Tips, tools, and best practices for B2B marketers.

How do I test different versions of a page? And other common web site optimization questions.

May 28, 2008 | Posted by: Nicholas

While talking to our clients about how to optimize their web sites, we often encourage them to actively test multiple variations of pages to see what optimization changes work best. This usually leads to a standard set of questions:

1. How do I go about testing different versions of a page? 
2. Which pages should I test?
3. What should I test on these pages?

Well, the first question is easy to answer: Use Google Website Optimizer. It's got a powerful feature set, allows you to test literally thousands of versions of a page without breaking a sweat, and it's free. You can't beat that, huh?

The next two questions are a bit more involved. In general, you should test your highest trafficked pages, since these will have the biggest impact on your optimization goals. But there are many other factors to take into account as well. What to test on these pages, is the real heart of the matter, and is where you'll see your real results.

Below is a recorded webinar that was presented by Tom Leung, Product Manager for Google Website Optimizer, that goes into some basics of GWO (which will show you how easy it is to use and some of the amazing information it can offer you) as well as some theory and examples of how to answer questions #2 and #3 above. Some things covered are in a B2C context, but can be easily extrapolated to apply to B2B. The Q&A, starting at about 54 minutes in, is especially worth checking out. (View the video larger and with better sound here.)