Wednesday, February 19, 2014


A/B Testing, Insights and Link Popularity 

 
Though A/B testing was covered in the last class cycle, it has carried over into this one with all groups designing a test ad for their client/web page. A/B testing allows 1 variable to be tested in real time so that data may be analyzed. This has had me looking up examples and finding the most interesting things. The lesson here is that data is vital, and to go with your gut is to risk impressions and completion rates. The first link allows the reader to benefit from the analysis of why the winner was successful, the second has a nice feature of allowing the reader to participate in the test-you select A or B & then view what actually won over in public testing. 

Google analytics is a topic that could be explored endlessly. Insights is very interesting with dimensions (descriptive data sets) and metrics (measurements of that data) for each. I was amazed that 80 segments are reported on automatically including geography/location, page lode time. Who exits? Where are they from (location around the globe)? What search engine referred them? Where did they exit?

I am intrigued with the concepts discussed in Stokes 6.5: Link Popularity. Tactics include creating a game, tools i.e. calculator or widget/app and putting quality industry specific content on your web site. What would fit with Literary Art Boom’s web content & mission? Would it be an interactive tool to create a zine on their site & post it to a Graffiti like wall/web page? An article about teen writing & effects on school success? An app that lets young children associate pictures & words in story form, printable in book like format? These tactics attract those with a genuine interest in content available on your web page.  Once there, browsers are more apt to look around if the material referenced is relevant to them. This avoids a high bounce rate (percent of single page views). Pleased and captivated visitors will pass along the link to your web site containing the tool, gadget, article etc. Word of mouth works wonders for Good, solid referrals are so important in the world, why would it not be the same in the virtual world? This entire concept is very relevant & worthy of experimentation. My goal for this upcoming week is to investigate tactics that I could employ on this blog to mimic what the LAB could utilize. Currently we as a class are writing & tagging Stokes & GOMC all the time, are we increasing their search engine rankings? How do you as class participants feel about promoting these entities? Who would you like to promote? Does this section (list of tactics) give you, as a reader, ideas for promoting a personal or friend/family members web site? What are they?
Google Adwords ads. What is allowed & what is not?


Saturday, February 1, 2014


WEEK 2: Testing for success


This week through the reading for Chatham University's Graduate class, Global Marketing, I was most impressed with the myriad of ways that user experience may be tested and tracked. Four methods were discussed in Stokes chapter 15.4:
  • A/B split testing: a business may test one variable at a time to gauge success and traffic is randomly routed to one page or another-will it affect the ultimate conversion rate if I move the “Donate Now!” button from center to the right hand side? It is interesting to imagine the small changes that you might encounter when visiting a site from different IP addresses or browsers.
  • Multivariate testing: Lots of changes may be tested at the same time. Tracking for significance of these alterations may necessitate the assistance of an outside vendor.
  • Listening Labs: Watch, listen & learn how users interact with your site. It may not be the experience you envision it to be…
  • Single page heat maps: This fascinating tool allows a business to have a true mapping of a consumer’s journey through their web site, page by page. Each touch is mapped. 

The two most fascinating to me are the Listening Labs and the Heat Maps. My initial thought regarding an in house listening lab is that the experience may not yield real world results. Will consumers or employees act as they would in their own homes? Are the results unbiased? In his book, “Don’t Make Me Think” Steve Krug (Steve Krug, New Riders, 2014) reveals that we (users) do not act logically, we scan, we do not make the best (logical) choices and we do not always work to figure out how things work. Krug’s observations have revealed lessons to be incorporated into success for site design. Heat Maps are visual, this has great appeal to those of us who’s eyes glaze over when there is a bit too much technical talk floating around….This would be a great tool for those who have GOMC clients who’s web site home pages are one long scrolling page. Where do visitors stop scrolling?  



Most helpful this session was the Google videos (202:Tools to Build Ads and Advanced Ad types) that focused on troubleshooting- what if I cannot see my ad? What if it isn’t running-why is that happening? As I have not begun to actually play with Google Adwords, it seems incredibly complicated to the uninitiated. Having this tool to attempt diagnosis is helpful as are the tools referenced in 302: Bidding Tools and Adwords Campaign Experiments. This section gives some great tips for those times when you are simply overwhelmed with the possibilities of optimization. Google provides suggestions related to topics such as keywords, budget, and competition comparison.

My goals from the last writing focused on client goals. The expert presentation that began the week, Sara Peduzzi from Lunametrics, had some targeted questions to keep this in the forefront as I go forward. What are the client’s goals? This would determine what would define a conversion. Who are their customers? What patterns of behavior do their customers exhibit? This will determine the ad’s optimal time of day in running and geo-location targeting. My additional goal is to play with AdWords until it no longer scares me!


Web Sources:
Stokes, R and the Minds of Quirk, EMarketing: The essential Guide to Online Marketing, v 1.0 
Web site, Advanced Common Sense, Don't Make Me Think, Krug, S, Chapter 2 http://www.sensible.com/chapter.html  
UX Booth by Redd Horrocks, 10 Usability Lessons from Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think, http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/10-usability-lessons-from-steve-krug%E2%80%99s-dont-make-me-think/ 
UTube video, Crazy Egg Explainer video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3f-2WG7ONc