What is Split Testing: A versus B
June 12, 2007
A while back, I wrote about Yaro’s article of creating a “Sales Funnel” which is one step towards running a successful business online but I am here to present another piece of the puzzle of online sales generation. How many of you are familiar with the concept of “A/B testing” or “Split Testing”? Not that many of you eh? For those of you who are not familiar with “A/B testing” or “split testing” as it is commonly known it is summed up by the following definition…
Most of us are familiar with the concept of using A/B split testing to determine which elements on a page are helping the performance of a web page, and which are not.
Source: Marketing Experiments
In case you are wondering “What does this have to do with web mastering?” it actually has everything to do with web mastering. If you are trying to make your site better and you have a few designs for specifically targeted pages then doing a split test can help you determine which design is your customers can navigate through more easily.
Understanding the concept is key because this is what makes “okay” sites, “great” sites. It also has a way of helping raise profits, increase email capture rates, lead generation or just about anything else you would like to do with your website. In A/B Testing, you are usually testing between a difference of two things and seeing which is better and has a better conversion rate and then refining the winning layout with further A/B Tests until you have an optimal design giving great results. In the coming weeks I’ll get into this more and present more specific information related towards running A/B Testing on your website.
Luc
Contact your customers cheap and easy
June 10, 2007
Most people really don’t think too highly of email marketing but it’s funny because it can be the cheapest and most effective way to reach your existing customer base and develop new customer bases. ROI on email marketing is higher usually for one of a few reasons…
You can track your results – A lot of email campaign service providers allow you to track the links in your email marketing campaign and if you have setup a sales funnel you start to you see the results. In marketing with newspaper ads the only way that many advertisers and marketers can track the effectiveness of their marketing efforts is through coupon or promo codes and hope that the potential customer enters them when they get to the website.
It’s Cheap – That is music to the ears of a lot of business owners. It takes fewer dollars to market using email marketing then almost all other types of marketing so why not take advantage of it?
It relies on your existing customer-base – Many small business owners don’t think about marketing back to the customers that have already bought from them. I know what you are thinking but it is true in a lot of cases. You’ve already developed a service, product or solution and sold it to them so you’ve established trust with the customer and they want what you are selling them.
It may sound a little easy and perhaps too easy but most people don’t do certain things because it is perceived as “Too Easy”. Think of email marketing as a way to keep the lines of communication open between you and your customers and start by testing it. After all, it is pretty cheap so what do you have to lose, right?!
Web Design is a lot like getting your Grass cut
June 8, 2007
I got into reading someone’s blog who was all about landscaping and building a landscaping company and it got me thinking about what I am doing with web design and development.
Cutting Grass
I equate designing, developing and maintaining websites to the analogy of “cutting grass”. Stay with me hear okay.
Most people are happy to cut their own lawn for the following reasons…
- It’s a hobby of theirs – a lot of people do not mind spending time keeping up their lawn and doing it themselves (DIY)
- They don’t want to spend the money – Let’s face it, not everyone has money to get someone to cut their grass and the same is true of website owners when it comes to design and development
- They think they know what they are doing – Most people cannot delegate work to someone else. It all comes down to trusting the person or company that is building your website
Most people are very happy doing it themselves. In web design this means a lot of learning and time spent doing things and trying things and for those who have the time I say go for it. Most people don’t have a lot of time in the day to stay on top of things that are web design related and that are usually where you decide to work with a professional.
Time is the most valuable asset and if you can afford it you are sometimes better off paying a professional not because you get what you pay for (even though you do) but because when you can have a team working for you and you get to spend more time doing what you are truly great it when it comes to your business.
Getting back to my analogy of web design and landscaping in the way that people perceive both business sectors are similar which is why web designers will always be in demand because there will always be web sites that are in need of serious help because of many subpar web designers. How many times have you heard of bad landscapers leaving a job? Probably a couple of times which is why when you find someone good who delivers on a consistent basis you hold onto them for dear life.
What does my Business need with a Website anyways?
June 7, 2007
I’ve written in the past about how having a website for your business whether you do business online or offline is pretty much a necessity. Having said that the initial building of your businesses web presence is a very big undertaking. You can hire the kid down the street who builds websites for as little as a few hundred bucks but you sacrifice quality, faster turnaround and insider knowledge that true web professionals possess. I came across an article on StartUpNation.com that talks about what beginner business owners looking at a web presence should look for and different options available to business owners such as you.
The article itself covers specific ways you can go about having a website built whether it’s a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) solution, having a professional web designer/developer build your site and what you need to look out for with SEO and possible red flags that may come up.
The article is pretty valuable if you fall into this type of business owner. I can tell you that clients of PureWebAnalytics know we are North American based, we are always available to help with problems that arise in running and growing a web presence for your business and we won’t tell you that we do SEO because it is a very involved process that requires a lot of time and a sizable marketing budget because it takes time to test and quantify the results of SEO efforts and improve upon them. Enjoy this article because it really is one that I feel is worth its weight in gold.
Luc
Who loves Firefox?
June 3, 2007
I have to say that there is a lot of love for Firefox out there. You don’t hear about people talking about their favorite internet explorer plug-in and I really don’t know of any good IE plug-ins anyways. I was going through SitePoint.com earlier today and was reading through a good posting about people’s favorite Firefox plug-in.
3 Awesome FireFox Plug-ins for Web Designers
Firebug – (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843)
Web Developer – (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60?id=60)
ColorZilla – (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/271)
Keep in mind that I only mentioned 3 plug-ins and there are literally hundreds upon hundreds available not only for web design but even for general use. Feel free to have a look through by clicking here
