I recently created the A/B Test for WordPress plugin which enables the WordPress blog or site owner to easily split test content, stylesheets, javascripts, and, what we’ll be discussing today, themes.
Let’s say you have a blog and you have been using the standard WordPress Twenty Eleven theme for a while but now you saw this great looking theme that’s just a must have. How do you find out if this new theme will make your site perform better or worse, and how will it affect outbound link clicks to your new book at Amazon? Let’s find out :-)
WordPress comes with the Twenty Eleven theme, so we’ll split test between this and another theme. Let’s install the free Adventure Journal theme:
For information on how to install themes, visit Using Themes on the WordPress site.
Then intall the plugin and activate it in Plugins:
Click the A/B Testing link right below Settings:
Click Create new experiment:
Enter “Split testing my theme” as Name and select Theme as Experiment type:
Click Create experiment.
Click Edit below Experiment 1:
Select the Adventure Journal theme:
Click Update variation.
Do the same for Variation 2 where you select Twenty Eleven as the theme.
Click Back to experiments at the bottom of the page:
Now we’re going into Debug mode to test our variations. About the Debug mode:
“Normally, when a user first sees a variation to an experiment, this variation is locked for this user so that – in this session – she always sees the same variation.
If you want to test your experiments without this variation lock taking place for you (and only you), you can enable debug mode. Also, when entering debug mode, all tracking will be disabled for your session.”
Click Enter debug mode in the top right corner of the screen:
Debug mode is now on:
Now go to the front page of your site, and you’ll see one of the themes being displayed:
Now click Refresh a couple of times, and you’ll see that the theme changes:
Neat, eh? :-)
Back into the admin interface, click Exit debug mode:
We’ll now set up a link and track when this link is clicked. We’ll use a link to a book on Amazon to simulate an author site with a “Buy my book” link.
Click Split testing my theme and scroll down to Goals:
Click Get tracking code right below Goal 1 and you’ll see this screen:
Select the javascript code below To track a link and copy it to the clipboard using CMD + C (on a Mac) or CTRL + C (on a PC):
We’ll now create a widget with our link to Amazon.
Click Appearance and then Widgets in the menu to the left:
Insert a widget by dragging a Text box from the Available Widgets box:
Onto the Main Sidebar on the right:
Enter “Buy my book” as Title and insert this code below:
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/WordPress-Power-Guide-Blogging-ebook/dp/B004UW29IK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326554345&sr=8-1" onclick="abtest.trackGoal(1, this);">Buy my book on Amazon</a>
Like this:
Notice how we’re using the onclick="abtest.trackGoal(1, this);" code? That’s what’s tracking our link when we click it.
Click Save.
Now go back onto the front page and you’ll see that the widget has been inserted into your site:
So far so good.
Try clicking the link.
You have now tracked a goal completion!
Back into the admin interface, click on the experiment and you’ll see that it has tracked a goal completion:
Nice! Now you just need to wait and see which theme performs better.
For more info, installation instructions, and tutorials, visit the A/B Test for WordPress plugin page.
Also, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.