5 Things A Virtual Assistant Can Do For Your Online Ministry

The growth of our ministries will be limited by our own capacity if we try to do everything ourselves. A virtual assistant is a perfect first step to getting help. How long is your to-do list?  If it is anything like mine, there are more things on the “To-Do” side than on the “Done” side.  Running an online ministry or business is a lot of work .. writing, creating graphics, doing linkups, social media, setting up sales pages, connecting with others …  and you know what?

I am not good at all of those things.

And you know what else?

I don’t have time for all those things.

I bet that is true for you, too.  Yet, those things are absolutely necessary if we want this God-dream of ours to take root and grow. Just like the growth of a healthy plant will be stunted if it is contained in a too-small pot, so will the growth of our ministries be limited by our own capacity if we try to do everything ourselves.

And when growth is limited, we get frustrated and tempted to just give up.

Let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.   Galations 6:9 (NLT)

Don’t you love that promise?  AT JUST THE RIGHT TIME … right when we are frustrated, right when we are exhausted, right when we need help, God is going to bless us!

But how do you decide what you can delegate to someone else? And more importantly, who are you going to give it to?  One cost-effective option is to hire a virtual assistant.

I’ve done some VA work myself, and realized that is not my true passion.  Just because I am capable of doing it doesn’t mean it is the best use of my time.  So I have started working with a couple of VA’s to help with some of the routine work of maintaining an online presence. And you know what? Those tasks that make me break out in hives every time I think about them?  My VA’s LOVE doing them!  They are smart, skilled and way more efficient than I am.

Here are some things you can delegate to a VA.

Blog Post Maintenance and Set-Up

For those who are called to write, creating the post content is the easy part.  Usually, once you type the last word, you are already thinking about the next post.

Except the last word of writing is only the beginning of posting.

Your VA could load your written post in your blogging platform, add the formatting for headings, quotes and highlights, add “click to tweets”, put the graphics in, add links for Bible verses and other references, check the SEO and schedule it to post.  WHEW!!  That’s a lot off of your plate!

Manage Your Editorial Calendar

This is really helpful if you are doing a lot of guest posting or hosting a guest post series on your blog.  It’s one thing to remember that you need to write a post for your own blog every Thursday, but throw in monthly posts for a couple of collaborative sites, lining up guest posters for your series, and keeping up with other obligations and your time gets taken up quickly.  Your VA can keep your calendar up to date, communicate with your guest bloggers on deadlines and guidelines, and help you keep the right balance in your schedule.

Create Graphics

Unless you are a true graphic designer, most of us have a love/hate relationship with creating graphics.  It’s fun to play around with PicMonkey and Canva to come up with just the right image for our post.  But it’s also a huge huge time suck.  If you have developed templates and specific branding elements (colors, fonts, etc.) you can package all that up and hand it off to a VA to create the graphics for you.

Social Media

Without a doubt, this is the area where most of my clients want help. A VA who specializes in social media management is worth her weight in gold!  I do think it is important that much of your social media interaction be original and authentic, so consider continuing to do the comments and replies yourself.  But a VA could curate content from others in your niche for you to promote, schedule routine promotions for your own posts and keep your social media feeds full.

Another great task for your VA is to go back to your old posts and mine them for great quotes, create graphics for them and promote these older posts on your social media.  It’s an effective way to expose your new followers to your old content.

Accounting

If you have a non-profit associated with your ministry, you probably need an accountant or bookkeeper who specializes in non-profits.  But just for routine stuff, your VA can help you get a handle on your finances. I recently had my VA go through my PayPal transactions and make a list of all the different services and tools I am paying for.  It was eye-opening … those little $5 and $10 monthly fees add up fast! Let’s just say I am no longer paying for all of those things and my VA earned her fee that day!

One unexpected by-product of working with a VA is it has forced me to plan ahead. I need to give her time to do her best work and make us both look good.  So not only has it given me more time to do what I do best, it’s taken the pressure off waiting til the last minute to finish things.

Getting a VA up to speed can take a bit of work, but it is an investment in time and money that will greatly expand your capacity to grow your online ministry.

Are you working with a VA now?  What are some of the things you are handing off? Or what would you LOVE to have someone else do for you?

If you are a VA who provides some of these services, give yourself a shout-out in the comments and help people find you!

RESOURCES

Check out this two-part series on finding and hiring the right person to help you grow


Tired from trying to share your God-inspired message while working your full time job?

Do you wonder if it’s worth it, or even possible, to build a ministry or business on the side?

I have good news for you. It is possible. It is worth it. You can do it.

That’s why I’m glad to share with you the four-part Honor System, to help you honor all the work God has given you to do. These are the hard-earned lessons I’ve taken away from chasing after my dreams and maintaining the career that supports my family.

Grab it here!

28 thoughts on “5 Things A Virtual Assistant Can Do For Your Online Ministry”

  1. Fascinating information, Christa … yep, the whole social media thing could sap all our time and energy … and for those of us who are not technically savvy, make us crazy in the process!

    ;-}

    Reply
  2. This is a wonderful idea! Those things are such time drainers that it really became hard to handle with everything else going on as well. Thanks for the tip and I hope some good VA’s respond in the comments. I would like to know what ballpark to expect to pay for a VA too.
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • I hope so too, Shelly! I think you can expect in the range of $15 – $25 per hour for general VA services. The higher end for specialized skills like social media management or graphic design

      Reply
  3. Love this article Christa, I struggle so much with handing over some of the things I do…but I so know it’s what I need to get better at doing.

    Love all these suggestions and will be looking at ways I can start doing some of them! 🙂

    Reply
    • BethAnn, you are SUCH a gifted communicator and teacher of God’s Word. Let someone else do the other stuff! Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should!

      Reply
  4. So…since you’ve already mentioned this to me, it’s like you wrote this post for me too?!! Thanks for the details, will try to get this off the to do list soon!

    Reply
  5. I would Love to help Christian bloggers with their blog post maintenance and set up! I do this each week for my own blog and doing the right things consistently has increased my traffic a ton! (www.BetterThanNewlyweds.com)

    I want to see Christians blogging better! We have the good news of Christ and we need to share it with the world. Knowing how to get it online is one thing. Knowing what you need to do to be SEEN online is another. I am one of the VA’s Christa is talking about who loves to do all the geeky things. I would love to hear from you and see if we would be a good fit. Please feel free to email me at ChristiansBloggingBetter@gmail.com or visit http://www.ChristiansBloggingBetter.com …there is also a facebook group – Christians Blogging Better!

    Thanks for the chance to share Christa! I always enjoy reading your posts!!! Thank you for all you do!

    Reply
    • Happy to do it! It would be awesome if you share the post on your social media as an example of what you could do for people. Thanks!!

      Reply
  6. Christa – you know your stuff and share it in easy-to-process portions!

    If you need a new or revamped WordPress site, I’d love to help. Or if you’ve got a two or three tech-related projects that you keep putting off, I can get them done. You can find my site at http://www.WPTechCafe.com and also join my Facebook group with the same name, WP Tech Cafe.

    Reply
    • LOVE Merri’s work! She specializes in Christian blogs and small businesses. She is amazing at helping you find free tools to stretch your tech dollars. Honestly …. she’ll find you so much you can use for free that she just about pays for herself!

      Reply
  7. Hello Christa,

    Thanks for allowing this opportunity for VA’s to promote their services. I have years of bookkeeping experience and administrative experience (I.e. Editorial calendar management, newsletter maintenance, ghost writing blog posts). I would love to help anyone in need.

    Reply
  8. I love this! I started my Virtual Assistant journey in February 2016. I currently have 1 ongoing client and was wondering how I could find a few more ongoing clients who were Christians. I have been working in infusionsoft (templates and email broadcasts), social media management, e-mail customer service, image and meme creationand general transcription.
    I think as hard as it is for someone to find a Christian VA, it is just as hard for a VA to find Christian clients.

    Reply

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