Duct Tape and Paper Clips

by W bradley Many small business owners in 2009 will decide to take a do-it-yourself approach to SEO. I say go for it! In fact, marketing trends indicate moving SEO duties in-house has become the smart thing to do. If you've already started your efforts, you quickly discovered that executing a good SEO strategy takes a great deal of time. Your next thought-- "I hope all this work pays off". The top ecommerce companies test and retest their SEO strategies to find out what works, and what doesn't. You will want to do the same thing. This article will help you get started. First let's look at some of the tools required to test how well you've done. Then we can look at a simple five step plan to start your SEO testing strategy. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0izdmfuCgs] Analytics Provides the Foundation First you'll want to start with a good analytics package. If you're going it on your own, utilize Google Analytics (GA). GA offers a feature rich web based tool at no cost. The tool provides an extensive set of metrics and reports without any setup. Because its widely accepted in the industry, you'll find lots of support across the web. Start with the Google Analytics Forum. Multivariate Testing: The SEO Proving Grounds Multivariate testing allows users visiting the site, to each view different versions of the same web page. Your testing application tracks how users respond to each page. Google provides a great multivariate testing application-- Google Web Optimizer for free. Again it's easy to setup, and comes with the support of a large user community. How to Implement Your SEO Testing Below I've provided a few suggestions on setting up your testing methodology. I'm assuming you're using the Google Analytics and Web Optimizer package. If you decide to go with something else, it most likely will provide the same functionality, just with possibly different names and locations. If your package doesn't provide the abilities described here-- scrap it, and go with GA. STEP 1: Place the GA Tracking Code on Your Web Pages If you have a large site, this may take some time, but it's worth the effort. If you don't feel the page merits tracking, then the page probably doesn't need to be included in your web site. Not tracking pages leaves you in the dark. Not knowing what appeals to users costs you money-- in either lost conversions or wasted effort. Write down the file names of the pages included in funnels you want to track. This is also a good time to make copies of these files as you prepare for multivariate testing. STEP 2: Setup Goals Tracking Goal tracking allows you to guage the efficacy of the various funnels within your web site. Start with your most important landing page, and determine where you want the user to end up. If your funnel includes a form, be sure to include the thank you page. Include product display pages from your shopping cart. Include the registration pages for your cart. Your cart funnel should also include the thank you page. For keyword advertisers pay attention to the landing pages that result from advertising clicks. STEP 3: Setup Multivariate Testing Now you can find ways to optimize your funnels success. Create multiple copies of the same landing page. Start with your busiest landing page. In each version of the page, things like graphics, page copy and page layout. With keyword advertising, test how various pages work with different ad copy. If you're advertising via print, radio or tv, set up specific landing pages. Remember to that you can use different page versions to alter funnel flow. Test if one flow works better than others. STEP 4: Review Goal Tracking Results Determine how well your funnels worked. Utilize conversion percentages to establish baselines. These will be useful for future testing. Look at visits as compared to visitors. This will give you an idea of how often users converted on their initial visit, or on a return visit. Also make note of referring web sites. Knowing where users came from can help improve efficiency with marketing budget. STEP 5: Review Multivariate Testing Data Go back and compare your goals with various landing pages in the funnel. For a very successful funnel, use the best variations as a model for other pages. Remember to note unsuccessful variations as well. Try to analyze why the page failed. Take the most successfule variations from each page, and put them together in one funnel. If variations all had similar success rates, take a good look at your goal conversions. Poor goal conversions may indicate an offer with little appeal to visitors. Going Forward Don't stop testing. It will take consistent effort over the long haul to truly gain the benefits of SEO. Don't let early successes lull you. Remember that the Internet and user behaviours change constantly. What worked in January, doesn't always hold true in June. Attempt to run tests on at least one funnel per month. This will require planning, but don't let the additional work dissuade you. The benefits will be worth the effort.

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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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