Tips in Becoming a Virtual Assistant

January 28, 2010

Today’s professionals are not only limited to doing manual tasks. Jobs can now be done over the internet. In fact, many accountants, bookkeepers, writers, and secretaries can now work online for clients abroad. The term virtual assistant means that a professional is working remotely for a client. This remote assistant does a range of online support services at his or her home or a remote or virtual office. His or her tasks depend on what his client needs. So he may do data encoding, writing, online marketing, or website development. Becoming a virtual assistant is an interesting venture because one gets to know more things about how the internet and all the communication systems are exploited in the process. While this is “job” for the working assistant, for the client this is convenience. A lot of businessmen in UK or US look for offshore assistants because they could pay them less than they pay in-house employees. This means cost reduction and in business cost reduction means extra savings.

In any case, a trained professional becomes a virtual assistant when he starts working for a foreign client. In fact, by the technical definition of it, if you work from home for your boss, you become a virtual or remote assistant. It simply means you are working on your computer through the internet. The correspondence you do with your employer, boss or client happens via email and chat. This is really a product of computer and internet technology, which apparently brought jobs closer to places where they were once unavailable.

One does not have to possess special skills to become qualified for this kind of job. However, most clients would want somebody who:

• Has the right equipment and facility. You got to have a computer with high-speed internet, printer, fax machine, telephone, and office supplies like paper, pens, etc.
• Are skilled enough in microsoft office and internet research — somebody adept in typing, encoding, and data storage with the appropriate writing and communication skills. Becoming a virtual assistant also means that you possess basic HTML skills as well as blogging techniques. Computer and internet skills, in general, are the most important qualifications because you are working online. Clients can train you on the advanced applications and techniques so it would be better if you have the basic foundation.
• Has the right attitude for an assistant. Because you are working far away does not mean you can wake up at 8 o’clock in the morning. You will lose your clients soon. Somebody responsible, work-centered, goal-oriented, patient, organized, trainable, flexible and punctual is the one needed for this kind of job. Do you have these qualities?
• Can keep vital information. Becoming a virtual assistant, you will be working for a client who owns a business, no less, and in this scheme he or she shall be feeding you with some significant information about his or her business company. You are not to disclose such information to anybody. That’s part of work ethics.

Philippines Outsourcing: Latest News

October 8, 2009

Philippines is seeing flourishing of the business process outsourcing industry. In 2008 there was an increase in the Philippines outsourcing industry by approximately forty percent. In the same year there were about three hundred thousand people in the Philippines who are employed in BPO industries. Majority of them are in the call center business industry. However, there are varied services in this country ranging from contact service (call centers) to medical transcription and even to payroll outsourcing service.

Currently, the country remains second to India which leads BPO industries in the world in terms of employment volume. However, the world has now recognized the capability of Philippines in harnessing their labor force in this field. It is not a surprising thing. Although the country has not been recognized as a top country in technological fields, it is now assuming high place amongst other Asian nations in this IT-based field. Moreover it is in the midst of upgrading its IT-related education/training.

The strength of its professional force comes from the competent educational background of most Filipinos. In fact, the Philippine human resources have long been recognized around the world. Many Filipinos have been employed elsewhere in the world and many foreign countries are aware of the skills of these people in virtually all fields. It boils down to competent education. The Philippines has some of the fine universities and colleges. It produces valuable graduates that are not only theoretically equipped but are also deeply trained in their respective fields. Thus it is not surprising that there are lots of proficient IT graduates who immerse in the BPO industry not only because it is a popular option among fresh graduates but also because they can.

Filipinos are built to be flexible individuals who can accomplish virtually any tasks when properly trained. These days the government is funding short term courses which people of different age ranges can enroll in. It is not surprising that not everyone you find in the BPO industry have formal training in information technology or customer support; however, they are equipped with sufficient training that qualifies them in the field. For instance, there are short courses for call center training that last within weeks. The government also offers assistance to people who are interested to embark on this profession but have restricted financial capabilities. It is no wonder that the country currently sees an increasing number of graduates of technical/vocational courses that includes programming, web design, customer service, medical transcription etc. Such short/crash courses make people more qualified to work in related fields like call centers and BPO.

With the increasing need of countries like US, UK, and Canada to outsource business tasks, countries like China, India and Philippines can only respond to such need by harnessing their human resource to become more fitted to what the industry needs.

Cheap Outsourcing: Virtual Assistant Philippines

September 30, 2009

Learn how you can leverage your business by outsourcing a cheap virtual assistant from Philippines. Cheap in a sense that you only pay them 1/5, sometimes even lesser, of what you’re suppose to pay if you hire a regular worker in your country. These virtual assistant Philippines companies maybe providing VAs for a cheap price but it doesn’t mean they work cheap.

You are paying it cheap because the value of your money is already big enough when converted to Philippine peso. Such as, a $500.00 monthly salary for a virtual assistant from Philippines is already equivalent to a salary of a bank manager in the country. Even bigger than what a public school teacher earns in a month.

Filipinos are well educated, mostly college graduate and are efficient English speakers and writers. They can understand instructions written in English and they can communicate well. They can carry the work effectively and Filipinos are really hard working.

To sum it up, hiring a cheap virtual assistant from Philippines would be an advantage on your end. You don’t only save money from hiring VAs from the Philippines; you also got your company a professional and hard working staff.

What a Freelance Link Builder Can Do

September 17, 2009

A link builder specializes in building inbound and outbound links for a particular website.  They are mostly needed by Internet marketers who require help in the search engine optimization of their respective websites.   Search engine optimization is a never ending process and it can become tiring especially for the website owner who may be promoting not just one, but several websites and all with a different niche.  A Freelance link builder helps make the process of link building easier.

A good freelance link builder usually knows the do’s and don’ts of search engine optimization and may also help suggest tried and tested proven SEO techniques.  Among the things that a link builder can do is keyword analysis, keyword stuffing, request link exchange,  social bookmarking, blog commenting, forum signature linking, directory submissions, article submissions.  A link builder can also help write short articles.  Aside from link builders, one may also need to get a ghost writer, web developer or look for a virtual assistant for hire.

There are some Internet marketers who only need temporary help with search engine optimization or help with link building on a one-time project basis.  This makes it practical to hire a freelancer to help get the job done on time.  Most freelancers usually do link building during their free time.  They are most likely to be employed with an 8-5 job and offer their services to Internet marketers to earn an extra income.

Internet marketers are confident that if they find a good freelance link builder, their problems with ranking in google for their keywords will finally be solved.  These link builders can give them a good place in the search engine rankings in a matter of weeks or even days.  Just when they’d think that they’ll need to sacrifice several nights of sleep to build links for their website, a reliable link builder will come to the rescue.

What is a Virtual Assistant – How to Find an Excellent Virtual Assistant

September 8, 2009

A virtual assistant is like a personal secretary but there is actually a big difference since they can do stuffs that cannot be done by a secretary. They provide customer support, write, answer calls, transcribe, do research and much more. An employer gets in touch with him/her virtually and not personally. They basically work at home and communicate with their bosses through the Internet or through phone. Virtual assistants are a big help to businesses especially if an employer would be able to find a good one. The important thing is to know how to find an excellent virtual assistant.

Finding an excellent virtual assistant is a tough task to do. You can either post a job hiring or find a good one through the web. There are lots of virtual assistants looking for a job out there but of course you need to find one who can meet your standards or perhaps surpass them. Choose a virtual assistant who has had a background of the job and someone who can work under pressure so that you are assured deadlines would be met.

A skilled virtual assistant knows basic office applications, and must also know how to use the Internet. With today’s technology, it would be silly to hire a virtual assistant who does not know the Internet. Most Virtual assistants would be required to do correspondence through email or provide customer support through chat, and Internet knowledge is a must.

To be sure that you hire a competent virtual assistant, it would be good to test the skills of your prospect by giving him/her a test on the type of tasks that you want done. A trial would confirm if the virtual assistant is skilled enough to meet the employer’s expectations and also give the virtual assistant an idea what his/her job for the employer would be like so that he/she would be able to determine if he/she would be capable to do it before any agreement would be made and a contract signed.

Hiring a virtual assistant can be made on a long term or short term project basis. This is why it is more practical to hire a virtual assistant than a secretary because anytime you feel you no longer need the service of the virtual assistant; you have the option to terminate the contract at any time.

Outsourcing Facts: What is Outsourcing?

August 27, 2009

Outsourcing is never a new business strategy. Businesses have long noticed the advantages of outsourcing and it has been more than twenty years since people started applying this scheme. But during its inception, it was not a widely known idea. To its proponents, harnessing the means to outsource will propel progress.

As we move into more sophisticated technology, more and more resources are being used efficiently. In the recent decade, the world has seen the flourishing of the information technology whose applications spanned in different aspects of living. The business world has long recognized IT as an important tool in making transactions quicker and easier.

Back during the 1980s, outsourcing was not quite recognized, let alone utilized. It was during the recent years when IT has dominated the commercial scene that businesses began embracing what technology can do to them. Today, outsourcing is an important business strategy to cut costs in operations and maintenance.

What is outsourcing? The term is applied when a company buys services from another company. Such services may be carried out by in-person employees, but for purposes of convenience and lowered operational cost, hiring an outsourcing team is opted. The subcontracted jobs are carried out by a separate company offshore.

Large companies save a lot by farming out services that are otherwise done by in-house employees at much higher cost. Lots of companies in Asia offer outsourcing services at lower cost. Philippines and India are among the countries, which have many reliable outsourcing teams that deliver services for companies outsourcing to them.

As businesses in Europe and North America farm out services offshore, they are able to generate lots of jobs overseas, while at the same time being able to focus on their core function. The outsourcing company handles the other details like marketing, advertising, e-mail services, and payrolls, for instance. This saves the business resources, which can be directed to more prolific functions, and this is a major benefit when progress and development is in mind. Dedicated companies or outsourcing teams carry out the subcontracted tasks with the use of latest technology. For instance, business owners may need websites to promote their services online. If they were to handle this task alone, they need equipment, employees who are expert in this field, and finances for the operation. Farming out such job can be less of a burden.

This simply means that outsourcing is a cost efficient way of allowing the business to grow. There have been qualms about this business scheme due to factors such as communication misunderstanding between the business company and the outsourcing team, which leads to poor output and results. Nevertheless, most companies do self maintenance and regulation to ensure operations are at the optimum. In this case, communication lines between the company farming out tasks and the outsourcing team are to be kept open.

An Open Letter to Writers and Readers

November 17, 2008

If you will ask a fifteen year old student if he can tell you more about Mornia online or his latest favorite movie, expect to get full reviews from him. But in the middle of your conversation, if you ask about his favorite Filipino author or who Conrado de Quiros is, don’t expect too much great answers. We Filipinos are merely creatures who can sit in front of the television all day, play online games, watch soap operas, etc. Well, to exactly nail my point, we are not READERS.

Filipino readers are dead. Writers suffer. Fresh creative writing graduates do not have a choice but to forget that they could ever write or publish a best selling book because they have finally understood that they would be killed and that writers must no longer exist. How many publishing companies actually survive the business aside from those that are producing textbooks for grade school and high school students? When you visit a bookstore, you see all that properly arranged books in the shelves from Aristophanes to Genoveva Edrosa Matute, authors with exceptional minds. But you do not see a soul examining the books, browsing the pages, or getting drowned by words. Young minds are somewhat allergic to read academic and imaginative works, they are more in touch with games and other forms of media. Only a few people today can clearly discuss Niccolo Machiavelli’s “the Prince,” understand the creative process of Butch Dalisay or completely give a stand on the world of philosophy citing great philosophers from a book she or he has read. The Philippines is producing merely online players, celebrity fans, shoppers, etc. That’s why I dare not blame the president if we are suffering. Our brain cells are dead, we have stopped reading, and eventually, we have completely stopped thinking.

Newspaper companies have a tight competition with the media. So as their last resort to keep their companies open, they sensationalize their news and commit syntactical errors in their headlines. With such mistake, we face another problem in the development of our English literacy. Out from the fact that newspapers have a great influence in understanding the English language, there is basically a good reason to feel threatened. But only a few have clearly identified the errors, one explanation is that they do not actually read.

Statistically speaking, there is a declining percentage of readers and writers all over the country. They are the readers who could have exercised their intellect by reading other people’s minds in books. They are the writers who could have been given the opportunity to share knowledge and educate the young minds. We have empty stomachs, we have empty brains, and sooner or later, every part of us is empty.
If this fact goes on a few more years from now, then it must be reasonable enough to ban all creative writing courses, journalism, etc in colleges and universities so for the writers to stop being rejected by the public, to finally forget writing and move on. This is an epidemic that is slowly killing the readership in the Philippine scenario.

I am writing to express my deepest sympathy to other writers who once thought that writing is your responsibility of sharing your creative process and how you view and keep viewing the world. We are writers who will soon become another secret society. I am writing to those who refuse to read. May you have mercy on your empty souls and you will soon resurrect the idea of writing and save the deaths of other aspiring writers so for you to become a reader. But I do not expect a reply from you anymore. Like those other writers before me, I am even dead.

Outsource Web Developer for a Business Oriented Site

April 16, 2008

Having websites nowadays is very much beneficial especially if the website you want to come up with is purely business oriented. To earn the interest of your prospect customers, you must have a very captivating site that conveys complete and reliable information your prospect customer may need to know about your business. Managing your site is indeed, time consuming but you don’t have to spend all your precious time in developing and customizing your website when you can hire an outsource Web Developer. Now, why a web developer? What is its business functions and why does it have to be outsourced?

A web developer will help you with the technical and even creative aspects of your website. He is responsible in designing the graphic layout as well as the website architecture and website navigation. A web developer also does coding the HTML and the CSS. These web developers also help you to creates graphics, add pictures, create links, and they are definitely experienced for marketing strategies, search engine optimization, and copywriting. You’ll also want to have your web developer help you with the programming of web applications and creating databases.

Why does it need to be outsourced? Offshoring and outsourcing labor force is the trend of this era. A practical way of employing business functions. With outsourcing, you get a competitive edge while leaving operational costs unnecessary. Outsourcing produces the overall work output, enhance the speed and quality of the services while establishing long term and strategic relationships with new offshore business partners.

Philippines Outsourcing – The New Wave of Employment

April 11, 2008

Offshoring companies such as from the United Kingdom’s National Outsourcing Association have been investing in Philippines’ outsourcing industry and just last year they regarded the country as the “Offshoring Destination of the Year”. Outsourcing by its definition is subcontracting the process of manufacturing to a third – party company from overseas with the objective of reducing firm costs in terms of its labor and operational expenses or either way to make more efficient use of labor.

The industry of Philippines outsourcing has its major hub in Manila that it ranked as the second top Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) destination in the Asia-Pacific Region by the International Data Corporation (IDC). Other regional areas such as Baguio City, Bacolod City, Cagayan de Oro, Angeles City, Dagupan City, Davao City, Dumaguete City, Lipa City and Iloilo City are now being promoted and developed for offshore operations. This rapid growth shows increase by 40% in the Philippines outsourcing sector for this year and is generating revenues of $2.1 billion in 2006, placing third behind India and China and slightly ahead of Malaysia.

The growth creates an increase in the employment rate. Philippines outsourcing has been employing graduates nevertheless what bachelor’s degree they graduated into for as long as you they have a good command in the English language. It is in fact, preferred because outsourcing companies offer great package in salary scheme and benefits. For sustainable rapid growth, the Philippine government is offering significant fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to attract foreign direct investment in these industries.

The Demand of Outsource Content Writers

March 4, 2008

In the current Web setting, the demand for outsource content writers are rapidly increasing. Their main role is information dissemination through content writing. Since the Web is built on words, content write ups serve as the lifeblood of the Web. Thus, outsourced content writer is the latest boom amongst the labor force.
Content writers are outsourced basically because there is the benefit of reduced cost in labor and operation. Labor force is mostly outsourced in Asia since the cost is cheaper in this region. The cost for equipments among other technical needs are no longer shouldered by the company unlike with getting a regular employed writer. This seemed a win-win situation in an employer – employee relationship. The outsourced content writer on the other hand, makes this a very profitable and convenient job since content writing is basically done only in the form of article writing and not that complex creative poetry writing. The writer may even do his tasks at the convenience of his own home as freelancer but for those employed from Webmaster’s staffing company such as the Agents of Value, work scheme for an outsourced content writer results to high quality outputs under a complete and sufficient working environment.

As long as websites are kept updated and aimed for high rankings, articles will be in constant demand and content writing will be a lucrative job. Writers at the same time, must have the competence in making informative and reliable articles by developing superb writing and search engine optimization skills coupled with experience.

Fun at MTS Davao

March 2, 2008

I just got home from a whole night of fun and drinking?? with AOVs Davao agents. We really enjoy the night. It’s tiring but its worth it. Check out some of our photo’s below.

I’m adding more pics tomorrow… so you better check it out.. and next time please don’t miss the fun…( sa mga KJ na hindi sumama)

feeling close with Cliff…
(more…)

AOV Outsourcing Service Staff Videos

November 8, 2007

Who says that an amateurs like me can’t create videos? I just made one for AOV outsourcing service staff and its really really good!

Visit AOV Outsourcing Service Staff to see the sample video I made through Animoto.com. It’s so easy to use.. all you have to do is to upload some pictures, select a sound track and they’ll do the rest for you. If you are satisfied of a 30 seconds video then its for free.

See the sample video I made, it seems like it was done professionally. I will be doing more and I’ll try to upload the video here in my blog for you to easily view it.

I created the video to let you know that IT guys in AOV Philippines just don’t stay in front of the pc 24/7. We do have time to relax, have fun and enjoy. Remember: All Work and No Play is Unhealthy!

Thanks to John Curry of t-gone.com for introducing me to Animoto.com now I can produce the videos I want as easy as counting 1 2 3.

Outsource Web Developer at AOV Outsourcing Service

November 6, 2007

As online marketers one of the most important thing you need if you want to sell something is a place where you can display and market your products. In short you need a website. If you are not a coder or don’t have any idea of the ins and out of creating a website you may outsource a web developer at AOV outsourcing service.

At AOV Philippines outsourcing our web developers can take care of the visible and invisible codes for your site. They are familiar of different programs like HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, ASP, JAVA scripting and a lot more.

You web developer at AOV can create your website and maintain it. They can fix bugs on your site too. They are also skilled enough to create other plugins that you want to install in your site. Web developers are also skilled in basic graphics design. This means that if you want to add pictures, logos and images to your site, you don’t need to hire a GA to do that, a web dev will do it for you.

Visit AOV outsourcing service and see the advantage of getting a web developer from them.

Outsource a Webmaster for as Low as $625 a Month

November 2, 2007

One of the greatest advantage of outsourcing is financial gain. At AOV outsourcing service, you can outsource a webmaster for as low as $625 a month. Yes, all you need to pay $625 and you have a dedicated full-time webmaster working for you 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 1 whole month. Not only that, you also have direct contact with your webmaster through phone, instant messengers, and emails during those time.

With this very affordable amount being offered by agents of value, this means you don’t need to spend on office rent and equipment anymore. The workstation of your webmaster will be provided by AOV when you pay a one time setup cost worth $275 regardless of how long you will be using your agent.

You may say the $625  is so cheap and that quality of work might not be impressive. I tell you, with this amount you can expect an output professional done. Remember, those who make a living out of their skills knows how things should be done the right way.

Outsource a webmaster at AOV Philippines outsourcing and see for yourself the result.

AOV Philippines Will Help Bookmark Your Site

October 31, 2007

One of the best way of getting high traffic is through social bookmarking and media sites. It is now the latest craze on the web. Social bookmarking sites like Digg, Stumbleupon and Delicious could drive traffic to your site. Internet users, bookmark your content or site, or vote for it and discuss about it.

There are hundreds of social bookmarking sites on the internet and might be too time consuming if you do it all alone. Downloading toolbars would also take some of your precious time. At AOV, you can outsource a link builder to bookmark your sites at a very low monthly cost of $625 a month.

Here are some list of bookmarking sites where your AOV link builder will bookmark your site:

Propeller.com, Slashdot.org, Digg.com, Technorati.com, Del.icio.us, Stumbleupon.com,Twitter.com, Reddit.com, Fark.com, Newsvine.com, swik.net, De.lirio.us,Connotea.org, Blinklist.com, Bluedot.us, Mister-wong.com, Spurl.net, Netvouz.com, Diigo.com, Backflip.com, Shadows.com, Rawsugar.com, Bibsonomy.org, Folkd.com, Linkagogo.com, Dotnetkicks.com Indianpad.com, Plugim.com, Myjeeves.ask.com, Kick.ie, Google Bookmarks, Sk-rt.com, Wirefan.com

Visit AOV Philippines Outsourcing now, and see how they can help you drive traffic to your site through social bookmarking.

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