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If you want to increase the amount of money you make from your direct response sales letter, extra traffic is not always the answer. We have all heard of split testing in the internet marketing and affiliate marketing industry, however there are only a few people that can do it correctly and effectively.

What is split testing?

You may be thinking, “what is split testing?” and “why is it so important?”. Well, split testing is the process of testing different aspects of your sales page against similar variations of these aspects. For example, you might test different variations of your sales copy, or different colour headlines or different colour page background. You can also split test things such as order buttons, and if you read my last post about “high converting order buttons”, then you will know exactly what features of an order button convert the best. I discovered these features as a result of my own split testing.

Why is split testing important?

Split testing is important because it has the potential to increase the income generated from your site, simply by observing and analyzing the psychological behavior of your prospect. This may sound complicated but it really isn’t. It’s just a case of testing which element converts the best and going with the statistics.

How can split testing increase my income?

To find out how split testing can help you to make more money from your site without spending any extra money on advertising, here’s an example. Let’s say you are running a Google Adwords campaign and your landing page is converting at 1%. When I say converting I am referring to the conversion rate i.e. how many visitors to your site actually purchase your product. So you decide to split test this landing page with another version of the same, apart from this one has a red headline instead of a black headline. After rotating these two landing pages equally, you realize that the conversion rate on the page with a red headline converts at 2%. Now that may not seem a lot but this 1% increase will bring you 100% more money because you are getting twice the amount of sales. Now do you see the power of split testing?

How do I split test and what elements do I test?

So you have learnt about how split testing can increase the income and sales volume generated from your website. Now you just need to know how to put these teachings in to practice. Well there really is no right or wrong way, and there are hundreds of different elements of your web page that you can split test in order to boost your conversion rate. To keep this article short I am just going to mention a few of them to give you an idea. The only piece of advice I will give you that I feel will help you significantly is, to test each individual aspect separately and one at a time. You don’t want to change your whole landing page to something different, because although you might be able to discover which page converts the best, you won’t know specifically which of the elements of the page are making it convert the best.

So here’s a list of the main elements of your landing page that you should consider split testing.

1. Headline – As the headline is probably the first thing your prospect sees when they visit your website, it is of critical importance. Not having the right headline could cause your prospect to hit the back button on their browser in a heartbeat. You need to set the right first impression by having an attention grabbing headline which compels the reader to move down the page, not move away.
2. Sales copy – Split testing your sales copy can be very tedious and time consuming, however it needs to be done as this is the main element that helps to keep your prospect moving down your page. I would always advise you to test the first paragraph first as this is the main attention grabber and is the second thing your prospect reads after the headline.
3. Order button – Split testing your order button is also of critical importance because it is the last thing your prospect sees before they decide to purchase your product. If this doesn’t stand out then you can wave goodbye to your desired high conversion rate. If you read my last post about the “7 elements of a high converting order button”, you will know which elements of your order button can increase its conversion rate significantly.

One final thing I would like to talk about is Google Web Optimizer.

If you have never used Google Web Optimizer then now is the time to start. It is the mother of all split testing tools and it can have a massive impact on your profitability if used correctly. Setting up a simple split test using Google Web Optimizer could not be easier. They walk you through the whole process and you can be up and running with your first test within minutes. For more information click here.

If you feel that this post has helped you, please submit your comments below.