DC web design news

Split testing, or A/B testing, will be your way to ensure that your website is working at maximum efficiency. During the development of a website, it’s common to create multiple versions of the same page in order to compare them to each other to find which has the best flow or presents the best user experience. Split testing allows this comparison with speed and ease.

A/B Testing With Google Website Optimizer

Before you can begin testing your website designs, you’ll want to acquire a reputable web testing tool. The most common tool is the Google Website Optimizer (GWO), which is popular because it’s free and accurate. It’s also very simple to use, and only requires a Gmail account to download. Once you’ve downloaded GWO, you’re ready to start testing your websites.

Upon logging into GWO you’ll see a tool bar in the top left corner with a tab that reads “Experiments.” This is likely where you’ll spend most of your time. GWO allows for two different types of experiments. One is specific to comparing separate web pages, which is what we will be doing, while the other actually allows you to compare different components within a single web page.

In order to test two websites you’ll want to start a new A/B experiment after logging in. You’ll then be asked to enter the data relevant to your pages. First, you will type in the URL address of your original website. GWO will then ask you to insert a Control and Tracking Script onto the layout of that original website in order to track its effectiveness with web users.

Next, you’ll be asked for data relevant to your variation web page. This will require a second URL, and the insertion of a second Tracking Script onto the second website. A third category will ask for the URL of your conversion page, and offer a Conversion Script to be included on that final page.

Please note that you must utilize the provided scripts in order to see results from the split testing. By inserting these tracking and control scripts onto your website layout, you are giving GWO the eyes it needs to track your website data. These scripts will help provide numbers relating to how many visitors each website is receiving, and how many of them move on to your conversion page upon initial site viewing.

The last step asks you to validate and publish your pages to the web. This is accomplished simple by clicking the “Validate Pages” button. After your pages have been published, the inserted tracking scripts will begin to collect data from each of your test websites. Among the data tracked is the amount of Internet users that were directed to each web page. The amount of users that turn into conversions are also tracked, as this is the key piece of data when determining which website you’ll want to continue on with.

The statistics are then gathered and displayed in a format that’s easy to review, hopefully leaving you with the information necessary to make your final development decisions. With basic graphs and tables used to present relevant findings, your conversion rates will be easy to determine.

Combining Google Analytics With Google Website Optimizer

Many people find it helpful to use Google Analytics alongside Google Website Optimizer, as it will allow you to track more statistics with more accuracy than using one tool alone. GWO is specific to tracking conversion rates, while Google Analytics allows you to analyze key components within a website, such as how many users are clicking a certain button, exploring sub pages, and even how long they remain on your landing page. GWO is a very useful tool for split testing, but is often only the first step in a dedicated website development process.

Brian Flores is a SEO and blogger for InMotion Hosting, one of the top providers of virtual private servers in the United States. He works with a team of awesome writers to post useful tutorials on WebHostingHelpGuy. You can follow him on Twitter @WHHG_InMotion or @BrianAFlores.