While I admire them for their myriad talents and commitment to getting things done, I also know that freeing up as little as 1 extra hour per week can be very profitable if you use that time well.

Here are my personal top 5 projects to outsource to a Virtual Assistant this year:

1) Editing and re-writing my articles to be posted on blogs, newsletters, article marketing sites, guest blogs, etc.

2) Newsletter production: the formatting, proofreading, finding images, pre-scheduling of your ezines can easily be outsourced. I know that uploading images into iContact drives me crazy, while my wonderful VA actually enjoys the process. And she is faster at it than I am! So a task that can take me 1-2 hours per week might only take Susan 30 minutes. That’s ROI I can get behind!

3) Building and updating sales pages for my programs and products. Even with an easy-to-use content management system like Wordpress, this eats up hours of my time for every program launch.

4) Billing and customer service: after a very costly attempt at setting up my merchant account on my own, while also juggling about 12 important projects, billing was the first task I outsourced. I haven’t looked back since!  I also find it more professional to have a separate team handle payment processing, while I focus on delivering my content.

5) The newest project on my VA list is to update all my professional membership
profiles on various sites and organizations I belong to, with the latest bio, pictures, and information about my latest programs.

When I started on my entrepreneurial path, I prided myself on being able to handle everything myself.  I had an MBA and corporate experience so I thought I didn’t need any help. I quickly discovered that not asking for support was a recipe for failure.

As with many investments, when we step up to receive help – even for 1 hour a week - we open the space for bigger

happy woman at computer

opportunities to come in.

What are the tasks and projects in your business that are taking up your valuable time?  Which if these can be delegated to an employee, and intern or a virtual assistant? How much of YOUR time will that free up?

My son Danny brings home a new song, habit, game, or saying every day.
Sometimes these are cute, impressive, and/or useful. Other times they are,
well, plain nonsense.. When I ask where that new word came from, the
typical answer is, “my friend so-and-so says that.”

Today I got an email from a client, asking for guidance with her online
marketing strategy. She heard at a business training event that she needs
to “build a Facebook fan page, blog and tweet more often, add video to
sites, reference other blogs, continue to add to favorites, and do SEO.”All that on top of running n off-line business and taking care of her
clients? No wonder she was overwhelmed.

To answer this client’s question, I asked her to take a step back and ask
WHY. Why do you need to be on 5 different social networks? Why do you need
to spend 5 hours a day creating and distributing content online? Just
because it’s working for other entrepreneurs? With all my respect and love
for this client.. it sounded to me like she was falling into the
preschooler mindset: because my friends are doing it!

Don’t get me wrong: I am a huge believer in social media, and you will
find me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. But I choose to spend my time based on a very clear strategy.

Here is what I recommend for my client, and for everyone who finds
themselves overwhelmed by catching up to what everyone else is doing
online:

1. Get crystal-clear on who your ideal client is. You have heard me teach
the “customer avatar” concept, and I cannot stress its importance enough.
Are you trying to attract corporate clients? single women over 40 in Ohio?
men with 50+ pounds to lose? post-menopausal women?
scrapbookers? eco-conscious decorators in LA? Be
extremely specific in this.

2. Research where your ideal client is most likely to “hang out” online.
LinkedIn or Twitter? Facebook or MySpace? If the answer is “all of the
above,” think about channel where you are most likely to engage them with
your content.

3. Leverage your strengths to create content. If you hate writing, don’t
commit to a daily blog post. Try video instead! Or, if you are a
perfectionist and it will take you 10 hours of shooting and 5 hours of
editing to create a 2-minute video.. maybe you try a blog post first. Then,
when you are more confident about your message, switch to video. Don’t make
this unnatural or harder than it needs to be.

4. Get help! Here is a confession: I record my videos with my mastermind
buddy. We share a video setup, and she helps me with immediate
feedback about my message. This keeps me from using too much tech jargon.
Not to mention it’s much more fun to have a “study buddy” for videos!

Bottom line: don’t feel pressured to market yourself in too many ways,
just because everyone else is doing it. Think back to WHY you are doing it
in the first place. Keep your goal in mind, and your “platform” will come
together naturally.

 Hint: it is not finding potential clients, or getting more people to come to your site.

 The hardest part of selling for most entrepreneurs is making a shift from merely describing their product or service, to focusing on how it benefits the client.

 If the difference between features and benefits seems subtle, you are not alone! Almost every client I coach has had unlearn what I call “feature-speak.”

 In fact, I am going to admit something embarrassing about my own marketing. I used to fall into feature-speak, too! When asked about what I do, all too often I would say, “I optimize Google AdWords campaigns.”

 Then one day I was challenged to explain why someone would use Google AdWords in the first place. After a few iterations, here is my new elevator pitch: “I help entrepreneurs attract their ideal clients online, by creating profitable ad campaigns on Google.”

 What do you think?

Now, I want you go through a simple exercise for your product. Start out by listing what your product or service does. That goes in column #1. Then, in the second column, explain why your clients should care about that feature.

Here are some actual examples from walking my clients through this exercise:

Feature: Dating conversation do’s and don’ts
Benefit: How not to turn him off by saying the wrong thing

Feature: Our handbags are extremely versatile
Benefit: The only bag you will need, day or night, season after season

Next, start using benefits when describing your business on your website and when you meet potential clients. You will notice that people “get” your message much faster, and become much more excited about what you do.

 Google makes some amazing tools available to its advertisers – included automatically in your AdWords account! But unfortunately most users don’t know about these “sneaky” features. In today’s tip, I want to empower you to make use of these free tools.

 My favorite “sneaky” tip is to use the Search Query Report is to see exactly what your prospects are typing in.

 I just did this yesterday for a college admissions coach. Her Google keywords included “top colleges” and “college essay help.” Google also picks up searches with similar phrases, so my client’s ad shows up for even more Google users. But who are these users and what are their top concerns and questions?

 Using the Search Query report, I was able to show my client exactly what her prospects are typing into Google’s search box. My favorite finding was this phrase: “essays that help you get into top colleges.”

What can we do with this information? For starters, use it verbatim in a future ad.. or even a newsletter! Because what could be more powerful than using your prospect’s exact words to speak to attract them? It’s like you are reading their mind!

If you have an active Google AdWords campaign, I recommend running the Search Query report about once a month. You can download the report and search for these cool nuggets. You’ll be amazed how much you can learn from your customers!

As with many aspects of marketing, copywriting is part art and part science. And while not everyone may be a wordsmith, I believe anyone can learn the science part. So even if you end up hiring a professional to craft your next ad or sales piece, you can make sure it is grounded in what I call “the science of marketing.”

There are a few frameworks I teach my clients to get the writing started. One key concept I want to share with you today is Customer Avatar.

An Avatar is a very detailed picture of your prospective client. It’s called an avatar because it’s like a sketch of that ideal customer you want to attract. And you once know who your customer is, the writing happens as if by magic.

Let’s say you make one-of-a-kind turquoise jewelry. Imagine meeting your ideal client at an art show. What would you say to attract her to your booth? What language would you use to describe your pieces to her? Is she a 21-year-old art student, or a 45-year-old corporate executive? Will she want her jewelry to make a bold statement, or to blend in with her carefully coordinated outfits?

Here is a simple exercise I recommend: write up a half-page essay about your Avatar. Who is she? What does she do for living? What is going on in her life? Is she single, in a relationship, married, just separated? Does she have a 9-5 job, or a freelance project?

For extra credit, give your Avatar a name!

Then, pin this Avatar profile above your desk, so you can keep her in mind when updating your website, writing an ad, or even creating a new product.

-Lisa Elia, LisaEliaPR.com

UPDATE: Made it to Page 1 of Google!

-Ann Bingley Gallops,  OpenSpacesFengShui.com