Newb Guide Part 7: Split Testing
This is part 7 of Nickycakes’ Affiliate Marketing Tutorial. Please read the previous parts if this confuses you.
Once you have some successful, or close to successful ad campaigns running, you will likely want to start refining those campaigns to maximize your profits. Since, as mentioned earlier in this guide, you know jack shit about marketing, your only real option for doing this is by testing. Split testing is simply the process of making two variations of part of your campaign, be it your ad, landing page, affiliate offer, whatever, and splitting your traffic between the two to find which works better.
Split Testing Ads
Split testing ads is easy with most of the popular PPC platforms such as Adwords, MSN Adcenter, Yahoo, etc. The basic idea is, have 2 separate sets of ad copy running at all times, and periodically get rid of the one that does worse, and make a new one. Some people (like nickycakes) do this as often as once a day, and some much less frequently, or not at all.
When starting out, it may be good to make several different ad copies, maybe like 5 or so, but make sure they are all very different. After running the ad for a while, you can pick out the winner, and start split testing that ad by making very small variations. Seriously, like only change ONE thing about the ad. There are so many things to choose from, sentence structure, caps, no caps, display url, etc. Just change one thing each time you’re split testing ads.
How do you know when the number of impressions the ads have gotten is enough to be statistically significant so you can make a proper decision? Easy, just use this split testing calculator (thanks dr ngo): here.
Split Testing Landing Pages
This is a little more involved than ad copy split testing, but it’s the same idea. Split traffic between two different landing pages to see which one converts better. Your goals will probably be something like reducing bounce rate, increasing clickthrough rate to the offer, and increasing overall conversion rate on the offer. To do this you will likely need a decent analytics package. Here are some you may want to check out:
ClickTale (clicktale.com) – This one is a little pricy, but if you have the cash, it’s apparently well worth it. It tracks literally everything you could want to track on a page. Where people are clicking, how long they’re taking to enter information in a form field, whatever.
-CrazyEgg (crazyegg.com) – Much less expensive, but doesn’t quite track as much. You probably want to look into this one if you don’t feel like shelling out a lot of money but want some solid analytics.
-ClickHeat - A free heatmap package. Not too comprehensive.
-Google Analytics – Decent features and free, but not realtime. If you’re cool with only being able to see your stats once a day, and not having that many useful stats to look at, its better than nothing.
-Google Website Optimizer – Ok, Nickycakes has never seen this one in action, but apparently it’s pretty good for doing split/multivariate testing on landing pages. If anyone has some experience to share, please leave it in the comments.
Split Testing Offers
This one is extremely important. There are so many similar offers out there that it’s impossible to tell which one is going to convert best with your landing page. IGNORE the EPC data that the networks give you for the offers. They are often meaningless bullshit, and will have no bearing on how well it will convert for you. They could have had some idiot direct linking ppv traffic to the best offer on the network driving the EPC down to like 1/10th of what it will perform for you. So, as usual, test for yourself. Just like with ad copy split testing, assuming there are several choices for similar products, split test 2 of them, wait till you have enough data to determine which is the better offer, drop the underperformer, and split test the winner with a new offer. Pretty simple. If you have enough traffic you could, of course, just split it between all of them at once and find out the winner in a day.
Split Testing Call of Duty 4 Guns
So, which SMG is better? The P90 or the MP5? Try 5 rounds with the P90 and then 5 rounds with the MP5 and see which one gets you more kills and headshots. Obviously the mp5 is going to win hands down unless you’re spray-and-pray newbslice, but again, it’s good to test for yourself.
Next part will be about taking over the world.
Keep it real.
Another great post Nick! One thing to add about split testing LPs is that its worth investing some time to actually make it as simple as possible to do so that you’re much more likely to do it.
So am I to take it that my Tweet was well received?
When you play hardcore, go with a silenced mini-uzi. Way more kills.
The Google Website Optimizer actually works pretty well for split testing. Completely javascript based. You can set it up to count an affiliate link click as a conversion, so us affiliates who don’t have access to the “thank you” page can still test.
P90 owns the MP5 every time. The clip is 3x as big!! You’re the guy who runs around with the RPD and the grip, aren’t you? Newb.
When split testing ads which ad do you keep? Higher CTR, higher CR or combination of both?
Great post, you should take a look at http://mixpanel.com — they seem to be analytics 2.0.
Excellent series.
This one makes so much sense that you are a moron to disagree with it.
- MPM
Google website optimizer is a) brilliant, b) free. Don’t know why anyone would use anything else.
@Adam “More money.” (?)
Which analytics package do you use, Nick?
Nicky,
Do you split test demographics on Facebook? I thought about breaking out age (18-21, 22-25, etc) but that warrants a lot of extra work.
Wondering what the King of Facebook thinks…
And I use a DP-28 w/ extra bullet damage. It works for me. Spray and pray for sure, but I don’t have the hand-eye for the SMG’s.
I tried bumping up my facebook stuff to only target 25-40 (had been hitting 18-40). Saw a 25% improvement in profitability. YMMV.
I am so lonely. I’m Mr. Lonely. I have nobody. I’m on my own. Heeeee (sing it with me folks) Not the AKON song but the classic sad one/
Cool song, bro.
Great guide. Be great if I could be approved for an affiliate marketing account.
What’s standing in your way, bmundane?
I second the Google Website Optimizer, great tool and not too tricky to set up.
This was a great post nicky. I’m new to your site, but I’m quickly finding it to be a great resource. I really like the idea of just setting a keyword like “chat” and use it for broad matching. That seems like an awesome way to get a profitable campaign going, but it would take a good amount of start up cash.
Right now, I have a campaign on adwords that is just about breaking even. I tweeked a little on it today, and I also set up an adcenter account. (your talk of how they are sooo dumb there convinced me). We’ll see how it goes tomorrow. :]
We need cakes to rip this video like only he can
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X-6GxOV5Ws
Hi Nicky, you said to share comments on google website optimizer:
There are two main types of test, and one ‘advanced’ type.
1)Standard A/B Test, you split test one url against another. Good for testing 2 different landing pages on one domain.
2)Multivariate Test, you test one url, but you have variable blocks in the page, which you can have any number of variations in. You basically just pick a html block in your page and wrap it in a special tag. Then you add all your variations in the Google control panel.
This is a good type of test if you want to test finer details, such as headlines, or different coloured call to action buttons. You also get the added bonus that your ‘Goal’ page can be on another domain, unlike with the A/B test.
3)Advanced A/B test. This one is just a mix of the 2. It uses the control panel wizard of a mulitvariate test, but you can split test different URLS like the A/B test. This means you get the best of both worlds and can test an unlimited number of different landing pages, and you can have your ‘goal’ page on another domain, eg a secure server cart or something.
I’ve used Google Website Optimizer for a couple of years and it really does boost conversion rates by removing the guesswork from your landing page designs.
I have found your newb guide interesting to read and I will look forward to setting things up and learning through doing as well.
Great resource for some new tricks. thanks
M16 w/Red dot sight, Bandolier, Stopping Power, and Extreme Conditioning pwns.
COD is teh noobs. Real men play Red Orchestra.
Hey man! I don’t usually comment spam my links, but I’ve got a post talking specifically about google website optimizer and wordpress, so make sure to check it out if that’s your thing!
MP5+silencer was the best gun in COD4; and I was the best player in the game.