The Details of DelegationFrom Blog Owner to Virtual Assistant

Chelsea Day@MillennialBlogs

When to Hire a VA● Change in personal circumstances.

○ Baby, marriage, illness, move, etc.● Increase in workload.

○ New endeavors, more clients, expanded responsibilities.

● Work/life balance problems.○ How much sleep do you get?○ How’s your health?

● First and foremost, address your home life.○ Housekeeper○ Childcare

What does a VA do?● Syndicate content out to social media● Grow social media following● Email management● Search Engine Optimization● Keyword research● Invoicing● Photo processing● Giveaway promotions● Ghost writing

The Right Tools for the Job● Don’t ever have your VA do something that

can be done by a robot.● Embrace technology to maximize your

dollar.

Syndication● Social Networks Auto Poster PRO: $50

○ Auto-share posts from your Wordpress backend to G+, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and more.

○ Complete control over format and wording: you can create a template to send out title, excerpt, tags, short URL and tweak it on individual posts.

Syndication● Reporting back to the brand.● Blogger support threads.

○ VAs can act on your behalf with “blogger tribes” for increased engagement in comments, Google+ conversations, pins, StumbleUpon and more.

Syndication● Hootsuite: $9.99/mo

○ Bulk schedule tweets for ongoing promotion.

Grow Social Media Following● Schedule Pinterest pins with ViralTag:

$12/mo.● Follow new Pinterest users with Pinwoot.● Increase Instagram following with

Followgram and Followers+.● Manage Twitter followers with tools such as

Twiends, Tweepi and Tweetbe.at.

Email Management● Weed through press releases and negotiate

sponsored posts.● Assign emails as tasks with Todoist for

Gmail.

Search Engine Optimization● Keyword research with Google Adwords

Keyword Planner to see which terms are most competitive.

● Tweak upcoming and old posts with SEO plugins such as Yoast’s Wordpress SEO.

Invoicing● Keep track of money owed, follow up with

sponsors.● Paypal invoice creation.● Payment to contributors and other

contractors.

Photo Processing● Pull photos from a shared Dropbox, edit

them in bulk with Adobe Lightroom and upload directly to your blog with the Dossier de Presse Lightroom plugin.

● Create pinnable images with Picmonkey.

Giveaway Promotions● Boost giveaways by listing them on Online

Sweepstakes, Giveaway Promote, etc.

Ghost Writing● VAs can do research and place posts in drafts

directly with your blog login or with a contributor login assigned limited controls.

Task Management Basics● Good Old Google Docs

Task Management Programs● Asana

○ Includes an integrated calendar that many bloggers are comfortable with. Best for repetitive tasks.

● Bitrix24○ Good for amassing docs/imagery and dividing

projects by client. Well-suited for marketing and media agencies.

● TeamworkPM○ Detailed, good at time-tracking. Can be

overwhelming at first.● Trello

○ Very visual, good for long-term goals.

Where to Find a VA● Word of mouth● Virtual Assistant sites

○ oDesk○ International Virtual Assistants Association○ VAs for Hire

● Facebook groups○ Virtual Assistant Tribe○ Virtual Assistant Tips & Tricks

What to Pay● Typically, you get what you pay for.

○ You can outsource internationally via elance or Fiverr and pay minimum wage or less.

○ $10-15/hour is standard for basic blog support.○ VAs often grow into in-house positions at $20-

25/hour or more.● Consider a flat monthly fee or retainer.

The Hiring Process● Closely examine their previous work.● Ask about current commitments and time

constraints.● Use a contract with non-disclosure and w9.● Start with a trial period.● Set expectations and develop a timeline for

ongoing reviews.

What to do After you Hire● Communication is key.● Maintaining infrastructure is critical.

○ You wouldn’t keep using a gardener if all your sprinklers were broken.

Questions?

Chelsea@MillennialBlogs.com@MillennialBlogs

millennialblogs.com/delegation