Being able to track everything that a visitor does on your site means that you can analyse is depth which items are attracting attention and which things are slowing progress through your site.

The key to any website is that it's designed to encourage the visitor to take the actions that you want them to.

The Crazy Egg tracking system enables you to accurately measure the effectiveness of your site's layout, navigation and calls to action.

My most recent tests involved the analysis of visitor behaviour on a couple of niche based blogs. I wanted to determine how to best utilise the high value real estate in the top right hand corner hot spot. You may be surprised at the results.....{+}

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I guess we all know how we can set up a split test of two or more pages to determine which one achieves the highest sales conversion rate.

When running any split test it's important that the results are "statiscally significant" based on the number of actions taken: Number of sales, optins, downloads, etc.

Assuming that you have X actions from your control copy, and Y actions from your test copy (where X is the better performing one).

If the difference in the number of actions (X – Y) is greater than the square root of the total number of actions (X + Y), then the difference is statistically significant.

It's generally thought that significance is achieved after 40 actions. But the above formula should be applied to be absolutely sure.

Check out "small changes : Big Profits" - it's probably the most comprehensive book available on the topic of testing and tracking.

Let's look at using split testing for competitive purposes..

First of all, have you considered evaluating a range of similar products as an affiliate?

If you want to discover which is the most profitable product to promote as an affiliate, simply set up your split test script to rotate all the competitive products, check your traffic stats with your sales and you'll see which product generates the highest revenue. As I'm sure you'll discover, the product with the highest commission isn't always the winner!

Secondly, here's one of my "secret" split testing strategies that I've never revealed before.....{+}

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Here are a couple of the methods that I use to build my own lists..

The Article Marketing Power Method

Create a three part article. Part one should be distributed to as many article directories as possible and, where permitted, have "Part One" in the title.

Your "Part One" article should then link to "Part Two" which you publish on your own website or blog. At the bottom of "Part Two" you should position an optin form that must be completed before the reader can continue to "Part Three".

Be sure to keep the best information back for "Part Three" but give them enough information in parts one and two to encourage them to click through to the next part.

The Pay Per Click Power Method

This takes a little bit of time to set up, but it's well worth the investment in both time and money when it's implemented properly.

Choose highly targeted long tail keyword phrases for your PPC adverts and be sure to set your maximum cost per click and campaign budgets so that you limit your expenditure (You don't want to bankrupt yourself within the first couple of days). Your PPC ads should offer a free white paper, or special report, and should "sell" the click to your landing page.

Invest in an attractive and appealing landing page that draws the reader in with a strong headline and a clear call to action. Be sure to emphasise the benefits of subscribing and stress the real value of the white paper or special report that you are offering in exchange for their name and email address.

Remember, first impressions are important and your white paper, or special report, should be well presented and of high quality.. especially the content. There are lots of good PLR materials available on which you can base your white paper or free report and, if you use PLR, be sure to add your stamp to it so that it reflects your personality and demonstrates your professionalism and expertise.

Obviously, your PPC advert drives targeted traffic to your landing page and, when the visitor has confirmed their email, they will be redirected to a page with the link to download their free white paper or special report. However, This offers you with a great opportunity to.....{+}

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My boss and mentor, Roland Hockney, was the Manufacturing Director and he taught me a number of very important lessons. One of those lessons was to pay attention to what was important through measurement.

My performance was judged on a number of factors, or Key Performance Indicators (KPI's).

I made damned sure I had all the up to date numbers at hand at all times because I could guarantee that Roland's questions would always be about the stuff that I should be paying attention to. Yes, I was accountable for meeting profit targets, quality standards, keeping costs within budget and all the usual financial measurements. But Roland also made sure that I was also aware of health and safety, absenteeism, discipline and grievance statistics because he knew that they were an excellent indicator of morale.

The real lesson for me was that I was totally focused on the things that really mattered to the business. I paid attention to the things that I knew were measured and I had very clear objectives and priorities.

Roland was a great boss and mentor and I owe much of my success today to what he taught me over 30 years ago; because I continue to measure what's important.

Let me share with you the Key Performance Indicators that I pay attention to.....{+}

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Let me take a moment to explain how I calculate my break even point; and then we can move on to why understanding your niche's demographic can save you a lot of money and tap into targeted traffic at a much lower cost..

For example, let's say that we're promoting a £279 product with a 10% affiliate commision. That means each sale will generate £27.90 and, if the sales letter is converting at the typical 2%, our income per visitor will be: (£27.90 x 2)/100 = £0.558. So our PPC breakeven point is 56 pence and anything less than that will earn us a profit.

Now, when I see my competitors paying 56 pence per click and above, my decision is easy. I'm going to leave them to it and move on to my "Plan B" where I'll target the same audience but I'll attack the market from a completely different direction based on my in-depth knowledge of the demographics.

Plan B requires a little "out of the box" thinking. Let me explain.. ...{+}

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If you've read the more recent guides, ebooks and video tutorials on using Adwords, you're probably already aware of the various tactics..

One of the most common is to analyse your competitors PPC ads to see which are getting the best rank and simply create your own ad based on their successful content. The problem with this tactic is that you'll see more and more of the same type of Adwords ad and it'll become really difficult for the consumer to choose which one to click!

Another tactic that's becoming increasingly popular is to create an advert that is controvertial or contrary in nature. These are the ones that shout out "Don't Buy Product Name", "Is Product Name A Scam" and similar wording. While this approach can help to get your ad noticed, it also need to be handled carefully. Especially when the prospects arrives on your landing page. It's critically important that you dispel any potential negativity associated with the product that you're promoting. The biggest weakness with this approach is that people feel that your advert is misleading when they discover that it was just a ploy to get the click.

A more honest approach is to use "Product Name Review" in your advert. This works quite successfully because more and more people are looking for peer based reviews before they make their buying decisions.

If you are willing to put in a little bit of extra effort, there is a tactic that I've been using with great success that will drastically increase your Click Though Rate...{+}

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