What to Know When Hiring a Virtual Assistant

What is a Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant (VA) is a skilled professional who offers business support services online or as the title states…virtually. Virtual means that these contractors are located off site and work remotely. These independent contractors can assist in the fields of administrative, technical, creative and legal support.

Hiring a Virtual Assistant – What to Know

Wearing several different hats when your business is growing can be daunting. The disadvantage of doing this is that there will always be a part of your business that will suffer if the lack of attention since you are spreading yourself too thin. An extra set of hands for the areas that deal with support services would be ideal for you to focus on the more pressing areas of your business. If you resemble this description you should consider hiring a virtual assistant. As a small business owner, hiring virtually is one of the best and cost effective decisions you could make.

Benefits

Valuable Skill Set

Virtual Assistants (VA’s) have a varied range of experience and could be industry specific or strengths are in a particular niche. These professional online contractors are highly skilled in different fields such as project management, executive management, website development and administration, administrative services and a variety of others.

Saving on Hiring a Full-Time Employee– Controlling your costs is key to small business owners. The cost of employee benefits such as health insurance, employee-related benefits, and tax savings are a few factors which small business owners are apprehensive about when considering hiring additional staff which leads to their “jack of all trades” or micro managing roles. Virtual Assistants (VA’s) are independent contractors and are responsible for their own bookkeeping and taxes etc. All the apprehensions listed above do not need to be considered when taking on a VA. Hiring a VA also means that you save on office expenses as well against hiring a full-time employee. You do not need to purchase a desk, you save on space and hardware (Computer and other office supplies etc.).

Only Pay for Time Spent on Projects- An example, an VA utilized as an Administrative Assistant is hired to manage schedules, communication and phone and email inquiries for a certain promotion/campaign. The virtual assistant shall be paid for hours billed for the specific project only. There are also performance based billing schemes and fixed monthly payment arrangements but the usual and more common cases are based on the hours logged by the VA.

Virtual Assistants are commonly hired for administrative jobs, Social media assistants, Marketing and sales positions and for customer service work. Hiring a Virtual Assistant advantageous for start-ups and small business owners who need the extra hands but are working on a limited budget. There many quality Virtual Assistants around, just make sure that you screen the right one that suits you and your company best.

6 Key Elements to a Good Website Design

 

Visual Design- When it comes to design, it is imperative to keep in mind to use white space and think about the use of color and meaning. Logos, theme, colors, fonts, layout and white space are the visual elements that compose the overall design of a website. Colors used on the website should complement or follow the company “colors” and using a proper theme or template can help keep the content flowing in the appropriate direction. A balance of text and photos/graphics is what is expected from a good website. The lack of visuals like photos, graphics and GIF’s makes a website boring. There is only a few second window to grab the interest of a visitor, having a lack of visuals or poor visual design would be detrimental.

Content- Relevant content is another key element for a good website. Make sure that the content answers the question: How do I benefit from this? Content should be presented in a way that shows what a website visitor wants to see. Make sure that the content in the website does not go stale or outdated. Most readers tend to skip over or leave a website that has nothing new to peak their interest. Do not over-do on the text. Having a text/content heavy website is not recommended. Websites only have a few seconds to grab the attention of a reader, visitor tend to leave websites when flooded with too much text and will not take the time to read through the information.

Navigation- Navigation are the buttons that get readers to certain pages or get information/answers or do certain tasks. Navigation is the google maps to your website. The “Nav” bars or buttons should be simple to use easy to notice. A tip to a good website is to group like pages under the same subject or topic to ensure ease in navigation and for the site to be more user-friendly.

Credibility- Gaining a person’s trust is a primary component in obtaining a sale. The same goes with a good website. A good website should gain the trust and confidence from the visitor. Utilizing verified links is one way to prove that the website and company are legitimate. Proof of legitimacy like license numbers, Better Business Bureau registration (If applicable), accurate contact information and correct punctuation and grammar all contribute to a websites’ credibility. Organizing content, using consistent colors, employing a theme that stays the same from page to page helps with this as well. Customers when visiting new sites will have their guard up, especially if they have been victimized of internet fraud in the past. Instilling trust and credibility of a company and its website is key. No positive action would be expected from visitors if the website seems the slightest bit of being shady.

Call to Action- A website is created for several reasons, the result that all companies want is for a visitor to take immediate action whether via an online purchase, sharing your website/weblink with others or an inquiry regarding services, products and/or website content or information. Use words that encourage action, tie-downs can also be used to promote a reaction as well depending on the website.

Mobile Internet- Due to the ever-changing times and on-the-go lifestyle, significant percentages of online purchases are conducted via mobile phone or web enabled device. Making sure that a website is viewable on a web-enabled device or mobile phone is not only advantageous, it is imperative.

Key Elements of a Good Website

Website creation is no longer  limited to highly skilled developers. In fact, any person with minimum knowledge in the use of the computer can make one. However, many do not know that it takes more than a good design to have a website that converts. Below are the elements that will help your website bring results.

Visual Design – When it comes to design, it is imperative to keep in mind to use white space and think about the use of color and meaning. Logos, theme, colors, fonts, layout and white space are the visual elements that compose the overall design of a website.

Colors used on the website should complement or follow the company “colors” and using a proper theme or template can help keep the content flowing in the appropriate direction. A balance of text and photos/graphics is what is expected from a good website.

The lack of visuals like photos, graphics and GIF’s makes a website boring. There is only a few second window to grab the interest of a visitor, having a lack of visuals or poor visual design would be detrimental.

Content- Relevant content is another key element for a good website. Make sure that the content answers the question: How do I benefit from this? Content should be presented in a way that shows what a website visitor wants to see. Make sure that the content in the website does not go stale or outdated. Most readers tend to skip over or leave a website that has nothing new to peak their interest. Do not over-do on the text. Having a text/content heavy website is not recommended. Websites only have a few seconds to grab the attention of a reader, visitor tend to leave websites when flooded with too much text and will not take the time to read through the information.

Navigation- Navigation are the buttons that get readers to certain pages or get information/answers or do certain tasks. Navigation is the google maps to your website. The “Nav” bars or buttons should be simple to use easy to notice. A tip to a good website is to group like pages under the same subject or topic to ensure ease in navigation and for the site to be more user-friendly.

Credibility- Gaining a person’s trust is a primary component in obtaining a sale. The same goes with a good website. A good website should gain the trust and confidence from the visitor. Utilizing verified links is one way to prove that the website and company are legitimate. Proof of legitimacy like license numbers, Better Business Bureau registration (If applicable), accurate contact information and correct punctuation and grammar all contribute to a websites’ credibility. Organizing content, using consistent colors, employing a theme that stays the same from page to page helps with this as well. Customers when visiting new sites will have their guard up, especially if they have been victimized of internet fraud in the past. Instilling trust and credibility of a company and its website is key. No positive action would be expected from visitors if the website seems the slightest bit of being shady.

Call to Action- A website is created for several reasons, the result that all companies want is for a visitor to take immediate action whether via an online purchase, sharing your website/weblink with others or an inquiry regarding services, products and/or website content or information. Use words that encourage action, tie-downs can also be used to promote a reaction as well depending on the website.

Mobile Internet- Due to the ever-changing times and on-the- go lifestyle, significant percentages of online purchases are conducted via mobile phone or web enabled device. Making sure that a website is viewable on a web-enabled device or mobile phone is not only advantageous, it is imperative.

Essential Elements of a Good Logo

 

 

“I strive for two things in logo design: simplicity and clarity.” “Great design is born of those two things.” Lindon Leader once said. Leader is the creator of the iconic FedEx logo.
Other iconic logos such as Apple, Nike and Google have the elements of versatility, simplicity, are memorable, timeless and appropriate which are the 5 essential elements of effective logo design.

Why do these 5 Elements matter?

These elements are the keys for effective logos to get the attention of a prospect. These same elements help a logo stick to the brains of existing customers then creating a following even with supposedly one-time purchasers.

Simplicity

It is easier to recognize Simple logos. You could pass a Nike billboard while harrowing down the freeway at 80 m/ph but would never mistake the Nike logo for any other.

Versatility

Using the Nike swoosh logo as an example, this logo could go on a billboard, postcard or flyer and would still have the same effect on prospects. It is effective at any size and with any color. You could also gauge a logos versatility if it is still can inspire the same effect even if printed in reverse.

Memorable

When you hear the words “Search Engine”, what logo springs to mind? Most probably it would be the Google logo that you would picture. Memorability is an element that is associated to brand recall, which is a qualitative measure of how well a brand name or logo relates to a product type.

Timeless

Logos the would be considered “Timeless” are those logos whose design have tested the sands of time. The Nike swoosh has remained virtually the same since it’s conception in 1971. Having this element would benefit a company since rebranding and the work that goes into redesigning costs a significant amount of money.

Appropriate

A company logo should directly speak to their target market. The FedEx logo is a good example, striking orange and purple, a clean and vivid font and an arrow hidden within the whitespace of the word “Ex”. The hidden arrow gives a sense moving forward which is what freight forwarding /courier service companies do.

Per Paul Rand, the famous graphic designer: “A logo does not sell (directly), it identifies. A logo derives meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around.” Paul Rand is the famous graphic designer behind iconic corporate logos such as IBM, ABC and UPS.

Make sure to incorporate these 5 elements to your logo design. Simple not complicated. Memorable and timeless. Versatile and target market appropriate. Adding these to your logo will make it more effective and lasting. Whether your potential clients are browsing through your website, reading your brochure or your calling card, you should remember that your company logo is the face of your business.

“Logo is an important part of the brand as it signals brand character through a stylized treatment of the company or brand name. It is like a signature of a person. Its main function is to remind the brand and make sure that “it remains at the forefront of the audience’s thoughts” (Herskovits and Crystal, 2010, p.21).