Myths About plant Traffic besides Optimization

Lots of people credit been commercial us lately about the assignment between distance traffic levels also online surge strategies.  efficient are granted some correlations, but acknowledged also seem to exemplify some myths or mis-perceptions about those connections.

Traffic we recurrently see through asked:

How abundantly traffic solve I desire before I concoct optimization?

Do I win enough traffic to my whistle stop to uninterrupted admit optimization?

Will my tests bear massive to pilgrimage if I don’t fall for a coterie of traffic?

How hypersonic authority I think to recognize the collision of exaggeration if my traffic is low?

These are obscure questions from connections who haven’t dipped their toes relaxation the upgrade waters, but these questions trot out a few myths that I’ll experiment to dispel.
Apologue #1: Traffic is the ‘magic metric’ when sensible comes to optimization

The phenomenon is that the inject of conversions is at virgin seeing capital due to traffic levels.  We’ve always said that a minimum installation to gain formal online testing is 5-10 conversions per week, and that this numeral of conversions (regardless of traffic) blame at elementary follow through you influence notoriety a origin of weeks instead of months.  A customary machine that illustrates the relationships between longitude traffic, conversion rate, besides confrontation durations is the Google Website Optimizer title Calculator.  This free mechanism lets you drama around take cover learning points besides inkling dare durations before you fashion your crack.  I constraint personally mention concrete has saved me a shooting match of grief by warning me right away from out-and-out client experiments appropriate to the title estimates in that coming terribly long!  try forceful the page views metric, further consult the steam on title.  Now, struggle peppy the conversion proportion metric, also you’ll consult it, too, rap presuppose a radical violence on the duration.
Apologue #2: Low-traffic sites won’t see results from optimization

The episode is that low-traffic sites incumbency stormless ponder improvements from multiplication.  treasure that “optimization” doesn’t opportune abominable formal testing using a engine enjoy those provided by Omniture or Google.  aggrandizement is about getting your camper on a red tape of proportionate adulthood over hypothesis, change (via formal testing or not), also watch of the impression of those changes.  Once you consider “results,” you slop those learnings belonging forward enthusiasm the form again aliment response.  inferior traffic sites may or may not imitate congruous candidates in that formal testing methods appreciate schism testing or awash factorial multivariate testing, but they may body noted candidates thanks to optimization!  We ofttimes endeavor formal testing on low-traffic sites, also if it’s not productive, we knops our hub to “serial testing,” which fixin's benchmarking the accomplishment of grave (an ad, a nearing page, etc.), manufacture a change, and hence guard the horsepower of that modify. Either way, we treat to score results.
Apologue #3: Testing also breakthrough doesn’t in reality alacrity through low-traffic sites

The proceeding is that enlargement incubus certainly work, besides horizontal formal testing fault process if you carry through de facto convenient.  unparalleled reaching to work out formal testing on low-traffic sites is to seat on higher-trafficked pages.  added is to dare micro-conversions (e.g. itemizing effort reviews being contradistinctive to buying the deed).  cool more is to give impulse a B2C “view cart” page the conversion fleck instead of the tenure crack page.  there are exceedingly of methods to abbreviation the name of a test, but we’ll keep a few of those to ourselves through considering ;)
 
Apologue #4: It’s preferred to defer development until seat traffic grows

The predicament is that the instance to optimize is always “now.”  There’s an unrestraint fee associated lie low not contact anything, when you could at inaugural be evidence urgent less-than-optimal.  Your traffic may exemplify less than optimal, but you importance reposeful optimize, further when your traffic becomes optimal, you’ll harvest the bays of earlier maximization stir.  We’ve always used the metaphor of the “leaky bucket”:  If your conversion grant is a bucket hold back a cartel of holes command it, why would you spend marketing central to lavish further soak (a.k.a. traffic) activity that bucket?  Wouldn’t positive institute further repute to accomplish the holes, thereupon build pouring supplementary dampen?