Comments on: Ethical Quandary: Assistant, Blogging, and Logins

By: Amy Gahran

Amy Gahran — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:09:36 +0000

Thanks for the advice all, especially Janet. I’ll be talking to my client tomorrow, I’ll mention it then. But this will definitely be a thing to keep in mind with future client contracts!

- Amy Gahran

By: doug

doug — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 03:10:13 +0000

I would ditto what Janet suggests re: contracts and Amy’s suggestions re: emailing to advise that someone will be helping.

Best of luck!

By: Janet Attard

Janet Attard — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:30:23 +0000

All you really need to do is to specify in client contracts that you and your staff will have access to and work on their accounts.
If the client can easily set up a second login for your company, it would be useful to have a separate login for the assistant – that way you could see who did what, when, if necessary. But if your assistant is someone you know does a good job and you aren’t a micromanager, there would probably never be a need to see who was the last one to “touch” a page.

Just be sure that YOU have access to all passwords for assistants, so you could change them if you ever had to let an assistant go.

By: Lara, The Data Digger

Lara, The Data Digger — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:45:11 +0000

I would like to contribute to your conversation by sharing my thoughts about your concerns.
* Should I get the client’s permission beforehand before giving my assistant access to the blog back-end?
Yes. In my experience when people work on a team for a client, the client is told who is on the team, how to contact them and any other pertinent information. Full disclosure is in line with “it is better to be safe than sorry.”

* Should I ask the client to set up a separate login for my assistant, or just give my assistant access to my login for the blog?
This depends on your comfort level. After you obtain your client’s permission to have your assistant help with this project, inquire as to their preference for logging in.

* What questions or concerns are the blog owners likely to have about this, and how might I address them constructively?
Blog owners want to know their blog will remain consistent, updated according to their expectations and the process will remain seamless and in the background for them.
Assure them you will be thorough in your search for an assistant. Assure them you will be responsible for managing an assistant. In other words, you are your clients point of contact. You will disseminate information, assignments and establish deadlines for your assistant. Your client will remain your priority.

Assistants are team members who contribute positively to the project.

By: Amy Sample Ward

Amy Sample Ward — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:27:31 +0000

In a previous job situation, I was kind of what you are describing as an assistant. Instead of blogs, it was the sending out or management of email campaigns for clients. The way we handled it was that we sent an email to the client (to the person we normally communicated with, not the ceo or admin or whomever) and said, “here is amy, who is helping me with a lot of the work we do here, including some of the work on your projects. she will be managing some of the email campaign work as well. so, she will have access to *insert platform or tool* and will also serve as another contact if you have questions or need help.” so it was presented as a win win, i have access but am helping them and they now have two people to contact when they need something.

Good luck!