Our Monmouth Blog

A virtual assistant (VA) provides administrative assistance to her/his clients. In essence a virtual assistant provides the same support that an administrative or executive assistant does. However, the service is provided at the virtual assistant’s office using the technology of the internet, email, and other collaborative tools instead of a standard business office environment.

A virtual assistant is a business owner and is not an employee. She/he is an independent contractor that partners with clients. Clients sign an agreement with the virtual assistant and, more importantly, the client is not responsible for any employee-related benefits because this is a partner-to-partner not an employer-to-employee relationship.

A business owner that is overwhelmed by the day-to-day administrative tasks at some point will realize that they can not do it all. At this time, the business owner makes the decision to free herself/himself of these tasks so they can redirect their time and energy to marketing and selling their product and/or service.

When this decision is made, they can look to a virtual assistant to take on a variety of responsibilities. The business owner will benefit from this arrangement because the virtual assistant will take on these responsibilities without the added cost of employee-related benefits. The business owner will pay for the time-on task.

Virtual assistant services are board and the services range from: Correspondence, Data Entry, Word Processing, Report Generation, Email Management, Web Research, Web Design, System Administration, Document Scanning, Transcription Services, Proof Reading, Desktop Publishing, and Project Management.

Bailey Business Services, Inc. is owned and operated by Helen Bailey. Helen provides virtual assistance to her clients as their administrative partner.

Tom Johnson of The Star-Ledger reported today “Cost of heating a home could skyrocket“. Call me crazy but hasn’t it already gone through the roof? According to the report:

The cost of heating a home in New Jersey with natural gas could rise by 20 percent if state regulators approve a pending rate increase. Public Service Electric & Gas filed for the increase, which would boost the monthly bill for the average customer by $28.60, to $174.06. The company, based in Newark, is the state’s biggest utility and has 1.7 million gas customers.

This degree of inflation is not sustainable:

1. The exponential rising costs of purchasing a home
2. Significant rising cost of fuels
3. Double digit percentages cost increases of food
4. Uncertain/shrinking job market

While I am no economist the trend is clear and we have some serious issues to deal with as a nation.

Stever Robbins’s of Business Explained by Stever wrote an excellent related post about spotting trends.

What steps are you taking to protect your financial future and the health of your business?

Every small business should have a blog as part of its marketing plan. A business blog can have a significant impact to your web traffic and help you make connections locally that you may have otherwise missed. Blogging has other benefits such as improved search engine results and can bolster readers perception of you and your business as a leader and expert.

A potential business blogger must also keep in mind the commitment blogging takes. Are you comfortable writing for public consumption? Are you prepared to receive comments on your thoughts? Are you willing to be challenged on controversial ideas? A decision to start blogging should not be made on a whim and involves planning.

Here are some of my favorite resources to get you started:

Andy Beard - Blog Search Engine Performance, Wordpress, Niche Marketing, Affiliate Marketing Tips and Social Media
copyblogger - copywriting tips for online marketing
success
Daily Blog Tips - tips to create or improve your blog
ProBlogger - the name says it all.

Know another great blogging resource? Let me know!

Happy blogging.

Saul Hansell got my attention yesterday with his NY Times Technology story titled “Google Fights for the Right to Hide Its Privacy Policy“.

The article starts off with a telling comparison:

What’s one way that Google is different from AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft? It’s the only one of the big Internet companies that doesn’t put a link to its privacy policy on its home page.

There also was some speculation in the article that this may be a preemptive move in advance of some advertising strategy changes to make it more competitive:

So why would Google apply to be a member? Some Internet executives wonder whether it is getting ready to start some sort of targeting system that might help its graphic ad network compete better with AOL’s more successful Advertising.com and others that do make use of information about users.

What I found most concerning is a quote by Steve Langdon, a Google spokesman:

We believe it is important for consumers to be able to easily find privacy policies and other privacy information. By simply typing ‘Google privacy policy’ into the Google search engine, consumers can easily find not only our privacy policy, but additional information about privacy.

Google why do you think this is ok? In my opinion this is just another example of blurring the rules so you can change them when it suits you too.

Google did you know that the Better Business Bureau requires all of members to Post and Adhere to a Privacy Policy?

Online advertisers should post and adhere to a privacy policy that is open, transparent, and meets generally accepted fair information principles including providing notice as to what personal information the online advertiser collects, uses, and discloses; what choices customers have with regard to the business’ collection, use and, disclosure of that information; what access customers have to the information; what security measures are taken to protect the information, and what enforcement and redress mechanisms are in place to remedy any violations of the policy. The privacy policy should be easy to find and understand and be available prior to or at the time the customer provides any personally identifiable information.

I believe that Google should be held to a higher standard, not a lesser one. What do you think?

The The Star-Ledger put together a nice list of local events. I have pulled out some highlights but the full list can be found here.

Holmdel
This year’s Memorial Day ceremony will include the announcement of two names added to the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, presentation of two scholarships to New Jersey high school seniors and the induction of one Vietnam Veteran into the memorial’s “In Memory” program, 11 a.m. Monday, New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Foundation, 1 Memorial Lane. Call (732) 335-0033.

Keyport
The Keyport Centennial Memorial Day parade will begin on Beers Street then end at Fireman’s Park. There will be a competition of floats with trophies awarded to the winners. Local businesses will offer “Centennial Specials” for the day. Festivities begin at 2 p.m. Saturday. Fireman’s Park is at the corners of West Front Street and American Legion Drive. Call (732) 739-5138.

Long Branch
The city’s Memorial Day services will begin at 9 a.m. Monday with a gathering at Fireman’s Field. Then at 9:45 a.m. there will be a wreath laying ceremony at West End Beach. At 10:15 a.m. everyone will gather at Jerry Morgan Park on Liberty Street between Broadway and Joline Avenue. Then at 11 a.m. at City Hall there will be the annual Memorial Day services and announcement of essay contest winners. Ending with an open house at VFW Post 2140 on Willow Avenue. Call (732) 571-6542.

Ocean Grove
In the spirit of the Memorial Day holiday, Ocean Grove will kick off its summer entertainment season with a free concert by The Atlantic Wind Ensemble titled “America, One Nation Under God,” 8 p.m. Saturday, Great Auditorium, 54 Pilgrim Pathway. Call (800) 965-9324.

If you know any others please let us know.
Have a great holiday weekend!

comScore Releases April 2008 U.S. Search Engine Rankings

According to the May 22nd comScore press release “April 2008 saw Americans conduct 10.6 billion core searches, with Google Sites continuing to gain market share as the leading search engine.”

The report continued:

In April, Google Sites extended its share of core searches to 61.6 percent, up from 59.8 percent the previous month. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 20.4 percent, followed by Microsoft Sites (9.1 percent), AOL LLC (4.6 percent), and Ask Network (4.3 percent).

There is no doubt Google is the steak and the potatoes in the search industry. If you are serious about improving your Internet marketing ability you need to strongly consider how you can improve your Google search results. Search Engine Marketing should be a part of any businesses marketing plan. Local businesses can make their mark in search if there is a focused effort.

Wayne Woolley of The Star-Ledger reported a detailed story titled “200 NJ police officers are heading to Iraq“.

As many as 200 law enforcement officers from New Jersey will deploy to Iraq in the fall as part of the state’s largest combat mobilization of military reservists since World War II, affecting police departments statewide.

The officers are either soldiers in an Army National Guard combat brigade that drills from armories across the state or belong to a Marine Reserve infantry company based in Morris County. The two units have more than 3,000 troops in all.

While I may not always agree with our countries foreign policies I do always support our troops. Their sacrifices pave the way for our freedoms past and present.

Our troops and their families really deserve community support for their sacrifices. Please help us show them that we appreciate their service to our county. American Recreational Military Services (A.R.M.S), a 501 (c)(3) Public Charity.

I wish them all a speedy and safe return home to their families and friends.

I take great pride in providing top notch customer service for all of our members on a daily basis. I make it a top priority to take calls from our members, return calls, and respond to emails in a timely fashion. I enjoy the calls to check in and say hello, calls that are complimentary of our receptionists’ professionalism and polite phone manner. Calls offering constructive criticism are also appreciated because this feedback helps us to better serve our customers, creating long term business relationships. Because I enjoy doing as much as I can for our members, I often call members just to check in a make sure they are satisfied with the quality of our service.

There are also calls that make me hot. My blood pressure rises, and I dread saying “okay, put the call through”. This is because these clients call multiple times a day about issues that are out of control. Important calls are missed because clients fail to check their voicemail. Instructions on handling calls are unclear and changed so frequently that their appointments are compromised. This type of customer prevents me from providing the quality of service that I pride myself with.

Firing employees who do not perform their jobs adequately is a task I am familiar with. When is it acceptable to fire a customer? Some customers are so time consuming they prevent you from performing daily tasks. I recently had the pleasure of informing a long time member “Some people just cannot be pleased and I feel that you fall into that category, regardless of my own and our staffs efforts”. This was a liberating experience. The customer had been a member of our service for over four years. For this person to remain a customer so many years, my staff and I were doing something right.

Tim Ferriss said it best in his latest book, “customer service is not becoming a personal concierge and catering to their every whim and want. Customer service is providing a excellent product or service at an acceptable price and solving legitimate problems that may come up in the fastest manner possible. That’s it.” I think that sums it up. I encourage all business owners to fire that customer of theirs that can’t be pleased and is preventing them from giving great customer service to those that deserve and appreciate it.

Jessica Matyi is Office Manager of Intelligent Office of Red Bank

Jeff Whelan of The Star-Ledger reported “Passaic Mayor pleads guilty to Corruption“.

Passaic Mayor Samuel Rivera pleaded guilty this morning to federal corruption charges.

Rivera, 61, among 11 public officials caught in a statewide FBI sting last year, pleaded guilty to one count of extortion after being accused of accepting $5,000 in cash from an insurance brokerage firm in exchange for his help getting contracts. The firm turned out to be a front for the FBI.

He was indicted earlier this year by a federal grand on bribery and extortion charges. By pleading guilty to the extortion charge, Rivera faces 18 to 24 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, according to his lawyer, Henry Klingeman.

This is a good first step in cleaning up the political cesspool that still remains intact within our local government. Justice needs to be served swiftly to anyone who takes advantage of an appointed position for their own dishonest and immoral personal gains. More results like this are need to finish the job and clean up New Jerseys political landscape.

Tom Hester of The Star-Ledger reported “Top 10 most endangered historic sites named“.

Mr. Hester reported “The non-profit Trenton-based historic preservation organization unveils a list of what it considers 10 endangered historic sites annually in an effort to draw public and government attention to the danger that they may face demolition or alteration“.

* Sacred Heart Church, Jersey City: In its heyday in the 1920s, this monumental church was the parish for immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Poland and Italy.

* Shady Rest Golf Club, Scotch Plains: First African-American owned and operated country club in the United States.

* Lake Solitude Dam, High Bridge: Built in 1909 to provide hydro-electric power to the Taylor-Wharton Iron and Steel Company.

* Forney House and Clinic, Milltown: Late 1800s house built that later became the first American site of the Michelin Rubber Company.

* 160 Willard Avenue, Bloomfield: Unique Craftsman house considered crucial to the preservation of its neighborhood.

* Speedwell Avenue Business District, Morristown: An historic area where a redevelopment plan calls for demolition of old storefronts and some 19th and early 20th century houses.

* Arneytown Historic District, North Hanover: Three-building 1700s’ hamlet with tavern as centerpiece.

* Atlantic City Post Office: Classic and imposing Depression-era building.

* Beach Theater, Cape May: Landmark beachfront theater built in 1950.

* Belcoville Post Office, Weymouth: Built in 1918 as post office for a World War I munitions plant boomtown.