FAQs
Hiring help for your business can be a daunting prospect, and you’re likely to have many questions – hopefully the answers to some of the main ones are here for you.
If you have any further queries, please get in touch or book in for a chat
Virtual Assistance
A Virtual Assistant, or VA, is an independent service provider who assists in your business processes – usually undertaking administrative or secretarial tasks. A VA will work from their own space, completely remotely they could be working on your accounts from Lands End whilst you are in Aberdeen. You can employ a VA on a day to day or ad hoc basis, depending on your particular needs and requirements. Most importantly, a VA is there to make your business run more smoothly, you delegate the tasks and they are completed for you in a timely manner to a highly professional standard.
The answer is simple – to save you time. As a business owner you will be conscious of all the aspects of the running of your business, as well as ensuring you make time for yourself. Working with a VA allows you to delegate those boring or annoying tasks, giving you the time and freedom to work on the more important tasks that you enjoy.
Any business in any stage of their journey can work with a VA.
This depends on the VA company you work with, but at Virtual Bird, you can hire for as little or as long as you require. There are no minimum tie in terms – if you wish to use Virtual Bird services for just an hour, you may, or you can use our services for larger tasks or even ongoing projects – just get in touch!
Not at all. Because you use a VA on your terms – as often or as little as you need – you are not tied into an employment contract. A Virtual Bird VA is excellent value for money as you only pay for the hours worked, and they are also responsible for their own tax, insurance, and everything else you would provide for an employee – including holidays; sick pay; maternity leave; etc.
This depends on the VA company you use, however, Virtual Bird has a team of VAs who will turn our hand to anything admin related.?
Our ethos demands that if we are not entirely certain we cannot complete your request to our exacting standards, we will not take the work, but strive to recommend a reputable business who can.
For a fuller, but by no means comprehensive list of services offered by Virtual Bird, please click here.
This depends on the VA company you use, however, at Virtual Bird the hourly rate is £35, with discounts for longer projects or bulk bookings. Prices for various packages such as the Social Media Package or Website Design Package vary.
Not at all. Virtual Bird works with a variety of different businesses and professionals.
You are more than welcome to check out the testimonials page to see our client feedback. Virtual Bird clients can be independently contacted to verify their reviews if you would like to do this, however, replies are not guaranteed.
However is convenient for you. Most Virtual Bird clients choose to use Google Drive or Dropbox, but I’m happy to use the method you are comfortable with. Any files held on my systems are processed in accordance with the Virtual Bird privacy policy.
Absolutely! Just ask when you get in touch.
This depends largely on the kind of work you have hired Virtual Bird for – Invoices can be sent on an ad-hoc, weekly or monthly basis. You can pay using either PayPal or Bank Transfer. In both instances you will be provided with a full professional invoice and receipt. Feel free to get in touch for further information. Full payment terms can be found by visiting the terms and conditions.
Yes, of course! Working hours may be different depending on your time zone, but there have been many successful collaborations with overseas clients over the years.
Availability varies weekly, so please enquire as soon as possible, including the urgency of your task so availability in the schedule can be made for you.
Website Design
That varies depending on your requirements. A simple “brochure” or “portfolio” site will be cheaper than a fully fledged e-commerce shop. If you want a web presence there is usually a solution for every budget so do get in touch.
That varies depending on your requirements. A simple “brochure” or “portfolio” site will be cheaper than a fully fledged e-commerce shop. If you want a web presence there is usually a solution for every budget so do get in touch.
I only build on WordPress, every web designer will have their preferred way of doing things. WordPress is mine. I like the flexibility, the accessibility, the room for growth and the customisability of it. I find builders like Wix or Shopify very limited in terms of customisation as you are at the mercy of their system. Wix, Shopify and similar have their place in the market and are great for DIY builders, getting yourself a web presence at a very limited cost (although the add ons can soon stack up). I believe you’re better off starting with a system you can grow with, but equally I know that’s not the answer for everyone. It’s absolutely possible for you to DIY on WordPress, there’s just a steeper learning curve due to the level of customisation you can have!
If you’re working with WordPress, you “self host” it, rather than it being connected to the servers of the builder (like Shopify, Wix etc.). The hosting is where the website lives. I prefer Siteground because it’s easy to use, includes CDN, email and SSL, as well as being a solid option for speed and budget. There are lots of different options which will be discussed if you decide to go ahead.
Yes! Some companies offer to build and host for you, or offer to build the website for free if you go with their hosting, I don’t. You are in complete control and you own everything. You will not be tied to me in anyway.
You should think of your website as a living document, it should be updated with new products or information regularly. This makes Google like it and see it as relevant, it’s also more interesting for your customers. Additionally, a WordPress website needs the themes and plugins updating on a regular basis to ensure the security of the website. This isn’t as scary as it sounds, promise! Upon completion of your website I will teach you or I offer maintenance plans if you just want the total hands off approach.
For the most part, the answer is yes. However, we can work together to make that as seamless as possible. I can help you with sourcing images and what type of content is needed. I ask clients to provide it so the website is authentic to them and their brand voice rather than having my voice.
Nope, it’s all me. No agency in sight, you’re stuck with me!
Lots of web designers have packages based on pages, I don’t. All my quotes are bespoke depending on your requirements, so you can have 543 pages if you want, there’s no technical limitations (I wouldn’t recommend it though!)
Generally, yes. If it’s with WordPress, no problem. Sometimes websites have been neglected and it can sometimes be cheaper and quicker to just rebuild from scratch but lots of the time the site can just be bought up to modern standards.
It’s not possible to “transfer” per say but I can rebuild it almost like for like in most cases on WordPress.
We can discuss this when you get in touch, most businesses would benefit from a website but it’s not always right for everyone at that moment in time. Sometimes your funds would be better invested in different aspects of your business and that’s totally fine.
If you have a question not answered here, please get in touch and I’ll be happy to answer.