Optimize & Prophesize

Category: Search

  • Setting Up a Great Multivariate Test

    Part 5 in my MVT series will focus on the key considerations and decisions for setting up your multivariate test so that you get the most learning and best results possible. I’m not going to get too technical here since I am not a developer however I want to share what I feel will ensure…

  • MVT Element Selection – Strategy & Tactics

    In part 2 of this series we discussed the first part of multivariate test design — determining your test array — how many elements and how many variations of each you you should test. In parts 3 & 4 we will cover the rest of MVT test design, element selection and element variation. Successful testing…

  • 5 Ways to Optimize Google Search Result Video Ads

    Video ads are now part of search. Most advertisers will be throwing up made for TV commercials and fail to understand or take advantage of this new medium. That will be their loss. Google’s video ads present a huge opportunity for those that take the time to create compelling video specifically for the SERP (Search…

  • Multivariate Testing – Test Design

    Part 2: Choosing a MVT Test Array Also see Part 1: Introduction to Factorial Designs The results of your tests are often pre-determined by your test designs. Good designs will provide measurable increases in performance and learning about what tested elements are most important in driving that lift. Good test designs will also provide learning…

  • Multivariate Testing Overview

    Part 1: Introduction to Factorial Designs I’m not sure how many parts this overview will be but since it seems MVT has finally “arrived” I’m starting at the beginning and hope to pound out a complete overview in the next month or two of every important factor to understanding and being successful with multivariate testing.…

  • The $130 Billion Dollar Landing Page

    Google is a fully digital company. Everything Google has done and is today revolves around the web. Google is also by every account one of the top 3 brands in the world. Until billboards this past year Google has never spent a dollar on advertising. No TV, no print, no radio, No banners, no search…

  • SMX West Afterthoughts

    I wasn’t sure what to expect with SMX West as this was the first large SMX event. I heard great things about at last summer’s SMX Advanced from clients and friends but there was short notice to fit this event into annual budgets of attendees and exhibitors. Now that it’s over I can say that…

  • RAMP is Born to Run

    Two and a half weeks. That’s all it’s been since I left to start my own company for the third time in the past decade. In that brief period I’ve signed four clients including leaders in Social Media, B2B Services, Politics and Auto. Every day is filled with talking to prospects, potential investors, potential employees,…

  • Google: Landing Page Quality & CTR

    Some interesting data last week from Efficient Frontier on Search Advertising click-thru rates (CTR). EF quantifies the disparity between CTR on contextual and search advertising (search is 31x greater). Most interesting to me however was the chart below on Search CTR. Take a look at Google. You can see there was a CTR decline on…

  • The Brand Optimization Revolution – The Metrics are Coming! The Metrics are Coming!

    A common trait I find among many “red-coat” marketers is a lack of respect for the collective intelligence of consumers. This expresses itself in many ways. One is the “we know what our users want” mindset. Another is the Boston/NY-SF/LA view that folks in Middle America are unsophisticated and stupid. These attitudes are constantly reflected…

  • Can Google Make You Notice Ads?

    128 million unique people a month use Google. 53 million uniques a month use YouTube (an amazing 92% increase since Google’s acquisition a year ago). With millions of page views a day from people across these two properties you work that to your advantage. There has been conjecture about the cross-property strategies that Google may…

  • Top 10 Multivariate & A/B Testing Results from 2007

    This list compiles the most counterintuitive and therefore most interesting test results from multivariate and A/B (or split) tests I was involved in over the past year. I thought that this would be more valuable, a better read and more modest than just a rank list of tests that had the highest lift in conversion…

  • 2008 Forecast: The Year of Landing Pages

    If 2007 was the year that testing and targeting grew from a baby into a toddler, 2008 will be the year that this kid starts to walk. And like so much of leading edge digital marketing practices those first steps will take place in search, namely landing pages. Most industry experts agree that fewer than…

  • Webinar, Podcast & Speaking on Personalization, Targeting and Testing

    Over the next week I’ll be doing what seems like a quite a bit of evangelizing — hopefully it is more of a knowledge transfer than anything else. 3 Proven Approaches to Delivering Targeted Content – Webinar This is an Omniture webinar I had the pleasure of doing with Charlene Li of Forrester Research. Charlene…

  • 5 Ways Google Might Monetize Natural Search Results

    One topic you don’t hear much about is monetizing natural search engine results. Lately however, I’ve been thinking about it in regards to Google. The vast majority of search behavior (roughly 70%) is taking place on the natural links — and this pattern seems to be rather stable. I don’t anticipate most of these ideas…

  • MarketingSherpa Landing Page Handbook

    MarketingSherpa’s second edition Landing Page Handbook was released last week. I’m very proud that Anne Holland thought so much of OTTO Digital/Offermatica and myself to include six case studies and some extensive quotes from yours truly. Personally, I’ve worked hard over the past few years to promote the value of landing page testing, targeting and…

  • Creating Intent in Digital Media

    In Part 1 I will look at three types of digital media and cross-media and see what the future may hold for intent creation. Next week in Part 2 I will focus on using creative and technology in synergy to optimize intent creation. The idea of creating intent is one of the touchstones of marketing…

  • Google Using Maps API Key to Extract Content

    I’m working on building a LAPP (landing application) for a client and I noticed something incredibly interesting. The landing page uses the Google Maps API to deliver an added layer of relevance on the landing page by delivering a map experience to the user. Since it’s currently in dev the page has no links to…

  • Your Homepage Sucks – Use Landing Pages for Brand Keywords

    Recently we created and tested five different landing pages for brand specific keywords and ads. The winning page in this A/B/C/D/E test achieved a 148% increase in conversion rate. Taking the customer insights gleaned from the first test our follow-up multivariate was able to add an additional 15% lift in conversion rate and even more…

  • Testing Navigation on Landing Pages

    For many years now a best practice has seemed to be creating landing pages that do not have any form of navigation other than the call to action and maybe a learn more link. The fear of having navigation usually rests in the notion that clear paths off the landing page will lower conversion rates…