Everyone wants to test nowadays, but few know what to do. People are out there testing thousands of headlines at a time, trying to figure out what is the best combination. While testing, there are sure to be combinations which will negatively affect conversion and the overall branding of the site.

So, why not put your best foot forward? Look at your site’s conversion stumbling blocks and find ways to break through them. Test a couple of examples, find the best combination, then do follow-up tests. Doing so helps keep your site relevant to the visitor while showcasing it in a professional manner. Simple persuasion elements like headlines can be easily tested and, oftentimes, these are the things that end up making a big impact overall.

While working with Jigsawhealth.com we decided to do some testing using Google Website Optimizer on a page to move visitors forward, through the product categories. The links on the page were ineffective, so we decided to test a bolded version of the links with the gray “Supplements” bar beneath the links. This resulted in a 7% increase of conversion.

When such a simple thing like bolding can affect a site’s conversion rate, imagine what can be done once you optimize your site’s other persuasion elements…