How to Split Test A/B Test your BLOG Including Pinterest along with EXAMPLES
If you are confused about what Split testing is ( aka A/B testing ) the how to split test everything including Pinterest then this the post that will clear things up for you.
What is it Split Testing
In its simplest form, it tests two or more things which can be anything from Pinterest pins to Optin sign up forms.
Comparing two different variations of the same item – Pins or Optin forms and seeing which perform the best by changing one thing, for example, change a pin description but keep everything else the same.
It’s important to remember you should test everything! Yep everything!
The easiest test to start off with is the A/B test where you only change ONE thing.
For example, you want to test your Email subject line for your new email so you send two campaigns with the only difference being the title of your subject line.
(If this post contains affiliate links please see our full disclosure policy although I have to say I tried really hard to make it interesting and even I struggled to write it so if you really must read it you can find it here)
I know what you are going to say – BUT I don’t have time!
So following on from my other post below
[contentcards url=”https://smartpennies.com/calculating-your-roi-for-your-blog/” target=”_blank”]
Which helps you assess which tasks you should do to give you the most bang for your buck.
Stick again to the most optimal ROI tasks so for example if you are starting out then you should consider sticking to using split testing for things like
Traffic eg. Pinterest- Pins, descriptions, images
Content- Headlines, the position of your links – affiliates or related posts interlinks
Email list building- testing your Opt-in form, your Email subject lines
How do you split test
First, you need to decide what you want to test so I will use an example to make it easier.
If we stick with testing just two variations of the same thing ie. A/B testing rather than anymore which could be variations A, B, C, D you could go through the whole alphabet!
Seriously to begin with A/B testing is the easiest one to go with so you can see the outcomes in the case of Pinterest Pins it would which ones get the most clickthroughs to your Website as this means the most traffic to your site ultimately.
How do you actually Split Test?
Say you wanted to test your Pinterest Pins
Here is an example of two pins from my blog post
[contentcards url=”https://smartpennies.com/how-to-win-with-pinterest/” target=”_blank”]
I kept the description the same for each of the two pins but changed the image only. As you can see from the Arrows above.
So this is an A/B/ test because I changed up ONLY ONE variables:
- Image
So this is an older post published in September 2018. So not all the pins are getting circulated currently.
Because Pinterest Analytics only lasts 30 days it’s important to check every month what is happening to your pins and see which ones are winning. So for me, the clear winner this month has been this Pin showing 38 clickthroughs in that period of one month.
Split testing and A/B testing results
So from this example above my best pin has a lighter background and the headlines POP more compared the second pin where the description colour is the same as some of the background and is darker in colour even though it is still quick prominent.
What should you do to Split test A/B test your Pinterest Pins.
Only change one variable at a time so if you create four pins you could do the following
- Pin 1- Image 1
- Pin 2- Image 2
- Pin 3- use Image 1 change the description 1
- Pin 4- use Image 1 change the description 2
You could also take this one step further and use description 1 & 2 with Image 2 as well so you would have 6 different pins going head to head with each other with one variable changed.
A/B Testing changes only one variable and stick to testing onl your TOP ROI tasks.
So for Beginners this will be
- Traffic generation
If you use Pinterest split test your pins and use the templates for pins that are doing the best.
Search Engine Optimisation
Split test your SEO efforts – take note of how many page views you have had in say three months from one of your top posts then rewrite your post improving it for SEO.
I personally love using what I have learned in Adventures in SEO for improving my SEO if you want to get on the waiting list for this click the link.
Content
If you have monetized your links with Afflilate links then you definitely will want to be testing out this.
Change your link positions in your posts, add more links, change the wording of the link, put a box round your link there are lots of tweaks you can make – remember only one thing at a time.
See if the links convert better.
Email list building
Change your Opt-in forms say by changing the button to subscribe, the description, images and colours and the position of the Opt-in.
So there you have different ways to run a split test aka. A/B test.
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