Offshore virtual assistant services can help you generate fresh leads and qualify cold contacts.  Here are some ways your company can take advantage.

Let's face it.  Generating traffic and converting leads is a time consuming practice.  Outsourcing some basic practices to a third party company can help you convert increasing traffic, while leaving you with time to focus on what you do best.  Here is a step by step approach to outsourcing some of the time consuming processes involved in generating and converting web leads.  

Content Writing

Content is still king when it comes to driving traffic to your website.  Outsourcing content creation can provide your website with fresh and unique content on a steady basis.  Before selecting a company or writer, ask to see samples of their work.  Once you have found a provider you like, ask if you can begin with a short trial of about 5-10 articles.  Provide a writing assignment with parameters based upon what you need for your site.  Depending on the results, you can either unleash your assistant to begin cranking out content for your site directly, or you can take the role of editor and modify the articles prior to publishing.

Link Building

Offshore virtual assistants can help you identify and develop external linking opportunities.  Whether your aim is to get listed in directories or earn editorial links, a virtual assistant can help you increase the number of quality external links pointing to your site.  While most webmasters feel that auto-generated directory entries have gone by the wayside, many feel that there is still value in human-edited directory placements.  Be sure you are on the same page with your assistant, as it is important to communicate what types of links you seek.  You probably don't want an assistant who thinks that blog spam constitutes SEO best practices.  Communicate your link building strategy to your assistant and let them take this tedious process off of your hands.

Live Chat

Generating traffic isn't going to be your ultimate goal.  The end game is to turn that traffic into qualified leads.  Live chat support is an increasingly popular way for e-commerce websites to capture user attention and convert visitors into sales.  Many offshore call centers can provide virtual customer service representatives 24/7 at a very low cost.  There are abundant chat software options available.  You may want to ask the company you select if there is a particular service they prefer.

Lead Qualification

The level of lead qualification you need will depend on the volume of traffic your site receives.  If your website attracts thousands of daily unique visitors, dealing with the leads can be unwieldy.  Most outsourcing companies offer a diverse set of services that can include both inbound and outbound telemarketing and customer service.  If you are finding that most of your leads are of low quality, or that those who submit leads aren't particularly interested, it might be wise to see if your outsourcing company can help you qualify leads.

In today's "flat" world, it is very common that one company can provide each of these services.  If you choose to outsource these services, try to negotiate a package deal that will help.  Many companies that are new to outsourcing make the mistake of thinking that their work is done once they sign the contract.  To achieve superior results, I highly recommend active involvement in the process.  Once you have outlined and communicated your goals to your provider, you should be well on your way to getting your website generating and converting leads like you never have before.