Work/life balance problems.○ How much sleep do you get?○ How’s your health?
● First and foremost, address your home life.○ Housekeeper○ Childcare
What does a VA do?● Syndicate content out to social media● Grow social media following● Email management● Search Engine Optimization● Keyword research● Invoicing● Photo processing● Giveaway promotions● Ghost writing
The Right Tools for the Job● Don’t ever have your VA do something that
can be done by a robot.● Embrace technology to maximize your
dollar.
Syndication● Social Networks Auto Poster PRO: $50
○ Auto-share posts from your Wordpress backend to G+, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and more.
○ Complete control over format and wording: you can create a template to send out title, excerpt, tags, short URL and tweak it on individual posts.
Syndication● Reporting back to the brand.● Blogger support threads.
○ VAs can act on your behalf with “blogger tribes” for increased engagement in comments, Google+ conversations, pins, StumbleUpon and more.
Syndication● Hootsuite: $9.99/mo
○ Bulk schedule tweets for ongoing promotion.
Grow Social Media Following● Schedule Pinterest pins with ViralTag:
$12/mo.● Follow new Pinterest users with Pinwoot.● Increase Instagram following with
Followgram and Followers+.● Manage Twitter followers with tools such as
Twiends, Tweepi and Tweetbe.at.
Email Management● Weed through press releases and negotiate
sponsored posts.● Assign emails as tasks with Todoist for
Gmail.
Search Engine Optimization● Keyword research with Google Adwords
Keyword Planner to see which terms are most competitive.
● Tweak upcoming and old posts with SEO plugins such as Yoast’s Wordpress SEO.
Invoicing● Keep track of money owed, follow up with
sponsors.● Paypal invoice creation.● Payment to contributors and other
contractors.
Photo Processing● Pull photos from a shared Dropbox, edit
them in bulk with Adobe Lightroom and upload directly to your blog with the Dossier de Presse Lightroom plugin.
● Create pinnable images with Picmonkey.
Giveaway Promotions● Boost giveaways by listing them on Online
Sweepstakes, Giveaway Promote, etc.
Ghost Writing● VAs can do research and place posts in drafts
directly with your blog login or with a contributor login assigned limited controls.
Task Management Basics● Good Old Google Docs
Task Management Programs● Asana
○ Includes an integrated calendar that many bloggers are comfortable with. Best for repetitive tasks.
● Bitrix24○ Good for amassing docs/imagery and dividing
projects by client. Well-suited for marketing and media agencies.
● TeamworkPM○ Detailed, good at time-tracking. Can be
overwhelming at first.● Trello
○ Very visual, good for long-term goals.
Where to Find a VA● Word of mouth● Virtual Assistant sites
○ oDesk○ International Virtual Assistants Association○ VAs for Hire
● Facebook groups○ Virtual Assistant Tribe○ Virtual Assistant Tips & Tricks
What to Pay● Typically, you get what you pay for.
○ You can outsource internationally via elance or Fiverr and pay minimum wage or less.
○ $10-15/hour is standard for basic blog support.○ VAs often grow into in-house positions at $20-
25/hour or more.● Consider a flat monthly fee or retainer.
The Hiring Process● Closely examine their previous work.● Ask about current commitments and time
constraints.● Use a contract with non-disclosure and w9.● Start with a trial period.● Set expectations and develop a timeline for
ongoing reviews.
What to do After you Hire● Communication is key.● Maintaining infrastructure is critical.
○ You wouldn’t keep using a gardener if all your sprinklers were broken.