More Stuff About Web Site Design

Would you be amazed if I told you that switching the color of a checkout button can make the difference between a marginally profitable campaign and an incredible return on your marketing spend? After months of hard work planning a new website campaign, it all came down to the color elements on your landing page and Google Website Optimizer can ensure that you’re getting the maximum conversion rate from your marketing campaigns.

Usability and Design Testing

Each element of your marketing campaign should be tested to determine potential improvements in your intake process. From the types of colors used on your buttons, to the placement and types of images and text on the page, creating an optimized landing page can turn your red campaign well into the green. We utilize Google Website Optimizer to determine which combination of elements is most effective for your campaign, so that we can deliver the best possible return to your web marketing campaigns.

While a manual process of testing each combination of elements would take quite a long time, the automatic testing process with Google Website Optimizer is a proven, statistical-based method to get more customers in the door. Just as split-testing is important with your ad-text, creating an appealing design that is welcoming and convincing to potential customers can greatly enhance the effectiveness of your marketing campaign. We do the hard work of generating targeted traffic to your site, and want to convert every possible visitor into a new customer – Google Website Optimizer helps to automate this process in less time.

Over the past few years, the increase in microblogging and social media marketing has resulted in the shortening of URL’s becoming popular again, as more and more companies need to get their URL links into their tweets or status updates.

With the use of URL shortening services now being highly visible again, it is important that companies are on top of their game and understand a little bit about how URL shortening works and what factors you should be looking out for when deciding which of the many shortening services to choose from, whether you are doing SEO, SEM or another form of search marketing.

One of the most important things to consider is your 301 redirectpage.

A good shortening service will ensure that the redirect page states that the link is permanently on the full link page. The permanent reference is extremely important as some services will use a 302 redirect which is not a permanent redirection, so if you do not keep an eye on it then your link may not work, and you won’t get the backlinks built that are critical to SEO efforts.

Most companies embarking on social media marketing will use some form of monitoring system to track the effectiveness of their links. Whilst there are many tools such as Google Analytics which are good for doing this, the majority of shortened services will provide some form of tracking results as part of the deal.

We’ve reviewed all the most popular URL shortening services, and combined it into an easy to ready spreadsheet. You can download it here (PDF).

Conversion data is at the core of how we help business owners organize split tests, and is a core part of how to interpret the results of these experiments. In order to ensure that your testing methods are producing quality, reproducible results it’s crucial to get statistically significant results that are based upon actual data. When asking “how long do I need to wait to determine the results of the test?” instead think about “how much data do I need to be sure of the best possible landing page?”
We can help you take the guesswork out of the split testing process, and can explain the results of your campaign testing in clear, intuitive business language. Much like other important business decisions, split testing outcomes should be based upon concrete results and we employ the latest techniques that provide sound, statistically valid data to help you make business decisions. There are a number of experimental designs which can contribute to a high quality split test, and this guide helps to explain some of the statistics behind one of the most popular methods.

How Data can Help Business Owners to Structure Split Test Experiments

One of the most popular ways to analyze data from split tests is known as the optimal design method. According to the science behind this method, experimental outcomes are judged according to finding minimal variance on the outcomes. In business language, this means you can test the relationship between several different design elements and test how they interact in less time. Since each on-page element can impact another change on the site, complex designs on sites (such as e-Commerce stores) are ideally suited for optimal design which can best capture the overall fit of the landing page in terms of conversion outcomes. Major sites such as major retailers rely upon this method to help organize special campaigns and creative’s to maximize conversions. Defining the complete matrix of all possible combinations of offers can be difficult, so optimal design provides a quality source of data that helps to provide better information in less time.

Another common statistical method utilize is known as the Taguchi methods for the engineer who originally designed the technique. With principles that come from manufacturing, the method defines a series of combination of elements which can be tested in a controlled environment. For example, you may be able to pay a newsletter call to action with a certain headline, along with a different headline with a direct purchase option – in these cases, you can organize a Taguchi experiment to test different combinations in less time. Since you can’t feasibly test every possible combination, the methods provides for an important source of testing with time and budget constraints.

Understanding the math behind split testing gives some insight into how the process can help you make sense of web analytics data. We work with business owners to ensure their website tests are well organized, and provide clear reports that help you make informed business decisions based upon the outcomes.

There are many ways to conduct split tests on websites, ranging from basic split testing scripts to complex software that can analyze high traffic tests in real time. For many small business owners looking for a reliable solution, Google Website Optimizer provides an easy setup to test different elements on a landing page to maximize conversion rates.

At a basic level there are three steps to setting up a test using the software, beginning with selecting the landing page and elements you want to test (including identifying on-page alternative elements for the testing), setting up a test by placing Optimizer code on your website to track the data and interpreting the results from analytics. Each of these stages is important and a crucial part of getting the most from your website testing procedure.

Understanding the Process of a Google Website Optimizer Test

Even if you’re using a custom or 3rd party method, understanding the mechanics underlying a Google Website Optimizer test can help you understand split testing in more detail. At the most basic level, the test will compare two static landing pages to determine which one has the optimal conversion outcome – users have to define the outcome according to a predetermine conversion such as a sign-up, purchase or opt-in (as measured by a redirection to a given confirmation page.) Beyond the basic A/B test there are several ways you can leverage Optimizer to gain further insights into campaign performance.

At a more detailed level you can design an experiment (test) in order to determine which specific elements contribute the better outcomes in terms of your data – this includes lowering the bounce rate, increasing page views, increasing conversion rates and any other campaign objective that can reasonably be measured. You can specify an ideal outcome ahead of time so that Optimizer can constantly work to determine which elements contribute to improvements toward your goals.

After tagging your pages with the code provided, you will then begin the test – the length of the experiment will depend upon the amount of visitors as well as the data needed to get a statistically significant result. Lower traffic sites may require several weeks for quality data, while higher quality sites can be optimized within a day, depending on the nature of the experiment. You can monitor the results of the sites in real time, and can analyze the outcomes to see how the test is progressing.

While the results of an Optimizer test can help you to re-organize your landing pages to improve conversion rates, it’s important to understand the many factors that require ongoing optimization including seasonal shifts, changes in your competition and adjustments in the overall economy. Therefore, like any good business practice, it’s important to continually run tests with the winning landing pages from the last experiment as a starting point – continual testing will ensure you’re on the right path to finding a surefire winner. We’re worked with countless clients with Website Optimizer, and can help keep your marketing campaigns ahead of the curve.

Shop on Amazon.com’s site and chances are you’re seeing a page that has been tested and optimized hundreds, if not thousands, of times. The result of scaled conversion rate optimization, the leading online retailer is constantly working to adjust elements, navigation and layouts to encourage customers to checkout. A focus on improving the customer’s experience is at the core of the analytics processes for leading Internet companies ranging from e-Commerce brands such as Amazon to software companies such as Skype.

No matter which market segment your business falls in, you can benefit by optimizing each element of the signup process. Making small adjustments in design elements with large traffic volumes can mean a significant difference in bottom line revenue, and maximizing conversions is the goal of any large scale business today. Even if you’re a smaller local retailer or service provider, making important website adjustments to maximize conversions can help grow your customer base significantly.

How Skype Improved Signups with Split Testing

The large Voice over IP provider Skype, which was recently a part of eBay, grew rapidly in part due to their close attention paid to a clean, clear navigation profile. Imagine sitting in front of a design board trying to pick the perfect design that balances ease of use with a friendly design to maximize the enjoyment of new visitors. While you can come up with thousands of potential combinations from the best designers, a smarter way to approach the process is recursive split testing: this method allows you to adjust your design by allowing elements to “compete” to determine which are most effective.

Business owners often work hard to select the best design elements for their customer base, with the hope of, ultimately, maximizing their conversion rates. When the business team at Skype confronted this problem they came up with an A/B split testing methodology that can help clarify how the process works. The team started with an agreed upon home (landing page) design and then recursively tested each element:

The team started by identifying their optimization goals, which included increasing downloads of their product by testing different types of call to action methods. For your business, the goal might include a newsletter opt-in, a request for information, a direct purchase or an appointment scheduled. In order to realize their goal they created three versions of the home page, one which minimized textual descriptions, one which featured more extensive text and another that balanced these three elements. As the first stage in the testing process, the team determined which overall layout structure optimized conversions and added another layer to the test with different versions of the call-to-action text.

By analyzing minor differences in the opt-in button such as “Download” to “Download Now” and making the text more user friendly, the team was able to increase download rates by over 15%. For your business, making minor optimizations can help increase your opt-ins, taking your online marketing campaign to a new level.

In competitive industries, gaining every possible advantage over your competition is important. One key resource you can utilize in order to begin raking for high value terms (especially on the local level), is to invest in domain names based upon your keywords.

For example, if you’re a dentist in Austin, Texas, then you may want to buy the domain name AustinDentist.com – in many cases, you’ll have to purchase the domain from the existing owner (since most high quality local keywords are registered), but proper implementation on a keyword-rich domain name can pay great dividends over time relative to traditional traffic sources such as pay per click.

To begin your domain search, identify the terms that customers use to connect to your service. Using the example above, the domains AustinWhitening.com, AustinToothRepair.com, etc. can be high value opportunities. In many cases, you can also look at the .net and .org extension alternatives, which may be available at a much lower cost (especially if they are not yet registered.)

In general, you’ll want to stick with com, net or org extensions for your keyword domains. Once you come up with a list of possible domains, check if they’re open for registration from a leading domain company such as GoDaddy and register the available domains as soon as possible.

Once you’ve secured keyword-rich domains, you’ll want to begin developing them with high quality, original content related to the keyword. Use the domains to generate traffic, leads as well as links to your main business site. A properly structured network of domains can result in great returns over time.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a properly optimized image is probably worth at least two thousand. In search marketing, images provide an important source of clarifying messages to consumers, as well as helping your site to rank for targeted terms.

By creating effective, keyword rich names and alt-tags for your images, you’ll help search engines to understand the nature of your site better – when two sites are competing for a search ranking, images can make the difference in terms of prioritized ranking.

From a technical standpoint, the image name is just the file name: a file named Business-Strategy.jpg will help you target those keywords within both image and general search. Importantly, when users roll their mouse over the image (or when they have images disabled, such as on certain mobile browsers), they’ll see the alt-text displayed.

So, if the file is embedded with the HTML code then the text “Business Strategy” will be displayed. This can be an important source of keyword targeting, and can help you structure your site properly. Further, as a growing number of browsers rely upon mobile techniques these alt-tags are particularly important sources of naming conventions.

Always select appealing, unique images for your site layout that match the overall messaging of your site. Take time to properly name and tag the images for search, as well as users, so that you can effectively optimize the media sources on your site.