Hi, welcome to Friday on the Mona Lisa Million Project!
Today I’m excited because I feel I’m getting back on top of things after my week (and a bit) in hibernation. I’m still getting used to the idea that I’m returning to work soon and frantically seeking to set up systems to ensure I can keep on top of the project.
The redesign was part of that process and I’ll continue to make changes as we go.
I’ve managed to get some of the data under the sidebar headings so that it’s easier to get a snapshot of what’s happening. I really like this because it gives people an extra way to click through to the sites associated with the project. I also like it because the information will change frequently and ensure there’s always something fresh and new to see on the front page.
Another part of the process is to have a formatted daily update post and this is my first version. I hope that it will help me to structure what I’m doing whilst also being a permanent record of the progress of the project.
I’m also excited to bring to your attention two sites newly added to the Mona Lisa, C’est la Vie and What Will Julia Do Next? you can see a brief introduction to each of them below.
What is the Mona Lisa Million Project?
The aim of the project is to create something worth talking about. To that end the goal of the the Mona Lisa Million Project is to raise a cool One Million Dollars! That’s pretty spectacular in its own right but it’s even more remarkable because 25% of the income will be donated to good causes every month.
How will the money be raised? Well, that’s also worth talking about because the money will be raised by selling the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa, to people who want some absolutely cracking promotion for their website or online business.
This is a unique project offering real value to sponsors. It’s not just ownership of a piece of the Mona Lisa, it’s also the in-post mentions as I update the progress of the project on the blog along with the opportunity to have a featured post dedicated solely to you, your site, service or product. Get your site on the Mona Lisa now!
MONA LISA MILLION STATS
Total Sections: 956
Active : 47
Reserved: 9
Available: 900
Needed to reach $1,000,000: $999,998
Hey! you gotta start somewhere!
Donated to good causes so far: $0 
It’s early days yet!! Hang on in there 
Top Sponsor: $1.04 but the sponsor hasn’t yet taken up the option – GRID REF: R4/20 SITE: N/A TWITTER: N/A FACEBOOK: N/A
Most Sections Owned (By Site): N/A (yet)
Most voted for page: Feature not yet available
AVAILABILITY ON THE MONA LISA
Shortly sections will be sold for a fixed price and as demand increases so too will the price.
But right now at this moment sections in the outer three rings are free but there are certain conditions. Only one free section per individual, you must agree to write a blog post about this project and you must be a genuine person with a genuine site/service/business. I won’t link out to adult themes, ‘pharm’, get rich quick, gambling, etc.
JUST ADDED TO THE MONA LISA
C’est la Vie
Tara is a 20-something, cat loving, boyfriend having, geocaching, South Africa living, lovely friendly individual who loves to see comments on her blog. Go there and leave some!
What Will Julia Do Next?
Julia lives in the very beautiful South West of England. A retired headteacher who proudly declares that she’s “Retired but not retiring” – you have to love that kind of attitude! Julia is still very engaged in the education system and is currently a school governor. If you think you can handle the pace, pop across and say hello to Julia.
Tara and Julia, welcome to the project! 
There’ll be more newly added sites on Monday.
OTHER RECENT ADDITIONS
Mona Lisa Missing – The Truth about Vincenzo Peruggia and the Unthinkable Theft of the Mona Lisa
Vegemitevix – A Kiwi expat in the UK licking the Vegemite off life’s fingers
Richard M Potter – Writer, musician, husband, father, and very grateful adopted son of God.
Fluttering Butterflies – 1001 Books to Read Before You Die
Greysqrl – Stunning photography
The Bump Wear Project – There’s more to maternity clothing
Bringing Up Charlie – Another year in the life of a stay at home dad
The Fantasy Decorator – …if money were no object
Cherished By Me – A chocoholic single mother of five children
EarlyQuip – Baby Changing Station and Baby Changing Table Suppliers
Gift Wrapped & Gorgeous – for a gift less ordinary
Mummy’s Busy World, By Me, Little M – all things relating to bilingual and expat families
TODAY’S FEATURED POSTS
There’s no featured today, but just so you know, everyone with a site on the Mona Lisa is encouraged to submit a dedicated post to showcase themselves their site and their business.
The good news is I have finally completed the questionnaire I’ve been thrteatening to send to those of you with sites on the project. It’s been a long time in the making and when I look at it I can’t understand why I didn’t get it done in five minutes flat! Tsk. No matter, it’s done now and I’ll send it out over the weekend.
As soon as I start getting responses I’ll start publishing the featured posts.
GOOD CAUSES
Clearly until I start to sell the sections of the Mona Lisa there’s no income to share with good causes, but that will change, and in this part of the daily update I’ll be inviting you to nominate and vote for which cause you would like to see benefit from this project each month. I’ll bring you news of poll results and news of how the donations are being used.
WHO’S SAYING WHAT?
I see plenty of people saying really good things about this project in email, comments,Twitter and various other places and I’ll use this part of the update to share some of them.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Like it or not big numbers hold sway with people, and whilst it would be nice to pretend I don’t care whether I have one or one thousand subscribers, it’s not true, I do care. I care because numbers are important to the success of this project. The more social proof people see, the more likely they are to subscribe because they instantly feel there’s something worth subscribing to. And there’s the point… I wouldn’t ask you to do this if there wasn’t something worth subscribing to.
Let me be open about this, the subscriber count is currently 42 and I’d love to turn that number into 100. Perhaps you can help by subscribing or asking a friend to subscribe. All help greatly appreciated.
Help me build the subscriber count – Subscribe via RSS or Email and get updates automatically.
THANK YOU
I don’t know why it is, but I feel compelled to say thank you quite a lot. Sometimes I have the time to do it on an individual basis and sometimes it a more general blanket thank you, but it’s important to me to have somewhere to say it, so I’ll do it here.
Thanks you to all of you who have kept me company for the last two weeks with comments and emails and offers of help and support. It’s done me the world of good and helped to fire my enthusiasm.
SHARE IT
The more you share this site and the blog, the more people will come and see what we’re up to.
They’ll see the great sites on the Mona Lisa, they’ll see the the sites in the sidebars, they’ll see what you have to say in the comments section and they’ll more than likely follow the links back to your sites.
It would be particularly helpful if you could Stumble, Digg or Tweet but there are a range of sharing options below for your convenience.
Thanks for reading
Dave
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