The Best Outsourced Manufacturing Companies

The Best Outsourced Manufacturing Companies

Most companies are choosing outsourced companies that will get work done at much cheaper rates. Let’s look into the aspects of outsourcing in this article. We’ve put together everything you need to know in this comprehensive piece!

In today’s time, businesses have way more ways to be efficient; in such cases, outsourcing may or may not work for them. Have you been pondering over the idea of outsourcing a task or two in your business? Today, the most popular resource that is being outsourced is human resources.

In business, outsourcing is only growing and will only continue to do so if companies start employing outside departments. Therefore, it is important for an entrepreneur to understand the effects of outsourcing and how it can affect your company’s culture.

What Is Outsourcing?

Before diving into the details, we need to understand the outsourced meaning. Based on the definition, outsourcing is the task of assigning particular types of work to third parties at specific costs and periods. This is the process of handling specific business tasks to experts who can see through them more effectively.

There are many types of outsourcing companies that can get any type of task done. However, it is also essential that you choose this type of company very carefully.

What Is Outsourcing In Business?

Most business owners have a lot of latent and think that they can manage all tasks at all times. However, this can often prove to be a hindrance when it comes to the company’s growth. By outsourcing tasks, business owners have enough time to pay attention to generating income from the main processes of the business.

Owners of small businesses and entrepreneurs have been outsourcing for quite some time, a practice that was thought to be preserved for corporations only. With the help of technology today, small businesses and firms can outsource and grow their productivity.

Advantages and Disadvantages Of Outsourcing

Some advantages of outsourced labor include:

1. You Do Not Have To Hire More Employees

When you outsource, you pay the outsourcing company or individual as a vendor or contractor. This way, you will not have to employ workers in your company, saving you a lot of money and other resources.

2. Lowering Labor Cost

According to statistics, the US outsources more than 300,000 jobs. By having specialists work for your company, you save on costs like taxes. Simply by outsourcing, the outsourcing company you hire will find the right individual for the job. Overall, you will have access to a larger talent pool, often facilitated through labor contracts, enabling efficient and flexible engagement of skilled professionals.

Overall, you will have access to a larger talent pool.

3. Give Away Mundane Tasks

Employing a person for a data-entry job does not make sense. Why do it when you can have an outsourcing company do this work for a fraction of the rate? You will also save substantially by not having to employ the person.

4. Tap On To Global a Scale

Apart from saving costs, you will be able to tap on a global scale for revenue streams and potential customers. This will help you eliminate warehousing, increase distribution and even expand your product lines.

Some disadvantages of outsourcing include:

5. Lack Of Control

While you can provide direction and a basic idea of what you want to accomplish, you will not have total control over your outsourcing products. Since the outsourcing company is not working on-site, you will not have the same level of control.

6. Communication Problems

While this problem does not always come into play, this can potentially be an issue. Communication will depend on several factors like the outsourcing company’s time zone, preferred communication, internet connection, etc.

7. Quality

While there are several benefits of outsourcing, it will only count if you receive quality work. If the work is not up to your expectations, it can be quite a disappointment.

How Does Outsourcing Work?

If you want to outsource responsibilities effectively, it is vital to direct your focus on the partnership of your business as much as the logistics. Outsourcing is more about managing relationships much more than service-level agreements. Outsourcing is more like a partnership rather than purchasing a project.

On the other hand, some experts even recommend emphasizing the exit clause of a contract of the service. It is essential to know when the contract expires so that the involved parties can get done with all the obligations.

What Are The Various Types Of Outsourcing?

There are many types of outsourced help desks. Depending on the requirements and process, some are more preferable to others. Some types of outsourcing include:

  • Onshoring: Onshoring is a type of outsourcing where the company relocates services or work to a low-costing location in its own country.
  • Offshoring: Offshoring is known as relocating services or works overseas where the third-party providers reside.
  • Nearshoring: Nearshoring is relocating services and works to nearby people, often bordering countries and regions.

The agreement of the outsourcing will also differ in scope. For example, there are specific processes like content creation and programming where hiring freelancers is more appropriate. On the other hand, if your company outsources an entire IT department, it will require a long-term partnership with proper conditions and agreements.

What Are Some Great Outsourced Marketing Companies?

Some of the top outsourced marketing companies include the following:

Britech Industries

Britech Industries is considered one of the top outsourcing companies today. The company utilizes processes that will save the time of its customers. The staff here is quite effective and will only provide long-lasting solutions. The company is also known to provide outstanding customer service.

Maysteel Industries

Maysteel Industries was founded in 1936 and has been one of the biggest companies in engineering. This company engineers and manufactures custom OEM metal sheets for racks, cabinets, kiosks, and enclosures. The company focuses primarily on design and manufacturing.

Talan Products

Talan Products is considered one of the top outsourced sales companies specializing in aluminum extrusions, metal stamping, and similar operations. The company was founded in 1986 and is known for customer-driven innovation, workforce development, and value creation.

GHS Industries

GSH Industries is a top outsourced sales company that has been working for more than 100 years in this niche. The company is known to provide contract manufacturing services and will continue to do so in the future. The facility is top-of-the-line and provides its employees with everything they need.

Conculsion

While outsourcing has often been seen as a way to increase efficiencies while reducing costs, it is also becoming a strategic tool for businesses worldwide, especially new and small businesses. Also, note that one can outsource almost everything, including graphic design.

So, why outsource? Leading companies believe that outsourcing some types of work will help gain a competitive advantage by providing access to innovative technologies and/or expertise that they do not have; additionally, they may also provide services or products faster. Alternatively, it can also enable them to shift resources to the parts of the business that are most critical. Outsourcing offers increased workload flexibility and efficiency.

Let us know what your thoughts are in the comments section!

Author’s Bio: 

Emily Moore is an English & programming teacher with a passion for space and blogging. She believes that every entrepreneur should be focused on preserving our planet’s resources. With satellites circling the orbit, it is easier to get relevant data on any environmental changes. This, in turn, should help people quickly address any challenges.

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Why Hiring a Web Design VA is Essential for E-commerce Business Growth

Why Hiring a Web Design VA is Essential for E-commerce Business Growth

Starting a business is connecting the right customers with the right offerings. There isn’t one simple life changing trick in making your business rank in the e-commerce business growth. The entrepreneurs need to identify the business model suitable for the current business type. They need to dig into the right ideas to trade on the e-commerce settings. We know that orders are very important for the e-commerce industry. So, to keep the expenses low seems to be more feasible with the arrangement of virtual assistant website design.

With the in-trend online shopping activity worldwide, the e-commerce business owners are challenged in many ways. Having an active and user-friendly website is absolutely necessary to promote the business brand online. Also, it will help you to access wide reaching customers online. 

Ways to Improve Your E-commerce Business Growth

Web design is an important part of business making. A well-designed business is better to start with to attract potential customers to your site. It is the ideal platform to  promote the business brand online. Building a website of your own can be time consuming if you lack the knowledge on web programming. Business owners need to grow the business but not with the time consuming task. Having a professional website helps the business organizations to compete with any larger companies. As the ecommerce business comes hand-in-hand, there is a booming demand for design virtual assistant. 

Online shopping is getting more preference than in-store purchases. So, think of it this way, how can the virtual assistants act as a key in scaling the  e-commerce business solutions? They offer customized ecommerce development solutions to increase the brand awareness and boost the sales of online stores. In fact, they deliver continuous efforts to improve the website of your company, payments to receive and orders to fulfill. 

Does the Hiring of Web Design VA Helps to Reduce Costs?

The evolving concept of the web VAs is helping several companies to cut down the extra costs for paying the costs of the workplace. This concept utterly helps the e-traders to meet the economic fluctuations. A virtual assistant programmer can ideally pick the order of the day and lead your business goals. To benefit the gains of e-commerce business making, you should take time to hire the rightly outsourced web design professionals.

So, what else can virtual assistant website design do for your business?

Let’s dive in and check why the virtual assistant web design becomes the backbone of the top-rated E-commerce website development agencies.

Building a responsive website is the main outlook of a web company. It is where you can hire the virtual web design assistants to do the task for you at limited budgets. No longer web users limit viewing the web screen from desktop but they want it to be responsive. They are the ones who can feature it on your mobile, tablet, desktop without affecting the website appearance. They consider the latest design trends and strive hard to convert visitors into customers. 

Build the Identity of Your Brand

When you initiate the process of e-commerce, you need to consider the aspect of leveraging your own brand. You will agree that countless people have already stepped into e-entrepreneurship. To strategize your business goals, you need to focus on the primary things. Here, the virtual assistant website design can take care of your business niche. To throw the light on your brand identity, web VAs consciously adhere to the logo making. Yes, they can create the brand logo as per their creativity but it has to fall in line with the brand scheme. After the logo design, design virtual assistants need to take care of doing with the storefront of the website. 

In short, they are the ultimate ones to build the brands and maintain a clean website. VAs need to remember that the web pages need to be aesthetically pleasing and functional. It will help the ecommerce brands to grow and it will attract more customers to make purchases quickly and in an hassle free manner. If you’re looking for a professional web designer in LA, consider hiring a reliable web designer LA who can understand your brand’s needs and create a visually appealing website that drives conversions.

The Website Maintenance

Website maintenance is another aspect for which the role of  web design VA is acknowledged the most. The VAs are accountable for listening to their client’s voice and demands. So, accordingly, they can attain the niche in developing and delivering the websites. Why do the big companies hire these potential employees? 

Even the virtual assistance can pay you the most in terms of maintaining your website with updated content and trying to make it more interactive and interesting. Their key performances are restricted to areas such as content management, validating source code, and optimizing source code. They can also manage well in handling WordPress and making changes in the website template. 

Conclusion

Those companies who are looking to build a professional website making, should immediately start to search for the right virtual assistant website design. They are responsible for fulfilling your business outcomes at your estimated costs. The creative website designers can create the interactive interfaces of the modern e-commerce trends. 

They are ready to attain and fulfill all the assigned orders within a fixed time. So, are you ready to opt for the in-trend job assistance program? Make sure you do research well in hiring the best web Va to understand your business policies and values. Make  a start to have the best lead in e-entrepreneurship.

Need Help?

Virtual Assistant Assistant is happy to help aid you in selecting the perfect Virtual Assistant for whichever task you need! Take a look at our highest rated companies or schedule a FREE Consultation Call to speak about your options!

 

 

Author:

Billy Brown – is a published content creator and digital marketer. Being a skilled and passionate person he has applied the best efforts to stay with the marketing trends. Virtual Assistant management is one of his  biggest strengths. As an SEO expert, I believe in providing the best digital marketing solutions with my glorious experience in multiple sectors. EcomVA is one such platform where you can get ecommerce virtual assistant services.

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Host Papa

Host Papa is an award-winning web hosting company offering a range of web hosting services to customers all over the world.

The company is headquartered in Ontario, Canada. Although, Host Papa does have support staff in many countries speaking the native languages to help support their international customers.

About Host Papa

The company started operations in 2006. Since then, Host Papa has grown and become a true multi-national company. They’ve also picked up a number of notable industry awards for their web services and customer support.

Web hosting plays an important role for just about every entrepreneur and business owner. Without web hosting, you can’t host your own website and get your business online.

Anyone reading this who has dealt with web hosting companies before will know that two things are vitally important; reliability and customer support.

The last thing you need as a business owner is to spend time finding out why your website has gone down and go back and forth with your hosting company’s support staff to sort it out.

Host Papa knows this, and they’re vocal about focusing on those two areas. They say they offer reliable web hosting using the latest in state-of-the-art data centers. Host Papa also prides itself on offering excellent customer service.

They call their customer support team members the ‘PapaSquad’. PapaSquad experts are available 24/7, 365 days a year, and can communicate in multiple languages.

If you’re not satisfied with your current host for any reason or you’re looking for a host to start a new website, Host Papa might be exactly what you’re looking for.

How Host Papa Works

If you’re interested in working with Host Papa, I recommend you reach out to them and let them know what you’re looking for.

If you already have a website with another host and want to move over to Host Papa, they will migrate your site over to their servers free of charge for you.

If you don’t yet have a website, you can purchase a domain name from Host Papa and get started with a hosting plan in just a few clicks.

Either way, you can communicate with PapaSquad experts via phone, email, or web chat and they will talk you through all the steps to help you get started.

Host Papa Services

The core of Host Papa’s services is domain purchasing and web hosting. They offer some additional services too, such as business email accounts, website builders, and SSL certificates.

When choosing web hosting, you have the following main options:

  • Shared hosting
  • VPS hosting
  • Reseller hosting
  • Optimized WordPress hosting

The type of hosting you need depends on a few factors specific to your business. I recommend discussing your options with Host Papa’s customer support team, that’s what they’re there for!

Host Papa Plans and Pricing

Host Papa has various web hosting packages and prices will vary depending on how many sites you have, the bandwidth you need, and some other factors.

To simplify this; if you want to get started with basic shared hosting – as I’m sure most reading this will – pricing starts at just $3.95/mo.

For VPS hosting, which means your site is on its own server, pricing starts at $19.99/mo.

These are competitive rates. There is a small catch though, you do need to sign up for 36 months to secure the lowest price.

But I don’t see that as a huge deal. You’re likely to need hosting for 3+ years anyway, so you may as well secure it at a low price from the offset.

Host Papa Alternatives

The web hosting market is huge and there is no shortage of other hosting companies competing for your business.

For a couple of alternatives, I recommend checking out GoDaddy and Bluehost. These are two of the largest companies with great reputations worth checking out.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Host Papa? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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How To Choose the Right VA for Real Estate Business

How To Choose the Right VA for Real Estate Business

The real estate business is subject to constant expansion and handling a vast number of clients all at once with regard to a certain property can be somewhat overwhelming. On many occasions, you will have to keep a vigilant eye on all the work, from publicity and promotion to day-to-day operations. The flexibility of the administrative processes helps to determine the success or failure of the business.

However, donning all hats yourself can at times interfere with the quality of the business. So, given the importance of your real estate business, hiring the right Virtual Assistant (VA) to support you can be a major game-changer. 

Why Hire A VA for Real Estate Business? 

Real estate business owners should focus on activities that generate high income. Regular operations like handling phone calls, writing emails, managing listings, and more can easily be delegated to VAs. The skills and experience of a VA can be highly useful to boost your business. Indeed, adept VAs can take care of all the relevant tasks with ease, saving you considerable time and stress in the long run. So it is essential to choose the best suited VA with the required skills.

What Do Real Estate VAs Do? 

VAs can help in several ways in a real estate business. This includes attracting clients, building strong customer relationships, conducting meetings and phone calls, and other related work. VAs are required to manage fundamental areas of your real estate business. Indeed, there is a lot they can do to help you out in your daily operations. It is important for the VA to be aware of your niche in order to understand the nuances. Some of the areas that VAs cover include: 

  • Phone Support 
  • Graphic Design 
  • SEO 
  • Email Marketing 
  • Social Media Management 
  • Data Entry 
  • Transaction Management 
  • Market Research 
  • Conducting Virtual Inbound and Outbound Sales 
  • Other Ancillary Work

VAs are highly flexible and have a lot of industry experience in their respective fields. So, real estate business owners can discuss all aspects of running operations and more with their VAs. 

How To Choose the Right Real Estate VA

Hiring the right VA takes much more than interviewing candidates and reviewing resumes. As a business owner, you want to be specific with your needs when it comes to recruiting the right real estate VA. Also, depending on the level of control you would like to give to your VA and the time period for which you would be hiring, there are certain questions worth posing.

Here are some pro tips to choose the appropriate virtual assistant to take care of your real estate business: 

  • Identify Tasks To Outsource – This is the most essential step even before you choose a VA. It is essential to distinguish between the tasks that you want to manage yourself and the ones you want to outsource. Consider assessing all the tasks yourself at the outset. Make a wishlist of the tasks you want to be accomplished and then evaluate which of these can be offloaded, either because of your lack of time or expertise in that area. This allows easier management of operations and helps to keep a track of the tasks under your VA.
  • Pick a VA with Your Niche – A VA who has a background in working in the real estate sector is a better choice than any other. They are familiar with the tasks, management, and communication that comes along with it. It helps them to deal with the technical aspects better due to prior knowledge and experience.
  • Create a Process Documentation – Documenting the process of your standard operations is highly beneficial for your VA. There are different reasons to apply process documentation to your business tasks. It acts as a handy reference guide for your virtual assistant who is working remotely and cannot interact with you in person. Most importantly, it is a highly valuable business asset that helps to keep your stress at bay and precludes micro-management. Also, it is a great data store that holds your most valuable business track and operations record.
  • Proactive OR Reactive VA? – This is a vital question to ask yourself before making the plunge. Consider if you are looking for a VA who actively participates in the real estate business or someone who will simply manage your business tasks in a set fashion. Once you have the answer to the aforementioned question, choosing the right VA becomes a lot easier.
  • Make an Estimate of the Hours to Spend on the VA – This is important for small real estate business owners who are simply beginning their business or struggling to establish their existing business. There are project-based and hour-based plans for more flexibility while choosing your VA. It ensures that your VAs are completing the tasks assigned to them within your time limit.  
  • Describe Your Requirements – There are plenty of VAs with multiple skill sets to choose from. Since picking the right VA for your real estate business can be overwhelming, it is best to describe the features you are seeking. Some valid questions to consider are whether the VA will be working during the same business hours as yourself and how many years of experience they have in the industry. It is essential that the VA you choose lives up to YOUR requirements and standards. Creating a list of qualities you seek in your VA will help you connect to the right assistant.

Conclusion

Choosing the right VA for your real estate business becomes easier when you have a plan in place. Now you know where to begin. So, get the right-fit VA to lighten your load and experience a significant difference yourself!

Top Rated VA companies

BELAY

Exclusively employing US-based assistants, BELAY began in 2010. The company has since undergone an expansion and is now serving small and large businesses across the United States.

belay real estate assistant

The company boasts of a proven onboarding process by allowing you to speak with a Solutions Consultant and a Relationship Manager. They’ll help introduce you to virtual assistants who are skilled in bookkeeping, web support/maintenance, project management, and social media management to name a few.

Rates for BELAY are a little steeper; think $36 an hour and up.

VAA Exclusive: Mention Virtual Assistant Assistant when you join and get $200 off your startup costs!

Click here to see our full review of BELAY, my interview with the founder, and read real customer reviews.

My OutDesk

MyOutDesk is another virtual assistant company but unlike the others, this company focuses solely on real estate. Founded in 2008 in San Diego by a team of real estate veterans, My OutDesk operates through a group of virtual assistants located in the Philippines.

These virtual assistants are trained in a variety of real estate-specific tasks like broker price opinions, transaction coordination, bookkeeping, MLS listings management, short sale processing, property forms, as well as posting to craigslist.

ShoreAgents

ShoreAgents is a virtual assistant company specializing in providing virtual assistants to businesses in the real estate industry.

The company is headquartered in the Philippines and all of their staff work out of their offices in the same location.

A full-time VA is going to cost you somewhere in the $1,100-$1,500/mo ballpark for most roles.

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Toogit

Toogit, which stands for Top Online Gurus for Instant Technology and Other Work (I can see why they use an acronym!) is an online freelance community platform.

The company is headquartered in India. Toogit helps connect freelancers with clients all over the globe and currently has more than 400,000 freelancers signed up for their platform ready to tackle any kind of project.

About Toogit

The company started operations in 2015 and was founded by Nishant Agarwal. Nishant started Toogit to help “with the intent of helping people find more success and satisfaction in their businesses or freelance careers.”

Toggit is an online platform where you can post a job and receive bids from freelancers that specialize in that specific area of work. There is some AI working in the background to try and match jobs with freelancers, and Toogit also offers 24/7 live support should you run into any problems.

If you have one-off tasks you regularly need to be completed, or even if you have a one-time job, you may find using Toggit easier than going through a virtual assistant company.

This is because you can set a price for your job, not buy a bundle of hours. Giving you more flexibility and control over exactly how much you’re paying for your tasks to be completed.

How Toogit Works

To get started as either a freelancer or a client, you need to sign up for a free account. As a client looking for a freelancer, you can then start posting projects. Or, if you’re a freelancer you can fill out your profile and start browsing jobs.

If we look at this from the client-side, there is a simple form to fill out asking for the information you’d expect to share when looking for a freelancer. Details like describing the job you want to be done, what your budget is, what category it comes under, and so on.

When posting a job you have the option to enable ‘Toogit Instant Connect’. This is essentially a way to boost the exposure of your job for an additional fee.

For this, you get a premium listing. Your job details are also instantly emailed to freelancers with the skills required to complete your job. If your job is urgent, this is the fastest way to reach all of the freelancers with the skill sets that match up with your requirements.

Toogit Services

Toogit is a platform that helps connect freelancers with clients in need of certain skills and experience to complete jobs.

There is no real limit to the types of tasks you can request. As long as the work can be completed remotely, you can post a job and see what bids you receive.

To give you a general idea, Toogit lists the following as their ‘best freelance services’:

  • Graphics and design
  • Digital marketing
  • Writing and translation
  • Audio and video
  • Customer service
  • IT and programming
  • Social media
  • Finance and accounting

For me, one of the main benefits of using a platform like Toogit is knowing you have some payment protection.

This works for both the client and the freelancer. As a client, you’re required to put the funds for your job into an Escrow account. On successful completion of the work, the funds are then released to the freelancer.

This gives you peace of mind that you’re going to receive completed work before paying. While the freelancer also has the security of knowing the funds are there when they’ve completed the work.

Toogit Plans and Pricing

Toogit has a simple pricing structure; clients pay a flat 8% on each invoice to Toogit.

You get to set the budget for your projects, so you can calculate your fees beforehand and factor them into your jobs.

Toogit also has some add-on services. Using Toogit Connect costs around $5.20 per listing, and you can also pay around $8.60 to give your job posting featured status.

Toogit Alternatives

For alternatives to Toogit I recommend checking out Fiverr and FreeUp. Generally speaking, Fiverr is better for smaller or one-off jobs. While FreeUp is better for finding team members that you intend to work with on a more regular basis.

Your Turn

Have you used the Toogit platform? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Outsource Content Writing to an Agency

Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Outsource Content Writing to an Agency

There’s nothing wrong with doing everything yourself unless the task is too time-consuming so working on it alone becomes unproductive. This is exactly the case with content marketing, and its importance increases all the time. According to statistics, 91% of B2B marketers and 60% of B2C marketers use content marketing to reach their customers. The competition grows so you should create high-quality content and you should do it consistently in order to outperform other companies from the same niche. 

Businesses wish to perform better than their competitors. It’s the reason why content writing agencies appeared, and it also explains why they have become more and more popular. Companies are willing to invest more in content creation. The volume of content produced for marketing purposes grows, search engine algorithms become more sophisticated, and producing content that will stand out gets more and more difficult. One of the main reasons why you should outsource content creation is that this way, you will work with professionals. Besides, no matter what your niche is, the chances are that your competitors already do it.

Benefits of Outsourcing Content Writing

1. Publish more content more frequently

Even if you focus all your efforts on content marketing, there will always be a limit regarding how much content you can produce in a day, month, or quarter. Creating high-quality content that will be appreciated by both your target audience and search engines takes a lot of time. Of course, you might quickly write a short impromptu blog post, but such content is unlikely to help you achieve your business goals.

Effective content takes a lot of time to research, write, edit, and publish. If you’re looking for truly outstanding blog posts, then even a professional full-time writer is unlikely to create more than one or two posts per week. To keep your audience engaged, you should produce content consistently, and outsourcing can help you produce more content without sacrificing its quality. No matter how much fresh content you want to publish daily or weekly, you can get it by just hiring more writers.

2. Work with industry experts

It’s impossible to be an expert at everything. Unless you only need content on some very narrow topic, you will definitely benefit from hiring professionals who are perfectly familiar with various topics related to your industry. Content writing agencies usually hire a vast range of experts so you can always find someone with the necessary knowledge and experience.

3. Outsourcing is cost-effective

Outsourcing costs less than hiring full-time writers. A professional full-time content writer will cost you about $60,000 a year. Along with the salary, you should also keep in mind the cost of training, equipment, and the overhead costs associated with having an additional employee. If you choose to outsource content writing, you will only pay for the content, with no need to worry about providing insurance or buying a new desktop for your writer if the current one breaks.

Check out our top rated content marketing VA companies here.

4. Have more time for strategic planning and other important activities

Perhaps, the main reason why businesses decide to outsource their content writing is that it takes a lot of time. When it comes to content marketing, businesses have a lot in common with students who get too many assignments. Students often realize that they need help so they visit writing service review websites and choose top essay writing companies. When businesses realize how much time content writing takes, they outsource it.

It’s impossible for businesses to focus on content creation only. If you own a business, you should also deal with many other important tasks that you cannot delegate to anyone else. Besides, you should not only write content but also optimize it for search engines, promote it on social media, etc. By delegating all these tasks to professionals, you can dedicate more time to various crucial aspects of your business. This way, you’ll get high-quality content and focus your efforts on areas where your skills are most needed.

6. Increase your ROI

You can easily track and measure the ROI of your outsourced content. For instance, you can measure the number of clicks, conversions, an increase in social media following, and an increase in sales. Content marketing agencies know that their customers need effective content that will help them achieve their business goals. Therefore, when you order content from reliable content writing agencies, you can be sure that this content will be properly optimized to drive conversions and engagement.

7. Benefit from different perspectives and fresh ideas

You may use your content to tell your story and communicate your brand values. This way, you’ll be able to strengthen your brand image and be more authentic. However, your content marketing efforts can be more effective if you also introduce some fresh ideas and add content from writers who may consider your topics from a unique perspective.

Content marketing agencies enable you to work with experts who have already created lots of content for different companies. These experts can use their knowledge and experience to produce content that will give you a competitive advantage. Besides, professional writers keep up with all the latest trends in the industry so they can help you make your content more relevant.

10. Reach a wider audience

Some content writing agencies can publish your content on their blogs and social media. Therefore, you can expand your reach and attract a completely new audience of people who otherwise wouldn’t learn about your brand. Besides, such companies often have specialists who can research your industry and suggest relevant blogs where you can publish your content to get more views.

11. Agencies know their audience

It’s not enough to just know your topic. To create successful content, you should also know your audience so that you can tailor the content to their needs and preferences. When producing content yourself, you may use a lot of industry-specific jargon or forget about some topics that might be interesting to beginners. Professional writers can analyze your audience and make sure that your content is relevant and easy to understand.

12. Flexibility

One of the main advantages of hiring a content marketing agency is that such companies have many writers familiar with different niches and topics. Therefore, you can get more diverse content, attracting new types of readers, and making your blog more interesting to read.

13. Improve your marketing strategy

Not only can content marketing agencies write a few posts for your blog, but they can also help you improve your overall marketing strategy or help you create one if you don’t have it yet. Such companies know their industry so they can suggest what types of content are most beneficial for your business, what topics you should address, and how frequently new content should be created.

Conclusion

Content creation is a challenging task that involves not only writing but also planning, research, SEO optimization, promotion, etc. Thanks to content marketing agencies, you can save your time and focus your efforts on the most important aspects of your business while professionals work on your content. Outsourcing content writing can help you increase the ROI of your content strategy, and it can also help you produce more content faster. Besides, experienced professionals can make your content more effective and diverse. A great company to work with is Copywriter Today.

 

Author: Frank Hamilton

Frank Hamilton is a blogger and translator from Manchester. He is a professional writing expert in such topics as blogging, digital marketing and SEO. He also loves traveling and speaks Spanish, French, German and English.

 

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The Biggest Challenges Faced by VAs

The Biggest Challenges Faced by VAs

Virtual assistants have completely transformed the way companies conduct their businesses. As more and more organizations shift to remote work, VA jobs have tremendously increased as well. The ability to work from home is just one of the many perks that this job offers.

However, being a virtual assistant comes with many challenges too. Thankfully, there are ways to overcome such obstacles, thrive in this profession and  be more effective and satisfied at work.

Communication Problems

There’s no form of communication better than direct, face-to-face interactions.

Surely, working from home has so many benefits. But unless you’re prepared for the daily communication issues, you might find this job overwhelming. 

Virtual teams completely rely on communication channels like chats, video conferences, and emails. Unfortunately, many factors can get in the way, such as delayed messages, internet connectivity issues, client emails going into the “spam” folder, unread messages, conflicting time zones, etc. The list is endless.

The best way to prevent delays and misunderstandings and to increase productivity is by devising a plan or process to ensure that all instructions are understood by both parties (client and VA). Many virtual teams are using communication platforms like Slack where messages and interactions are easily managed and supervised to ensure that team members don’t miss any important message or information.

A Different Way of Working

If you have never worked as a VA or freelancer before, it can get very overwhelming in the beginning. Working remotely is far different from working in an office. 

While it’s true that you have more control over your schedule, if you don’t manage your time well, you might end up not getting anything done, missing deadlines, and worse – getting kicked out from the team.

It takes a lot of adjustment to become a successful virtual assistant. Aside from learning to work independently or with minimal supervision, you have to learn how to adapt to a new environment, deal with people from different cultures, and get acquainted with every work-related process of the company.

It’s important to openly and honestly communicate with your client or virtual team manager about your struggles in transitioning to remote work. It does take some time to get used to a different way of working but as long as you’re open to learning and willing to adjust, you’ll get there.

Time Management

Virtual assistant jobs can be very fulfilling for self-motivated people, so long as you manage your time effectively. There are many time tracking softwares or websites available to help you manage!

Here are some time management strategies to stay productive when working from home:

  • Use time blocking. 

Divide your day into blocks of time, each is dedicated to accomplishing a specific task. For example, you can try to schedule all your meetings in a day so they don’t get in the way of your other tasks, dedicate Monday for deep work and Friday for wrapping up any loose ends.

  • Make a list and prioritize. 

Create a timeline of your activities for the week, placing the most important and urgent ones first.

  • Have a dedicated office or workstation in your home.

Find a quiet and organized space where you can focus on work and block distractions.

Language Barriers

Serving international clients can be challenging. VAs need to be highly fluent in English, or it is better when a VAs are bilingual and can easily communicate with people of different nationalities. A good way to enhance your English speaking and writing skills is to join a language class. 

Do note that different cultures may speak the same language differently. For example, American English is different from British English. Understanding language barriers is key to effective communications.

Fear and Overwhelm

It’s normal to get anxious about your tasks as a virtual assistant, especially if you have the fear of communicating with others.

Language and culture barriers, along with task-specific challenges can feel overwhelming. Luckily, there are excellent training programs that will equip you with the skills and knowledge to become confident with your new role.

Conflicting Time Zones

Working with clients in different time zones is extremely challenging. Conflicting time zones can cause communication delays and project delays, which can be very frustrating for you and your client.

When you start working with a new client, be sure to discuss your time zone concerns. For example, when setting deadlines, meetings, and other time-sensitive correspondence, will you be using their local time or yours? Since you want to make it easy for your client, you want to always offer to use their local time. 

Try to find an ideal time that will work on your schedule too. For example, see if anytime between 4 pm and 7 pm in your time is suitable for correspondence on your client’s time (preferably, it should be between 9 am and 5 pm in their time.)

Routine

Setting a daily routine is important to be a successful virtual assistant. It creates structure, helps you reach your goals, and reduces procrastination.

Here’s an example of a routine that you can try:

  • Start each day with some exercise. Physical activity energizes your mind and body, preparing you for a productive day ahead.
  • Have a hearty breakfast. 
  • Schedule difficult tasks in the morning. If you do the easiest tasks first, chances are, you won’t have enough energy to tackle more difficult tasks in the afternoon.
  • Take a break. Schedule your breaks. Get up from your desk once in a while to do a few stretches.
  • Follow a work schedule. Practice life-work balance by setting a daily schedule. 
  • Have a rest day. Make sure you enjoy the weekend too.

Conclusion

Being a virtual assistant can be a fulfilling career. However, to succeed in this profession, you have to take time to master your communication and task-specific skills. At the same time, you have to establish a healthy routine and time management to get things done and serve your clients well.

Looking to hire a Virtual Assistant?

Our partners at ClearDesk are able to help you build your business and give you back more of your most valuable asset – time! With no setup fees or contracts, they are offering 3 different packages that include a 7 day trial period! Schedule a call directly with their team to get started or read my review for more information.

Meggie is an HR Manager at AMGtime and a passionate Freelance Writer with ongoing curiosity to learn new things. She is deeply convinced that valuable experience sharing is key to business success. Meggie believes in a win-win formula and utilizes it on a daily basis in staff management.

 

 

 

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LongerDays

LongerDays is a team-based virtual assistant company located in Michigan. LongerDays’ business clients communicate with a Team Lead who delegates tasks seamlessly with specialist VAs on the team. LongerDays unique model allows them to deliver a broader array of services than a solo VA. Their structure ensures that clients always have access to a person who can assist them, even if the Team Lead is out for the day. Additionally, all LongerDays VAs are W2 employees, not contractors.

LongerDays was founded in 2007 and has grown to become one of the most sought after virtual assistant companies in the US. Demand for LongerDays can be high, particularly in January, so new clients may face a short waiting list for a spot as a LongerDays client.

How it Works

LongerDays virtual business assistants work as a team, so you get the benefit of a dedicated assistant as well as an entire office worth of experience and specialization. LongerDays VAs are capable of much more than just administrative tasks, including CRM configuration, business process consulting, writing/editing, graphic design, and task automation.

LongerDays makes significant investments in helping their clients document their business processes. The resulting process documentation belongs to the client and is useful even if a business ends up growing and hiring in-house staff. 

LongerDays is picky about who they work with. You have to apply to become a client. Upon acceptance, clients are assigned a Team Lead who writes detailed task processes, delegates work to the in-house VA team, and oversees productivity and quality control.

As a Better Business Bureau accredited business, they are held accountable for delivering on their promises.

LongerDays Services

LongerDays provides assistance in five main areas:

  1. Business process documentation
  2. Admin & Invoicing 
  3. Graphic Design
  4. WordPress and Web
  5. Content writing and book editing

Much like an in-house employee, they can be trained to accomplish just about anything you need done.

LongerDays Review

A LongerDays Virtual Assistant is not for everyone. They aim to provide a premium service for business clients with premium standards. They’re best suited for business owners who are looking for a wide variety of skills from a single source.

If you are looking for a personal assistant as a luxury service, this company is probably not for you.

LongerDays Plans and Pricing

LongerDays virtual assistant plans start around $90 per week — an 8-hour monthly plan is $375 ($46.88/hr).

As you might expect, as you commit to more hours, the rates get better. Their 16-hour a month plan is $675 ($42.19/hr) and the 32-hour plan is $1,275 ($39.84/hour).

A LongerDays Team Lead is assigned based on a brief interview that you complete shortly after signing up. The LongerDays Team Lead reaches out to the client to get started on building processes and executing tasks within one business day.

Of course, these rates are significantly higher than what you’ll find in India or elsewhere overseas. The rates are on par with what you’ll find at other VA companies in the US.

LongerDays Alternatives

For American virtual assistants, you might consider Virtual Assist USA or RemSource. Time Etc has earned plenty of positive feedback lately.

Your Turn

For those with experience working with LongerDays, please feel free to share a quick review of the service below.

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Should your eCommerce Business hire a Virtual Assistant?

Should your eCommerce Business hire a Virtual Assistant?

We understand that e-commerce virtual assistants are in high demand in the market. But have you tried to find out the reason behind it?

As a business owner or even a user, you know there are mundane and tedious tasks for an e-commerce business. These tasks consume a lot of time. Instead, save this time and spend it on improving the growth of the company. Here, the concept of getting a virtual assistant for e-commerce stores seems feasible. 

What are the e-commerce tasks you can assign to virtual assistant services?

  •     Enter and upload product data
  •     Write product descriptions
  •     Analyze the price and discounts
  •     Edit and optimize images
  •     Manage promotional offers
  •     Handle social media marketing
  •     Website development
  •     Adding products in the relevant category
  •     Manage inventory
  •     Optimize product and service pages
  •     Gather relevant information
  •     Design and send email newsletters
  •     Design banners, landing page, and other marketing content

What are the advantages of having an e-commerce virtual assistant?

Cost-Effective

Suppose you want to perform some tasks in a budget-friendly manner or are looking for ways to reduce costs. When you get virtual assistant support services, you do not have to deal with any allowance. All you need to do is discuss the requirements and ask for expected delivery.  

Save time

Virtual assistants will save up to 40% of your time, which can be invested in planning the growth of your business. Obviously, you must spend hours monitoring customer actions, data entry, updating product databases, writing product descriptions, or handling accounting.

As a business owner, your target is to aim for growth. You can easily assign these mundane tasks to virtual assistants. This will help to clear the cluster from your routine and put your business performance first.

Data management

This is an essential feature for e-commerce businesses to run smoothly. Businesses which support virtual assistants are taking the benefits of working smoothly. They are the experts in multiple tasks. They can manage your data and also prepare reports if needed. Data is the most complicated thing and also an essential task for the e-commerce business.

Fewer Risks

Many e-commerce companies feel hesitant to hire someone for their business. This might be a lack of trust or budget, or resources. Well, a virtual assistant can handle your tasks by considering all the factors. They are a one-stop solution for limited resources, budget crisis, time, and knowledge. Hiring a virtual assistant means getting an employee that works around the clock and has experience in multiple sectors.

Increase Productivity

Virtual assistants have the right skills to handle every tedious task of your business. By handling these tasks, they save the hassle of performing such tasks and provide you adequate time to focus on the core segments of the business.  

What tasks can you assign to your virtual assistant for e-commerce stores?

1.    Order Processing

A trained virtual assistant could easily handle the entire process of order and shipment. Some duties that you can assign them are:

  •     Compile orders
  •     Add data into reports
  •     Update order details
  •     Track orders
  •     Set up shipment
  •     Send customers  invoices

This means a skilled e-commerce virtual assistant can track the progress of the orders and fulfil any customers’ requirements.

2.    Manage inventory and stocks

This is critical to run an e-commerce business smoothly in the digital world. You need to maintain a balance between both to ensure customer satisfaction. Some tasks for virtual assistants are:

  •     Check inventory to ensure you have enough stocks
  •     Update product lists
  •     Add new inventory
  •     Manage product categories
  •     Handle errors to ensure all the information is updated and correct
  •     Keep track of orders
  •     Reminder for restocking when stocks are lower

3.    Manage Exchanges and Returns

Your work isn’t completed even after the order has been delivered to the customer. In some cases, customers might not be happy with the product, or it might have been damaged during the delivery processes. This means you need to provide them with a seamless exchange or returns of the products. The virtual assistant has the skills to handle the below tasks:

  •     Great communication skills
  •     Expertise in customer services to resolve disputes
  •     The organized flow of handling issues
  •     Pays attention to each detail

This ensures a customer-friendly environment in your e-commerce store.

Virtual assistants can also integrate advanced solutions like delivery management software to enhance logistics and customer satisfaction. Employing such tools helps streamline processes and significantly improve delivery efficiency, minimizing errors during exchanges or returns. By using the best delivery management softwares available in 2024, e-commerce businesses stand to benefit from automated route planning, real-time tracking, and dynamic updates that elevate their operational capabilities.

4.    Customer Services

To deliver the best services, your virtual assistant will be available 24/7 for the customers. Some virtual assistant support services can help to handle challenges like:

  •   Sending quick responses to the customers through different mediums like phone, social media, email, and phone.
  •     Handle unsatisfied customers and resolve complaints
  •     Spot opportunities to upsell and cross-sell your products
  •     Manage customer interactions
  •     Increase user engagement with your store
  •     Take follow-up with potential customers
  •     Respond to positive and negative feedbacks

5.    Create Press releases and Newsletters

You can take help from virtual assistants to submit press releases and newsletters related to your business. A virtual assistant newsletter will be more effective in the market. As they have relevant information and know the interests of the target audience. Some tasks where they can excel are:

  •     Build a strong brand reputation
  •     Earn backlinks from authoritative websites or businesses
  •     Attain public attention
  •     Handle media coverage

This will help in taking a step further to promote your e-commerce business in the digital market.

6.    Maintain your e-commerce store

Building e-commerce is just the starting of the journey in the online world. It is essential to meet customers’ expectations at each phase. A virtual assistant has e-commerce skills and training that comes handy in multiple things like:

  •     Update price details on product pages
  •     Change or modify product descriptions
  •     Find and replace broken links
  •     Keep track of the latest trends in the industry
  •     Upload relevant content
  •     Optimize page loading speed
  •     Add, modify, or update product lists
  •     Make sure the copyright information is updated
  •     Polish your website elements
  •     Optimize images on the website

7.    Perform market research

Engage e-commerce virtual assistants to perform market research and give valuable insights which are beneficial for your business. They can handle:

  •     Product research
  •     Target Customer
  •     Competitors Research
  •     Keywords Research
  •     Recent trends research

Performing extensive market research and compiling them into systematic reports makes your work seamless.

Wrapping it up!

We have given you pointers to handle your time-consuming work with the help of an e-commerce virtual assistant. We assume that you would hire the right virtual assistant who has experience in the market and fits your budget. This process will save your time and resources that can be applied in the business growth. 

Author

Billy Brown is a published content creator and digital marketer. Being a skilled and passionate person he has applied the best efforts to stay with the marketing trends. Virtual Assistant management is one of his  biggest strengths. As an SEO expert, I believe in providing the best digital marketing solutions with my glorious experience in multiple sectors. EcomVA is one such platform where you can get ecommerce virtual assistant services.

 

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JH Virtual Assistant

JH Virtual Assistant is a UK-Based virtual assistant company that provides virtual PAs and administrative support to companies across the UK.

The company is headquartered in Fife, Scotland, and their assistants work remotely all over the UK.

About JH Virtual Assistant

The company started operations in 2013 and is headed up by founder Jeanette Hunter (hence the name ‘JH’ Virtual Assistant). Jeanette has a wealth of industry experience, she worked as a PA and in various administrative roles for a number of years before starting the company.

She started JH Virtual assistant to use all the skills she’s accumulated over the years and offer a service to companies all over the UK. As her client base has grown, Jeanette has added members to her team.

The best part is that Jeanette is still very hands-on with the business. She works as a virtual assistant and handles tasks for clients along with the rest of her team.

JH Virtual assistant says that whatever size the task is, they can tailor a package to suit your requirements and have the assistants with the necessary skills to carry out the work.

How JH Virtual Assistant Works

To get started working with JH Virtual assistant, simply choose one of their pricing plans. You’ll be taken to a form where you can leave your contact details, and a member of their team will respond to you within 24 hours.

After discussing your requirements in more detail, Jeanette will assign the best-suited assistant to start handling your tasks.

She will let you know how you can best communicate with your assistant, and you can start working with them right away.

JH Virtual Assistant Services

JH Virtual assistant’s assistants are able to take on just about any tasks that can be completed remotely.

To give you a general idea, JH Virtual assistant group some of their core services as follows:

  • Admin support
  • Call answering/secretarial services
  • Social media management
  • Data entry and processing
  • Event management
  • Word processing
  • Diary management
  • Personal assistant services
  • Digital marketing

JH Virtual Assistant Plans and Pricing

JH Virtual assistant currently has 5 different pricing plans and a pay-as-you-go option. Hourly rates range from approx $23.20/hr for their largest plan to $34/hr for their pay-as-you-go plan.

A complete list of their prices at the time of publishing was:

  1. Package 1 – £420 for 20 hours (approx $570 or $28.5/hr)
  2. Package 2 – £500 for 25 hours (approx $680 or $27.20/hr).
  3. Package 3 – £570 for 30 hours (approx $780 or $26/hr).
  4. Package 4 – £700 for 40 hours (approx $950 or $23.75/hr).
  5. Package 5 – £850 for 50 hours (approx $1,160 or $23.20/hr).
  6. Pay-as-you-go – £25/hr (approx $34/hr)

JH Virtual assistant do point out that these rates are for general administrative and PA services. If you want to outsource accountancy, social media, content writing, or marketing, you’ll have to contact them for a bespoke quote.

It’s also important to note that you must use all of the hours you purchase within one calendar month.

JH Virtual Assistant Alternatives

For alternative UK-based virtual assistant companies, we recommend checking out Virtalent and Time ETC. Both offer a similar range of services and pricing.

Your Turn

Have you worked with JH Virtual Assistant? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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