The best way to succeed is to take action using a method that incorporates the correct actionable principles for today's volatile and fiercely competitive environment.
Mission
The Brand Velocity mission is to help you build your personal brand online by communicating your expertise, authority, and trustworthiness through your exclusive and automated personal branding network.
My Why
My name is V. Michael Santoro. I feel that entrepreneurs and solopreneurs are the backbones for the world’s economy.
We're the answer to solving many of the world’s problems through Social Entrepreneurship.
I want to do my best to help as many as I can to be successful in these challenging times.
Together, we are the solution.
V. Michael Santoro, Brand Velocity Founder
About My Background
V. Michael Santoro, Brand Velocity Founder
V. Michael Santoro is an SEO expert and experienced entrepreneur with over 18 years of experience.
He provides business development and digital marketing consulting services for entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, startups, and small business owners.
Award-winning published author
V. Michael Santoro is an award-winning published author and the co-author of "Niche Dominance, creating order out of your digital marketing chaos."
He co-founded Vaetas, LLC which developed an interactive video platform. Vaetas was awarded a U.S. patent in 2017 for its real-time call-to-action video technology.
Featured in Authority Magazine
V. Michael Santoro was featured in Authority Magazine and has contributed content to Forbes, INC., American Express, Yahoo Finance, and several other publications.
Additionally, he was an Adjunct with Western CT State University’s computer science department.
V. Michael Santoro is also certified in training and development, as well as digital marketing.
My Story and Entrepreneurial Journey
I began my career as an inner city high school teacher and have a Masters degree in education. I taught for almost 10 years and decided that I was ready for a career change. I obtained a position with an employment agency and spent four years recruiting. I specialized in placing engineers in high tech companies.
I was then hired as a full-time recruiter with a startup high tech company and then became their employment manager.
My manager encouraged me to get certified in training and development to compliment my education background. I did so and started their product training program.
As I learned more about computer systems technology, I was also able to provide sales support for the sales team.
A major skill I developed was making technical information fit for human consumption. 🙂
I was able to work with engineers to understand how our systems worked and then translate the information so non-technical sales staff could sell to customers.
The important skill I was fortunate enough to develop was “learning how to learn quickly” rather than getting bogged down with all the details and not being able to take action.
I spent 11 years with that company and had the opportunity to travel internationally to our offices throughout Europe and the Pacific region.
Additionally, I have worked for a large tech company, as well as other startups before becoming first a solopreneur, and then an entrepreneur.
My first website
I began working online part-time in 2004 while I was still employed in high tech.
I had just completed an SEO course. At first it was more exploring a new hobby.
There was a PDF manual and the course creator said to print out the manual and read it before beginning.
I clicked print and went to make a cup of coffee. I had an older Apple laser printer and the 650 page manual took several hours to print.
The web tools were primitive by today’s standards and building websites required developing much more technical expertise.
Then it happened
A colleague I worked with had developed a child safety product and was having some challenges selling it through traditional channels.
While discussing it, I indicated that I had taken an online course and that maybe I could help him sell his product on the Internet.
He agreed and I met with his manufacturer. We worked out the wholesale and shipping costs.
Our agreement was that I’d sell the product online at retail and pay them the wholesale price and shipping via PayPal.
Upon payment, they would ship directly to the customer.
I did not have to worry about inventory or customer support...only marketing and processing my orders.
My first website made money
I then built a child safety website and also included Amazon products through my affiliate links for other related products.
I pitched the main product on those pages as part of the solution.
I SEO optimized the site and began ranking on Google page one for all the major keyword phrases.
In a couple of months, the sales began.
I earned enough from that one site to pay for my daughter's college education at a major university.
It was accomplished through SEO. I never spent any money on advertising.
SEO and my first book
I also used SEO to market my first book that I co-authored with my teenage daughter at the time.
It was on improving father-daughter relationships.
In addition to book sales, we were contacted by media producers and reporters for interviews including the Wall Street Journals’ Lifestyle reporter.
They found us when conducting Google searches.
We were also featured in well over a dozen newspapers for their Father’s day edition and had guest appearances on both radio and TV shows.
My first SEO Company
I decided to see if I could help other authors and created a course on how to market their books online using their writing skills.
I also ranked for that site and an Amazon book publishing consultant reached out to me.
We explored using my program for their author base. John Rizzo was the Amazon contact.
As word spread about my SEO accomplishments, many small businesses began contacting me to ask if I could help them.
This led to a partnership with John. We started an SEO company.
We co-authored, “Niche Dominance, creating order out of your digital marketing chaos.”
We used the book as a business card and began signing up clients.
We hired and trained our SEO technical staff.
The book helped us to generate almost $500K in SEO revenue.
An interesting twist
An interesting twist was when a top PR firm asked if we wanted to barter services.
They offered to promote our book in exchange for helping them with their SEO.
They asked us to provide a short article on a topic.
We wrote one about the importance of online reputation in the digital age and how to proactively protect it.
The PR firm distributed it as a press release.
The article was picked up by over 50 publications including WSJ MarketWatch and Yahoo Finance.
This helped us to gain instant authority and credibility.
Our business evolved
Our business evolved into developing an interactive video platform called Vaetas Connect.
We were joined by our third partner, my daughter, Jennifer Santoro, who has a Masters Degree in Integrated Marketing.
As a team, we built Vaetas. We received a U.S. patent in 2017 for our real-time video call to action technology.
This endeavor went from a flip chart drawing to a fully-functional SaaS company with automated support systems.
We have since sold the technology.
Jennifer Santoro, V. Michael Santoro and John Rizzo
Free blog content for entrepreneurs and solopreneurs
I provide content on my Brand Velocity blog about the entrepreneurial challenges you may be experiencing.
It focuses on how we, as humans, can get in our own way when building a business.
Today, I provide business and digital marketing consulting for startup companies, solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, and small businesses.
This has included an SEO company that was looking to modify its techniques in this constantly changing and increasingly competitive environment.
By consulting, I’m able to keep up with the ongoing changes that make ranking on Google page 1 a constant challenge.
I include this ongoing knowledge in the Brand Velocity Accelerator Program.
I will continue to do so.
Why Brand Velocity
I developed the Brand Velocity program to help motivated Entrepreneurs, Solopreneur, and Startups achieve success online. Building your brand is the first step on the road to both sales and becoming an influencer.
Let’s face it, it gets difficult when either a sizable investment or new skills are required to grow our businesses.
Google rewards strong brands and it can be accomplished affordably with the correct plan and resources.
I decided to see if I could help as many people as I could, and thus Brand Velocity was born.
I lived and understand the journey
Since I began as a solopreneur and evolved into an entrepreneur, I understand the journey - from the passion to the frustration that you may be experiencing.
My goal is to help as many entrepreneurs and solopreneurs as I can, affordably build their personal brands online so they can grow their successful businesses.
Watch my free video. It explains the 9 steps you need to take to successfully build your personal brand online.
Whether you invest in the comprehensive Brand Velocity Accelerator Program or choose another way, you need to establish your personal brand online first, if you plan to succeed. Establishing your brand is the first step to building a successful brand online.
To your continued Success,
V. Michael Santoro
Free Brand Velocity Video
For more information about the Brand Velocity program, you can sign up and watch a free video that explains the 9 step process.
This will help you to understand today’s requirements for building a successful personal or company brand online.
Whether you invest in the Brand Velocity Accelerator program or use other resources, you need to build a strong brand online if you wish to succeed.
This video will help you understand what’s necessary.