"Test for Success: Learn the Top 12 Things to Test on Your Web Site (And How You Can Increase Sales by More Than 400%!)"

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The top twelve tests you can run on your web site right now. These tests are
quick and easy to implement and can start increasing your sales by 400%…
700%… even 1,000%… in less than 48 hours!

And I haven’t just grabbed those figures out of the air.

These are ACTUAL results that we’ve seen by running literally hundreds of
our own tests every month.

Bottom line… testing is the ONLY way to discover what works — and what
doesn’t — on your web site, and it’s the BEST way to start increasing your
sales exponentially.

And if you take the plunge and test even just one of the following twelve
things, you’ll learn just how true this is… especially when you start
seeing a dramatic improvement to *your* bottom line!

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Test #1: Offer ONE product or service on your homepage

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Do you offer a number of products or services on your web site? If so, we
strongly recommend you test whether or not this is the most effective
strategy for you.

We’ve found that offering fewer products in one place with more copy
describing those products ALWAYS translates into higher sales.

It’s all about focus.

Instead of trying to please *everyone* who visits your web site by offering
a large range of products with minimal detail about each one, if you offer
just one product (or one set of related products), you can really focus on
one key set of benefits and answer *all* of the possible questions and
doubts your visitors might have about your product.

And you don’t have to stop selling your other products — you can always
offer them to your customers from other web pages or by using follow-up
offers (see Test #12).

Of course, the only way to find out for sure if this will work with your
target audience is to test it! Write a salesletter for your lead product and
put it on your homepage. Run the test for a week or two to see how it
increases your sales!

Don’t forget to signup for our MORE great secrets, tips and techniques

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Test #2: Reposition your opt-in offer to BOOST your opt-ins

and build a bigger list of loyal subscribers!

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Your opt-in offer is your tool for gathering your customers’

e-mail addresses. In exchange for their address, you might offer them a free
report containing valuable information or a regular free newsletter.

Your opt-in is your mechanism for building your e-mail list, which allows
you to regularly keep in touch with your subscribers, build relationships of
trust and loyalty, and sell them your products or services.

But did you know that WHERE your opt-in offer appears on your site can have
a huge impact on how many subscribers you attract?

If you don’t use a long salesletter, test placing your opt-in offer in as
prominent a position as possible on your homepage — the top-left of a page
is where visitors’ eyes are often drawn first.

At the very least, test placing your opt-in in the “first fold” of your
salesletter — the area of screen first visible to a visitor before they
scroll down the page.

If you have a long salesletter, you should test placing it within your
second “page” of text — after you’ve grabbed your visitors’ attention by
identifying a problem they have and established your credibility by
impressing them with your credentials, experience, and glowing testimonials
from happy customers.

You should also test placing your opt-in offer on EVERY page of your web
site so it’s always in front of your visitors, and try using a “hover ad”
(see below). The more sign-up opportunities you provide, the more
subscribers you’re likely to get. Test it and see!

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Test #3: Add impact to your promotions with “hover ads”

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I’m sure everyone’s familiar with pop-ups. They’re the small windows
containing a special offer or other information that sometimes “pop up” when
you visit a web site.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, pop-ups have been a very useful online marketing tool
for years. However, because a percentage of Internet users disliked them,
Google, AOL, Netscape, and others developed pop-up blocking software to
combat them.

Of course, Internet users should be able to *choose* whether or not they
want to view pop-ups. However, much of this software *automatically* blocked
pop-ups, meaning visitors to a site started missing out on valuable
information that could benefit them.

But that was before we discovered a very impressive technology that actually
lets you use ads that BEHAVE like pop-ups, but that are NOT pop-ups — so
they don’t get blocked. They’re called “hover ads” and they’re well worth
testing on your site.

In fact, when we tested adding a hover ad to our site, sales increased by
162%! They’re effective because they put important information, such as your
opt-in offer or a special time-limited promotion, right in front of your
targeted visitors.

You can test placing your opt-in offer in your hover ad to see if that
boosts subscription numbers. When we did this, 86% more people subscribed to
our newsletter!

You can also test how many more people click through to a special offer page
on your web site through a hover ad versus through a regular link on your
homepage.

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Test #4: Feature different benefits in your headline

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Your headline has a HUGE impact on your sales. It’s often the first thing
visitors to your site see so it must grab their attention and compel them to
read your salesletter.

A successful headline should highlight a problem your target audience faces
and stress the main benefit of your product or service in solving this
problem. Let’s look at an example that illustrates how a headline can be
changed for maximum impact.

One of our clients was using the following headline on his

site: “Box4Blox — The Amazing Toy Storage Box For Lego.”

The problem with this headline is that it tells you what the product *is*,
but not what it *does for you*. It doesn’t give a visitor any good reason to
continue reading the rest of the page.

Contrast this with “Finally! Discover the Secret That’s Got More Than 50,000
LEGO-Crazy Kids Worldwide Actually *LOVING* Clean-Up Time!” This headline
presents a major benefit of the product and a solution to a problem — in
this case, how to get kids to clean up after themselves, and actually enjoy
it.

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Test #5: Establish a problem in your copy and show how you

can solve it

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In the first couple of paragraphs that appear on your homepage, you need to
go into more detail about the problem you introduced in your headline –
showing your audience that you relate to them. (Only when your audience
feels you understand their problem will they feel confident that you can
solve it.)

Once the problem is established, you can then begin introducing your product
or service as the solution to this problem. By emphasizing exactly *how*
your product or service will solve the reader’s problem, you are guaranteed
to see a boost in sales!

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Test #6: Add credibility to your copy… and enhance your

visitors’ trust in you

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It’s vital that your salescopy establishes your credibility:

It’s through this process that your visitors come to trust you and feel
comfortable enough to buy from you.

There are several ways you can do this effectively and we’ll talk about two
of the quickest and easiest ones here. If you’re not already using these
techniques, revamp your copy and test it against what you’re using now.
You’ll be surprised by the difference.

One of the best ways to establish your credibility is to include customer
testimonials in your salesletter. These should be excerpts from genuine
e-mails or letters from customers expressing how your product or service
helped solve the particular problem they faced.

This last point is important: A customer testimonial that states *how* your
product benefited them is much more effective than one that just says
something like, “Your product is great!”

You can also enhance your credibility by adding a section to your copy that
outlines your credentials, experience, and any background information that
make you qualified to solve your target audience’s problem.

Your aim should be to effectively convince readers that

*you* are the best person to offer them a solution to their problem.

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Test #7: Focus on your readers… not yourself

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The most successful salescopy focuses on the reader. Too often, business
owners neglect this simple golden rule. Look carefully at your salescopy.

Is it filled with references to “I,” “me,” and “we”? Instead of using
sentences like, “I designed my time-management software with the busy
homeowner in mind,” try “Your new time-management software will free up
hours of time for you to spend with your family.” See how much more powerful
that is?

Try searching on “I,” “me,” and “our” in your salescopy and replace them
with “you” and “your.”

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Test #8: Instill urgency into your copy — and convince

readers they need to buy NOW!

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It’s very important that your salescopy instills a sense of urgency in your
visitors, compelling them to buy NOW. The best place to do this is towards
the end of your salesletter, near the call to action (when you ask for the
sale).

Here are a few of the most effective ways to create a sense of urgency. Try
testing each one against your current copy:

- Offer a limited-time price discount offer where

visitors must buy before a certain date in order to

qualify for the discount

- Offer additional bonuses for free if they buy within a

certain time frame

- Offer only a limited quantity of your products or

services

- Offer a limited quantity bonus

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Test #9: Remove references to “buying” from the first fold

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People usually go online looking for free information. If you start your
sales pitch too early in your copy, you may end up losing them before you’ve
had the chance to hook them.

You first need to get them interested in what you have to say by relating to
a problem they’re facing (as I outlined in Test #5) and how YOU can solve
it. Once you’ve accomplished that, you can start to sell to them.

Here’s an easy way to improve the tone of your salesletter:

Try removing references to “buying,” “cost,” and “sale” from the first fold,
and compare the results to the copy you’re using now.

Don’t mention anything to do with making a purchase or spending money until
after your reader is interested in your product and trusts you enough to buy
from you!

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Test #10: Boost your product’s desirability by adding images

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Images of your products make them seem more tangible and “real” to your
visitors and are a powerful sales tool. In fact, our testing shows that you
can increase sales by more than 10% just by adding product images.

But sometimes revealing what the product is too early in the sales process
can kill the sale — you may need to highlight the product benefits and
value before you reveal exactly what it is.

Test placing images near the top of the page against placing them near the
call to action at the bottom (where you’re asking for the sale).

You should also test adding images to your order page, and test the response
to using no images at all. By carefully analyzing sales during each test,
you’ll learn exactly where to place product images for maximum impact.

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Test #11: Grab the attention of “scanners” by changing the

formatting and appearance of your copy

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Very few visitors to your web site will read every word of your salescopy
from start to finish. Most will “scan” your copy as they scroll down the
page, reading only certain words and phrases that jump out at them or catch
their eye.

That’s why you need to test highlighting your key benefits to find the right
combination that will grab the attention of people who scan rather than read
online.

These include —

- Using bold, italics, and highlighting (sparingly) to

emphasize the most important benefits of your offer

- Varying the length of your paragraphs so the page

doesn’t just look like a block of uniformly formatted

text

- Adding sub-headlines that emphasize your key messages

and compel your visitors to read the paragraphs that

- Leaving the right-hand side of your text ragged

(as that’s easier to read than “justified” text that

uses the whole width of the page)

- Centering important — but short — chunks of text or

sub-headlines to further draw them out of the main body

of text

- Use bullet lists (like this one!) to emphasize key

points

You can create great sales copy at the touch of a button with

Instant Sales Letters

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Test #12: Fine-tune your follow-up process to maximize sales

and attract more repeat business

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Following up with your customers and subscribers using autoresponders
(automated e-mails) is crucial to generating more sales as it often takes
several contacts before someone buys from your site.

In your follow-up e-mails to new subscribers who haven’t bought from you
yet, you can restate your offer and ask for the sale again.

Try sending an immediate follow-up after new subscribers sign up, giving
them a reason to return to your site the same day they sign up. You can test
this against sending a follow-up three days after subscribers first visit
your site to see which method works best.

Following up with existing customers is just as important.

In fact, tests show that 30% of customers will buy again if they’re given
the chance.

It helps you develop profitable long-term relationships with them and allows
you to offer “backend” products relating to their original purchase.

You can test sending a backend offer immediately after they make a purchase
against sending one three days afterwards to see which approach generates
more repeat business.

You can send unlimited free autoresponder follow-ups using software like
Autoresponder Unlimited

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Use the Web’s hottest new testing strategy to refine your sales process

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When testing, it’s vital to only test one thing at a time so that you know
what change influenced the results. A method of testing known as
“split-testing” does just that.

It allows you to split your audience into two groups and test, for example,
one headline with one group and another headline with the second group –
both at exactly the same time!

It’s an ideal testing strategy for any online business, but especially for
newer web sites with less traffic, as it provides an excellent method for
generating accurate test results no matter your level of traffic.

Let’s look at an example to illustrate how this works…

If you want to test elements of your salesletter, you need to use your
best-performing salesletter as a “control” — a benchmark against which all
tests will be measured.

To test a new headline, for example, you need to create another web page
that’s identical to your best-performing one, but which includes the new
headline. Using special testing software, you then redirect half of your
customers to the old page and the other half to the new one — over exactly
the same time period.

For example, if you have two customers called Bob and Jane, testing software
ensures that Bob sees salesletter “A” at the same time as Jane sees
salesletter “B” — both on the SAME URL. Your other customers are likewise
split evenly between the two different salesletters.

If you discover — through tracking how many visitors go to each page and
how many sales each page makes — that the salesletter containing the new
headline converts 15% more visitors into sales, you know that the new
headline is more effective.

Then test other elements of the salesletter one at a time and gradually
fine-tune your sales process.

The software gives you the great advantage of testing the two different
letters over the same period. If you instead test one headline over a couple
of weeks, then the other headline over the next couple of weeks, what if one
of those test periods includes a major holiday like July 4th, while the
other doesn’t?

Or what if a major television event happens during one test period but not
the other? Both of these factors could significantly skew your results if
they resulted in fewer people being online during one of your tests.

It’s easy to set up a few basic tests, but as your business grows and you
become more experienced, you can carry out more advanced testing using
software like the following:

- *WebTrends 7* offers a range of testing services for a

one-time cost or monthly fee, and you can road-test

their services for free.

WebTrends 7 allows you to go beyond split-testing and

start testing a few different things at one time. You

can analyze exactly which combination of elements

(for example, a particular headline and opt-in offer

placement combination) works best.

http://www.webtrends.com

- Like WebTrends 7, *Offermatica* allows you to conduct

split testing and multivariable testing. Pricing is

based on a per visitor fee, and you can try their

services out first through their free demo.

http://www.offermatica.com

- *ClickTracks* allows you to track the response to your

tests and understand where your visitors come from as

well as how they travel through your site. You can try

their products for free, then pay a one-time or monthly

fee depending on your needs.

http://www.clicktracks.com

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BONUS !!! Add impact to your promotions with “voice audio”
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Want a piece of sound marketing advice? Add a human voice to
your site. It’s well known that the more “human” you can make
your products and services, the more likely people are to purchase.
The human voice and other sounds can be a very a powerful
motivator in the sales process; but this has always presented
some major hurdles in relation to presenting audio on the web.

Adding an audio greeting is actually about the easiest thing to
do if you want to improve your sales. For most web sites, when
done tastefully, the sales can jump up to 35%! People just trust
you more and feel like they know you a little better if they hear
your voice.

Also, excitement is contagious. If you are excited about your
product, ezine or membership site you can hear it in your voice
when you talk about it. SO CAN YOUR CUSTOMERS! And more
importantly, your potential customers.

Once in a while a new technology comes along with the power to
revolutionize the way we do business on the web. I think this may
be one of those items, but check it out for yourself and see what
you think. Try it before your competition does!

More great information
http://www.livingfreeonline.com/sls/add_voice_audio.html

http://www.livingfreeonline.com/sls/email_autoresponder.html

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