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How do you test your site's effectiveness?

by Hopeless Bromantic
9 replies
I realize that there are lots of different schools of thought on how to test a site and improve its message, so with any luck we can collect most of them on this thread.

For simplicity, let's assume the site exists to sell and market some kind of product or service that can be purchased there. The questions are,
  1. What are the most important tests you can run on the site? (A lot of people say "everything," which is usually impractical and expensive.)
  2. How do you make sure that the results of the tests from (1) are useful and reliable?
  3. What happens when neither option in a split test is meeting the goal you've set?
Of course, feel free to add any related info you can think of!
#effectiveness #site
  • Profile picture of the author Greedy
    1. Newsletter sign-up page.

    2. Tracking Aweber / Analytics.

    3. Try something new.
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    • Profile picture of the author Horny Devil
      Banned
      Provide a feedback and suggestions section on your website for visitors. You'll soon know what's hot to trot . . . . or not.
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  • Profile picture of the author ScottieDog
    I think an important thing to check is where people are clicking on the home page. What are they most interested in, in the majority.

    "In Page Analytics". I´m not saying its the most important, but for me it is important.
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    Originally Posted by Hopeless Bromantic View Post

    For simplicity, let's assume the site exists to sell and market some kind of product or service that can be purchased there.
    Unless this is some kind of trick question your effectiveness is measured in the number of sales you get, right? Break it down to your sales copy. If it's converting at a certain level (which will vary according to the market) they you're operating a successful site.
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    • Profile picture of the author Hopeless Bromantic
      Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

      Unless this is some kind of trick question your effectiveness is measured in the number of sales you get, right? Break it down to your sales copy. If it's converting at a certain level (which will vary according to the market) they you're operating a successful site.
      For most markets, there would have to be slightly more to it than that - if only because most people don't make purchases on their very first visit. Maybe (and I'm just guessing, I admit), attracting a higher quality of followup visitors would be more important to the site's effectiveness than direct conversions. (???)
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      Bros find strictly platonic dudes on seekBromance.com
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      "It's pretty simple. You work hard, you believe anything is possible, and you try to make the world better."

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      • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
        Originally Posted by Hopeless Bromantic View Post

        For most markets, there would have to be slightly more to it than that - if only because most people don't make purchases on their very first visit.
        Again, it depends on the market, the product and the price of the product. Still, if the product is good and the price is reasonable it's not uncommon for people to buy on the first visit. Your "effectiveness" question is highly academic without being able to see the actual site.
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        • Profile picture of the author Hopeless Bromantic
          Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

          Again, it depends on the market, the product and the price of the product. Still, if the product is good and the price is reasonable it's not uncommon for people to buy on the first visit. Your "effectiveness" question is highly academic without being able to see the actual site.
          I was, in fact, trying to come up with an approach that would apply to a wide variety of markets and products, yes.
          (Naturally, I always welcome feedback about my own site, but I have no idea how much someone could generalize from that. LOL)
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          Bros find strictly platonic dudes on seekBromance.com
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          "It's pretty simple. You work hard, you believe anything is possible, and you try to make the world better."

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          • Profile picture of the author Romeo Caporaso
            Depends on what your site is trying to do. Have a simple focus and you can tell if it is successfull. What are you trying to do - optins, sales, affiliate sales?
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  • Profile picture of the author GrowMyForumCommunity
    The most basic things to test the effectiveness of your website:

    1. If you gain more people to join and visit your site.
    2. If you have good feedbacks

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    Success doesn't come in an instant, just like Rome wasn't built in a day.
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