Over the last few years Marketing Experiments has conducted thousands of tests with dozen of partner companies.

We have learned a great deal, and shared much of our research data through our teleconference clinics and written briefs.

But it occurred to us that there is more we can and should do. We can take all we have learned about testing, and share the processes and methods with others in the online marketing industry.

Our first step in this direction is the launch of our first training and certification course.

Take and pass this course and you’ll be one of the very first Marketing Experiments Certified Split Testing Experts.

The certification will help you achieve better results where you work right now, and will also be a great asset to your resume for the future.

Best of all, part of the course will include testing one of your own company’s site pages. Chances are, the increase in revenues resulting from that one test will pay for the cost of the course and more.

To find out more about becoming a Certified Split Testing Expert, read our information page here...

Making changes to key web pages can sometimes be a major production, involving a number of people, or groups of people. Once everyone is sitting down together, it’s tempting to talk only about making dramatic changes...if only to justify everyone’s time and efforts.

That’s a pity, because small changes can make a big difference.

Our own research data has demonstrated that a fairly minor change to a page can increase conversion rates by up to 88%.

This kind of result should impact not only how we think about testing, but also how we organize and authorize the process of making changes to web pages within our companies and organizations.

Making small changes “on the fly”, and testing them, can yield some very significant improvements.

“The Power of Small Changes” is the topic of our teleconference call this Wednesday, March 1st at 4:00PM EST. We’ll be sharing data from recent tests and offering some analysis on the results.

As always, there is no charge for participating in the call. But we do ask you to register in advance. Sign up and reserve your place for the call here...

As with all good things, one can go too far when it comes to optimization.

A friend of mine was telling me how she regularly receives emails from a company offering a free weekly software download. Quite often she clicks through to the site. But what does she find? She finds a landing page optimized to sell her full-price products...with the free download link hidden way down below the fold.

This story struck a chord with me because I can imagine the web team working to maximize their sales.

I can imagine them testing the positioning of the free download link on the landing page, and discovering that if they place it below the fold they will increase their immediate sales of the full-price products featured higher up.

A job well done. Monthly revenues take a jump upwards.

But there’s a problem here. And this problem is inherent within any analysis of short-term optimization data.

What does my friend feel when she arrives at that landing page? She feels misled and annoyed. The page is not delivering what the email link promised.

Also, the ploy being used by the web group is obvious. So my friend knows the game they are playing. She knows they are trying to trick her into buying something.

After a while, she’ll probably stop clicking on those links. A while later, she’ll probably stop opening the emails. And then she’ll unsubscribe or filter to junk mail.

Here’s what I would like to test...

I would like to test the free download link above and below the fold, over a nine month period.

When you take the long view like this, you’ll get to see the longer-term impact of optimization on the lifetime value of a subscriber.

So...does the extra revenue achieved by “hiding” the link make up for the loss of the subscribers you disappoint and annoy?

Or will one do better in the long term by delighting your subscribers and retaining their attention and interest for longer?

I’m not sure which approach would win. But my instincts tell me that it is always smart business to please and delight the subscribers and customers you have right now.

I have been following various discussions recently on the topic of trash content sites. What are they? These are sites created with the express purpose of generating Google AdSense income or affiliate commissions.

Lone webmasters, and even some companies, put up dozens of sites, all with poor or purchased content, and then stuff the pages with AdSense ads and affiliate links.

Most gather their content together by a combination of means...reprinting syndicated articles, buying content, cutting and pasting “public domain” information, or writing short, keyword-rich, but essentially useless blocks of text per page.

You have probably seen sites like these. They are easy to spot, because the first screen of the page usually comprises a large block of Adsense ads.

Also, many of them are on topics like insurance, loans, mortgages etc...where the PPC prices are very high.

There is both a problem here, and an opportunity.

The problem is that neither Google nor the other major search engines have yet figured out an effective algorithm to identify these sites. As a result, search results are becoming clogged with trash-content.

This is a huge problem for Google, because it undermines its value both as a search engine and as a vendor of advertising.

However, the time will come when Google and the others figure out a way to identify trash content.

And therein lies the opportunity.

Now, as in the past, and for the future...a key to delivering value that will be recognized by both the search engines and your visitors, is to create truly valuable content for your site.

Original, useful, optimized content has always been a magnet for search engines and people, and always will be.

So while you may be listed below some trash content sites for now, the regular addition of quality content pages to your site will ensure you rise up the results listings in the future.

This is our first post based on a question from one of our subscribers. The question was emailed in and the writer kindly gave us permission to post both his question and our answer here in the blog.

The Question:

“Nick's point was that a descriptive domain name pre-qualifies interest, and can actually outperform higher engine results in click-through volume--his example was something like freelance-writer.com in the #5 position getting more clicks from particular key phrase-groups, in generic searches I believe, than a less specific name of an older site in the #1 position.

Not only does the blurb differ between Google, MSN and Yahoo, but there is also variation among the headlines, or link text that the engines generate.”

Our Answer:

There are two questions here...one about descriptive domain names and the other about page descriptions. I’ll answer each separately.

First, does the use of a descriptive domain name give you an advantage?

From our research on domain and product name testing, it is clear that the domain name used does have an impact on people’s perceptions of the site, and the likelihood of their clicking through.

The freelance writing site referred to in the question is FreelanceWritingSuccess.com. It has a certain amount of content in common with ExcessVoice.com. The latter domain name is older and better ranked, and will often be listed higher up when a relevant search lists the “same” page from both sites on Google. However, while the page on ExcessVoice.com may be listed a little higher, the page for FreelanceWritingSuccess.com will often get a higher click-through rate.

Why? Because the longer domain name is not only descriptive, but also contains the promise of success. A value proposition is implied within the domain name itself.

The same is true of a domain name like BestBuy.com. Or, indeed, MarketingExperiments.com.

In the case of MarketingExperiments.com, the word “Experiments” simply and clearly differentiates the site from the many marketing “content” sites which simply host articles and opinions. “Experiments” implies science, and discovery.

Of course, if you can find a domain like BestBuy.com, you’re in luck. Not only does the name contain a promise, but it also very short and easy to remember and type.

Here's the second question:

“But this insight made me wonder: What about the site descriptions that appear along with the site name?”

Some engines, like Google, favor using your own page description. But the search term typed in by the user will also influence Google’s choice.

For instance, if the search term being used has an exact match within your description, Google will likely use that description. But if the term is not found in your page description, Google may use text from elsewhere on the page that does contain the exact search phrase.

So there is no guarantee that Google or any of the other search engines will use your own page description – although they often do. I know, it’s confusing.

This raises some related issues.

First, pay very careful attention to the key phrases you DO use in your descriptions. In other words, place your most important key phrase for the page in the description...so that Google does use it when that search phrase is entered.

Also, make sure that you pay a lot of attention to how you write that description. It should be optimized for both the search engines AND the users. Make sure that the description is specific to that page, useful to the reader and that it also contains a strong promise.

Now for the page title itself.

Google and the other search engines will use the page title from your meta tags. So again, pay a lot of attention to how you write them. And keep in mind that Google will cut off the title at somewhere between 63 and 67 characters. So you can’t be too wordy.

Page titles and descriptions are two areas where a lot of people don’t pay nearly enough attention. Not only can they influence how high the page is listed in the search results, along with how well optimized the page itself is, but together they can do an important job of pre-selling the content on your site.

All comments welcome...

Here’s your chance to enter the MarketingExperiments.com First Annual “Back of a Napkin” Business Plan Competition.

What we are looking for are strong business ideas which are founded on an exciting and enduring value proposition.

Like Google. Or eBay. Or Napster, whatever its subsequent problems and changes.

This is why it’s a “back of a napkin” business plan competition. To get the heart of the idea onto one side of a napkin, you’re are going to need a tremendous value proposition...something that can be expressed in just a few words, and is immediately clear and obvious to anyone who reads it.

If it takes more than the space on a napkin, it’s just another business idea that might make a few dollars somehow.

If you can express it in just a few words, and it makes the reader raise his or her eyebrows and say “Wow!”, then maybe you have a unique value proposition.

If you win this contest, you’ll receive over $100,000 worth of marketing and PR support.

You’ll find details of our business plan competition here...

We have created this blog for a number of reasons. But the driving force behind it was the desire to share Q&A from out teleconference clinics.

If you have ever taken part in one of our phone clinics, you’ll know that we invite participants to email any questions they have, relating to the topic of the call.

Some of these emails, if they come in fast enough, we answer during the call itself. Other emails we answer later on, and send our reply to the person who asked the question.

But it occurred to us that both the questions and answers would have far greater value if they could be shared by a larger audience.

Hence this blog.

From now on, the best and most useful questions will be posted here, and answered by one of our analysts.

Beyond that, we’ll use this blog to share some of our new research data, as it comes in, and also discuss general insights and observations that arise from our work.

The comments function is open, and we welcome your feedback.

What will separate this from the hundreds of other online marketing blogs out there?

That’s simple...as with all our work, this blog will be driven not by speculation, but by primary research data.

We’ll be talking about what works, because we have tested it and KNOW it works.