Wow, there seems to be so much training available these days if you are a Virtual Assistant. Sometimes it is hard to know what to take first!

I have to share with you that the best training that I have ever received has been from VA Classroom.  Craig Cannings puts together the most content rich training out there and the price is great too. I have obtained my certifications in Social Media & Internet Marketing from VA Classroom.

In a few weeks VA Classroom will be offering their Summer Skills Camp 2011.

There will be eight 90 minute modules on the following content:

• SESSION #1 (Tuesday, July 5th) – Success Strategies for Creating a Social Media Monitoring System for any Type of Client.
  
• SESSION #2 (Thursday, July 7th) – Creating and Promoting a Compelling Facebook Contest.
• SESSION #3 (Tuesday, July 12th) – Tips and Tactics for Building an Effective Social Media Measurement System for Your Clients.
• SESSION #4 (Thursday, July 14th) – Discover the Fine Art of Setting Rates and Building Packages for Your Services.
• SESSION #5 (Tuesday, July 19th) – Creating an Effective Mobile Marketing Campaign for Local Businesses
• SESSION #6 (Thursday, July 21st) – Success Strategies for Building a Product Launch Campaign with 1ShoppingCart.com.
• SESSION #7 (Tuesday, July 26th) – Discover New Tactics for Igniting Your Search Engine Results for Your Target Keywords.
• SESSION #8 (Thursday, July 28th) – Build Business, Maxmize Productivity and Enhance Communications Using Google Tools

There is an Early Bird Registration Special, if you enroll by June 28th you will receive a $100 Discount on Summer Skill Camp 2011!  There is even a special bundle offer on their payment page where you can get the 2010 Summer Camp Skills courses as well for an additional $100.

Check out this cool video that Craig put together about what you can expect the training center too look like.

So what are you waiting for?  You know you need to sharpen up a few skills, I know that I need to learn more about Mobile Marketing.  This course will only take a few weeks so jump on over to VA Classroom today and learn more about the Summer Skills Camp!

Have you heard about Infusionsoft yet?  If not, you soon will be hearing about it a lot.  Many clients that I have are making the BIG SWITCH from their clunky shopping cart systems in favor of Infusionsoft.  If you have no idea what Infusionsoft is, check them out here – http://www.infusionsoft.com/features

When I first started using Infusionsoft there were no training programs available to VA’s.  The only training that was offered was from Infusionsoft through their boring videos.

Now, the good news if you are looking to learn all about Infusionsoft you have someone to turn to for your training.

Sharon Broughton, The Techie VA is hosting a training class starting on June 7, 2011.  So you will want to hurry and reserve your spot in the class.

In addition to paying in full, Sharon is also offering 2 payment plans which makes the whole training very affordable.  Just think how much you can increase your rates once you start offering Infusionsoft to your clients or if you are a Subcontractor just imagine how ‘in-demand’ your skills will be once you learn this training.

Speaking of being a Subcontractor I am looking to add more people to my team who know Infusionsoft.  If you take Sharon’s program send me an email at dawn@sunrisevirtualservices so we can chat and see if you would be a good fit for the team.

I attended Erin Blaskie’s Blog Design Bootcamp last year and I am still utilizing the skills I learned in her class with my clients and I built this site shortly after attending her class.  Erin’s teaching techniques make learning blog design easy because she shares her desktop screen and is on the phone with the students.

She takes the time to answer questions in a way that make it easy to understand. Purchasing a seat in her class was the best investment I made in my business.  She is once again offering this fantastic class live from February 1-8, 2010 — 7-9PM EST. The Blog Design Bootcamp is an intense 10-hour course of webinar / virtual training.

Here are some of the topics she will be covering, see the full list on Erin’s event site.

Understanding the Basics
* Installing the blog platform with the one-click install feature
* Using an FTP client to upload files – themes, plug-ins, etc.

Customizing a Theme — Part I
* Working with the CSS to make changes to colors, etc.
* Setting up Google Analytics on the blog from day one

Customizing a Theme — Part II
* Working with sidebar widgets
* Looking at more advanced plug-ins. (Sociable, WP-Video, Technorati Tags, etc.)
* Working with external services ie: Feedburner

Other House-Keeping Functions
* Creating and managing pages
* Creating and managing posts
* Setting up permissions / privacy / allowances for the blog

How to Deliver Blog Design to Your Clients
* How to charge for your blog design
* Setting boundaries – how to draw the line at the number of on-going changes to the blog design

If you are in need of creating a website or blog for your business or your clients then this is the class that you need to invest your money in.  I highly recommend Erin’s classes, she is very knowledgeable and a great teacher.  To sign up for the course you can visit Erin’s event site or email me at dawn@SunriseVirtualServices.com if you have any questions about her class.

Do you want to learn how to create a WordPress Blog site that looks like mine?  Almost a year ago I took an awesome class offered online by Erin Blaskie.  I learned so much from Erin that I have gone on to create two WordPress sites for my self and helped countless of other clients create and update their blog sites as well.

She will teach you how to install, setup and customize the blog as well as show you how to use it for yourself and for your clients.

The training is a 10 hour, 5 day program which takes place June 22 – 26 from 5-7pm Eastern Standard Time.

The cost of this program is $197 and you’ll have full access to high quality video and audio recordings for safekeeping (or if you need to miss any classes).  This is a great resource as I have even gone back to refer to her lessons from time to time.

Register for the class or learn more about Erin Blaskie, she’s fabulous.

Here’s what you will learn:

Class #1 – Understanding the Basics (2 Hours)

* What is a blog?
* Installing the blog platform with the one-click install feature
* Using an FTP client to upload files – themes, plug-ins, etc.
* Choosing and installing a theme
* General overview of the dashboard – all the features, settings, etc.
* The basic plug-ins that come pre-installed with WordPress and how to set them up

Class #2 – Customizing a Theme — Part I (2 Hours)

* Understanding the different design files inside of the Design — Theme Editor
* Working with the CSS to make changes to colors, etc.
* Setting up Google Analytics on the blog from day one
* Looking at the settings and users menus

Class #3 – Customizing a Theme — Part II (2 Hours)

* Creating a custom header for your blog
* Changing out some of the base graphics that come with the theme.
* Working with sidebar widgets
* Looking at more advanced plug-ins. (Sociable, WP-Video, Technorati Tags, etc.)
* Working with external services ie: Feedburner

Class #4 – Other House-Keeping Functions (2 Hours)

* Creating and managing categories
* Creating and managing pages
* Creating and managing posts
* Setting up permissions / privacy / allowances for the blog
* Using e-mail to blog
* Backing up the blog

Class #5 – How to Deliver Blog Design to Your Clients (2 Hours)

* How to listen to their needs and honor their vision
* How to work with a design brief (your blog design blueprint)
* How to charge for your blog design
* Setting boundaries – how to draw the line at the number of on-going changes to the blog design

[tags] Erin Blaskie, BSETC, Blog Design Bootcamp, Dawn Cullo, Sunrise Virtual Services [/tags]