Today we kicked off our awesome new Qhub Google+ Page with our video “How to Set Up a New Qhub in Just 3 Minutes”. Check it out !
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Robert Millar
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Robert Millar
Split Testing Our Question and Answer Site was a Real Surprise
I’d never really thought about split testing until recently. It’s a relatively simple process whereby you offer 2 variations or more of something to your target audience and let THEM decide which one they like (Yep, imagine that. Letting your customers tell you what they want…)
Before, I used to use a lot of blue on my sites. You see, I like blue. And I used to use clever, corporate style headings and titles because I wanted my business to be perceived as bigger than it was. I liked that too. But my mistake was to assume that because I’d been an avid student of marketing, with more than a couple of accomplishments up my sleeve, that I knew what was best for my customers. But relatively low sales proved that I was very, very wrong in this assumption.
Enter split-testing. For our Question and Answer Site offering at Qhub.com, we decided to employ some very cool split testing software called Visual Website Optimizer. It gives us a snapshot of a live page on our Question and Answer Site, let’s us experiment by moving, removing, re-colouring and re-wording certain elements, then splits visitor traffic between those variations and measures what visitors to that page actually do.
In one of our most recent tests, I wanted to know what combination of elements on the Qhub.com home page encouraged visitors firstly to click on our Get Started button to create their own Question and Answer Site, and secondly to actually complete the registration process and see an up sell page to a discounted version of our software. The results were a real surprise.
Here’s a snap shot of the original home page at Qhub.com before split testing where we tested about 2000 visitors, mixing combinations of the Take the Tour button, the brown voicemail tab at the edge of the screen, and a testimonials box at the bottom of the page which isn’t shown in this shot :
Now here’s a shot of the test results, showing that while Combination 8 that showed visitors no voicemail tab, no Take the Tour button and no testimonials box resulted in a 71% improvement over the standard page for clicks on the Get Started Now button, it resulted in a nasty 60% decrease in the number of visitors who actually completed the registration process and saw the up sell page :
By comparison, Combination 7, which showed visitors no voicemail tab, no tour, but showed the testimonial box, resulted in a massive 131% improvement for clicks on the Get Started Now button, plus a 62% improvement in the number of visitors who actually completed the registration process and saw the up sell page :
Now, you’ve probably heard how effective displaying testimonials on your web site can be, but I think you’ll agree that a 131% improvement is really something. I had, in fact, expected that the losing combination, with less distractions for the visitor, would be the winner, but my intuition was incorrect, and our Question and Answer Site was under-optimized as a result.
So, if you have a web site and you’re interested in what your customers want, I highly recommend you use a split testing tool like Visual Website Optimizer and learn that intuition is no substitute for exact data on what your visitors want from you. I’m so sold on the idea that I now split test everything, even posts like this one!
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Robert Millar
8 Reasons to Upgrade your Qhub
1. Customisation
Take advantage of Qhub’s easy to use advanced customisation tools.
2. Use your own domain
Easily add your Qhub to your own domain or subdomain.
For example: http://answers.appbistro.com
3. Member Mailshots
Send customised html emails to all of your members.
4. Analytics
Add your own analytics code to your Qhub and keep track of your visitors.
5. Private Forums
Keep it secret! Create private invitation only forums.6. Moderation Control
Take full control of the contributions to you site.7. Unlimited Members & Admins.
Unrestrict the number of members and administrators on you site.8. Revenue
Start making money by adding custom advertising to your Qhub.Check out our pricing page to see some more reasons. -
Robert Millar
Inspired Magazine rated Qhub number one in Q & A software
Wow! We just discovered that Inspired Magazine rated us number one in Q & A software, even against some pretty tough competition! Checkout the review at http://inspiredm.com/qa-websites
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John
Enhanced Connect Options: Twitter and Facebook
We have recently needed to update the way Qhub implements Facebook Connect due to issues with the previous implementation.
We are now using Facebook’s new ‘graph’ implementation, but because of this we are now missing a key piece of information for domain forwarded hubs. We used to only ask you for Application name, Callback URL, API Key and API Secret; but you now also need to supply your Facebook Application ID for this new implementation to work. If you are using your own Facebook application within your Qhub then please provide this information as soon as possible to get Facebook Connect working again.
Along with the new Facebook implementation we have also included Twitter Connect. Members will now be able to Sign in or Register using Facebook Connect, Twitter Connect or by filling in the form provided.
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Ian
Improvements to Custom Analytics
We have changed the interface for your Qhub Analytics settings page (/settings/analytics/) – it is now possible to enter tracking code into either the header or the footer of your Qhub.
If you wish to use Google’s asynchronous tracking code, you will need to place it into the header of your Qhub as per Google’s implementation guide (http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?answer=174090). This can be done by pasting your code snippet into the ‘Header Analytics Code’ box.
If you are replacing your traditional tracking code with new asyncronous code then be sure to delete your old code from the ‘Footer Analytics Code’ box beneath. It is now also possible to place meta tags within the header box if you wish, but make sure that you place them above any tracking code you enter into this box.
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pc toshiba support
Thanks for the info!
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James Mcdaniel
Nice post, thank you. Can you tell us about the first paragraph more?
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Ian
Member Messaging Now Available
It’s now possible to send a message to any of your Qhub friends – simply go the profile page of the person you want to contact and click on the ‘Send Message’ button in the top right corner of their profile:
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Chris Bennett
Awesome! Thanks
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James
Friendly Urls and More Webmaster Tools (RSS, ATOM and Canonical)
We were asked the question “Can you edit the way the question URL’s display for SEO purposes? Or is this in the plans at all?“, and today we have released this functionality. This is on by default in new Qhubs, but so as not to affect any SEO work already in place we have not turned it on for existing Qhubs.
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rizwan
this works fine on website but xml sitemap still shows old urls?
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admin
We update sitemaps twice a day, but will provision a much speedier update for Qhubs which change their Url formatting.
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John
Webmaster Tools Now Available
The more search engine savvy Qhub owners among you will have been frustrated at the lack of a tools for verification and sitemap submission. Well, now you can do this in the Webmaster Tools page (accessible from your Settings Page).
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adymat
I have verified my site in Google and Bing for webmaster verification except Yahoo for, I have failed to get it verified there for no understandable reason by me despite repeated attempt for that. Possible reason given by yahoo is that possibly my site is blocking yahoo slurp to visit your site.
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Justin
I keep getting, 403 forbidden, if i am redirect via DNS, are there other instructions?
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John
Adymat, your yahoo verification file contents is incorrect. It should just contain the number that they specify; you have a bunch of html tags in there too. Just paste the number into the file contents field, and you should be fine.
Justin, where are you seeing the 403 response? Is one of the search engine tools reporting that?
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Justin
This happens when i visit my URL answer.brighterblooms.com/sitemap.xml and answer.brighterblooms.com/googlexxxxxxxxxx.html
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John
Sorry Justin, that’s fixed now!
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Justin
Thanks John.
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adymat
Thanks! It’s OK. I have tried every possible thing, but I can’t get it talk. I am leaving it currently in a state advised by you.
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DigitalArsonist
As an alternative you could always verify your qhub with meta-tags you can insert in the header.
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Vashok
I will check it .
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Ashwin
Speed of Trust Through Q & A: How to Attract Profitable Customers By Pushing Buttons
Sustainable businesses are a reality because of trust, goods are purchased and services are consumed because of trust, literally every relationship – be it commercial or personal is based on trust and yet, we don’t see businesses taking it seriously enough to make it a part of their business strategy, not doing so is leaving money on table.
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Muhammad Morgan
small business are great for start-up ventures to know if the market is good-:;
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Flashing Beacon
small business are great for trying out new markets;;;
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admin and 
Vashok, 
Great post, I think people should acquire a lot from this weblog its very user friendly .