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Split testing should always be done on new and old ad campaigns



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Split testing should always be done on new and old ad campaigns

When you start an advertising campaign, especially when on a PPC platform like Adwords or BingAds, you'll need to do plenty of split testing to be sure what works and what doesn't.  Sure, you could hit a home run right at the start and have the best performing ad possible without having to run a second one, but that doesn't happen too often and that's why split testing is so important.

When you're split testing, you're putting up multiple ads for a single campaign and figuring out which ones work best for your website and the people you're targeting.  One type of ad might work well for your main website, but that same type of ad may do nothing for a website in a different niche, and this is why split testing is so important. 

You'll need to do split testing over the course of a few weeks, maybe even a couple of months, before you'll see what is definitely working and what needs to be weeded out.  If you can do this, you'll have the best performing campaign possible and never waste a single click that could have been a conversion.

Below are some reasons why you should always be split testing new and even some old campaigns, and they are:


Old campaigns could get stale
Times change and that means an old campaign could become stale and not as successful as it once was.  You'll need to keep an eye on all of your campaigns, not just your new ones, and be sure they're all doing what you need them to.  You'll want to set up new ads at least once a month in every campaign you're running just to be sure your best performing ads are still going to blow away anything new you add into it. 

Don't get attached to an ad, they're not your friends or family, if they stop performing then they need to be replaced with something that will bring in sales.

New campaigns might be able to perform better
A freshly started campaign might be able to show you better metrics and statistics based on your current audience.  Just like old campaigns, things change and so should your campaigns, and that's why starting an entirely new campaign might be a good idea.  You won't have fluffed up numbers in your CTR, Impressions, clicks, etc. based on what was working in the past.  You want to know the fresh statistics that are more accurate than old outdated ones that don't work today.

Set up a new campaign every once in a while to see if your original or older campaigns may be outdated.  Usually, you don't run into any problems and you older campaigns will work just fine, but every once in a while you'll find that a new campaign far outperforms the original.

Run 10 different ads per campaign
Whenever I'm running a new campaign I will have at least 10 different ads for it.  I will write them up in different tones, use numbers in some and incentives in others, but no ad will be a duplicated of another.  This way I will know what people are gravitating towards and I can eventually weed out the ads that aren't performing and I can now create a few more ads based on the ones that are working well already.

Eliminate the underwhelming ads
Remember, these little words aren't your friends or family so you shouldn't be getting attached to them.  If they aren't doing what you need them to do, and that means bringing in sales, you need to cut them out and go with the ads that are actually doing their job. 

When you remove the ads that aren't performing well, you're going to notice the ads that are already doing well will actually become better.  You can even set up more ads similar to the better performing ones to fine-tune your titles and descriptions, just to be sure you have everything perfect Split testing should always be done on new and old ad campaigns

Add in some additional recommended keywords
When you first start a campaign you won't get recommendations or opportunities for new keywords and phrases.  After about a week or two the system will give you suggestions for keywords that are best related to what you're already targeting, and this is where you can now increase your clicks to the ads you already know are working best. 

You'll want to make sure the ads are already performing well with your first set of keywords before you start adding more.  You don't want to waste money and time, so be sure everything is ready for the expansion of your campaign before you start throwing in more keywords.


In conclusion
Split testing is what sets decent campaigns apart from great ones.  Some people are happy with 100 clicks a day and spending $25 or more on it, but the great campaigns are getting 200 clicks for the same price and profiting much more each day.  If you're not split testing your campaigns, you're just leaving money on the table and you'll never be able to access it.  What you'll want to do is split test everything, in the beginning, to be sure you have something great, that way you won't leave any money behind.


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https://www.seoclerks.com/user/TommyCarey


Thanks!

Tommy Carey

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Kakashi2020
Split Testing or A and B Testing is a type controlled testing used to determine a sites metrics, be it in clicks, conversions and shares. It helps you identify which ad is working properly and has a better conversion rate than the others. It can be applied to almost everything emails, landing pages, blog posts and most importantly to Facebook ads.



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Corzhens
I have read about split testing but I didn’t get the whole idea. What we have in the office is a comparative testing that I think is very similar to the split testing. I work in a bank and the comparative testing is about the offline advertising that we did before. It was conducted on one branch office and another style in another branch office. But I think the results are not 100% accurate.



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cmoneyspinner
This did not happen with my site. I saw it on another site. It may or may not be relevant to this discussion. Nevertheless ... The owner was testing a Google Ad Sense campaign, the Google Native Ads, and some other and displays. It didn't work well. I noticed when I went to the website a day or two ago, the site owner was back to using the old ads they had been using from the beginning and also using Amazon Native Ads. The ads display much better!!

I have signed into my Google account dashboard and have seen recommendations to test different campaigns. I have not done that with my own sites. At present, I want to get to get more traffic to my websites and blogs. Then I'll do the ad sense campaigns tests. I want to test the Native Ads. But evidently, if your site doesn't have enough traffic you are not eligible to even use this form of advertisement.

Isn't that so? Or have I got something mixed up in my head? If so, please set me straight.



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TommyCarey
That's more split testing different ad platforms and not specific ads. That is more of a split test to determine what the best ad platform is for their website, and they were probably figuring out what platform pays out the most, then they stuck with the best platform for their profits and it seems to be the original one.

As for one platform and split testing ads, I'm talking about setting up multiple ads for the same campaign on the same platform. That means setting up campaign A, campaign B, and Campaign C then setting up Ad a1, Ad a2, Ad a3, etc. Then you would set up ads for campaign B and C as well and keep it going like the previous example. You would then be split testing campaigns as well as ads within those campaigns. You can see what ads work best for each campaign, then figure out what campaign is doing the best and stick with the best of the best and know you don't have to split test anything for a few weeks or months Split testing should always be done on new and old ad campaigns



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overcast
I remember being part of one project where the campaigns for the split testing was done through some sites. And they used to pay the users who used to join and work on the campaigns. So getting feedback on the split tested product prototype is a good idea too. Though you may notice that it's not easy. And even harder part is you have to make sure of the flow through which users interact with any form of ads. Facebook ads gives you that flow understanding.



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treecko142
Yeah, it's a form of research in marketing and could really help you focus your efforts on the ads that appeal to your target audience so you eventually get to save budget and make sure that your marketing effort are working.



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Barida
That's the thing as we have to apply a series of ads before we could be able to find that particular ad that is going to make everything work pretty fine for us. I believe that this is somewhat not easy especially for those not being able to fund the ads.



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Corzhens
I definitely agree that old campaigns can get stale and new campaigns can bring you back on the right footing. Especially in social media, the trends are always changing. In just a week, a popular trend can be unpopular when another of its kind becomes the trend. With split testing, it is one good way of assessing your marketing work if it is effective or needing an enhancement.



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treecko142
Yeah, businesses generally forget about their old ads and then they end up racking up more expenses than the income they provide, especially for social media ads which are too dependent on current trends.



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Barida
The word that you don't stop until you get it right is what we can say that it is evident with split testing when we are talking about running some certain ads. I mean that you are going to be in that situation where you will appreciate everything that happens as long as you are working towards getting everything work fine. You have to keep testing till you get the right ads that are going to deliver the best results.



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