Crowd Mountain, an innovative membership website, was set in motion by Michelle MacPhearson on March 1, 2009.  The purpose of Crowd Mountain is to educate members in all facets of online business building and internet marketing. To achieve this, Michelle has created an Internet bootcamp, which may be an Internet first.  The first thing new members will be able to train from are the six bootcamp modules.  Michelle has created bootcamp training modules that cover:

• Niche the Niche: how to do proper research before beginning a new web site.  Members gain access to a 17-page workbook that can be downloaded and printed, in addition to six training videos.
• Optimize for Size: how to build and SEO (Search Engine Optimize) optimize an internet site for making money.  Members have access to a downloadable workbook, an automatic affiliate profit generating and SEO enhancer plugin, and five downloadable internet site themes that are already SEO optimized and can be used with any type of site.
• Content Architecture: how to decide what variety of content to add to a site, and how to to publish the content.  Members have access to info on what kind of content Google prefers, a custom-tweaked plugin that makes discovering and publishing that content as easy as a few mouse clicks, and a private plugin Michelle had built just for Crowd Mountain members that will make building your internet site around a set of long-tail keywords exceedingly easy.
• Monetization Station: how to make money with a niche site by adding advertising, affiliate programs, or your own stuff.
• Search Engine Assault: how to get Google to love your site and send organic traffic to your website.
• Power Networking: how to use social networking to to be recognized as an authority in your site’s subject.

This is merely a sampling of what Crowd Mountain members have access to.  You can read the rest on the Crowd Mountain website.

How is Crowd Mountain?

At this time, I have only seen and viewed the tutorials available in modules one, “Niche the Niche”, and two, “Optimize for Size”.  This is because Michelle is releasing one module each week, to prevent confusion and information overload.  Because the website is merely a little over a week old (at the time of this writing), these are the only modules available.  So, this Crowd Mountain review is based on two things: the two modules I’ve already seen, and my past experience of Michelle’s coaching.

Considering the two modules I have seen, they are excellent.  Contained in the first module are not one, but three, training videos that instruct how to do keyword research.  The three videos explore three different niches (one niche per video), so viewers get a very good idea of how to do keyword research.

The second module is all about how to properly create a new WordPress blog so that it is SEO’d properly from the get-go. Michelle instructs how to install and setup the plugins that she regards as most significant for website SEO.  I was aware of some of the plugins, but, after watching her videos for them, realized I had been applying them incorrectly.  So, even in an area that I thought I knew, I learned something.

The Task Manager, a tool exclusive to Crowd Mountain members, is one of my favorite items.  Michelle had this program custom made just for this site.  The Task Manager software keeps track of what has and hasn’t been finished on every web site you enter into it.  Most tasks are ones produced by Michelle, but users can add their personalized tasks if they like to include activities that Michelle doesn’t include.  This makes the program completely customizable to each member’s wants or needs.  I am loving this software!

There is also a Snooper program: “The Snooper was made to look inside Google’s algorithm and literally SEE what link building and social media sites Google likes the most. Those are the sites to focus on – if they’re already in favor, piggyback your own sites on them for quick ranking.”  Is it truly as powerful as Michelle claims?  Yes!  Is it really easy to use?  Yes!

Special Bonus for Pioneer Members

Those who join within the first six weeks of the site’s launch will have the unique chance to submit questions to Michelle for each module’s live Q&A, typically held on the Friday after that module’s first appearance.  There is only one Q&A session per module, so don’t miss this chance to ask Michelle anything touching on that week’s module.

As stated by Michelle, “As a pioneer Crowd Mountain member, you’ll actually be able to attend the live session and ask your own, personal questions about the material and get answers directly from me.  Late comers will only get the recorded Q&A and will not be able to ask their personal questions.”

Visit Crowd Mountain and decide if it is right for you.  I can honestly say that everything Michelle states will be delivered, and then some.  Crowd Mountain is an top-notch opportunity to learn, from the ground up, how to earn an income with websites.

Crowd Mountain, an innovative membership web site, was launched by Michelle MacPhearson on March 1, 2009.  The function of Crowd Mountain is to train members in all facets of online business building and site promotion. To achieve this, Michelle has created an Internet bootcamp, which may be an Internet first.  The first thing new members will have access to are the six bootcamp modules.  Michelle has made bootcamp training modules that cover:

• Niche the Niche: how to do accurate research before making a new website.  Members gain access to a 17 page workbook that can be downloaded and printed, in addition to six training videos.
• Optimize for Size: how to develop and SEO (Search Engine Optimize) optimize a site for earning money.  Members gain access to a downloadable workbook, an automatic affiliate profit rendering and SEO enhancer plug-in, and five downloadable internet site themes that are already SEO optimized and can be used for any kind of site.
• Content Architecture: how to decide what sort of content to add to a site, as well as how to to publish the content.  Members have access to data on what type of content Google prefers, a custom-tweaked plug-in that makes finding and publishing that content as easy as easy as ABC, and a private plug-in that Michelle had built just for Crowd Mountain that will make making your internet site around a set of long-tail keywords exceedingly simple.
• Monetization Station: how to earn money with a niche internet site with ads, affiliate programs, or your own stuff.
• Search Engine Assault: how to get Google to love your web site and send organic traffic your way.
• Power Networking: how to use social networking to become an authority in your site’s matter.

This list is only a sample of what Crowd Mountain members have access to.  The rest you can read on the Crowd Mountain website.

What do I think of Crowd Mountain?

To date, I have only seen and viewed the tutorials found in modules one, “Niche the Niche”, and two, “Optimize for Size”.  The reason for this is because Michelle is releasing one module each week, to prevent confusion and info overload.  Because the site is just a little over a week old (as of this writing), these are the only modules available.  So, this Crowd Mountain critique is based on two things: the two modules I’ve already experienced, and my past experience of Michelle’s coaching.

As to the two modules I have seen, they are superb.  Contained in the first module are not one, but three, training videos that teach how to do keyword research.  The three videos handle three different niches (one niche per video), so viewers get a very good idea of the best way to conduct keyword research.

The second module is all about how to properly install and set up a new WordPress blog so that it is SEO’d properly from the get-go. Michelle details how to install and setup the plugins that she regards as most crucial for web site SEO.  I was familiar with some of the plugins, but, after watching her videos for them, realized I had been applying them incorrectly.  So, even in an area that I thought I knew, I learned something.

One of my favorite tools, which is exclusive to Crowd Mountain members, is the Task Manager.  Michelle had this program made specifically just for this site.  The Task Manager software keeps track of what has and hasn’t been done on every website you enter into it.  Most tasks are ones made by Michelle, but users can add their personalized tasks if they like to include tasks that Michelle doesn’t include.  This makes the software fully customizable to each member’s wants or needs.  I am loving this program!

Also exclusive to Crowd Mountain is a Snooper program: “The Snooper was made to look inside Google’s algorithm and literally SEE what link building and social media sites Google likes the most. Those are the sites to focus on – if they’re already in favor, piggyback your own sites on them for quick ranking.”  Is it truly as powerful as Michelle claims?  Yes!  Is it really easy to use?  Yes!

Special Bonus for Pioneer Members

If you join within the first six weeks of the site’s launch, you will have the unique opportunity to present questions to Michelle for each module’s live Q&A, typically held on the Friday after that module’s introduction.  There is only one Q&A session per module, so get in on this opportunity to ask Michelle anything relating to that week’s module.

As stated by Michelle, “As a pioneer Crowd Mountain member, you’ll actually be able to attend the live session and ask your own, personal questions about the material and get answers directly from me.  Late comers will only get the recorded Q&A and will not be able to ask their personal questions.”

Go to Crowd Mountain to determine if it is right for you.  I can honestly say that everything Michelle promises will be delivered, and then some.  Crowd Mountain is an top-notch opportunity to learn, from the ground up, how to make an income with web sites.

As you may or may not now, Twiter.com is a hot social networking community right now.  According to compete.com, in November, 2008 Twitter had approximately 3,478,239 people visiting the site.  Twitter grew 640% between November 2007 and November 2008.

So how can you harness all this growth into a relationship building system for lead generation or joint venture alliances? How do you provide value, direction, and an authoritative impression in the minds of your followers?

Here are 6 effective ways that I’ve found to contribute to the Twitter community that can be beneficial to your business or consulting practice.

1. Target your market to follow the right people

Ask yourself, “Who’s my ideal client?” Once you define your target market, finding other people who share an affinity for your products and services is much easier. Twitter may have over 3.5 million users, but that’s not your audience. More than likely your universe is much smaller than that.  Even if you’re in abroad spectrum market such as “online marketing” or “social networking specialist” you’ve got to narrow down your focus to a definable niche, industry or demographic.   Instead of being a “social networking consultant” to all companies, being more to less is a smart idea. For example, narrow your target audience or define a specific program for Graphic Designers who want to increase their sales by using social media.  Once you’ve got your target market clearly defined, you go can use Twitter based tool sites such as TwitterGroups, http://twittgroups.com/showgroups.php or the Twitter advanced search page, http://search.twitter.com/advanced to find other Twitter pages that contain specific keywords to find specific people.

2. Offer actionable advice

Once you define your target audience and search them out, you should be focusing your tweets on solutions to issues, concerns, cares, and problems that your target audience may have. Focus your Twitter posts (tweets) on providing useful and actionable solution to problems that your ideal clients are facing. You don’t want to use blatant sales pitches here. Remember, your objectives are to offer advise, direction, and act as an authoritative source of answers to your target market. Offer them advice (not just rehashed information), case studies, software, specialized articles, etc.  Anything that may help them do their jobs better, easier, faster, more efficient or provide them a higher level of achievement, joy, and satisfaction.

3. Use your 140 characters wisely

Just because your have 500, 1,000, or 5,000 followers doesn’t mean they’re all going to read your tweets.  It’s human nature to only be interested in things, ideas, and tweets that are important, interesting, or provide value to what’s going on in your follower’s life at this moment.  So consider what your followers want to hear about. This goes back to number one on our list. Targeting your market. If we’re searching out a specific audience, your tweets are essentially your headline. The reason why someone is going to take the action to click your link in your tweet to find the benefit that you’ve promised in your headline.  Don’t just write, “marketing ideas for Graphic Designers”.  Even though you’re talking to a specific group of people, the phrase “marketing services” is vague, undefined, and abstract. Use a more defined, tangible, and clear benefit in your tweet, such as “Traffic conversion best practices for Graphic Designers”. See the difference, one is a general blanket statement, yet the other is focused to solve specific problem that your target marketing may be facing.

4. Your offer and call to action

Obviously you can’t provide much of a solution within 140 characters. So providing a link back to your site, ideally your Blog first before directing them from Twitter to another site.  Think about your end objective here. If you’re trying to build your opt-in list, then posting your tweet with a link to another website defeats the purpose. What I like to do is write my tweet as a Blog post on my site first, then copy and paste my Blog post link into the tweet box. This way, I have the opportunity to get a new or returning visitor to my Blog where I can provide useful solutions to their problems or concerns, but I can also present them with the option of joining my opt-in list. You can see an example of this on my Blog if you click here.

5. Frequency of your tweets

If your serious about using Twitter as a lead generation tool, you’re going to have to tweet a minimum of 3 times a day. I’d suggest once in the morning, once midday, and one at night. Reason being is that your target audience is online at different parts of the day. If your followers have a large following of themselves, your tweet will only be seen by a small fraction of your followers.

6. Tracking your results

One way that I’ve found to track your tweet subjects is by naming your Blog post the same as what your use for your tweet post. For example, if I create a tweet called, “8 quick tactics to find joint venture partners”, I’ll create my Blog post to be, www.christianfea.com/8-quick-tactics-to-find-joint-venture-partners. I suggest you use Google Analytics to track your website traffic. It’s very in-depth, easy to use and it’s free. All you have to do is copy and paste your Javascript code into your Blog page header and every page on your site will be tracked. If you don’t know how to do this your Webmaster can set this up for you in less then 10 minutes. By doing this you’ll know exactly how many visitors you’ve gotten to visit your site and your can test different tweet topics to see which ones generate more clicks for you.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free JV Wealth e-zine.