Shared Visions Unlimited

Help with Video, Marketing, Publishing, and Story Productions

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Publishing Community Stories for Merritt, British Columbia (BC)

January 21, 2024 /

Greg Dixon has started a project to capture and publish personal, family, business and community stories for Merritt, British Columbia.

See https://www.merrittstories.ca/

Merritt is a town of around seven thousand people three hours north-east of Vancouver that was the home of a large county-music festival. There are murals of county stars on buildings downtown.

Reba McEntyre and Carrie Underwood

The town has many families with a long history in Merritt including a family from the Basque region of Spain who arrived over fifty years ago.

There are also many First Nations groups doing amazing things with health and friendship centres.

Greg and his Doug drive elders from remote communities to meetings, medical appointments, and dental appointments in facilities that they created. The also help drive children to the library, pool, and other evens in the region.

Greg will conduct video and audio interviews and assemble photos to tell the stories.

Learn more at https://www.merrittstories.ca/

The Story of Shared Visions Unlimited

January 8, 2024 /
Greg Dixon on White

The Story of Shared Visions Unlimited is almost as old as the Internet itself.

Greg Dixon

Founder, Shared Visions Unlimited

The Shared Visions Online Art Gallery

I had an interest in art since before elementary school and won a summer art scholarship before entering grade one.

Decades later I took on trying to help emerging artists in the 1990’s and created one of the first online art galleries as the Shared Visions Gallery.

I featured Native Ojibwa artist, Terrance Young, the watercolours of Felicity Morgan, abstract paintings from Italian artist, Carla Asquini, and a few others.

I never had much success at marketing the artists and started painting myself.

Florida Connection

One day I received a short email from Chad saying we had a shared interest and should talk.

On the phone, Chad explained that he and his wife Kathleen owned what they thought was the finest Western and Native American art gallery in America, with the possible exception of a gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona.

They had sold over $1M of Dave McGary’s sculptures on commission. See Video.

They advertised and many of their artists were featured in Southwest Art Magazine.

Someone told them that the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce had pages on the Shared Visions Gallery on their website.

When Chad searched for ‘shared visions gallery’ on the search engine of the day (AltaVista or Yahoo), the first six pages listed were for my online gallery.

First, he wanted to know what kind of voodoo I used to get the listings (a title and a meta description tag).

Then he asked if I would build a website for his gallery.

Yes.

And register sharedvisions.com for the website.

SharedVisions.com

While it was on my list to register the domain, but had not done it yet.

After covering the mouthpiece and mouthing, ‘shit’, I said yes.

They couriered a box of their printed brochures, art photos, and issues of Southwest Art that featured their gallery or artists.

I created an online brochure site on the premise that people would travel to the gallery to see the art in person.

They offered to put me up at the Marriott Suites in Delray Beach to visit the gallery.

I never took up their offer. However, I did meet them in Vancouver when they took a cruise to Alaska. I drove them to visit the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and to Native Art Galleries in Gastown.

Fate took me to the Marriott Suites for the American Writers & Artists Institute (AWAI) Copywriting Bootcamp and Job Fair in 2015 and 2017.

By then the gallery had closed and Chad had passed away.

I have created websites for artists and photographers over the decades, including:

I have an art and photography site on hold and we are looking for a retail space in Merrit, British Columbia to feature art, photography, story productions, opportunities, and perhaps food and drink.

The Age of Exploring

Greg Dixon on White

For ten years or so the main mission was to encourage people to explore a wide range of topics and leave their computer screens for the real world.

Greg Dixon

Chief Explorer
Shared Visions Unlimited

Before WordPress, I created a data-driven content management system in ColdFusion and SQL Server that supported searching the data and segmenting with sub-sites that had their own styles and home pages.

Users could log on to add and edit articles for their website.

Here are the exploring segments I created:

  • Exploring English (I had created and sold a program called English Structure and Style before the Interweb)
  • Exploring Literature (Honours English Literature degree).
  • Exploring Libraries (where the books are!)
  • Exploring Music (professional drummer and musical explorer on a range of instruments).

The sites were hosted on Superb.net. One day they lost the database and did not have a backup. Then they lost all of the pages too. I would have been happy if they had a backup from any year. Los a lot of great stuff.

Travel Focus

I started a new site for Shared Visions on Godaddy.

There were many articles on travel and a variety of topics.

Goddady lost that site eventually, which led to the current WordPress site.

The Internet as a Publishing Medium

My 15 minutes of academic fame came when I presented a paper in San Franciso called The Internet as a Publishing Medium at a conference put on by the Association for the Advancement of Computers in Education (AACE).

In hindsight, the idea was novel to academics at the time and I should have followed up on invitations to speak at universities.

The academic connections are still present in my interest in creating online courses and membership programs.

Story Productions

I have always had cameras and I bought my first video camera to capture family and other stories.

Recent variations of this include:

  • Tell Your Story Productions
    My wife Bonnie, her buddy Gerry Smith and I created a website and business to create personal, family, and business Story Productions.
  • Natural Health Movement
    Bonnie and Gerry knew each other through the Natural Health industry, and we set off on a mission to interview pioneers of the Natural Health Movement. We were travelling through the western USA in our RV until Covid-19 shut that down.
  • Story Van TV
    Bonnie and I still do StreamYard interviews with interesting people as Story Van TV.

Shared Visions Unlimited carries on the Story Production tradition.

Book Publishing

Much of my focus in this millennium has been on networking and offering integrated marketing services using Kartra, membership sites, and video.

Betty Withrow did a presentation on her services for writers, including coaching and ghostwriting in a networking meeting I hosted.

That led to collaborating on some offers for authors and course creators.

At one point Betty asked if I had considered relaunching my publishing company.

I had helped people publish and market their books before because they asked.

Now book publishing is a part of Shared Visions Unlimited Publishing, including:

  • Editing
  • Manuscript preparation
  • Uploading to Amazan and IngramSparks
  • Assigning ISBNs
  • Creating a hybrid book, course, and multimedia collections using Kartra Membership called Digital Experience Editions.
  • Combining publishing and marketing with the Publishing Sales Machine.
  • Flipbook and Audio variations.

Shared Visions Unlimited Publishing and Marketing

So that is where we are at today.

I offer a comprehensive retainer to help you with your publishing and marketing projects.

Betty Withrow and I offer some Book Journey packages together.

What vision do you want to share?

Create a Simple Webinar Funnel to Generate Sales

January 5, 2024 /

An effective tool for the top sales masters is the sales webinar or information webinar with a call to action at the end.

Greg Dixon photo with webinar image

In many cases, the webinar is an online version of a speak-to-sell presentation that is delivered in person.

An effective sales webinar will also share features with a good long-form sales letter, where the goal is to make the offer attractive and answer all points of objection so that the person can make a buying decision on the spot.

The main difference is that the landing page for a webinar prompts the visitor to sign up for the webinar rather than go directly to a sale on the sales page.

Here are the main steps in creating a simple webinar funnel:

  1. Create a compelling landing page with a button to sign up for the webinar.
  2. Drive traffic to the landing page using every media at your disposal.
  3. Present the webinar (more on that below).
  4. Send a thanks for attending note.
  5. Send a link to a page with the replay, transcript, sales copy, and purchase button.
  6. Send a series of emails that provide more information or answer questions the person may have before making a purchase.
  7. Offer a call to discuss.

Greg Dixon is available to help you create and launch all the steps.

The Landing Page

The magic starts on the landing page.

This is where you present a compelling reason why the person wants to sign up for your presentation. Some of the reasons could include:

  • Learning a strategy they could employ themselves.
  • Learning more about your product and service to confirm the benefits to them.

I usually create a landing page with Kartra and sometimes register a domain on a service like Namecheap.com to have a simple link for people to use.

Driving Traffic

The next thing is to drive traffic to your landing page. Some of the ways to do that include:

  • Email
  • Social Media
  • Video
  • Networking
  • Paid Advertising
    • Online (Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, …)
    • Print
    • Radio
    • Television
    • Speaking (podcasts, broadcasts, events)
    • QR Codes (try https://www.qrcode-monkey.com/)
    • Business Cards

Whatever works for you and fits your budget. Most can be done for free,

Webinar Platform

I use StreamYard for webinars. Other options include Zoom, Kartra, Demio, and more.

You could also have your prerecorded webinar on the thank you page.

Your Webinar Presentation

My main influences for webinars are Dave Dee and Kim Walsh Phillips ~ both connected with Dan Kennedy.

This is Dave Dee’s slide outline from a post at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/worlds-most-powerful-7-figure-webinar-template-dave-dee/

  • Slide 1: Hot title.
    You need to give your presentation a super-hot, compelling title.
  • Slide 2: Who this is right for?
    Let the audience know they are in the right place.
  • Slide 3: What you’ll discover. Tell them the three things they’re going to learn.
  • Slide 4: Future pace: Paint a picture of their outcome/transformation.
  • Slide 5: Future pace: Paint a picture of the ugliness if they don’t do what you tell them.
  • Slide 6: Your Story. The “before” part of your story.
  • Slide 7: Your Story: The turning point part of your story.
  • Slide 8: Your Story: The “after” part of your story.
  • Slide 9: Why you are teaching this stuff.
  • Slide 10: What the will discover. Reiterate what they’re about to learn.
  • Slide 11: Core content piece 1. (The “teaching” portion of your presentation.
  • Slide 12: Core content piece 2. (The “teaching” portion of your presentation.)
  • Slide 13: Core content piece 3. (The “teaching” portion of your presentation.)
  • Slide 14: Transition to close.
  • Slide 15: Recap what they’ve learned.
  • Slide 17: Introduce your solution. (The product or service you’re selling.)
  • Slide 18: Who this is not for. (Tell them who should not buy your product or service.)
  • Slide 19: Reasons why you built the system. (Needs to be more than “I want to sell it to you.”)
  • Slide 20: The outcome of using your product or service.
  • Slide 21- ?: The components of your product or service. (Be sure to focus on benefits and outcomes and not of features.)
  • Slide 22: Present the price. (Build value first, then reveal price.)
  • Slide 23: Guarantee.
  • Slide 24: Bonuses (Core bonuses that always come with the product.)
  • Slide 25: Bonuses (Fast action bonuses.)
  • Slide 26: Recap the major transformation the buyer will experience.
  • Slide 27: Call to action
  • Slide 28: Quick recap of the entire offer.
  • Slide 29: Final call to action.

I have collected a video series on Dave Dee’s Webinar Selling Machine at https://www.gregdixonwriting.com/webinar-selling-machine/

Follow-Up Gold

Depending on what you are selling and your presentation, many of your sales will be in the follow-up after the presentation.

The most important email is a thank-you note.

Here are things to include in an email sequence that goes out every few days or once a week.

  • Replay recording.
  • Questions and Answers or Frequently Asked Questions. Answer all questions and objections.
  • Case Studies
  • Success Stories
  • More information about the product or service.
  • Related offers.
  • Surveys
  • …

Be sure to include a link to the sales page and offer
a discovery call in every email!

Greg Dixon is available to help you create and launch all the steps.

Want Help Now with webinars and other elements of your success?

The Posting Power Package ~ Make Your Offers

December 4, 2023 /

We provide recommendations to our book, course, and marketing clients to strategically post to a variety of destinations frequently.

We often provide content and bullet points to repurpose their content to generate the action they are looking for.

Some are fabulous at doing the posting themselves.

Others do not have the resources and inclination.

This post provides a powerful posting strategy and an offer to do it for you if needed.

Here are the most important items.

Your Purpose For Posting

Betty Withrow always asks early in the process with a client ~ what do you want to get out of this.

The same applies to a posting plan. What do you want to achieve?

  • Appointments?
  • Sales?
  • Awareness?
  • Training?
  • … ?

The more clarity you have around the purpose, the more intentional your posting campaign will be.

There Will Always Be An Offer

This is a Dan Kennedy mantra from a Direct Response Marketing perspective ~ There Will Always Be an Offer.

Otherwise, why are you doing it?

Kim Walsh Philips makes people say the following oath ~ If It’s Not Going To Pay, I’m Not Going to Do It.

A Destination For A Call To Action

You want to audience to do something and you will need to send them to a specific destination.

The could be an appointment link, a sales landing page, or a blog post.

A Blog Post Landing Page

We suggest treating every blog post as a mini-landing page, with an offer on the page.

There will at least be a link to book an appointment or join a mailing list.

A recommended strategy is to have social media posts and email broadcasts send people to a dedicated landing page or a blog post functioning as a landing page.

Post The Topic On Multiple Destinations

We use StreamYard and tools like MeetEdgar to stream and send to many destinations, including:

  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
  • TicToc
  • Twitter
  • Email

The LinkedIn Event Maneuver

Here is a strategy we employ to get to be found on Google Search almost instantly:

  1. Write a blog post for a broadcast topic with attention to SEO keywords, title, description, and splash image.
  2. Submit the blog post for indexing by Google Search.
  3. Schedule a LinkedIn Live event for the topic with a link to the blog post in the show notes.
  4. Setup the broadcast in StreamYard to many destinations (including YouTube).
  5. Put a link in the blog post going to the scheduled LinkedIn event.
  6. Do the broadcast with a Call to Action at the end of the broadcast.
  7. Put links to the blog post in the comments for each generation.
  8. Like your posts.

A search on Google a few hours later will often show the blog page, the YouTube video, and one or more social media posts.

Not too shabby!

Our Power Posting Package

We can implement the posting strategy for you, including the following actions each week:

  • 1 Blog Post
  • 3 Image and Text Social Media Posts.
  • 1 Video Post using the LinkedIn Event Maneuver.
  • 1 Email broadcast.

We repeat the posting each week with new content.

Try for a month and track results. Cancel at any time.

$448 Per Month

Add a Digital Experience Edition to Your Journey ~ Make Sales!

November 29, 2023 /

A Digital Experience Edition is for you if ANY of these apply to you:

  • You plan to publish a print book.
  • Your current books could use a boost in attention and sales.
  • You have multimedia content that could be made into books.
  • A course or membership program would fit your content.
  • You have stories to share!

What is a Digital Experience Edition?

A Digital Experience Edition is a structured collection of multimedia elements made available in a content portal.

Access to different parts of the content can be restricted by access levels.

What are the Benefits of a Digital Experience Edition?

Here are some of the advantages over printed books alone:

  • You can test your content early in the process by giving trusted reviewers access.
  • Videos, audio readings, downloads, exercises, and other elements can create a great experience for the reader.
  • You can start selling and marketing the Digital Experience Edition early in the Book Journey process.

Examples of Digital Experience Editions

Here are video tours of different uses for the Digital Experience Edition.

Tales from the Turkey Table by Bill Allman

This is a full-on Publishing Journey including a Digital Experience Edition, Paperback, and Kindle version.

The Rocket Norton Vault

This is a collection of most of musician and writer Rocket Norton‘s lifetime creative output, including books, recordings, videos, photos, and courses,

The Digital Experience Edition with Marketing Success Playbook

This package is for you if you have books, courses or other content that would go well in a Digital Experience Edition.

Includes:

  • Organizing your content into a Digitial Experience Edition.
  • Sales Landing Page.
  • Marketing Success Roadmap.
  • Launch Marketing.
  • Ongoing Content Expansion and Marketing Support.

$488 for the first month, plus $188 per month for ongoing hosting and marketing support.

We meet weekly to prioritize actions.

Limited Packages Available

If you want the Complete Book Journey with the Digital Experience Edition, published books, and comprehensive marketing, the Publishing Sales Machine may be for you.

What is the Publishing Sales Machine?

We combine the content collected during the book development process to create a Digital Experience Edition, Marketing Assets, and Sales on the journey to publishing the print editions.

This makes the Book Journey fun and profitable early in the process.

Is the Publishing Sales Machine Right for You?

Let’s chat.

How To Sell Books Published Through IngramSpark and Amazon KDP

November 13, 2023 /

Most authors who self-publish themselves or through a book consultant make few or no sales.

Part of the problem is that they upload the formatted files and covers to IngramSpark or Amazon KDP and expect sales to roll in without fully understanding how the books get sold.

IngramSpark

IngramSpark is a great choice for many authors because it puts your book into a very large distribution channel including most book retailers, libraries, Apple Books and Amazon.

So. How do you sell your book through IngramSpark?

IngramSpark does not provide a way for your fans to buy your book directly through them.

You sell by doing one or all of the following:

  1. Buy print copies yourself and sell them.
  2. Take payments yourself and order the books from your author link to IngramSpark to be printed and delivered to the client by IngramSpark.
  3. Convince book retailers to order through IngramSpark and promote your books.
  4. Send them to Apple Books and Amazon to buy them.

The bottom line is:

No One Will Buy Your Books If You Don’t Market Them

And selling the books yourself may required and recommended. We can help with that.

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)

Understanding how your books sell on Amazon is easier to understand.

  1. Upload your book.
  2. Send people to Amazon to buy printed books or Kindle books.
  3. Order copies to give away or sell in person.

Since IngramSpark submits to Amazon KDP, IngramSpark is a good way to get on Amazon and also have a wider distribution through the IngramSpark distribution network.

Our Book Journey Marketing Plan

Betty Withrow and Greg Dixon offer a Complete Book Journey service that takes a book through development, writing, editing, formatting, and publishing through IngramSpark, Amazon KDP, or a book publishing company if you can secure a publishing deal.

Our marketing plan includes:

  • Sales Landing Page.
  • Blog Posts.
  • Social Media Posts.
  • YouTube Support.
  • Book Brigade.
  • Publicity Strategy.

We can also help with the sales and drop-ship model that works well with IngramSpark.

They can also help with direct sales of a digital version of your book Greg Dixon calls a Digital Experience Edition.

The Digital Experience Edition

Greg Dixon creates a multimedia version of your book that includes the text as well as images, audio and video components that enrich the reader experience.

We can create a Digital Experience Edition of your book and make digital sales as soon as the final editing is completed and while the book is being formatted and submitted for publishing.

Generate sales AND create a buzz for the printed book

Let’s talk about what would work for your book ready to be published.

And a Digital Experience Edition may create some life and cash flow to books you have already published that are getting little or no sales.

Let’s talk about your books.

The Best Choice For You ~ Book Journey? Publishing Sales Machine?

October 10, 2023 /
Woman on blackboard. What is the best choice for you?

Betty Withrow and Greg Dixon offer two programs for book authors and course creators: Your Book Journey and Publishing Sales Machine.

The primary focus of Your Book Journey is to take you through all of the steps of writing and publishing a book from idea through launch.

The Publishing Sales Machine combines the book journey with course development and marketing done from the start of the project to attract interest, clients, and sales.

What is best for you?

Betty Withrow has a question she always asks new and potential book clients:

What Do You Want To Get Out Of This?

Today Betty and Greg discuss a fun activity to help you explore the question for yourself.

Your Book Journey With Betty Withrow and Greg Dixon

October 3, 2023 /
View on LinkeIn

Betty Withrow and Greg Dixon talk about what they mean by a Book Journey and how it could look for Your Book Journey.

Betty and Greg can help you with your book from idea to publishing and marketing by either teaching you the steps or by working with you.

Typical Book Journey

  • You decide you want to write a book.
  • Brainstorm topics and themes for a book.
  • Brainstorm titles and descriptions.
  • Collect ideas for the book content.
  • Create an outline.
  • Expand the outline.
  • Developmental Editing
  • Copy Editing
  • Proofreading.
  • Formatting.
  • Final reviews and edits.
  • Submit for publishing
  • Marketing (which we will encourage you to start at the beginning of the book journey).

Your book journey may look a little different, though these are the main steps.

Betty Withrow and Greg Dixon can help you with your book journey from where you are in the process now.

Maybe you are at step one or you could be ready for editing and formatting,

Let’s discuss.

Book Journey Offers

Betty Withrow and Greg Dixon can help you in various ways, including a retainer to take the journey with you.

Publishing Sales Machine

A great path for you could be their Publishing Sales Machine where they combine creating a book, a continuity program, and sales during the development process.

The main idea is that the content that would go into a book can also go into an online course or program as well as be used for marketing to boost your authority and attract clients and sales.

Betty and Greg offer a low-cost workshop program as well as a personal retainer.

Publishing, Marketing, and Membership Sales Machine ~ Great for Authors!

September 24, 2023 /

When clients ask us to help them write and publish a book, we suggest also creating a course and starting the marketing early on the journey.

If clients start with creating an online course or membership, we ask if they have considered writing a book.

And of course, we suggest starting the marketing right away!

We often suggest to clients who want pure marketing services that they consider writing a book and creating a course.

Leveraging Content Immediately

In most cases, the content that goes into a non-fiction book can also be used for an online course and in marketing campaigns to create buzz.

Group Workshops and Presentations ~ More Appealing than AI Content and Marketing

Your content can also be used for workshops and presentations, both to create interest and as part of a paid membership program.

We think it is important to do live presentations and workshops with time for group discussion and questions to stand out from the rising flood of AI content and marketing.

People will pay to engage with you.

Your Membership Continuity Program

There are many advantages to creating a monthly membership program rather than an online course:

  • A great way to test if there is interest in your subject matter.
    If people do not try the membership for something like $1 for the first month, there may not be an interest in the book or course as presented. Back to planning.
  • You can test the content and get valuable feedback. Weekly group training sessions are fabulous for this.
  • You can start generating revenue early to fund the development of the book and online.
  • The content presented weekly can be used for marketing.
  • More people will subscribe to a low-cost subscription than a higher-priced course. You can create stand-alone courses out of the membership content later.
  • Ongoing subscription revenue can grow considerably.
    $20 a month starts looking quite substantial when you grow to have thousands of subscribers. And your only subscription could be higher.
    $97 is quite common.

The Publishing, Marketing, and Membership Sales Machine

Here it is in a nutshell:

  • Create an outline for your content
  • Create a title, description, and first sections
  • Create a landing page for people to sign up for a mailing list.
  • Establish a membership area using a platform such as Kartra (we can provide those components).
  • Plan to create content for a section in your outline each week.
  • Present that content in an online workshop each week. You can offer the workshop for free, with supporting resources and recordings going into the paid membership area.
  • Offer the monthly subscription at a low trial rate for the first month.
  • Continue until the book and program are completed and published.
  • Start the next book and program.

Our Publishing Sales Machine Retainer

We also offer a monthly retainer to help you implement all the steps of your Publishing, Marketing, and Membership Sales Machine.

Our goal is to generate revenues as early as possible to pay for the retainer.

$540 per month until cancelled

Meanwhile, book an appointment with us to learn more.

Our Publishing Sales Machine Membership Program

Walking our talk, we will offer a membership and workshop series to teach you how to implement the Publishing, Marketing, and Membership Sales Machine yourself.

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