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About Us 2007 is when I began creating niche stores. Many kind and giving people shared their knowledge with me, making it easier to improve my sites. I have gathered much of what I've learned and put it here, on this site, as a way of giving back. It is my hope that this site will help you improve your niche stores and sites, too. ~ Rochelle
Am I Making Money with Crowd Mountain’s Methods Yet?
Posted by
Rochelle in Niche Store Tools, Site Building Strategies, Site Promotion Strategies on
04 24th, 2009 | 10 responses 
This morning, someone emailed me and asked if I am making money yet from the site’s I’ve created following the Crowd Mountain (CM) Bootcamp teachings. It was a good question, so I am sharing my answer here.
The truth is, yes I am, and no I’m not.
Yes, I’ve made money since following Michelle’s instructions, but it is on a site that was already up and running. I think I’ve written about this site previously. Michelle actually worked with me on this site when she was my mentor, but I couldn’t get it any higher than the #13 position in Google, meaning it was on the second page of results. (For the record, what Michelle had me do when she mentored me was no where near as detailed and helpful as what is taught in CM.) After this site peaked at #13, it then fell waaaay low in results, and was in the 40s and 50s for results of my main keyword.
After joining CM I modified this site, based on the CM Bootcamp training. Since doing that, the rankings for this site have gone from being pretty low in Google to number four on page one (it was even in the number three spot two days ago, before going back to #4). As a result of this, my Google AdSense earnings have gone up significantly (from just a few cents a day to several dollars a day).
My Google AdSense Earnings from 2008 and 2009
Here is a screen shot of my Google AdSense earnings from 2008:
Now, here is a screen shot of my earnings so far in 2009:
As you can see, I’ve already beat my total amount earned from 2008, and there are still eight months left in 2009. As I continue to apply the methods from CM, I expect my daily average earnings from this site to also go up. I even had my first day of earning over $7 last week. That was a great day!
Visitors to This Site in 2008 and 2009
The reason why I’ve earned more in Google AdSense is simple. My site is getting more visitors now that this site is ranking at #4 on page one of Google search results for my sites’s main keyword phrase.
Here’s a screen shot of the 2008 visitor stats vs. 2009 visitor stats for this site:
We are only four months into 2009 and already the stats are blowing away ALL of 2008! That’s because of the steps I’ve taken over the past two months from Michelle in CM Bootcamp.
That being said, CM is really a long-term kind of thing. Yes, it is possible to apply what Michelle teaches to sites you already have (as I did on the above example). But, if you join, the focus of the Bootcamp modults is to create new sites and have them setup and optimized properly right from the start.
The first month of CM is researching niches and properly setting up a site. (I admit that I never researched a site before starting one prior to joining CM.) I have created two new sites following the strategies from CM. Those sites are not yet making money, but I don’t expect them to yet. What I do today on these new sites won’t start showing me results for at least 30 days.
Plus, I’ve been putting more focus on my current site (the one discussed above) over my new ones, which means it will take that much longer for the new ones to rank for the keywords I’m targeting. But, I’m confident they will do well, as I am already getting organic traffic from Google on them.
Therefore, my answer to whether or not I am making money based on what I’m learning in Crowd Mountain is yes and no. I know that some of you are also CM members. How are your sites doing so far?
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10 Responses to “Am I Making Money with Crowd Mountain’s Methods Yet?”
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Hi Rochelle,
Glad to hear your investment is paying off.
It sounds like all the advice you’re receiving is top notch stuff. I’d really like to join, but I just can’t justify the $49 per month at the moment.
Mick
Mick,
I totally understand on the cost. I had to make sure my husband was on board. I told him I was earning my Internet Marketing degree, and that this was going to cost a LOT less than when I got my Business Administration degree ; )
Rochelle
Rochelle,
I have been thinking about it that way,too. The training you have to get is essentially getting another degree. The Crowd Mountain training just helps you stay focused on the most important things and keeps you from wasting as much time looking at all the other options for learning.
I love the way Michelle has set it up so that you only have access to one new module per week. That, too, keeps me focused and helps me learn one thing at a time, and gives me time to makes some progress applying what I am learning.
Julie,
At first, I really wanted to get to the next module sooner. Now, though, I really appreciate that she keeps them at one week intervals, for the reason you gave. If I had been given access to them all at once, I wouldn’t have gone through each one in its entirety, and I probably would have given up because it would have been overwhelming. One each week is the perfect pace.
Rochelle
Making money with Adsense it’s becoming harder and harder. Couple of years ago, Adsense program was really hot
Nowdays, affiliate earnings are much more rewarding. More and more publishers go into CPA networks everyday. Adsense is paying penny per clicks .. Too bad .. I actually enjoyed it while it lasted.
CPA,
I have tried to make money with AdSense for about 10 years. I read such and such ebook and I paid for this or that ebook. None of it worked for me (I didn’t know the basics about creating a site, which was the problem). This is the first time I’ve consistently made money with AdSense. Sure, it’s not much, but I’m willing to take $60-$70 per month as long as I can.
This particular site has not been able to convert ANY other method of monetizing. Seriously. I’ve added eBay and Amazon items, Clickbank affiliate items, BANS, and something else that I no longer remember. For some reason, AdSense is what works for that site.
That being said, I’m actually in the process of adding a Datafeedr store to this site. I figure, why not? I’ve tried just about everything else. It will be interesting to see how it does, or if AdSense remains the only way to make money with this site. One thing I noticed is that the Datafeedr store looks so much more professional, so much better, than any of the other methods I’ve tried.
Rochelle
So, this does sound like a marketing class. I had a friend use CM and she liked it, but once her business picked up she let her website go a little bit. It is hard to keep up with business and website tools, but at least she is making money.
Hi Rochelle,
I’m quite keen to sign up for the CM after reading through some of your posts and the comments. But I’ve a few queries which I hope you could help.
1) Content
To me, content generation is a teething problem. I’m currently also looking at PLRPro PGB but is hesitating due to the relatively high fees. May I know how does CM teach content generation? Is it through buying PLR articles and rewriting them, or simply outsource articles writing through Elance, etc. Unique articles are not cheap in the market (even when bought in bulk), as far as I know.
2) Monetization
I read from the CM sales page that it covers various methods of monetization like AdSense, Contextual Advertising, CPA Networks, Affiliate Promotions, etc. May I know are all these effectively covered in the program? My concern is because I read from the above comments that most of your income is generated through AdSense.
3) Help/Advice
If I were to sign up CM through your affiliate link, may I know is it okay to contact (email) you for help/advice while going through the CM program?
All right. Hope you can help with my above 3 queries. Thanks.
Lynn,
My apologies for not responding sooner – I only just now saw your comment post.
1) CM teaches does not teach how to purchase PLR articles or to outsource (though I believe Michelle will go over outsourcing at a later date, but hasn’t yet). She teaches how to research the best keywords for your site’s niche and how to find the best longtail keywords that you can use to create posts.
2) I think I need to clarify. I have one site that Michelle worked with me on prior to CM (when she was my mentor) and nothing I did would convert to earnings for me. After joining CM I have been able to start earning with AdSense. AdSense remains the only way I can convert anything on this particular site, but the steps I have taken since joining CM have bumped this site up to the #3 spot in Google for the main keyword phrase. As my site has gone up in Google’s search results, so have my AdSense earnings. As of this month, I have earned $74.86 in AdSense. While this isn’t enough to live off of, it is certainly encouraging that I am taking the right steps and learning the proper ways to optimize and promote a site. I have several other sites that are eBay or Datafeedr sites. I’ve pretty much given up on BANS and got rid of all but two of my BANS sites. I have basically started from scratch since joining CM and haven’t been earning much with those, yet. The only reason my main earnings are from AdSense is only because that is my oldest, most optimized and traffic generating site at this time.
And so, my answer to your question is: Michelle doesn’t really touch too much on AdSense (she doesn’t really like that method), and I’m not really sure what Contextual Advertising is to know if she covers it well or not. Her focus is on how to find affiliate programs that will be best for a particular site, then how to properly set up your site to encourage people to make a purchase from the affiliate program. Her focus is not on affiliate sites, such as BANS or phpBay Pro, but she did write a 5-part series on how to create and promote Datafeedr sites (a fabulous affiliate site creator that I haven’t written much about but have fallen in love with). She plans on writing additional posts on other affiliate program methods.
3) I’m more than happy to provide help/advice if you join CM. It is probably better to ask questions within the CM site, as I do not want to share more information than I should outside of the site. If you post a question, you can direct it to me. You might also want to send me an email to make sure I see your question. Then, I will answer your question within CM.
I hope these answers are helpful. If not, just let me know what additional clarification you would like.
Rochelle
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