How to Save Time Blogging with a Virtual Assistant

By: | April 2, 2016 | Tags: , , |

Do you want to save time with a virtual assistant? Consider Jills Office.

Jills Office exists to help busy people like bloggers.

Of course, you can use this blog’s Blogger Collaboration Group. However, you might feel you need blogger outreach tools. Consider Jills Office your blogger outreach tool.

Let’s get started with my review of Jills Office.

(Note: This post was made possible by the support of our readers.)

Jills Office Virtual Assistants help bloggers

This post contains an affiliate link.

Would you like help with your blog?

Apple iOS users have Siri to help them.

Snow White had seven dwarves to help her.

Cinderella had a fairy godmother.

Would you like a fairy godmother?

Jason Cushman says bloggers are so busy they need fairy godmothers to help them.

I can get you a fairy godmother. Her name is Jill.

She is your virtual assistant.

What is a Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant provides services to individuals, organizations or companies, but they work online instead of going into an office.

Being a Virtual Assistant isn’t just a role played by someone wanting to have income, it is more of someone lending a hand to help an entrepreneur, blogger, etc., to be the best version on what they do best as the owner while the VA does all the work they are experts with to help your business grow the way you imagined it to be. That being said, it is of great importance for every startup, and even existing and earning businesses to know exactly “What does a Virtual Assistant do?”.

Why Bloggers Need Virtual Assistants

When bloggers were surveyed, their biggest complaint was a lack of time.

Consider these comments from readers:

I need time management.

I work outside the home 6 hours a day and I can’t even look at Twitter during that time. It seems if you don’t post regularly and interact, it’s pretty much Twitter suicide. So, I stick with the outlets I can (somewhat) manage, although it’s a challenge to even keep up with those.

I like that you are having advice or suggestions that improve the quality of life for a busy blogger… any posts like this that help the fellow blogger with time management or any topic you can think of will be great to see.

Testimonials about the Value of VA’s.

According to blogger Julie Kalungi, who has a virtual assistant, “A well-trained professional virtual assistant will enable the blogger or online entrepreneur to take [their] time back.” They are delegated the seemingly mundane daily admin tasks that do pile up if left undone; yet, they are the glue that keeps things moving.

A VA (Virtual Assistant) can help you by outsourcing [your] administrative, social media updates, blog and document writing and more, so you can focus your time and expertise on building your business.

According to Adrian, who is a VA, “Virtual assistants can be a blogger’s best friend. They can take some of the more mundane tasks off your hands to free you up for the more creative side of your business. They are also helpful for technical stuff that maybe isn’t your cup of tea. Why take hours learning to do something new when a VA with the right knowledge can whip through it in minutes?”
 

Richard Branson recommends having a VA too, especially if you don’t like the task you are outsourcing or don’t feel particularly confident at completing successfully.

 

How Jills Office Helps Bloggers

According to Jills Office, a company that provides virtual assistants, you should stop simply HOPING your blog will boom, and start MAKING it happen. Jills Office can give you the assistance you need to grow your blog at an unprecedented rate!

Most bloggers promote their blog exclusively online. Set yourself apart from the other bloggers in the industry by following up with a personal phone call. Let Jill make the calls for you. How is that possible if you don’t know blogging influencers’ phone numbers? No problem! Jill has it all figured out.

    • * Blogger Outreach – Put your content directly in front of the influencers in your niche! Sharing your blog on your own social media platforms is good, but getting the big wigs to share your content is BETTER. Compile a list of influential bloggers in your niche – aim for at least 25 to start. Use Google, social media outlets, and websites such as www.buzzsumo.com to research who has authority and a good following in your field.

Begin building a relationship with them by sharing their content (many watch their mentions like a hawk), interacting with them on social media, and making valuable and personal comments on their blog. Once you’ve established a few connections with them, you’re ready to start asking them to share your own material. Send them a personal email telling them how much you enjoy reading what they write about and ask them to share your content that you feel would be valuable to their readership.

Then continue to build your relationship offline. Have a Jill from Jills Office follow up with a personal phone call, making sure they received your email and asking again if they’d be willing to share your article.

    • Guest Blog Writing – Writing an article for a blog much bigger than your own is an excellent way to increase your traffic. You can include a bio that links back to your own blog. Your article, name, and website can instantly be seen by hundreds and thousands of subscribers. After you send an email asking to be a guest writer, have a Jill from Jills Office call and follow up about including your article on their blog.
    • Quality Backlinks to your Website – Having backlinks is essential to good SEO for your blog. Email other bloggers about a topic they have written on and let them know you’ve published something on that topic that would be a great resource to their readers. Ask them to link to your website and have a Jill from Jills Office follow up with a phone call to make sure you get the link.
    • Feature other bloggers – Regularly mention and link to other bloggers in your articles. Email them to let them know about your article and ask them to share it. Let a Jill from Jills Office follow up with a phone call to add that personal touch and make sure they received and read your email. This can result in hundreds of shares per article.
    • Do a “shout-out” exchange with other bloggers. Send an email and have a Jill from Jills Office follow up with a phone call about asking other bloggers to mention you on their blog in exchange for you mentioning them on yours.
    • Invite others to guest post on your blog – Invite others to write an article to post on your blog. Send out an email and then have a Jill from Jill’s Office call and follow up to get more articles and traffic to your blog.
    • Send a voicemail drop – Jills Office new cutting edge ringless voicemail drop service allows you to send a personal voicemail directly to several bloggers at one time asking them to link to your article or inquiring if you can write a guest post on their blog. Or send a voicemail drop to your readers to add that personal touch and make them feel like a valued follower. Let me know about an article you just posted that you think they’d especially enjoy.
    • Get testimonials for your blogBuild credibility for your blog by having Jills Office call your loyal readers and ask for a testimonial to include on your blog.

Many of these services are dependent on getting the phone numbers of your blogging contacts. I asked Jill’s Office how it is possible to get the phone numbers of other bloggers.

They replied,

If the phone number isn’t listed on the bloggers website, we can look up their phone number through their registered business (if they are officially registered). We can also try looking it up on register.com or whois.com. If the phone number is kept private in all those places, then Jill’s Office can help bloggers can use other venues to expand their outreach.
 
We can capture phone numbers by offering a texting campaign where there are opinion polls and contests they can participate in or special reports they can download if they text a number. 
 
If they run the campaign through Jill’s Office – we can send them an email for each text received and then we can follow up with a personalized phone call to each person. This can also be done by requiring them to enter their contact info before they can submit their opinion or download the special report.
 
Jill’s Office can follow up with them within 24 hours to thank them for downloading the report or participating in the poll and ask if they are interested in other products or services that the blogger offers. This can help build rapport and increase the likelihood they continue following and sharing the bloggers articles as well as increase sales in products or services the blogger offers.
 

Pitfalls to Avoid When Hiring a Virtual Assistant

According to Kalungi, “The hard lesson we learned here was you [have to] trust this person to actually put in the hours you pay them for.”
 
With Jill’s, you don’t pay for their time, so they can’t over charge. You pay for the service no matter how long it takes.

Jill’s Cost

VA’s  are definitely trendy to have; however, they can be pricey.
 
According to Payscale.com, the average Virtual Assistant makes $16.00 per hour. That is the beauty of Jill’s Office. You don’t pay by the hour. You don’t need to be concerned that Jill will raise the bill by over charging you for the time.
 
Prices range from $.50 to $1.50 per service. $5.00 monthly to keep your records is charged too.

What Is Jills Office?

Jill’s Office is a personal-assistant firm that hires and trains local professional assistants to work for your small business.

Jill’s Office utilizes proprietary software that let’s a “Jill” be your full-time Smart Assistant™ so you don’t have to worry about employees.

It’s hard to go wrong for $5.00. Why is it so affordable?

According to Jill’s,

Combine the personal touch of having a personal assistant, the hassle-free benefits of a call answering service, and the affordability of local virtual assistants. Our pricing model is revolutionary because it provides high-level personal assistance at unheard  of pricing, through cost‐sharing. What Jill Can Do For You Make you look professional, answer calls, schedule appointments, send estimates and invoices, follow up on estimates, and much more. Why get your SMART Assistant Today? As soon as you get your new smart assistant you are able to spend less time working for your business and more time working on your business.

Testimonials about the Value of Jill’s Office

  • According to Newswire.net — Jill’s Office combines the personal touch of an in-house administrator, the hassle-free benefits of a call answering service, and the affordability of the offshore outsource market into a single, value-conscious service. For a basic monthly fee of $5, subscribers to Jill’s Office Smart Assistant™ program are granted access to a full, professional-grade customer communications program that is easily tailored to the specific needs of your clientele.

One of the toughest challenges that entrepreneurs face in today’s market is having employees. Employees are critical components to business growth, and capitalizing on payroll should be like capitalizing on any other investment. Keeping an office focused on key objectives and development initiatives requires efficient management of back-end tasks. Put simply, a good assistant is invaluable for workers whose time is best spent discovering new and innovative ways to expand the horizons of your company. Jill’s Office wants to help entrepreneurs, and solo-preneurs, to spend more time living those “A-Ha!” moments. From design to development, Monday meetings to marketing plans, your best ideas always happen when you’re working on your company, not just inside of it. Jill’s Office Smart Assistant™ services include, live customer service, voice messaging, creating sales invoices, scheduling meetings, and returning calls on your behalf. When these basic tasks are taken care of outside of the office, it’s easier to focus on big-picture developments in-house.

  • According to a representative of Jill’s,

Considering the depth of the administrative toolbox presented by Jill’s Office, the pricing model is nothing short of revolutionary. Putting your business’ best foot forward has never been so affordable and stress-free. Once assigned a Jill’s Office phone number, our SAS (Subscription as a Service) model only charges you for the services you use, each at only a minimal cost. From APP based customer interfacing (iOS, Android), to live calling, Jill’s Office seeks to maximize the efficacy of each communication made. Whether your customers prefer text, voicemail or email, we’ll help you to stay connected in the ways they find most convenient. However large your business may grow to be, we believe that smaller gestures are often the most important for making your customers feel appreciated.

Jill’s Office ensures professional back-end relationships with your customers, empowering you to keep finding the new customer relationships that will help your business flourish. Our mobile and web-based Smart Assistant™ user interfaces make it easy to build, review and update the message and character of each aspect of your customer communication programming.

  • I was also a client of Jill’s, an extremely satisfied one, I might add. When I needed Jill to contact my blog coaching clients, they called them seemingly within hours.

How Jill’s Office Works

You download an app from the App Store and communicate with Jill’s through the app.

You and Jill leave each other Action Items through the app. An Action Item is a Message that a Jill (one of your assistants) has taken a call for you, and there is a message for you in the app.  Not every call Jill’s receives for you will end in an action item, so that’s why they charge for it separately.
 
An action item can also be used for when you need a task completed.
 

Who is Jill, Really?

 
The VA is a real US-based assistant that can help you during Jill’s business hours.  A lot of the assistants are moms who are wanting to get back into the workforce after they have children, or they are college students who are receiving their degrees.
 

 About Jill’s Office

Jill’s Office is a Utah-based company that is revolutionizing the virtual assistant marketplace. According to Jill’s, “We are constantly looking for new ways to provide business owners more, and better, administrative virtual tools that save money, and more importantly, time.”

What You Get for $5.00

  • The $5.00 a month comes with a Jill’s Office phone number.  It is a fee to hold your line or profile, all of your information, and contacts that are associated with your account.  The Jill’s Office number is a number that you can market as your own new company phone number too.
  • Afterward, they send your customers a satisfaction survey.
  • They send you the results, so you can improve your service.
  • They ask for referrals.
  • They share the results across social media which promote your service and gives you a social media presence.

No contract! You pay month to month. Use them at busier times.

Instructions:

  1. Call the phone number you are given when you sign up.
  2. Get your phone to forward the calls to that number if you like.
  3. They will call people and give them your messages.
  4. They will follow up; were your clients happy? Is there anything else they can do for them? They make the calls.
  5. Action items: On the Jill’s Office App, you will get a message telling you what the customer wanted. If you would prefer to Email your Jill, instead of communicating through the app, you can. I did.

How to Sign Up for Jill’s Office

You can sign up by clicking my affiliate link. I am such a happy client, I became an affiliate of Jill’s. You can also have your very own Jill by clicking the affiliate link in my right sidebar.

 Conclusion

You have to invest either time or money in your blog.  Invest the money, and let Jill’s take care of the time.

Besides the low cost, another benefit of using Jill’s is you will never have trouble remembering the name of your Virtual Assistant; they are all named Jill!

Readers, please share, so other bloggers know about how they could get extra help for practically pennies.

What do you think? Would you consider a VA? If so, I am an affiliate of Jill’s Office. Please click my link http://jillsoffice.com/janice-wald/. Are you already using a VA? What is your experience? I look forward to your views.

Related Posts:

Warning: Your 24 Hour Day is Shrinking

How to Blog and Still Live a Quality Life

3 Shrewd Ways to Easily Triple Your Productivity

How to Save Money, Time, and Stress [Cross Promotion]

10 Top Websites for Freelancers to Find Work

Virtual Office

*Update: May 2019

Since the publication of the post, I discovered a resource for Blogger Outreach.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Jacqueline,
      Great to hear from you. Thank you so much for writing me. I am glad you find the idea of using Jill’s intriguing.
      Janice

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Lisa,
      Thanks for the visit yesterday. Virtual Assistants seem to be more and more popular. It’s great that Jill’s offers them affordably.
      Janice

  1. Anonymous

    Wow….this is quite the world I’ve stumbled into! 🙂 As I’ve said before, I had no clue what a blog was when (8 weeks ago) a friend suggested I start one. I simply (and naively) did so, so I could share my creative writing/driving need to be part of the good in the world.
    Now (pardon the cliché), I have a whole new appreciation for what Alice (In Wonderland) must have felt when she went down the rabbit hole….a sense of halting (h)optimism given unfolding novel experiences. So, while my blog is a rudimentary one, you’ve ignited a spark, Janice….I dare to think that, following your sign posts, I can become a bolder adventurer. Thank you so much for your generosity. This is awesome 🙂

    • Janice Wald

      Hi,
      Since your comment came in as “Anonymous,” I have to guess at your identity.
      I appreciated your comments.
      The Alice in Wonderland analogy is accurate. People do find themselves in a whole new world (now I’m using an Aladdin analogy) when they start blogging.
      Thank you so much for telling me I have been a good influence on your blogging journey.
      Janice

  2. Carolann

    Wow, sounds like something I’ll have to look into. VA’s do charge a lot but I can understand why – this sounds like the perfect alternative! Thanks so much for sharing this!

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Carolann,
      I agree with you. You can’t go wrong for $5.00. If you don’t like it the first month, don’t sign on again.
      Happy to help!
      Thanks for writing.
      Janice

  3. John Doe

    Jill’s office seems like a lot of bang for your buck. As usual Janice, another great tip.

    • Janice Wald

      I agree with you– so much value for so little money. Thanks for the compliments and for writing.
      Janice

  4. Judy Martin

    I have never heard of Jills before but they seem to be pretty handy. I might have to look into this as I find myself a bit snowed under at the moment!
    Thanks so much for the tip Janice 😉

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Judy,
      I am sure you are busy! Didn’t you just have a book come out? I am trying to follow suit, but I can’t find a reliable Ebook compiler.
      At any rate, I recommended using Jill’s for busier times. Great to see you. Thanks for writing.
      Janice

  5. Sandy Segur

    What awesome tips!! I love how you explained how wonderful a virtual assistants can be!!

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Sandy,
      What nice compliments on my writing! Thank you! Thank you for the visit yesterday and for writing me as well. Great to see you.
      Janice

  6. Online virtual Office Management Application

    Well excellent article its very help us and we impressed , its very interesting post thanks for this post sharing to all, get best management suggestions and best software also provide to all in this blog, sure this blog will useful

    • Janice Wald

      Thank you so much for the kind words about my blog and my article. Thanks for writing.
      Janice

  7. Debbie Rodrigues

    Thanks for sharing this info, Janice.
    I’m all for VAs. I did some VA work myself and I’ll surely be hiring one soon as my business grow.
    Some people maybe get scared at first with the idea of paying someone to do something they could do themselves. However, VAs can probably do it better and save us time to work on things only us can truly do.

  8. Britanny stoner

    Thanks for the encouragement to hire a VA. I have been thinking about it for some time now, but haven’t quite got the courage up to do it yet. I know hiring a VA would benefit me in lots of ways, including it paying for itself a little into it. The hard part — I am such a perfectionist I feel I would have a hard time giving up some of those tasks.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Brittany,
      Thank you for writing me. If you do decide to get a VA, I hope you will go through my Affiliate link. It helps pay for my site. Here is the link for your convenience:
      http://jillsoffice.com/janice-wald/
      Thank you for your visit today. I am glad you found the post helpful.
      Janice

  9. Doug Pierce

    This post really inspired me – I just hired a VA and we did our training call today! I’m so excited to be able to delegate some tasks to her so I can focus more on growing my business.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Doug,
      Thank you so much for telling me about your excitement and your new endeavor– working with a Virtual Assistant. As I mentioned in my article, I worked with Jill’s Office, and I was very pleased. This post seems to be getting attention today although it’s a few months old now. Where did you find it? Thanks. I am glad you found my article inspiring.
      Janice

  10. Sara

    Janice, Jill is a very interesting option for bloggers and small businesses to use. The pricing concept sounds interesting too. It is similar to the package of retainer fees of independent Virtual Assistants who do more in-depth work.

    As a V.A. myself, the value of something like this to start is fantastic. V.A.’s can use this service too as a means to continue a smooth contact process with future and current clients. (I like the phone service the best.)

  11. Cathy Lawdanski

    I Just hired a VA. She has been submitting my posts to sites like Midlife Blvd. & Vibrant Nation & I have had more published on those sites than ever before. I just never had the time to submit articles. She is also creating a pdf for my first give away – something that is time consuming & that I am not good at. She has multiplied both the quality & quantity of my work.

  12. Tom

    virtual assistant concept is time and cost consuming and importantly border less .

  13. virtual office software

    Thanks for sharing this post I read that article very impressive and Your site is amazing for all that you posting articles. They are useful and helped us We are happy to get yours thank you all

  14. Mezzi Marketing

    Article like this help motive virtual assistants to work better. I have been reading alot of articles lately but found this most useful in daily life. Virtual Assistant is not an easy task, you have to get up and organize your tasks daily. Every day we are learning new things and making ourselves better. This blog will definitely boost virtual assistance to achieve their goals effectively.
    http://www.mezzimarketing.com

  15. Barnaby

    Nice article – I think all too often people don’t realize that a Virtual Assistant can do things like blogging – rather than administrative work. Thanks for writing it.

  16. Madison Berry

    I agree with the author about the usefulness of virtual assistants. I don’t use it only for blogging but still, can say it will be a good decision in this area also. If you are interested, check the resource that I use – http://outsourceanything.net/.

  17. Leo

    Hiring a virtual assistant can save you more time to focus on major task. Plus they are skilled so you can assign important work to them.

  18. Anupam Rajey

    Very well presented.

    You are right that a VA not only saves you time, but also keeps you up to date.
    One thing to add is that it only happens when you provide proper training and directions to the VA. It makes creating an SOP important for the VA .

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Anupam,
      Thanks for writing me. I have two questions for you:
      1. What does SOP mean?
      2. Where did you find my Virtual Assistant article? It’s about a year old but picking up new page views recently. Thanks for writing and answering my questions.
      Janice

  19. Jasmin Cottontail

    Great post! Bloggers hire their own Virtual Assistant in order for them to save time and effort. It may be difficult to find a trustworthy VA and the one that will stick. Well there are a lot of options like getting them to Freelance websites or companies which provides Virtual Assistants. One company that provides various remote assistance services is KayCee Enterprises. You can call at 823-377-5437 or e-mail them at support@aircomputers.net. For more info, check out their website: http://www.kayceenterprises.com

    • Janice Wald

      I hadn’t thought of that. VAs are costly but cheaper when you consider you don’t pay for benefits.
      Janice

  20. Prashant Mishra

    If one is hesitant about spending on administration then virtual administrative assistant of marhaba reception is the best way to go through it. We offer professional answering service too. Get in touch to know more.

  21. Prashant Mishra

    Helpdesk services virtually seems to be an excellent option. Our help desk support services are there to help even when the office is closed so that the clients do not face any issues. At marhaba reception we offer help desk online services.

  22. Harsh Singh

    Precise and informative posts have given me the insight of “How to Save Time Blogging with a Virtual Assistant”, much needed to enhance my skills.

  23. Steve

    Interesting article – thank you! With the increase in demand of VA this is something new which i came across. Keep sharing such innovative information.

  24. John Hangs

    As a bloggers were surveyed, their biggest complaint was a lack of time. Many complain that they are not getting enough time to reply on their prospect customer in that case hiring a virtual personal assistant for the blog maintenance will be a great idea. As a blogger I also face the same problem but after hiring a virtual personal assistant it make my life easier. I found a really help full virtual Personal assistant from India at a very sensible cost . They truly completed a wonderful activity for me.
    Hope this information will help others!!! If you need more detail than you can Visit to: https://ossisto.com/

  25. Penelope Silvers

    I think I read this before, but stumbled upon it again. I’ve looked at different VA bizzes over the years, and this one really seems to top them all in regards to price. I clicked on your link, and will be looking into this for sending articles out, and more so when my new book is ready for the world.

    Thanks for all your wonderful articles, Janice! 🙂

  26. Batiste Cassandra

    Wow, am so glad I found this article, I am looking to see if I need to change my VA (currently with Habiliss for last few yrs and pretty content) – but wanted to check if anything better has come up newly in the market. Looks like I will stick to Habiliss for the kind of tasks that I delegate esp internet based research and social media, email management, and some personal tasks too.

  27. Pingback: Top 11 Websites for Freelancers to Find Work - FreeeUp.com
  28. Goli Ohab

    Definitely a great article. I had a VA as a for my blog to post and comment moderator. Thing is, there are many things you can delegate tasks for VA’s. It just depends on their set of skills and their per hour rate.

  29. Kunal Vaghasiya

    Thank you for putting this list together Janice. I know some VAs and will pass this on to them in case there are some new one for them to check out.

    Appreciate you putting taking the time to put this together. Hope you’re having a great week.

    24Task

  30. Neil Jordan

    Great post Janice! Thanks for sharing this information on How to save time Blogging with a Virtual Assistants through your valuable article. I must say, Hiring Virtual Assistants are an affordable alternative than regular employees.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Neil,
      Thanks for your compliments on my post. I suppose outsourcing to a reasonably-priced virtual assistant could be more cost effective than paying one of your employees for overtime to do extra work. You make an interesting point. Thanks for complimenting.
      Janice

  31. Yna Isabelle Flores

    Hey there Janice. Awesome blog post you’ve got here! I love it! It is true that a VA can help us manage our time because we can divide our workload and assign work that they can do on our stead. I just got two new VA’s at http://www.gohirenow.com and I will take your tips as a guide as we go forward working together. And another note to this which I truly loved in your post: testimonials can indeed increase credibility for your blog or business. It gives a personal touch to it and people will see that you are a legit blogger. Thank you so much Janice. Keep it up, you rock!

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