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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If it's selling offline then it'll almost certainly sell online

Clearly that doesn't apply to window cleaning, although I sometimes think that Microsoft could do with a good Windows cleaner.

Anyway, here are a couple of quick and easy ways to spot a hot topic..

1. Check out Zinio and browse through the categories of magazines. Magazines are expensive to publish and the presence of a magazine in a niche market is a good indication that there is a demand for information and, just as importantly, people are already paying to advertise products and services to that market. When you discover a niche that interests you, be sure to look at the magazines to see what types of things are being advertised.
2. Go to your Amazon site of choice and skim through the top level categories to identify a general topic that interests you.  Then keep digging down into the sub categories. Be sure to sort your search results by "Best seller". If it's a best seller on Amazon, you can be sure that there's a market for the topic online. It's important to search your local Amazon if you're targeting a geographic region, there's no point in looking for the best selling products on the US site if your market is Spain.

There's some incredibly valuable data available to you on Amazon that lot's of people miss.....{+}

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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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