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

Googles Website Optimizer is free, forceful, convenient. What more could you want? It permits 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 chuffed because theyre happier with the sites that they find thru searches. Basically, everyone seems to be happy and Google makes extra cash.

Makes sense when you put it that way, doesnt 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 focusing on the purchaser and conducting your communications strategy in a very different way. For that reason, with reference to practical applications for testing thatwill be covered in this part of the series, well be focusing on how best to utilize the free Google tools.

The main thing to remember 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’ve got to infer that for yourself. If you would like the tests you run to be suggestive and give you the feedback you want to improve your site, then you need to make sure you are going about it the best way, and making the best of the free tools that Google gives you.

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

Before we delve into the nuts and bolts of really running a test, there are some things you need 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 result to be ( although you could be wrong very wrong ; thats what youre testing. ) In scientific tests, this is named the hypothesis. Your goal is the basis and the reason for the entire test.

- Work out 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 you are testing the colour 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 aware of this when testing copy ; any other changes you make, even coincidentally, to the layout or the font or any other side of the display will totally negate the legality of the test on the particular content.

- Remember that you always need a control. Even if youre dong multivariate testing, youstill need to use the first 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 control of the incontrovertible fact that Tests 1-10 were about buttons and Tests 11-15 were about news, but what about when you are at Test 345? If you give your tests clear, descriptive names, itll be easier for you to find the info and results when you need to refer back to them to plan more tests.

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

- And eventually, youre never done testing. There will never come a time when you are able to say Thats it, its perfect, Im done. Even if your site is perfect and performing at its maximum capacity at that moment, the web is a fluid, changing thing, and you want to ensure ( through testing ) that you are 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 prior posts at Become a Trusted Expert Online )

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