Business
How a Virtual Assistant Can Make Blogging Better
As a blogger, engaging on social media platforms can be draining. It’s one of the biggest challenges that most encounter among the other tasks required. Unfortunately, if you’re a professional blogger who works alone, it’s inevitable to be a jack of all trades. So instead of allotting time to the tedious workload, have you considered hiring a virtual assistant?
Although there is an automated social media scheduling software out there, nothing can beat a human’s initiative. As a solo professional blogger, there are times when you can forget to schedule a post. Also, there are moments when minutes are spent over simple tasks on social media instead of focusing on your content. Let’s go over the perks of having a virtual assistant.
What’s a Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant allows you to spend your time more efficiently. Hiring your personal VA saves you time and lets you focus on more essential aspects of your business. So it’s more convenient for you to hire an outsource virtual assistant on a trusted freelancing marketplace.
For virtual workers, a study reported that 91% are more productive in work from home setup. Also, it’s more cost-effective on your part to hire a virtual assistant that you can pay by the hour. Hiring a virtual assistant can save at least 78% of operating costs annually.
Besides, did you know salaried employees can only be productive for less than three hours per day? So instead of hiring someone to work directly with you, it’s best to hire a remote worker. If you’re worried whether your VA might lie about the working hours they’ve rendered, use a time-tracking application.
Here is a few time-tracking software you can require for your VA:
- Check-in
- TimeCamp
- Hubstaff
- FreshBooks
- TMetric
- Toggl
- TopTracker
- Harvest
- Similar
Virtual Assistant Workload to Outsource
When hiring a virtual assistant, there’s a long list of activities you can require in their job description. According to statistics, over 60% of virtual assistants attained a college education. So you don’t have to worry whether they are qualified for the job. However, most VA requirements are more on simple tasks. You need to pick out a detail-oriented individual that doesn’t require micro-managing.
Here are a few tasks a virtual assistant can do on your behalf:
- Curate your social media feed
- Focus on writing relevant copy for your social posts.
- Social media posts, submission, and voting
- Create and schedule tweets
- Keyword research
- Simple SEO update
- Proofread and edit your articles
- Revise old blogs to keep them “fresh” for search engines
- Online research for topics, posts, and credible sources
- Add tags to images, old blogs, and other items
- Podcast, video, or audio transcription
- Market research
- Manage your email
Other than the tasks listed above, it’s possible to hire a VA to manage your booking schedule, answer your calls and keep your books. For most professional bloggers, simply hiring a virtual assistant can already take a huge burden off their shoulders. While someone takes care of the mundane tasks, you can focus on polishing and planning your content.
How Much Will a Virtual Assistant Cost Me?
The hourly wage of a virtual assistant depends on the workload you require. It also depends on the country he or she is located. For example, the Philippines is one of the most popular countries for hiring virtual assistants. As the country has a large English-speaking population, it’s possible to hire a personal assistant who does the job well.
In some countries, the hourly wage can start between $2 to $5. If you want to look for a VA in the U.S., it will cost you $7 to $15 hourly. However, the previously specified hourly rate only applies to simple tasks. If you want to hire a virtual assistant and require more workload, you need to raise your budget. It’s best to expect to pay somewhere between $20 to $50 an hour.
Sites to Hire Virtual Assistant
As the popularity of hiring virtual assistants grows by the year, there are many freelancing platforms made available online. Here are a few websites you can explore:
In Conclusion
In the end, hiring a personal virtual assistant is worth considering if you want to ease your workload. First, assess your needs and figure out the qualities you’re looking for in one. After finding a compatible VA that will suit you, it would greatly help your blogging business.
Meanwhile, you can read some content writing statistics here to help you plan your next move.