You’ve decided to start a Virtual Assistant business. Congrats! You’re excited and motivated – but there’s one thing holding you back from starting your online business: your website.
You’ve been encouraged to build your own virtual assistant website. After all, it’s important to have a professional online presence, right?
Right… but is spending time building your own website going to give you that?
Are you a virtual assistant thinking about building your own website?
Before you do, read this article! We’ve compiled eight reasons why it might not be the best idea. For small business owners, having an online presence to market your business is important.
However, you can achieve that without taking on the job of building your website on your own.
1. You don’t have the time or resources to do it yourself
Though it takes lots of effort, starting a virtual assistant (VA) business can be rewarding both financially and emotionally. You will want to develop a business plan and determine what services to offer. You need to find your ideal clients, set up your processes, manage your business operations, not to mention all of the networking and digital marketing to find your prospective clients.
Oh yeah, and you’ll have client work to do – which is what brings in the revenue!
You’re a solopreneur now and you’re wearing ALL of the hats in your virtual assistant company. And as any small business owner will tell you, it can be hard work, but it is also very rewarding in the long run.
Don’t waste your precious time doing website development. You have more important things to do to build your small business.
2. You have lots of skills but do you have the skills to design a visually appealing website?
Creating a website that is both visually appealing and easy to use requires design skills that not everyone possesses.
In order to design a website that will draw in customers and help you achieve your business goals, you need to understand the basics of web design and be able to apply them in a way that is both effective and attractive.
Even with all of the tools out there like WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace it still takes experience to get it just right.
Experienced virtual assistants advise their clients to concentrate on what they do best and avoid spreading themselves too thin.
As you know, hiring a VA to handle data entry, social media management, and scheduling appointments allows clients to focus on their business.
This is where you need to take your own advice. Doesn’t it make sense to hire someone with the expertise to build your virtual assistant website?
3. It’s not worth the hassle – you could end up with a website that looks terrible and doesn’t convert visitors into new clients
It can take weeks or even months to design and build a website for a virtual assistant business that is well-designed and effective in converting visitors into clients. Especially if you’re trying to DIY the website for your new VA business!
One of the main goals of any website is to guide visitors along the customer journey and convert them into clients. This is done by providing information that is relevant and helpful, and by making it easy for potential clients to contact you.
If your website isn’t effective in converting visitors into clients, what is the point of even having a website?
Here’s what our client, Anne of Schwab Virtual Assistant Services, says about her virtual assistant business journey working with Barefoot Design Collective:
“
When I started my Virtual Assistant business, I was really excited to get my website up and running. I had heard so many great things about having an online presence, and I was determined to make mine look amazing.
But as time went on, I realized that building and maintaining a virtual assistant website was going to be more work than I had anticipated. Not only did I not have the design skills to create a visually appealing website, but I also didn’t have the time or resources to do it myself.
Thankfully, I found Barefoot Design Collective who helped me create a website that looked great and would help me attract my ideal client. It was definitely an investment in the success of my business, and it was worth it!
My website has helped me grow my freelance virtual assistant business by leaps and bounds, and it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”
When I started my 4. It could be more expensive in the long run to build your own website
It’s always tempting to try and save a little money by doing things yourself. But in the case of website design, it can be more expensive in the long run to go it alone.
A quality designer will work with you to create a site that meets your specific needs and represents your brand accurately. If you try to do it yourself, you may end up creating one that doesn’t look or function the way you want. If you try to design your own website, you’ll likely end up purchasing the tools used in website development, which can be expensive. We’ve served many Virtual Assistants who have DIYed theirs only to come back to us a year later so we can fix it for them.
There are so many legal factors that go into building a website that many virtual assistants don’t think about; privacy practices, cookies, and legally sourcing images for your website. All of these can cost you money in the long run – in legal fees!
5. Your time is better spent on other tasks that are related to your business
Just like other entrepreneurs, virtual assistants should spend their time on more important tasks, such as developing their businesses and networking to connect with prospective clients. Does it seem like we’re repeating ourselves? That’s because we are! We are hoping to get a point across.
Time is a limited resource, so virtual assistants should focus on the most important tasks that will help them grow their businesses.
One of the common mistakes we see among business owners is trying to do everything themselves.
As an entrepreneur, you have to prioritize where you spend your time, and building a website is not an efficient use of your time. Wouldn’t you rather have it done right and published quickly so you can really start promoting your virtual assistant services?
6. Professionals know how to optimize for search engines
There are a number of things you can do to optimize your website so that it appears higher on Google search results.
These include creating content that is relevant and high-quality and crafting titles and meta descriptions that include keywords and get people to click through to your web pages.
It also includes optimizing your images and code to ensure your website loads quickly.
Another strategy that, as a business owner, you need to consider is linking to and from other authoritative websites.
Good designers and developers will be aware of all of these factors and will work with you to ensure that your site is as SEO-friendly as possible.
7. Your website needs to be responsive and look great on all devices
A mobile-responsive website is a website that looks great and functions properly on all devices, from desktop computers to smartphones and tablets.
A responsive website automatically adjusts its layout and design to fit the screen size of the device it is being viewed on, making for a smooth user experience no matter what the device.
If you are looking to build a new website or update your current one, it is important to make sure that it is responsive.
An experienced web designer or developer (like us!) can help you create a responsive website that looks great and functions perfectly on all devices.
8. It is more important than ever to make sure that your website is accessible to everyone
With the increasing use of technology in our lives, more and more people are using the internet to find information, buy products, and connect with others. If your website isn’t accessible to everyone, you could be losing out on a lot of business and opportunities.
Website accessibility means making sure that your website can be used by everyone, regardless of their abilities or disabilities.
It should be accessible to people who are visually impaired, hearing impaired, or have mobility issues. It also includes making sure that all of your content is accessible to those with cognitive disabilities or learning impairments.
Making your website accessible isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s also good for business. In today’s economy, it’s more important than ever to make sure that you are reaching as many people as possible. By ensuring that it is accessible to everyone, you are able to help more people and increase your profits.
9. Hiring a pro to build your website isn’t as expensive as you think
Hiring a professional to build a virtual assistant website for your business need not be expensive. In fact, affordable web design is a thing!
And the benefits of having one that is professionally built will more than make up for the expense.
It’s important to look at the cost of building your website as an investment in the success of your business, rather than an expense. It will be a valuable asset that will help you grow your business and by making this investment, you’re creating a valuable asset for your business that will pay off for years to come.
10. An experienced designer will do a better job than you ever could
Let’s face it professional designers have the experience and expertise to do the job right, the first time around. This can save you time and money in the long run, as you won’t need to keep hiring designers to fix problems or update your site.
Don’t spend hours creating something that may not even help your business grow. Instead, leave it to the professionals.
Focus on what you do best and let us take care of the rest. Still not sure? Let’s hop on a call for your free consultation.
