The internet used to be devoid of multimedia. Websites were built around text; animation and color were provided by images, and audio was the limit of interactivity. The Geocities-era web may have met its end some time in the late 1990s, but its design principles and legacy quite surprisingly live on in the way we Article by Andrea…
There is a certain assumption amongst small online businesses, a belief that search engine optimization is primarily for major players and websites with hundreds, sometimes even thousands of indexed pages. That couldn’t be further from the truth. We hear about long-term SEO strategies and conjure images of giant websites – online authorities…
Your videos may have plenty of views, but what do you do when, despite your efforts, the campaign isn’t yielding any return on your investment or any return at all? Take a look at some of these tips to learn how to transform idle viewers into actively engaged buyers. Show the Viewer Benefits, not Just Details The Article by Andrea…
Once upon a time, massive archives of low quality content was the standard amongst bloggers. Blogs were monetized with Adsense and affiliate products, and what mattered was not the quality or relevancy of the content, but the amount of space which was available to plaster with Adsense advertisements and sponsor information. Now, things are…
Internet marketing, despite being a massively lucrative industry, is not particularly old. While the internet was developed and released on a mass scale to the public in the early 1990s, today’s major internet marketing methods did not develop until close to the turn of the millennium. Affiliate programs popped up in the late 1990s, search…
The Birth of Podcast Production Since this is my first guest blog post for VirtualAssist.net, I guess I should introduce myself and tell you a little bit about my company. My name is Andy Robbins and I started my podcast production company, AudioFile Solutions, in 2002 after spending the previous 9 years in the audio production Article by…
Marketers, entrepreneurs, and web developers are in agreement: SEO is one of the most profitable, stress-free, and effective forms of marketing. The last five years have seen some remarkable SEO success stories, from Markus Frind’s ultra-popular PlentyOfFish online dating website all the way to unique location-dependent auction websites and…
Who says internet marketing is easy work? For all the stories out there – the tales of marketers working three hours daily, earning tens-of-thousands-of-dollars weekly, and enjoying a relaxing lifestyle – there are thousands of marketers slaving for hundreds of hours monthly to ensure that their visions of an online empire become reality….
Here is an interesting experiment: start following 100 commercial Twitter accounts and record exactly how they communicate with their customers. Record whether or not they include links to their sales pages (or service pages if they’re a service business), how often they link to external sources, and how often they ask for feedback from…
Amongst marketers, some opinions are strongly held. From ideas about traffic conversion to myths about search engine calculation methods, marketers often hold themselves to patently untrue ideas. One such idea is the thought that social bookmarking traffic is worthless. From Digg to Reddit, Delicious to StumbleUpon, the audiences on offer through…
If there is one thing every online business wants today, it is a dedicated social media presence. From local businesses to huge multinational companies, the list of enterprising marketers involved in social media is growing by the day, sometimes at an alarmingly fast rate. But social media marketing is not all about Twitter accounts, Facebook fan…
When it comes to blogging, writing most certainly isn’t the hardest part. There’s the technical side, which while sometimes demanding, generally isn’t much of a hassle for tech-savvy bloggers. Of course, the hardest part of blogging is promotion. Gaining exposure in the blogosphere is something that troubles even the most skilled…
Digital goods and virtual products have moved from an ultra-niche market to a mainstream, multi-billion dollar industry. From online role playing games to ultra-detailed advertising training websites, more companies are adopting a continuity billing model to provide customers with high quality membership content. Perfected by online marketers in…
One of the most valuable marketing skills is the ability to build relationships with prospective customers over days, weeks, months, and even years. From small purchases to big business relationships, the entire business world is built on connections and networking. In order to truly succeed online, you need to dedicate a large amount of your…
Starting a successful website is not quite as simple as registering a domain name and uploading your site files. The most successful websites, particularly those that generate their traffic through multiple methods, are built with research and planning behind them. From keyword research to competition analysis, any successful commercial web…
I wanted to give all of my readers a heads up about what to expect over the next week on this blog. I’m heading to Phoenix tomorrow for the IVAA Live Summit ( #IVAA10 ). My goal is to do as much audio and video blogging from my iPhone as possible. [...]
Social media has given marketers and entrepreneurs the opportunity to create real online discussions about their brands. From vodka to ice cream, cell phones to notebooks, the smartest companies today are not investing in paid celebrity endorsements, but in real brand advocates. Of course, we have all seen powerful brands before, many of which…
On the social web, managing customer relations is one of the most vital skills any internet businessperson can possess. While ten years ago, managing email could have been a secondary consideration, today it is absolutely vital to keep customers and clients in the loop through rapid, prompt email support. Of course, the level of care and [...]
With the advent of smartphones and iPods, we too can download and transmit important information at the touch of a button. Although as a Virtual Assistant you may not be on a mission to save a whole planet from annihilation at the hands of Darth Vader, you might still be looking for new channels to communicate important information to the world about your clients’ businesses. One effective option is podcasting. Check out this great video, “Podcasting in Plain English,” explaining the convenience and power of this new communication tool: [...]
Andrea Kalli, of Andrea Kalli Virtual Trainer and Assistant, LLC, was recently named to IVAA’s Board of Directors to lead the Website Committee. Andrea will be replacing Nora Rubinoff, who steered the committee for a year and a half, but resigned due to a family illness.
Andrea is also a featured…
Virtual trainer extraordinaire Andrea Kalli discusses her podcast test with Skype, Pamela & Audacity:
Honestly, I was SUPER impressed with the quality. Doing it via skype had me a bit worried, but I made sure and closed any other applications running on my pc, same with the person I was interviewing…
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