This is part four in a series about search engine analytics and website performance by MemberClicks Creative Director Adam Kearney. Measuring and learning from your analytics is vital to getting the most from your organization’s web presence. See part 1, part 2 and part 3.

You’ve been tracking your website’s performance and optimizing it to perform better for search engines.  Now it’s time to use one of the most proven methods for increasing the effectiveness of your website – A / B Testing.

The concept behind A / B Testing goes back to direct mail marketing, where companies would send out multiple versions of a mailer and see which ones performed better.  You can apply this same concept to your website by creating multiple versions of a page and splitting your traffic between them to see which version is more effective.

Many companies offer A / B Testing services at a range of price points. The best service for your organization depends on your level of need and ability.  You might use a service that does everything for you including deciding which variables to test, or you might want to have full control over the process. One service of note is offered by Google — they provide a free A / B Testing service to all Google Analytics users.

If you have the necessary skill, you can also use Javascript to show different versions of a page or selected elements on a page and track their performance manually using your analytics solution. MemberClicks can provide this service for a small fee.

For more information on A / B testing, download the entire PDF. It details through the entire process from start to finish, including setting up A / B testing, choosing pages to test, establishing testing parameters, creating different versions of a page, and planning for future optimization.