Look At New Site 5 Sassy Women Created Together Since Nams

[gr8money]

I think we all agree that the enthusiasm and energy is incredibly high while at NAMS. Continuing once you get home is critical. (imho)
Its amazing what can come out of the synergies at a conference like NAMS.
Anyway, 5 women came up with this idea, over wine & dinner one evening, and then took action. Being unveiled here today:
http://wisewomenandwine.com

Take a look, leave us a message or comment please. We would love to hear your thoughts or suggestions.
As Bob the Teacher says: take action, revise later. That is exactly what we did! And it's working nicely so far, but we know we need to keep improving. We mastermind every two weeks what our next steps are. So if you have any ideas for us...we are all ears!
The 5 Women:Laurie Gaudino, Gretchen Jack, Lisa Mason, Judy Mick and Pattie Winkler.
We invite all of you to share a wine with us at NAMS7. who knows what will happen next?!

Gretchen Jack

http://conquersugarcravings.com

[KaronThackston]

Good for you! That looks very nice, Gretchen. And what a unique concept. And it looks like you've got some folks joining in your conversations already.

A couple of things that came to mind:

1. If you're specifically looking to start conversations, I'd suggest ending your posts with a question that encourages others to participate.

2. Judy's bio (in the left-hand sidebar) is the only one written in 3rd person. All the others are in 1st person. You probably want them all to match.

3. You might want to have at least a few posts that are a little longer so you can submit them as articles to some of the directories. That could bring you some traffic.

4. If your focus is wine, I'd try to incorporate wine somehow into each post. More than just saying that you're drinking wine while writing. The banner says, "Wise women and wine" but many of your posts had very little to do with wine.

Overall, I like it! Great job ladies!

[ChristineCobb]

Are you all going to start a list? If so will you use someone's existing A/R account or start a new one?

[David_Perdew]

Gretchen - this is really cool. I'm really glad to hear you guys are doing this. Are you going to sell products here as well or advertising?

[KevinRiley]

http://wisewomenandwine.com


Your subject is wine? I'm all over it, LOL.

I like the fact that you have all of your pictures down the left-hand column. I hate going to a blog and never seeing the writer(s). Those pics make, IMO, an important connection. Probably one of the main reasons I started following 101 Cookbooks a long time ago.

The only criticism I have (and this would be the artist in me grumbling here) is that I think your chosen blog theme looks too cold and technical for the subject. IMO, needs some warming up. Here's my own recipe site, which uses the Flexx Apple Spice theme with my own small modifications, for an example (Yes, I may be wrong, but I've been told my readers like the atmosphere): http://InTheDevilsKitchen.com

I think it's the deep red and the red date thingys that add warmth to my blog. That's what I am missing on yours. Esp. with the wine theme, maybe even just adding a red background that looks like wine could get rid of the corporate look.

[KevinRiley]

http://conquersugarcravings.com

Just looked at your other site and see that you are using the Flexx theme there. Take a look at the Candy Apple and a few other of their themes. They have some good ones for wine and food and down-home type blogs.

[ConnieRagen Green]

I love this thread! First of all, congratulations to Gretchen and the others for taking action. This just shows the power of NAMS. These ladies did not know each until the day before NAMS6 began in August. Through the power of the training and the networking over those several days, a new business and relationships were formed.

Now we get the added benefit of people with years of experience reviewing and critiquing the site, furthering the learning experience for everyone.

Did I mention that I love the NAMS people?

[MtnJimFisher]

cool site!

are you ladies wise because you drink wine, or do you drink wine because you are wise? ;-)

Mtn Jim

[LaurieGaudino]

Wow - Thanks for all the great feedback! Like Gretchen said, we decided to take action and tweak the site as we go.

Karen - thanks for the practical tips for improving the site. Our main objective when starting this was to drive traffic back to our own sites though links in our posts and bios. We have discussed future list building and monetization options, but will work on building a bit of traffic first. We know we need to narrow and fine tune our focus and message.

Kevin - I hopped over to your Devil's Kitchen site to take a look. I do like the brighter more relaxed feel to it. (And all the yummy recipes.) We will definitely take a look at some cosmetic updates.

Jim - its the chicken and the egg... both!

Thanks Connie for bringing us all together! We are having a great time and learning a lot from each other.

David, I think I can speak for all of us when I say we all found NAMS to be an enlightening and enriching experience.

Thanks again for all the good feedback! Much appreciated.

Laurie

[gr8money]

I am so happy that Laurie answered first. Ditto for me all that she said.

Chris: We did talk about doing an opt-in box for list building, but, then the issue of whose a/r we would use, etc etc came into play. Since we are so new and just building, we opted ( no pun intended) to just use an rss feed for now and once we see where the traffic is coming from. Plus there is the issue of whose a/r we would use or start a new one, which is the wiser choice.

Those are all things in the works. But I guess what we are most proud of: is taking action, working together, learning from each other and moving forward.

I personally can not thank David Perdew enough for running such a fabulous seminar where the focus is on teaching and learning and not just selling us something. And I think its fairly safe to say we all bought stuff from the people there cause we got to know, like and trust them.

And a special thanks to connie ragen green for having a brainstorming gathering the day before Nams started. We were all wound up and ready to go.

Kevin: yes I have Flexx theme on ConquerSugarCravings.com cause a mentor put it there for me. I actually started with something else, and am still getting warmed up with the flexx theme. I see what you mean by the colors, and we are going to talk about that at our next mastermind call. Appreciate your input.

We are working steady and forward. We all wish we had more time....but isn't that always the case. And remember: we are newbies!

Gretchen Jack

ConquerSugarCravings.com

PS: I just got my very 1st FREE report out: http://dietfreechick.com/reports/21daystoweightloss.pdf

[DebGallardo]

Looking forward to meeting up with you ladies at the next NAMS and maybe sharing a glass of wine with you! Love this. Deb

[PattiWinker]

Thanks, Gretchen, for posting this on the forum. And thanks, Laurie, for replying so fast. AND... thanks to everyone for your nice words of encouragement and for your ideas and suggestions. Yes, we definitely are a work in progress. Like my dear daughter Nicole (Nicole Dean, for those who don't know me) says "You don't have to be perfect to be profitable." You also don't have to be perfect to just get that blog up there. :D

We are trying to feel our way through this. I like the ideas shared here (and the extra eyes on the blog to spot glitches.) Because we are not wine connoisseurs (or at least I'm not), we are keeping our topics generally speaking "gals over 50 sitting around enjoying wine and chatting." Sort of what happens when you put together some "wise women and wine." Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always talking.

There's a TV program here called something like "YadaYada." It's these 2 gals over 50 who sit and talk over some huge glasses of wine. It's fun chatter but also covers timely topics, as well as what wine they're drinking.

Yes, our main objective when we started this was to find a place to chat together (rather than just guest blog posting) over a glass of wine and drive traffic to our individual blogs or products.

Thank you again for all the encouragement and suggestions. Yes, NAMS is like no other "conference" I've ever been to or heard about. Thanks for all you do, David, and all!

[garyfromdurham]

Great site....and I know that my business partner Wendy will LOVE it ha ha

You are right to get it up and running and then refine it as you go along. Our blog is constantly evolving as we make little tweaks here and little tweaks there.

Wish you ladies much success.

Gary

[drmani]

Take a look, leave us a message or comment please. We would love to hear your thoughts or suggestions.

Lovely site.

One quick suggestion. The bios, as they're displayed on the front page, require an extra 'click' to get an idea of the person.

Is there a shorter bio, kind of like the one you get on Twitter, that encapsulates the essence right on the visible portion of the screen? Might give a first-time reader a more complete picture of what each wise woman is.

e.g.

Laurie Gaudino - Gardening junky. Outdoors gal. Loves wine. And so...

Lisa Mason - Gunslinger of the Wild West turned wine connoiseur. How? Well,...

Patty Winker - Adventurer. Stirs things up. Tries crazy things. Like...

Just a suggestion. Hope the descriptions don't offend, in any sense :)

All success
Dr.Mani

[nicoledean]

"Laurie Gaudino - Gardening junky. Outdoors gal. Loves wine. And so...

Lisa Mason - Gunslinger of the Wild West turned wine connoiseur. How? Well,...

Patty Winker - Adventurer. Stirs things up. Tries crazy things. Like..."

LOVE this idea, Dr. M. :)
N