But, why people got involved with virtual assistants, if their works were successfully done by regular employees, and whom the employer can monitor from the comfort of his office? This question quizzes everyone who has never used a virtual assistant for his business and for these people only I have written this article. Read it to the end and you will know why to use a virtual assistant.

Why to hire a virtual assistant

Low cost

By charging less and allowing extra cash to sit in the employer’s pocket, a virtual assistant gives a competitive advantage to its employer which is hard to match using a regular employee. A small business owner hiring a virtual assistant has an unfair advantage. He can attack the competitors by lowering the price below the industry’s norm. He can do it as his operation cost is low.

Comparable quality

When compared, the output produced by a virtual assistant is same as the output of a regular employee of the similar capability. If both of them produce comparable results then why to hire one who costs more?

Operational flexibility

A company that runs an online business could keep his operation manned 24X7 by hiring a person from across the globe. If you are in the United States then you can hire a virtual assistant from Asia, so that your virtual assistant works when you sleep and sleeps when you work. This way you could keep your online shop open and manned the entire day.

Use as a Swiss knife

You can use a virtual employee as a Swiss knife by making him do all kinds of administrative and promotion jobs. Unlike most of the regular employees, a virtual employee keeps himself involved in many fields.

Hire a virtual assistant and see your profit skyrocketing. I have seen many small and mid-size businesses transforming themselves by hiring one to do the works for which the presence of an employee in the office is not required.

Prepare a structure for the article

Before you begin writing, you should create a structure of the article. When you undertake this exercise what you are basically doing is creating a skeleton which you will later fill with flesh, blood, and muscles. The structure of an article provides it a basic framework that will later be developed in a full grown article.

Divided the contents in subheadings

Once you know how your final article will look like, you need to divide your articles into sections and sub-sections using headings and subheadings for better readability. To break an article into sections and subsections apply the rule of thumb given below. The rule of thumb is: always put the important ideas into headings of an article, so that people know what individual paragraphs will talk about, and what the article, as a whole, is about.

Write down main points

Now it is time to add some flesh to the structure you have created so far. Under each headings and subheadings, write 2 or 3 bullet points that summarize the central idea of each paragraph, and which add up to make the complete paragraph.

That is it. You are done. Now only the filling up step is left, which could be done anytime, even after one or more breaks.

As said, the final step in the process is to write content beneath headings and subheadings using the main points (bullet points) that you have listed. By following this guide, you will be able to write good quality articles even when you take frequent breaks.

In search business, Google, which is nobody’s guess, is a market leader in the United States. Google has 64.2% market share. At number two is yahoo with a 14.3% market share. Bing, despite its growth, is on number 3 with 13.6% market share. At number four and five slots are Ask.com and AOL search with 2.1% and 1.9% market share, respectively.

In terms of YoY growth, AOL search is the biggest loser. It has lost 38% market share. At number 2 is Yahoo Search which is slimmer by 17%. Google too shed some pound, but it is mere 1%. Two search companies to gain weight are Bing (51% YoY growth), and Ask.com Search (24% YoY growth). See image for detail.

We will take that discussion forward in this article, and we will talk here about 3 content-based contests that could help you skyrocket your blog’s readership.

2 content-heavy contests

Comment here contest

This is one of the best contests to host. The idea is quite simple. Ask your visitors to post a comment in the comment box to get a chance to win the prize. Also remind them that each comment will get one entry into a lucky draw, so they can enter more than one comment to get more than one entry. At this point, do not forget to tell them just one-line generic comments will either get filtered out by your spam filter, or will be weeded out by your staff. Remind them that the comment that will add to the discussion will only get accepted. Comment done just to get multiple entry and which does not take the discussion forward, even a bit, will automatically get disqualified.

Review me contest

This is another form of contest that you can run. Ask your readers to write a review for your website on their domain, in Facebook, or wherever they want, as long as it is written on the websites talking about topics like pornographic, abusive, racism, etc. make an e-mail ID, and ask them to send the URL to that mail ID. Promise the announcement of the result on your blog, and tell them that 3 best reviews will get the prize. To win the prize, it is important for them to include two links to your website in the review — one to the home page, and another to any other page. For deep lining, you can provide some options from your blog posts.

Guest post writing contest

The third form of content-heavy contest is guess post writing contest. Ask you readers to write guest posts for you. Announce that the best written guest post will get the prize, and the second and the third ranked guest post will also get prize. To motivate them to write a guest post, tell your visitors that each guest post will be published, and writer will get the byline for the guest post along with 2 links back to their website, Facebook page, twitter, etc.

Content-based contests are time consuming, so the prize should be good, otherwise people will not get motivated to spend time on your blog.

43% of the respondent, across the age group, said that given a chance they will want to be richer than anything else — anything being thinner, smarter, and younger. More than 50% Americans between 18 and 44 years of age favored riches to smartness.

Overall, 21% wants to be thinner, 14% smarter, and 12% said they want to be younger, whereas, 9% did not show any interest in any of them.

On the upside, people between 18 and 34 years of age said they want to be smarter (16%), and respondents between 35 and 44 years of age said they want to be thinner. 19% of 55+ people want to be richer, and 53% between 35 and 54 want to be richer. (See image for complete result).

The finding is strange in more than one respect. Despite the fetish for remaining young (at least assumed fetish), very few want to be young. And not many Americans want to be smart, which is sad.

But, which social media is the marketers’ favorite when it comes to distributing marketing dollars?

In a study conducted by King Fish Media, Hubspot and Junta 42, it was found that LinkedIn is at the top of the chart, followed by Twitter and Facebook.

87% of the survey participant said they include LinkedIn in their social media strategy, and 12% said they are planning to add it to the equation. 84% marketers consider twitter when framing a marketing budget, while another 16% said they will add soon. As long as Facebook is concerned, only 78% use it, while 22% said they are planning to use this social media marketing tool.

Almost all the big social media websites featured in the list, but what was missing noticeably was MySpace. Well, it was not missing entirely, but seeing the success it once enjoyed, the current status is akin to disappearing for MySpace. A mere 9% people said they use MySpace, and same percentage of people said they will use it in future (See image for the complete survey data).

In this article, I will talk about three big benefits that freelance writing career has to offer. I hope after knowing them you will stop paying attention to the naysayers.

Freedom and independence

Freedom and independence have more meaning for a freelance writer than it is for anyone else. Freedom for a freelance writer does not only mean freedom to work whenever he or she wants to, but it also means kind of writing gigs one want to choose, and how many hours one want to spend daily.

Beyond the obvious freedom that we have talked about above, a freelance writer also gets enough freedom to think about other parallel career. One can even start one’s own online business, or an online writing agency. A freelance writer has time and even freedom to do so.

Expertise and information product

You often learn in the process of writing — some from the research you conduct for the book, and some from the process of writing. And a lot of writing on one particular topic leads to increased control on the very topic, which if done for the longer period of time makes you an expert on the topic. You can use this expertise to create your own information product, which would give you a passive source of income.

Niche marketing and other income source

During the process of writing and researching, you may come across many untapped markets that have not been exploited yet. And as you are writing in that niche, you already have all the required expertise on the subject. You can convert this expertise into an ebook and create a passive source of income for you.

As I said, these are the big benefits of taking freelance writing. There are many smaller benefits, which you will find along the way.

Always remember, when writing you are not just churning content for your client, but you are also gaining experience and expertise in the niche. This will help you create passive sources of income for you.

Which other profession can give you this option? Will you still believe the naysayers?

Location of the office

Location of your work place is one very important criteria of job selection. If one doesn’t have own conveyance and depends solely on public transports; one has to consider the distance from the workplace, means of communication and the cost it incurs. Public transport again helps in saving money spent on gas and time wasted in traffic. Location in a poor area may threaten the female employees.

Perks

Alluring perks always attract employees. Perks like gym within the office campus, day care centers for babies, swimming pool, company provided car naturally attract all. Perks also come with position and experience. Interact with the Human Resource team to know about the perks offered.

Growth and Increment

Even a fat salary package seems inadequate over a couple of years of time. At the age of 20 the salary package which seems irresistible, appear convincingly inadequate at the age of 30. That’s the irony of salary package. A job which doesn’t offer much scope of growth and annual increments isn’t attractive to its employees. It’s like a mundane job, which no one wishes to stick to for long. Not only in terms of money; but one needs to scrutinize the opportunity for growth, hierarchy within the organization and delegation of duties and responsibilities to its employees.

Work environment

One should also scrutinize the work environment. Is it a very loud place or quiet? Is the environment casual or formal and strict? Are people cooperative and friendly or very judgmental and formal? Is the work culture very nice or quite ordinary and cheap? Does the company consider about employees’ comfort and space required or is it very suffocating? Is it a safe place for women? Such factors definitely affect productivity and mental peace.

Job security

Job security is a big concern for the employees. Younger employees may not need to worry about it, but family men definitely need to check it. Is the job safe and what does its past track record says? Do your research. Check the company’s market share, reputations, strength, frequency of vacancies advertised etc. Employees should ask questions related to the job security during interview session.

Do what keeps you happy

Get into a job which delivers maximum job satisfaction and is close to your heart. Even if the job is not very money making, your love for it could keep you happy for life. If you are passionate artist you can’t be happy for life in a banking job. Do what keeps you happy and satisfied. That’s a key to success.

Tips

1. Nothing can replace good performance. Good performance is possible only when the employee is 100% dedicated, hard working, focused and competent. Don’t forget you are definitely competent, else the company wouldn’t have chosen you. No one can take away your success if you give your 100% to your job with sheer dedication and hard work. Don’t think about the result, just believe in doing. Good deeds bring success along. Hard work never goes unnoticed, it silently reflects in work.
2. Maintain transparency at work. If you commit mistake, admit it. Don’t run away from the truth. A truthful, honest employee easily wins boss’s trust and reliability.
3. Be punctual. Reach office on time. Don’t hesitate to put the extra few hours at work. It will show your dedication towards work.
4. Always meet the task deadlines. It shows your competence, discipline, dedication and accountability. Set a false deadline for yourself, marked as a day before the actual task completion date.
5. Follow office rules and regulations, policies. You may not like the rules always, you can ask for their alteration through proper channels like – human resource or administration department, employees’ suggestion box. Even an efficient employee goes ignored at times because of his attitude towards the office policies.
6. A good attitude always pays back. Maintain honesty, humbleness, cooperative, polite attitude towards all, irrespective of the hierarchy. A good human gets noticed everywhere. Patience is also the key to success.
7. Last but not the least, go an extra mile always. Try to excel in whatever job you are assigned to do. Do more than required. There’s no harm in doing a bit more than others, if you are eyeing at the big success, much more than others.

These few valuable tips can actually make you a winner in life, an ideal employee every company hunts for.

How much should one write?

This is an important question to ask. And the answer to this lies in the understanding of your consumer mental makeup because customer in every category has different expectation from the stuff they find during the research. You need to find for yourself how much your customers are going to read.

Provide them less

Do not give your customer everything she wants. Create a craving for more information by providing only what she needs at the moment is one way to keep your prospects coming back for more. Do not just go over and spill all you know on the face of the audience, your audience may not be ready for that. He may never wanted to get all those information in one go.

Do not outstay your welcome

As there is an entry door, there is an exit door as well, and a smart person knows that, and he uses both doors at appropriate time. He understands that no matter how smart, cool, entertaining, or “fun to be with” guest is, people get bored if he does not leave at the appropriate time.

You should learn to do the same with your words. You need to teach them how to leave and at what point. Your words and the wisdom you are sharing with your audience should not outstay the welcome.

Take, talk, and talk, and people will die of boredom

This happens in a party, it happens at home, and it happens in copywriting as well. People cannot stand a constant chatter — not unless you are the most hilarious or knowledgeable guy in the whole universe who knows one thing and everything — therefore, you need to learn to keep your paragraph shorter, and paragraph way shorter, which should culminate in making the whole piece an inch shorter than customer wants.

Always remember, the only way to keep your customers engaged is to keep them craving for more. This could only happen if you know how much to speak and when to speak.

In the following paragraphs, I am going to talk about 3 indicators that tell you that it is you who is stopping you from getting hired, and when I said you, I meant your habit.

3 reasons you are not getting hired

Too high an expectation

Nothing is perfect in this world; neither you nor any job. If you are waiting for a perfect job to fly from the land of fairy and set down in your lap then I am afraid to say the wait is going to be rather long. Meanwhile, I would recommend bagging a not-so-perfect job that matches your skill set, and which can provide sufficient money for you to survive on.

Be realistic. Weigh every aspect of the dream job you want, and see what all you can let go. You will soon be employed.

Too small a net

Are you relying on just one technique to search for the job? Do you feel uncomfortable trying out different job-search tools and techniques?

To catch a lot many fish, a fisherman needs to have a net that is wide enough and strong enough. Similarly, a job hunter needs to widen his net using all the possible tools and techniques to land up in a good job, which sadly enough, very few people are doing, for they are slave of their habit of using one tool.

Too Egocentric (I, me, and myself) cover letter

This is stupendous mistake committed by a job hunter. No one wants someone who has an ego as big as the size of the Milky Way. I know your ego is comparatively smaller in magnitude, but why does not it reflect in the cover letter you send out? Why your cover letter is talking too much about “I”?

Writing I, I, and I will not land you up in a job, forget about a good job, as no one cares how smart, talented, Einstein-esque you are. Your interviewer cares only about his needs, and about an employee who can meet that need. I know what big a dork he is, but at the end of the day, he is the one who will sign your paying slip, month after month.

Wouldn’t it be smart then to satisfy his needs by talking about his company and how you will add solve the problem he has in a cover letter? From where I am standing, it would be smarter, far smarter to this than to talk about I, me, and myself.

If you, unknowingly, committed any of these mistakes then it is time to undo them, should you want to get hired. After all, we call it habit because we do it unknowingly, as a habit.

What I am going to teach you here is not going to even be described by these phrases. This is so exciting. I am going to tell you about three unconventional places to look for writing ideas. You will not find many people talking about these places. These are hidden idea sources.

Letters to the editor column

This is unexpected, isn’t it? You do not happen to read “letter to the editor” column in a magazine or the newspaper; at least, not with a purpose to find topics to write about. Despite the fact that each single word in this column is written by real people who actively seek answer to their questions.

Of how many people do you know, who reads an article in newspaper or magazine, and then pick up pen and paper, or go to their e-mail accounts to write a letter to the magazine, just to voice their opinion of the article?

There are not many people who do so, and those who do may very well go online to find the answer. From the letters, see which problem you can address, and right an informative article on that.

Eavesdropping in public

I know overhearing anyone’s personal conversation is not right, but what about those that people conduct in subways, metros, buses, parks, and restaurants, and that not to in low voice? That is not crime, as they already want people to take notice of what they are talking about.

Cash in on this opportunity. Pay close attention to what people are talking in a public place. You will get an idea about the problems people faces in their lives, and you will also get some ideas to develop in an article that will address real problem of real people.

Old magazine

Refurbishing old articles to meet the need of today’s generation is an awesome way to get more readers. Go through the pile of 10 or 20 years old magazine and see if you can find something that is still relevant today. Take that topic, do the research, and let your creative self flow. You will get a good article at the end of the process.

Be honest. Have you read about any of these sources anywhere else? Seriously, I want to know that because I happen to believe that it is only me who takes notice of these sources for article ideas. Please do me a favor, lift your finger from mouse, and hit keys on the keyword and post a comment below.

The country to come at second position was Brazil with 20.5% twitter users, and number three was taken by Venezuela (19%). The rising penetration of twitter in Venezuela is attributed to the joining of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. In just couple of month of his joining, twitter user base in Venezuela grew by 4.8%.

India, Malaysia, and New Zealand made up the bottom of the list with 8.0%, 7.7%, and 7.5% twitter users, respectively. See image for detail.

A write should only include details that take the story forward or which add to the understanding of the story. Rest of the things should not be included. Do not add even a single extra word that does not add to the development of your story or article.

Howe much details

Imagine you are driving a car through the country. What do you see? Do you see entire countryside, or just the thinks visible from the driver’s seat?

Do not force your audience to look sideways, walk behind, and go round and round, just to see every aspect. Your audience does not wish to see every aspect of a situation. She only wants to see what naturally will be visible from where he is standing in the context of story (driver’s seat).

When adding details to a story do not go on writing anything and everything about the subject that comes to your mind or everything that you know, just write what is relevant, and what you see from where you are. Put your blinkers on. The detail that does not add to the progress of story is not worth including.

Avoid adjective shorthand

How many stories, memoirs, articles, or novels have you read that contains adjectives like amazing, wonderful, or spectacular, etc.?

These are useless word that does not say anything. Write “you will not believe how amazingly wow that birthday party was,” and guess what, they will not believe it. Describe the situation, but do not use adverbs or adjectives that are empty of any meaning.

No cliché or dead metaphor please

It holds true for cliché as well. Cliché is called cliché because it is cliché, and people have moved away from it. A phrase or word becomes cliché when there is no emotional juice left in the phrase. Similarly, you should also stay clear of dead metaphors. I would recommend creating your own metaphors — metaphors that say something.

The golden rule here is to not include any dead metaphor, cliché, and unnecessary adjectives and adverbs in your writing. Instead of taking these shortcuts, try to describe the situation or thing in a bit detail for audience to make sense of it, or to get amazed, scared, or astonished. At the same time do not add too many details. It gets boring, after a while.

Bandwidth shot through the roof

The speed with which we access the Internet is one reason behind such a sudden and huge proliferation of videos on the Internet. But, it is not just the increased bandwidth that led to this development. There are many more things. One such thing is laziness on our part.

We are lazier than ever

Video marketers are getting hotter because consumers are getting lazier. Lack of work has taken good of us. Now are lazier than we ever were. Reading is too much time consuming. It requires active attention from our side, but we can consume video lying on our back munching “junk”.

We became multitasking

This is paradoxical. We have grown lazy, but at the same time we have given in for multitasking. When we read, we just read. We cannot do anything else, but when we watch, we do quite a number of things — play with ball, cook food, babysit kids, do other less-involving works. Video gives us space to multitask.

It connects well

Video also sells on the Internet because it connects well. By sending audio and visual stimuli, video connects with us on an emotional level, which articles fail to do that — yes, it does not hold true for stories and well-written articles, of course.

Because video fools our mind

Through sights and sounds, video gives us an illusion that the person who is delivering the message is present here and now when we are consuming it, which any article cannot replicate. A video fools our mind in believing that the communicator is present in the room, which is not so.

I hope, you now know why video is becoming “the new article” (as in the new black) for the online world. What do you think? What else video does to us? Fire up your writing genius and post your comments below this.

Was this narration of Romeo and Juliet interesting? Was it even one millionth of excitement that you got from reading the famous tragedy?

Why didn’t you enjoy it? It had all the key elements that were present in the original play. It told you everything that Shakespeare wanted to tell you then why didn’t you enjoy?

Because it lacked the details, isn’t it?

People like stories not because it connects with them at the level deeper than mere comprehension and consciousness, and details do exactly that. It provides fuel to emotion. Greatness of a story lies in detail. When writing a story, or an article, a feeble writer tends to wander around the subject matter using useless adjectives, dead cliché, etc. But when a great writer writes a story, he goes directly to the heart of the matter, and covers all he sees in his journey to the heart of the matter.

Photograph in outlines

If story is a photograph, details are color, texture, shades, and patterns, without which the photograph is nothing but mere outlines. And I am sure not many people enjoy outlines. A great picture is made when colors, shades, textures, patterns, and other things are added to the outline. Similarly, a great story comes to life when required detail is added.

What about articles?

An Article is a non-fiction cousin of story. It just differs in the subject matter it handles, people who are reading it, and slightly in the writing style.

There is no reason why a non-fictional piece could not be written in story form. After all, the goal of a communication is to connect and inform, and you cannot inform anyone, not with any credibility, without establishing a deep connection with he or she.