LinkedIn is the premier social site for business professionals on the Web. If you are not a part of it, get involved today. One effective tool is LinkedIn Groups.

You may be familiar with LinkedIn but don’t really know how it can help you. Being a business professional, it can be hard to connect with other professionals. Running an online business or holding a pivotal position in a company can consume most of your time.

LinkedIn takes the guesswork and legwork out of networking with others in your field. This site allows you to search for, connect with and get needed advice from professionals with a few clicks. There are no face-to-face meetings unless you want them. Even so, you can get to know people through their profiles and interacting in groups and discussions.

LinkedIn Groups: Increase Your Visibility and Expert Status

This brings us to LinkedIn Groups. What are they? These groups are like small gatherings of professionals with similar business niches or interests. The entire site is available to you, but concentrated groups help you to target those professionals with whom you need to network.

Groups help you do many things:

* Discover other professionals to meet quickly
* Actively participate in discussions relevant to your interests and needs
* Zero in on the most influential people on LinkedIn within your professional sphere
* Know which profiles to view and which people to “follow” in discussions
* Begin your own discussions to help establish yourself as a leader in your field

These are also excellent reasons to begin your own LinkedIn Group. Before you do, though, get a feel for the process by joining a group or two. You can search for relevant groups using different parameters.

Once you find one that you like, introduce yourself. Do this by posting a new discussion question and then leaving a comment. Let people get to know you.

LinkedIn Groups can also increase your visibility and popularity on the site. While you are leading discussions, don’t forget to leave meaningful comments on other discussion topics. It will look pretty suspicious if you only post questions and never join in the discussions of others.

Build up a presence and a following. When you are ready, create your own group. If you work for a large company, creating a group for your co-workers gives them a place to connect with others inside the company. Post about new job openings; get advice on job advancement and the like.

Ask your new business contacts to join your group. Don’t forget business contacts on other social sites like Facebook and Twitter. Invite LinkedIn members with similar interests as a way of connecting with new faces.

Why should you create a LinkedIn group? You can increase your visibility, ranking, popularity, network and credibility in the business world.

Are you a blogger? So are hundreds of other people. How do you get people to read what you write instead of what someone else writes?

Do you have something to say? Put it on your blog. If you are a business owner, your blog may be an additional way to draw your target market to you. But, you have to get people to notice you first.

Getting People to Follow You

Here are some ways to bring people in.

* Use relevant keywords – Yes, keywords are important on blogs as well. If you own a website, use the same keywords on your blog that you are using to attract business to your site. Also, use your blog to try out new keywords that readers suggest. Either way, you can increase your rankings on the search engines and more people will find you.

* Post relevant information – There is a lot of recycled content on the web. By keeping your finger on the pulse of your niche, you can be the first to talk about current trends and ask questions to get people interested. Everyone is looking for news they can use.

* Respond to comments – A blog is not just for you but also your followers and customers to sound in on different issues. When they leave a comment, answer back with a meaningful response in a timely manner. People follow blogs where they feel that their opinion matters.

* Listen to your readership – It is not just about gaining a group of followers but also about interacting with them. They are looking to you for a certain level of expertise. They will also let you know when something you do dissatisfies them.

* Read and comment on other blogs – Stay in contact with other bloggers in your niche. Take an interest in what they have to say. This increases your visibility among the people you want to follow your writings.

* Post new content regularly – A stagnant blog is a dead blog. To keep people coming back, offer new information for readers to digest on a weekly basis. You can schedule content to be posted in advance to save time.

* Join social networks – Create a page where your readers can post on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. With the first two, readers can find out about the newest things you are doing. Include links to your blog, website and any other place you have writings. On LinkedIn, fellow blog owners and other professionals can learn about you.

* Guest blog for others – Build a rapport with others in your niche. Write posts for them with the stipulation that you can post a link to your blog. Also offer the same opportunity for them on your blog.

Want to attract loyal followers? Learn to connect with them in different ways.

Being a VA can be one of the most lucrative and flexible jobs on the planet. Not only do you get to work from anywhere in the world; you’re typically working for high network individuals, which means the pay is often quite high.

Finding VA opportunities involves looking in both traditional places and non-traditional places. Here are a few places you can look for VA opportunities.

==> Craigslist

You can literally spend hours and hours on Craigslist browsing VA opportunities.

Make sure you check “telecommute” when you’re looking for opportunities.

Since what you’re doing isn’t geographically limited, start by checking the largest cities like New York and San Francisco. Also make sure to check your own area, as some employers want to meet you in person before hiring you.

==> Join a VA Firm

There are many firms online that you can join. Some firms won’t work with assistants who are truly virtual, because they have their own in-house staff that they source out as virtual. That said, many firms also work with purely virtual assistants.

The best way to find potential VAs is to just do a Google search to find active firms, then apply to them directly. Try to apply to at least ten. The more you apply to, the higher your chances of getting the job.

==> LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a phenomenal way to meet potential VA clients. Using LinkedIn, you can network your way to the people who both need and can afford your services.

Start by crafting a detailed LinkedIn profile that showcases your most relevant work experience. Give a detailed chronology of your previous work experience and list any relevant skills you have that would help with the job.

Then use your network of contacts to work your way to people who might need a virtual assistant. For example, presidents, vice presidents and executives will often need virtual assistants.

Try to target small to medium-sized companies rather than large corporations, as getting in touch with high level executives of a large corporation can be quite difficult.

==> “Do You Know Anyone Who … ?”

Finally, tap into your own network by asking people in person or by phone if they know someone who could use your services.

If your friends know that you’re very good at what you do and they know someone who could benefit from your services, they won’t hesitate to make the reference.

Make sure you phrase what you do in an easy to understand way. Not everyone knows what a virtual assistant is. Instead, explain exactly what it is you do.

For example, “I help executives save time by managing their appointments, booking their flights and accommodations, entering data and doing anything else that needs to be done. It’s similar to being an online secretary.”

Finding VA opportunities is the toughest in the beginning of your career. Once you get rolling, you’ll be able to get clients from referrals. Before you have a solid client base, however, just use one of the above techniques to get the ball rolling.

Freelancing can be a way to make more money and embark on a profitable career. If you are already working as a freelancer, maybe you want to bring in more business. Here are some proven ways to do that.

As a freelancer, you work for yourself. In your niche, you find clients who need your level of expertise. The work may or may not be steady depending on how you are finding clients or the type of work that you do. You can always boost your bottom line.

Increasing Your Business

There are always opportunities waiting for you as a freelancer. The trick is to find them. Try one or several of the following.

* Create a website – Many freelancers simply apply for jobs on service websites. This is okay, but services aren’t going to promote you. You will have to do that yourself. A website gives people who like your work a place to find you and discover more about you.

* Create a page on social networks – Facebook is for more than just chatting with friends. Millions of people use it and you can too. Link back to your website here so people can follow you.

* Create a name for yourself – As a business enterprise you need a name. Apply for it as your business name or your DBA, “doing business as.” It gives your services a more professional ring that customers like.

* Find a logo – This is also the first step in creating your brand. When people see your logo, they will identify you with it. Choose something that is not too elaborate but represents you and what you do.

* Check out the competition – Make sure your rates are competitive but not so high that you get passed over for another freelancer. See what their websites have that yours does not. To stay in competition you first have to be competition.

* Use SEO – If you want to be found in a search, you have to be searchable. Use relevant keywords in your headings, throughout your website and blog content, in anchor text and descriptions.

* Advertise – If your budget can handle it, try Google AdWords to promote your work. Article marketing can establish you as an expert in your field. Submit them to article directories.

* Social bookmarking – Encourage readers to rate your work on social bookmarking sites. A high ranking here can also position you to be found by those who would want to hire you.

* Work more – This is what you are trying to do, we know. One way is to boost the amount of projects you take for existing clients. Fleshing out your resume can never hurt. But, be sure that you continue to deliver work on time and with high quality.

Want to boost your freelance profits? Here are some proven ways to get people to notice you.

One of the best ways to stand out as a VA is to pick a niche and specialty. In the beginning of your career, you’ll probably take on as much business as you can get from anywhere in the world. However, as you get more and more booked up, it makes sense to start specializing.

By specializing, you’ll be able to better anticipate the needs of your client. For example, if you specialized in helping real estate brokers, you’ll be much better positioned to help your real estate broker clients than if you were a generic VA who just happened to have a real estate broker client.

Specializing also allows you to charge more. You’ll be able to be more efficient in your work, which brings more value to your clients. Your reputation can also spread faster, since you’re saturating one industry where people know one another rather than spreading out your reputation.

So how do you go about finding and selecting a niche or specialty?

==> What Skills Do You Have or Want to Learn?

Start by looking at what special skills you have or want to learn.

For example, if you’re highly proficient in Photoshop and web design, you might want to look into working with execs in ad agencies and design firms.

On the other hand, if you have experience in law, you might want to work in a legal firm or be a virtual assistant for a private lawyer.

If you don’t have any specific skills already, you can also choose based on skills you want to learn. This can add a real sense of challenge and growth to your new virtual job.

==> Select a Clearly Definable Group

The best way to select a niche is to select a clearly definable group of people.

For example, realtors. Or speakers. Or coaches. Or event planners. Or Chief Financial Officers (CFOs).

Whatever the case, if you can get it down to a specific kind of person, that’s better than if you have a more generic idea.

==> Reaching Out to Your Target Market

Ideally you won’t select a niche until you’ve actually had some experience working in the field. If you’re going into a certain field, you should already have some contacts and a decent understanding of what’s required to succeed there.

Go to networking events in the field. For example, if you’re working in the design field, go to design events so you can meet designers and ad execs. If you want to target realtors, go to real estate meetups wherever you can.

Call up people you know in the industry and ask for referrals. Explain what your new project is and see if there’s anyone you can help.

Setting yourself up in a specific industry is a great way to increase your fees, develop new skills and get more relevant contacts quickly.

Lowering the prices of products and services is a common strategy for people who want to get more sales. While lowering prices can be a winning strategy at times, it’s not without its pitfalls.

Lowering your price can be dangerous. It can damage your brand and actually lead to lower profits. It could also lead to customer relations problems.

Here are some of benefits and drawbacks to lowering the prices of your products or services.

==> Benefit: More People Will Buy

The most obvious benefit to lowering your price is that you’ll attract more buyers. There are people who will buy at a lower price point that wouldn’t buy at a higher price point.

This is almost always the case, although sometimes a higher price will actually induce more sales. If you’re targeting a market for whom price is not a main concern, lowering your price could actually reduce sales.

In certain markets, people want to buy from premium dealers rather than the cheapest option.

==> Drawback: It Could Anger Past Customers

Lowering the prices of your product or service could anger customers who have already purchased at a higher price.

How would you feel if you bought a computer at Best Buy for $600, only to find out the next day that Best Buy lowered the price to $400? You’d probably feel ripped off.

Amazon deals with this issue proactively. They issue refunds to all past customers of products when they lower the price, without the customers having to ask. In other words, if you buy a CD for $10 and they change the price to $5, Amazon will pay you $5 without prompting.

There are ways to handle the customer relations issue, but it could cost money and take time and energy.

==> Benefit: Helps Launch New Product Lines

Lowering prices of new products or even existing products can help launch new product lines.

For example, when Apple launches a new iPhone, they almost always lower the price of the old iPhone. This helps purge old inventory, while promoting new products as better and more innovative.

Launching a new product at a lower price to be raised later can help create a surge of initial sales. Lower prices used in this way still position the product as valuable, but lowers the price for a special occasion.

==> Drawback: It Can Affect the Brand

Make sure you consider your brand whenever you lower the price of anything. Lowering your prices can result in your band being perceived as cheap or low quality.

Again, when it’s done on special occasions you can skirt this issue. Also, some brands actually want to be positioned as the low cost provider.

However, if quality, exclusivity, premium or class are words you want associated with your brand, you need to carefully examine whether or not lowering price will damage how the world views your overall company.

These are some of most important benefits and drawbacks to lowering the prices of your products or services.

As a VA, your biggest start-up hurdle is getting your first client. Before you get your first client, the whole idea of being a VA can seem very abstract. However, once you’re actually getting paid to do the work, you’ll quickly develop new skills and become more proficient at your new profession.

So how do you go about getting your first client?

==> The Set-Up Process

Before you go out looking for clients, there are a few things you should set up.

First, you need a website. If you’re getting clients from the internet, it’s your most important business card. Your website should be professional, easy to navigate and small. It should be no more than five to ten pages – just enough information to answer anyone’s questions about you.

Create a compelling personal profile page with details about where you’ve worked in the past and what kind of skills you have. Think of it as an online resume.

Finally, make sure you have your LinkedIn profile in order. A lot of people will check you out on LinkedIn before hiring you. Also, if they Google your name, there’s a good chance your LinkedIn profile will come up.

Delete any obsolete material, update everything on your profile and ask as many people as you can to leave you references.

==> Getting Clients

Getting clients is largely a matter of trying a lot of different things until you find one that works for you. Some people find that they’re able to get all the clients they need through their personal networks, while others find that their best clients come from internet job bidding websites.

Here are a few places to look for clients:

* Personal network – Ask people you know whether or not they know people who could benefit from your services. Make sure you have a clear and concise explanation of what a VA is for people who don’t know.

* LinkedIn – Use LinkedIn to make contact with people who might be interested in your services.

* Traditional advertising – Take out an ad in an industry specific publication. For example, if you want to work with realtors, take out an ad in a publication that’s targeted towards realtors.

* ELance / oDesk – These are two top-notch sites for getting new clients. You’ll need to take a few tests to get your rankings up at first. Make sure to start your bids on the lower end of the spectrum until you have a strong reputation.

* Craigslist – Craigslist is a versatile free website where you can find all kinds of job postings. Make sure to check multiple different cities; your job can be done from anywhere but Craigslist posts are city specific.

Getting your first client could take a lot of work in the beginning. Your second client will be easier, and your third will be even easier than that. Eventually, you’ll get to the point where the vast majority of your clients come from word of mouth. But first, you have to land that first client.

If you’re learning Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it’s important that you pay equal attention to both on-page and off-page factors. There’s a tendency for experts to focus on just one of the two. Some focus on backlink building, while others talk exclusively about on-page ranking.

The reality is, neither of them work very well in a vacuum. In order for SEO to work, you need both on-page and off-page optimization.

==> Why On-Page Optimization Matters

On-page optimization is more commonly neglected than off-page. However, on-page optimization can have a huge impact.

First off you have title tag and description optimization. In addition to helping you get ranked, these two tags will help you get clicks from your rankings. If you’re not regularly testing different versions of your title tags and description tags to see if it increases traffic, you’re probably missing out.

Then you have internal linking structures. Internal linking helps you flow link juice from one page to another in a way that makes sense.

Internal linking also helps visitors find where they want to go. Tools like the “related posts” feature or the “most commented posts” help new visitors find what they’re looking for.

Finally, Google Panda is now using artificial intelligence to gauge whether or not a website is a “high quality site.” It takes factors like design, the number of ads and even indicators of content quality into consideration.

Long story short, your on-page optimization matters – a lot.

==> Why Off-Page Optimization Matters

On the other hand, if you aren’t actively generating backlinks for your site, you’re not going to rank. Period.

Getting ranked involves getting a variety of different links. You want links from sites like yours, as well as sites more authoritative and less authoritative than yours.

You want sites to link to you with the right anchor text. However, you don’t want the anchor text density to be too high, or it’ll look artificial.

Getting your backlinking strategy right can be tricky. There are a lot of things to keep in mind; and it requires a lot of both time and energy.

Without strong backlinks, even the best on-page optimization in the world won’t make a difference.

==> Merging the Two

Search engines use backlinks to help determine the authority of a site. If your content is good, people will naturally want to talk about it – a “vote” in the search engine’s eyes.

In addition, search engines independently look at your site to gauge quality. They also use a variety of factors to try to figure out what your site is about. Placing keywords in the right places helps search engines do that.

A mix of both on-page and off-page optimization is crucial to success.

Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest ways to break into internet marketing. You can potentially make a living by promoting the products of another company. But you need an online presence. That is where WordPress comes in.

What Is WordPress?

WordPress is a platform used to set up blogs and websites. If you know nothing about websites and their set-up, it can be daunting to have to do so. WordPress takes the guesswork out of the process for you so you can get up and running in very little time.

Now, be aware that there are two WordPress sites: WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.com is popular with many bloggers. It is a ready-made site that can be set up right away. The only issue here is that it is not as customizable as you might like for an affiliate site. And, monetizing it may be difficult.

Setting Up an Affiliate Site

For an affiliate marketing program, you will want to go with WordPress.org. Some are scared of this because it is open source. That means you will need to have a domain name and a web hosting company secured before using it. Ask your web host if they are familiar with WordPress.org and could help you integrate it into your site.

So, as we just alluded to, the next step is downloading the open source software through your web host. If you are technically savvy, you can do it yourself although it takes time. But, for a fee, your web host can do it for you without much trouble.

Now you are ready to explore. WordPress offers a lot both for the new and the experienced affiliate marketer. One benefit is its customization. You have a variety of themes to choose from for the look of your site. Changing them is no problem and can be done across all pages easily.

Add new pages in an instant. If you are promoting several types of products, keep them separated for effortless browsing by visitors.

Did we mention that WordPress is free? Yes all of the benefits of the software are free to use. And, it features plug-ins that can help you not only secure your site but also make it easier for you to manage. This is a plus if you are running several affiliate marketing sites.

Also, Google seems to like WordPress platforms a lot. This is good for you since you want their bots to crawl your affiliate sites for better page rankings and increased traffic. More traffic means more potential sales.

But, WordPress doesn’t leave you to fend for yourself. Their customer support is available if you are having problems with their product. They will assist you as needed to keep your site running optimally, which is what you want when operating your business. Once you get the hang of setting up a WordPress site, creating subsequent sites won’t be a problem.

WordPress seems tailor-made for the affiliate marketer. Use one to help you grow your business today.

Today more and more businesses are moving their business to the cloud. As internet technology gets more sophisticated, more safe and more user friendly, it’s making more and more sense for businesses to use cloud services rather than in-house services.

==> What Is the Cloud?

The cloud refers to any service that resides on the internet instead of your own computer.

For example, Salesforce is a cloud-based customer management system. While a lot of sales teams still use in-house systems to manage their sales and customers, more and more people are moving to online CMS systems.

Here are some of the most important things to think about when you’re considering moving to the cloud.

==> Penetration Security

What are the chances that your data can be compromised by hackers? Though there’s no way to guarantee it can’t happen, you can reduce the chances by working with a reputable company.

Even banks and Fortune 500 companies like Sony have been penetrated in 2011. You can take precautions, but penetration security is a real concern of the cloud.

==> Data Security

On the other hand, you also need to consider the security of your data. What happens if an earthquake hits the servers of the cloud service? What happens if a drive gets corrupted?

Is your data backed up in multiple locations? Is there a possibility of the cloud service losing your information?

==> Costs

One of the biggest reasons to switch to the cloud is to reduce costs.

For example, compare the costs between running an in-house email server and using a cloud-based email service.

A cloud-based service like AWeber or GetResponse might cost you $40 a month. On the other hand, running a mail server can cost you thousands of dollars a month, including the cost of the system admin. Not to mention the set-up costs.

Cloud services are typically much, much cheaper than their in-house counterparts.

==> Ease of Use

Often times cloud services are just plain easier to use than in-house services.

Take Salesforce for example. If you had an in-house team of engineers design a CMS system, chances are there are going to be all kinds of usability issues. Working out the kinks in a new system takes months.

On the other hand, cloud systems have usually already worked out all the kinks. All their features are easy to use, as they’ve already taken months of customer feedback into account.

==> Legalities

If you’re dealing with sensitive customer data, make sure you consult an attorney before putting the data on the cloud. Some information, such as social security numbers or credit card data, cannot be transferred without careful considerations.

Moving your business to the cloud can help you cut a lot of costs and save a lot of time. However, there are definite drawbacks as well. These are some of the most important factors to consider before making your final decision.