So, I decided to put up a page that would not only show you where I am at any given moment, but would also show you pictures of people I’m meeting on the road, blog posts I’m writing, etc.

Best of all, the page I’ve put together even helps me to get better ranking in the search engines so even more people will be able to find me! You’ll find the page at: http://www.askggg.com/wheresgina

When you see where I’m at, make sure that you let me know if I happen to be in YOUR neighborhood! That way w can get together coffee or lunch! (I NEVER need an excuse to have a triple shot Starbucks Venti Latte with 3 raw sugars!  Especially if it comes with either a mini vanilla scone or a lemon pound cake!)

Another thing that my student asked for was a list of all my products and websites, printed in one place, so that people could find all of the different resources at once.  So here it is!

There’s a great summary of all of Directions University products and courses that I’ve created personally over the years, including a description of how they can help you at:  http://www.DirectionsU.com/resources

And here’s the listing of all of my sites, products, and resources (including how Directions University can help you build YOUR business FASTER)…

My Blogs:

• The Directions University blog — all of my emails to my subscribers are posted here as well — http://www.askggg.com/dublog
• Ask GGG Blog — Marketing Tips From When I Was Organizing Joint Ventures (this is one of my older blogs — note the style change that took place in April 2007) — http://www.askggg.com/blog
• The JV University — strategies and tips for building powerful joint ventures and for lucrative tips on becoming what we call a “Certified Joint Ventur Consultant” or JV Broker — http://www.thejvuniversity.com
• JVSuite Toolbar —  details about joint ventures that are taking place online  (the toolbar shares lucrative joint ventures you can participate in directly on your browser at http://www.jvsuitetoolbar.com)
• DU’s Ultimate Marketing Toolbar —  great tips for building your business plus timesaving tools for researching your market, doing keyword research, accessing your mail, Twitter & Facebook accounts, and much more! Download your DU Toolbar at http://www.directionsu.com/toolbar)

My Products:

• 30-Day IM Challenge — http://www.30dayIMChallenge.com
• Miracle Motivational Package — http://www.AbundantPositivity.com
• Abundant Info Products: How To Make Big Bucks With Info Products … FAST! — http://www.AbundantInfoProducts.com
• Giveaway Secrets of The JV Queen — http://www.jvqueensecrets.com
• 21 Days to Blogging Profits — http://www.bloggingarsenal.com
• Secrets of The JV Queen — http://www.jvqueenconfessions.com
• Mindset Systems Workshop — http://www.askggg.com/miracle
• Blog Systems Workshop— http://www.askggg.com/bloggingcall
• Info Product Systems Workshop— http://www.askggg.com/ipcall
• Joint Venture Systems Workshop— http://www.askggg.com/jvcall
• Traffic Systems Workshop— http://www.askggg.com/traffic

Our Coaching & Mentoring Programs:

• Joint Venture Training — http://www.TheJVUniversity.com/gina
• Directions University’s Associate Program — http://www.askggg.com/associates

Other Useful Links:

• Directions University Classroom (our Forum): http://www.directionsu.com/forum
• Member’s Area where you login to the 30-Day IM Challenge: http://www.directionsu.com/wp-login.php

We have a TON of useful resources (many of them FREE) coming out yet this year.  To stay up to date on everything that we offer to help you build BIGGER BUSINESSES, FASTER — simply subscribe to our newsletter using either the opt in form at the right or subscribing to our RSS Feed.

To Your Abundant Online Success!

Gina Gaudio-Graves (“The JV Queen”)

P.S.  Have questions about any aspect of internet marketing or building your business?  Driving traffic?  Building a list?  Organizing a joint venture?  Or any of the other tactics you need to know in order to be profitable online? … Simply drop by The Directions University Classroom (our forum) where you’ll find plenty of help, any time you need it!

There are 2 things that I want to bring you up to speed on, and they’re both related …

First, I wanted to introduce you to a few people.  They are:

• John Cussons – John is from Canada.  His passion is anything having to do with marketing and making money online.  He’s dubbed himself “Mr. Emotions” and it’s a name that fits him like a glove!  Having a success mindset has really spurred him into ACTION in a big way this year!
• Duane Ford – Duane is another neat guy, from Florida.  He’s passionate about improving himself and it shows through BIG TIME on his blog at Success Myths Uncovered!  This guy is one insightful writer and his words of wisdom are gems!
• Michael Spindelman – Michael is an engineer by trade.  His primary focus is on helping people better manage both their time and their lives.  He is an astute student of the universal laws and his insights can sometimes be mind boggling!  When he’s willing to truly FOCUS, though, his guidance is like gold!
• Edi Carlisle – Edi lives in Chile, but she’s originally from the US.  She’s a Reiki Master, an Energy Specialist, a Massage Therapist, and many more such titles.  Her passion is teaching ANYTHING!
• Carl Tambeau – Carl lives in Canada.  His pasison is self improvement.  He’s got one heck of a mindset going in spite of past personal and professional challenges.  Nothing can stop this guy!
• Lori Saulibio – Lori’s from Hawaii.  She works for the government today, but dreams of getting her business to a point where she will no longer have to hold a job outside the home at all.  She is one heck of a hard worker, too!  She manages to work full time, take care of her kids, AND build a business online!

What is it that all 6 people have in common?

They are all past winners of the 30–Day IM Challenge!  They also all say that their participation in the 30–Day IM Challenge was a “life changing experience”!

As past winners, each of these people won some type of coaching with me personally.  And, as a result of their experience in the 30–Day IM Challenge, each one became serious enough about their business to enroll in The IM University’s Graduate Apprenticeship Program, a one-year intensive program designed to help you bring in a 5–figure monthly income through the business you build online during the program.

So why am I telling you all of this?

Because the 30–Day IM Challenge kicks off every 5 to 6 weeks, you can register ANYTIME and still get access to ALL of the 16+ Lessons, Action Steps, and Resource Lists o you can get started getting results in your business anytime you’re ready!

That means that you can register RIGHT NOW, for FREE and have a life changing experience for yourself by learning to live the life of your dreams through building a business using the power of the internet.  You’ll find all the details at:  Register for the 30–Day IM Challenge

The 30–Day IM Challenge will walk you through every step of the process, one small step at a time.  The 16+ Lessons, totaling more than 750+ pages, cover a variety of topics including:

1. Time Management, Mindset, Goal Setting & Strategic Planning
2. Choosing Your Target Market and Your Products (i.e. What is your niche?)
3. Your Profit Funnel (i.e. What products will you sell?)
4. Your Web Presence (i.e. Setting up Your WordPress Blog)
5. Resources for Creating Your Web Presence
6. Increasing Your Traffic (it’s all about having a traffic generation SYSTEM that you repeat every day)
7. Building Your Business on a Solid Foundation (without a solid foundation, you’re business is going to fail!)
8. Avoiding the “Price Wars” Game (Competing on price is not only going to decrease your profits, it’s also going to decrease the demand for your products!  You MUST avoid this at all costs or your business will NEVER succeed!)
9. Developing Your USP (Unique Selling Proposition)
10. Building Strategic Relationships (With the development of Web 2.0, the internet is all about relationships.  Build them strategically and you’ll totally DOMINATE your market every time!)
11. Copywriting (Good copywriting skills must be learned.  Without the right message, no amount of traffic is going to make your business successful!)
12. Traffic Generation and List Building (these go hand in hand!)
13. Using Blogs, Forums, and Article Marketing (Just because everyone is talking about Web 2.0 doesn’t mean that you should forget about the good ole’ days when Forums and Article Marketing were the ONLY way to drive traffic!  They are just as effective today!  And when you combine them with Web 2.0 strategies, look out!)
14. Tying It All Together With Info Products (Remember — this is the “Information Super Highway”.  People are online because they want INFORMATION, not “stuff”.  So give it to them — AND — use the information to sell the “stuff”!)
15. Joint Ventures and Strategic Alliances (As “The JV Queen”, I would be completely remiss if I didn’t share my strategies for building some of the most profitable joint ventures online!)
16. and MORE!

As a 30–Day IM Challenge Member, you’ll have access to all of the Lessons, Directions University Classroom (our forum where students are actively discussing their businesses and what they’re doing to build them), and the daily podcasts with tips for implementing all that you’re learning.

But after you register for the Challenge, watch for instructions on becoming a Gold Challenge Member.  As a Gold Challenge Member, you’ll also have access to the LIVE Weekly Teleconferences where you’ll get my personal help building YOUR business and critiques of your website(s), blogs and business plans.  You’ll get mp3 recordings of all 4 calls too. 

AND — you’ll even get the mp3 recordings from all of the calls held for previous Challenges! The topics don’t repeat from one Challenge to the next.  Rather, new calls are added to help ensure that you’ll get as much help as you’ll need to rapidly get your business up, running, and actually getting RESULTS!

Whether you’re brand new to having a business and you’re still kicking around ideas for what kind of business you want, or you’ve already got a business up and running but it’s just not seeing the kinds of results that you dream about, the 30–Day IM Challenge will help you build a business that can bring you a 5–figure monthly income quickly!

Register now at: http://www.30DayIMChallenge.com

To Your Abundant Online Success!

Gina Gaudio-Graves

Using Facebook to Generate Exposure For Your Business – http://askggg.com/blog/2008/03/06/the-latest-craze-in-social-networking-part-1/
Adding Friends To Your Facebook Account – http://askggg.com/blog/2008/03/07/the-latest-craze-in-social-networking-part-2/
Adding Your Blog To Your Facebook Account – http://askggg.com/blog/2008/04/04/the-latest-craze-in-social-marketing-part-3/

Today we’re going to cover using Facebook groups to drive traffic.

Facebook Groups can be used in 2 different ways to bring you more exposure, traffic, and sales.  You can either:

a)  Join other people’s groups and use a powerful signature line to drive traffic, OR
b)  Start your own group, build a relationship with your members, and be perceived as an “expert” or “influencer” to drive traffic, exposure, and sales

Let’s talk about how you can use both options.

Before we get into the specifics of Facebook Groups, it’s important to understand WHY Groups are so powerful.

Groups of any sort — whether in Facebook, MySpace, or ordinary forums — allow you to build relationships.  You want to make sure that the Groups that you use to build these relationships are Groups that are used by your ideal prospects, i.e. your target market.

Relationships are the KEY to building your business — especially on the internet.

Not only can relationships allow you to develop some great business contacts and as well as friendships, but they can be much more important than either of them. 

The KEY to being successful in your business is to “become an influencer”.  What I mean by this is that you want to adopt a mindset of an expert in your niche.  This is in part why it’s important to follow your passions in your business.  It makes it easier to have the mindset of an expert.

As an expert, you go out and hold conversations with the people in your niche.  These people are your “target market”.

While you are holding these conversations, you are becoming an “influencer”.  As an influencer, you merely need to put your products in front of your audience in order to have them follow your lead.

This is very different than the outright selling that used to work in the early days of the internet.  Much of that outright selling was downright hypy.  In today’s internet, it just doesn’t work.

Now, with a better understanding of why it’s important to become an expert and an influencer in your market, let’s talk about how Facebook groups can help you in your business.

GETTING RESULTS FROM GROUPS YOU JOIN

First, let’s go over how joining groups can help you.

By joining groups you are able to build relationships and keep up with current ones.  Think of this as just another avenue to use in relationship building.

Spend time in these groups to answer questions that others are asking.  Make sure that you TALK LIKE AN EXPERT!  That’s what will allow others to perceive you as an expert.

It’s ok for you to start some of the conversations.  But you’ll make more headway in terms of driving traffic (and even in building relationships) when you are actually jumping into other people’s conversastions in groups that you did not start.  In this way, you are essentially ADDING VALUE to what is already there.

Make sure that for any Group you participate in, you use a signature line that has a catchy moniker for yourself — one that arouses curiosity about what you do — and includes a link to your website. 

Don’t just use some boring title like “President” or “Internet Marketer”.  Everybody knows what those mean and they don’t need to visit your website to figure it out.

Instead, try something a little more unique.  One of my aunts used to call herself the “Chief Cook and Bottle Washer”.  She was a homemaker.  That’s the kind of moniker you want to develop for yourself.

NOTE:  Using words like “Author” and “Coach” or “Mentor” within your moniker can be extremely powerful as they automatically suggest that you are an expert.  However, don’t use them on their own.

GETTING RESULTS FROM GROUPS YOU START (OR FOUND)

One of the easiest ways to get results from Faceook is to develop your own groups.  One of the biggest benefits of doing so is that you will be able to email members of your group directly.

As with groups you join, it is even MORE IMPORTANT in a Group that you find to truly sound like you re an expert in your niche.  The better job you do in becoming that expert, the more people will be willing to join you.

The biggest reason to start your own Facebook groups is that you will be able to send messages directly to your prospects through a broadcast feature.  This essentially allows you to build an opt in list right inside of Facebook.

At the same time, it puts you in a position of not only building your profile, but speficlly, as a means of developing a relationship with your audience, allowing them to perceive you an expert you can turn to at will.

Since Group owners can use the broadcast feature of the group to email all members at once, this is a great way to build a large list of TARGETED prospects quickly, easily, and at practically NO CO’ST!

So how will you get traffic to your new Group and your new profile?

This part is simple …

You go to the advanced search option of Facebook and you search for those individuals who have interests in common with what you are doing.  Then invite them to join you.  Make sure that you have either a P.S. at the end of your message that leads your prospect to your website OR on the pages for the Group, have a very low kep way of making product recommendations.

Both of these can be equally effective.  By building a relationship through the Group, you will become an influencer, allowing your friends to take part in your group AND to allow your friends to be exposed to your products in a very low key manner.

This way you can invite all your new friends to be a part of your Group.  Consider adding a Facebook Application called “Tell A Friend”.  You’ll find this at http://www.facebook.com/apps (just like you found the application for adding your blog to your profile.

Use your Group to ask questions of your members.  This can help you in a number of ways:

1)  You will have a better idea of what products they are looking for
2)  You can start posts that teach your audience how to do something.  At the end of that post, merely give the reader a link to a product that can help them to get better results, faster results, etc. 
3)  REMEMBER:  No matter what, you are talking like an EXPERT in your group.  As your relationships grow, and as people begin to think of you as a credible expert in your group, it will be even easier for people to see you as an infuencer and they will almost immediately follow your recommendations.

As with groups that you join that were started by other people, keep the number of threads that you start yourself down to a minimum.  Instead, go into the forum and respond to the questions being asked by other members rather than starting new threads yourself.  This is how you become an expert in your niche.

You can give advice or if you have a product that is a solution for those in your market, you can simply show them how your product solves their problem.  This low key way of making sales can indirectly give tips to your market, helping once again, to allow you become an expert and an influencer.

This will allow you to drive a ton of traffic back to your website or blog, where you will be able to turn those visitors into subscribers and purchasers of your low end, entry level product.

Once you have had an opportunity to see what works in your niche and in your business, develop a system for driving traffic (and sales) consistently.  Your system could look something like this:

a)  Add 100 friends per day, inviting each one to join my group
b)  Placing a graphic for your group in the upper right corner of your profile.  This will allow people to find the Group quickly and easily.
c)  Each day, visit a certain number of groups started by others and create a certain number of posts on each group. I recommend visiting 5 to 8 groups each day, making 1 to 4 posts on each one.  NOTE:  Don’t forget to include yur signature line!

Momre than anything — Have a good time while doing this on Facebook!  It doesn’t need to be difficult at all.

Also, keep in mind that your efforts on Facebook are only 1 tiny portion of your overall traffic generation system for your business.  Your total “system” for driving traffic might look like this:

*  Post a new article on your blog each day.  Your RSS Feed application will show the new post on your Facebook profile almost immediately.
*  Ping the search engines
*  Add your blog post to various social bookmarking sites each day.
*  Comment on at least 5 blogs with a PR rank of 5 or better each day.  Include both a link to your blog and an invitation to join your Facebook Group.
*  Visit at least 5 forums in your niche each day.  Invite those members (either through a new thread or through a comment on an existing thread) to chat more about the topic in your Facebook Group.
*  etc.

There are many different things that you can include in your traffic generation plan.  You want to keep it as simple as possible while at the same time, maximizing the number of visitors you bring in from your efforts.

The key here is CONSISTENCY!  Make sure that you are doing something each and every day to drive even more traffic.

Stay tuned for Part 5 of Using Facebook.

To Your Abundant Online Success!

Gina Gaudio-Graves

Using Facebook to Generate Exposure For Your Business – http://askggg.com/blog/2008/03/06/the-latest-craze-in-social-networking-part-1/
Adding Friends To Your Facebook Account – http://askggg.com/blog/2008/03/07/the-latest-craze-in-social-networking-part-2/

Hopefully, you have had the time now to start your Facebook or use some of the tips given earlier.

Today, I wanted to fill you in on how to incorporate your blogs into your Facebook profile.

By doing this, it is another great way to get potential customers to read what you have written and start building a relationship with them.  In other words, using your Facebook profile in this way will drive more traffic to your website.

Also, adding a link to your blog on your Facebook profile is a great way to get an external link on your Facebook Page.

So how do you add you blog to your Facebook page?

You’re going to want to use your RSS Feed to do this.  That way, each time you add a new post to your blog, it will automatically appear in your profile.  Visitors will even be able to subscribe to your feed directly from your Facebook page.

To add the RSS Feed application to your profile, open a new tab or window in your browser, so that you have 2 windows to work in.  Open your Facebook profile in one window and in the other, go to http://www.Facebook.com/apps

This page lists all of the applications available for use in Facebook.  It will sort those applications by recently popular, most activity, most active users and newest.  This allows you to see what others are using.

You can search for any application you may be looking for.  In this case, you want to search for “blogging”.

This will bring up all the applications that are available to you. Pick which one that you think will benefit you the most.  The one that I like the best is “Blog RSS Feed Reader“.

Once you have added the application, then go to the add + link.  This will bring up a page that will allow you to add the feed as well as a link to your website.

You’ll see a ton of different options.  This covers things like how many posts you want to show at one time, how often you want the feed to be updated, etc. 

You’ll want to show at least 5 posts and have the feed updated at least once per day (more often if you blog a lot more frequently).  This way, each time that you post to your blog this application will populate it into Facebook for you!

This feature really allows you to expand the use of your Facebook account and let your friends see what your doing. 

REMEMBER, your friends could be may become some of your many new customers.

If you’re doing a good job of monetizing your blog, the new traffic should bring in sales as well.  Now your job is to add more friends to your Facebook profile each and every day, helping to bring even more visitors to your website.

Stay tuned for more to come on using Facebook.

Are you ready for a few more tips on using Facebook?

Hopefully, you have had a chance to register for Facebook and you have poked around to check it out.

Today let’s talk about adding friends and business contacts and why you would want to do that.

First off, WHY do you want to have friends in Facebook?

When you have friends in Facebook, it’s the equivalent to adding subscribers to your list. You are able to send messages to your friends through your Facebook account.

For businesses, this has some exciting possibilities.

One feature of Facebook is that you can add a “page� to promote your product or service. Each time you add a page, you are then able to let your friends know about it.

As your friends come over to check out that page, they are able to become “fans� of the page if they like it.

Your fans can often times turn into some of your most loyal customers … especially since you’ll be working on developing a relationship with them through your Facebook account.

Now let’s take a look at HOW you build your friends on Facebook.

Let’s think a little outside the box on how you can do this ….

To start off, find the names of some of the experts in your niche. Log into Facebook and search for them. If they are already a member, ask them to join you as a friend.

Next, take a look at your “Contacts� list in your email program. I’ll bet that you have a number of contacts that you talk to on a regular basis. Add them to your Facebook friends.

If your contacts don’t have a Facebook account, encourage them to join.

You can do the same thing with your Instant Messenger accounts, your subscriber list if you have one, etc. Go to each contact and ask them to join you as a friend on Facebook.

In return, they get one more friend, “YOU!� You’ll want to make sure that you respond when they tell you about their pages too so that your relationship isn’t one-sided.

Doesn’t this sound like a win-win proposition?

Once you have a number of friends on Facebook, page through their friends lists. Facebook shows you how many friends you have in common and lists the names of common friends.

Chances are, though, that you won’t have more than a couple of common friends with any one of them at first. Go through the person’s full friends list and invite each one to join you as a friend. This should add a TON of friends to your account.

One word of caution … You can become overwhelmed, and even distracted from the focus of building your business, if you spend too much time or effort on building your friends on Facebook.

This should be a PART of your overall traffic generation plan. It should NOT be the sole method of building a business.

When used in this way, Facebook can be a great way to generate traffic to your website!

Stay tuned for Part 3 of “The Latest Craze In Social Networking�!

To Your Abundant Online Success!

Gina Gaudio-Graves

Well, the latest news is that Facebook in the next year will surpass My Space, basically leaving it in the dust.

Facebook really can be a benefit in building relationships and promoting your business. I am here to tell you it is not just another social site, it’s so much more! All the great benefits will certainly amaze you.

You can actually have fun building your profile and pages. I now understand why it will rise above My Space and possibly even dominate the social sites eventually.

Facebook can be just as addicting and exciting as My Space is to the younger generation.

The first tip I can give you is to keep your profile on a more personal level. The opportunity to promote your business and or products comes later.

When you’re first signing up for Facebook and getting your profile ready, keep it simple.

Look at Facebook as a way to wind down from the day or as an outlet during a challenging day. You’ll want to be careful not to let it become a distraction that ends up wasting the entire day for you!

There are tons of features in Facebook, some of which will help you get exposure for your business … from incorporating your blogs to having a virtual pet that your friends can come pet and feed.

The features tend to go from one extreme to the other. But hey, no one said that things have to be all work and no play.

Rather than keep you reading here on my blog, why not head over to Facebook and get your profile set up right now?

As the old Nike commercial says, ”Just Do It!”

Remember, keep it simple and look at this as a positive influence on building your business.

Have Fun!

Gina Gaudio-Graves
The JV Queen

Don’t forget to add me as a friend on Facebook! After you have your profile set up and you’ve added pages for your products, drop me a comment here on my blog with the link to your Facebook profile. I’d love to check out what you’ve done!

Ordinarily, I don’t share subscribers emails with my readers.  But in this case, you can learn a lot about blogging by reading my answer.

Here’s what Wade wrote:

I’d like to ask for your > assistance on my “WordPress Blog”.

It is listed at  “Wadeg.wordpress.com”. I need some

feedback and  assistance in jumpstarting the generating of

income. I need some constructive critisim. Could I make a
 product out of my content?

Thank you,
Wade

Amused, I said, “Oh, yeah?  Where do you see that?”

“Well, ‘Band of Bloggers’ sounds like something you’re doing with your coaching students.  That’s the name of the show that’s on The History Channel later tonight,” he said.

We both got a good chuckle about that, and proceeded to watch a Pay Per Vieiw movie.

I almost forgot about the joke.  But later in the afternoon on the next day, he left the TV playing when he went to do his errands.  While he was gone, “Band of Bloggers” happened to be replayed.

As I went on with my day, I happened to overhear a commentator asking “What is this new fascination with blogging?” and was instantly drawn to turn up the sound.

The “Band” in “Band of Bloggers” refers to the members of the military who have turned to blogging to keep from being bored on the front lines in Iraw and Afghanistan. 

According to the “Band” in the show, life in these war torn, unsafe countries can be very monotonous.  Soldiers must be alert at all times, but often have nothing to do but sit waiting while hoping for nothing to happen.

To keep from going stir-crazy, many have started their own blogs.  This also helps them to keep in touch with people in the “real world” at the same time.

As marketers, we can learn a lot from the lessons in “Band of Bloggers” and from the soldiers-turned bloggers on the front iines.  In fact, if you get a chance to catch the reply of “Band of Bloggers” on The History Channel (channel 269 on Direct TV), I strongly recommend that you don’t miss it!

What can we, as marketers, learn from these non-marketing soldiers?

I visited several blogs from soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan including “This War And Me” written by “Frontline Fobbit”. 

Fobbit talks about watching as his readership grows.  He talks about watching to see how many other blogs have linked to his.  In general, he talked about getting RESULTS from his blogging.

And results he is sure getting, too!  This guy has had 1,873 visitors to his blog just since October 21^st!  That’s more than a lot of my students get to their blogs in an entire quarter!

There was one thing that I noticed about EVERY blog that I visited, though.  That one common theme was simple …

… Every single one of these blogs gave incredibly GREAT content for FREE!

There was one other thing that I noticed about these blogs, too.  They were all extremely professional.  They were clean, simple, two-column themes.  Nothing fancy, but they looked neat.  They almost made you want to read even more.

And … every single one of them told a story.

The stories were riveting.  They drew the reader in.  You wanted to read.  Heck, you NEEDED to read!

These were not blogs filled with hype.

These were not blogs filled with ads.  (In fact, I saw almost no advertising on any of the blogs that I visited — not even AdSense!)

Sure, some of these soldiers are building lists from their blogs.  And a few are selling affiliate products from their blogs.  But here’s the one REALLY big thing that every one of them ARE doing …

Every one of these blogs builds solid relationships with its readers.

That is SO important!  That is what determines whether a blog is successful.

And, it’s not just the miliary personnel getting in on the movement.  Their families are blogging as well.

One mother has started a blog called “Some Soldier’s Mom”.  It’s another example of a great blog that gets a TON of traffic. 

This one is also building great relationships with the readers.  The blog even has a Google Page Rank of 4, meaning that it is on it’s way to becoming an “authority site” that will get even more traffic in the coming months.

It’s a shame that these soldiers don’t have anyone coaching them on monetizing their blgos. 

With so much going for them already, and such great relationships being built, all they have to do is to put up a simple opt in box in the sidebar, add a graphical ad for a low end affiliate product, and they would have instant revenue from their efforts.

I know these guys and gals aren’t blogging to make money.  They’re blogging to pass the time.  But doesn’t everyone like money?

Wouldn’t their families enjoy having them make a few hundred, or a few thousand, extra from their blogs?  Absolutely!  You bet they would!

You know — there’s a potential business idea for you right there.

For all those interested in going into internet marketing as a target market, why not be a little more specific and go oafter military bloggers to show them how to monetize their hobbies. 

In fact, the military bloggers can teach all of us marketers a thing or two about traffic while we teach them about monetizing.  It’s the perfect JV just waiting to happen!

I strongly recommend watching some of these military blogs to see how these bloggers are driving traffic to their sites, building relationships with their readers, and turning into authority sites — all because of the stampede of visitors to their blogs. 

As you do, think about how you can use what you see to do the same thing for your own blog!

To Your Abundant Success!

Gina Gaudio-Graves

Let me give you a little background so that you can understand why this is truly “An Opportunity of a Lifetime” …

Tom Bell, the master of “big traffic”, and I are working on a project that kicks off on January 1^st.  I can’t go into all the details yet, but here’s the highlights:

• For 100 days, we will release a video every day with a different expert who will share a different part of the system that you would use to build a milliion dollar business using the power of the internet
• During the 100 days, people will compete to win $100,000 in cash and prizes, with the grand prize being a new, red Ferrari!
• Every day, the contestants will submit a new video through YouTube telling us what they learned that day, what action they took that day, and how much they made that day.
• We expect about 10,000 people to compete in this contest!  The first one to hit $2,739 per day for 14 days straight is the winner!  ($2,739 per day for a year is a million dollars.)

Tom and I have organized a Mastermind Summit that takes place this Sunday, November 4^th, in Manhattan.  We have 20 of the top experts in the world attending this Summit.

During the mastermind, we will discuss what it takes to build a million dollar business using the power of the internet.  The system we lay out will become the foundation of the AllMine2739.com  

The Summit is taking place in a studio in Midtown Manhattan where we will shoot the video that will be used throughout the contest.

Here’s where the “Opportunity of a Lifetime” comes in …

How would YOU like to be a “fly on the wall” of this Million Dollar Mastermind Summit?

The opportunity is STRICTLY LIMITED to only 3 people!

Those who attend will be able to ask questions of the experts at the end of the video.  This is truly an “Opportunity of a Lifetime” for the 3 lucky people to meet experts like:

• Tom Bell
• Mike Filsaime
• Tom Beal
• Ken McArthur
• Ben Mack
• Kevin Nations
• Willie Crawford
• Shawn Casey
• Carl Galletti
• Rick Beneteau
• Tellman Knudson
• Socrates Socratous
• and several others!

Of course, I’ll be there as well!

Here’s how it works …

To secure your seat, you will make a deposit of $2,500.  You can do this on your credit card if you’d like.  But that is NOT what your actual cost will be.

What you’ll actually pay is a portion of the actual costs of the Mastermind Summit.  That means that if 3 people attend, you’ll pay 1/3 of those costs.  If you are the only one attending, you’ll pay for all of it.

You see, we will not be making a penny on this!  We are inviting 3 lucky people just to cover the cost associated with the Summit.

The actual costs are expected to be between $2,000 and $2,500, so the most you will be out of pocket is the full amount of your deposit. 

But we’re watching expenses carefully on this so if 3 people accept this opportunity, you’ll actually pay much less.

Quite honestly, we could charge $5,000 to attend this once in a lifetime Mastermind Summit and we’d get it too!  But we are not going to do that because this isn’t about making money for ourselves.

The entire contest is being organized to create as many millionaires as possible in only 100 days!  It is about making YOU successful!  What better way to get started than to invite you to attend the Mastermind Summit?

To register for your seat, visit:

http://askggg.com/summit

Then leave a comment on this blog and let me know you’ll be there!

Do NOT miss this “Opportunity of a Lifetime”!  It is your ticket to success in building a million dollar business using the power of the internet!

To Your Abundant Success!

Gina Gaudio-Graves (& Tom Bell)

NOTE:  All refunds will be made on Friday, November 9, 2007.  Here’s how it works …

Once we know what the actual costs are at the end of the event, we will refund a portion of that deposit to each person who made the deposit.  In other words, we currently expect total costs to be around $2,500 for the entire shoot.  If we have 3 people take us up on this offer, that would be a total deposit of $7,500.

If the total costs come out to only $2,000, then we will divide that by the number of people who have made a deposit (in this case 3), and refund the difference to you.  So in this example, it would cost you only $667 and the difference of $1,833 would be refunded to you.

Good luck finding YOUR million dollar idea!

“The air is full of ideas.
They are knocking you in the head all the time!”
Henry Ford

I’m sure you’ve heard that old saying that “ideas are a dime a dozen”.

For some, finding profitable ideas comes easily.  These are usually the people who are millionaires already.

For others, finding that perfect idea can be a challenge.  These are usually people who try one thing, move to another, and rarely ever reach a goal.

Sure, there are a few people that are in between these two categories.  These are the people who are working 9 to 5 jobs and happy to be there.  They aren’t the “idea people”. 

They are the workers and they do damned good work. Without them, few people would ever reach their millionaire status from implementing their million d’ollar ideas.

Regardless of which of these 3 categories you fall into, you’re going to reach the time when you need (or want) to find a new idea for SOMETHING!

Maybe you want to redecorate the house.
Maybe you want to re-landscape your yard.
Maybe you have some big “problem” that you need a
solution to.
Maybe you want to create a new product.

What will you do to find your idea?

Everywhere I go, I keep a small notebook with me. It’s a special notebook.

One side of the paper has graph paper on it.  The other side has lined paper.

The notebook is made by Cambridge and I purchase it at Walgreens for about $3.  It has 80 yellow pages in it.  I’ve used so many of these notebooks over the years!  They’re my “idea books”.  You can see this at: 

http://www.askggg.com/notebook

(That’s not an affiliate link!  Just a handy way to show you the notebook!)

In my purse, I always have the following tools:
… Pencil
… Black Pen
… Red Pen
… Ruler

Whenever I’m sitting in the car (I don’t drive, so I’m always a passenger), talking to my husband at dinner (we eat out 7 days a week), waiting to get into an appointment …

I’m ALWAYS drawing, doodling, jotting down notes, plans, lists, flowcharts, etc.

It’s rare for me to be stumped for an idea because I have THOUSANDS of pages of these notes & drawings that I can look back to when I need an idea.

While sitting in a restaurant recently, I happend to see the cover of a local magazine that had a great listing of “idea joggers” on it.

Maybe one of these will help you come up with that perfect idea for yourself as well!

_________________________________

“Where will you find YOUR million dollar idea?”

Take a long drive going nowhere.
Dare yourself until you scare yourself.
Make your own face book of self portraits.
Collect scraps, ephemera, odds and ends to brew a “Creative Stew”.

Mind map a problem or a pipe dream.
Flowchart EVERYTHING!  Every step of every process.
Every piece of every puzzle!

Roam outside your range … explore quarks, reincarnation, Louis IV, Louise Brooks movies, Siberian nomads, Jungian archetypes.

Don’t leave home without a blank page.
Turn off streaming video / tune into stream-of-consciousness.

Make something with your hands to give your left brain a rest.
Go shopping when you’re stuck.

Be a list maker …
… of memorable meals
… what you’ve lost
… all things blue
… the best days of your life.

Ignore nay-sayers and They-sayers.
Free associate.
Hang out with outsiders.
Form a mastermind group of like minded individuals.

Hit mute more often.

Be open to Enlightenment in the driveway,
Astonishment at your desk,
Inspiration at the supermarket.

Work til it hurts.
Always be en route to Eureka!

_________________________________

That isn’t EXACTLY what it said in the newspaper article.  I’ve added a few of my own “idea generators” to the list as well.

I can tell you from my own personal experience …
These idea joggers work!

The KEY to coming up with a profitable idea?

Well, there are 2 actually:

1)  Think OUTSIDE the box.  Don’t come up with the same old thing that everyone else is doing.  Be unique!

2)  On the internet today, CONTENT is the KEY to everything!  It’s THE KEY to …
Building Relationships.
Building a list.
Driving Traffic.
And in the end, making m’oney.

When you have GREAT content, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING else is possible using the power of the internet!

After all, it’s called the “information super highway” for a reason, right?

That’s all that content is … information!

My friend, Jonathan Leger, shares his “secret resource” for getting GREAT content for practically nothing, in his $1 Idea Report.  You’ll find it at:

—> http://www.askggg.com/ideasc

Stay tuned for more ideas for generating short term & long termm success!

To Your Abundant Success!

Gina Gaudio-Graves

P.S.  In my next post, I’ll share with you the million dollar idea that star copywriter, Carl Galletti, came up with after reading my email & Jonathan’s One Dollar Idea that I shared with you above.  Make sure that you share your million dollar idea with me in a comment!