A/B testing on your landing page – part 2

I just realised I wrote about A/B testing and didn’t suggest any way to actually implement the testing. I would say the easiest way to to A/B testing on your web page is to use Google Website Optimizer. It is extremely easy to use, has great reporting facilities, and best of all… it’s free.

Instead of me going on about how to use it have a look at this article which I found really helpful. There’s also some good info on that page about increasing your conversion rates too. For even more information on Google Website Optimizer, have a look on the Official Google Website Optimizer Blog.

Definitely worth a look.

When I Grow Up I Wanna Work in Advertising

I think this quote sums up my last few months -

When I grow up I want to pitch new business… fill out mindless RFPs

Actually I love pitching for new business. I could really do without the RFPs though.

I was just skimming through my YouTube favourites and ran across this classic monster.com ad still makes me laugh (and cry). Looking at the traditional advertising agency model, it seems that 3-4 years on this ad is almost more relevant than ever.

However, as blunt and in places scathing as this ad is, it still doesn’t dampen my passion for advertising. Sure it just highlights the downsides of our industry, but it doesn’t mention the thrill of nailing a campaign. I love the variation (especially in digital), I love the challenge, and I kind of even like the deadlines! I guess it’s the same with any job – you gotta take the good with the bad!

Anyway, I am sure everyone has already seen it, but here it is again.

A/B testing on your landing page

I was just talking about this with a client and thought it might make a good post. If you’re running PPC campaigns then presumably you are also optimising your landing pages. But if you are really serious about optimising your landing pages for low cost, and increasing conversion rates, then you might want to also look at multivariate testing. Although at a lower level, you can do it the same as you do with your PPC ads, running simple split or A/B tests. A/B testing measures the actual behavior of your visitors on a live page, meaning your results are a true refection of what is working better for your site.

To run an A/B test first set your control page and let it run for a while to get some base data on performance. This page should be as close to perfect as you can get it using usual design methods. Then set up your test page, changing out elements such as headlines and copy text, subtle alterations in the layout, using different sized and coloured images etc and compare the results this page gets against your control page. Don’t make too many changes in your test page – in fact it’s better to just make one change at a time, because A/B testing is only really useful for experimenting on one clear goal at a time. When your test page starts to out perform your control page, make the better performing your control page and then experiment on your new test page to see if you can make it even more effective.

A/B testing doesn’t require a huge amount of work, but it is something you do really need to stick with to get decent results from. Really think about the change you are making and why you are making it. Don’t just change the colour of a font just to see what happens, put a bit of thought into what you might think will actually make a difference in getting people to react to the page. All it takes is time, which we’re all short of now days, but if you’re looking to increase those conversions then it is really worthwhile giving it a go.

To use a CMS or not to use a CMS – that is the question

To use a CMS or not to use a CMS – that is the question. I know it seems like a no brainer doesn’t it. A few months ago I would have vehemently yelled “hell yes build the site in a CMS and give your client the power to update their own content”. It’s definitely a great way of giving structure, workflow and a suite of tools for you as the developer. I was thinking that in most cases you’d be silly not to have one if you were able to implement it. But now I am not so sure it’s always a good idea.

There is a huge selection of very good open source content management systems out there to choose from so you don't need to develop your own.

The amount of clients that we have that have opted in to the CMS and pay the extra charges in order to save in the long run, but then do not make the effort to actually update the content on the site is quite incredible. What’s more, no matter how hard we lock down the styles, implement strict style guides and keep it as simple as possible, some clients still seem to have an amazing ability to somehow manage to create content that is unbelievably dreadful.

I think sometimes the fact you don’t need not to have any technical knowledge to update content, which is the main selling point of the CMS, is actually not a good thing. It would be good also to have some small amount of design ability – the site is a visual medium after all – shouldn’t the person updating the site at least know that pink text on a black background makes you want to poke your own eyes out? And inserting 5mb images may be celver because they did it themsleves, but all of a sudden the phone is ringing because their server limit is up and their new shiny web pages keep crashing. Where does the training stop?

A CMS can often help to increase user experience and provide a great business tool for your clients, or it can just become a big expensive waste of time and still produce a lousy result.

Don’t get me wrong I am still all for implementing a CMS when it’s appropriate. And for my part, especially on larger sites, it often actually makes the process from a development perspective a lot easier. But I definitely think you need to guide clients through the first few week of running the site on the CMS. Training them up and leaving them to it is not good enough. Providing some basic design skills and file optimisatiopn skills may be necessary too. Push them to add and update content more than they think they need to, just to get into good habits and learn the how to use the CMS on their own site properly.

If your client is not realistically going to make the effort to update the site, maybe you could offer alternatives for keeping content fresh like RSS. Or build it in the CMS if it’s easier but don’t actually enable the functionality. Or maybe am I just ranting as the victim of one too many tacky clipart images being put into my (previously) lovely sites.

Get a tech in the boardroom asap

Working in an agency that has a digital offering can be a strange experience sometimes. Often you’ll get web project proposals presented as one bullet point in a list of 15 advertising and marketing objectives in a client’s advertising brief. It’s very rare that you’d be talking to a marketing manager who has any sort of comprehensive IT knowledge. The website seems to have just been put on the list like it’s just another channel – which is your fault because that’s what you’ve been telling everyone it is! But it’s not is it. We just say that to win the business! So what do we do now that it’s on the agenda?

Next time you’re sitting with your client and they are going through their projected ad spend, and they mention a website, stop them there. Leave the room and go and get your Technical Director (or similar role – some sort of propellerhead anyway). I know they are usually cardigan-wearing Star Trek fans who kind of scare the client and ruin your whole company image of being cool, but it’s vital that you get the techies involved at the very start of any web project. The sooner the better. Even if they don’t say anything in the first instance (this is often preferable) it’s good to have them thinking about implications of the project right from the onset.

The reason I say this is because with the way business practices are being moved online, what used to be a brief for a simple brochure-ware site can now be developed/evolved into a powerful business tool. The client may not even realise the functionality available to them now. So although they might think they are asking for one thing, they might be actually touching on something a lot more powerful and functional than they realise. When sites come in as part of an ad spend they are often not as well thought out as a stand-alone project where you might be sent an rfp or tech spec. Cover your arse and get the geeks in from day one.

however, not all site briefs will need a techie sitting in on the meeting. A good rule of thumb is that the company website is more often that not a business tool, and a microsite is usually only required to be a branding tool. For a branding microsite I’d consider myself capable of taking a good enough brief for the boffins to get a good grasp on the requirements of the project. For a company site, I’d get the techie in, and also suggest that we just have a quick talk about it and come back to it when we have more time. Also, lately I’ve found myself writing creative briefs for sites for our clients, and presenting them back to make sure we’re all on the same page. It’s just been easier than trying to get the client to do it when often they are not capable of getting their head around what is required. I can then pass that onto the techies to do the tech spec and scope. Often it’s a lot better option than trying to make your client do it.

Online advertising in the credit-crunch

OK so things are looking pretty scary out there, and as people tighten their belts and put their heads down, pretty much all sectors are going to take a hit. That includes advertising – even on-line advertising. When I look at our client list I can’t see too many who aren’t going to be effected by the credit-crunch, and that in turn is going to effect us, their agency. I am sure most agencies are in the same boat. Customers are still going to be on-line, maybe just not spending any more or definitely not as much. But companies still have to cast their net!

So, this could be a golden age for digital. With the targeting and measurability benefits it offers on-line advertising could see a boom where others are experiencing cut backs. We could also see some great some great innovation as digital advertisers squeeze as much value out of their advertising dollar as possible. Companies are going to be monitoring their diminished advertising budgets vigilantly and the ROI data that on-line advertising offers could allow it to actually mature into seriously dependable and functional media channel. As digital advertising professionals it’s up to us to facilitate this development by stepping up to the mark and over delivering.

The flip side of this is that this is not the time to be taking risks. The “yeah let’s give it a crack” mentality some companies might have needed to make the foray into using on-line advertising channels possible is more than likely to be put on hold. The recent boom area of ad-supported social networks can’t help but be hit by this. I also have to say I am a bit worried about the number of Google Ads being run really skyrocketing, with the quality of these ads being appalling as more and more people try to take them on in an attempt to get a cheap foothold in the on-line advertising space.

The best way for anyone to survive in this market downturn is by repeatedly and constantly delivering a quality product and outstanding customer service, and that goes for everyone.

This goes double for online advertising. Get proactive. Now is a good time to put together a “relief plan” for your clients on how they might be able to trade their way through the recession with the aid of on-line advertising. I don’t mean just flick them a new media schedule either. I mean go to them with some new revitalised brand messages, and suggest how they might be able to position themselves to succeed (or survive in this case). This might involve recommending pulling back in some market sectors and consolidating in more major ones. It might mean recycling old banner ads, finding some reciprocal banner swaps or introducing some new PPC ads targeting the long tail. Look at why your clients were even advertising in the first place. If, for example, they usually advertise to promote a new product, then how can they still release a new product and not advertise it. Don’t let them cut their budget as a knee jerk reaction to diminished revenue – they still need to maintain a relationship with their clients.

Things are going to improve in the marketplace so we need to hang in there. As far as this market downturn goes for our clients – I think established brands should be able to batten down the hatches and trade through it as long as they adjust their advertising rationale to the current market. And new companies – well, like a friend of mine said to me recently, a recession is a good time to learn how to run your company lean and mean. If you survive, then when the market recovers and you have that new set of miserly and innovative business skills… let the bubbles flow!

Using Google Alerts to track online buzz

You’re not using Google Alerts? Well actually you’re not the only one – there’s so many new developments it’s not easy to keep up with them. The tool is not new but there’s a lot of people who haven’t taken up the offering through not realising how powerful it really is. If you are not using Google Alerts you are missing out on a huge opportunity to keep track of what people are saying out there on the web.

Google Alerts is a free service offered by Google which will ‘alert’ you to the latest relevant Google results on a search terms specified by you. It’s extremely easy to set up, with your alerts coming into your email, or via rss feed to the likes of iGoogle and Google Reader. The types of Google results you can search are; News, Blogs, Web, Comprehensive, Video, or Groups. You can also choose how often you want to receive the alerts, although i would recommend doing it daily when you are starting out until to get an idea of what will work best for you.

Google Alerts is so easy to set up!

Obviously in the advertising space the benefits of this tool are instantly apparent. You can track who is talking about you, your clients, and also your competition. By listening in on these various channels you can monitor developing campaigns and what is being said about them. You can listen in on comments about brands and what people think of them. The uses are numerous. You can set up alerts for as you like, with the only limit really being how many alerts you can realistically be bothered keeping track of.

I can’t think of anyone in advertising, marketing or PR who would not want to use this tool. So if you’re not using Google Alerts, what’s stopping you?