Google’s Proven Truths about Online Advertising

Today I attended a luncheon hosted by the BC AIM with Tom Leung, a product manager at Google. Tom is the product manager for Google Website Optimizer. I have attended a few webinars, etc.. about Google Website Optimizer so I was quite familiar with it. I also have used it a number of times. I thought I should share some of my take aways from the luncheon.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Google website optimizer, it is a web-based testing tool which helps website owners increase visitor conversion rates. Basically it allows website owners the ability to serve up different pages to the different visitors. It also tracks who saw what page and if they converted.

At the luncheon Leung really focused on converting your visitors instead of just bringing in more visitors to your website. Leung stated, the usually 2 - 3% of visitors will convert and that Google website optimizer is cheap way to increase your ROI without throwing a bunch of cash at an expert, let you visitors tell you what they like.

Landing pages were one of the main topics at the luncheon. Landing pages for those of you who are unfamiliar, are defined by Taming the Beast as a specialized page that visitors are directed to once they’ve clicked on a link, usually from an outside source such as a Pay Per Click ad. The page is usually tightly focused on a particular product or service with the aim of getting the visitor to buy or take some form of action rapidly that will ultimately lead to a sale.

And of course we were talking about how to optimize them and use Google Website Optimizer as a tool.

Landing pages are the most important page of the conversion tunnel, because people have clicked a link or whatever to land on the landing page. Once they have gone onto the next page of the conversion tunnel, they have already shown some interest in your product/service. But the landing page is either make it or break it for visitors. If a landing page contains information that is irrelevant to the visitor or the page is too cluttered, a visitor who might have converted has closed the browser. If the landing page is a pleasant and there is a simple call to action the better the chance the visitor moves on to the next page.

So ready to use Google website optimizer?

As a designer, you might not use this information on every site, but Google website optimizer is a good tool to have in your toolbox for potential clients. When they want to do something silly with their website, you can say, “Ok” and then test the page against the one you have created. You might be surprised at the results.

You might be curious as to what to test. Leung gave us a great start by saying that you can compare a text heavy page vs. a quick and to the point page, a left layout vs. right layout and a facts vs. aspirations page. This is just the beginning, there are many things you can change on a page, that might influence if the visitor converts or not.

Interested in getting Google website optimizer?

Google website optimizer is available to everyone. All you have to do is sign up for an adwords account - no you don’t need to use adwords or spend any money. Just sign in there and click on the website optimizer tab. From there you have all instructions you need to start optimizing your website.

Good luck and happy optimizing.