Eisenberg, B., Quarto-vonTivader, J. and Davis, L. T. (2008) Always be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer, Sybex
Stop guessing, start testing, and enjoy greater success with your website.
If you’re looking for more leads, sales, and profit from your website, then look no further than this expert guide to Google’s free A/B and multivariate website testing tool, Google Website Optimizer. Recognized online marketing guru and New York Times bestselling author, Bryan Eisenberg, and his chief scientist, John Quarto–vonTivadar, show you how to test and tune your site to get more visitors to contact you, buy from you, subscribe to your services, or take profitable actions on your site. This practical and easy–to–follow reference will help you:
- Develop a testing framework to meet your goals and objectives
- Improve your website and move more of your customers to action
- Select and categorize your products and services with a customer–centric view
- Optimize your landing pages and create copy that sells
- Choose the best test for a given application
- Reap the fullest benefits from your testing experience
- Increase conversions with over 250 testing ideas
Take the guesswork out of your online marketing efforts. Let Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer show you why you should test, how to test, and what to test on your site, and ultimately, help you discover what is best for your site and your bottom line.
Table of Contents
PART I A MARKETER’S VIEW OF TESTING: THE POWER OF OPTIMIZATION
Chapter 1 Always Be Testing?
A System for Closing
Scientific Advertising
The Court of Only Resort
Developing an Always Be Testing Culture
Why We Endorse (and Use)
Website Optimizer
What Makes This Book the “Complete” Guide?
Chapter 2 Playing with Website Optimizer
Ten Minutes to Testing
Headline Copy Strategies
Want to Run a Few More Tests?
Multivariate Testing: Sections, Variations, and Combinations
More Website Optimizer Tests
Avoid Swimming in Data
Chapter 3 Understanding Website Optimizer’s Report
Combination Report
Page Section Report
Chapter 4 Optimization Works: Examples for Lead Generation and Retail
Finding Your Groove
Geico’s Disconnect
Doctor FootCare Rewind
Volvo Excavates Leads
Danica Meets Go Daddy’s Home Page
Dell’s Choices
Max Effect’s Show–and–Tell
Testing Is for Everyone
Chapter 5 The Optimization Life Cycle
Miguel and Denise Need a New Cable Service
Hitting the Optimization Wall?
Navigating the Phases of the Optimization Life Cycle
Marketing Challenges
Chapter 6 Always Be Testing in Action: Acceller Case Study
Chapter 7 Simple Testing Concepts
Of Variables and Variations
The Hypothesis
Designing the Test
Types of Tests
Chapter 8 Developing a Testing Framework
Factors That Determine Online Success: The Web Performance Equation
Online Marketing 101
Know Thy Customer
Chapter 9 Establishing Testing Goals and Parameters
Three Steps to Goals and Parameters
Actually Getting Started
Chapter 10 Jigsaw Case Study
Phase 1: Planning
Phase 2: Testing
Phase 3: Putting It All Together
Lessons Learned: What Testing Taught Jigsaw About Its Customers
PART II WHAT YOU SHOULD TEST
Chapter 11 Understanding What to Test
Create a Descriptive Name
Define Your Goal
Determine How You Will Achieve Your Goal
Define the Control Variable/Variation
State Your Hypothesis
Let the Test Rip
Measure and Analyze Your Results
The Lowly Button
The Bottom Line
Chapter 12 WIIFM: What’s in It for Me?
Competitive/Assertive
Spontaneous/Amiable
Humanistic/Expressive
Methodical/Analytical
One Page, Multiple Needs
Questions to Ask
Exercise
What to Test
Apply This to Your Site
Chapter 13 Unique Value Proposition/Campaign Proposition
Questions to Ask
Exercises
What to Test
Apply This to Your Site
Chapter 14 The Buying Decision
The Complexity of the Sale
Scent Trails
Point–of–Action or Shop–with–Confidence Messaging 150
Questions to Ask 152
Exercise 152
What to Test 153
Apply This to Your Site 153
Chapter 15 Categorization 154
Questions to Ask 155
Exercises 156
What to Test 156
Apply This to Your Site 157
Chapter 16 Usability 158
Questions to Ask 158
Exercise 160
What to Test 160
Apply This to Your Site 160
Chapter 17 Look and Feel 161
Questions to Ask 161
Exercise 161
What to Test 162
Apply This to Your Site 162
Chapter 18 Searchability 163
Questions to Ask 163
Exercise 164
What to Test 164
Apply This to Your Site 164
Chapter 19 Layout, Visual Clarity, and Eye Tracking 165
Questions to Ask 170
Exercise 170
What to Test 170
Apply This to Your Site 171
Chapter 20 Purchasing 172
Questions to Ask 172
Exercise 173
What to Test 174
Apply This to Your Site 174
Chapter 21 Tools 175
Questions to Ask 176
Exercise 176
What to Test 177
Apply This to Your Site 177
Chapter 22 Error Prevention 178
Questions to Ask 179
Exercise 179
What to Test 179
Apply This to Your Site 179
Chapter 23 Browser Compatibility 180
Questions to Ask 180
Exercise 180
What to Test 182
Apply This to Your Site 182
Chapter 24 Product Presentation 183
Questions to Ask 183
Exercise 184
What to Test 184
Apply This to Your Site 185
Chapter 25 Load Time 186
Questions to Ask 186
Exercise 187
What to Test 187
Apply This to Your Site 188
Chapter 26 AIDAS: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action, and Satisfaction 189
Questions to Ask 189
Exercise 190
What to Test 190
Apply This to Your Site 191
Chapter 27 Security/Privacy 192
Questions to Ask 192
Exercise 193
What to Test 193
Apply This to Your Site 194
Chapter 28 Trust and Credibility 195
Questions to Ask 195
Exercise 196
What to Test 196
Apply This to Your Site 196
Chapter 29 Product Selection/Categorization/Search Results 198
Online, Expectations Are Different 199
Plan to Help Visitors Find the Right Product 201
Questions to Ask 201
What to Test 202
Apply This to Your Site 202
Chapter 30 Navigation/Use of Links
Questions to Ask
Exercise
What to Test
Apply This to Your Site
Chapter 31 Up–Sell/Cross–Sell
Questions to Ask
Exercise
What to Test
Apply This to Your Site
Chapter 32 Calls to Action
Questions to Ask
Exercise
What to Test
Apply This to Your Site
Chapter 33 Point–of–Action Assurances
Questions to Ask
Exercise
What to Test
Apply This to Your Site
Chapter 34 Persuasive Copywriting
Use Active Voice
Avoid Jargon 217
Be Specific 217
Speak to the Four Buying Modalities 217
Benefits/Features 217
Identify Other Opportunities to Write Persuasively 218
Questions to Ask 218
Exercises 219
What to Test 221
Apply This to Your Site 221
Chapter 35 Content 222
Questions to Ask 223
Exercise 223
What to Test 223
Apply This to Your Site 224
Chapter 36 Headlines 225
Questions to Ask 225
Exercise 226
What to Test 226
Apply This to Your Site 226
Chapter 37 Readability 227
Scanning and Skimming 228
Questions to Ask 230
Exercise 230
What to Test 230
Apply This to Your Site 230
Chapter 38 Use of Color and Images 231
Questions to Ask 231
Exercise 232
What to Test 232
Apply This to Your Site 232
Chapter 39 Terminology/Jargon 234
Questions to Ask 235
Exercise 235
What to Test 236
Apply This to Your Site 236
Chapter 40 “We We”: Customer–Focused Language 237
Questions to Ask 238
Exercise 238
What to Test 239
Apply This to Your Site 239
Chapter 41 Using Reviews 240
Questions to Ask 242
Exercise 243
What to Test 243
Apply This to Your Site 244
PART III DIVING DEEP FOR THE TECHNICALLY CHALLENGED 245
Chapter 42 Mathematics, Misperceptions, and Misinformation 246
Finding Your Center 246
The Spread of Your Data 247
Statistical Significance and Sampling 248
Local vs. Global Maximum 249
The Heart of the Problem: The Two–Armed Bandit 251
Degrees of Freedom 253
Orthogonality 254
Chapter 43 How Website Optimizer’s Scripts Work 256
Three Vital Script Functions 256
Marco Polo’s Cookie 259
Multiple Tests, One Conversion Page 259
Multiple Tests Running on the Same Site 260
Chapter 44 Using Website Optimizer on Static and Dynamic Sites 262
What Is a Static Site? 262
What Is a Dynamic Site? 263
Mixed Static and Dynamic Sites 264
Applying Website Optimizer to a Static Site 264
Applying Website Optimizer to a Dynamic Site 265
Choose the Approach Appropriate to Your Site 266
Chapter 45 Tracking Key Events and Other Advanced Topics 267
Testing Subsets of Your Traffic 267
Testing Less Than 100 Percent of Traffic 267
How Long Should Testing Last? 268
Modifying the Weight of Each
Combination in the Testing Sample 269
Testing for Key User Events (Clicks and Submits) 270
Using a Timer to Fire Off a Conversion 270
Testing Flash Video Events 271
Stacking Events 271
Explore the Bleeding Edge (If You Dare) 271
Nothing Takes the Place of Planning 272
Chapter 46 Website Optimizer’s Plug–in for WordPress 273
Will It Work on Your WordPress Blog? 273
Installing the Plug–in 273
What to Do Before Using the Plug–in 274
Detailed Setup Instructions for Website Optimizer 274
Creating Additional Experiments 282
Appendix Useful Resources 283
Analytics and Testing 283
Blogs 283
Books 284
General Links to Key Topics 284
Google Documentation and Support 285
Other Publications by the FutureNow Team 285
Andrews, M. and Whittaker, James A. (2006) How to Break Web Software: Functional and Security Testing of Web Applications and Web Services, Addison Wesley
It’s as certain as death and taxes: hackers will mercilessly attack your Web sites, applications, and services. If you’re vulnerable, you’d better discover these attacks yourself, before the black hats do. Now, there’s a definitive, hands-on guide to security-testing any Web-based software: How to Break Web Software.
In this book, two renowned experts address every category of Web software exploit: attacks on clients, servers, state, user inputs, and more. You’ll master powerful attack tools and techniques as you uncover dozens of crucial, widely exploited flaws in Web architecture and coding. The authors reveal where to look for potential threats and attack vectors, how to rigorously test for each of them, and how to mitigate the problems you find. Coverage includes
· Client vulnerabilities, including attacks on client-side validation
· State-based attacks: hidden fields, CGI parameters, cookie poisoning, URL jumping, and session hijacking
· Attacks on user-supplied inputs: cross-site scripting, SQL injection, and directory traversal
· Language- and technology-based attacks: buffer overflows, canonicalization, and NULL string attacks
· Server attacks: SQL Injection with stored procedures, command injection, and server fingerprinting
· Cryptography, privacy, and attacks on Web services
Your Web software is mission-critical–it can’t be compromised. Whether you’re a developer, tester, QA specialist, or IT manager, this book will help you protect that software–systematically.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: The Web Is Different
Chapter 2: Gathering Information on the Target
Chapter 3: Attacking the Client
Chapter 4: State-Based Attacks
Chapter 5: Attacking User-Supplied Input Data
Chapter 6: Language-Based Attacks
Chapter 7: Attacking the Server
Chapter 8: Authentication
Chapter 9: Privacy
Chapter 10: Web Services
Appendix A: Fifty Years of Software: Key Principles for Quality
Appendix B: Flowershop Bugs
Appendix C: Tools