Do you have a busy workload and not enough hours in the day?
Does your daily routine tend to get monotonous?
Wouldn’t it be great to have someone who could get these things done instead of having to do it yourself?
Virtual Assistants are the answer to your prayers. They save time, provide quality output, and can be used for a variety of tasks.
What is a Virtual Assistant (VA) and What do Virtual Assistants do?
VA’s are people that work remotely for their employers, doing tasks that are usually administrative in nature. Some of these tasks include email management, scheduling, word processing, and data entry.
Virtual Assistants provide most of the same services as an in-house employee but are cheaper to hire. They come with no strings attached, are more reliable than traditional employees and cause little to no drama.
There are many reasons as to why you might need a VA. It might be that you are finding it impossible to juggle your work and personal life, or it could be that you have an unusual request that no one in your local area is able to fulfil. Whatever the reason may be, there are plenty of companies out there providing this service, so all you need to do is make sure you find the right match for your needs.
What Are the Different Types of Virtual Assistants?
Virtual assistants are revolutionizing the work world. They can do everything from data entry to writing emails and scheduling meetings. There are many different types of virtual assistants, depending upon their specialities:
Virtual Administrative Assistant / Executive Virtual Assistant
An administrative virtual assistant’s job is to help you keep your business running smoothly. They can answer emails, schedule meetings, organize your calendar and provide other administrative tasks such as handling travel arrangements and maintaining reports.
Also Read: What is a Virtual Administrative Assistant?
Virtual Receptionist Services
Virtual receptionist services provide a virtual employee to answer the phone and route the call to the appropriate person. This helps businesses save on labor costs and provides a company with a professional, trained office manager working remotely.
Bookkeeping Virtual Assistant
As future technologies start to take shape, more and more businesses are becoming aware of the benefits associated with investing in the use of virtual bookkeeping services. A few of these benefits include saving both time and money by automating routine tasks like reconciling payers, financial statements, and expense reports.
Virtual Personal Assistant
Virtual Personal Assistants have become a necessity for successful business in the modern age. They can be used to manage an array of tasks from scheduling meetings and sending emails, to answering basic questions about products. These assistants are proving themselves time and time again as a valuable asset for every business’ toolkit with their wide range of capabilities and their ability to automate mundane tasks.
Also Read: Complete Information On Virtual Personal Assistant
Social Media Virtual Assistant
Social Media Virtual Assistants are on the rise as well as the demand for Social Media Marketing jobs. If you’re looking to increase your Social Media presence then an SMVA can help take off some of the load. These types of assistants help businesses with scheduling posts, commenting, responding to comments and messages, or even creating graphics for your business.
Real Estate Virtual Assistant
REVA (Real Estate Virtual Assistants ) are the future of real estate. Agents and brokers have realized that a new way to scale can be found by using an executive virtual assistant. By delegating administrative tasks, they will have more time to focus on sales, relationship building and new business development.
Also Read: 57 Ways A Realtor Can Use A Real Estate Virtual Assistant 2022
Shopping and e-commerce virtual assistants
Shopping and e-commerce virtual assistants are changing the way we shop. These assistants handle the immense workload that comes with shopping, such as finding the perfect outfit and comparing prices in a snap. They can also help you find gifts for friends and family. With so many tasks to take care of, you can relax while they shop for you!
Content Writing Virtual Assistants
If you are low on time, creativity or motivation to write your content, you can hire a Content writing VA. This service provides you with original content or marketing copies for your project based on your needs. A Content Writing Virtual Assistant can also research information, craft emails, social media captions and manage many other writing & proofreading tasks.
Customer Support Virtual Assistants
Customer Support Virtual Assistants are able to help you with customer interactions via a diverse range of channels, including social media platforms, emails, chat or phones. They are adept at providing proactive support and ensuring customers find the information they need quickly and easily. It’s an excellent choice for companies with global operations or those who want to provide 24/7 customer service without the costs associated with hiring, training and managing workers.
Virtual Research Assistants
A virtual research assistant can help you manage your online research by collecting and presenting to your business any information they find online. This makes it easier for you and allows them to present the information in a way that’s easy to understand. They can help with travel research, influencer research, lead generation, product and market research, database research, trend research, and web research.
Also Read: Information On Virtual Research Assistant 2022
Data Entry Virtual Assistants
Data entry Virtual Assistants or data entry VA’s are a fast and affordable way to get data entry done without the hassle. They can help your business by giving your staff more time to focus on high-level tasks like strategic planning, marketing, and customer service.
Also Read: Advantages Of A Data Entry Assistant
Graphic Design Virtual Assistants
Graphic Design Virtual Assistants help save designers and clients time and money. These assistants can work with clients remotely to provide a range of design services such as web graphics, logos, branding and more. They can also handle design tasks such as scanning, editing images or formatting text.
Virtual Marketing Assistants
With the cost for hiring skilled marketing professionals skyrocketing in recent years, Virtual Marketing Assistants have become a highly affordable solution to digital marketing. VMA’s provide an outsourced solution that allows you to easily drive more qualified leads and sales with less time and effort.
Amazon Virtual Assistants
Amazon Virtual Assistants (AVAs) are a type of Amazon business management specialist who functions alongside sellers to help them manage their business. They are often remote workers who work part or full-time to carry out tasks that are associated with your business. They can provide a variety of services, including customer service, order processing, data input, procurement of new products, order fulfilment, etc.
Also Read: Hiring An Amazon Virtual Assistant To Scale Up Your Business
Medical Virtual Assistants
Medical Virtual Assistants are trained professionals that can provide assistance to medical practitioners with daily, recurring tasks. They also provide administrative support for busy doctors by organizing patient charts, managing appointments and answering non-clinical questions. Medical virtual assistants are trained to work with patients through chat, email, or phone.
Also Read: How Medical Virtual Assistants can help Doctors?
Web Design and Development Virtual Assistants
Web designing and development virtual assistants are responsible for a variety of tasks such as designing, programming, and managing websites. They use software programs such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and more to create highly functional web pages at a very affordable cost.
Top 100 Tasks you can Outsource to a Virtual Assistants?
Outsourcing your tasks to a virtual assistant is now easier than ever before. With the recent advancements in the virtual assistant community, you can now quickly and easily have all of your tasks outsourced to a virtual assistant for a low monthly fee. Check out the top 100 tasks for virtual assistants that you can delegate to your VA:
ROLE: GENERAL VIRTUAL ASSISTANT (GVA)
Email and Calendar Management Tasks
A General Virtual Assistant is a remote assistant that can do email and schedule management tasks.
The GVA has the ability to conduct research on the internet in order to find information that may be needed by the user. Working with a GVA to handle your email, as well as things like your calendar is essential to becoming more productive as a modern-age entrepreneur.
- Filtering Emails / Managing Spam
- Handling Customer Service Emails / Chat Support / Tickets
- Managing Calendar
- Reminder Services
- Scheduling Appointments
- Sending of Greetings eCards, Event Invitations, etc.
- Travel Arrangement and Planning
- Updating Contacts or CRM / Updating Database
Organizing Files and Folders (physical Storage or cloud)
There are many ways to store files on your computer, but not all of them will work for you. Some people prefer to store their files locally, while others use cloud storage.
Cloud storage is becoming more popular because it is convenient and easy to access from any device with an internet connection. However, there are some disadvantages that come with this convenience. It can be difficult to find files when they are scattered across various devices or across multiple cloud services like Google Drive or Dropbox, which may not be compatible with one another.
A Virtual Assistant will help you simplify your business, whatever your level. They can manage and organise your paper or electronic files, no matter where they are – on your computer or in the cloud.
- Managing, Formatting and Creating new Spreadsheets
- Data Entry in Word, or Google Docs
- Dropbox / Google Drive Organization
- PDF Conversion, Splitting and Merging
- Preparing PowerPoint/keynote Presentations
Administrative & Blogging Tasks
Virtual assistants are increasingly becoming a necessity in today’s world. They can help with administrative and blogging tasks, such as:
- Adding Tags & Images to Blog Posts
- Basic Bookkeeping (Quickbooks or similar websites)
- Blog Publishing and Formatting
- Data Mining / Lead Generation
- Deadline / Deliverables Tracking
- Document Template Creation
- Forms Creation
- Moderating Blog Comments
- Online Research
- Personal Errands (Purchasing Gifts Online, etc.)
- Preparation of Training Materials
- Preparing Online Meeting Minutes
- Project Management & Training Tasks
- Project Management (Coordinating between you and your team members)
- Receptionist Duties
- Report Creation
- Sending Client Invoices
- Formatting eBook Layout / Designing Templates
- Transcription of Audio & Video Files
- Voicemail Checking, Responding and Updating Call Records
ROLE: SOCIAL MEDIA VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
Social Media Virtual assistants can be used to manage social media, create content, design posts and even answer customer service inquiries. These virtual assistants will monitor all of your accounts and post on your behalf when necessary, making sure that you don’t miss out on any activity digitally.
- Responding to inquiries and Messages on all communication channels
- Collating and Interpreting Facebook Insights
- Create and Manage LinkedIn Account / Profile
- Create and Manage Instagram Account / Profile
- YouTube Account Management
- Generate Pinnable Images on Pinterest
- Prepare Slideshare Presentations
- Creating a Twitter Account
- Creating Facebook Fan Pages / Groups (see example below)
- Managing and Increasing Your Twitter Following
- Moderating YouTube Comments
- Posting and Scheduling Facebook Insights
- Promoting Facebook Pages
- Managing Tweets, Mentions and Research Hashtags.
- Scheduling and Tracking Pins
- Social Media Management Tasks
- Upload Videos on YouTube
- Uploading Videos and shorts to Social Streaming websites.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is still one of the most effective marketing channels. It is also the most-used channel with an open rate of 98% for emails.
Virtual assistants can assist with email marketing in many ways. They can help with the creation of email templates, content development, and sending out emails to a list in bulk.
- Adding and Removing Subscribers from Mailing Lists
- Categorising segments in Email Marketing Software
- Scheduling Email Campaigns to Promote Content
- Creating Email Newsletters in MailChimp, Sendinblue, ActiveCampaign, AWeber, GetResponse, etc
- Editing / Proofreading Emails
- Editing Follow-up Emails and Auto-responders
ROLE: AUDIO / VIDEO EDITOR
Virtual assistants are skilled in a number of areas including audio and video editing. They can work remotely to edit your videos or podcasts. You can outsource these tasks to save time and make your business more efficient without the need to buy expensive software.
- Adding/Editing Intro’s and Outro’s to Videos
- Editing of Audio Files like Podcast
- Intermediate level of Photoshop / Image Editing (Not Graphic Design)
- Podcast Insertion on Blogpost
- Podcast Setup on iTunes
- Powerpress (Podcasting WP Plugin) Installation
- Removing Background Noise from Audio and Video
ROLE: CONTENT WRITER
Outsourcing your content writing work to virtual assistants has become an increasingly common solution for startup entrepreneurs. With these services, you can get help with everything from blog posts, to social media updates, as well as all sorts of other copywriting needs. This not only frees up your time so you can focus on other tasks, but it also saves money in the long run.
- Article Marketing
- Article Spinning
- Content / Blog Post-Creation
- Copywriting
- Directory Submission
- Guest Blogging / Ghost Blogging
- Newsletter Writing
- Press Release Writing
- SEO Writing
ROLE: SEO / WEB MARKETER
The SEO world has been changing a lot recently, with old SEO techniques being rendered ineffective and new ones taking centre stage. Creating high-quality content is the key to search rankings, so it’s important to keep up-to-date with all that’s happening.
A skilled web marketing VA can help you position your content to rank higher on search engine result pages. This will lead to more visitors over time.
- Blog Commenting – Off-Page Optimization
- Competitor Analysis
- Adding and Tracking a Social Bookmarking Sheet
- Backlinks / Link Building by Off-Page SEO Techniques.
- Forum Participation / Moderation
- Keyword Research for Blog Content
- Landing Page Set-up/Creation
- Monthly Keyword Ranking Reports
- Off-page optimization for a post / page
- On-page optimization for a post / page
- Website Analysis
- Sitemap Submissions in Google, Bing
- Social Bookmarking (Reddit, Digg, Delicious, Digg, Stumble Upon)
- WebMaster Submission for page indexing
- Weekly / Monthly / Quarterly Google Analytics & Traffic Reports
ROLE: GRAPHIC / WEB DESIGNER
It’s much better for entrepreneurs to delegate Photoshop work. If you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s a massive waste of time to tinker around with it all day. That’s why hiring a skilled VA with the most up-to-date skills in this field is an excellent choice to go ahead.
- Basic Video Editing
- Design Infographic Images (Using Canva or similar softwares)
- Designing and Developing Opt-In Pages / Landing / Sales / Funnels
- Design eBook Covers, Logos, Banners, Icons, and Headers
- Designing Websites or Creating Mock-Ups
ROLE: WEB DEVELOPER
When you are starting a new business, you have to think about branding, marketing and customer acquisition. You need to develop a website that is functional, aesthetically pleasing, and up to date. With a virtual web developer on your team, you’re immediately able to find sustainable solutions for all your web development needs.
- API Integration & CRM Integration
- Install Email Ticketing System (eg. ZenDesk)
- Install WordPress Plugins and Themes
- Payment Gateway Integration
- Troubleshooting any website issues
- Develop Creative WordPress or PHP Websites.
- WordPress Functionality and Plug-in Enhancement
Virtual Assistant Services for Startups
The use of virtual assistant services is on the rise for start-ups. Startups are often too busy with their own tasks to look for someone to help them with other administrative work which they need done.
It’s worth noting that there are key differences between hiring a virtual assistant and an employee. You might need to test them before you hire them depending on what type of services you want them to provide for you.
Startup owners should use these services wisely and prioritize their time to focus on what they are good at because these services can be very inexpensive.
Full Ownership of Delivery
Virtual assistants are usually highly motivated and experienced professionals. It’s normal for remote workers to hire someone to manage them, regardless of whether the job is full-time or freelance.
Relevance is what matters most to virtual assistants. They take ownership of what they do and work to make sure that they always live up to their fullest potential.
When you use Virtual Assistant Companies you will have an additional layer of management that they keep either hidden for a reason. They want to ensure that the VAs are being successful in their role.
Easy Hiring Process
Hiring new employees can be an exhausting and expensive process. When these costs are multiplied over time, it’s easy to see that the ROI on employee management is poor. And even after actively looking and assessing them, you never know if the new employee is a good fit for your business until they start working for you on a more regular basis. This is one of the many hurdles that the virtual employment industry has removed.
It’s one of the best ways to virtually employ someone, you can test them on many different skills. It’s not just about having one or two conversations with them but really investing your time into working closely with them on the job.
Specialized Solution
As a business, sometimes you’ll need a resource to solve one problem or look after one aspect of it. In the traditional setup, you wouldn’t be able to customize your solution and would need to hire a full-time person with that skill-set instead.
A virtual space is a good solution for this. By hiring someone remotely, you can get help from a pool of VA’s and grow your team capacity when you need it. They’re not tied to contracts and you can choose what you need at a particular point in your company’s journey. You can then increase or decrease the workload as per your monthly requirement.
Cost-Effective Onboarding
When you hire an employee, it comes with a particular cost that can affect your company’s human resource management expenditure. After hiring, you also need to spend money on their initial training.
The virtual workforce is helping to cut costs. The VA agency is the one hiring and training the employee so you do not need to spend anything extra.
VA agencies make it their top priority to get you started as soon as possible. So from day one, you’ll be able to hit the ground running and the assigned VA can look after your duties. Start-up companies need to concentrate on their expenses and this could do just that.
Pool of Talents available across the Globe
There’s no time to fly across the globe these days. Virtual work means you can hire international professionals at a low cost.
Having an internet connection is all they need to do work remotely, so where someone lives don’t matter. This also lets you hire the person regardless of where they live.
You can hire whomever you want without being extra charged. This is easy for any Startup businessman. Why pay more when you can find an effective, global resource?
Focus on Long-Term Strategy
Corporate companies typically have a large budget that allows them to plan for a future that may seem too far off. Start-up businesses, however, prefer to invest in the present and wait for the future. This is why it often neglects long-term goals– because those immediate investments are easier
Flexible resources allow you to tap into expertise when you need it. With this in mind, take the time today to look ahead and plan your strategy for tomorrow so you can start implementing long-term goals.
It is a good idea to craft a long-term strategy early on in the life of your start-up. It will help you to grow and establish a loyal customer base.
Save Time with VA
A virtual assistant service provider can help you grow your business AND free up some time for yourself. That’s why many people invest in a VA to help them manage their personal tasks.
Use your valuable time to do what you really love and relax. It’ll help you stay strong and focussed through upcoming challenges, so remember to invest in your mental health too.
Effective Timeboxing
Suppose you have multiple goals and you have hired a virtual assistant. The VA would help you assign particular hours of work on each and every goal. Eventually, he or she could start working within the timeframe and empower your business objective.
Summary of Benefits Working With Virtual Assistants
Peace of mind and a sense of calm and serenity just might be worth the expense. Slowing down and getting through your to-do list can be priceless – that is, if you have someone whom you can rely on to finish up tasks that need attention. It’s true that multitasking can decrease efficiency. A Virtual Assistant can help you focus on the most important aspects of your business by freeing up more of your time.
Hiring a virtual assistant is an affordable decision, and it’s worth investing some time into them. Virtual assistants offer many benefits to their employers. Benefits include but are not limited to: saving time, saving money, reducing stress, increasing productivity, increased creativity and increased focus.
24/7 VA Coverage
If you are looking for a Virtual Assistant who can provide customer support or troubleshooting when you are offline, it is possible to hire someone from another timezone so they can work in accordance with your business hours.
Having a 24/7 customer support service is a great selling point for any business. There’s no better way to show you care about your customer’s needs than with a fully staffed and available team of customer support representatives who are always on hand to answer any queries or questions that may arise.
Experts Available For Specific Needs
You’re an expert at everything and seem to have the best of everything…until one thing: either you feel overwhelmed with social media or your inbox and planning systems suck. Maybe you need someone to blog and Pinterest for you.
Hiring a VA is not only a great option if your needs are specific, but also in case, you want to hire someone with a more specialized skill set. You can find somebody who is an expert in just what you need and delegate all the tasks that don’t require their expertise. A lot of businesses have great VA services, but Task Virtual does something different. We actually pair you with the person whose skills will best meet your specific requirements and personality type.
Hiring a VA can help your business a lot and you’ll have more time to focus on other tasks. It’s all about finding someone that suits your needs and their expertise is an added bonus.
Gift Of Time
Virtual assistants are being increasingly used for everyday tasks in businesses, but they can also free up time for entrepreneurs just starting out. If you have your own small business, you understand how much time & energy it takes
You invested so much time and effort into making what you created – its only natural that you’d dedicate a lot of your time and focus to maintaining it. Once you get a VA that you feel confident entrusting with your business, you can free up some time to hang out with friends or spend quality time alone.
Ask Question To Yourself: When is the last time you took a vacation? Or even a day off?
Saves You Time And Money
Hiring a VA can give your business more room to focus on essential parts of managing your organization while saving time and effort on other menial tasks.
For instance, if a client has an important business opportunity on their hands, the client is not going to be focused on running their social media campaigns or updating their blogs. A project like this will take up all of their time and focus.
With the Virtual Assistant, you can get more done on your own time. They can take on some of your daily tasks or smaller projects, allowing you to focus on what’s important for your business. Plus health insurance, infrastructure cost, employment benefits, travel expenses, coffee, etc. These are all costs you can avoid when managing a VA.
And you only have to pay when they are actively working so it’s cost-effective when compared to a traditional office working employee. In an office environment employees naturally take breaks during their shift and spend time on their phones & grabbing lunch throughout the day.
A VA Makes Your Life Easier
It’s a pretty common thing these days to have an online presence through social media, email or a website. With the amount of stuff that’s taking place online, we’re seeing a higher demand for digital marketing services and marketers who know what they’re doing. That way your business doesn’t fall behind and you can stay competitive.
You may not be great at everything, that’s OK! A virtual assistant will not only solve your time management problems, but they can help you out in tasks where you might be lacking knowledge. This helps the client to balance their workload – leading to a more efficient life.
Also Read: How VAs Can Help To Balance Work And Family Life?
What are Virtual Assistant Companies and their Benefits?
Virtual Assistants are here to help. These days, more and more solo entrepreneurs and small business owners are shifting to virtual assistant companies to get a pool of talents at a very reasonable cost. As a result, they are getting multiple skillsets to help them with their workloads.
Virtual assistant companies or agencies exist to take care of various tasks and responsibilities for their clients, such as bookkeeping, social media management, content writing, handling admin work and more.
Sourcing freelancers can be a time-consuming process, but if you want to simplify the hiring process and make sure you get the right person the first time around, then using a virtual assistant agency is the perfect solution. Working with an agency will give you plenty of advantages and is worth looking into.
Free Consultation
A Virtual Assistant Agency having team of experts will give you a consultancy on your needs, determining the hours and skills sets that will best cater to your business.
Build Your Dream Team
Recruiting virtual assistants can be quite difficult, but an agency will have a tried and tested vetting process to help you choose the best from a pool of candidates.
Trained Professionals
If you hire an agency, your virtual assistant will be trained for the task at hand, so you don’t need to spend any additional time training them. They’ll also be equipped with the necessary skills and will be up-to-date with apps and other tools.
Hassle-Free Commitment
Agencies can help you avoid all the hassle of negotiating a contract by drawing up one specifically designed for your particular needs, as well as the responsibilities of the VA. This is also beneficial to both parties involved since it facilitates what’s expected from them and provides protection from liability on both sides of the transaction.
Well Paid VA’s
Virtual assistants that work for an agency typically get paid more. Of course, an employee who earns more is happier and more content with the job.
It’s a well-known fact that finding a great virtual assistant agency can be really difficult. That being said, there are freelancers out there who could do just as good of a job.
Our virtual assistant agency (TaskVirtual) provides some of the highest quality services, while also saving you time. If you’re not sure about VA work or are looking for a partner to cover all your needs, then hiring our agency will be perfect for you. Just make sure to do some research first on different options so you know which is the best fit.
How Do I Choose the Right Virtual Assistant Company or Agency?
Let’s be honest, despite the fact that technology has made our lives so much easier, many of us still feel overwhelmed by everyday tasks. The sad fact is that it takes too much time and energy to complete everything on a daily basis.
Virtual assistant companies are the solution to your problems. They will help with administrative or technical tasks for an employer. You can hire a VA agency to take care of anything that is making your life difficult. It could be just writing content for your blog, bookkeeping, social media marketing, online research or even running errands for you. Factors to keep in mind before hiring a Virtual Assistant Company.
Online Reviews
The Internet has opened up a whole new way to find and hire virtual assistants from all over the world. With an online reputation management company, you can read reviews of different agencies and compare their prices and services.
Ask for References
If you are not interested in an internet search, why not reach out to your network for references. You never know who in your network has a tried and tested option that could work for you.
You may have heard that it’s good to reach out to your network when looking for a service.
Free Consultation:
When it comes to choosing a Virtual Assistant Agency, you will have the opportunity to meet with them through a free phone consultation. During this time they will ask questions about your business and its needs, as well as your availability and what expertise you need your assistant to come aboard with to hit the ground running. They will be “interviewing” you just as much as you are interviewing them. Your best choice would be a company that makes sure the business relationship is a good fit for both parties.
Interview Your Virtual Assistant
Regardless of whether you are going to hire a freelance virtual assistant or will go with a virtual assistant agency, you definitely need to take the time to interview your prospective VA. Ask questions as you would in any job interview to assess his/her skill level with whatever you will need help with. The main objective of interviewing your VA is to find out if he/she can take the pain off your shoulder.
Assigning Paid or Free Trial Project
After interviewing your prospective virtual assistant, it’s time to put their skills to the test with a paid trial project. Analyze both the skill level and work speed of your potential hire. The perfect candidate will be able to demonstrate an ability to complete tasks in a timely manner.
Timeline and Budget
Choose a Virtual Assistant Agency that gives you options based on your needs, timeline, and budget. You can either choose a package they are offering at an hourly rate or ask for a custom rate as per your requirement. The cost is based on your specific needs, but you’ll never pay more than $15/hour for an Indian Virtual assistant.
Specialized Team
Look for an agency that can connect you with competent and qualified virtual assistants who are dedicated to providing the best possible skill set as per your needs. Also, they have industry-driven experts in the field of technology and can offer innovative ideas to help grow your business.
Hassle-Free Onboarding
As a business owner, it is important to protect yourself and your VA with a well-drafted contract. There are many things to consider, such as liability, payment structures, and termination clauses. Here a good VA company can help you in and out with a hassle-free onboarding experience.
Backup Assistance
Getting back up assistance is a blessing in disguise. VA companies generally work around the clock and make sure that your tasks are not left unattended. Even when your virtual assistant is on leave or is not at their desk, your work will be assigned to the available backup virtual assistants who will take care of your work with great care until your remote executive assistant is back.
How Much Do Virtual Assistants Charge Per Hour?
According to the most recent Virtual Assistant Report from Global Workplace Analytics, the average hourly rate for a virtual assistant is $24.21. But that’s only part of the story. What does that number really mean?
In the US, a virtual assistant is defined as an individual who provides professional administrative support and services to clients remotely. This can include secretarial work, scheduling, event planning and management, travel arrangements, bookkeeping and data entry, among other things. There’s no question that the number of virtual assistants has grown in recent years. According to a Global Workplace Analytics study, the number of full-time and part-time virtual assistants grew by 53% between 2010 and 2015.
Virtual Assistants all over the world make around 5 USD to more than 55 USD per hour and is mainly dependent on the following factors:
- Job role
- Years of experience
- Level of skill sets
- Industry
- Workplace (USA, India, Philippines, etc)
Below is an approximate guide on Virtual Assistant Salaries monthly:
- General Virtual Assistant – $700-$3000
- Content Writing Assistant– $2000-$5000
- Digital Marketing Assistant – $3000-$5000
- Virtual Technical Assistant – $3000-$8000
- Web Designing and Development Assistant – $2000-$5000
When considering an online assistant salary, one must consider the following factors: the complexity of tasks, work requirements based on the number of hours, and payment schemes. There are three main payment schemes: pay per project, pay per hour, and pay by the week or month.
Indian Virtual Assistants generally cost usually from $5-15 an hour.
Compared to hiring an assistant in the US, those are obviously very attractive prices. In general, here’s what you’ll find:
- The bigger the company is that a virtual assistant firm is targeting, the more you’ll pay. These are state-of-the-art business processing outsourcing companies that serve Fortune 500 clients.
- The newer the company, the less you’ll pay. The new companies that have just started out often price lower to attract new customers and build a client base.
- If you are willing to spend more hours on the job, then you’ll pay less per hour.
For example, if you need a full-time virtual assistant, your effective hourly rate will be a much better deal than if you just need someone for 20 hours a month.
That’s because the company now knows that person’s salary is “spoken for” instead of needing to source several clients to keep them busy and cover their fixed costs.
Also Read: Indian Virtual Assistants VS Others
List of Top Virtual Assistant Websites in 2022?
Thorough research has already been conducted by Tom Gerencer in HP® Tech Takes, They have surveyed thousands of online reviews from virtual assistant customers and experts, and examined many websites first-hand. They found that US-based Virtual Assistant businesses tend to be more expensive than those based overseas. Furthermore, many foreign Virtual Assistant businesses have a positive reputation. Below are both US and foreign based virtual assistant websites listed according to their ranking.
- TaskVirtual – best virtual assistant website
Located in Kolkata, India
Plans & Pricing: Monthly plans start at $6.2/Hour
- VaVa Virtual – best US-based VA site
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Plans & Pricing: General package starts at $1000 to $1500 per month
- Virtalent – best UK-based VA service
Located in Birmingham, UK
Plans & Pricing: Monthly plans start at £23/Hour (roughly $31.50)
- FreeUp – best budget option
Located in Orlando, FL
Plans & Pricing: Services start at $5 per hour for starting level VA’s.
- RemSource
Located in Baltimore, MD
Plans & Pricing: Quote-based, depends on service needs - LinkedIn
Located Worldwide
Pricing: Negotiate directly with VAs - Time Etc
Located in Birmingham, UK
Plans & Pricing: Packages start at $24 per hour - MyTasker
Located in Kolkata, India
Plans & Pricing: Monthly plans start at $8/Hour - Belay
located in Roswell, GA
Plans & Pricing: $38 per hour and up - WoodBows
Located in US, UK, India, Philippines
Pricing: $8 per hour and up
Finding a virtual assistant you love may be difficult at first. However, the 10 websites listed above make it easy to find one. HP® Tech Takes have already done the vetting and hiring to review, so all you have to do is provide the work. A virtual assistant can greatly boost your productivity by taking all the lower-level work off your plate so you can focus on the bottom line.
How do you Manage Virtual Assistants?
Maybe you don’t have the office space to accommodate another worker, or you work from home and need help with your growing business. Regardless of the reason, hiring a virtual assistant can be a great inexpensive option for entrepreneurs who need a hand.
Finding a virtual assistant can be tricky, but there are many companies that provide this service. You can try oDesk and Elance for starters. Other companies known for access to good talent include Task Virtual. Before you sign on your first VA, note that even though this assistant is not there in person you still need to manage that person and your relationship
Make Training Seamless
In the hiring process, training is by far the most important part. If you do not train your virtual assistant properly, you can cause a lot of problems, whereas having a well-trained virtual assistant can make your life much easier.
Richard Phu shared on Medium that a great way to train virtual assistants is by video. He says the videos should be short and digestible (3-7 minutes) and supplemented with email scripts, templates, and other resources.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
Having regular contact with your virtual assistant is an essential part of the job. This allows you to keep track of the progress of your project and identify any issues as early as possible. It also helps to build a positive relationship between you and your virtual assistant.
Support your virtual assistant’s strengths
The person you hire as your virtual assistant should be able to complete tasks in the areas where he or she is strongest. This can be achieved by first having a clear idea of what tasks are being outsourced and then assessing whether the candidate has the appropriate skills and experience for the job.
Start Low & Slow
Don’t give your virtual assistant a complicated project as an initial assignment. Unexpected obstacles can appear while a project is being carried out, which may be difficult for him or her to fully understand or quickly solve. Smart delegators gradually increase the complexity of their assistant’s workload after continuous comprehensive assessments and methodical training.
Cultural Differences
In today’s global business environment, it is not unusual to hire virtual assistants from other countries. Your VA may reside in another country and speak a different language. In order to communicate effectively, you need to understand the nuances of their cultural differences. Some examples are Chinese New Year, Filipino “yes”, or Indian circular head nod.
Ask to Keep Your Files in Cloud
You’ve got a client breathing down your neck and the deadline is fast approaching. You’ve invested a lot in this project, and you don’t want to lose it all. You can’t afford to hire someone else to finish the job, either.
Several entrepreneurs have faced such issues and have always been advised: only work in the cloud.
Ask your assistants to save all files to a service like DropBox or Google Drive, so if the assistant quits, you have a copy of everything. You may also include this in the initial contract with your VA.
Sharing Feedback
You need to be an ace of tact. When dealing with setbacks, discuss the concerns professionally and in a courteous manner. Acting crudely when discussing project concerns can be counterproductive to the employer-employee relationship, ultimately throwing progress off track. When criticizing assistants, be specific. Remember to tell the assistant what he or she is doing right.
Set-up Monitoring Strategy
Make a point to keep up with the progress of assignments you delegate to your virtual personnel. However, this does not mean constantly calling them. This will hamper their concentration and overall productivity. Try giving them a task, checking on them mid-day, and then checking on them again at the end of the day.
Virtual assistants are a valuable asset, but you need to know how to manage their time and efforts in order for them to be effective. By following the tips we’ve provided above, you’ll be well on your way to creating an efficient virtual team that will help you reach your goals at work.
Conclusion
If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, there’s no better time than now. By adding a virtual assistant to your team, you can focus on the tasks that are most critical for growth—and free up more time to focus on what matters most.
Virtual assistance can help you grow your business and increase your profits, but like all things it requires work to get the most out of it. We’ve put together this blog post for you to learn about what you should look for in a virtual assistant and how to manage them once they’re on board.
Look no further than hiring a professional VA from Task Virtual. Leave your day-to-day tasks to our expert virtual assistants. We screen our VA’s, so you can focus on what’s important. Let us handle the small stuff; like managing your emails or running an errand, to give you more time and energy to be the best boss you can be! By hiring through us, you’ll save time you previously spent on all-consuming tasks, and you’ll also save money—hiring virtually is less expensive than hiring an in-office assistant.