Traffic to BusSongs.com is on the up, thanks to the ever popular collection of Christmas and Halloween songs. Wishing to captialise from the increased activity, I’m stepping up efforts to improve monetisation.

I embedded an AdSense Link Unit into the navigation last May and, foolishly, haven’t really touched it since. About a month ago, I went nuts and rolled out a test to see if I can tweak the performance of the ad unit. I’ve now tried an assortment of different colour palettes, positions, titles, and behaviours. The below swatch shows all of the test candidates:

Each incoming visitor to the site is assigned to see one of the above, and they continue to see that version for the following 30-days (as to remove bias resulting from a constantly changing style). Thanks to AdSense’s Custom Channels, one can easily track the performance of each version and compare that to the original (aka the control).

I’ve now run the experiment for about the month, so the data should be pretty reliable by this point. Here are the results:

It’s pretty incredible to so clearly see how a relatively minor change can have a significant effect on performance. Test #17 was born from trying to take the best features from other high-performing ads (ie. the best of breed). I need to extend this further and run a few final tests to see if I can iterate any further.

One problem I’m facing is that it isn’t necessarily prudent to strive towards finding the best performing ad as measured by CTR. An ad that generates the most click-throughs may also be alienating users and altering their usage on the site. Therefore, I ideally want to track the behaviour of the site’s users for each of the ad versions. This doesn’t appear to be possible in Google Analytics; does anyone know how this can be best accomplished?

I vow to never sell out and stick ads on the blog. But that doesn’t mean I can’t try and make some money out of it, does it?

You may have seen that I’ve loosely scattered a few ‘buy-me-a-coffee’ buttons across the blog. Well, despite just realising that most of these weren’t actually linking anywhere, to date 5 random soles have made a donation. The Interweb is a crazy old place and receiving money from folk you’ve never met is quite odd, but also nice and warming. Of course, you’re not really buying my a coffee (ghastly stuff), but it’s a symbolic gesture that demonstrates your gratitude. It’s pretty neat to know that some of the information I’ve shared has actually been of use to someone.

I stuck a similar button on BusSongs.com some months ago, but have yet to receive a single donation – even though it gets x860 more exposure. I guess you’ve really got to help, rather than entertain, to get into peoples wallet.

I recently made a rather shocking observation. On one of my sites (I’ll gloss over the finer details), I ask users to register with an email address and a password. As you’d expect, many email addresses were from simple webmail providers such as Gmail and Hotmail. So, for educational purposes only (I must stress), I switched over to one of these said providers, popped in some random soul’s email address and password, and surprise surprise, it worked like a charm. In around 10-minutes of trial and error, I had successfully infiltrated around a dozen email accounts.

Now, most people’s inboxes are pretty unexciting, but once you have access to one’s email you effectively have access to every web service they use, and well, pretty much their entire identify. How? Well, practically every site with a login has some sort of ‘Forgot your password?’ feature. Hit that a few times across the web, and you’ll quickly find yourself with login details for dangerous things like Paypal, Facebook, or an ecommerce site (which may have your credit card details stored). From there, an unscrupulous character can cause all kinds of havoc.

Of course, this lesson is nothing you’ve not heard before. Most experts recommend using a super-difficult-to-crack but insanely-difficult-to-type-and-remember password – oh, and make it unique for each site you use. This is somewhat unrealistic, so I guess I’d recommend the following practical measures:

• Use super duper cryptic passwords for really important financial sites like Paypal and your bank. Don’t even think about using these passwords for anything else.
• You’re probably best having a completely unique password for your email too. If it’s never compromised, it doesn’t make all that much sense to change it regularly.
• Use a simple throwaway password for simple websites where any risk is really small.
• Never use a password for a random website, however innocent it may look, that you’re also using for something potentially damaging (email account, Facebook, etc.).
• Perhaps keep track of your passwords in a handy spreadsheet (mine has 254 entries, which is somewhat disturbing) or a notebook.

I’ve finally started to lift my finger a bit with Mafia War Secrets, the info-product site I acquired a couple of months ago. It’s performed far better than I had anticipated, yet it’s fate is far from certain. The Mafia Wars game is likely to fade into non-existence as quickly as it has risen to stardom, and five competing products have suddenly hit the market, all trying to attack the same niche segment. For these reasons, VRE veterans typically opt to build upon evergreen sites – and I’m starting to see why. Nevertheless, there is plenty of opportunity for me to squeeze more potential from the site.

Therefore, it’s pretty imperative that I maximise the site’s potential while times are good. I see this being best achieved pursuing two goals; seeking out as much ROI-positive traffic as possible (I’ve made good inroads here already), and improving conversion rates to make the most out of the inbound traffic. I now intend to focus my efforts on the latter. As previously discussed, it’s incredibly easy to develop and roll out simple A/B tests and steadily increase conversion rates through continues iterations on the sales page. I’ve kicked off by testing the title copy that appears right at the top of the sales patter:

Version B was the original copy (the control). Conversion rates are shown first, followed by the percentage increase relative to the control. Versions A and C performed less favourably, but version D proved to generate an increase to conversion rates.

The impact is staggering: 5-minutes of labour gave way to a 3.86% uplift in the conversion rate. Annualised, the absolute value of this roughly equates to say, a return LHR:JFK flight, not bad at all.

What next? There are zillions of variables that could be tested, but in truth I seem to lack the mojo to make any real inroads. Hiring the services of a professional copywriter could prove expensive and risky. That got me thinking; why not run a risk-free contest whereby I award anyone who can provide demonstrable results? And so I will.

It’s simple: suggest a small change to a title, some additional text, new images, or a completely new design altogether – whatever really. I will then pit your entry against the existing page. If your ideas produce a >10% increase in the relative conversion rate (ie. 2.69% to >2.96%), you’ll instantly win $100 via Paypal. This winning entry will then become the new control which would need to be bettered by future contestants.

I’ll be happy to provide a log-in to the conversion tracking software so that you will have full transparency on how your entry performs. Reverse A/B testing will also be used to verify results.

To take part, just jot me an email with your entry and I’ll get it going within a day or two. Be sure to spread the good word!

Update: The one and only Mr. Zilic has entered the ring with 6 different tweaks to the sales letter. Despite best efforts, he’s yet to push me out of pole position – although one or two are in with a running chance. Anyone else up for the challenge?

Update #2: I’ve taken the plunge and hired two professional copywriters to see what they can muster together. Risky procedure.

Update #3: Danny has pulled off the impossible and beaten me. $100 is now winging it’s way to him. Nicely done sir.

Not even KeithMander.com could escape the perils of the global downturn. Despite outcries from numerous die-hard fans, the blog has turned into a bleak and desolate place in recent months. The demise can be depicted on the below graph, which shows the evolution of activity since the blog’s birth on that fateful day in September ‘07.

Sulk no longer, for the blog shall return and reclaim it’s place at the forefront of cutting-edge journalism. That is to say, after I figure out what exactly I’ll be writing about. Any ideas?

I’ve acquired a new site that peddles another informational product, although this time it’s not cleaning related. MafiaWarSecrets.com is geared towards fans of the popular Mafia Wars game that has taken Facebook and MySpace by storm in recent months.

For a mere 20-bucks, I can tell you a few tricks to get the edge in the game and become the don. You have to wade through the sales copy first, of course. Competition is fairly non-existent and there is already a small but strong band of affiliates taking the brunt of performing promotional activities. Fingers crossed.

There are a slew of banks who offer bespoke designed credit cards, whereby you can upload a family photo or a pin-up and have it featured as the background of the credit card. I thought I’d have a crack at making a design that would provide an un-friendly warning to its users. Excuse my poor attempt at using Photoshop.

It’s been a while since I last shared a weird and whacky invention, but the wait is over.

First, let me share the back story. I’m usually the slow coach in our skiing gang and trail behind the others as we descend a piste. Everyone tends to look the same (especially if your jacket colour matches that worn by the entire ski instructor contingent) so it can become tricky to keep tabs on where your buddies end up.

But fret not, for SkiTails (patent pending) will solve all of your piste-people-spotting woes. The gizmo clips onto your jacket or bag and projects a shiny steamer behind you, providing you pick up a wee bit of speed. Easy to spot for others and the skier enjoys a nice flicking/fluttering sound to emphasis their speed.

Here’s Steve donning an early proof-of-concept prototype:

The commercial prospects aren’t that shabby. They’d be very cheap to produce and distribute and I’m sure Sport 2000/Intersport, the major two ski resort retailers, could be convinced to stock a POS unit on a risk-free basis (ie. providing a buy-back on unsold inventory). Mass-customisation might also be an interesting twist.

Like all good technology enterprises, the key now is to reiterate on the product. Next year shall see a series of trials to test different materials and storage/release mechanisms. You should expect to see SkiTails in all good stockists (alongside JML products) soon.

I’d always figured that low-cost delivery services had killed off the need for passengers to escort packages. Always on the hunt for a bargain, I spent the good part of a Sunday morning poking around to see what I could find out.

As it says on the tin, the general idea is that can get a reduced fare in exchange for accompanying a package, passing it through customs, and meeting a local courier to make the exchange. All in all, it sounds pretty dodgy. But by all accounts, from what I’ve read, very few people have a bad word to say. It seems that you’re charged with man handling paperwork (contracts and the like) that don’t quite make it on the scheduled fleet service (ie. DHL) and that the bounty the airline receives is sufficient to pass it on.

Benefits:

• Heavily discounted prices; you can typically shave off ~50% from the standard fare.
• You get fully fledged tickets for the flight and not just standby tickets (therefore you’re guaranteed a seat).

Pitfalls:

• There’s typically only one ticket available per flight. Therefore, anyone wanting to tag along with you will need to pay the full fare for their ticket.
• After the ticket has been booked, there is zero flexibility in changing flight times or cancelling.
• You may find yourself hanging around at the arrival airport waiting for the local courier.

The only operator on this side of the pond offering courier flights appears to be BA. They have just two scheduled routes; Tokyo and Bangkok, although the latter will be axed in middle of March. Prices are advertised to be in the £300-£500 bracket for a return trip, all inclusive.

I phoned in and provided some dummy dates in July (10-24th) and was quoted £430. Booking online, the same flight was marked up as £768 – just shy of double the price. Flexing the dates, I could knock this down to £622 (which seems to be the absolute minimum), so I should imagine the courier flight could also be equally knocked down if you pick the right dates, perhaps to as low as ~£350. BA World Cargo operates the service and the direct line for courier flight bookings is +448703200301.

I doubt I will avail of this, but I hope this information proves to be helpful to someone. Make sure to bring back a nice gift f it does.

Update: MoneySavingExpert.com has a superb piece on other methods of obtaining cheaper air travel.

Fellow Facebook users can now interact with KeithMander.com using their Facebook profile, thanks to the WP-FBConnect Wordpress plug-in. When commenting on a post, you can opt to skip entering your details and instead connect your Facebook account with the site. Providing that you’re logged into Facebook, you’ll then be automatically logged into the blog each time you return.

Moreover, when you leave a comment, you’ll have the option to share the story with your friends via the news feed on Facebook. I already syndicate the blog via my own news feed, but this feature will allow me to reach both friends of friends, and friends of strangers. Plus, with the combo of the Facebook Comments plug-in, any comments left on Facebook are copied back onto the blog, keeping everything nice and tidy.

It’ll be interesting to see if this expanded distribution will bring a new audience to the blog and foster greater interaction.