G Cache Taking Over Updates?

I've done a lot of testing before posting this but I'm quite sure that G cache actually takes over site representation for a given user if they've been there for a certain instance of your test. I manage many sites and was trying to change a graphic image on a test page, of course just replacing it without changing the name and uploading, and after several attempts, even replacing via cpanel file manager, the new image does not show up. I opened up a new site and did a similar test in my developing environment and as usual no problem...I am very curious about this.

Are there limitations to changing files within a page while a test is active???

Product Price Point Testing Using Google Website Optimizer

I've just launch my first price point test using G OPtimizer and a new clickbank product. Here is how I did it:

First, I setup 2 addional CB products which are actually the same product just different prices. I use DLGuard download manager so I had to do the same thing there, point to the new CB product numbers for each price point.

The three price points are 22.00, 12.99, and 9.00.

The object is to determine which combination of volume x price creates the best revenue stream (expenses are the same for all three price points).

In Optimizer, I sectioned off (for those new to this blog see my terms post here) the portion of the sales page that had buy links and the price stated.

I use a link > redirect to help organize my buy link so I created 2 more of them (/buy.htm, buy9.htm, buy12.htm) so each one refreshed to the appropriate CB download link I created in DLGuard. For those not using DLGuard, you would simply put your different product link associated with each price point on the different pages. This can also be done directly in the variants if you use a direct buy link.

The variants each sectioned off three links to purchase: the buy now button, the image of the ebook cover, and the "buy right now" text. You can see it here:Buying a Mattress.

Thats it. All incoming traffic (see here for post explaining what traffic Google Optimizer measures)will be divided up among the three prices...and eventually we'll see a clear winner.


meegwell

Website Optimizer: What Traffic Does it Track? What Kind of Test is it?

I've seen these questions come up on various boards and such:

What traffic does Google Optimizer track? Does it only track AdWords?

Google Optimizer tracks and does the multivariant testing on all incoming traffic, regardless of source. You need an AdWords account because all the tracking and G analytics horsepower is housed within AdWords - Google Optimizer leverages off of this...why reinvent the wheel?


What Type of Testing Does it Do? (Taguchi, A/B, etc)

I've seen a lot of misinformation on this topic. Particularly around Taguchi - it seems that a lot of folks in the Internet Marketing world are a bit confused here.

Here is quick explanation:

Factorial Experiments allow you to test multiple 'factors' with multiple 'choices'. For example, a factor could be an image on a landing page and a choice would be various images being swapped.

Now, outside of automated efficient electronic type of testing, such as testing physical operations like machines or chemicals, the tests become very expensive with the more factors and choices you add. Remember permutations? The possible number of combinations expands greatly with each new factor and choice of factor.

So, we have "Fractional Factorials" which in a nut shell limit the amount of total combinations via statistics needed to get a meaningful result. Taguchi is a form of fractional factorial experiments.

So back to the web - It costs nothing more to do 10 factors with 20 choices then it does to do 2 factors with 2 choices....so there is no need for a fractional method like Taguchi.

Google Optimizer uses a full factorial method, where the factors are the "test sections" and the choices are the "variants" on a given experiment page.


Hope this helps,

Meegwell

Landing Page Experiment: A Full Site Test!

My first test is still running fine and I'll get back to that one when more data has come in. Unlike that first test, which was simply swapping out some variations of different sales page elements, my second test was much more involved!

I just finished launching the second test, and quite frankly I'm a little nervous given all the changes that were involved. Here's the scenario:

This test became so involved I'm going to post the links to the new and old so you can get a feel for yourselves.

I wanted to change a the landing page of an old site of mine. The site sells a book that teaches professional valuation techniques, applied to websites. It was one of my first projects and is a small technical niche - kind of a "near the heart" thing and not so much for the sales.

The plan was to incorporate the sales page into the landing page, and eliminate some of the paths that needed to be taken before a visitor is presented with the option to buy the book. The problem is those paths were many, and in order to keep a good amount of information (like table of contents samples), many pages had to be duplicated and re-designed since the sales page was now the index (those other pages had links to the old sales page location). Can you picture this mess?

So I did it. I created the new landing pages, cut out a bunch of the duplicate links and paths, and just left the table of cocntents samples. For each sampl, I built a new page that sent the visitor back to the index, so they dont end up at what was the old sales page.

This basically creates a whole new site - the content being the same, but the whole navigation system is different...Im sure I screwed something up I'll catch tomorrow.

Problems and tips: these were o' plenty - but it's a bit late now so Im going to post details tomorrow. For now, I've setup the 'old' and the 'new' in a separate directory and kept all the linking for each as if Google Website Optimizer brought you to each page.

The old, original index was this: Original



The new index, and site navigatio and sample pages is here: New Variant




note: In order to put this "original" out there, I had to remove all Google Optimizer coding.

Like I said, I'll dive into the details of actually creating this test tomorrow...

Templates and G Optimizer Tracking Code

I use Dreamweaver for development and typically have a single "main" template for each site. G Optimizer requires you to put a script in the header of the page you will be testing for a given experiment, along with the tracking code on that page and your conversion page, as well as the start/stop code snippets to ID the sections of html to be tested, or 'swapped', on your test page.

I immediately ran into the problem of code having to be embedded in non-editable template regions of the page. What I did was place the tracking script in the header of the template, so all pages have that now. I've only experimented so far with testing sections within editable regions so the test section code hasn't been a problem....and then the tracking code can go anywhere in the body so that shouldn't be a problem with anyone.

UPDATE: You can't get away with posting the tracking code in the template for it is unique for each experiment. You'll need to put an 'editable attribute' section in the template head and add the script there for each test page.

I ran my first test of Google Optimizer on a pure test test page (that is , a page i made just for the test) but used an actual conversion page (the new thank you page I mentioned earlier with the DLGuard problem).

When I was satisfied I knew enough to be dangerous, I implemented on a real test page with a new experiment I planned on taking live (the sales page). I figured since the conversion page (thank you) was still the same, I would just leave the tracking code there and put tacking code, test snippets, and script on the new, actual, test page.

No can do. The "test that you didn't screw up your code" section of a G Optimizer experiment setup told me it didn't see tracking code on the conversion page...So then I wondered "what if I'm running multiple experiments with the same goal? No problem apparently, I've got two different tracking codes pasted into the same conversion page and although I don't have data posted to reports yet, it passed the smell test.

I havent tested multiple experiments to the same Test Page yet. After thinking about this, I dont think you should have to do that anyway. The way I see it, an experiment is page based. You experiment on a given page, with multiple sections tested within that page. One page is defined per experiment. I might test it out anyway.

Some Initial Thoughts From the First Google Optimizer Test

What I had in my head the whole time I searched for an A/B tester was that I would create multiple versions of the pages I was testing. In Google Optimizer, you actually define sections of code you want to swap within a page. I haven't tried it yet but I assume you can just define the whole page or just the body etc.

So I already had my first test in mind which basically took a sales page, where I was selling 3 eBooks, and swapped out the way I presented the books. The default setup was to show all three eBooks as a "package" for a single price. The 'test' was to show the primary eBook, which is the one most of my traffic is driven by, as the eBook for sale, and the other two as Free Bonuses for buying the first. In addition, I was going to put in the ole' regular higher price crossed out graphic above the actual price.

With this in mind, when I got in to G optimizer for the first time last night (moments after finding my beta invite email in the spam filter!), I struggled with whether I should do such a test for my first try.

See, the way G optimizer is setup, having you define sections of code, required me to pinpoint the exact start and stop points within the larger page - I guess I could have done the whole body - but I was still a little anxious. Another thought was if I do the whole body, what if I want to test something smaller, within the body test section tags? This would be "nested testing" as I see it...and I thought about it a lot while lying in bed a few hours ago. I think I'll test nested testing today, and make it the subject of My next post. In any case, the way its setup I think will ultimately be fantastic for it will give incredible flexibility to testing - and that's the point...test 2 headlines on a page in combination with 4 different sales pitches and just let G optimizer tell you what the best combination of the 6 variables is - which combo makes the most conversions? For those of you who have taken the gmat or other similar tests - think permutations - then think about how much time this "section of code" testing is saving you over doing it a full page at a time. In the 2 headlines and 4 sales pitches, you would have to make 8 pages if you used a straight full page a/b tester.

Another thing I stumbled on and pondered a bit was the "percent of test" setting - I wasn't quite sure if this meant "% we will swap the pages" i.e. your test page will be shared 50% and 50% between the original and the optimized - or whatever - in any case it cant be this with all the different variations - it's just how much you want the test running vs. how much you want your standard pre- google optimizer pages running.

What is an Experiment? Another stumbling point - do I setup an experiment for a site, a page, a part of a page....I set up a G Optimizer "experiment" for a page, with multiple tests under that experiment. Sort of like a "Campaign and Ad Group" in AdWords. So, my experiment is the sales page (the "test" page in the setup) - I named the experiment "Sales Page Old Price and Bonus" to correspond with the two tests I mentioned earlier. Within that Experiment, I have sections of code tagged and some alternate html setup to swap (this is easy to setup in "new experiment' process) for each section. For example, with the "old price" graphic, which is just the higher price crossed out above the current price, I defined a section of blank space above the price, and the alternate or test code was simply the html to place and center the graphic there.

I was about to continue with another issue of tracking code and templates, but I think it deserves it's own post...