Tracking and Testing - the Solution to Attracting More Visitors

Tracking and Testing - the Solution to Attracting More Visitors

by Jim Edwards

Every serious online business owner eats, sleeps and breaths targeted
traffic to their website. They spend the most money and time trying
to attract first-time visitors to their sites in hopes of generating new
sales and subscribers. But, believe it or not, it’s easier to increase
your income by simply selling more of the visitors you already get
than trying to chase down more traffic.

The solution? Tracking & testing! Probably the most overlooked and
underutilized, but certainly the most powerful strategy for increasing
sales and opt-in subscriptions. If you spend any time or money on
advertising, you must start testing and tracking. Simply put,
“tracking” means you measure the effectiveness of each individual
advertising source you use to promote your business.

For example, if you advertise in email newsletters, you should know
how effective each newsletter ad rates compared to all the others in
terms of sales and subscribers generated. This enables you to know
whether an ad makes or loses money. Testing means you constantly
look for ways to improve your ads in small, incremental amounts
that add up over time.

The most common (and effective) tests you can run are A-B split
tests, which pit two variables against each other to determine
which converts more lookers into buyers. Split testing headlines,
price points, and guarantee periods make, from my experience,
the best places to start testing.

The reason testing and tracking can double your profits (or more)
lies in the power of small, incremental improvements. Lets say,
for example, you decide to do a series of split tests on a website
that currently converts 1 in every 100 visitors (1% conversion).

You test, headline, price, guarantee and a payment plan. If each
of the 4 tests yields a .25% increase in conversion, you would not
see an increase in sales to 2% (4x.25%), but actually an increase
to almost 2.5% since each improvement builds on the last!

The most basic tool in testing and tracking revolves around the
use of advertising link tracker software. These tools measure
the number of clicks on individual advertisements (text links,
banners, pay-per-click ads, etc) and then measure sales or
subscriptions generated as a result.

You get two choices with link trackers: a hosted service or
software you install on your own server. A hosted service offers
the advantage of easy setup and use. Most of the time you just
sign up for the service, enter the link you want to track, get your
tracking code, and you’re off to the races.

The disadvantage of a hosted service is that, if it gets abused,
using the URL of the service in your links can get your emails
blocked or your pages banned by search engines. The
advantage of hosting the software on your own server is that
you maintain a higher degree of technical control and can
avoid the banning issues. The main disadvantage of hosting
it yourself involves the fact that you really don’t have anyone
to call for help if something goes wrong.

One of the most popular hosted link trackers online is
HyperTracker.com, though I’ve not used the service.
My favorite link tracker is actually part of an integrated
e-commerce system at http://www.MysiteSales.com.
His service enables you to track your sales and subscriptions
made through the shopping cart.

Two options for software you install on your own server are
Dynatracker.com and ProAnalyzer.com. Both provide decent
link tracking, though no system I’ve tested provides 100%
accurate results. But, with that said, failure to test means
you’re leaving money on the table by wasting visitors you
could otherwise convert to buyers with basic effort at
improving your sales messages.

Copyright 2006 Jim Edwards
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Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
co-creator of an amazing course that will teach you step-by-step
and click-by-click how to get your own money-making videos
posted online... "Finally! A Quick and Easy Way For YOU To
Painlessly Create, Post and PROFIT From Your Own Money-Making
Online Videos... Without Being a Computer Geek or Paying
Outrageous Fees To A Webmaster!" =>
http://www.mysitesales.com/app/?af=497013

Check out this One-Stop Ads, Visitors, Clicks, Actions & Sales
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