Whether you have an Internet-based or a brick and mortar business, we all want more traffic or customers coming through our doors, right?   There is an online tool that can make a major impact on your marketing effort to bring those customers in.  It’s called Google Local Business.  It’s quick, easy and best of all – Free!

Here is a short video that explains everything about Google Local Business.

Isn’t that great?  Get your business set up on Google Local Business now and get ahead of your competitors!

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I had the opportunity to attend a teleseminar this morning by L. Drew Gerber CEO & Partner of PressKit 24/7. It was part of the Big Fish Nation program I am a member of. Big Fish empowers women entrepreneur’s to take their business to the next level through hard core business skills with a spiritual approach to success. Today’s teleseminar focused on Online Press Releases.

Drew shared with us that he defines PR as, Your Relationship with the Public and that you should begin using PR from the onset of your business. It will increase brand recognition, and boost your sales of products and services. 90 percent of reporters are getting their information from the Internet, so an Online Press Kit is essential to your Online Business Success!

As part of his company, PressKit 24/7 he has established a source to bring potential media opportunities right into your Inbox. PitchRate.com is the name of this site and it’s completely free! You can register, include a profile, select your area of expertise, along with subcategories and daily you will receive a digest of media opportunities. You can also search on the site for keywords relative to your business.

Drew loves games, and so do I! So he has offered the participants of today’s teleseminar an incredible prize for the person that gets the most people to sign up for PitchRate. That’s where I need your help! If you would like to get daily feeds of media opportunities and grow your business through online press release marketing, please sign up for this free service. And then send me a quick email to (terri.avirtualbiz@gmail.com) and put your name in the subject line. And of course, I’d love to get your feedback to share with Drew.

It’s very important that you send me an email, otherwise, I won’t know that you signed up and can’t count you in my group. I’ll follow up and let you know if YOU helped me win!

My husband says, I have been “running the roads” a lot lately. That’s a southern thing if you don’t understand that phrase. But he is correct. I have been going a lot of places in the last couple of weeks and according to my calendar, I’m not going to slow down until around Christmas.

Now for a virtual professional, that’s a bit of a culture shock to actually go outside of your virtual world. But I love getting out of here. I love to visit and talk with people and network everywhere I go.

I shared a booth with one of my clients at the National Philanthropy Day luncheon in Knoxville last week and enjoyed catching up with old friends and making new ones. And of course, sharing my business and the services I provide for administrative support and online marketing. I walked away with a great list of people to follow-up with this week.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the East Tennessee Veteran’s Memorial was being dedicated this past weekend and I was honored to be invited to a reception and the dedication ceremony. The Mayor’s were there, as well as other politicians, high-ranking military personel and many familiar faces from my time with the organization. The ceremony was incredibly moving and I was proud to be an American and to have been involved in the early stages of the memorial’s planning. And it proved to be a great place to network. I was invited to be on a local radio show and several people are interested in learning more about my business.

I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks and the many networking opportunties to share what I do and how I can help other business owners with their administrative and marketing needs.

So Honey, I have a few more “roads to run.”

Oh, that makes my skin crawl just typing it! But it happened to me last Friday. I had a computer tech out to my virtual office for some repairs and I noticed he kept rubbing his head and was on the phone quite a bit and finally I ventured in to ask how it was going and he said, “I have some news and some not so good news.” Those are just not comments you want to hear when someone is working on your computer, your livelihood!

So basically he was trying to do something that required my product key from my computer and it wasn’t accepting it, which made the computer unavailable for use. That’s my best description. I’m a virtual assistant, give me a database or some websites to design or social media sites to update and I’m your gal! But this hardware stuff is way over my head. I just know I turn it on in the morning and it usually does what I need it to do.

As I watched him drive away Friday afternoon with my computer on a gurney, my thoughts were, “will I ever see it again and will I ever work again?” Now I did have the good sense to recently buy an external hard drive and all of my client files reside there, and I have another laptop that came over on the Mayflower that I was able to check some emails and not feel so isolated from the world. So I knew I wasn’t completely dead in the water, but just the thought of reloading my programs and re-setting all of my passwords on my main computer just made me sick.

Well, there is a happy ending to this story. Late Sunday evening I got the call that my computer had survived the surgery and was doing well. I am happy to say I am writing this blog on it even now and I believe it is going to make a full recovery.

In my virtual world, having a virtual shut down is a potential death sentence to my business, but because of a few systems I had put in place I was able to have a little peace knowing that I could still function until all was well again.

What’s your plan when the “Grim Computer Reaper” comes calling?

Do you love to network, but don’t have time to follow-up? You’re not alone. The majority of networkers love to mix and mingle with potential new clients at various events, but when they get back to their office, they toss those valuable business cards in a drawer and plan to follow up tomorrow. For most busy professionals, tomorrow brings its own new projects and before you know it, several weeks or even months have gone by with no follow up. Hundreds, or maybe thousands, of dollars in potential revenue has been laying in your top desk drawer!

We have the solution to keep you on top of your follow-up and make you a leader in business prospecting. Our Prospect Follow-up Service – Cards to Cash, provides a quick turnaround to those new business acquaintances and presents a professional image of your business.

Our package offers:

• Each business card scanned into a working database
• The design of a real Follow-up card with your logo or business card imprinted on the inside flap
• The card is mailed to the new prospect on your behalf
• One telephone call is attempted to the new prospect to set an appointment
• Business cards and database file will be mailed back to you for future reference
  

And the best part is that this service is very affordable, around the cost of a nice cup of coffee.

Are there business cards right now laying in your top desk drawer? Have you been too busy to follow-up with the contacts you made at the last Tradeshow? Contact us and we will get your name back in front of these potential new clients. Visit our website at www.avirtualbiz.com, or email to info@avirtualbiz.com.