Tracking Business Metrics: How a Virtual Assistant Can Help You Stay on Top of Your Data

by Bethany Hogan | Apr 1, 2025 | Blog, Delegating, Entrepreneur, Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Virtual Assisting

Feel Like You’re Drowning in Data? Here’s How to Actually Use It to Grow Your Business.

If you’ve ever stared at a spreadsheet full of numbers and thought, “Cool… but what does this actually mean?” — you’re not alone.

As an online business owner, you already know that tracking business metrics is important. But knowing which numbers matter, how to analyze them, and what to do with that info? That’s where it can get overwhelming fast.

And let’s be real: You didn’t build your business so you could spend hours poring over reports, right?

Here’s the good news: You don’t have to. A skilled virtual assistant (VA) can help you keep your finger on the pulse of your business—without the headache of doing it all yourself.

Why Tracking Business Metrics Actually Matters

Think of your metrics as your business’s pulse. They tell you what’s working, what’s flopping, and where you’re leaving money on the table. But only if you’re paying attention.

By regularly tracking and reviewing your numbers, you can:

✅ Make smarter decisions based on actual data (not gut feelings).
✅ Spot trends early so you can capitalize on them.
✅ Cut the fluff and double down on what’s working.
✅ Catch potential problems before they become costly.

The problem? Many entrepreneurs get caught up in client work, team management, launches—you name it—and push data tracking to the bottom of the to-do list.

That’s where things can quietly go off track.

What Business Metrics Should You Be Tracking?

It depends on your goals, but here are some key areas where a virtual assistant can make a huge impact:

1. Email Marketing Performance

📩 Open Rate – Are people actually reading your emails? (Yes this metric still matters – it helps you monitor for consistency)
📩 Click-Through Rate (CTR) – Are they taking action?
📩 Unsubscribe Rate – Are you keeping your list engaged?

2. Social Media Insights

📊 Engagement Rate – Are followers commenting, liking, and sharing?
📊 Follower Growth – Is your community growing steadily?
📊 Reach & Impressions – How many eyeballs are on your content?

3. Website & Sales Metrics

💻 Page Views & Bounce Rate – Are visitors sticking around?
💻 Conversion Rate – Are visitors taking the next step (like buying or booking)?
💻 Lead Generation & Revenue – Are your efforts actually boosting your bottom line?

Tracking these consistently lets you refine your strategy, spend smarter, and grow faster.

So, How Can a Virtual Assistant Help With All This?

A VA with experience in business analytics can be your behind-the-scenes data detective. They can:

✅ Keep tabs on your KPIs so nothing slips through the cracks.
✅ Spot patterns in the data and flag opportunities or red flags.
✅ Help you pivot quickly when something’s not working.
✅ Create simple dashboards and reports that tell you what you need to know at a glance.

Basically, they help you make decisions faster—and with way more confidence.

How Often Should You Be Looking at Your Metrics?

A good rule of thumb: check in at least monthly. But for fast-moving areas like paid ads, lead gen, or launch campaigns? You’ll want eyes on those weekly (or even daily).

A virtual assistant can automate reporting and tracking so you’re always in the loop—without having to manually pull numbers every time.

Final Thoughts: Let Your Data Do the Heavy Lifting

Here’s the truth: If you’re not tracking business metrics, you’re running your business blindfolded. But the solution doesn’t have to be time-consuming or complicated.

With the right virtual assistant on your team, you can turn your data into powerful insights—and use it to scale smarter, not harder.

💡 Ready to stop guessing and start growing? Hire a virtual assistant who knows their way around your metrics, and finally make your data work for you—not against you.

7 Virtual Assistant Services Every Online Business Owner Should Know About

by Bethany Hogan | Apr 1, 2025 | Blog, Customer Service, Delegating, Entrepreneur, Infusionsoft, Marketing, Product Launch, SEO, Social Media, Virtual Assisting

If you’re running an online business, there comes a point where doing everything yourself just isn’t sustainable. That’s where virtual assistant services become a game-changer.

At Smart to Finish, we specialize in helping entrepreneurs like you streamline operations, simplify systems, and scale with confidence, without adding more to your plate.

Here are 7 of the most essential virtual assistant services for online businesses that can help you stay focused, profitable, and in your zone of genius.

1. Launch Support That Covers Every Detail

Planning a launch? It doesn’t have to take over your life.

From timelines to tech to follow-up sequences, our virtual assistant services help online businesses manage the moving pieces of a launch—so you can show up and sell without the chaos.

🟡 Launches are revenue drivers. But without the right support, they can derail your entire schedule and stress level. This service keeps your energy where it belongs—on selling, not scrambling.

➡️ So you can have a smooth, strategic launch, without the last-minute chaos.

2. CRM + Automation Support That Just Works

Using tools like Infusionsoft, Ontraport, ActiveCampaign, or another CRM?

Our virtual assistant services include CRM setup, automation, segmentation, and tagging—so your systems actually save you time instead of causing tech stress.

🟡 Without optimized systems, you’re leaking time, leads, and revenue. We make sure your automations are doing their job—so you don’t have to manually do everything yourself.

➡️ Your business should run like a well-oiled machine—behind the scenes.

3. Executive Assistant Support That Feels Seamless

You don’t need to be glued to your inbox or calendar.

Our executive virtual assistants help online business owners manage schedules, emails, and admin tasks, making sure everything runs smoothly—and nothing slips through the cracks.

🟡 Admin overload kills creativity. This service clears the mental clutter so you can lead with clarity and confidence.

➡️ Stay organized, responsive, and in control—without doing it all yourself.

4. Graphic Design That Elevates Your Brand

Strong visuals = stronger engagement.

Our graphic design services help online businesses create polished, on-brand graphics for lead magnets, sales pages, promos, and social media—without needing to hire a full-time designer.

🟡 First impressions count. Good design instantly builds trust—and poor design costs you credibility and clicks.

➡️ Look professional, stay consistent, and capture attention.

5. Marketing Support That Moves the Needle

Need help keeping up with your content calendar, campaigns, or promos?

Smart to Finish offers marketing-focused virtual assistant services that help you plan and execute your strategy—so your brand stays visible and profitable.

🟡 Consistency drives conversions. If your marketing is stop-and-go, so is your revenue. We keep things moving even when you’re in CEO mode.

➡️ Your marketing momentum doesn’t have to depend on you doing it all.

6. Content Creation That’s SEO-Smart and On-Brand

Blogs and social content are powerful—but only if they’re consistent and strategic.

We create blog posts and social media copy that’s not only engaging but also optimized for SEO, helping your online business get found by the right people at the right time.

🟡 Visibility equals growth. SEO-optimized content brings in organic traffic, boosts authority, and keeps your brand top-of-mind—without buying more ads.

➡️ Let your content work for you—on autopilot.

7. Email Marketing Compliance You Can Count On

Laws like GDPR and CAN-SPAM aren’t optional—and missing a step can be costly.

We help online business owners ensure their email systems, opt-ins, and unsubscribes stay compliant and aligned with best practices.

🟡 One misstep can land you on a blacklist—or worse, face legal consequences. We protect your reputation while helping you nurture your list the right way.

➡️ Build trust, stay legal, and keep your list healthy.

Bonus: White Label VA Services to Expand Your Capacity

Want to grow your client base without building a team from scratch?

Our white label virtual assistant services for online businesses help agencies and coaches expand their offerings behind the scenes—under your brand, with our support.

🟡 Scaling doesn’t have to mean hiring headaches. We give you the freedom to grow while keeping operations simple and sustainable.

➡️ Serve more clients without the stress of managing it all in-house.

Final Thoughts: The Right Virtual Assistant Services Change Everything

The right support team doesn’t just take things off your to-do list—it helps you scale smarter and more sustainably. At Smart to Finish, our virtual assistant services for online businesses are designed to meet you where you are and grow with you.

Let’s build the backend of your business so you can step fully into the front.

Ready to delegate with confidence? Let’s talk about which services will have the biggest impact on your business right now.

Are You Finally Fed Up Enough to Hire a Business Virtual Assistant?

by Amber Miller | Mar 18, 2021 | Blog, Virtual Assisting

Have you recently considered hiring a business virtual assistant because you’re “fed up” with falling behind on tasks each day? Although feeling fed up is one of the worst feelings ever, it’s also a meaningful way we grow as people and in our businesses. How so?

There’s a saying that goes something like this:

“We don’t change until the pain of not changing becomes greater than the pain of changing.”

Considering and implementing significant changes in your business can be incredibly exhausting and even painful. So much so that it’s easy to stay locked into the normal day-to-day operations without following through on decisions that could improve your company’s long-term performance. But staying where you are in your business can become even more painful.

One day, you just become too tired of being too tired. You reach the end of your rope and can’t take it anymore. You pick up the phone or write an email. You need help with delegating ASAP and so you go for it.

What are some common indicators that you’re on the verge of being fed up and that it could be time to reach out to a virtual assistant agency? Here are some good indicators.

A Lack of Passion for Your Business

You’ve gotten to the point where you consistently feel unhappy when engaged at your company. At times, your lack of excitement nags at you. This business is your dream come to fruition. Your passion and vision propelled you to the place you are now. Without that energy, nothing would’ve ever happened.

But now, you find yourself feeling drained of that vital energy and passion. You wonder how to get back to the time you felt more fully alive as an entrepreneur instead of the opposite. If this is how you’ve felt lately, this is one of the many potential indicators that it could be time to hire a virtual office assistant, virtual team or online business manager.

You Feel Burned Out

Burnout as an entrepreneur can be devastating but doesn’t have to stay that way. You can improve or prevent burnout by making strategic decisions today. Some of the most critical choices involve delegating so you can heal.

Virtual assistant services are a great way to gain quick relief from perpetually feeling stressed out and being unable to meet your daily business needs.

You Can’t Find the “Off Switch”

You became an entrepreneur to own a business and make a difference in the world. But somewhere along the way, that business started owning you, and it became increasingly difficult to notice the positive difference you set out to make.

If you were honest, you feel negatively controlled by your entrepreneurial pursuits, and you resent it. Even when you aren’t “at work,” you find it challenging to unwind with your family and friends. Your hobbies and extracurricular activities have gone down the drain too.

During the rare moments you get away, you think about everything you need to get done. Even your sleep is regularly disrupted. Too often, you lie awake fretting about your business instead of feeling energized by it. It’s like you can no longer find the “off switch,” and you don’t know what to do to make things better. If that’s how you’ve felt lately, a remote office assistant can help you to begin feeling more like yourself again.

You Have More Money than Time

A good indicator that you’re fed up enough to need an online virtual assistant is you have money but struggle to find time for the aspects of life that matter most. You increasingly realize without more time, your life slips by without the kind of positive impact you wanted.

Financial success at the expense of adequate time is definitely a good indicator that it’s time to put aside feeling fed up and hire a VA. But there are also times when hiring a virtual assistant makes sense, even if it hasn’t exactly been a bumper year.

People Are Starting to Notice

In his Inc.com article entitled What Nobody Tells You About Being an Entrepreneur, Lolly Daskal shares the following:

“In the popular imagination, entrepreneurship is just about having an idea. But successful businesses–even those with just a single employee–have great leadership. And the best leaders know, above all, how to manage themselves.”

A critical aspect of learning to manage yourself better as an entrepreneur involves delegating. When you feel overloaded in your tasks for too long, it puts a lot of strain on other people too. Your staff, clients and customers pick up on that stress after a while. And, yes, that can eventually affect your bottom line. But more importantly, it likely goes against your values. Ultimately, if your business doesn’t positively impact people, what’s the point?

Hiring a virtual business assistant means less pressure on everyone you interact with. That way, you build more than a company. You grow a legacy of treating others how you would want to be treated while also accomplishing some big-time goals.

Is It Time to Hire a Business Virtual Assistant?

At Smart to Finish, we can create an individualized plan that provides the best virtual assistant services for your company. We help with a wide variety of virtual assistant tasks, whether you need a virtual marketing assistant, product launch support or much more.

Maybe you set some business goals for 2021, but now you’re lagging behind. There’s still plenty of time left to improve your results. If you’d like to learn more about how to find a VA for your business, please get in touch with us. You can schedule a free 30-minute consultation with us at your convenience.

Why You Should Hire a Virtual Assistant for Customer Support

by Amber Miller | Jun 16, 2020 | Blog, Marketing, Virtual Assisting

If you were to revamp the customer support of your business, what kind of difference would that make? Over time, you could drastically improve your company’s reputation while growing your loyal customer base.

But the biggest question for plenty of business owners and managers is how to improve their customer support. When it comes to developing a customer service strategy or customer support game plan, that could involve hiring a customer service virtual assistant.

Yes, some virtual assistants provide good customer care to businesses similar to yours. This comes as a surprise to some companies that are prone to think of VAs only doing ‘generic’ administrative or office tasks.

True, these are valuable jobs to consider hiring a virtual assistant to help with, but there are plenty of other tasks to consider outsourcing too. Customer support is one of those tasks businesses tend to overlook when considering help from a virtual assistant.

Why should you consider hiring a virtual assistant to help with your customer support needs? Here are some reasons to consider.

Some Virtual Assistants Have a Passion and Gift for Customer Support

Virtual assistants gifted in and passionate about customer support can regularly look past its inherent challenges. They ultimately know their work is about offering satisfying solutions to you so your customers will be impressed. They find it fulfilling to bring powerful solutions to your customers. After all, helping customers is what it’s all about.

Some virtual assistants have a wealth of customer support experience they can draw from to help you to regularly ‘wow’ your customers. And their passion to consistently impress your customers will provide you with an expert right out of the gate.

You Can Hire a VA as Your Customer Support Strategy Develops

Your customer support strategy will constantly change to better serve those who need your product or services. But sometimes you may be unsure of where to start an effective strategy or how to bolster an already existing one.

That’s where hiring a virtual assistant can make a big difference. You get on-demand help so that your customers are thoroughly happy and keep coming back for your services or products. No more feeling paralyzed about your customer support or customer service plan. Your virtual assistant will be there to help you continually improve and adapt.

In the future, you may choose to bring on a virtual assistant as an ongoing part of your customer support strategy. You also may only need these services during a specific growth process. Either way, you’ll be ready to provide the kind of support your customers need and value.

A Customer Service Virtual Assistant Provides Versatility

Because virtual assistants are constantly immersed in the business world, the best virtual assistant will be able to provide a variety of customer support tasks.

That could involve responding to social media posts or online reviews. It also may include educating your customers about your products or services either online or over the phone. It could involve providing customer service when things don’t go as planned too.

And these days, more than ever, time is of the essence. With so many product and service options out there, a quick response can be the difference between gaining a new customer or losing one.

In her “Inc.” article entitled Virtual Assistants are the Best-Kept Secret of Modern Productivity, Diane Gottsman shares the following:

“It’s a 24/7 world, and in business, two of the most time-sensitive tasks are responding to customer communications and handling your social media presence. It’s critical to devote the resources necessary to stay on top of both.”

A Virtual Assistant Can Operate as Your Customer Support Manager

Maybe you have a larger business and on-staff customer service or support representatives. If so, what you may need most is someone to oversee your customer support team. In that case, a virtual customer support manager could make the most sense.

That way, you’ll have quick help to organize your team, ensuring everyone works towards their peak performance. This virtual manager or online business manager option is all the more necessary in these days of the pandemic.

Smart to Finish Can Improve Customer Support at Your Company

Would you like to learn more about how Smart to Finish can strengthen your customer service plan? If so, feel free to reach out to us for a free 30-minute consultation.

Whether you need a virtual assistant, a virtual team or online manager, our team can help your business reach its fullest potential.

SEO Marketing for Businesses: Optimizing Your Blog Articles

by Amber Miller | Apr 23, 2019 | SEO, Virtual Assisting

Interested in how to make SEO marketing more intentional in your blog posts? If so, you’re probably already sold on the fact that words by themselves aren’t enough (although they’re certainly important).

You have a valuable service or product that’ll help oodles of people. Now, what you need to make sure of is that they’ll actually find you. One of the best ways to get noticed is through organic search results. It’s not salesy yet screams credibility to potential clients and customers.

If you want your website to show up better in the search results, here are some key ways to do that by tweaking your blog posts.

Focus on Great Writing for Search Engine Marketing

SEO marketing has to start with high-quality writing. The “wild west” days of the internet are long gone—the days you could simply slap some primitive keywords into a semi-legible article and rise to the top.

Google continues to grow more sophisticated and has gotten way better at telling great content from junk. Grammar, semantics and articles without excessive use of keywords all matter.

What this means is that, like all good things, you’ll need to invest consistent time and resources into your strategy to see results. Shoddy sentences and poor grammar just won’t cut it anymore.

Use Ingoing and Outgoing Links

An often-overlooked way to boost your credibility in the eyes of Google is to provide hyperlinks in your articles. There are two hyperlink types: internal and external ones.

Internal links connect to valuable resources on your website such as your “contact” or “about” pages. They also link to relevant blog posts or other content.

When it comes to outgoing links, some business owners worry that adding them will make people go elsewhere and not come back. In reality, it’s riskier not to have them.

Google wants to see that you’re directing visitors to both useful content on your website and the internet at large. This provides credibility and higher rankings.

Consider Going Long Form in Your Posts

What’s long-form content? Posts that typically run in the range of 1,000 to 3,000 words. To give you an idea of the word volume, that comes out to between four and 12 pages in a print book.

Why is long-form content such a powerful SEO tool? Because most articles aren’t that length for starters. Provided these articles are well written, they look more authoritative to Google which means they tend to rank higher.

Primary keyword density should generally run one to three percent of the entire article text. Much more than that and Google could penalize you for being too spammy with your keyword usage.

The beauty of long-form articles is they allow your keywords to appear more frequently, since there’s more text, without them looking questionable to Google. The added keywords long form provides can give you a “bump up”. People tend to prefer longform content these days as well.

Use Longtail Keywords to Improve SEO Marketing

Longtail keywords are keyword phrases as opposed to single-word keywords. For instance, if you want to market sandals to your customers, using the word “sandals” as a keyword won’t help you much since it’s too broad of a topic.

You’ll need something more specific that’s being searched for but that your analytics tell you isn’t too difficult to rank for. That may mean something like “springtime sandals for teens” or any number of other possibilities.

You’ll also want to pay special attention to question longtail keywords phrases. In other words, these are the exact questions people have been searching for online and can be a useful aspect of ranking well.

Like any good thing in life, achieving organic search results that bring in clients and customers takes a lot of time and effort. Thankfully, the end results are well worth it—plenty of credibility and business.

More than ever, web content that works needs to be of high quality with attention to SEO details mentioned here and many more.

Are you sold on the fact that you need consistent quality blog posts for your business? Good!

What is a Virtual Assistant and Can They Help with My Blog Posts?

In short, a virtual assistant can help you with a variety of office tasks regardless of where your business is located. And, yes, we can help with content writing services such as blog posts!

At Smart to Finish, we understand just how busy businesses can be. The tasks that need done can be dizzying and, if not completed, crippling. We specialize in taking that heavy weight off of you and your staff so you can focus on the big picture with minimal stress.

If you’d like help, you can find out more about our blog writing services, marketing management and other virtual assistance options by scheduling a free consultation.

Work-life Balance

by Amber Miller | Nov 6, 2018 | Blog, Business Development, Marketing, Virtual Assisting

“You will never feel truly satisfied by work until you are satisfied by life.” – Heather Schuck

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is a crucial element to both business success and personal happiness. For entrepreneurs, this is often easier said than done. Work time tends to spill over into personal time, and the line of separation between the two becomes blurred. Surprisingly, the key to managing both can often be boiled down into two simple words of advice…

Schedule it

As a successful business owner, you likely already plan out much of your work day in advance. Whether you maintain your own schedule or delegate projects to a virtual assistant (VA), the simple act of carving out time for necessary tasks sets you up for effective time management.

Although this seems so basic to essential business functioning, it is often lost when it comes to planning our personal lives. Grocery store trips, exercise, relaxation, or time away is not treated with the same level of priority (or may feel silly to schedule on a calendar).

We make the mistake of assuming we will find the time to handle these functions as they arise. For an already stretched-thin business owner, that time can be few and far between!

“You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.”

– Charles Buxton

Creating time

For personal health, family, fun and relaxation is essential for a healthy work/life balance. Regardless of its appeal, this notion can feel intimidating (or impossible) to an entrepreneur who is already bogged down with more than they feel they have time to manage. They may wonder “how can I commit to scheduling personal time, when I am short on work time the way it is? What about the spontaneous challenges that are bound to arise?”

If you find there are simply not enough hours in the day, perhaps it’s time to consider hiring an assistant.

“You can do anything, but not everything” – David Allen

As a business owner, giving up (some) control of the reigns can be the most difficult – and most profitable – decision you make. By allowing yourself to focus on your strengths, you can increase growth and profitability while delegating everything else to your VA. A quality virtual assistant or team of virtual assistants can handle anything from marketing and growing your business, social media, SEO, administrative tasks, customer service, accounting, website design, and more. While you maintain control over all executive decisions, your VA acts as your right hand: keeping everything running smoothly.

By freeing up space on your calendar and scheduling times to focus on personal health, relaxation and family commitments, you are able to keep a properly balanced life – offering your best self to your clients, business, colleagues.

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