Do you want to start improving your website performance using Website Optimiser, but just don't know where to begin? If so we've got the resource for you.

We have just released The Beginners Guide to Website Optimiser. This guide takes you through every step of setup, from pre-test planning right through to interpreting test results.

Some of the cool things you'll find the in the Beginners Guide include:

• Planning your first experiment
• Ideas for identifying what content to test
  
• Step by step installation guide
• Interpreting your report

You can access the beginners guide in the following languages: UK , DE , FR , IT , ES , NL

For more advanced users...

If you are a developer/advanced user of Website Optimiser, you may be also interested in The Techie Guide to Website Optimiser. This guide covers just about everything you wanted to know about the technical ins and outs of Website Optimiser.

Some of the cool things you'll find in the Techie Guide include:

• A detailed explanation of the Website Optimiser experiment scripts
  
• How to implement segmentation in your experiments
  
• How to test with dynamic content
  

You can download the Techie Guide for free at google.com/websiteoptimizer/techieguide (PDF).

Posted By Edward Jackson, Google Website Optimiser Team

In the quest for stronger conversion performance on your website, many of you may already drive traffic through search marketing programmes such as Google AdWords. Advertising on search engines like Google offers you the ability to target users when they are ready to make a purchase decision - customers are already looking for what you offer at the point that they see your ad, and you only pay once they click through to your site. So far so good! But are there ways to extend your reach beyond search advertising, while still maintaining great sales and leads performance from your online ads?

The Google content network is a highly effective way to do this for a couple of key reasons. Firstly, internet users spend 95% of their time online on non-search sites. When you show your ads on the content network, you can reach potential customers as they browse websites relevant to your products and services. This also means that you can reach customers at different points in the buying cycle, providing you with multiple points at which you can show your ad and drive more conversions. Secondly, using this targeting, the average AdWords advertiser already gets 20% of their conversions from the content network, with an average cost-per-acquisition that is 2% lower than on search*. Learn how to take advantage of the opportunities the content network presents, or brush up on your existing knowledge, through the video clip series below.


Introduction to the content network

What has the Content network got to offer you and how does it work?




Flexibility of ad formats

Beyond text ads, here's how you can generate your own display ads - for free.



Tracking results

Effective ways to track ROI from content advertising within an AdWords account (note: Analytics also provides you with this functionality.)




The above videos are also available in German, Spanish, Italian, French and Dutch.

To find out more you can browse our dedicated site or to get started sign-in to your AdWords account.


* Conversion and CPA averages based on internal analysis of Google advertisers advertising on both search and content, with conversion tracking enabled, from Dec. 2007 – Nov. 2008.




Posted By Ciarán Russell, Google Content Network Team

This week we wanted to let you know about upcoming webinars relating to some of the products and topics we cover on the blog.

These free online presentations are run by Googlers and can be attended from your own computer: all you need is a set of headphones and access to the Internet. There is a short presentation on the topic at hand and time for a question and answer session afterwards, where you can ask the team any questions you may have on the product or benefits.

We've highlighted a few of the webinars below which could help you further improve conversions on your website. If you're interested in a particular session you can simply click on the link to register or to find out more. You can sign up for as many of these sessions as you wish.

Conversion Optimiser
Learn how to get more conversions for your AdWords campaigns at a lower cost using our free CPA bidding tool.

29th April 3pm (GMT) - Register

Google Analytics
Google Analytics I: Getting started and tracking conversions
An introduction into Google Analytics and how you can use it to help your online business.

6th May 3pm (GMT) - Register

Google Analytics II: Managing your Analytics account set up for best results
Advanced implementation issues for complex websites, such as third party shopping carts and sub-domains.

13th May 3pm (GMT) - Register

Google Analytics III: Report navigation and analysis of AdWords data
Understanding reports and how to use them to identify areas of development for your AdWords account.

20th May 3pm (GMT) - Register

Website Optimiser
An introduction to Website Optimiser and how to launch your first test to improve the performance of your website.

3rd June 3pm (GMT) - Register

You can find full details of all our UK webinars here. If you would like to sign up for webinars in an alternative language, you can check out what is available here.


Posted By Ruth Brennan, Google Team

A few weeks ago, we introduced Google Insights for Search and showed you how you can capitalise on search trends by knowing what your target audience are searching for on Google. Using on-trend search terms within your online marketing campaigns will ensure that your message is as relevant to your audience as it can be.

To make things even easier for you, we have created a search trends iGoogle gadget which displays the 'Top rising searches' and 'Top related searches' right on your Google homepage. You can change the settings to show results for a specific location, keyword, category or source in order to have the most up to date information available for your industry or product.

* Data pulled 06/04/09


The screenshot to the left shows 'Rising Searches' within the 'Sports' category for the UK and could be used for travel, retail or promotional opportunities. The second screenshot shows the 'Top Searches' in the UK for the last 7 days with the relative traffic displayed for each search term. This gives an idea of the overall trend in searches in the UK and insight into how your target audience is browsing the web and spending their time online.

Adding this gadget to your homepage only takes a few seconds and results update automatically so you can stay on top of trends, or be aware of any news story which may impact search volume for some of your keywords.

If you are currently signed into your Google Account, the gadget will automatically add to your iGoogle homepage.

New data sources - We've added additional data from Google News, Image and Product Search sites so you can see what the world is searching for beyond Google Web Search. For example, retailers could use the Product Search filter to get a better understanding of what people are more likely to buy, and then stock the appropriate products.


Not yet created your iGoogle homepage?
With iGoogle, you can have Google search as your homepage, but with a personal touch. Learn how you can customise iGoogle to show and organise contents such as your latest Gmail messages, chat, calendar, bookmarks, RSS Feeds, gadgets and more.


Posted By Ruth Brennan, Google Team