I am copying over my article from the Virtual Buzz Assistant Blog.  You might want to follow the link for two reasons -

#1 – If you or someone you know is thinking about starting a business, that Free Business Launchpad eBook will help.

#2 – To download the eBook, you sign up for an email tip list on creative ways to use virtual assistants to enhance your Buzz Marketing.  Now all the visitors here should be interested in THAT.

30 Day Virtual Assistant Business Launch Pad

Thinking about launching a Virtual Assistant Business?

I started out writing this eBook as a members-only kind of resource.  Then I realized it could be very valuable to anyone starting any kind of home-based or small business.

People were getting lost in what seems like overwhelming issues, so we lay it out day by day and make it easy to move from idea to income in 30 days.

We are giving it away.  Click here to get your copy.

Since we have launched several ventures, we know the basic stuff you need to get in place, and how important it is to focus on generating revenue quickly.  If you are thinking about starting a business or are trying to figure out what things need done for a business you recently started, this resource is for you.

It is easy to get caught up in all the social media tasks that you have.  If you are successful, your list of tasks keeps growing every day.

What are 10 things you should outsource to a virtual buzz assistant?

1. LinkedIn Approval - If you are openly linking to people on linked is, as I do, it is silly to be approving those links yourself.  You could get a lot more mileage if you have that approval and polite email reply outsourced.
2.  Asking Bloggers to Write About You – If you are researching blogs in your industry and sending them a polite request to link to your site or write about your product, do not do this work yourself.
3. Reciprocal Connections – I tend to follow people that follow me on twitter if they are active.  I also approve friendships in many networks and return the connection.  But I do not need to do those things myself.
4. Light Blog Writing – If you want to have more blog posts, consider hiring a virtual buzz assistant to write a daily summary on industry news – in addition to your regular posts.
5. Account Creation – Do you need help creating and managing your many social network accounts?  Don’t do it yourself unless your time is worth next to nothing.
6. Interlinking – All your accounts and sites perform better when they occasionally link to each other.  An assistant that is managing these accounts for you can also link to a few resources every day.
7. Correspondence – View Yaro Starak’s piece on this. Reducing your activities to critical business building activities is best for you in the long term.

Keep in mind I am a huge fan of creating great relationships.  But given the choice of a few stronger 1 on 1 relationships vs. more free time to create more great content for all readers, I will usually take the free time to write.  And a good assistant will forward me the connections that make sense.

When you first started your business, it was simple.  You had a checking account and it had a few expenses every month, and if you were lucky, some deposits.

“Today you are trading in social currency.  You may be rich, or you may be poor, but it is the currency of the future whether you like it or not.”

If the IRS came knocking at your young business, you gave them the shoe box of transactions and brewed them some coffee while they sat at your kitchen table and reviewed a whole year’s worth of transaction.  If you have been in business for a while, you know how quickly that changes.  Multiple checking accounts, automatic transactions left and right, loans, credit cards, balance transfers….

For a more mature company, an audit is a hassle if you have to do it yourself.

Social Networking seems just as confusing and out of control as finances can be.  It all started out easy.  No need to keep lots of records, you are just trying out that new social media tool…

Doing taxes, and auditing your own financials is not fun.  But if you were not forced to do it periodically, imagine what a mess you could have after a few years.

Your Social Media Efforts Need Audited

Your social media efforts produce important things for you, even if you are not taking full advantage of them.

1. Connections – Also known as lists of people
2. Feeds – Avenues to publish information other people see
3. Access – Permission to publish on other websites

Much like scheduling auto-payments for a bill, many of these tools automatically publish information or grow your network.  It is easy to forget it is happening.

Here are recommendations to getting the most out of your social media effort.

1. Have a real strategy – Who would you like to connect with and what do you have to offer them?
2. Have a reason for them to sign up to an email list – Email is still #1 when used correctly.  What can you offer people in your many online groups to entice them to sign up directly with you for email?
3. Track all your accounts – Keep a spreadsheet of accounts, when you signed up, password, etc.
4. Audit your profile and settings at least twice per year.  You will find all kinds of things have changed, but you have not updated them.
5. Look for new integration opportunities – Social media is doing a better job of integrating and standardizing than financial tools are, in my opinion.  (Yes, financial is a bit harder, I know)

Perpetual Beta Social Media

Social media sites are constantly evolving.  If not the tool itself, then some other tool that will take data from a site and display it within another tool.  Crazy!

You have to keep up, or your image will get muddled or stale.  The good news is that there are social media bookkeepers.  A good virtual assistant can help you organize the tools, track progress and outcome, grow your connections and audit your profiles -  often in a few hours per month.  The Virtual Buzz Assistant network was created because of the incredible need for this kind of help.  It helps people develop their own Virtual Buzz Assistant business and help busy professionals that understand the importance of social media to find the help they need.

No sales pitch here – you can do it all yourself right after you update Quickbooks and finish your weekly payroll.

I have had a difficult dilemma over the years I have been advocating Employee Evangelism.  On the one hand, it is a great way to increase sales and visibility at no additional cost.  On the other hand, the cost could be huge if your employees spend all their time evangelizing and not doing their core job.

Shama Hyder did a research study on Twitter and the results are unfortunately in favor of not doing Employee Evangelism.  While twitter can be a great tool for marketing, it is also a great way to procrastinate and escape from the daily grind.  I have to admit that I expected that.

I also see a huge opportunity here.  If people are in businesses wasting time on Twitter, that is a great audience for you to tap into.  That is why you may not want to have your employees using twitter at work, but you definitely want to hire a Virtual Buzz Assistant to help you develop and bond with a great group of time wasters.

A Virtual Buzz Assistant is not going to impersonate you, but you can always set up an account that represents your organization and develop an audience of followers that care about the twitter feed.

You should check out Shama’s blog as well for information on using FaceBook.

Added Later: John Cow talks about twitter as well – The debate rages.

Well, this week I am super hard at work on a big eBook that will be offered free to people interested in having their own Virtual Buzz Assistant business.

And I also know that many of you are going to enjoy the holiday this long weekend, and you could not care less about Buzz Marketing – and you shouldn’t.  Go have fun.

But some of you are from other countries and couldn’t care about the 4th, so this is for you.

I added a floating window that is integrated with aWeber to the front of my blog and have doubled the conversion rate.  It is early yet, but I like how it is trending.

I know that the window could be built by hand, but for the $47 dollars it really sped up the process.  And I can keep going back and using it to build additional ads.

The only reason I did not roll it out on the sub-pages of the blog is because there is no way to make it only pop up once per session.  So I added it to the top page, and then use the older (and less fancy) aWeber pop-ups below that, because they can show up once and then not again until the next visit.

Long term I may or may not keep it.  Everything depends on the numbers, but I’ve been planning on doing something nicer like that for a long time, and that software made it super fast, so I stopped procrastinating.

Blogs are the best networking tool I know.  Better than events, clubs, etc.  Not because of volume, but because of strength of relationship.

I do not expect my blog to help me reach a lot of CEO’s, but neither do I expect that from BNI or IRN.

Five of us showed up for the Akron Bloggers Community (ABC) yesterday.  Here is a picture.  Blogging starts on line, but spills to real life all the time.  People meet you in person for the first time but already feel like they know you.

The picture, left to right – Ron (me) McDaniel, Stephen Hopson, Chris Brown, Norma Rist and Deborah Chaddock Brown.

With no real agenda we were all shooting ideas back and forth on Blogging, Podcasting, Monitizing Blogs and tools that help build the audience.  I could have stayed for hours, but I think some of them have real businesses. 

Deborah is currently a member of our Virtual Buzz Assistant network where she is a freelance writer.

I have to admit, I am still figuring out the best formula for the Virtual Buzz Assistant project posts.  For now they are free.

I originally had them priced $199, but companies were worried they would not like the match and the money would be lost.

Then I dropped it to $19 – mostly to make sure people were serious about buying the service.  The problem with that price is I could not get involved, and if people did not get a quick match then they felt that they did not receive a value.

So now I am trying free.  I know that is going to lead to some requests that are not serious – but for now we are going to see how free works and make adjustments.

That means that if you are interested in having a virtual assistant do internet and Buzz Marketing activities for you, this is an excellent time to request some quotes.  http://virtualbuzzassistant.com

Please note, the virtual assistants are not free.  Only your project submission is – and who knows for how long.

We are launching our Buzzoodle Affiliate Program and our blog readers are the first to learn about it.  I really only want a small group of people initially as we develop more ads, write the affiliate handbook, etc.

If you like affiliate programs that have BIG earning potential and you do not mind getting in while the walls are still being painted (not literally) then sign up here.

If you are unsure, you can read the first (intro) page of our eHandbook for Buzzoodle Affiliate Marketers.

Commissions are 2 levels and include eBooks, Virtual Buzz Assistant Requests and membership sites.

Many of the opportunities have not even been announced yet, so getting in now is truly the ground floor of a great affiliate opportunity.

This blog post and an email to a small group of friends will be the only marketing done for a little while, so be the first to offer these things and make real affiliate money, including monthly membership commissions.  If you act this week, you will be offering some of these products before I have even started promoting them.  – Wow -

Are you a business owner trying to figure out this online marketing thing?

First, online marketing does NOT mean putting up a website.  Sure, there are marketing elements in the website, but just having a website does not mean you are doing online marketing.

Think of your website as a brochure you just printed up.  What good is it doing you if it sits in your office?

A huge number of businesses out there right now believe they are doing Internet Marketing because they have a website.  These are the same people that are saying that the Internet does not work.

What I see are certain “Camps” of Internet Marketing – and the small business owner does not fit smoothly into any of them.

Camp DIY

Most things in life could be done by anyone – if they have enough time and resources.  The Internet is no different.  You can build websites, modify design, set up a blog, write articles, split test your email messages, build your list, use social bookmarking every day, contribute to Squidoo, HubPages and Gather, join online communities and answer questions on LinkedIn and Yahoo Answers.

That would be a good place to start but would not REALLY be full marketing, simply higher visibility.

Camp Information Products

This group of people hone great skills and sell eBooks, videos, webinars, etc.  The problem here is that a non-information product company will rarely take the time needed to develop these skills.  It is not their main source of revenue.  That is too bad since this group has a great deal to teach.

Most of the members I see in this camp are solo-preneurs.

Camp Big Business

Just like TV, if you have a big budget you can plaster your ads all over the Internet.  AdWords, Ads, Paid Reviews, etc.  Plus this group has full time writers and SEO Experts.  The small business will dabble with these things but then give up, because they rarely pay off quickly and tend to dent the budget.

Camp Technology

The thing that makes me cringe the most is camp technology.  You go to an Internet Expert that knows how to code things and fall in love with all kinds of custom technology.  You spend a fortune only to find out later that people like things super simple and do not care about all the bells and whistles.

So what is a small business person that wants results going to do?

Here is your plan:

You purchase hosting where you can get great open source tools like Bluehost or OutstandaHosting.com.

You buy templates that you like for your website and blog.

You pay a consultant to set up the look and feel to match your branding.

You purchase an account at aWeber and set up a reason for people to sign up.

You hire a Virtual Buzz Assistant to write regularly, promote your website via advocacy and use social tools to create more visibility.  You set a fixed budget so you know what to expect.

You experiment with AdWords with multiple keywords and multiple pages.

You contribute as much as you can, and outsource the rest.

Why is this a good plan?

This is a good plan because it is low cost, has a long term view and is an investment in your web visibility.  It helps you hone your message and makes sure your blog and website do not sit dormant and lose the traffic they were getting.

Sure, you are spending money on various tools and help, but all of it is low risk, fixed, and an acceptable risk for reward.

I had someone ask me a few questions for an upcoming eBook about weathering a recession.  My answers were probably a little more buzz related than average, and I thought some of you might like them.  So here they are:

 1. What are the common mistakes most businesses make in a recession?

This is something of a loaded question.  Mistakes obviously depend on the industry you are in.

It is well known that cutting back on marketing in a recession will mean a negative impact on your future growth after a recession.  However, if you are in survival mode, there may be no avoiding it.
2. What are 10 methods you would use to survive and prosper in a recession?

#1 – A recession is a great excuse.  This won’t be popular, but a recession is a great excuse to make cuts.  If you have had some marginal performers, use this as an excuse to become leaner and meaner.

#2 – Use down time for new product development.

#3 – Identify what makes you special and then get the whole team behind creating buzz.

#4 – Reinvent yourself.  An industry can collapse any time, not just during a broader recession.  Look at how Kodak reinvented itself after film sales dried up.

#5 – Shore up the value you are creating with your existing clients.  Make sure you keep what you have before worrying about new customers.

#6 – Upsell to your existing clients worries.

#7 – Take advantage of more availability of workers.  Hire Virtual Buzz Assistants to work from home and create more results for you.

#8 – Sell hope – focus on how your product or service helps provide a light at the end of the tunnel.

#9 – Automate more – If you need to save money, find ways to automate processes that used to take a person.

#10 – Don’t give in to recessionary thinking – Your attitude should not dip with recession worries.  If your attitude dips, people sense it and you will hurt your prospects.
3. What are some little known money-making opportunities for businesses?

It really depends on the business.  I would not suggest losing focus on your main money makers. Assuming you have the time to spend, you might try setting up every person in the organization with a blog, giving them a class or workbook on how to use it and creating an affiliate lead genration tool for each person.  Then every employee could be an affiliate marketer for the business (as well as a content creator.)  By making everyone a brand ambassador with the potential to earn some extra money, you make every person a member of the marketing team.