I could probably use a Virtual Assistant

[gotclipart]

I've done a bit of reading here, but I guess I'm just trying to figure out how different tasks could be handed off. Right now, for instance, I have about 40 one-page websites up, a forum, auction listings on 6 sites, auction stores on most of them, three blogs, two ecommerce stores ... and I also make and produce my own products.

In this mix I also have various web design ideas, needs for graphics, desires to increade the SEO of my sites, a new idea of adding RSS Feeds, researching what Google for content is all about and maybe adding it places, adding Google Adsense banners here and there, and a hodge-podge of other things.

So this may be a hard-to-answer question, but does this sound like some tasks for a VA? I'm also curious as to how people are paid whether it's per task -- or a steady amount. Thanks in advance!

[WahmJen]

Hi there!

Here is a great article from Alice that will help you.
http://aliceseba.com/faq/content/view/59/1/

The tasks you posted are just what VA's are for ;). What price is in your budget? Read up in Alice's article and just let us know how we can help you.

[Lori]

Alice does a nice job with that article.

I've begun to outsource more and more myself. With a lot of clients and a lot of my own sites to work on and promote -- I just can't juggle it all and keep everyone happy. :zrazz: Trusted colleagues really help keep things running smoothly!

I would expect to pay $10/hour for basic VA services. For design and optimization -- I myself make $40/hour. If someone has those skills, I can't imagine they would want to make less then that, so I don't typically outsource that type of work. Besides... that's the fun stuff!

A good idea would be to get a VA willing to work with a cap. I have clients who give me several projects at once, but also cap my hours for a month. So I know I'm only working 10 hours that month for so and so -- and accomplish what I can for that amount. Tasks that are easy, I outsource - for example article submissions. Tasks that really require my oversight I do myself.

It's been working pretty well -- but I still see a lot of room for growth.

Lori

[gotclipart]

Thanks Jen and Lori. I've taken a quick peek at the article and it looks helpful. It will probably take me a bit to figure out how to piece out things, but I really think it needs to happen at this stage.

I usually think of things in terms of project b, project b, but with what I want to to, I think that finding someone to "retain" with a cap per month might be the best approach. Maybe something like $50 per month for the first month or two since I probably won't know how to work with someone, and then maybe move up to somewhere around $100 ish a month. I could also see it going higher, but it's just hard to picture right now since I've been doing everyting myself so far. I guess it's also a trust thing and not knowing what results to expect.

Well, I'm rambling, but I will be thinking about this and will be probably asking more questions. I think my hubby would really like me to have some assistance also. He seems to think I should walk away from the computer every now and then. Imagine that!

[Mel]

I too have found that even though I'm a VA, hiring another one to do part of my work helps tremendously. For instance, I dislike working with my website, I have no interest in maintaining, updating, doing SEO, etc on it therefore I would always push it to the back burner. But then I decided I was wasting money by even having a website if it wasn't going to do it's job so I hired another VA to maintain it. Now all I do is write new content and she takes care of the rest. So far it's worked out great.