Have you been approached to join LinkedIn yet? You most likely have, but like me, knew very little about it, joined and then nothing much happened, except for the occasional email from a stranger asking to connect with you. And so for a year I've just let my membership sit, with less than 50 contacts, from a few people in my own database and the occasional other. But recently I read a post in Des Walsh's blog about LinkedIn that made me sit up and take notice. I had seen a post earlier in the … [Read more...]
VA Forums – Boards or Emails?
For many years now the VA network I manage has been using YahooGroups for its messaging to members. I had explored message boards quite a long time ago and felt that members wouldn't log in on a daily basis to check for messages relevant to them. At that time my choice was the right one and I currently moderate two VA forums with a sum total of well over 1,000 VA members. I had tried about 3 or 4 different messaging systems till we finally made a shift back to YahooGroups, which had improved … [Read more...]
Linking to lots of blogs
If you haven't heard about the 2000 Bloggers' Project, you need to head over to my blog at SOHO-Life and read all about it. If you are keen to get listed on a blog that is being listed in lots of places, then it's not too late and you could be one of the 2000. Interesting experiment. Make sure you have a photo of yourself available too - they will only link if your blog has a photo, and not a caricature or logo. KMT blogging, 2000 bloggers, blog network … [Read more...]
I Am Woman!
Over the past couple of months I've had a business directory company from another country constantly contact me to list with their website. They list all the benefits and are quite persistent. Normally I would register - it's always good to have my website listed with another service. However, they insist on addressing me as 'Mr' and Dear 'Sir' and I've told them time and again that I am NOT a man. This leads me to think two things: 1. They don't read their email and/or comprehend it. 2. … [Read more...]
A By-Product…
Yesterday I attended an all day planning session with my coach and his other clients. He gets all his clients together regularly through the year to listen to motivational speakers and learn more about developing their businesses. Yesterday was an all day session designed to help us plan our year and then break it up into 90 day chunks so we have smaller bite-sized goals to achieve. I always enjoy days like this because it gives me 'permission' to take my mind off my own clients and … [Read more...]
Building a Reputation
My previous post about lists prompted a discussion amongst my team and one mentioned how she'd been approached to do a joint venture with a company, which all sounded very good, until she was asked to hand over her list so the other company could contact all those people. She refused and I can't blame her. My response was this: I've had clients ask me the same thing. It's interesting you know - I was in a discussion on another forum yesterday and one of the VAs there had been asked to do … [Read more...]
Where do YOUR lists come from?
I find it remarkable that organisations I look up to, or would otherwise have a respect for, resort to spamming people with their promotions. On many occasions I've asked (whether by email or by phone) how they got my address or number, and they stumble over the answer - usually because the people employed for that reason don't have any idea. But I push the issue as it's important to me. Usually the result is that they bought the list from someone - and that someone never had my permission to … [Read more...]
I joined a forum but I’m not getting their messages!
Does this sound like you? Have you wondered why that might be? The chat forums are a great way to learn about your industry, mix and mingle with other VAs (or whatever your industry might be) and pick up work. However, unless you monitor your membership with these forums, you may find you're missing out on information or worse still, a job referral! Because the forums have addresses that are used by hundreds of thousands of people, it also means that they have their fair share of spammers … [Read more...]
The bain of all broadcast emailers…
...the bounced address! I send out a monthly newsletter to people who are self-subscribed. So, I never understand why their mailboxes are full everytime I send out a newsletter! I end up deleting them from the list - in disgust. Many of them are VA email addresses - ones I recognise, some I don't, but I can tell from the address that they are a VA. Others are people I know who are actively marketing their businesses - and yet their email fails. I get messages like the one below: This … [Read more...]