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What Are You Testing And Tracking?

by Tyson Faulkner
5 replies
I'm sure everyone has heard this before, "Don't Forget To Test and Track everything!"

And despite this being good advice, it doesn't really explain much.

So my question to my fellow marketers is, what all are you testing and tracking?

I think newer marketers just getting started would benefit greatly by hearing some specifics instead of just the generalities of "just test everything."

I'll start the list off with the biggest things I try to keep track of on my websites.

  1. Number of visitors coming to my site
  2. Where they are all coming from (I hate seeing "direct" traffic!)
  3. The conversion rates of my traffic sources and individual ads
  4. Number of downloads of my products & zip files
As far as testing goes I haven't taken it too far. But I like to test headlines and different layouts of my landing pages to get a feel for what my visitors like to see.

Now I know there's more and useful things that you can test and track, so let's hear em!

I and others will greatly benefit from your expertise.

Thanks!
Tyson
#testing #tracking
  • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
    I'm a test and track nut too :-)

    I test the obvious things like headlines, offers, opening paragraphs,
    call-to-action, layouts, prices, etc.

    And then there's things like text vs graphic mix, text vs video, etc.

    In addition, I like to track leadsource, ad type, keywords, referring URL,
    so that I can get as much information on my most effective marketing
    methods as possible.

    Unfortunately, most marketers are too lazy to test and track which
    is a shame considering how easy it is to do online.

    I treat my business like a business and like the discipline of testing
    and tracking to get the most bang for my buck.

    Everything counts.

    Testing and tracking will also reveal the truth instead of just going
    on the opinions of others.

    Dedicated to your success,

    Shaun
    Signature

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    • Profile picture of the author Tyson Faulkner
      Hey Shaun thanks for the response, it looks like you and me are the only ones that track anything on the WF!

      I used to be too lazy to track anything too because I wanted to start making money, not mess around with techie stuff. I've now completely changed my mindset into a longer term one. Instead of trying to make money I am focusing on building a business using the internet.

      And to build this business I need to know what marketing efforts are worth the time/money and which ones are a waste. Tracking is the only way to do this.

      Like you said Shaun, it's the only way to get the most bang for your buck.

      So what's the biggest thing keeping other warriors from starting to track? Is it the technical side? lack of interest? No time to figure out how to do it?
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  • Profile picture of the author PCRoger
    With article marketing, I test direct links vs going through my site; different resource boxes; different angles on titles, etc.

    I'm so interested in knowing where my sales came from I created my own product to do so - CBSaleTracker.

    Regards,
    PCRoger.
    Signature
    Track your affiliate sales back to the ARTICLE or WEBSITE that generated the sale. CBSaleTracker

    I was making money in days with the 4 Day Money Making Blueprint
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  • Profile picture of the author davidfstyles
    Hey Tyson. No, I believe it's now Shaun, you and me that test and measure on the WF :-)

    I'm the same... I didn't actually know how to test in the beginning. But the last 4-5 years I've become a testing freak... and test everything I can.

    The reason is because lots of small tweaks lead to massive changes.

    For example, I started testing the CTR of my AdWords ads... and quickly doubled my traffic by testing different headlines, body copy and the ad layout (caps, exclamation marks etc) It's really, really easy to do in AdWords. Sometimes I test up to 20 different ads at a time... just for the one keyword!!!

    And then I started running multi-variate testing on my squeeze pages... and again more than doubled the conversion rate. So I tested different pictures, video vs. graphic, background colors, headlines, fonts, sign-up button, fonts, font sizes, bullet points, 'Name:' vs 'First Name' (etc). There's now no guessing when I test.

    Then I started running hundreds of multi-variate tests on the sales letters... mainly by modeling the best sales letters on ClickBank and trying them out on my control.

    And that's just sales conversion. I also test subject lines and body copy whenever I do a product launch to my lists. AWeber make it easy because you can split each list into 4 parts to do a 4-way split-test. It always amazes me how a different subject line can double the open rate... and I've found different body copy can quadruple the click-through-rate of the email links.

    Then there's SEO. The 'O' stands for optimization... and that's where testing comes into play with SEO. So I test the on-page SEO elements... <title> tag, meta tags, <h1> tags, keyword density etc. And I also test the off-page SEO elements... anchor text, quality of the backlinking sites etc. Usually I wait a month or so to see what difference the changes have made.

    So yes, I'm always testing everything I can! Thanks for starting the post.

    Talk soon,

    David.
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    WSO #1... BEAT THE SLAP: How I Get 4c Clicks With 10/10 Quality Scores
    WSO #2... SEO NINJA: How I Get Multiple Page #1 Rankings, 300% Increase In FREE Google Traffic
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    • Profile picture of the author Tyson Faulkner
      Glad to see a couple more Warriors who test and track their marketing!

      It sounds like you've really learned your stuff and know what to test and how to do it, very impressive.

      I like the idea to split test subjects and body copy in aweber. I've done that once before but I kinda forgot about it...oops!

      I've found that after figuring it out the first time, I get faster and faster and it just becomes routine to add tracking codes and make sure I know where it all comes from. It was a bit overwhelming at first but I'm starting to get a pretty good handle on it.
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