“ListBuilding” was the topic of one of our recent Hot Skills VA Training classes earlier this week. My business partner Tina Forsyth shared various strategies Virtual Assistants can use to help their clients with attracting people to their website and convert them in to database subscribers.

What was really interesting about this discussion, and many others we have had, is that we are so geared to gathering this information to help our clients when really these exact same strategies also apply to our own Virtual Assistant businesses. I’m sure many Virtual Assistants would agree that they work hard to make sure their client(s) needs are looked after before they take (or even considering taking) the time to market their own business.

“Marketing is an ongoing process, not an event.” is one of my favourite quotes written by my client Stephen Fairley. The reality is we will often make time to market ourselves when we are in need of new clients and additional revenue but when things get busy, we slide the marketing over to the small corner of our desk and rarely make the time for it.

Here’s a challenge for any of you who are reading this blog post. Each and every morning, before you even open up your email program and download new emails, take 20 minutes to do something that contributes to the growth of your business. It may be writing a new blog post, starting a new article, posting an article online, writing a press release, connecting with a potential joint venture - whatever it is - but have it be an action step towards your own marketing.

I have accepted this same challenge from Tina Forsyth. I too get caught up in the hundreds of new emails and priority tasks each day and have a hard time making time for ME and MY business.

If you’re willing to accept this challenge also, let me know … I’d love to hear about what steps you are taking to make your business development a priority.

The ninth and one of the most valuable skills you can offer to any client is the ability to help drive traffic to their websites. This is what our clients ask for help with more than anything else.

There are literally hundreds of ways to market a website and drive traffic, but all you really need to know and understand is one simple thing.

The *key* to successful traffic is to know the niche market you are targeting (or your client’s niche market).

Definition of niche: A group of people with common issues or interests, that ‘hang out’ together.

So there are actually 2 simple steps to driving traffic:

1. Know the niche market, and find where they are ‘hanging out’ together.

2. If you know where they are ‘hanging out’, you can find various ways to get in front of them or have them find you.

As an example, say that you have a client that is targeting flower shop owners.

Where do flower shop owners ‘hang out’ together? Well, first of all they have a listing in the yellow pages so it is easy to find their phone numbers and addresses. I’m sure there are some flower shop associations that you could plug into, perhaps submit articles to their newsletter. What about other companies who also provide services to flower shop owners that you could joint venture with, such as wholesalers?

If your client does not have a well defined niche it can certainly be quite difficult to drive traffic to their site. You may want to do some research to help your client find a niche or refine their niche.

Here are just a few suggestions on ways you can drive traffic, both online and offline:

- google adwords/pay per click
- search engine optimization
- link exchanges
- promo in email signatures
- online article directories
- online ezine directories
- discussion lists
- set up a public blog
- start a yahoo group
- tell-a-friend modules
- affiliate programs
- joint ventures, sharing lists
- social networking, such as Ryze
- local networking groups
- speaking engagements
- writing articles for print newsletters
- write a book
- advertising
- direct mail
- phone campaigns

Driving traffic truly is a whole other course onto itself, but hopefully this is enough to get you started.

And so I invite you to do one simple thing this week - pick one thing from the traffic list above and offer to do it for a client of yours. It could be as simple as submitting an article to a directory, or perhaps even offering to setup an affiliate program or to manage an existing one.

Remember, it is quite often the most simple things that can make a huge difference for our clients and ourselves. Don’t let yourself get caught in the perceived complexity of ‘driving traffic’, just pick one item and take it step by step.