How to add Google Website Optimizer code to a tumblr blog

The last new material for the semester will be how to conduct and experiment using Google Website Optimizer. Experiments are often considered the most powerful form of marketing research because you can measure a cause and effect relationship. With tumblr’s new pages feature we can use it to create a “Custom Layout” that contains the code that Google requires to conduct an A/B test.

Marketing Research Experiments

If you want to show a cause and effect relationship you have to conduct an experiment. Designing experiments can be complicated, but the most common type of experiment, the A/B test, pretty straightforward.

Just like two different drug treatments could be tested on different groups of mice in the lab to measure the effectiveness of the drugs, you can create two different versions of a website or email newsletter and measure which of the two versions (A or B) is more effective.

There are some fun examples of experiments in the books What Sticks, Elephants on Acid and Other Bizarre Experiments, and The Wine Trials.

Google Website Optimizer A/B tests with tumblr

Before you start with Google Website Optimizer you have to create two tumblr “Custom Layout” pages. You need to choose the “Custom Layout” option for your test pages you need to place JavaScript code before the tag.

You need to identify a conversion page as well. This page does not have to be a “Custom Layout” since you only need to paste code before the tag.

I’ve created two versions of a tumblr “Custom Layout” page: http://SonomaMarketing.net/awesome1 and http://SonomaMarketing.net/awesome2, and I’ve made my home page http://SonomaMarketing.net my conversion page.

Original (SonomaMarketing.net/awesome1):

Click on the link above and in your browser go to “View–>Page Source”.

I tried to post the code here but it kept messing up…

Variation 1 (SonomaMarketing.net/awesome2)

Click on the link above and in your browser go to “View–>Page Source”.

So, if half of you could go to one page the other half of you could go to my other page, I can start to compare the effectiveness between the two pages I’ve created.

Next week I’m taking attendance so that you can share your Google Website Optimizer experiment with the class. Please try to have your Google Website Optimizer experiment ready to go at the beginning of class.