The Internet is a remarkable tool for many people but it is not necessarily easy to decipher. A Virtual Assistant who has the skills to find relevant information and ignore the hodgepodge could specialize in research. Internet researchers are in great demand by a variety of people.

At school students are taught to pick out the central theme of a paragraph or story and then figure out the most important parts of what they have read.  As a researcher, that is what you will be asked to do for others who do not have the time or the skill to find it themselves. Compiling information that is useful to others is an important part of your business.

The Market

The Internet provides access to a enormous amount of information. Experts in different fields post their knowledge in articles and blog posts. Governments, agencies and professional organizations have digitized their databases and directories for use on the Internet by anyone who requires the information.

It is easy for the average person or business owner to get lost in the sea of information. Who uses that information? Businesses use the Internet to compile statistics and to learn about their competition. Writers, authors, journalists and television professionals use information from the Internet for their work.  Most of these busy professionals just don’t have the time to do their own research.

Conducting research can be a lengthy process. On the Internet, it begins with knowing how search engines work and the best way to find exactly what you are looking for from them. Most people use Yahoo!, Google or MSN but there are plenty of other search engines that the average person has never heard of. An Internet researcher is familiar with all of them and uses the one that will yield the greatest harvest of useful information.

Virtual assistants who want to niche into Internet research could provide some or all of these services to their clients:

• Compiling current statistical data
• Knowledge of all relevant databases and search engines
• Use proven methods for information gathering (relevant use of keywords)
• Spreadsheet and Word document expertise for presenting information in useful manner
• General and specific knowledge of client subject matter

Writers may ask for research on specific subjects like snake venom or 18th century London for their next novel. A business client may want statistics on auto maker revenue in the last ten years. Each is a different subject, but methods of researching are similar.

As a Virtual Assistant Internet researcher you may find that you have a niche subject in mind for your business. Maybe statistical information gathering and analysis are your forte. You could build a client base around just that for small and large corporate-type businesses. It is not easy to perform research and your clients will want the best.

Medical professionals have been using Dictaphone and dictating services for years. These notes are then later transcribed for patient and hospital records. The same is done for legal proceedings. It is more convenient to use a recording device and later create a written copy.

The Market

Online businesses have also found ways to market their products via audio and video. Tutorials, how-tos and interviews are uploaded to websites for viewing and listening (podcasting), but it is good practice to have a transcribed version available as well, as you might have a hearing-impaired visitor to your site.

In order to increase your marketing efforts, audio and video can be translated into other languages. Many business owners would like to do this, but they don’t have the means to transcribe or translate. They need the help of a professional like a Virtual Assistant well-versed in transcription and translation.

Transcribing recordings is not as easy as you might imagine and it is a time-consuming task.  Using your transcription software you will be able to handle all sorts of recordings for your clients using the format that they choose for the written copy.

Some of your services can include:

• Medical Transcription
• Legal Transcription
• Video Transcription
• Podcast Transcription
• Transcription Translation
• Audio transcription for business meetings

Clients can email their work to you as audio or video files according to which file extensions you accept. They may even want to mail CDs for non-rush jobs. Depending on their needs, you can provide verbatim transcription or cleaned-up transcription that is grammatically correct.

A Virtual Assistant/Transcriptionist who is also fluent in another language, could also offer translation services to their clients. This would give them the opportunity to expand their customer base with products for non-English speaking customers. If you wanted to specialize even further, you would make each area of transcription a sub-niche. Medical or legal transcription alone can turn into a lucrative business.

Transcription services are one area that a Virtual Assistant can specialize in as a business idea. As more and more online businesses use other media as marketing tools, they will need the skill of a transcriptionist and even a translator for their work.

If you have never been on the Internet you must be living in the Stone Age. The cyber world is filled with businesses with virtual storefronts, advertising, blogs, people talking on forums and in real-time. These businesses want to know what other people are talking about so they can tailor their advertising to bring in sales. That is where you come in as an Internet marketer.

The Market

Every business (online or brick & mortar) needs a marketing plan. The plan is designed to get the products or services to the millions of people surfing the Web each day. Unless people know about your product and its advantages, they will buy from someone else. Implementing a marketing plan takes time and effort and most business owners don’t have the luxury of spare time, with all of the other jobs on their plate.

There are no easy shortcuts to Internet marketing success. Most business owners use a trial and error method to find out what works. With the help of an experienced Internet marketer, that process becomes a whole lot easier. As a virtual assistant Internet marketer, you can make the difference between helping to create a powerful new brand and obscurity.

Virtual assistants who can function as Internet marketing experts are in high demand. You can take the pressure off companies both small and large that want to concentrate on their product or service. It is your job to draw the traffic to their site.

Some of the tasks you can perform as an Internet Marketing VA include, but are not limited to:

• Article marketing
• Pay per click advertising (PPC)
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Email campaigns
• Direct mailing campaigns
• Keyword research
• Social networking
• Link building

Your clients may or may not have an idea of where they want to start with their marketing plan. It takes a combination of marketing tools to increase the visibility of a business online and off. For the business owner who doesn’t have time to explore and learn each one, the virtual assistant Internet marketer (that’s you) already possess the expertise and can hit the ground running with a plan to get the business established online.

Each of these areas is a part of Internet marketing but you don’t have to offer each service. You may be interested in email campaigns or search engine optimization. You can further niche into these areas to build foolproof campaigns no business can ignore.

Build your business by bringing business to others as a virtual assistant Internet marketer. As the industry grows, you will profit from being on the forefront of technology and an expert in your field.

Are your day-to-day administrative tasks or internet research taking up all your valuable time which could rather be used on the more important aspects of running your business?

If so, why not considering hiring a Virtual Assistant?

The following list will give you an idea of just some of the duties you could outsource to a Virtual Assistant:

1. General Administrative Tasks (typing, word processing, email)

2. Formatting and Proofreading (documents, forms, reports)

3. Mail merging (mass mailing)

4. Sending out e-zines or newsletters

5. PowerPoint presentations

6. Transcription of audio files (manuscripts, manuals, interviews, minutes)

7. Spreadsheets (creation and updating)

8. Data Entry (compiling and maintaining lists & databases in Excel)

9. Internet Research (collect information relative to your industry or prospective clients)

10. Blog posting

Contact us today to discuss how Virtually Assist can make your life easier.