The Power of Testimonials

The Power of Testimonials

When I began my virtual assistant life, I thought no one would hire me because I’d had no testimonials. It’s kind of like that conundrum, you can’t get a job without experience, and you can’t get experience without a job.

Thankfully, I had co-workers who were only too happy to help me out. I received some great testimonials to start me off, and as my business grew, I received more and more.

The reason that testimonials are so important is that they are social currency, it’s a form of proof that you’re as good as you say you are. A good testimonial is worth its weight in gold because it will bring more customers.

Just as testimonials are important for my business, I’ve also recognized how important they are for my client’s businesses.

Being a creative VA, I often recommend to my clients that they use the testimonials they’ve received and put them out there. When someone says you’re great, you need to share that with the world!

I like to create beautiful testimonial images for my clients and share them via social media. I’ll usually link it back to their website, usually to a services page or a contact page. If they have a testimonial page set up on their website, I’ll direct people to that page. It’s as easy as saying something like, “Click here to read what others have had to say about my services…”

It can be tough to ask for a testimonial, but social proof has never been so important. But it’s important to have a stack of great testimonials under your belt. So, bite the bullet, and drop your latest customer a quick email asking if they would mind leaving some feedback. A link to where you’d like them to leave it is also helpful. Good luck!

What would you do with an extra ten hours a month (or a week)? Book a free consultation call with me and let’s talk!

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Does social media REALLY help SEO?

Does social media REALLY help SEO?

In many of my client consultation calls, my clients understand that social media is very important to their business, even if they’re not entirely sure of the logistics of how it all works.

One client of mine, when we first began working together, told me that she couldn’t find her business or services within the first 20 pages of Google. We all know that in order to get noticed, you have to be found on Google. Working over the next few months on her social media slowly brought her up through Google’s listings and she now proudly sits on page one.

I say slowly because it’s not an overnight process, by any means. Google goes through each and every web page being published. It’s a long process that can often take several months before you see any progress.

Another client of mine found herself on page four in LinkedIn searches. Within four months of working together, she found herself on page one and emailed me to express her happiness!

These two scenarios clearly show how important social media is, no matter where you want to be found. It takes time, and continuous posting in order to make it happen.

What types of content make it happen, though? Are we just sharing their material and hoping for the best?

No.

Social media works best with an 80/20 rule. Share 80 percent of other people’s content and 20 percent of your own. It doesn’t seem like a lot, does it? With social media, it’s about giving, not taking. So sharing content from others shows good faith, your audience will see that you don’t think it’s all about you.

One fact I cannot stress enough, though, is that social media works best when you’re being social.

Posting all of these things consistently is great, don’t get me wrong. But social media is about being social. That means you have to interact with your audience. Like, comment, share, retweet – it all matters. Far too many people just share, share, share and not enough interact. And interacting is something that no virtual assistant can do as well as the client him- or herself because no one knows their business as much as they do.

Book a free consultation call with me and we can discuss a plan for your business social media.

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How to Create Custom Instagram Highlight Covers

How to Create Custom Instagram Highlight Covers

I love Instagram so much that I have two accounts, one is personal and the other is for business.

I try not to bore my business audience with pictures of my kids or my lunch – I share those types of posts on my personal account. – be warned!

My business account contains inspirational quotes, testimonials from my clients, blog posts and books I’m reading.

Most of us have heard of Instagram stories – where you can share short video clips or photos of your everyday activities and save it to your story for 24 hours. If you have Stories Archive switched on in your settings, you won’t have to save your stories to your phone, Instagram will keep them archived for you. Then you can add these stories to your highlights. (more…)

Working With 3rd Party Schedulers

Working With 3rd Party Schedulers

Scheduling social media posts is similar to batching tasks because it’s all done at once, rather than spread out sporadically. There are so many benefits to sharing your content this way. (more…)

How To Increase Your SEO Efforts (Without Sacrificing Precious Time)

How To Increase Your SEO Efforts (Without Sacrificing Precious Time)

If you’re a small business owner, you very likely have a website. If your website has a blog, how frequently you post plays a large part in your website’s SEO.

Blogs are crucial to business websites because not only is it an outlet for you to reach your potential clients, you can use it to talk about what you do. Google LOVES blogs, and blogging on a regular basis helps your local SEO, if you’re using the right keywords within your posts. (more…)