Landing Page Optimization and your PPC with Google

Picture this: You’re sitting in the conference room working out the last details of your landing page content. The web designer wants the call-to-action link to be “Get started now!” and the chief copywriter thinks it should be “Contact Sales.” Everyone has an opinion, but nobody has any evidence to back it up. Landing page optimization can give you some real data on which to base these decisions. The most common types of page optimization testing are A/B testing and multivariate testing. These are jargon for two very simple ideas: A/B testing (also called an A/B split) compares the performance of two page designs, and multivariate testing compares the performance of a larger number of page designs by swapping out content in several sections of the page at once.

Even if you have strong convictions about what you think your page content should be, we recommend letting a page optimization test provide more clues. Many website owners report being shocked by what their tests ultimately show to be the most effective content.
Both multivariate testing and A/B testing are available via a tool within the Google AdWords management interface called Website Optimizer. You will need a Google AdWords account to access Website Optimizer, but it does not need to be actively running ads. Other companies offering multivariate testing tools (for a fee) include Offermatica, Optimost, and Memetrics. You might as well start with the free Google option. You can always move up to the paid services after you’ve fallen in love with page optimization testing.
Today, we’re going to get you started on a page test of your own.

Your Multivariate Test

Ready to get started? We recommend performing multivariate testing rather than an A/B split for the simple reason that we think it’s more fun. Here’s how multivariate testing works:
• You designate a few sections of your web page that you would like to test. For example, you might specify the headline, the first paragraph of text, and an accompanying photograph as your three sections.
• For each section, you create two or more versions of its content.
• The multivariate testing system plays mix-and-match with your variations, showing a random combination to each of your website visitors.
• After the test has run for some time, the combination with the highest conversion rate wins! The most sophisticated testing systems can find the best combinations based on statistics, even when those exact combinations haven’t been tested.

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