You’re a contractor, and even after the long hours during the busy season you know you really should be promoting your business on social media. A blog is a good way to help your customers, and, yes, prospective customers get to know you. However, you really don’t have the time to dedicate to writing and posting blog articles and other blog management stuff. A successful blog isn’t just content, it involves many important behind the scenes factors; backing up your site, keeping core files and plugins updated and design changes are all part of blog management for any contractor. Well, one good way to have your cake and eat it too, is to use a blog service like ours, or employ a virtual assistant or VA to do the job for you.
You know what we do, but what can a VA do for you?
The ways that a VA can help you grow your business by blogging are many, so this post will not cover them all. However, these are more than enough to give you an idea of what to expect. After you learn what a VA can do for your blog, you will see the benefits of outsourcing your blog management to someone who understands what blogging is all about and how to make your blog work for your company.
The technical stuff
Not everyone, even seasoned contractors, wants to spend time learning about the ins and outs of blogging software. So, with the right virtual assistant you can hand over this sometimes time-consuming, but necessary task to someone else. Many blog platforms periodically improve and update their plug-ins to make the blogs they host better for everyone. It takes time to be on the lookout for these updates and to make sure that you get the updates when they are available. If you use a site such as WordPress, there is a constant need to keep the site updated to reflect changes that benefit you. In addition, with this type of blog site, keeping your blog updated is the only way to help maintain its security.
Manage link building
If there was ever another time-consuming but necessary part of blogging, it would have to be link building. One way to grow your web presence and get visitors to your blog is to link to external sites. Getting other good quality sites to link back to your site is also important. This takes time to find the right sites you want to link to, as this will be part of your blog’s image. Link building requires good content to be successful. You need links to known and reputable websites, such as the Wall Street journal rather than a link to a site with poor content, or minimal traffic.
Writing and posting content
One important thing about blogging is that your readers expect you to post content regularly. You don’t want to disappoint them as this will reflect badly on you and on your business. When you outsource your blog writing you can expect on time delivery of content so you can post on time, all the time. One of the trials of writing your own content is coming up with topics – yes, it is hard. However, your VA or whoever you outsource the blog management to will not have that problem – remember, you are paying them to do that job. Of course, you can help by giving the VA a list of topics you want covered, but they need to come up with the content.
Keeping the conversation going
No one wants to keep having a one-sided conversation, so when your readers comment on a post, they want responses. Because you are busy with growing your business, the best way to keep the interaction going is to have someone handle it for you. An experienced VA will make it their business to know and understand your business so they can answer correctly on your behalf. Of course, when it is necessary, you can post responses as well or tell the VA what you need said – a definite win-win situation if ever there was one.
Now, remember your blog is a tool you use to help your clients know what you do. It is therefore important to check on what is happening in blogging land to be sure that the VA is meeting your expectations. So don’t feel badly about outsourcing your company blog management. In most cases, this is a good business decision that will pay off. You do need to be confident that the company or person you outsource the job to can deliver.
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