Several months ago, I had a long conversation with Chuck, one of my trusted advisors where I walked him through the VisiOlo prototype and asked for his advice on some key issues. He was helpful in many ways, but one of the most impactful suggestions was related to the blog and not the tool itself.
As he shared with me how he thought I ought to incorporate the blog, I realized that the advice he was giving me was the exact advice I have given to other people — it just took the ‘third party’ perspective for me to see how that advice could be applied to VisiOlo. At that time, the blog was kind of a secondary element of the site, with the VisiOlo tool taking front and center.
From Chuck’s perspective, he loved reading the blog posts because 1) he learned something and 2) many of the posts made him think about his business in a different, and more productive way. For him, it was the combination of helpful information related to a specific topic and the fact that VisiOlo is a tool that can only improve the implementation of the ideas that made the whole thing work.
So, from that turning point, the VisiOlo blog has now become a key element of the overall VisiOlo strategy and I’d like to share with you what you can expect, in terms of content, as a reader of this blog.
Focused on The ‘Serious’ Infopreneur
The content you will find on the VisiOlo blog is focused specifically on information that is relevant to a specific type of Entrepreneur — the online Infopreneur. If you sell information products online, you will find lots of great content here. Now, when I say ‘serious’ Infopreneur, I don not mean a humor-less chap who always wears a scowl — we have nothing against fun here! What I mean is someone who is serious about building a business selling info products.
An ‘Executive’ Perspective
One of the things I love about working with Infopreneurs is the diverse backgrounds and experiences that this segment of the Entrepreneur market has. Infopreneurs come from all walks of life and all different experience levels. One thing that is working against many Infopreneurs, though, is a lack of executive experience. If you haven’t had the experience of running a business, it’s helpful to have someone around who has.
I’ve had P&L responsibility for many different businesses and product lines ranging in size (in terms of annual sales) from $5 million to $100 million. And through my consulting experience, I’ve learned how executives think.
Given my background and experience, I hope to be the guy who helps you think like an executive through my blog posts.
Lots of ‘What’ and ‘Why’
As I look at the information landscape for Infopreneurs, I see a lot of ‘how to’ advice, but very little of what to do or why to do it. This tactical focus is the source of a lot of frustration for the market because even the best tactic, applied at the wrong time or for the wrong reason, is not going to bring results. I hope that my experience and information can help fill the gap and answer the “what should I do?” and “why should I do it?” questions. When it comes to specific, step-by-step how to, I’ll share some of that in the VisiOlo Member Content area, but for the most part, I’ll leave the ‘how’ to experts who know many of the tactics better than me.
A Big Dose of Strategy
One of my core strengths is strategy. It’s a big part of how I’ve made my living for the last 6 or so years in my consulting practice. But one of the things I’ve found is that few people care about strategy, and fewer still are willing to pay for it. However, those who spend their time and energy strategically have the strongest businesses — there’s no question about it.
Having the right strategy is a huge part of business success — especially when it comes to growing an existing business. Many start ups can be successful with a very tactical approach because the start up phase is (mostly) about action. Established businesses are a different story. With an established business, action is still critical, but a great strategy is also required to focus the action in the right direction. And even businesses that are just getting started are much more likely to succeed if they have a strong, clear strategy.
With this blog, for the first time, I will have the right vehicle to share strategic insights with you. And don’t worry, you won’t even have to pay for them. I have to admit though, I wonder how the strategic content will be received. I’m geeky about this stuff, but that doesn’t mean you will find it interesting. You’ll have to let me know.
Focused on Our ‘Best At’
One of the operational principles that we live by at VisiOlo is to focus on what we are ‘best at’ and what we are ‘best at’ is helping Infopreneurs measure and optimize the effectiveness of their online selling systems (to make more money with the same or less expense). Given this focus, it won’t be a surprise to learn that much of the content for the VisiOlo blog will be related to online selling systems and improving their effectiveness.
Promotional Structure
Otherwise known as a Marketing Funnel, your promotional structure is all of the products, offers, sales systems, and underlying technology that allows you to sell your products online. I started using the term “Promotional Structure” because I think the term “Marketing Funnel” has been used in so many different ways in this market that it is all but useless to describe what really drives the sales side of an Infopreneurial business.
Plus, it just has always seemed strange to think of prospects or customers as something that goes through a funnel — I just can’t complete that picture. I mean I use funnels for either liquid or powder, mostly liquid. Are prospects liquid molecules? LOL. I know it’s crazy, but the analogy just doesn’t work for me when I can see the the real process of developing customers into lifetime, repeat customers, is a lot more like an interconnected web of events than a funnel.
Marketing Foundation
In my view of marketing, your Marketing Foundation is made up of four blocks: Market, Product, Brand, and Channel. It’s a different, but I think helpful, way to look at some of the key elements that make for strong marketing and I’m excited by the opportunity to share this conceptual view of marketing with you.
Traffic Generation
I am, in no way, a pro when it comes to driving tons of traffic, but I’ve learned a few things along the way and am happy to share them with you. More importantly, I’m excited to share the things I have yet to learn, as I learn them.
Business Management, Product Reviews, Case Studies, and General ‘FYI’ …
Sheesh, I just went back and read this post and I realize I better stop there. I think that’s quite enough for now 
How about you? What would you like to hear about? Anything on the list above really jump out at you?
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