Website Usability: Google Website Optimizer

The Google Website Optimizer is a great tool that can tell you what images, headlines or website copy is most effective for getting your visitors to convert on your web pages.

Used properly, it can help keep visitors from leaving your site by identifying keywords and images that visitors focus on. 

Google Website Optimizer will help you entice visitors to stay on your site and become paying customers.

The free multi-testing tool allows users to test variations of their web pages and virtually eliminates any guesswork about website design. 

First you must choose a web page that you want to test and a conversion goal you expect to achieve.
 
Your conversion goal can be having visitors click on a particular page on your website that you feel is important. 

Getting customers to click on a receipt page after a sale is made, is a good example of a conversion goal.

Another conversion goal could be something like getting visitors to click on a squeeze page, getting visitors to submit a form, or spending a set amout of time on a particular "test" page.

Next, you need to provide alternate content of some sort on your web page.  This can be a new headline, an alternate image, a video, additonal text, or even a new layout or page design.

Once your changes are accomplished, Google Website Optimizer will do the rest for you in the background as visitors come to your website.

Visitors to your website are divided into groups by Google Website Optimizer and each group of visitors is presented with a different webpage scenario.

Google Website Optimizer tracks each group of visitors to see how they interact with your site and your conversion goal.  It then figures out which pages or elements of each page will give you the best results for the goal you have chosen.

Users can run simple tests that compare only a couple of web pages or more complex experiments that test many different headlines combinations, images, copy and design variations at the same time.

Google Website Optimizer is free, easy to set up and once you have some alternate content to plug in; you can set up a simple test in under ten minutes.

To begin testing, all you need is an AdWords account, a website and a browser.  Sign in to your AdWords account; Click on the Website Optimizer tab and follow the simple instructions.

If you do not have an AdWords account, just sign in to any Google related log in like Gmail, Google Analytics or your Google Account. 

You can also just click on the sign up tab for the free Website Optimizer using your email address and setting up a password.

The free website testing and optimization tool from Google, allows webmasters to increase the value of their existing websites and traffic without spending one red cent.


Google Website Optimizer is definitely a tool you will want to keep in your marketing arsenal if you plan on remaining on top of the competition.

Avoid Annoying Web Pages!

Freedom of expression is available to everyone, however if you would like to keep your visitors from leaving your site, avoid annoying web pages!

Professional and amateur web artists and designers thrive on the internet, and freely explore their artistic prowess in a number of venues.

Unfortunately, with the freedom of expression, comes the ability to offend the sensibilities of website visitors, by going overboard and building annoying web pages.

It's sometimes hard to determine, what makes a particular web page bothersome to a visitor.
Some websites provide good looking web pages using certain colors, while others use the same colors and come up with an annoying color scheme.

Use colors that work together.

Colors used properly, can make a website attractive and communicate emotion to the viewer.
However, there is an indeterminable line, that when crossed, causes a website using the same colors to lose viewers.

Some color combinations are just plain irritating to the eyes!

An example is using a red and white color combination during the Holidays Season. This is totally appropriate and acceptable during this time of year. The same color combination based on another theme, say internet marketing, would probably not attract or keep many visitors at any other time of the year.

Colors can add interest to an otherwise dull website that is loaded with plain text. On the other hand, too much color distracts from the content of the site.

Placing a dark text on a black, or dark background, is totally unacceptable, and makes the text painfully difficult to read.

Some common sense on the part of the web designer usually precludes this potential problem.

Excessive graphics and pop ups are also more than a distraction on some websites.

Graphics used judiciously, enhance the quality of a website. Overuse of graphics, has the opposite effect plus they cause delays in page loading.

We sometimes forget that a great percentage of internet users still access the internet with slow modem connections.

Excessive graphics cause long load times and will lose potential customers. Nothing is more aggravating than a web page that just sits there waiting to load! Talk about annoying!

Pop ups, in my humble opinion, are something that should be banned from websites. They do have their place in marketing applications, however, they are almost as annoying to me as slow loading web pages.

Another annoying factor in web page design, is the excessive use of clicks to access information that should be readily accessible. You should not have to click through 4 or 5 pages, to get the information you need.

To me, anything over 2 clicks is too much! Why over complicate navigation in your website?

KISS, keep it simple stupid, and you will retain more visitors.

I know there is no such thing as a "perfect" web page design because we all have a different vision of perfection, however, if you use some common sense in addition to your artistic creativity, you can avoid annoying web pages.

For Some Strategic Online Profit Strategies That Will Make You Money,CLICK HERE!