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Marketing Action Plans"
Do It Like This...
Marketing Chick Network
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Increasing Profit with Proper Testing & Tracking
I n just a moment, I'm going to share with you an excellent, free testing & tracking "how to" tip, but before you continue, I want to clarify the difference between "Testing" and "Tracking"...
John Taylor, author of "Learn how Testing and Tracking can multiply your profits" and the man I call, "The Testing & Tracking Guy" advises his clients:
"When you are testing and tracking make sure that you only work on one element at a time. If you change two variables and you see an improvement in conversion ratios you will not be able to identify which one factor made the contribution."
I refer back to John's report every time I test out a new website or sales copy, mainly for the list of top 22 web page elements that everybody must test, the 3 critical measures for evaluating the effectiveness of your material, and the 21 web page "turn offs" that lose you money. If you can, you should go grab a copy for yourself at Test-and-Track.com.
The problem with not tracking traffic sources (such as individual pay-per-click keywords, link partners, search engine listings, JV links, affiliate links, etc.) is this... You cannot accurately determine what is *working* when you test. I don't think I'm anywhere near being called a "tracking freak", but I do track everything on my website and sales letters with Lightning Track, which allows me to run 3-way split testing, calculate cost per sale, cost per click, as well as deliver other important details. Since it's a script that's installed on your site, you only pay a one-time fee.
For a remote solution (for a low, monthly fee), check out HyperTracker.com... they're now offering a 14-day FREE trial!
Testing and Tracking Your Online Marketing EffortsMost advertisers and marketers, because they don't test and track the response of various marketing activities, are flying blindly, with little or no idea of what’s working - and what isn’t. Proper testing and tracking can give you the most accurate and reliable answers to virtually any marketing question that arises. You can then make important marketing decisions based on facts, instead of theory or guesswork. Online Testing Strategies In a nutshell, online testing involves keying each different test variable with a unique identifying code (so each desired response can be tracked to its source), running the test campaign, keeping records, and tabulating and comparing the results. The winning variable then becomes the control, or bench mark, which future ones are measured against. Let’s look at testing in more detail... Scientific testing involves the following steps:
Keying ads and tracking responses online can be done in a variety of ways. For accuracy, be sure to use a unique tracking code for each different test variable and keep accurate records. The tracking method used will vary based on your circumstances and the type of response you want. Tracking Web Page Hits If you have access to your log files or another way to track the number of hits to your site, you can track hits to your web pages by placing a ? after the URL used in each ad, followed by a unique tracking code. For instance: Ad #1 could be keyed with this tracking code: http://ProfitInfo.com/catalog/v3.htm?1A Ad #2 could be keyed with this tracking code: http://ProfitInfo.com/catalog/v3.htm?1B Links with the 1A and 1B tracking codes in the URL don’t adversely affect the ability of visitors to access web pages in any way, but will show up in the server log files. To determine the exact number of hits that a particular ad generated, look at your log files within several days after running it. (Check with your ISP or web host for access to your log files.) Tracking Email Responses If you have unlimited email aliases available through your web host and want your test ads to generate responses via email, you can use a unique email address as the tracking code for each one. Note: A potential drawback to this method is that the more email addresses you make publicly available, the more spam you're likely to receive. Another option for tracking email responses is to ask respondents to place something unique in the subject line, which serves as the tracking code. In a pinch you can use the following trick to help automatically place what you want in the subject line of a new email message when it’s clicked on in an email program: mailto:user@domain.com?subject=Send-Info (Replace user@domain.com in the above example with the email address you want to use.) When the above link is clicked on in an email message, the text immediately following ?subject= will automatically appear in the subject line of a new email message in most email programs. (In the example above, Send-Info would appear.) Attempting to Beat Your Control Your main objective in testing is always to try to come up with a better pulling variable (headline, offer, guarantee, price, etc.) than your existing control. Whenever tests prove that another variable pulls better than your existing control, it replaces it until a future test reveals an even better one. Make Testing a Habit Remember that the most successful direct response marketers (Internet marketing being just another form of direct response marketing) tend to do lots of testing. Instead of viewing the testing process as too much bother, you should view it as a wise investment in crucial information that reveals how to progressively improve the profitability of your marketing. Considering all the advantages that testing offers, the reasons for making it a habit are obvious. You don’t have to be content with the same mediocre level of response to your marketing campaigns, unaware of what’s really working and what isn’t. If you aren’t already, start taking advantage of scientific testing to constantly improve your marketing results, avoid making the same wasteful mistakes, and earn more profits. And if you're already profiting from it, consider taking advantage of it more fully.
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