When it comes to achieving real business growth, there are things that need to be done…
Have you ever created a product, launched it and then left it alone? I know people who have done that and have made money, but I will dare to say they probably could have made more money if they had taken the time to look at what we are about to talk about…
What we are talking about today is tweaking and testing. Testing is a huge part of growing your business, testing happens in all areas of your business. Maybe it’s changing the headline in a sales letter or adding a video to a landing page, maybe it’s testing different headlines in the emails you send out and see which ones get a better open rate. It could also be testing different calls to action on your blog posts and even testing an upsell you offer to a customer while they are handing you their credit card.
It’s these kinds of things that can bring in so much more revenue and bring you more freedom. We should always be tweaking and testing in our marketing. We talked about this in a recent Pay Per Click Training, how it’s VERY important to be testing and tweaking different ad groups. It can be something as simple as one word on a sales page that can boost your conversion rate.
Another example on how to do something like this could be making two sales letters for the same product or service, but maybe one sales page has a video and the other doesn’t. Well if you have a big enough list, you can send one sales page to half of your list and the other page to the other half of your list and see which one converts better.
Make sense?
I know this may not be fun for everyone, but if you want to achieve more business growth, this is a simple way to do it. Just doing some simple testing like this can increase your sales a very noticeable amount! 
So now it’s time to think about what you can start testing and split testing in your business…
What are things you are going to start testing? Or what things are you having trouble testing? And what things are you currently testing in your business right now?
I look forward to hearing what you have to say in the comments below!
Keep moving forward!
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter: samanthahartley
February 12, 2010 at 6:42 am
Hey Paul, I love this post and this topic. Testing is really fun, but most people are not aware of all the possibilities. You’ve really enlightened us here. I like to test subject lines as you mentioned. Also discounts like % off vs $10 off. We test sales copy, days of week and times for teleseminars … basically everything. Next I’ll be testing video. Thanks for this reminder of all the fun things to test.
Samantha @ brand marketing strategy´s last blog ..So, What IS Marketing Anyway?
Hi Samantha! Thanks for stopping by!
Those are awesome examples of testing discounts, very smart.
I look forward to hearing what you think about testing videos. Will the videos be posted on your blog?
I also must say… I appreciate your stand against hype. I think it would be safe to say that if hype vs. non-hype was tested on a sales page… you would get two different very distinct groups of people that would respond.
My point, if you are targeting professional people who are not about hype, don’t market your services or products in a hype kind of way.
Keep up the great work Samantha!
Twitter: samanthahartley
February 13, 2010 at 6:41 am
Hey Paul,
You wrote, “… if hype vs. non-hype was tested on a sales page… you would get two different very distinct groups of people that would respond.”
Now *that* is an astute observation! It’s not that hype doesn’t work, but it resonates with different people than non-hype. And you’re right, I don’t think I have as much to offer those who are chasing the hype.
Nor do you; the strategies you describe require smarts and effort.
Hugs, Samantha
P.S. Yep – video coming soon to my blog.
Samantha @ brand marketing strategy´s last blog ..So, What IS Marketing Anyway?
Twitter: rachaelbutts
February 16, 2010 at 7:27 am
Hi Paul-
I actually heard recently that company’s were budgeting 80% to PPC and only 20% for on site SEO, and results were the exact opposite. 80% of the traffic came from organic search engine results, where as only 20% came from PPC. I think testing is EXACTLY what people need to realize maybe what they are doing isn’t working. Very good point!
Also want to point out that the money people spend on PPC doesn’t result in a long period of ranking ( obviously) where as money invested into SEO can stick around for years if done well.
Rachael Butts´s last blog ..Phoenix SEO Link Building Step 9 | .gov links
Hi Rachael! Thanks for stopping by
That’s a great example of testing between PPC and SEO! I know everyone has different results and you can’t base the results off of one company and think it will be the same for you without testing it… It always pays to test.
You bring up a great point… It’s sad to see so many businesses pouring so much time and money into something without really knowing if it is working. I have seen that so many times, it’s scary!
Keep up the great work Rachael!
This is sure a simple way to do it. well said. I believe one of the key is the internet.
Thanks Linda!