One niche that virtual assistants are pursuing is that of a web designer. More and more brick and mortar businesses are taking their products to the Internet. Without the savvy to create the base for their online presence, they will need your help.
What is a web designer? A web designer is someone who works to set up websites for other businesses. If you have knowledge in this area and are talented to boot, you can take your virtual assisting business in that direction.
The Market
The Internet is the next great frontier. Millions upon millions of people use the Internet everyday to look for information, conduct business and buy merchandise or services. The way into this world is through your online presence. It is the way that people learn about you and your business.
Web designing has a tremendous learning curve. Most people don’t know anything about HTML or RSS except that they are letters. It can be intimidating for someone who wants to build a website (for an existing business or as an Internet business) to do so and not make mistakes.
Mistakes can cost you business. Pages that won’t load or graphics that are too loud can turn visitors away before they can see what the business has to offer. Many businesses would avoid this part if they could.
The area of web design is ripe for the picking for any virtual assistant with experience. Website designers who can take the ideas of the business owner and turn them into reality are and will continue to be in demand.
Virtual assistant website designers perform tasks like:
- Website setup
- Blog setup
- Monitoring forum discussions
- Page setup
- Search engine optimization of pages
- Uploading files, videos, audio and podcasts
- Troubleshoot coding problems
- Website maintenance
Visitors look for different things in a website. Placing ads at the top of the page are more eye-catching. Dedicating each webpage to a different product allows more information about the product to be readily available. Well-informed visitors are more likely to buy the product that way.
These are just a few of the tasks you may be called upon to perform. Believe it or not, just taking care of the website duties is a weight off of the mind of business owners both small and large who want to concentrate on the business side of things and not pulling their hair out trying to manage graphics or blog posts.
The good news is that any one of these areas can further be defined as a sub-niche. Within web design you can concentrate on website maintenance or simply the initial setup. Both are much needed services. Any virtual assistant, who likes the technical side of the Internet, will see their passion fulfilled as a website designer.
Virtual Assistant Training
VAClassroom provides courses to boost your business off the slow-track and offers affordable specialty training in the following areas:
- Certified Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant
- Certified Social Media Marketing Specialist
- Virtual Event Specialist Certification Training
- Blog Marketing Tips & Tactics
- Virtual Pathways Virtual Start-up Guide
- Fantastic Facebook Fan Pages
Keep an eye out for new and exciting courses in the works for 2010!
