This is Day 22 in the 31 Days to Become a More Efficient Virtual Assistant Series
Previous post: 10 Tips for Proactive Testing and Troubleshooting
We all know the foundation is the most important part of a house. Without a strong foundation the home risks being swept away at the first sign of disaster. In the online and technology space it’s often incredibly easy to think that a product or service will be around forever. But ventures lose funding, companies fold, companies reassess and discontinue products/services (Example: 10 Services Google Discontinued in 2013).
Diversification wins when it comes to building the foundation for ways people can discover your website. Spend a little time doing the following and you’ll be well on your way to having a diverse foundation.
- DMOZ: It’s hard to get listed but worth the effort. Tip: Check for gigs on Fiverr.com.
- Alltop: Easy to do but they will only take submissions for sites which have a blog which is consistently updated.
- Ping services: Install a WordPress plugin such as Ultimate Plugins Smart Update Pinger and add these to the list of services being pinged when you publish a blog post.
- Automate with Dlvr.it: Set up dlvr.it to automatically push your blog posts out to your social networks
- Leverage your Virtual Assistant Forums Account: Submit your blog posts to VAF.
- Build a Tribe: Ask your community and friends to help distribute your content. As you build your relationships you’ll naturally want to help each other out. Consider creating a private Facebook group, Triberr group or other informal group to help share and distribute others content.
- Submit your sitemap: Be sure you have a sitemap and that your website developer has it submitted to Google, Yahoo and Bing.
- Social Sharing: Make it easy for people to share your blog posts by installing a social sharing plugin on your WordPress site. I personally like Digg Digg but there are others out there worth checking into as well.
- Cast Wide: For those that want to cast their net wider you will want to read through this extensive list for other websites and services that may be useful and applicable. (H/T to my friend, Ryan C. for sharing this list with me)
Some of these ideas will only require you to do the initial set-up and submission; others will be on an “as published” or as needed basis. Don’t have the time to handle all of the as needed submissions yourself? Consider hiring another virtual assistant to help you out!