I had a conversation with a VA recently about websites.
One of the key stopping points for many VAs who are just getting started is their website.
The issue is one of a few things:
- they can’t afford to get a website up yet
- they are exhaustively working on the page content and they are not ready to get it developed yet
- they are trying to learn HTML themselves so they can build their own website
- they are working with a designer to get it ‘just right’ and the designer is very busy
- … the list of reasons to not have it live yet goes on and on
Essentially, they are making excuses for not ‘getting out there’, and they are using their website as the prime reason.
I tell all of my students and prospects that it is essential to have a web presence when you are getting started as a VA.
I think it’s essential because you are marketing yourself as a businessperson who works virtually, and people need to be able to see you, to get to know you, so that they can feel comfortable working with you (can you say know, like and trust?)
My cousin opened a mobile spa and had her business cards made FREE at VistaPrint (www.vistaprint.ca – I use them all the time!) and she said they gave her an option on checkout to get a website that matched her business cards that would cost her $15/month. She took it. She literally had a beautiful website up in 15 minutes, and now she is having fun adding content a little at a time … and her business cards should arrive within a week. She has started networking online already. She is a smart business owner already!
So it really can be that easy.
Don’t waste valuable time puttering with website stuff when you could be out there meeting (and signing!) clients.
Your website will always (and I mean, always!) be a work in progress. So get it up there, and get moving on to connecting with people who you can work with. You can’t have a business without clients, and the sooner you get out there the faster that will happen.
Get it done and get out there. You will be so glad you did!