You’ve registered your domain name, created a Website, you are generating traffic but you just aren’t making the sales.

Most of us have experienced this situation at some point in our online experience. I have a Web development client in Lakewood who sells gourmet pasta and sauces online. Last year, sales were great. This year they took a nose dive.

I told her not to despair. People still love pasta, but we need to figure out why her Website visitors aren’t buying as much as they used to.

The factors are many and the challenge is determining whether it is the pricing, shipping fees, the enticement on the home page or the shopping cart experience.

There is a time-tested way to figure out ways of improving your sales process: Split-run testing. If you have a Website and you’re trying to sell something online, you need to know about this testing process that can increase your bottom line.

To figure out what works on your site through your visitors experience, you create different versions of a Web page to test its effectiveness. When users enters your site, they’re shown one version or the other. Once you do this enough times you can easily see which version converted visitors into buying customers.

There are many benefits of split-run testing. You can see at a glance what’s working and what isn’t. By testing different versions of your text, layout and graphics and tracking what converts, you can make permanent changes and see an increase in your sales with the same amount of traffic.When you improve your conversion rates, the money you spend on marketing will work harder for you as more of your site’s visitors make the leap from browsers into buyers.

By testing and tracking you find out what does and doesn’t work and modify your site accordingly. If your sales copy is ineffective, all the traffic in the world will not increase your sales activity.

What kinds of things might you want to test? Some people might start with two different versions of their home page. Then once they finish testing the copy itself, run tests on more specific elements like including more or less testimonials, the headline, etc.

There are many different factors that you can test, but for the most accurate measuring results, the trick is to test only one component at a time. You’ll also want to allow each test to run to between 500 to 1000 unique visitors before coming to any conclusions.

Here are some things you might want to test:
– Your Headlines
– Different Design Elements of Your Site (i.e., fonts, colors, etc.)
– Sales Letter
– Navigation Structure of Your Site
– Bonus Offers
– Price Points (high or low)
– Long Copy Versus Short Copy
– Different Advertising Strategies such as banners, e-zine ads, pay per click copy
– Order Forms

There are many different software packages that can help you set up a split run:
1) Split Test Generator:
splittestgenerator.com
This script is free to download and once it’s installed on your server, you simply enter two web addresses into a form and press submit to start the testing process.

2) Scientific Internet Marketing Assistant:
www.marketing-strategy.org
It allows you to run multiple tests simultaneously, broken down into individual campaigns. You can test five different test subjects against each other at once. It’s hard to believe this software is free.
If you need help with installation or have some questions on the script’s workings go to their forum www.marketing-strategy.org/forums/. You’ll find plenty of other test users willing to answer your questions or provide assistance.

3) Sales PageMaster Pro:
salespagemasterpro.com
This $149 software package runs on UNIX systems. You’ll need access to your CGI bin and the ability to run Server Side Includes on your site. You decide what to track, actual subscriptions, sales, etc. You can also enforce a fixed deadline for special offers.

4) Split Hit
splithit.com
Install this $29.95 PHP database driven software and it will automatically rotate different versions of your website, so you can see at a glance which ones are outperforming the others.

5) Scientific Web Marketing System
profitinfo.com/catalog/v4/

A script that runs on your server and is UNIX based. This software works by constantly displaying different versions of the same web page at the same url. Comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee and sells for only $37.97.
Testing and tracking what works and what doesn’t isn’t that hard – and can save you a lot of money in the end. Without testing, you have no way of knowing what’s working with your marketing efforts. Converting visitors into buyers is the name of the game online.

Dana Greenlee is co-host/producer of the WebTalkGuys Radio Show, a Tacoma-based nationally syndicated radio and Webcast show featuring technology news and interviews.

WebTalkGuys Radio
This Saturday’s WebTalk Radio show guests include Gig Harbor author Chris Negas talking about his book “Linux Toys: 13 Cool Projects for Home, Office and Entertainment.” Also, Bill Dettering talks about his Replay Radio software that turns your PC into a sophisticated Web Radio VCR. WebTalk Radio is heard at 11 a.m. Saturday on KLAY-AM (1180) and 10 p.m. Tuesday on KVTI-FM (90.9).

Website Workshop at TCC
Tacoma Community College and Rob and Dana Greenlee are offering a non-technical course for beginners that will cover Website optimization strategies with the search engines. Learn the basics to achieve high listings in the major search engines for your Website: differences between search engines and directories, contextual advertising, Google’s PageRank system, building link popularity, anchor links, reciprocal links, how to stay out of trouble with the search engines, sponsored link strategies and the process of submitting your pages to the search engines.

The three-hour course is Thursday, Jan. 15, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Course number is 8887 BUSPC 020. Registration is $69 through Tacoma Community College.

To register by telephone, contact Tacoma Community College’s Downtown Center at 253/566-5020. The TCC computer facility is located at 1501 Pacific Avenue, Room 126. The workshop fee is $39.