Learn From Their Multi-Million Dollar Mistakes!

Here is a classic example of what NOT to do when
conducting business online. That is, unless you can
afford to throw away millions of dollars.

Have you seen those ads by x10 for that tiny
camera that you can hook up to your computer?

It is estimated that as many as 1/3 of ALL people
surfing online have been exposed to their advertising
campaign. Those are HUGE numbers.

Visit their web site if you need to refresh your
memory of them and their ads: http://www.x10.com/

If they were to be judged by exposure alone, then
you might think that the advertising campaign
has been a great success.

However, it has largely failed to convert surfers to buyers
and that is the true test of a successful online ad campaign.

So what happened to x10?

They sunk an enormous amount of money and faith
in the pop-under window form of advertising through
Yahoo, the online version of the New York Times, at
the MSN web site and via the pop-up window that
opens as you download something off the Internet.

The pop-under or pop-over windows are not a problem
in and of themselves. The problem with x10 seems to
have been the narrow focus of their product offering.

X10 has too narrow a focus.

They are getting a lot of hits on their web site with over
25 million visitors monthly. Yet 70% of their visitors
leave in the first 20 seconds!

That is a LOUD chorus of people saying they find
NOTHING of interest or value at that web site.

It says a great deal about the products they offer
and the design of their web site.

Since then, x10 has tried to bring in a slightly larger
range of products but it still seems very narrow.

What went wrong?

X10 failed to partner with a significant array of related
online businesses that could have brought it an added
source of revenue via commissions.

Such a huge flow of traffic and they cannot tap into
the pocketbooks of their visitors.

Even small business online can partner with the
likes of Dell Computer, Delta Airlines, Visa Nextcard
and American Express through such affiliate programs
as are offered by Linkshare, http://www.linkshare.com/

Our web site is TINY by comparison to x10, yet we
have managed to increase our overall revenues by
over 1000% directly because of affiliate commissions.

Better to sell something for a commission that to lose
your visitor forevermore.

What else could they have done with such a huge
amount of traffic?

They could have offered visitors a referral affiliate
program so that they could refer friends and family
and perhaps earn a little something for their trouble.

X10 got off to a slow start here also.

They now have a program in place but all they offer
you to earn is a credit to be used on those products
that no one seems to want to buy anyway!

How about some entertainment?

They completely lost sight of the "sticky" value.

Here you have a company that offers these great
looking little cameras that will fit into the palm
of your hand yet all they do is DESCRIBE it!

They could have easily become a major
"ENTERTAINMENT" center for those
millions upon millions of visitors.

All they had to do was to hook up those
cameras to "SHOW" people how they worked!

Visitors would have had a reason to stay longer
than just 20 seconds and they would have had
a great reason to come back for more.

The "Viral" effects of word-of-mouth, (or is that
word-of-mouse?), would have kept those millions
of visitors coming to their web site daily yet also
it would have also allowed them to scale back on
their advertising campaign expenditures.

And seeing practical example of how a product works
helps the product to sell itself.

A little creativity at x10 would have gone a long way.

It just goes to show you that even if you have millions
of dollars to spend for exposure and you get millions of
visitors to your web site, it won't do you any good if you
don't know what to do with them.