However, testing is a rather annoying proposition. To be confident something makes a difference, you can only change one thing at a time, wait, then change something else. And test every combination. Over enough time to be confident it’s correct.
So if for example you decided you wanted to test three different ad titles, three different prices, and three different types of ad copy, you’d need to do 3×3×3, or 27 tests!
So it’s with some eagerness I’ve been exploring Taguchi testing. The Taguchi method still requires tests, but if set up properly, it allows you to ‘fold’ these multiple tests into a much smaller number. Fewer tests mean that lower-volume sites can test effectively, and results are available much more quickly.
For example, instead of three items, and three variations, requiring 27 different test pages, I only need 18 – AND I can test even more items at the same time!
Based on the Taguchi format I’m using, I am testing two items with two variations each, five items with three variations each, and an item with 6 variations – or 2×2×3×3×3×3×3×6, for almost 6,000 possible combinations with only 18 test pages!
To put that into perspective, if it takes a week to get the visitor volume to successfully test a page with my 18-page Taguchi testing results, it would take over 6 YEARS to be that confident with regular split testing!
My initial plan? Settle the big question – what Adsense works best on my site? And in the long term, test anything I can think of – ad copy, subscriber response, price points – you name it!
I’m looking forward to some very interesting results…
