For testing purposes and the examples we give, were going to be using Googles website Analyzer which is a part of Google Analytics. Why? Well, for one, because its free and so accessible to everyone ; and secondly, because its a darn good testing platform free or not.

Googles Website Optimizer is free, powerful, fast and easy. What else could you want? It allows you to perform A / B and multivariate testing.

Why is it free?

Because Google knows that if you enhance your conversion rates, youre more likely to invest in more advertising campaigns, users are happy because theyre happier with the sites that they find through searches. Fundamentally, most are happy and Google makes more money.

Appears sensible when you put it that way, doesn’t it?

There are more, paid services that you can use to further your testing, measuring, and optimising practices. But this series is all about making the most out of what you can get for very little money spent, by concentrating on the buyer and conducting your communications strategy in a very different way. For that reason, in regards to practical applications for testing that’ll be covered in this part of the series, well be focusing on how best to employ the free Google tools.

The important thing to consider about the Google website Optimizer is that it is a tool. It only provides the metrics, it cant tell you what changes to make. You have to infer that for yourself. If you’d like the tests you run to be pointed and give you the feedback you want to enhance your site, then you want to be certain youre going about it the correct way, and making the most of the free tools that Google gives you.

Later in the series, well be going through precisely what you should be doing to get you started with testing. Where you take it from there’s up to you.

Before we dig into the nuts and bolts of actually running a test, there are some things you want to remember for any test you run, whether its 1 or 1001 :

- Always start the test with a goal in mind. Know what you would expect the outcome to be ( though you could be wrong very wrong ; thats what youre testing. ) In scientific tests, this is known as the hypothesis. Your goal is the basis and the explanation for the whole test.

- Determine what you metric of success will be before you start the test. How much better is sufficiently good to be considered a success? 5%? Ten percent 50%? Only you can decide that.

- Remember not to muddy the waters. If youre testing the color of the checkout button, dont also change the shape or the font or where it appears on the site. You could get asuperb result, but you wont know what variable was in charge of the change. Be especially conscious of this when testing copy ; any other changes you make, even accidentally, to the layout or the font or any other facet of the display will totally negate the validity of the test on the content.

- Remember that you always need a control. Even when youre dong multivariate testing, you continue to need to use the original version of the page to act as a control, something to compare the test results to.

- Use detailed names for your tests. You could be able to keep track of the proven fact that Tests 1-10 were about buttons and Tests 11-15 were about headlines, but what about when youre at Test 345? If you give your tests clear, detailed names, itll be easier for you to find the information and results when you want to refer back to them to plan more tests.

- The tests mean nothing if you dont learn anything from them. Your test isnt really done ( or of any use to you ) unless youhave analyzed the results and applied the learnings to your site. You then use that information youhave gained as the base for the subsequent test, because

- And eventually, youre never done testing. There won’t ever be a time when you are able to say Thats it, its perfect, Im done. Even if your site is perfect and performing at its uttermost capacity at that moment, the web is a fluid, changing thing, and you want to make sure ( thru testing ) that youre keeping up with the changes and keeping you and your internet site applicable and maintain your presence onthe internet as a Trusted Expert.

( This post is a continuation of the series of becoming a Trusted Expert. You can read the previous posts at Become a Trusted Expert Online )

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