Website Optimization: An Hour a Day

Step-by-step instructions for executing a website testing and optimization plan Website optimization is can be an overwhelming endeavor due to the fact that it encompasses so many strategic and technical issues. However, this hands-on, task-based book demystifies this potentially intimidating topic by offering smart, practical, and tested instructions for developing, implementing, managing, and tracking website optimization efforts. After you learn how to establish an optimization framework, you then dive into learning how to develop a plan, test appropriately and accurately, interpret the results, and optimize in order to maximize conversion rates and improve profits. Zeroes in on fundamentals such as understanding key metrics, choosing analytics tools, researching visitors and their onsite behavior, and crafting a plan for what to test and optimize Walks you through testing and optimizing specific web pages including the homepage, entry and exit pages, product and pricing pages, as well as the shopping cart and check-out process Guides you through important optimization areas such as optimizing text and images Addresses advanced topics including paid search optimization, Facebook fan page optimization, rich media, and more Includes a companion website that features expanded examples, additional resources, tool reviews, and other related information Full of interesting case studies and helpful examples drawn from the author's own experience, Website Optimization: An Hour a Day is the complete solution for anyone who wants to get the best possible results from their web page.

Table of Contents:
Foreword xxi Introduction xxiii Chapter 1 Setting the Website Optimization Scene 1 Introduction to Website Optimization 2 The Rise of Website Optimization: The Aftermath of the Dot-com Bubble Bursting 4 The Differences between Landing Page Optimization, Conversion Rate Optimization, Website Testing, and Website Optimization 6 The Difference between Website Optimization and Search Engine Optimization (SEO ) 7 Chapter 2 Set Up and Improve Usage of Key Web Analytics and Testing Tools 9 Week 1: Learn the Importance of and Set Up an Analytics Tool 10 Monday: Understand the Need for Web Analytics Data to Help Website Optimization Efforts 10 Tuesday: Select a Web Analytics Tool for Your Website 11 Wednesday: Implement Your Web Analytics Tool and Test to Make Sure It’s Working Correctly 15 Thursday: Know How to Set Up Your Website Conversion Goals 17 Friday: Set Up Key Segments of Visitors to Monitor and Target 19 Week 2: Find Your Website Conversion Rate, Success Metrics, Benchmark, and Set Targets 23 Monday: Check Your Current Traffic Levels and Set Targets 24 Tuesday: Check Your Website’s Overall Conversion Rate and Set Targets 24 Wednesday: Check Your Repeat Visit Rate and Set a Target 25 Thursday: Find Specific Success Metrics for Your Website Type and Benchmark 26 Friday: Set Targets for Your Success Metrics 30 Week 3: Learn the Importance of and Set Up a Website Testing Tool 31 Monday: Understand the Importance of Having a Testing Tool 31 Tuesday: Familiarize Yourself with the Available Website Testing Tools 32 Wednesday: Determine a Budget and Understand Possible Technical Barriers for Tool Selection 36 Thursday: Implement Your Testing Tool, Setup, and QA Test Campaigns 38 Friday: Understand Web Testing Tool Terminology, Concepts, and Reports 40 Chapter 3 Lay the Foundations for Optimization Success 47 Week 4: Learn Key Optimization Fundamentals to Help You Succeed 48 Monday: Identify Your Company’s Current Website Optimization Performance 48 Tuesday: Evangelize and Create an Analytics and Optimization Culture 51 Wednesday: Prepare a Better Initial Website Optimization Strategy 54 Thursday: Create Detailed Test Plans 56 Friday: Consider Test Outsourcing—When and Why 58 Week 5: Understand and Create an Optimization Organization 61 Monday: Find an Executive Sponsor for Your Optimization Efforts 61 Tuesday: Gain Buy-in from Key Stakeholders 62 Wednesday: Assemble a Dedicated Optimization Team 66 Thursday: Integrate Testing and Optimization Web Processes into Your Company 70 Friday: Communicate, Review, and Iterate 72 Week 6: Learn Testing Best Practices to Improve Your Success 75 Monday: Use an Insightful, Hypothesis-Driven, and Iterative Testing Approach 75 Tuesday: Learn Strategies for Creating Effective Tests 77 Wednesday: Learn the Power of Targeting and Personalization for Improving Conversions 83 Thursday: Avoid Common Mistakes When Creating and Running Your Tests 89 Friday: Learn How to Analyze Results and Determine a Test Winner 92 Chapter 4 Understand Your Visitors and Their Needs—the Keys to Website Optimization 95 Week 7: Create Personas and Use Cases for Your Main Visitor Needs 96 Monday: Put Yourself in Your Visitor’s Shoes to Help Create Personas and Use Cases 96 Tuesday: Create Some Simple Personas for Your Visitors 97 Wednesday: Create Use Cases for Your Website 99 Thursday: Re-create the Use Cases on Your Website and Grade the Ease of Doing So 101 Friday: Learn How to Get Even Greater Value from Your Use Cases 102 Week 8: Create a Unique Value Proposition and Clearly Promote It 103 Monday: Understand Your Current Unique Value Proposition from Your Visitor’s Perspective 103 Tuesday: Survey Your Visitors to Help Create Your Value Proposition 104 Wednesday: Learn from Competitor Websites to Improve Your Value Proposition 104 Thursday: Create or Improve the Unique Value Proposition for Your Website 105 Friday: Effectively Promote Your Unique Value Proposition on Your Site 107 Week 9: Understand Your Visitors’ Intent by Visually Analyzing Them 109 Monday: Learn the Importance of Visually Analyzing Your Website Visitors 109 Tuesday: Check Click Heat Maps for Your Key Pages 110 Wednesday: Use Eye Tracking Tools to Understand Visitors’ Eye Flow 112 Thursday: Use Visitor Recording Tools to Gain a Complete View of Your Visitor’s Experience 114 Friday: Implement Tools and Gather and Review Visual Analysis for Insights 116 Week 10: Generate Insights from Visitor Satisfaction and Feedback Tools 117 Monday: Learn the Importance of the Voice of Your Visitors and Asking for Feedback 117 Tuesday: Survey Your Website Visitors to Gain Feedback and Insights 117 Wednesday: Use Website Feedback Rating Tools to Gain Further Insight 122 Thursday: Gain Feedback on the Usability and Task Completion Rate of Your Website 124 Friday: Make Use of Web Chat Tools to Gain Additional Insight 127 Chapter 5 Build the Foundation of a Better Converting Website 131 Week 11: Understand and Improve Your Website’s Layout 132 Monday: Understand the Impact of Your Web Page Fold 132 Tuesday: Understand the Impact of Your Website Design on Eye Flow 135 Wednesday: Check Your Website in Different Browsers and Resolutions 136 Thursday: Learn Other Website Layout Best Practices 137 Friday: Check How Your Email Marketing Efforts Look 139 Week 12: Improve Page Load Speed 139 Monday: Understand the Negative Impact of Slow Page Load 140 Tuesday: Check How Fast Your Web Pages Load and Diagnose Issues 140 Wednesday: Limit and Optimize Your Usage of Slow-Loading Website Elements 142 Thursday: Reduce the File Size of Your Images and Videos, and the Length of Your Page Code 142 Friday: Optimize the Delivery of Your Website Content 144 Week 13: Optimize Your Navigation Menus and Links 144 Monday: Learn the Importance of Navigation Menus and Links 145 Tuesday: Optimize the Contents, Usability, and Location of Your Navigation Menus 145 Wednesday: Optimize Your Usage of Navigation Drop-Down or Fly-Out Menus 147 Thursday: Improve Your Usage of Website Navigation Links 148 Friday: Learn Other Best Practices to Help Visitors Navigate Your Website 150 Week 14: Optimize and Learn from Your Internal Site Search 153 Monday: Offer a Good Internal Search Tool 153 Tuesday: Optimize Your Internal Site Search Location 154 Wednesday: Optimize Your Internal Site Search Functionality and Usability 155 Thursday: Optimize Your Internal Site Search Results 156 Friday: Analyze Your Top Internal Keywords for Additional Insights 160 Chapter 6 Learn the Power of Influence and Persuasion on Visitors and Conversions 165 Week 15: Influence Your Visitors by Optimizing Your Calls-to-Action, Headlines, and Text 166 Monday: Review and Optimize Your Headlines and Subheaders 166 Tuesday: Review and Optimize Your Call-to-Action Buttons and Links 169 Wednesday: Learn Other Best Practices for Improving Your CT As 172 Thursday: Shorten Long Sections of Text and Convey Key Points 174 Friday: Make Sure Your Website Text is Easy to Read, Understand, and Relate To 175 Week 16: Influence by Optimizing Your Images, Promotions, Videos, Rich Media, and Advertising 178 Monday: Optimize Your Usage of Images 178 Tuesday: Optimize Your Promotional Banners 183 Wednesday: Optimize Your Onsite Advertising 185 Thursday: Optimize Your Video Usage 188 Friday: Use Rich Media Website Greeters to Increase Engagement and Influence 191 Week 17: Harness the Power of Social Proof, Reciprocity, and Scarcity 193 Monday: Build Social Proof by Optimizing Your Testimonials 194 Tuesday: Build Social Proof by Optimizing Your Usage of Ratings and Reviews 197 Wednesday: Other Best Practices to Help Improve Your Social Proof 200 Thursday: Use Scarcity to Influence Your Visitors 204 Friday: Influence Your Visitors by Using Reciprocity 205 Week 18: Influence by Making Your Visitors Feel Safer and Building Trust 206 Monday: Optimize the Display of Security and Trust Seals and Symbols 207 Tuesday: Make Use of Supporting Text and Pages to Build Trust and Security 210 Wednesday: Reduce the Risk of Purchasing for the Visitor 212 Thursday: Optimize Your Customer Support and Contact Options 214 Friday: Learn Other Best Practices for Increasing Levels of Trust and Security 216 Chapter 7 Optimization Best Practices and Test Ideas for Different Page Types and Flows 219 Week 19: Focus On and Optimize Your Home Page 220 Monday: Learn How Your Home Page is Being Judged and Check the Bounce Rate 220 Tuesday: Find Out What Your Visitors Click and Do on Your Home Page 223 Wednesday: Shorten and Declutter Your Home Page 224 Thursday: Give Your Visitors a Few Clear Choices to Meet Their Needs and Your Goals 225 Friday: Learn Other Testing Ideas for Your Home Page 226 Week 20: Optimize Your Product, Service, Lead Generation, and Other Key Pages 228 Monday: Optimize Your Product Pages 228 Tuesday: Optimize Your Service Pages 233 Wednesday: Optimize Your Lead Generation Pages 235 Thursday: Optimize Your Category Pages 239 Friday: Optimize Your Pages That Compare Product or Service Options 244 Week 21: Optimize Your Shopping Cart and Checkout Flow 246 Monday: Check Your Shopping Cart and Checkout Flow Conversion Rates 246 Tuesday: Optimize Your Shopping Cart Page 249 Wednesday: Optimize Your Checkout Flow 254 Thursday: Optimize Your Order Review and Confirmation Pages 257 Friday: Learn Other Advanced Shopping Cart Best Practices 258 Week 22: Identify Other Key Pages and Flows for Optimization 259 Monday: Identify Issues with Top Entry Pages and Optimize 259 Tuesday: Identify Issues with Top Exit Pages and Optimize 260 Wednesday: Identify Issues with Your Other Top Conversion Flows 261 Thursday: Look for Issues with Traffic Sources Leading to Your Conversion Flows 262 Friday: Identify Other Pages with High Impact on Conversion to Optimize 264 Week 23: Optimize Your Website’s Mobile Experience 265 Monday: Check the Percentage of Mobile Traffic, Conversion Rate, and Bounce Rates 266 Tuesday: Check What Your Website Looks Like on Mobile Devices 267 Wednesday: Understand the Need for a Mobile Version of Your Website 267 Thursday: Optimize the Mobile Version of Your Website 269 Friday: Consider Making an App Version of Your Website 273 Chapter 8 Keep Them Coming Back—Optimize for Repeat Visits 275 Week 24: Focus on and Generate More Repeat Visits 276 Monday: Learn the Importance and Benefits of Repeat Visits 276 Tuesday: Check Your Repeat Visits and Analyze for What Causes Them to Come Back 277 Wednesday: Obtain More Visitor Email Addresses to Market to and Encourage Repeat Visits 278 Thursday: Create Content That Encourages Visitors to Come Back More Often 280 Friday: Retarget Your Repeat Visitors via Contextual Banner Ads on Other Sites 281 Week 25: Optimize Your Registration or Sign-Up Pages to Get More Repeat Visits 282 Monday: Check the Performance of Your Registration or Sign-Up Pages 282 Tuesday: Focus on the Benefits of Signing Up or Registering 283 Wednesday: Optimize Your Sign-Up and Registration Forms and Pages 284 Thursday: Optimize Your Newsletter Sign-Up Forms 286 Friday: Test Other Ways to Increase Completion Rates on Your Registration or Sign-Up Pages 288 Week 26: Optimize Your Email Marketing Efforts to Get More Repeat Visits 290 Monday: Learn Best Practices and Test Ideas for All Email Marketing Methods 291 Tuesday: Run Email A/B Tests to Find the Most Engaging Emails 293 Wednesday: Create and Optimize Your Confirmation Emails 295 Thursday: Create and Optimize Your Follow-Up Emails 296 Friday: Try Using Advanced Email Optimization Techniques 298 Chapter 9 Review and Learn from Your Results, and Keep Testing and Optimizing 301 Week 27: Review and Learn from Your Optimization Efforts So Far 302 Monday: Revisit Your Success Metrics and Targets 302 Tuesday: Review Your Use Case Completion Rates and Resurvey Your Visitors 303 Wednesday: Rerun the Website Optimization Checklist 303 Thursday: Review What You’ve Learned from Your Test Results to Create Better Future Tests 305 Friday: Review and Improve Your Internal Testing Process Performance 305 Keep Optimizing and Testing: Your Website is Never Perfect! 307 Appendix A Website Optimization and Testing Tools 309 Appendix B Test Idea Tracker 313 Appendix C Test Results Tracker 315 Index 317

About the Author :
About the Author Rich Page is a Conversion Specialist at Adobe, working with Fortune 500 clients to help improve their website optimization strategies. Rich has been analyzing, testing, and improving websites for over 10 years and has previously worked for Disney Online in their web analytics and optimization team. He has a unique background of online marketing, web usability, and analytics, and has a popular web analytics and optimization blog at rich-page.com. He is also a regular speaker at industry conferences and the coauthor of Landing Page Optimization, Second Edition.