25 Best Tasks for Virtual Assistants in Your Online Business

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Looking for the best tasks for virtual assistants to help your online business? 

We know where you’re at because we were there once, too.

There’s never enough time in the day, and when you reach that point, it’s time to hire a virtual assistant.

In this post we are going to cover: 

  • 25 Best Tasks for Virtual Assistants
  • How Much Does a Virtual Assistant Cost?
  • Can You Hire a VA Part Time?
  • What Are the Best Virtual Assistant Websites to Hire From?
  • How Do I Track & Pay My Virtual Assistant?
  • Tips to Onboard & Manage Your Virtual Assistant

25 Best Tasks for Virtual Assistants

Here’s a starter list of 25 tasks you can hire a VA for:

  1. Manage email communication with customers, clients, and partners.
  2. Schedule appointments and manage your calendar.
  3. Conduct research and collect data for business decisions.
  4. Manage social media accounts, including posting and engaging with followers.
  5. Create and manage content for your blog, website, or newsletter.
  6. Monitor analytics and provide reports on website traffic and social media engagement.
  7. Edit and proofread written content, such as blog posts, emails, or reports.
  8. Respond to customer inquiries and provide customer support.
  9. Manage your CRM system and maintain customer records.
  10. Conduct market research to stay informed of industry trends and competition.
  11. Manage your e-commerce website and process orders.
  12. Manage your inventory and ensure stock levels are adequate.
  13. Create and manage email marketing campaigns.
  14. Manage your financial records and bookkeeping.
  15. Manage your online advertising campaigns.
  16. Conduct A/B testing for website design or marketing campaigns.
  17. Generate and analyze website traffic reports using Google Analytics or other tools.
  18. Manage online reviews and feedback from customers.
  19. Create and manage affiliate partnerships and programs.
  20. Manage your online reputation and respond to negative reviews or feedback.
  21. Manage your online community, such as a forum or social media group.
  22. Create and manage online events, such as webinars or product launches.
  23. Manage your online listings and directories.
  24. Manage your blog comments and respond to readers.
  25. Research and recommend software tools or services to improve your online business operations.

How Much Does a Virtual Assistant Cost?

A person counting dollar bills.

Now that you know about all a virtual assistant can do for you, you’re probably wondering how much it’s gonna cost you. Well, figuring out the rates of virtual assistants is dependent on several factors. 

Type and Scope of Task

As you may have already been able to tell from our list of best tasks for virtual assistants, their expertise, and the scope of what they do can vary. If you’re hiring a VA that can only do basic-level tasks like scheduling, managing appointments, and other administrative work, you will probably find a decent one between $5-$10. However, most businesses hire VAs who also have specialized knowledge. Some are software experts that can help you manage teams through productivity management software like Asana. Others can be content writers, marketing VAs, bookkeepers, graphic designers… the list goes on. 

Level of Expertise

The next thing to think about is their skill level. Do you want a VA who can do dropshipping-related tasks or do you want a dropshipping VA? There is a difference in expectation and specialization. A VA who can write content for your website will cost less than a VA who can write content AND is familiar with how content ranks on search engines. 

Level of Experience 

This includes their educational attainment, training, work portfolio, and how many years they have been in the space. The rates of an entry-level VA and one who has 3 years under their belt will still vary even if they’re doing the same task and have gone to the same school. Experience leads to improved efficiency and professionalism, and that costs something. 

Project Length

VAs can charge on an hourly, monthly, or per-project basis. Naturally, the longer the project, the more you will have to pay. 

Where They Live

One of the advantages of outsourcing is that you have access to a wider talent pool in countries with lower costs of living. VAs living in these countries are more likely to have lower rates.

Can You Hire a VA Part Time?

Absolutely! Another advantage to outsourcing is the flexibility it provides businesses that either cannot afford to hire full-time workers, need minimal help, or have seasonal growth (ex. E-commerce businesses during holidays). 

We have first-hand experience hiring a part-time VA and have shared how that boosted our productivity and allowed our business to grow. 

What Are the Best Virtual Assistant Websites to Hire From?

A man doing the best tasks for virtual assistants on a laptop.

Knowing the best tasks for virtual assistants is one thing, knowing where to find somebody that can perform those tasks well is another. 

What are some qualities of a good freelance marketplace? 

  • Reputable
  • Good vetting processes
  • Social proof systems (reviews and ratings)
  • Client support (easily contactable, assists even after you’ve hired from them)
  • Access to freelancer profiles

Some of the ones we recommend include Upwork, Fiverr, TaskRabbit, 24/7 Virtual Assistants, and Freelancer

If you want to know more about virtual assistant sites and access the full list of our recommendations with summaries, please consider checking out our 11 Best Virtual Assistant Sites for Entrepreneurs in 2023.

How Do I Track & Pay My Virtual Assistant?

When working with virtual assistants, there are two types of tracking that need to be done: time tracking and work tracking.

Tracking hours can be tricky for a remote VA especially. Thankfully, there are several online time-tracking tools that can make your life a whole lot easier. Keep in mind that this is more often applied to VAs who charge a per-hour rate. 

When it comes to tracking work progress, communication and management are essential. Communication with and among members of a remote team is one of the biggest challenges. You need to make sure you are using tools that your new hire is familiar with so they can attend and effectively participate in team meetings. Additionally, when managing a VA, you need to be able to have an agreed channel of communication back and forth for updates, meetings, feedback, etc. 

How you pay your VA can depend on the marketplace you’re hiring from, the basis of payment (per hour or per project), and payment options discussed during the onboarding process. 

Tips to Onboard & Manage Your Virtual Assistant

Two happy women with laptops talking.

Here at Outsource School, we cannot stress enough how beneficial a remote onboarding process is. It can save you a lot of headaches and heartaches associated with bad hires. Good onboarding makes managing a virtual assistant so much easier. 

Here are some useful guidelines you can follow for an effective onboarding process:

  1. Be hospitable, create rapport, and make them feel at ease. 
  2. Introduce them to your company’s “what” and “why” that is what your company does, its mission, vision, objectives, values, and even company culture.
  3. Go through the tasks associated with the job you’re hiring for. Even if it’s all listed in the job description, it’s still important to provide a rundown and set expectations.
  4. Negotiate rates, discuss payment options, and finalize the work schedule.
  5. Orient them on any tools or software they need to perform their tasks. These are any preferred admin tools, management tools, communication channels, apps, etc. 
  6. If they will be working closely with other members, they should get to know the team before they start getting down to business. This is an important step to break the ice and welcome them into your community. 
  7. Set your deadlines, meeting schedules (if any), and milestones they can work towards.
  8. Orient them on any company SOPs 
  9. Be open to any questions, clarifications, or concerns they might have. 

Note: The order in which these things occur is up to your discretion. Also, onboarding is a process that can happen over several days. What’s important is that you make sure your hire is fully oriented and equipped to begin their duties. 

What Is Outsource School?

outsource school

Outsource School helps you to unlock the potential of virtual assistants and accelerate your business growth.

This is the exact system Outsource School’s founders, Nathan Hirsch and Connor Gillivan, used to go from zero to 8 figures and 40+ virtual assistants with an exit in 2019.

Since being founded in 2020, Outsource School has helped 1,000+ business owners hire 2,000+ virtual assistants for their companies.

Schedule a free sales call to learn more

Free resources you might like: 

Conclusion

A lot of the best tasks for virtual assistants involve management, research, marketing, and customer support/engagement. All of these tasks are crucial in operating a thriving business, however, they are very time intensive. Business owners bogged down by busy work or “work about work” can’t focus on their core processes like product and service development, branding, partnerships, etc. Customer service can be especially time-consuming. And while we aren’t saying business owners should be personally involved in building customer relationships, they can’t always be on standby when a customer needs help navigating their website. 

This is why virtual assistants are so valuable. It’s no surprise that they have grown in popularity, especially over the last few years. 

We hope this article has helped inform you about the versatile virtual assistant world. If you weren’t sure before, well, now you have a better understanding of what they do, how to navigate their rates, where to hire them, and how you can effectively integrate them into your team. 

 

Want help outsourcing & hiring virtual assistants? We make it easy! Learn More, Speak w/ an Expert, or Request a Callback

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