Why is it that when we see a word a phrase that we really like that we grab it and use them forever? Do you ever stop to think about the words you are using in a proposal? Are they overused and full of consultant-speak speech? Well, let’s check out some words or phrases to consider stripping out of your proposals.

Overused Superlatives

What the heck are superlatives? I don’t use them. Are you sure? Do you really know what a superlative is? Let’s check out Dictionary.com for some help.

1. of the highest kind, quality, or order; surpassing all else or others; supreme; extreme: superlative wisdom.
2. Grammar . of, pertaining to, or noting the highest degree of the comparison of adjectives and adverbs, as smallest, best, and most carefully, the superlative forms of small, good, and carefully.
3. being more than is proper or normal; exaggerated in language or style.

Let me give you five examples from random sites that I looked at:

• the biggest benefit
• the best managed
• need us the most
• the most notable
• the least promising

There’s nothing wrong with using words like unrivaled, easiest, highest, shortest, unique in other types of content. You just want to try and limit your use of superlatives in proposals.

Overused Buzzwords

Buzzwords are overused a lot in proposals, and even in all types of content. Buzzwords are usually trendy words that are specific to a certain group. For example, in the Internet Technology (IT) industry, common buzzwords are SBS, MSP, VAR. In the Virtual Assistant (VA) world, one might speak of EA or VA or PA. Be careful that what you are talking about can be understood by the person it is intended for. Spell it out as I have done with IT or VA or leave it out.

Other types of buzzwords that are just used too much are popular words specific to a particular industry. Have any of these examples cropped up in your proposal writing?

• Thinking outside the box
• value-added
• alignment
• win-win

If you tend to use the words above, it would be to your advantage to leave them out of your proposal. (Buzzwords Gone Bad)

Pronoun Overabundance

There are better ways to write proposals than using an overabundance of ‘I’, ‘you’ and the rest of the pronouns. In my opinion, it doesn’t show any creativity and is extremely boring. Quit it!

One of the purposes of a proposal is to justify unspoken decisions in the preliminary stages of the sales process. Instead of using overused consultant-speak, make your proposal believable by supplying facts to back statements up. Get rid of overused superlatives and buzzwords and leave the pronouns back in your office

Provide concrete evidence that your company can solve a client’s need, but do it without saying “our company is the best qualified to provide you a variety of MSP solutions because I say so.”
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Pam Lokker is a skillful writer and proficient virtual assistant. Borlok Virtual Assistants is the place to get global expert VA services with quality and on-time delivery.

Everyone has been talking about it. Since Google changed their algorithm, there’s been a lot of concern whether or not article writers and virtual assistants should stay away from writing good wholesome articles altogether.

So what is Google’s purpose?

Google is intent on improving ranking for article writers. What will happen is that quality should take a big step up. I’m sure you’ve noticed trying to search in your favorite search engine for a term and getting very low-quality articles. Some of them don’t even pertain to the search keyword(s) you typed in. Google believes that this is just the start and readily admit that new updates will be coming down the pipeline that should improve quality even more.

What Is a Content Farm?

According to Wikipedia, a content farm as it relates to the World Wide Web “is used to describe a company that employs large numbers of often freelance writers to generate large amounts of textual content which is specifically designed to satisfy algorithms for maximal retrieval by automated search engines. Their main goal is to generate advertising revenue through attracting reader page views.” Unfortunately, many of these content farms can promote articles of low quality due to excessive spinning or poor writing abilities.

How will this affect article content distribution sites?

Places like Distribute Your Articles (DYA) believe that content farms are in trouble. DYA has always encouraged their members to always submit original content. Their coaches are put through an extensive training program so they are comfortable recognizing errors that can cause an article to be rejected by publishers and site owners. Included in the training is how to correctly apply Article Alchemy™ technology. The end result is that the article writer can rest assured that their articles have been intensively reviewed to make sure that high quality is maintained.

Other content distribution places are raising the bars in their review process to ensure that they are not penalized by Google with a low rating. This will include places like EzineArticles who has recently announced several changes they have implemented to improve their ranking. One of the biggest changes was to increase the minimum length of articles from 300 to 400.

So what is my strategy going to be for me, as well as my clients? I will follow the course of DYA and recommend to my clients that we only submit original content to multiple sites, depending on the client’s memberships. However, my advice to them will also be to blog, and post their articles on social media like Facebook and LinkedIn.

Do I believe that Virtual Assistants (VAs) should be concerned with Google’s new algorithm? I would more say that VAs should become aware but not necessarily concerned. So, for me, that means business as usual. What do you think?
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Pam Lokker is a skillful writer and proficient virtual assistant. Borlok Virtual Assistants is the place to get global expert VA services with quality and on-time delivery.

Market far and wide and use the Internet to promote your products and services.

I’m sure you all remember the article that my virtual assistant mom wrote previously, Don’t Call ME Uncommon to Arizona. If you haven’t read it, go check it out so you get the background for this article and then see below why I say that a certain so and so should get off my feeder.

You have to be a hummingbird to LAND on a hummingbird feeder

This bird is not even a hummingbird! As a matter of fact, I have TWO Gila Woodpeckers that are brash enough to drink out of my feeder. Yes, I guess you could say that they really are beautiful with their little red dot on the top of their head; and they’re even kind of cute in their own way; however, they are big oafs compared to me and should not be on my feeder.

by .Larry Page

Creative Common License

According to Whatbird.com, Gila Woodpeckers can be a resident of southeastern California, southern Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. They are supposed to prefer low desert scrub with saguaro or mesquite trees for nesting. So what are they doing at my adopted mom’s house slurping all my food?

The hummingbird feeder is for a small — hummingbird!

Remember how big I am? I’m a mere 3.50 inches, and I’m a little bit bigger than some of my other friends. This big oaf that my mom calls Rufus is a gigantic 8-10 inches. Yikes! At 2.5 oz, when he lands upside down on the feeder and then tries to right himself so he can drink, he almost spills the nectar. My mom can see all this when she’s gazing out the window when she’s working and doing virtual assistant tasks like writing, transcription, and other things.

Gila Woodpeckers are supposed to eat — not drink — food.

Gilas are known to eat insects, bird eggs, fruits, and berries — blech. Do you see there anywhere where they are supposed to drink nectar specifically made for me? I just can’t, for the life of me, see why they want what’s rightfully mine. Can you? I mean, gee, just because they have a sweet tooth, and quite the sweet tooth.

Gila Woodpeckers are just plain bullies.

I get so mad at Rufus. When I go to drink out of the feeder, he actually chases me. That’s not fair. I’ve seen where he and his friend actually park in the tree in the front yard and guard the feeder so that I or my best friend can’t even get in a drink edgewise. So my mom hung another feeder thinking I and my friend could get some food and now they guard BOTH feeders. Yesterday, my mom saw both of them on the SAME feeder. Where’s the justice in that?

In conclusion, I repeat — Rufus, get off my feeder, you big oaf!
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Borlok Virtual Assistants has the global expert services with quality, on-time delivery that you require. We have been freelancing since 2006 and are based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Get more tips on increasing your knowledge in the world of VA and come see us at Borlok Transcription or at our blog Borlok VA.

Just yesterday, I was writing a document for a client. I researched on the Internet and found the perfect chart to illustrate what I was explaining. The chart had been included in a PDF file, which I found I wasn’t able to copy just the chart and paste it into my document. Geez, what could I possibly do to make a ho hum document sing?

I tried all the traditional methods like ‘alt+prtscr’ and ‘select all’ and was totally dissatisfied with either method. Then it dawned on me — I could use Jing to make a document sing!

So what is Jing, and what are its capabilities?

Overview

According to Wikipedia, you can use Jing as a software application to take a picture or video of your own computer’s screen and then upload it to the Web, FTP, computer, or clipboard.

So let’s look at this versatile application a little closer. What are some of its capabilities that make a document sing?

Capabilities

Screencast

One of the most frequent needs I have from Jing is to include a snapshot of a screenshot that might demonstrate how to log into a system or perform a process. Especially when answering a customer inquiry in a ticket system where your responses were all in text format, it was impossible to include a screenshot — until now that is. Jing not only allows you to copy the screenshot, it allows you to highlight sections, use an arrow to point, and put a text note for explanation. Let’s see if I can demonstrate this for you.

Let’s say I want to explain to someone how to sign into Gmail. Rather than explaining in lots of words, I can give a short step-by-step guide, capture the image, and then provide a link for them to click on to see the actual screenshot.

Here’s an example:

To Log Into Gmail:

* Click this link: http://tinyurl.com/c84gd7
* Type in your Username
* Type in your Password
* Click on the button that says “Sign in”

To see the actual screenshot, just click on the link below:

http://screencast.com/t/MTIxNDY3ZWU

Copy

Now say a virtual assistant had a document that they wanted to really make sing and wanted to include an image. It couldn’t be easier! Just capture your image of either the whole window or a part of a window, click copy, and then click paste. Shazam! Check out my copy below:

A virtual assistant needs to keep tools in their tool chest that they can pull out at a moment’s time in order to make their client’s documents look award-winning. Now it is possible for a virtual assistant to use Jing to make a document sing. Why not try it out today!

It’s possible not all virtual assistants out there had an opportunity to get their hands on my previous post on why a virtual assistant should take up article marketing, so let me do a brief recap here:

* Article writing can establish an author as a subject matter expert.
* Writing articles is economical; you don’t have to dole out a lot of cash
* Article site directories are eager to get their sites loaded up with new, fresh content.
* You can include links that will direct your readers back to your own website.
* You have a wealth of information that you can use over and over again.
* You can actually win some new clients from their reading your content.

So now that we know what the benefits are for article marketing, what is a good way to have our articles be shown on the Internet? In other words, how do we vamp up our article marketing? Let’s take a look at some different methods you can use.

Methods for Getting Articles Distributed

Manual Submission

In my mind, there are three ways that you could vamp up your article marketing and increase your Internet exposure. The first way we’ll look at is by manual entering — that is taking your article and manually entering it into an article submission site like EzineArticles, or GoArticles, just to name a couple. These both rate high in Google pagerank and have free membership plans.

You can also submit your articles manually to online magazine publishers that give users the user-friendly ability to build interactive “wikizines”, or web magazines. One such site is Zimbio.

Article Marketing Software

Another method is to use article marketing software. Some people have a lot of success using article marketing software. There is even software out there that will combine article spinning with article submission. Personally, I’m not even interested in using article spinning software at all. When you use the software, you are just regurgitating the same content over and over and over in slightly different ways using a variety of synonyms that can drastically alter the meaning of the written word. So my advice is to stay away from article spinners.

Article Marketing Distribution Company

The third way that a virtual assistant can vamp up their article marketing is by using a company like Content Crooner, a first-rate article distribution company. Content Crooner has a comprehensive list of publishers and content site owners that they will distribute your articles to. What this means is that you have the ease of submitting your article to Content Crooner and they take care of all the legwork of distributing your content wide and far.

What are some benefits of using Content Crooner in addition to an expansive publisher list? Take a look at some of the features as to why I choose them for all my article marketing campaigns.

• Unlimited article distribution
• Distribution that takes place 24/7, 365 days a year
• Experienced reviewers that will check your article over for you to ensure your articles will be readily accepted by publishers
• The ability to schedule when you want your articles to go out
• Multiple pricing plans to fit your needs with a 30-day money-back guarantee

No matter which method you opt for, you should understand that as a virtual assistant, you really should take advantage of article marketing. Just by learning the ins and outs of article marketing for yourself, look at the increased opportunities you would have if a client came to you and asked if you offered article marketing as one of your services. Now is the time to get into this ever-growing field. Don’t hesitate; increase your Internet exposure now and get out there and start article marketing!

A virtual assistant is frequently asked to write or rewrite all kinds of material – anything from a letter on up to a book. Using the right tools can ensure that your material is content rich; one of those tools is a thesaurus. Learn firsthand what a thesaurus is and what it’s used for.

If you are a virtual assistant, undoubtedly you will eventually have a client that wishes you to rewrite something he or she may have penned or typed. It’s not always an easy task to find just the right words to capture the essence of what is being said in an interesting and accurate manner. Now is the time to make your articles rich in content by using a thesaurus.

What is it you might ask? A thesaurus is just the tool you need; it’s a book that has a classified
list of synonyms. You remember what a synonym is from your days in English class at school, right? According to the Encarta English Dictionary (provided in Microsoft Word 2007), a synonym is a word that means the same, or almost the same, as another word in the same language, either in all of its uses or in a specific context. Examples of synonyms in this sense are “environment” and “surroundings” and the verbs “tear” and “rip.”

So why is a thesaurus useful in making your content rich when you write or rewrite articles? For one thing, if you replace words with synonyms, your content might just grab and keep the reader’s interest that much longer. You’ve all heard that you only have thirty seconds to stimulate a reader’s natural curiosity so they dive deeper into your article.

What are some good thesaurus’s out there that I can use online? I will discuss three here. Don’t take my word as gospel, however; do a search in your favorite search engine under “thesaurus.” I want you to have the freedom to make up your own mind as to which one will work the best for you.

Unless I’m working on a laptop, the very first thesaurus that I use all the time is WordWeb. WordWeb is a free English thesaurus and dictionary software download for Windows. Why do I like it? Just check out some of the things it can help you with:

* Definitions and synonyms
* Proper nouns
* Related words
* Pronunciations
* 150 000 root words
* 120 000 synonym sets
* Looks up words in almost any program

What makes Word Web so useful is that you have the ability to use a combination of the Ctrl + Alt + the W keys on your computer keyboard to have the program open on your desktop. This saves immeasurable time and is even faster than the next program I am going to talk about.

Remember I mentioned that I work on a laptop? One of the disadvantages of doing so is that a laptop will not have as much memory as a desktop so I do not tend to download a lot of software. What I have discovered is that Microsoft Office Word 2007 has a built-in thesaurus. How do you kick it into gear? To give you a simple explanation, say I want to change the word gear in my previous sentence to something else. I would right click on the word gear and scroll down to Look Up, left click with your mouse on the words Look Up and voilà! It will automatically default to All Reference Books, but that is easy to change. Just click on the down arrow next to All Reference Books and change it to Thesaurus: English (You can also choose French or Spanish).

A virtual assistant has to be thrifty in their use of time, as well as being the best of the best. Oftentimes, there will be resources available to us that we don’t even know that can save us an immense amount of work. One of those resources is a good thesaurus. A good thesaurus can not only save us time, it can provide us with synonyms that will help us write and rewrite articles, blogs, press releases, eBooks, etc., that are award-winning. Not only that, a thesaurus can help us make our material rich in content.