Learn the tools used by online professional to manage and market their online businesses. Go to http://virtualsuccessassistants.com/5-tools-used-daily/ to hear the webinar.

1. 5 Tools Used Daily to Market and Manage
Your Online Business Webinar Transcription
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Hello everyone! Thank you for coming to our webinar!
My name is Cathy Ayala and today I’m going to be sharing with you
the five tools that we use on a daily basis to manage and market our
online business. We will also share two bonus tools with you and tell
you a bit about our upcoming series of webinars.
The first tool that we use daily is WordPress. WordPress is where I
have my site VirtualSuccessAssistants.com. It is very easy to use, it’s
customizable and great for blogging. If you love to blog, WordPress is
your best option. You can also maintain your sites and add a blog
tab, as I do. Now this is what my site looks like. I’ve added various
plug-in’s to the site. These are all plug-in widgets. It’s very easy to
customize, no technical knowledge. Now this is what the dashboard
looks like, the back office of the WordPress site. As I said you can
add many plug-ins, you can add different users. We’re gonna create
a WordPress webinar just for you and we’re going to go into detail on
how to customize your site. It’s very, very simple.
So the next tool that we use is Google Calendar. Google Calendar is
my main organizational tool. I use it to add tasks to my calendar to
keep me on track of all my client’s needs. I also use it to keep my
contractors on task. We all have one calendar, well each of us have
different calendars but it’s all integrated into my calendar so I can
update all my contractors calendars and have them stay on task as
well. I setup alerts on my android phone which then syncs with my
computer and syncs with my iPad so wherever I go I am always alert
with everything that needs to be done in the office that day. Ten
minutes before each task needs to be done I will get an alert on my
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2. phone, my phone will beep and it will tell me what needs to be done. I
can check with my contractor or I can go do it myself but it keeps me
organized and on task. I wouldn’t be where I am today without
Google Calendar.
The third tool that we use daily is Skype. Skype can be used to speak
to clients. It can be used to call clients, video chat with clients and
also share your files. Now let’s say you have a virtual client and
you’re doing a new project for them designing their website. Now you
have everything formatted and you want to have your client approve
of the changes that were made in this website, all you have to do is…
I’ll show you. All you have to do is open up your Skype, find the
particular person that you are doing the website for and right here you
can share your screen so whatever it is that you’re doing on your
screen Benjamin will see and he can approve, right then and there,
he can approve the changes or he can tell you what his concerns are
and you will go back and edit the website for him.
You can also use it to train your contractors. Let’s say you needed
your contractor to change some mistake that they did on your blog
site. You will share your screen, you show them what needs to be
done then they will go back, make the changes and everything was
done very simply. Rather than having to type out a 20 page list of
things that need to be done, you just show them right away right here
and then they get to work. Well my page was unresponsive, these
things happen but it’s an excellent feature. You can also send files,
you can have meetings with clients, you can also keep track of your
Facebook. In the updated version of Skype they also allow you to
keep track of your Facebook. Now my computer’s running a little bit
slow so I’m very sorry. But you can update your Facebook on here
and it’s very convenient if you use Facebook all the time as most of
us do.
They also have a page version of Skype which I just use the free
version. My computer just caught up with us. Here is the way that you
update your Facebook… so this is when you come into Skype this is
what you’ll see and you click on this tab and you can connect with
your Facebook here. I’m not going to do that right now but you will
see all your newsfeed right here once you connect it to your
Facebook, very convenient. Now as I was saying they have a paid
version also. One of the benefits of the paid version, which as I said I
don’t use, I only use the free version. I really have no need for the
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3. Paid version. One of the good features about it, if it’s necessary in
your business, is that it allows you to have group video chats. You
can chat with several different people at the same time that would be
at a beneficial feature for some organizations but like I said I really
don’t need it. You can also create groups in your Skype. Right here
“Create a Group” and you can make international phone calls if you
have a subscription to Skype which I don’t. I’m located in the U.S. so I
just make regular phone calls.
The next tool that we use here on a daily basis is gTalk. Now gTalk is
similar to Skype but everyone has their own preferences. Different
people use Skype more, others use gTalk more. I have no preference
except when it comes to transferring files. gTalk is a little bit easier to
transfer files, it’s a little faster than the Skype. With gTalk you can
instant message, you can update your status, you can see when
you’re - the person that you need to speak to when they’re online or
when they’re idle. As soon as they move their mouse they aren’t idle
anymore unless they change their availability, which is right here. You
click this down arrow and you can create a customized message, you
can say that you’re busy, you can show a current music track. So
people won’t bother you if you say that you are busy. As soon as you
stop using your computer this little green circle will turn orange and
so everyone will know that you are idle and when you are available it
will turn green.
You can also voice chat on Google. If you’d like the video chat this
would be the plug-in that you’d use and if you just want the regular
version and don’t need the video chat then you can use, this one
which this is the one that I use. Just go to http://google.com/talk and
you can choose the version that you like the best. They have a Mac
version also which is this one, this one is not for Mac’s this one’s only
for PC’s so if you have a Mac then automatically you’ll use this one.
It’s great for transferring images. I have a real estate client which
sends me pictures daily and instead of zipping up this file and
emailing it to me, me opening up by e-mail then opening up the zip
file, then posting all the images online, all I need to do is download
them on gTalk, he will come… here, he will let’s see right here, right
here would show, right here shows the send files but if Reshie was
online then right here instead of call would say “send files”. You just
click on the send files and choose the files to want to send and
instantaneously it will send them. No need for zipping, no need for
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4. anything else. You get them on the other end and download them
right away into your files. Very simple. I use gTalk daily.
Now number five is TweetDeck. TweetDeck is a social media
management and marketing tool. It allows you to add multiple
networks. You can schedule updates on it. It’s great to schedule
future updates. It’s very simple to use. You can create columns to
monitor your friends, mentions, your DM’s, your new followers and
much, much more. You can add Facebook accounts, Twitter
accounts, Foursquare, Buzz, LinkedIn and MySpace accounts. Now
the only downside that some people might not like - it’s a
downloadable application so you must download it to your desktop.
This is what TweetDeck looks like. As soon as it loads. This is what it
looks like. Now you can see I have all my friends here, my mentions,
my mentions from my different twitter accounts. I have several
different Twitter accounts. Now if I move over here with this little
arrow right here, I can see all my friends from my other Twitter
accounts, other mentions, my direct messages. I have my Facebook
newsfeed and my scheduled updates, which shows I don’t have any
scheduled here. It’s a very useful tool. I have my computer open as
soon as I open my office I have my computer open. I have one
computer specifically for my TweetDeck and so I monitor all my
tweets. So whenever you write a mention to me you will be seen by
me, right here on my TweetDeck platform. If I want to reply to you I
will click right here “reply” and answer you “thanks for the mention”
and you send it right here or you can schedule it for let’s say “16”, it’s
army time so “16:55” you “set time” and then you click on “send today
at 16:55”. So it will show up right here “scheduled updates”
“@CharpentierRich Thanks for the mention”. So this is the 5th tool that
I use. Now you must, must, must, must manage and market every
day, every single day regardless of how much work you have, you
must market and manage your social media every single day. Take
about half an hour just to, just to send a simple thank you, just to
follow a few people. I mean you don’t have to spend hours and hours
managing your social media but you need to do it daily.
The next bonus tool that - we don’t use, that’s why they’re bonus
tools – we don’t use these on a daily basis but we do use these
frequently. The first bonus tool is bit.ly. B-i-t-.-L-Y Bit.ly is used to
shorten, share, track and analyze your links. If you have Google
Chrome you can add bit.ly to your bar. It saves you time and it’s very
simple to use. You just sign in and if you have Google Chrome and
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5. you go onto bit.ly, it will ask you if you want to download the little
toolbar application. Now what bit.ly does is… Aww, it was unable to
access the metrics right now. Anyway, what bit.ly does is it tracks
how many clicks you have for each link so right here they can’t,
bit.ly’s having some sort of a problem but right here in this little space
right here it would say how many clicks I have received to this
particular link. So let’s say I wanted to promote this blog right here, I
would come here and I would copy by clicking copy, you copy this
little link right here. I go to my TweetDeck and I would enter “How and
Where to Get More Client’s” and so I’d like to send this through
@cathysofficesvc Twitter account, my LinkedIn, my
@socialmdiaguru, my @successagency and my @successassts. So
you click the one’s that you want to post to so right here I’m not
posting it to my Facebook so it says “Post from Facebook: NO” “Post
from LinkedIn: YES”. If it’s highlighted you’re going to post to it. How
and Where to get more clients, my bit.ly link and I’m going to
schedule this because I just finished scheduling that other one so I’m
going to schedule this for 17:10 and I’m going to send it today so I
click it and there it goes, it was sent. Now when I come back to bit.ly,
I should see my clicks here when bit.ly is functioning properly. I’m
going to reload this page and see if it fixes it. Oh, there you go, there
you go, now it’s working. So, so far I haven’t had any clicks to this link
but I’ve only posted it once now twice because I just posted that
yesterday, posted that new blog yesterday. So hopefully I’ll get a few
clicks to it today. This is very helpful so you know if your blog site is
doing well. Right here I have had 5 clicks, 13 clicks, 2 clicks so you
know that Tips on Hiring the Perfect VA is doing better than 5 ways to
Get More Followers on Twitter so you might want to make a few more
blog posts on hiring the perfect VA or something VA related because
your Twitter blog didn’t do too well. This is how you can use these
metrics to have your business succeed.
The next tool, last but not least is Hootsuite. This is what Hootsuite
looks like - Hootsuite.com. Now Hootsuite is similar to TweetDeck. I
don’t use Hootsuite very frequently but some of my clients prefer it
and I have to use it for them. With Hootsuite you can update multiple
networks just like TweetDeck except Hootsuite you can update
WordPress and Ping.fm which you cannot do in TweetDeck. You can
also update your Twitter, your Facebook and your LinkedIn. You can
schedule your updates. Hootsuite is an online application so that is a
definite plus you don’t have to download anything into your desktop
so you can use it anywhere. If you are not home and you want to
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6. check your networks all in one shot you just go into Hootsuite, you log
in and you can see all your networks in one place. It also has real
time tracking, it allows you to monitor your mentions, your friends,
your DM’s, your RT’s, your pending tweets and much more. You can
also build reports on Hootsuite and have team collaboration without
sharing your passwords. Hootsuite has many different features to it. I
prefer TweetDeck but as I said some people prefer Hootsuite that’s
why I wanted to show it to you. So this is what the Hootsuite
dashboard looks like. As I said it’s similar to TweetDeck. Here is your
Home Feed, your mentions, your direct messages, and your pending
tweets. It allows you to move your columns all around and it allows
you to add columns, if you wish, right here “add a stream”. It is real
time so as soon as someone tweets something, you will see it here in
your Home Feed. As soon as someone mentions you, you will see it
here in your mentions. It’s real time and it’s very beneficial, if this is
the platform that you like and the platform that you choose. As I said
personally I like TweetDeck better, everyone has their own
preferences.
OK thank you for attending our webinar. I wanted to make this a short
little webinar so you can get to know me and get to know a little bit
about Virtual Success Assistants, we’ve been around for a few years
now and we’ve just begun on training sessions.
If you’d like more training, if you’d like more tips and tricks for your
online business you can come and join our newsletter right here at
http://virtualsuccessassistants.com Just enter your name and your e-
mail and I’m going to have some free ebooks that I will send to you.
We’re also going to put together a series of webinars where we will
show you “How To Get Your Site Up and Running in 24 hours”. We
will be offering that series in two weeks and if you are a member of
our newsletter you will be the first to know when the series will be up
and running.
I’m going to be creating many, many different ebooks. I have tons of
tips and tricks up my sleeve to help you with your business so please
come and join our newsletter and I just created this post “How and
Where To Get More Clients” now I’m in the VA business and also
have a couple of other online businesses but the VA business is my
main business. I’ve created this blog site and posted this new blog
yesterday on how and where to get more clients. Now this is just five
of the ways that I use to get more clients but if you join our newsletter
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7. I will send you the complete version of this blog. There are a few
more ways that I use to get more clients and might be of a bit more
beneficial to you to get a few more ways so if you’d like the full blog
here, join the newsletter and I will send it right over to you. If you
could also do me a favor and come here
(http://virualsuccessassistants.com) and answer this question, “What
types of trainings would you like to see offered here by Virtual
Success Assistants?” These are some of the trainings that I’m going
to put together for you but if you would like a specific training come
and vote here and I will create that training first. I will put that on the
top of my priority list and that will be the first training that we will do.
But I will have all of these trainings for you in the near future but like I
said if you want all of these trainings then just click all of them. You
can click every single one of them and then vote. I’ll just get the
trainings out to you one by one. So join our newsletter and e-mail me
whenever you like if you have any questions or comments are
anything feel free to e-mail me cathy@virtualsuccessassistants.com
and I hope you enjoyed the webinar. Take care guys!
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