Same Page Traffic Testing

Traffic testing should not be restricted to a single measurement on a page. A basic sales page could feasibly start with a bold, red, heading, a subheading, some text, an offer (or call to action, the CTA), and a signature and PS section, with only the click through on the CTA being measured.

However, it is equally possible that different sections of the page will have different response rates. So, any marketer should be aware that, in the same way that a long piece of web copy is designed to catch different people at different points in their emotional decision making, measuring what different visitors do at each point is also very important.

In fact, web copy usually has more than one CTA. Sometimes a sign-up box is floated at a certain point, sometimes there are multiple sign-up or purchase buttons on the page, and so on.

If all these actions are measured under the same category, the information that pertains to what happens next is lost forever. Part of the tracking process revolves around knowing what occurs after the prospect has clicked the CTA button (link, etc.)

So, not only does the action need to be tracked, with a separate ID for each action point, but also these need to be linked to pages that are subsequently displayed, and have specific identifiers, so that they can also be tracked, and a picture built up of various paths through the sales process, or funnel.

Keep tracking, testing, and eventually, profit will follow!

Basics of Online Traffic Testing

First things first : no traffic = no sales. Without a stream of visitors, a site will never make any money; advertisers won’t want to advertise, products won’t sell, affiliates won’t make any income.

However, even exponential increases in traffic don’t necessarily lead to rapid (or even moderate) increases in sales. Subsequently, web site owners need to make sure that they make the most out of each and every visitor.

The typical measure is something known as the conversion rate. Visitors are converted into prospects. Prospects become customers. Customers become repeat customers, and something to be nurtured, and respected.

So, the first step in traffic testing is to set up tracking around the flow of traffic through the site. A simple landing page, followed by sign-up, and upsell pages, for example, needs only a set of three counters to count:

• the number of hits
• the flow to the sign-up page
• the number of sales

This can be expanded to cover tracking by product type, site, and varying price points, upsell packages and so on, but the key for those just starting out is to keep it simple - a free counter from Statcounter.com (for example) and a Google spreadsheet are all that’s needed to get started!