Only A/B test high traffic pages

Hot Tip #57 is to only A/B test high traffic pages.

A/B testing (aka split-testing) with low data will lead to inconclusive and even misleading results.

A more effective use of your time is to optimize and market your primary Landing Page until your traffic increases.

How A/B Testing works – Comprehensive guide by the CXL team where they encourage testing over two business cycles, so it mitigates external events.

#61 - Development Tips, Optimization Tips

Trim the fat

Hot Tip #61 is to trim the <head> fat.

Start by opening up your Landing Page source code view. In Google Chrome: File > View > Developer > View Source. Other browsers will be similar.

Copy all of the code between the opening and closing <head> tag and paste it into a text editor.

Use this checklist, starting from the top:

What does this line do?
Is it really needed?
If not, delete
Repeat

This can (and will) uncover scripts, font weights, and code snippets that add nothing but load time to your visitor’s experience.

As tedious as it sounds, your future Landing Pages will benefit from knowing what is behind them.

#69 - Checkout Tips, Development Tips, Optimization Tips, UX Tips

Make it accessible

Hot Tip #69 is to make it accessible.

Providing people with health conditions or impairments, the ability to read and navigate your Landing Page easily is the right thing to do.

Here are five small tasks that can go a long way:

Create a clear :focus state like this – keep hitting tab on your keyboard and see what happens in your Landing Page.
Ensure your text color contrast isn’t weak – this text against this background – has a decent AAA accessibility score of 8.99.
Increase your browser font size and see if your Landing Page layout breaks or anything become illegible.
Correctly assign and order semantic headings (H1, H2, H3) – disabling your stylesheet or using a screen reader will quickly surface issues with your hierarchy.
Describe all your non-decorative images using the alt tag – if an image is only there for graphic purpose you can let the screen reader skip it.

One hour tackling the above, could saves hundreds of frustrating hours for others.

The exercise will also strengthen your Landing Page by surfacing fundamental development issues.

Chrome Lighthouse – Instructions how to run an accessibility audit for your Landing Page in Google Chrome.
Contrast for Mac – Great tool I use to to ensure my text colors are within Accessibility standards.
Accessible Color Generator – Useful to find the nearest accessible-passing color based on your color inputs (that are failing).
Focusing on Focus Styles – Solid article by Eric Bailey covering :focus and :active CSS selectors.
10 Screen Readers – A curated round-up by UsabilityGeek.
UserWay – A website accessibility solution for ADA & WCAG Compliance. Their widget sits in the corner of the browser where users can customize their browsing experience.

#71 - Development Tips, Optimization Tips

Don’t shortcut hosting

Hot Tip #71 is don’t take shortcuts on website hosting.

Cheap, shared hosting will end up costing a lot more (through downtime, hacks, sluggish speeds, slow support, and frustrated customers) in comparison to the savings you’d get from using a reputable host.

However, hosting advice is subjective to where you are in your journey. This tip would apply to Landing Pages with a product or service people are buying.

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Bonus: here are some hosting FAQs and answers I give One Page Love readers who ask. These are actually taken from my email macros I use them so much:)

FAQ: I have a product idea I want to validate but have little budget or coding experience?

Build a free Landing Page online using Carrd. It’s free if you keep the name.carrd.co subdomain, then $9/year if you want to use a custom domain.

FAQ: I have a product idea, want to use WordPress but have little budget?

Bluehost is an option if you really want to use WordPress + a free theme. It’s not the best hosting but if you are giving away a free product and need to use WordPress, it’s your best option. This link discounts to $3/month if you pay annually.

FAQ: I want good hosting for my Landing Page and want to use WordPress?

Flywheel hosts all my WordPress websites and Landing Pages. The uptime is solid, CDN fast, daily backups are great with a 1-click restore, staging for testing convenient and the support is superb. I’m a massive fan. For my network of sites I’m paying $100/month.

FAQ: I want good hosting for my Landing Page and don’t want to use WordPress?

If you know your way around a server, Digital Ocean is your best bet at $5/month. I use it for 1 of my Landing Pages.