Test Your Internet Marketing Site… Increase Conversions

Making money online isn’t always easy. As a matter of fact, it can be almost impossible without a detailed knowledge of exactly what your visitors are interested in. What exactly draws their attention, keeps them on-site longer or makes them press that all important “Buy Now” button? When you know the answers to questions like these, you can start to modify your site content to match the needs and wants of its visitors. And as you can probably guess, tailoring your site to these needs will ultimately lead to more sales. This is a key fact in Internet Marketing.

So how do you go about figuring out what makes people stay longer, or decide to purchase? Test, tweak and repeat… forever. Honestly, testing is an endless process, but for now I just want to give an overview of the basics. If you don’t currently use any tracking software, you will definitely want to change that! There are many available, and a simple Google search should keep you busy for a while. What I suggest is doing a little research, and making sure you find a program that allows you to track clicks, sales and actions.

Using software that only tests clicks is very limited and leaves a lot to the imagination; which we definitely don’t want! Also be sure to use something that allows you to do split testing. This is critical. There are a few advanced systems that allow testing of many changes at once, but for now I want to cover the “old standard”… A/B split test.

I’ve been asked a number of times what system I’m currently using. The answer is AdTrackz, and personally I find it to be the best for my needs and marketing style. I have tested many different programs, and was most impressed with Jonah’s. My personal preferences aside, let’s get right into it!

With a standard split test, you can continually improve your sales page performance and boost conversions to limits well above your competition. Let’s say you have your Sales Page up and running, and are not entirely pleased with your 2% conversion rate. You determine that a decent page by your standards should at least convert 4% of its visitors. Doubling your conversion rate may seem like a fairly impossible task, but it is easier than you might imagine. And this is how it’s done…

There are a few key elements in every sales letter, but the ones I most often change when split testing include: The Headline, The Benefits, Testimonials, The Bonuses and The Guarantee. So I would take my standard page and make an exact duplicate. The only difference being you need to change one of the above elements. Try a different headline, or use a different testimonial, but you can only change one single element at a time. Show the pages equal number of times and track which one gets more sales, or sign-ups if you have a lead capture form instead.

It’s important, to a degree, that similar traffic sources are used for both pages during this testing process. We want to make sure that our page changes are what are dictating the conversion rate, not the type of traffic. For instance; prospects coming from a PPC campaign with a very generic keyword are going to be much less likely to convert than someone who clicks through a very targeted, specific keyword ad. I hope that makes sense.

Once you find the better performing page, delete the other one and rerun the test introducing a new page with another variation of the same element. Continue to do this until you can no longer achieve a better conversion rate. You’re always trying to beat yourself. Also be sure to utilize a bit of patience, and wait until a fair amount of visitors have been through the pages before closing the doors and calculating scores. I personally would be hard pressed to make a change based on any less than a thousand visitors to each page. Again though, this will depend on your market.

Now move on to the next element and start anew. This is a time consuming, but very rewarding process, and you’ll likely be surprised by some of your results!

It’s important to let your market tell you what works for them, and this is how it’s done; at least one way. The process can literally go on forever, but you can apply what you learn from each test to other areas of your business in the same market. You can become an expert in a fraction of the time, and your sales pages will be on fire! Work on your copywriting, improve the relevancy of the bonus you add, address more targeted questions or concerns your prospects may have and on and on. This will all lead to more sales, and more importantly… more customers!