Tools for Website Creative Testing

21st October 2008 in Web Design & Usability

, , ,

Small improvements to your landing page can make large improvements in your ROI. Multivariate testing is a way for you to define what improvements will make the most impact on campaign performance.

Website Strategy Creative Testing

What is Multivariate Testing?

First, let’s define multivariate testing. According to Wikipedia:

Multivariate testing is a process by which more than one component of a website may be tested in a live environment. It can be thought of in simple terms as numerous split tests orA/B testsperformed on one page at the same time.

While an A/B test can help you determine the better performing creative from two options, multivariate testing can test any number of creative variables at the same time. You just have to determine how much testing time is needed to get a statistically valid sample.

A great tool to help you determine how long your campaign should run is Google’sWebsite Optimizer Duration Calculator.Just put in your number of test combinations; estimated number of page views; visitors; improvement %; current conversion rate; and the calculator will generate the numbers of days needed for testing.
(more…)

Hiring the Right SEO Consultant

19th October 2008 in SEO

,

Hiring an outside SEO firm or consultant requires a lot of due diligence. Choosing the wrong provider may lead to frustration (mainly yours) and could also have a negative impact on your search ranking.

There are a lot of professionals claiming to be SEO experts, so how do you know which one is right for you? Luckily there are a lot of helpful resources available for choosing an SEO provider. To select the best provider, you want to be sure you are asking the right questions upfront and if you don’t like the answers you are getting, move on.

Q1: Are you certified? What specialized training have you had in search marketing?

Yes, there are organizations out there who provide training and certification to search professionals. If you begin your search by finding SEO professionals who have undertaken training, you will be able to narrow down your list of qualified candidates. So go ahead and ask. You may hear your candidates mentioning Google and SEMPO, both offer in-depth training courses to search professionals.

  • SEMPO:As a nonprofit organization serving the search engine marketing industry, SEMPO offers anAdvanced Search Advertising course.This is an online training program that teaches advanced tactics in search marketing. Be sure to check out the SEMPO website. It has a lot of resources on search engine marketing including research, best practices, and educational webinars.
  • Google:Has your potential SEO hire (or individuals at their firm) taken the Google Advertising Professionals (GAP) program certification test? Although this program is designed for professionals managing paid search (Adwords) accounts, you want a search marketing provider that has in-depth knowledge of both paid and organic search optimization techniques.

(more…)