I am always on the lookout for tips and tools that can assist me and make my job easier. I don’t know of too many folks that don’t.

So, when I found this Get Premise, created by Studio Press, I just had to investigate it myself.

I find that one of the downsides to working with a wordpress blog platform is that they are normally built to have a sidebar where you can put various widgets and plugins.

I can work my way around a stylesheet, but I am not knowledgable enough to do any real coding. I leave that to the experts.

When creating landing pages, or sales pages, it can be distracting to have all the extranous items that accompany a page on a wordpress site. I have been using a progam from Studio Press, Get Premise. It enables you to create stand alone sales pages, video pages, thank you, etc. It’s a wonderful program. I love using it.

The program also enables you to create your own style and it’s quite easy to do.

I could go on and on about all of the tools that this program comes with, but I will leave it up to you to investigate it.

If you are struggling to create sales pages of any type, Get Premise and forget it!

I am all about making things easy and systematic. It not only makes my life easier, but also, the life of my clients (at least I hope so.)

So, I was working with a client, Joyce Dillon, on her new website and we were chatting about changing the background on her WordPress site.

I started Googling and found this really cool, and easy tool. Even better, it’s free.

Now, it’s not fancy, but for us non-graphic designers, this is an easy or even temporary way to change your background without going to a lot of expense.

Here it is: BGPatterns

As you can see by the image below, you can change around color, image, canvas and the rotation of the image as well. Again, this tool has it’s limitations, but for a quick and easy change to your site’s background, give this a try.

The value of recommendations and testimonials cannot be underestimated or taken for granted. Recommendations are similar to testimonials of your good name, good product(s), or expertise. Recommendations enhance your credibility as an expert similar to how quality content, quality presentation of that content and frequency of content enhances your page rank and authority status for your website. Recommendations also raise your credibility.

Recommendations in LinkedIn are social proof. They tell a LinkedIn candidate that the person is qualified or recognized as a valued colleague that has or will add value to your business. As you interact with connections, you become more familiar with their areas of expertise and perhaps are able to use this knowledge in your business execution. Once you can recommend a connection, you proceed with some expectation that they will reciprocate. However, do not expect that all people that you recommend will in turn write a recommendation for you. As you proceed in building your connections, keep in mind that your connections are the source for your recommendation and focus on those contacts that have the potential for directly (or indirectly) enhance your business or expertise. After all, one of your goals in LinkedIn is becoming a recognized expert in your field. A good place to find contacts that will give you outstanding recommendations are your satisfied customers. Go through your customer base and connect with everyone who has purchased your products; multiple sales recipients are better.

The best way to ask for recommendations is not to ask, i.e., the best recommendations most often come from a good recommendation that you have written for someone. Recommendations are the next step of engagement after you connect with someone on LinkedIn. It is a quid pro quo of sorts, but don’t write a recommendation for someone just to get a reciprocal recommendation. Be sure that you can personally vouch for them. As such, be very clear about what you’re recommending. Don’t forget your keywords when you are writing recommendations!! Search engines love keywords!

As you evaluate your LinkedIn strategy, make sure you include a profile of your ideal connection and how you can get a recommendation from them. Make sure that your have clear goals and objectives. A good review for being successful using LinkedIn can be found in Wayne Breitbarth’s best seller, The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success or by purchasing the replay of Joan Stewart’s webinar, Your LinkedIn Power Formula

1. What is your specialty?

You now know what your potential virtual assistant can do. What about what they like to do? These questions are important for opening up the conversation and getting to know your interviewee. They’ll also help you to determine whether you can call on this person in the future to do tasks that may need to be done months down the line. A great virtual assistant truly enjoys their work and shares nuances about the Internet with you as you continue to build a relationship with them. Do you see this person as someone you’ll want to call upon again and again?

2. Can you accomplish my tasks?

Share your list of projects with your virtual assistant candidate. Can they do them all? Are they are willing to share some examples of their past work. Listen to how confident your potential virtual assistant sounds when answering your questions. If they sound unsure or give you a flat-out “no”, do you really want to hire them? Is it acceptable to you if they are willing to learn how to do tasks that they haven’t done before? (This may mean that they’ll take more hours working on your project than a more experienced virtual assistant would need).

3. What is your experience?

For each task that your potential virtual assistant can do, ask them about their experiences doing it. In what field of business did they do this work? If your interviewee has absolutely no experience in your business field, is that important to you? How long did it take them to complete past projects? This may make a difference for you if you are on a deadline to get some items on your list completed quickly. Which leads us to the next question…

4. How quickly can you get to my tasks and complete them?

Are they overloaded with work and cannot get to your jobs for three weeks? Or maybe they can complete some quickly and others will take more time to finish. Your potential virtual assistant may give you different answers for each task that you’ve discussed. That’s okay, because it will give you a good idea of how much time they’ll need to devote to your projects.

5. What is your communication style?

When can they be reached? How quickly can you expect a response from them? Do they exclusively communicate via email, or will they be available to meet with you by phone, in person, or via web conference? How often will they update you on the progress of your projects? Are they willing to answer technical questions for you, or are they only available to accomplish specific tasks? The answer to this final question is very telling, because a virtual assistant who wants to build an ongoing relationship with you is a keeper.

6. What kind of software and office equipment do you use?

On the surface, this question may seem mundane and of little importance. However, if for example, you use Macs and run Apple-compatible software, but your potential virtual assistant only sees things from a Windows point of view, there may be issues. The kind of answer you’ll want to hear is something like, “I can run things on all browsers and can interpret what you send me from screen shots, if there are any issues.” You’ll want your virtual assistant to be willing to get around potential obstacles.

7. What security measures do you have in place?

Let your virtual assistant candidate speak openly about this. A great virtual assistant will talk about password protection, data backups, and a confidentiality policy for your intellectual property. Are they a member of associations like the International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA) and the Better Business Bureau? Do they subscribe to a Code of Ethics? If you are particularly concerned, you can ask if they are willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement of your creation, a contract to protect your property and trade secrets? It is especially important to vet out your interviewees when a friend or colleague has not referred them to you. Note: Security issues are the most important reason not to entrust virtual assistant tasks to college interns.

8. Do you have a back up?

I don’t mean a security back-up here—This is about making sure you are covered when the virtual assistant goes on vacation or has other things coming up in their life. Who do you call upon if you hire them and they are not available? Just like any webmaster, a virtual assistant should not leave you in the lurch when they have a personal commitment and are unavailable to respond to you.

9. How much do you charge?

Your potential virtual assistant may charge per job and will itemize each task on the list you provided. Or they may quote for the entire list of jobs you have presented. Regardless, they will probably want to get back to you with quotes, because they may need time to research the number of hours each task will take to complete. Ask about which form of payment they accept, when you will be billed, and how often you will be billed. Some companies expect a deposit before work is started, others will bill you in full upon completion, and still others have billing cycles and bill as different tasks are completed according to their own internal billing schedule. If you need some “creative” financing, for instance spreading out payments over a period of time, it never hurts to ask.

And the most important question to ask, and this is a question to ask of yourself:

10. Do I like you?

Sounds a bit odd, but this is the best way to test the “chemistry” between you and the virtual assistant candidate in question. If you feel in your gut that you have found the perfect virtual assistant, you may have found a winner. But if you hear a certain catch in their voice, a less-than enthusiastic tone, or something off, honor your intuition.

Ask yourself this question when interviewing all potential contractors, not just virtual assistants. The answer may foretell how much they’ll contribute to the success of your products and services.

The Internet is constantly changing, with new and innovative ways for marketing and selling your products and services always looming over the horizon. If you are looking to hire a great virtual assistant or an online business manager, you’ve got to find one who keeps up with the ever-changing online technology and your ever-changing business needs. You can hire a virtual assistant to handle just one or two short-term tasks, or you can create a long-term business relationship with them where they are “on call” for any internet business need that arises.

Therefore, before you can begin interviewing prospective virtual assistants, you need to define the perfect virtual assistant for you. Get out a piece of paper and answer this question for yourself: What tasks do you want your assistant to take over? It can be the mundane, such as posting videos to your sites and social network profiles. Or it can be the advanced, such as building social networking profiles for you, from the ground up.

Start shopping for potential virtual assistants by obtaining referrals. Ask your business colleagues and friends if they have recommendations. Then check them out online. The best candidates may not necessarily have huge corporate-looking websites. Look for clean, uncluttered websites and profiles with clear information.

Whether potential candidates are referred to you or you just found them while surfing the ‘net, check out their reputation. Google that individual’s name and company. Do they have a solid online presence and have they received positive feedback from past clients? Do they look good online? Look at the testimonials, services they offer, etc. This will give you some basic info, such as how long a prospective virtual assistant has been at it and their education and training.

Also request some client recommendations. It’s okay though, if they cannot supply you with names of past clients, because some past clients may have requested that their names remain private. This is especially true in industries where business marketing and new product news is held under lock and key.

Be aware that some virtual assistant companies act more like agencies. They outsource talent to do the work for you. The danger in this is that the person you interview over the phone may not be the person doing the work for you. Could they be asking someone in a foreign county to do your precious work for pennies on the dollar? If so, that’s ok as long as the work is being done to your precise specifications. This is where a virtual assistant acts as your project manager or online business manager.

Therefore, when you’re interviewing for your virtual assistant, it’s important to be talking with the person who is directly responsible for completing your tasks, regardless of whether you are going through a large virtual assistant company or not.

The entire point of hiring a virtual assistant is to take care of those pesky online tasks for you. Sure, you could spend time contacting tech support for your websites, looking up FAQs on social networking sites, watching how-to YouTube videos, taking webinars, and even enrolling in community college classes to keep your presence known on the Internet, but this learning curve takes a lot of time.

An expert virtual assistant, like Christine Buffaloe, keeps up with the ever-changing online nuances for you. It doesn’t matter what business you are in. The right virtual assistant will make it their business to know how to market your business.

How can she help you? What’s your next project? I’ll use a general example: You’ve got to get the word out about your newest product or service. This product could be a new recording, a new book, or a new business venture. Or perhaps it is a grand opening, a special event, or a discount on your services. Of course, you want to announce it to the world, and what better way than via the Internet? But where do you start? You start with an expert virtual assistant.

Here is just a sampling of 10 ways your expert virtual assistant or online business manager can help you manage that new project:

1. They can handle online research for you.

Don’t know where to start? If you need to find the best places to post an ad, choices for a great name for your new website, and the hottest spots to post a social networking profile, Chris will do the legwork for you. She’ll tell you how long your project will take, and inform you of the technical know-how involved. You can decide if you want to take it from there or let her run with the ball.

2. They can create an online presence for you.

Give your expert virtual assistant the info they need—bio, photos, media—And they will be your online “agent”, creating profiles for you where you need them, using your favorite colors and fonts, like at my blog. Christine can upload this kind of stuff to your website for you, too! If you want to make changes, your virtual assistant will safely keep your online passwords under lock and key and will only share them with you, so you can go into your new profiles and tweak them to your heart’s content.

3. They can do your online and offline “housekeeping” jobs.

They can set up and maintain your email lists, categorizing them so you can target particular email blasts to specific people on your list. They can categorize your Facebook friends and tweeters, too. Need to dump a bunch of inactive friends? Need to clean up your existing email list? Your expert virtual assistant can handle database management tasks with finesse.

4. They can help you compose and send off email blasts and e-newsletters using online email programs.

Your expert virtual assistant knows how to make your messages look good for email. And if you want them to deal with getting the message about your new product or service to your email list, they can handle sending it out, managing subscribers and unsubscribers, report who is reading and responding to your newsletter, and more. Hand it all over to them and you won’t need to deal with email management again.

4. They can proofread and write for you.

I like to think of the Internet as a big billboard. Make sure you look as good as you can by allowing your expert virtual assistant to proof your next email blast, your next blog post, your next advertisement, and your updated bio. They can even send an email on your behalf, saying, “Hello, I’m Chris, Anne’s virtual assistant…” This will certainly impress your friends. Your expert virtual assistant will make you look mahvelous, dahling, on the World Wide Web!

5. They can do the stuff you know how to do but don’t want to do.

An excellent virtual assistant doesn’t mind checking through a long list of possibly dead links, uploading a lot of media—mp3s, video, photos—to various websites and social network profiles. There’s no shame in admitting that you don’t want to do those tasks. You’ve got better things to do.

6. They can flag you to posts that need your personal attention.

No time to deal with social networking? If you haven’t the time or inclination to post to Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, and other social network platforms about your new product or service, and you have timely info to convey, let your expert virtual assistant do it for you. They can interact with your fan base for you. Send them your 140-character message and they’ll get it out online. Send them your new product links, and they’ll tell the world about them.

7. Virtual Assistants can do all kinds of personal things for you if you wish.

They can sift through all the junk messages and send you the gold, the real business sales and inquiries. They can even handle product fulfillment for your online store. They can check for phone messages from online services like Grasshopper, transcribe podcasts and webinars for you, and act as your headhunter or recruiter to help you find excellent job candidates for your expanding business. A virtual assistant can even help you find the best travel deals for your speaking engagements (but they don’t do windows, and they don’t pick up your laundry for you).

8. They can be your personal techie.

Serenity Virtual Assistant Services partner’s with her husband who heads up SEO (search engine optimization). They can write in code for your website and other online profiles. And if they can’t do something for you, they can contact tech support on your behalf so that they can do it for you.

9. They can be your online secret agent.

They can subscribe to Google Alerts on your behalf to find out where your products and services are being mentioned online. They can track comments on your blog and monitor feedback about your newest postings.

10. They can handle damage control.

Did you spend a lot of time posting something to your WordPress website, but it looks terrible and you can’t fix it? I often contact Chris and she is able to help me fix the problem. Did someone hack into one of your online profiles? Call on your virtual assistant for help. They can back up your online info, keep track of your passwords in case things go awry and you can’t get in to fix it yourself. And they can preserve your online reputation by spreading the best about you, your products, and your services.

You’re never really “done “with your virtual assistant, keep in touch with them. Chris often alerts me to news about the ever-changing landscape of the Internet. They’ll let you know of the newest places to get the word out and how to do it. They’ll teach you about ways to improve your online presence. And if you ever find that you need help with tasks that are outside of their scope, they’ll refer you to other experts to continue to grow your business. And like Chris, they continue to be your online friend.

Anne Roos is a professional writer and author of two published non-fiction books. Anne has over twenty-five years of owning her own business as a professional musician. Words and music are my loves and marketing is my thing. Therefore, I’m comfy adding interesting tidbits and morsels to blogs and social media pages to whet readers’ appetites.

If you feel that your social media marketing efforts could use a HUGE boost, good news! My friend, Mari Smith, has a brand new book out today called The New Relationship Marketing: How To Build A Large, Loyal, Profitable Network Using the Social Web.Mari is one of the foremost leaders in the social media world, with particular expertise in Facebook marketing.

You’ll love this book – it’s as if Mari is sitting by your side gently guiding you through the maze of do’s and don’ts in order to create much better results with your marketing.

Go pick up a copy of Mari’s new book today – available anywhere books are sold, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and in Kindle and Nook versions.

PLUS, good news! When you get your copy of the book, you also get to attend Mari’s free four-part webinar miniseries where she’ll walk you through the principles in her book. Find details of how to register here: Relationship Marketing Webinars.

P.S. In true Mari-style, you get to register for the free four-part webinar series on the “honor system!” That is, you do not need to scan/fax/email/snail mail any proof of purchase before you get access to the online classes. Once you order your book, just register here and that’s it!

I have become a huge fan of WordPress Blog websites. I have one myself.

Jason Saeler of Saeler Enterprises had been trying to convince me for the longest time to convert. Well, I converted and he has made a beleiver out of me. So much so, that I am now creating and hosting wordpress websites as well.

Here are 2 that I have recently finished:

American Standards Renewable Fuels Corp. and SandyRees.com

What are the Benefits of Using WordPress for Websites?

WordPress is an open source content management system which is easy to use and offers many user friendly features. It provides you the most innovative and contemporary publishing platform. The biggest plus point of WordPress is that it focuses on all web principles and usability. No doubt, WordPress has become a popular choice for website development. Discussed below are top 10 benefits of WordPress development.

1.Affordable: One of the biggest benefits of WordPress design is that it is very cost effective. The themes are available at a very affordable price. Compared to other content management systems, it is very cost effective.

2.Better SEO rankings: WordPress helps to optimise your search engine results. It ensures that your website lands on the first page of Google results, which increases the possibility of getting more visitors. The more visitors you get, greater are the chances of getting maximum profit.

3.User friendly: Another benefit of using WordPress is that it provides WordPress designers with convenient and simple applications. This not only makes the designers feel comfortable using it but also makes it user friendly for the users. You do not require any technical skills to use it. If you can send an e-mail or use Microsoft Word, you can very well use WordPress easily.

4.Quick installation: It is very easy to install WordPress. All you need to do is to just click on the WordPress link to install WordPress on your website. The software will ask you some basic general information, then WordPress will be installed successfully.

5.Enhanced functionality: WordPress allows you to set a specific functionality you want your blog to perform. There are various WordPress Plug-ins that will help you do things you would like to do. There are nearly 8,000 WordPress Plug-ins on the WordPress.org website and thousands more that are not in the WordPress database.

6.Various add ons: It also provides you with various add on features that are available as plug-ins and widgets. Most of the designs and themes are either free or readily available as premium themes. You can even change them as per your own specific requirements.

7.Automatic upgrades: The automatic upgradation is automatically done without requiring any manual process.

8.Better Administration: WordPress can easily survive traffic spikes; it can easily balance the server load and ensures that the website runs smoothly.

9.No Backup required: WordPress keeps backup of your blog (but I would recommend it).

10.No Spams: Pre installed Akismet helps in blocking spam in the background.

To see a list of services that Serenity Virtual Assistants can do for you, please visit my wordpress website!

“They are all over the TV, newspapers and online media; they are “mompreneurs,” and they prove that it is possible to be both a nurturing caretaker of little ones and a successful business mogul. Here’s what is means to be a mompreneur, and why these five moms are getting so much well-deserved attention.” As quoted by Linsey Knerl.

Ok, I agree, there are a lot of mompreneurs that are extremely successful and knowledgeable in their fields of expertise.. There is no doubt in my mind.

The problem that I have are the inexperienced mompreneurs that are undercutting experienced Virtual Assistants such as myself and others that have been working for years to establish ourselves as experts in many areas on the interenet.

An experienced Virtual Assistant will not need to be micro-managed, and the ‘learning curve’ is minimal. This enables entrepreneurs/business owners to spend their time doing what they do best; to work on their business instead of in it.

I bring this up because I had a recent experience with a client that decided to hire a momprenuer to take over the tasks that I had been managing for her. Now, I don’t get upset at losing a client, but what corks me, is that the new VA didn’t know anything about what was needed to complete the tasks. No, html experience, no shopping cart experience and so on.

I was asked by the client to train her. I agreed.

I have spend hours, weeks, days and months honing my skills. I have participated in endless webinars, teleseminars and so on to learn these skills.

Again, I am not getting “down” on mompreneurs, but let’s have a little respect here.