Hiring a "virtual assistant" is becoming extremely popular in today's workplace environment. Many companies will seek the use of a virtual assistant service when they cannot afford or if they do not have the workload to sustain a full-time in-house staff member. Other companies look for suppliers of this type of service during the summer, when many people are out on vacation, in order to take care of the workload. Other companies simply have too much work to be done by existing staff from time to time and need the assistance of an off-site assistant to handle some of the workload. As more and more home-based businesses are springing up, the need for this type of service is going to increase.

This is an ideal niche market to penetrate as an online business. There is a huge demand for online virtual assistant services. You will charge for your services by the hour, by contract for the job, or on a monthly retainer basis. This is one of the easiest and least expensive businesses to start online.

Excellent keyboarding skills are an invaluable asset. Oral and written communications skills are also very important as your clients will demand quality work, and you will be communicating with your clients on a regular basis. In addition, an understanding of today's widely used business applications is a must.

Something to remember:
* Develop a comprehensive link strategy. You will want to generate as many links as possible from appropriate Web sites, directories, Web rings, and meta-indexes related to your target market. Find all the business service sites for your local market and get linked from as many as possible.
* Promotion through related mail lists and newsletters is important. You may even develop your own newsletter or mail list to stay close to your target market.
* Ensure that you submit your site to the search engines and directories. Because many of your clients will likely be regional, be sure to get yourself listed in any regional online business directories that your target market may frequent.
* Develop a viral marketing strategy where people can "Tell a Colleague about This Service" via your site. This will spread the word about your site.

You could earn extra money by performing value added services such as scanning services or printing services. You could charge a per-page fee for either service. You could provide desktop publishing services, newsletter content development and distribution services, bookkeeping services, telephone answering services, and any other administrative services needed by home-based businesses.

By: Francis David

Published at seo-marketing.shoppingmallhk.com