Why I still think the 10K Challenge is a good Internet Marketing System

On 13 April, I published a post about the 10K Challenge, a  new internet marketing system, here is what I wrote about it:

“One of those recently is the 10K Challenge, put together by Deb Penner an enterprising entrepreneur and Internet Marketer from Japan.

Here are a few things I like about the 10K Challenge.

• No upfront payment.
• No fluff approach, you are told right from the start that you will NOT get rich overnight.
• Detailed training set out in a daily schedule of action steps.
• The system works by doing a few simple things for 1 hour or less each day.

A refreshingly different approach to most new “opportunities” that promise instant riches but continually demand expensive upgrades or are too complicated for beginners.”

Nat, a recent visitor, asked me to report back on my progress with the 10K Challenge. I had intended to do a detailed report back after 6 months but I will set out my interim progress here.

Here are my results, unadulterated, warts and all, they are not good, but read to the end before making any judgement on the system.

Date started 28 march 2012

Safelist emails sent = 7 141 020

Number of clickthrus = 27583  (+ more for some of my team’s links that I advertised)

Number of referrals signed up = 14

Number of 2nd level referrals > 15 (that I know of)

Total expenditure = $390.19

Total Income  = $50

For four months and a huge number of emails, that does not look like impressive results. Other people have achieved far better results.

These are the results of the top 4 performers in the first 10 days of August:

31, 26, 21, 17 new affiliates. There are many members on 8 or more.

Why then have I not achieved the results indicated in the original promotional videos?

• Because I wanted to give the system a fair trial I have not introduced new promotional channels, just followed the action steps.
• I have a number of other business activities, in the last 2 months I have only promoted 2 or 3 days a week not every day.
• I have only assisted my referrals who actually took action themselves. (some did not start, some dropped out)
• I have not put enough effort into creating compelling new copy for ads or emails.

I also believe that the system is a victim of its own initial success, the large number of new referrals have swamped the recommended safelists and ad exchanges with ads for the 10k  Challenge.

This is confirmed by one of the top recruiters using different promotions exclusively.

Do I still think it is a good system? For total novices, yes I do, it will get you started on the right track without it costing you a fortune. It will provide you with a set of action steps to follow and the resources to learn about safelist and ad exchange advertising. It will help you learn the basics without you having to spend any money for 30 days and then very little each month if you stick with free advertising.

Is it a good system for more experienced marketers? If you are already making more than a few hundred dollars a month, you might be better doing more of what you are already doing. If you are looking for a system to help your downline in another business find referrals, this could be a good addition to your marketing activities. If you are active in some promotional channels that have not been used yet by 10K marketers, it could get let you build a team very quickly and then generate a worthwhile income.

What criticisms do I have?

My biggest complaint is that following the action steps, using  emails to most of the safelists as a free member and having to click for credits, takes too long. It is impossible to  accumulate enough credits in 5 to 10 minutes a day to mail out the 100 000 or more emails recommended in the action steps. 35 minutes a day total time requirement is unrealistic, between one and two hours would be more accurate.

Although there is mention in the action steps of the importance of finding new marketing channels, this should be  given more frequent mention in the early stages.

Am I going to continue with the 10K Challenge? Most definitely, I want to give it a test for a full 12 months so that I can either continue to recommend it or not depending on my results and impressions after a longer period. However, I cannot invest much time  into it, so I am already changing my strategy and tactics for promoting the system. In the last few days I have started using different channels for my promotions and am seeing better clickthru rates.

There are no guarantees with any system, but if you want to get started in Internet Marketing and you don’t know how, this system will get you started without you having to hammer the credit card like so many other systems out there. Have a look yourself by going here. 10K Challenge