It is not uncommon for webmasters, bloggers and internet marketers to spend countless hours tuning and tweaking a variety of aspects of their websites and landing pages. Generally, what is attempted, is the establishment of a website or landing page that is professional in appearance, has a user-friendly layout and convincing copy on the page. Additionally, time is taken to research the keywords used in the copy so as to maximize the amount of organic traffic that can be sent via search engines.
While all of this time and effort spent is typically time and effort well spent, in the end, the only way to know if a layout, appearance will have maximum effectiveness or if a keyword will live up to the expectations placed on it by the proposed global or local monthly searches is to split test.
Split testing has been around since the beginning of marketing and is used to eliminate models that consistently under-perform the standard of the individual performing the split test. Split testing also helps to establish new avenues of marketing presentation that may inadvertently be considered a waste of time, initially.
Whatever you are designing or writing, be it a website, landing page or just an article, it can be split tested. So, what are some examples of aspects of your website or marketing campaign that can be split-tested?
One example is the placement of an opt-in form on a blog can be split tested as to its placement on the landing page. It is not uncommon to see an opt-in form placed at the top of the column on the right-hand side of the page. Some designers may place it in the header. Still others may make it contextual and place it right beneath the article or content so as to lure the visitor or reader to opt in.
Another item that can be split tested is the copy with respect to the keywords selected. Keyword selection is one of the most important aspects of writing. If you do not select keywords that place a strong draw on traffic from search engines, then you are literally leaving visitors on the table for potentially years to come.
Articles can easily be split tested with respect to keywords by choosing two or more keywords and then writing similar, but unique content that is based around each keyword or group of keywords separately. Then, publish the articles to your blog or submit the articles to article directories and track the number of views of each.
One of the most common areas in which split testing is absolutely necessary is ad style and placement. Being that advertising is directly related to revenue, ad style and place is under constant scrutiny with respect to several aspects such as size, shape, placement, ad copy, whether or not it is text-based or image-based and whether or not it is static or dynamic such as a flash ad to name a few.
Whatever aspect of a website is being considered, be it layout, copy or ad placement, split testing is and will always be an essential part of both SEO and internet marketing. While it may take time to set up and track, it can and will make the difference between a successful website or one that fails to deliver.
