Nowadays the Internet is a battle royal. MySpace vs. FaceBook. We all know how that matchup turned out.

Google vs. Yahoo. This one’s scheduled for 12 rounds, but I think it will be a knock out.

And Google Buzz trained for years for a title match but failed a drug test. So for now, Twitter still holds the Light Heavyweight Belt, but eventually everyone meets their match. Anyone remember Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson?

This spectacular entertainment is appreciated by so-called “gurus” of epic proportions. The fight for Internet marketing supremacy is a quality collection of bouts that will satisfy many an Internet guru, but how will it impact the masses in attendance?

Will they follow the hot trends blindly? Will tricks for quick bucks convince them to throw in their monthly budget for an unproven, highly touted secret weapon?

So whether it’s above-the-fold landing pages or live chats, you need to see the results before you invest your wad. There are reasons galore to believe “best practices” or “paradigm-shifting Internet sensation” hype and hope these latest and greatest tactics to generate revenue make a dent into your bottom line, but if you don’t personally see the fight through you are merely gambling. Do you really want to do that?  Before you start paying the piper, make sure you do your own research first so you have a high confidence level to make bets on the entire fight card.

The Undercards

Above “The Fold” Page vs. Sequence of Thought

The Breakdown: The Fold is not new to the fight scene. He originates from a previous generation of fighters who have mostly retired or passed on. The Fold comes from the newspaper ring, where everyone fought for the space on the top half of the page. For people who didn’t read an entire newspaper word for word, the top half of the newspaper page is where you would look for the most important and popular stories. Much of the content below the fold was missed.

The Fold has a new following on the internet. Everywhere I go people are talking about The Fold. He’s the place on the page where a typical visitor’s screen ends. Anything below him takes extra effort to get to either by manually scrolling or using your mouse wheel. Although it only takes a quick twitch of the index finger, many people will not exert this effort.

So what are we supposed to do? Cram every possible image, word, or call-to-action above The Fold? The answer is no, and our tests time and time again prove it.

With over a decade in the game, and 100+ professional fights under his belt, Sequence of Thought enters the ring to take down the champion. At first glance, The Fold appears ready. He’s neatly arranged and he dons a beautiful new robe. The Fold feels this is good matchup for his style. He is typically at his best when he can use his brawn to draw in conversions without much thought. He wants you to press his buttons right away without even doing the pre-fight research.

But consumers are getting smarter, more keen. His tactics have got him this far, but The Fold has met his match.

The reason why Sequence of Thought can defeat The Fold isn’t because of his appearance. The fight for conversions is not won on the page, but in the mind of the user. It’s won before anyone even steps in the ring. It’s won by understanding your visitors’ motivations and anticipating what they will do, what punches they will throw before they arrive on your website.

What’s their thought process? What information are they looking for? Do they need longer copy because the product requires a big decision? Or do you need to utilize the top half of the page to introduce yourself because you’re unproven in the ring?

Not only is it vital to understand the motivations of the user before you build your page, but it’s essential to test your way into an effective page design. Use metrics and data to fully optimize your site. Launch a test for a few weeks then analyze your visitors’ actions in order to identify patterns and find the areas of your site where improvements will produce the biggest ROI gains.

For some product offerings, a short page is effective. But The Fold is not a one-size-fits-all type of fighter. Our research has proven that often a visitor will scroll if you lead them down the page, either through compelling content or product descriptions. If you tap into their motivations and provide them with what they are looking for, page length is of no consequence.

ADAM LAPP’S UNOFFICIAL SCORECARD:

The Fold – 76

Sequence of Thought – 102

Pretty Page vs. Ugly Page

The Breakdown: All of the promoters these days are looking for lean and chiseled with a marketable face. Their goal is to attract attention, put up a visually stimulating facade in order draw viewers to the fight and maximize pay-per-view orders. Pretty Page has lots of colors and images on it. (Do customer service reps really look like the stock photos? Wow!)

There’s lots of flash (along with some Flash). White text on black background. I see at least three twitter icons. Gradients galore. And then there’s that video that I had go out of my way to click pause just so I could focus on reading the actual content of the page.

The Pretty Page looks good. As it should be since you probably paid a small fortune to have it designed and developed.

But does a Pretty Page increase your conversion rate?

Meanwhile in the cellars of the arena, Ugly Page is whaling away at a punching bag. Unlike his opponent, Ugly Page is a grizzled veteran with an acute knowledge of how to win a fight. This comes from years and years of experience. He knows that conversion doesn’t depend on looks, having the biggest biceps, or wearing the most colorful shorts. He knows that conversion depends solely on your strategy. And strategies are not built from the latest trends or by implementing quick hits that you learned at a one-day marketing conference. They are built from testing. From figuring out definitively what works and what does not work.

But the point is not that Ugly Page is a better fighter than Pretty Page. In fact, Pretty Page may eventually become a much better fighter than Ugly Page. The important thing to understand is that strategy is more important than design. You could have the best-looking page in the world, but if it hasn’t been tested, if it hasn’t been optimized based on what you learned from data and results, then it’s nothing more than a pretty page.

The fighter that will prevail is one that tests the layout, tone, copy, and positioning before testing images and color schemes. Ugly Page learns how to communicate his value as a fighter before he adorns himself with a fancy robe. He reduces friction and anxiety before his publicist gives him a makeover.

The bottom line is that the ideal testing sequence is to test key strategies first, figure out which works the best, then add an aesthetic layer.

ADAM LAPP’S UNOFFICIAL SCORECARD:

Pretty Page – 88

Ugly Page – 96

Let’s get ready to rumble

Throughout the week, I’ll be shedding light on more Internet marketing fights right here on the blog. We have Flash Banner vs. Headline, Quantity vs. Quality, Heat Map vs. Data Analysis, Bounce Rate vs. Conversion, and finally…the main card…Tricks vs. Testing.

Related Resources

The Magical Metrics Tour: Demystifying the secrets behind analytical “tricks” to help you drive ROI

A/B Split Testing – How to use A/B Split Testing to Increase Conversion Rates, Challenge Assumptions and Solve Problems

Multivariable Testing – How testing multiple changes simultaneously can save you time, speed up your optimization schedule, and increase your profits

So you’ve sat through our webinars or taken our online certification courses. You’ve identified what to test but haven’t yet thought about how you are going to test. How do you get started on the path to triple-digit returns?

LOGISTICS

When it comes to the “how to test” question, what most people usually want to know is “which tool should I use.” But before you delve into testing platforms, you should really ask yourself a few questions:

• Do I have IT or technical support to build out the new page/path to test?
  • If not, who can I contract to build out the HMTL of the page?
• Do I have FTP or Apache Subversion (SVN) access to modify the page code so that I can add the testing platform code?
  • If not, where does this fit into IT’s project queue?

TOOL SELECTION

Once you’ve documented the logistics to build out the test, now it’s time to choose the testing platform that is best for your business. There are quite a few options out there right now. To help you pick the right tool, I put together the following list with Jessica McGraw, our technical manager of research partnerships…

Google Website Optimizer

The biggest benefit is quite obvious – it’s free! So what do you get for nothing?

Let’s start with support. There is a lot of instructional information about GWO available on the GWO site, including step-by-step directions and FAQs. This makes it easy for just about anyone to implement. And it is fairly straightforward and easy to use with little IT involvement necessary.

Yet it has the capabilities to allow you to conduct everything from simple A/B split tests to more complex multivariate tests (testing different combinations of elements).

Paired with Google Analytics e-commerce tracking, you’re able to report at the transaction and product level.

It can take a few hours for data to begin showing in the reports.

Omniture Test&Target

Test&Target also offers A/B and multivariate testing along with transaction- and product-level reports, but it does so with some really impressive in-depth reporting. For example, you have access to not only aggregate data, but daily data as well. This gives you the ability to spot cyclical changes within your test data and validate tests quicker.

You also gain the flexibility to target content to different groups of people based on defined segments. If you don’t know which segment should get which content, you can find out by setting up a test with different segments and watching the results of each segment individually to determine your new content. Test&Target also includes a feature where offers can be automatically targeted to site visitors based on several different variables including observed visitors’ on-site behavior.

In terms of support, you are not on your own. Your contract likely provides access to an account rep along with support hours to gain some insight into reports and help with complex test setup.

You data will likely appear in reports in mere minutes. And you can integrate reporting into a Site Catalyst account (Omniture’s web analytics product).

And while Omniture is a paid tool, the cost difference compared to a free tool might not be clear cut, because your company may already have a contract with Omniture. If it does, find out the additional cost to use Test&Target.

Unbounce

Unbounce bills itself as having “self-served, hosted landing pages for marketers with A/B testing.” It allows you to not only design the page, but build it and set it up all within the same tool.

This is an easy-to-use service which requires little to no IT involvement. You even get a

WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) landing page editor, so you can build landing pages with no web designer or without even having any HTML experience.

The tradeoff is that you can only run simple A/B split tests.

Drupal

If your site uses a content management system (CMS) like Drupal, there is likely a split testing plug-in that is available. Drupal itself is free and open source, and if it is your CMS and you use it for testing, you are assured instant compatibility with no need to pay for extra testing platforms.

As with other open-source solutions, “free” usually comes at a cost. Not surprisingly, Drupal requires a lot of IT involvement. Although, new platform updates are coming that will require less from IT.

On the flip side, since Drupal is open source, you can add any and all reporting features your particular tests require.

Build your own

You can always build your own split testing tool. Well it’s free, right? And by free, I mean that there are no outside costs or need to engage a consultant on product questions.

And you certainly have flexibility to build your own reports. You also have the support of in-house staff with the full knowledge of tool capabilities and ability to add extra features as IT has time.

And there’s the rub…”as IT has time.” You’ll have to gauge exactly what those words mean for your particular organization.

BUILDING THE TIMELINE

This last section usually doesn’t fall under “how to test” for many marketers, but rather “why I really can’t test even though I’d like to.” In fact, in a poll we conducted in a recent web clinic, time was identified as our audience’s biggest challenge to begin the implementation of the testing-optimization cycle in their organization.

This might seem like an insurmountable challenge up front, (since most marketers feel like they can barely keep up with their deadlines as it is). But as with any excuse (I have no time to exercise, eat right, learn Swahili, etc), it can be overcome by simply planning ahead and getting a firm understanding of the resources you will need.

When building your marketing campaign timelines, keep in mind that depending on what direction/solution you take with testing… you’ll need to build in extra time for:

• Reviewing your site analytics to identify your biggest opportunity and the best elements to test
• Working with a designer to modify your current design and incorporate the test variables
• Fitting into the development queue (if not using Unbounce). In most cases, marketing is the lowest priority in the development world, so ensure that you have your place in the queue before setting an expected launch date

Related Resources

Technology Blind Spots: How human insight revealed a hidden (and almost missed) 31% gain

A/B Split Testing — How to use A/B Split Testing to Increase Conversion Rates, Challenge Assumptions and Solve Problems

Cost of Delay: How to win approval for your test and test schedule

What to test (and how) to increase your ROI today

How Can You Make Your Web Site Smarter?

Are You Listening Fast Enough? Using A/B and Multivariate Testing to Accelerate Conversion Improvements

So you’ve sat through our webinars or taken our online certification courses. You’ve identified what to test but haven’t yet thought about how you are going to test. How do you get started on the path to triple-digit returns?

LOGISTICS

When it comes to the “how to test” question, what most people usually want to know is “which tool should I use.” But before you delve into testing platforms, you should really ask yourself a few questions:

• Do I have IT or technical support to build out the new page/path to test?
  • If not, who can I contract to build out the HMTL of the page?
• Do I have FTP or Apache Subversion (SVN) access to modify the page code so that I can add the testing platform code?
  • If not, where does this fit into IT’s project queue?

TOOL SELECTION

Once you’ve documented the logistics to build out the test, now it’s time to choose the testing platform that is best for your business. There are quite a few options out there right now. To help you pick the right tool, I put together the following list with Jessica McGraw, our technical manager of research partnerships…

Google Website Optimizer

The biggest benefit is quite obvious – it’s free! So what do you get for nothing?

Let’s start with support. There is a lot of instructional information about GWO available on the GWO site, including step-by-step directions and FAQs. This makes it easy for just about anyone to implement. And it is fairly straightforward and easy to use with little IT involvement necessary.

Yet it has the capabilities to allow you to conduct everything from simple A/B split tests to more complex multivariate tests (testing different combinations of elements).

It can take a few hours for data to begin showing in the reports.

Omniture Test&Target

Test&Target also offers A/B and multivariate testing, but it does so with some really impressive in-depth reporting that gives you the ability to pass through product IDs.

You also gain the flexibility to target content to different groups of people based on defined segments. If you don’t know which segment should get which content, you can find out by setting up a test with different segments and watching the results of each segment individually to determine your new content. Test&Target also includes a feature where offers can be automatically targeted to site visitors based on several different variables including observed visitors’ on-site behavior.

In terms of support, you are not on your own. Your contract likely provides access to an account rep along with support hours to gain some insight into reports and help with complex test setup.

You data will likely appear in reports in mere minutes. And you can integrate reporting into a Site Catalyst account (Omniture’s web analytics product).

And while Omniture is a paid tool, the cost difference compared to a free tool might not be clear cut, because your company may already have a contract with Omniture. If it does, find out the additional cost to use Test&Target.

Unbounce

Unbounce bills itself as having “self-served, hosted landing pages for marketers with A/B testing.” It allows you to not only design the page, but build it and set it up all within the same tool.

This is an easy-to-use service which requires little to no IT involvement. You even get a

WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) landing page editor, so you can build landing pages with no web designer or without even having any HTML experience.

The tradeoff is that you can only run simple A/B split tests.

Drupal

If your site uses a content management system (CMS) like Drupal, there is likely a split testing plug-in that is available. Drupal itself is free and open source, and if it is your CMS and you use it for testing, you are assured instant compatibility with no need to pay for extra testing platforms.

As with other open-source solutions, “free” usually comes at a cost. Not surprisingly, Drupal requires a lot of IT involvement. Although, new platform updates are coming that will require less from IT.

On the flip side, since Drupal is open source, you can add any and all reporting features your particular tests require.

Build your own

You can always build your own split testing tool. Well it’s free, right? And by free, I mean that there are no outside costs or need to engage a consultant on product questions.

And you certainly have flexibility to build your own reports. You also have the support of in-house staff with the full knowledge of tool capabilities and ability to add extra features as IT has time.

And there’s the rub…”as IT has time.” You’ll have to gauge exactly what those words mean for your particular organization.

BUILDING THE TIMELINE

This last section usually doesn’t fall under “how to test” for many marketers, but rather “why I really can’t test even though I’d like to.” In fact, in a poll we conducted in a recent web clinic, time was identified as our audience’s biggest challenge to begin the implementation of the testing-optimization cycle in their organization.

This might seem like an insurmountable challenge up front, (since most marketers feel like they can barely keep up with their deadlines as it is). But as with any excuse (I have no time to exercise, eat right, learn Swahili, etc), it can be overcome by simply planning ahead and getting a firm understanding of the resources you will need.

When building your marketing campaign timelines, keep in mind that depending on what direction/solution you take with testing… you’ll need to build in extra time for:

• Reviewing your site analytics to identify your biggest opportunity and the best elements to test
• Working with a designer to modify your current design and incorporate the test variables
• Fitting into the development queue (if not using Unbounce). In most cases, marketing is the lowest priority in the development world, so ensure that you have your place in the queue before setting an expected launch date

Related Resources

Technology Blind Spots: How human insight revealed a hidden (and almost missed) 31% gain

A/B Split Testing — How to use A/B Split Testing to Increase Conversion Rates, Challenge Assumptions and Solve Problems

Cost of Delay: How to win approval for your test and test schedule

What to test (and how) to increase your ROI today

How Can You Make Your Web Site Smarter?

Are You Listening Fast Enough? Using A/B and Multivariate Testing to Accelerate Conversion Improvements