October 8, 2009

Eye Tracking Without The Eyes - AttentionWizard.com Beta

Eye tracking studies can be a very valuable tool that can help identify significant problems with your website or landing page. Unfortunately eye tracking requires expensive and specialized hardware and software to be used, and live test subjects to observe and measure.

In-page Web analytics can also provide detailed heatmaps of people's clicking and scrolling behavior. But these also require the landing page to be properly tagged and measure the behavior of real site visitors. This data takes time to collect and can only be gathered from "live" pages.

Recent advances in the study of computational attention and human visual processing now offer a new and exciting alternative. Computer algorithms can be used to simulate where people will look during the first few seconds of interacting with your site and create a detailed attention heatmap of your landing page.

This approach has several advantages:

Instant results - upload an image of the landing page and get your answer
High degree of accuracy - 75%+ correlation with eye tracking and mouse tracking
Works with page mock-ups - can be used with in-progress mock-ups before the page goes live

SiteTuners.com has recently announced the launch of a FREE private beta program (limited to the first 5000 sign-ups) for it new AttentionWizard.com visual attention simulation tool. Free daily heatmaps will be available for all participants for the length of the beta program. A paid version with per-image based pricing is expected by Q1 2010 for individuals, companies, and interactive agencies.

Posted by Tim Ash at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)

April 7, 2009

Using Video Spokespeople to Increase Landing Page Conversions

When I speak on the topic of landing page optimization I am often asked about embedded video and the use of the walk-on video spokespeople that appear from the lower right corner of the page.

Of course the effectiveness of embedded video players and spokespeople depend on the offer, product, and of course the context and intent of the audience.

Do spokespeople actually increase conversion?

To readers of my column the answer should be familiar by now - test it. We often include the addition of spokespeople in our landing page tests.

Recent tests on companies using Innovative Media Group's video spokespeople suggest that dramatic gains can be realized:

- ClosetWorld added embedded video to their landing page and then a video spokesperson as well. This increased conversion rates from 0.5% to 1.0% and 2.2% respectively.

- Tanberg increased the conversion on their lead-generation page from 0.75% to 2.2% by adding a spokesperson.

Big companies are piling onto the bandwagon as well. Other recent successes include Napster, Service Magic, and Rhapsody.

Check out the DishyMix audio interview and transcript with Innovative Media's CEO John Cecil.

Posted by Tim Ash at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

February 12, 2009

SEW Experts: One PPC Landing Page, Infinite Faces

Creating custom landing pages for PPC ads can help boost your conversion rates by percentage points. In today's Profitable PPC column, "One PPC Landing Page, Infinite Faces," David Szetela shares a few simple lines of code, with which a landing page can be created with content that can be changed by marketers depending on the link that the user clicked on.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 2, 2009

SEW Experts: Is Your Landing Page Relevant?

Your landing page is the first impression by which search engines and users alike will judge your site. And when a searcher first lands on your Web site, you have but mere seconds to establish credibility. In today's SEM agency issues column, "Is Your Landing Page Relevant?," William Flaiz explains that Web sites must rise to the occasion and create landing pages that rank for important keywords while engaging the reader.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 12, 2009

SEW Experts: Search Ad Quality Score 101, Part 2

Getting a good quality score requires that you create relevance and continuity from beginning to end of the search experience. Then you need to test, test, test. In today's SEM 101 column, "Search Ad Quality Score 101, Part 2," Ron Jones shows you how to create landing pages that will lead to conversions, which is the ultimate goal.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 9, 2009

SEW Experts: PPC Landing Pages: Surprising Examples

It's time to kick off the New Year by looking at examples of good and bad combinations of PPC ads and their landing pages. In today's Profitable PPC column, "PPC Landing Pages: Surprising Examples," David Szetela looks at some real-world examples to see what they're doing right, and what they're doing wrong.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 11, 2008

SEW Experts: Uncovering Site Problems for Landing Page Optimization, Part 1

How do you find problems with your landing page hidden in your test results? Instead of waiting only for good news, filter it out instead. In today's By the Numbers column, "Uncovering Site Problems for Landing Page Optimization, Part 1," Tim Ash shows you that the key is to accentuate the negative, focusing on problems and things that are askew.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 1, 2008

Pimp My Site: Tweaking High Traffic Landing Pages

When you have a page that is bringing in a lot of eyeballs, it may be tempting to just leave it alone. Cliches become mantras. "There's no need to stir the pot." "Let sleeping cats lie." "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

The problem is that if your traffic isn't converting, then your landing page is, in fact, broken.

Thankfully, the Google Website Optimizer team is serving up tips on knowing which pages to tweak via a post on their blog.

First up are Landing Pages. Go to the "Content" section of Google Analytics and check out the "Top Landing Pages." The pages you need to focus on have high bounce rates and high entrance rates. The blog recounted a scenario Avinash Kaushik spoke about at SES. He said he was searching for faucets and the top sponsored result led him to a sinks page. Perhaps the site is experiencing large numbers of site visitors, but they're just throwing money away if they're not giving the people what they want.

Secondly, check out funnel pages. These are pages that a visitor arrives at after performing an action such as a purchase, registration or download. In Google Analytics, you can set up a funnel which contains 10 pages pertaining to a goal. Then, you'll be able to view "funnel visualization" reports that can show you where your site visitors get stuck in the process.

Remember, it's the conversions that matter the most. Not the clicks or the referrals or the number of eyeballs. If your site visitors are not engaging in the actionable goal you've set for them, then it's time to tweak.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:01 AM | Permalink

February 20, 2008

SEW Experts: Landing Page Optimization for SEM: Design and Execute

As a search marketer, you need to understand landing page optimization because it impacts your results. Higher conversion means a bigger impact for everything you do with search, and the availability of more dollars to invest back into search marketing. In today's By the Numbers column, "Landing Page Optimization for SEM: Design and Execute," Eric Enge outlines some of the best practices outlined in Tim Ash's new book, "Landing Page Optimization."