Explain Split Testing.

[mrbeginner]

Dear AM's, i am keen to know about the term split testing, since the advertising source i am choosing would be "POF" and i see that split testing is highly important.

At the moment this is my major concern..Please explain.

 

[java]

When i saw your post i thought of this,

http://www.affiliatefix.com/f59/how-do-you-optimize-your-landing-pages-5962/#post48452

maybe that will help you./

 

[T J Tutor]

Hi mrbeginner, this is an excellent topic at every level of marketing. Split testing (aka a/b testing and mullti variant testing) is trying variations of ads, landing pages, content site pages, headlines, sub-headings, opening paragraphs, images, videos, hyperlinks, submit buttons, pay now buttons, calls to action, colors, themes, page layouts, and the list goes on. Typically, especially for beginners, its best to start simple until you get the hang of it. It's better to learn split testing with landing pages for the simple fact they tend to be a bit less cluttered than a content site which would likely have far many more elements to test.

So let's say you picked a CPA offer to promote, and you are using 7Search to drive traffic, and you have built a landing page. A typical scenario may be to create 5 to 10 different ads at 7Search, build 5 versions of the same landing page using variations on the copy, color, and locations for the text and graphics. You now have many variations to test.

You will be split testing the ads differently than you will the landing pages. With the ads, the variations will be the headline, the content, and whether it goes direct to the offer or if it goes to your landing pages. This is why I suggest 10 ads if you have 5 landing pages. 5 ads for direct linking and 5 for your landing pages. With the landing pages, the variations will be the copy, where the copy is placed on the page, locations where the media or images may be displayed, the content of the media or images, calls to action, and link locations.

Now these are the basics of the elements that will tested. This can and does get far more in depth if you wish once you have mastered the basics. When first learning split testing, you will develop your own unique way of looking at the data. You can export the data from 7Search and most any traffic source. I export and gather the traffic data and put it in Excel. When it comes from your website, you will need a tracking program like P202, Bevo, or CPVLab. All three have landing page rotators built in to them. The visitor and conversion data for each landing page can then be exported into your Excel sheet or what ever format you're using.

So now you have your ads built and uploaded, you have your landing pages uploaded to your server, you have your tracking system connected to collect data and to rotate your pages. Now you turn on your ads campaign at 7Search and your ads get displayed to viewers. You should check your data every hour for the first 8 to 10 hours for two reasons. First, because this is all new to you. You are new to building ads, new to develping landing pages, and you are new to tracking. there are many things that you are likely to encounter. Link errors, tracking hiccups, non performing bot clicks on your ads, and several other possible minor things that may require correction. Believe me when I say, we all have bugs in every campaign we launch no matter if we are a new to this or been in it a long time. Stuff happens and you need to be on top of any required corrections or adjustments as quickly as you can. Usually you can work out any minor issues in the first few hours. Once that is done, and everything is running smoothly, you need to run your campaigns at least a few days, I prefer a full 7 day run because you will learn which days perform best along with what times of each day perform best.

All of this you do for one simple reason, you are trying to determine the formula of which ads, which landing pages, which days, and what time of each day is providing you with profitable conversions. Once you know this after a week, you can then eliminate the ads, landing pages, days, and times of days that were not providing you profitable conversions. Having only the winning combinations left, you can step up your advertising budget to get more exposure and of course more conversions.

This is a very simple explanation of split testing and is intended for the very new member just starting out. Do not blow this off, this is among the very important skill sets of every successful marketer. It isn't difficult, it is time consuming at first. This is true with everything. Take the time to learn this stuff, have fun with it, and remember to post your questions about this stuff so we can all help.

 

[PiQano]

simply ; is to try a lot of things to see which one is working and whats not working then optimize basing for the analyze of Split testing