For testing purposes and the examples we give, were going to be using Googles site Analyzer which is part of Google Analytics. Why? Well, for one, because its free and thus accessible to everybody ; and secondly, because its a darn good testing platform free or not.

Googles Website Optimizer is free, powerful, convenient. What else could you want? It enables you to perform A / B and multivariate testing.

Why is it free?

Because Google knows that if you improve your conversion rates, youre more likely to take a position in more advertising campaigns, users are cheerful because theyre happier with the sites that they find thru searches. Fundamentally, everyone seems to be happy and Google makes extra cash.

Makes sense when you put it that way, doesnt it?

There are more, paid services that you can use to further your testing, measuring, and optimizing practices. But this series is all about making the most out of what you can get for almost no money spent, by focussing on the purchaser and conducting your communications strategy in a very different way. For that reason, with regard to practical applications for testing that’ll be covered in this part of the series, well be focussing on how best to employ the free Google tools.

The main thing to remember about the Google website Optimizer is that it’s a tool. It only provides the metrics, it cant tell you what changes to make. You’ve got to infer that for yourself. If you would like the tests you run to be meaningful and give you the feedback you need to enhance your site, then you want to make sure youre going about it the right way, and making the best of the free tools that Google gives you.

Later in the series, well be going thru precisely what you should be doing to get you started with testing. Where you take it from thereis up to you.

Before we dig into the nuts and bolts of really running a test, there are a few things you want to recollect for any test you run, whether its 1 or 1001 :

- Always start the test with a goal in mind. Know what you are expecting the outcome to be ( though you could be wrong very , very wrong ; thats what youre testing. ) In scientific tests, this is called the conjecture. Your goal is the basis and the explanation for the whole test.

- Determine what you metric of success will be before you start the test. How much better is sufficiently good to be considered a success? 5%? Ten percent 50%? Only you can decide that.

- Remember not to muddy the waters. If youre testing the color of the checkout button, dont also change the shape or the font or where it would appear on the site. You could get a fantastic result, but you wont know what variable was responsible for the change. Be particularly conscious of this when testing copy ; any other changes you make, even coincidentally, to the layout or the font or any other facet of the display will totally negate the authenticity of the test on the particular content.

- Remember that you always need a control. Even if youre dong multivariate testing, youstill need to use the original version of the page to act as a control, something to compare the test results to.

- Use detailed names for your tests. You could be able to keep control of the fact that Tests 1-10 were about buttons and Tests 11-15 were about news, but what about when youre at Test 345? If you give your tests clear, descriptive names, itll be easier for you to find the data and results when you want to refer back to them to plan more tests.

- The tests mean nothing if you dont learn anything from them. Your test isnt actually done ( or of any use to you ) unless youve researched the results and applied the learnings to your site. You then use that data youve gained as the foundation for the following test, because

- And ultimately, youre never done testing. There will never be a time when you can say Thats it, its perfect, Im done. Even if your site is ideal and performing at its utmost capacity at that moment, the internet is a fluid, changing thing, and you need to confirm ( thru testing ) that youre keeping up with the changes and keeping you and your internet site relevant and maintain your presence onthe internet as a Trusted Expert.

( This post is a continuation of the series of becoming a Trusted Expert. You can read the prior posts at Become a Trusted Expert Online )

Visit Johncow.com today to learn more about ways to Make Money Online or check out out Make Money Online Podcasts.