We were barking up the wrong tree,
are you?
(“were” is the key word and it was the “right tree” at one time, but things change)

114 top photography web sites involved in a double blind test. Was your one of them? Photographers are always asking us, “How do you know if Best USA Photographers is bringing more traffic to my web site?” Up until we were introduced to Alexa 6 months ago we wondered ourselves. By testing and measuring you too can find out what works in marketing. We were basing our decisions on out dated values. 99.9% of the people do, in fact old values in internet marketing means information older than 12 months. It changes that fast. So we reevaluated and reorganized, then we tested for 16 months. This article is based on a test we did last month and I think you will be amazed with the results. What would you say if we increased your traffic over 250% in one month using just one of our 10 NEW marketing components? That was the average according to Alexa, the leading authority on web statistics.

Before we start, “Has your photography improved over the years?”  Well, in this nascent field of internet marketing that is changing faster than the digital revolution, our knowledge and experience has catapulted Best USA Photographers into a new dimension. I’m sure there was a time in your career as a photographer that you can look back and see tremendous growth. Hopefully, you never get so jaded that you stop growing. We are proud to announce some new methods that will help you bring in business, but you have to participate for results. If you are thinking that the old portfolio site and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the way to go, you’d be wrong. That is OLD HAT. The internet market has changed and so has Best USA Photographers. On this test we only applied 1% of the photography buyers’ names that we have collected the past two years, and “the list” component of our new marketing plan is only one of 10 new components. Check out the New 10 marketing components. The important thing to remember here is that Best USA Photographers noticed the changing trends and adjusted. Have you?

Back to the test

So here’s how we did it. We took 57 of our members and promoted them to our selected lists of photography buyers who have opted into our mailing program. (People who are interested in your style of photography.) That was Group A and their traffic increased 252%. But somehow we had to prove that it was Best USA Photographers and not something or someone else. That is where Group B comes in.

We did nothing for Group B, comprised of two sections: Section 1 - 22 Best USA members and Section 2 - 35 non members (total 57). It surprised us that BOTH sections within Group B had 4.9% LESS traffic on the average. By the way the other 35 non-members are photographers who have been approved by the selection committee, and will be invited to join Best USA Photographers if they wish. So they met the same quality standards as current members. Perhaps a little bit higher because it is getting tougher to get in.

To measure the traffic we used Alexa, a third party company that is the internet standard for measurement. We actually took a screen capture of the statistics for all member web sites on the week of 7/20/09 and 8/24/09 and noted the others. All Alexa information is public record and can be verified. On the first screen capture we noted the 3 month average of Traffic Rank that measures Unique Visitors and Number of Pages Visited. On the second visit, 30 days later, we noted the one month average and subtracted it from the 3 month average. This told us the increase or decrease in the month we promoted Group A to a small percentage of our mailing list.

It was not easy putting some of our members in Group B, but we felt it was vital for the double blind test. We tried to be even. We split up the different styles of photography (for example, we had two underwater photographers, so we put one in each group). We also split up photographers with higher traffic rank and lower traffic rank. We even went to extremes to double check by adding a photographer web site that was “for sale” and receiving fewer visits. Plus, since three of our members have their web site redirected to a portfolio site we even took one of those sites and promoted it. We left no stone unturned, we ourselves wanted absolute proof that the new things we were proposing worked.

The results are in. 100% of the 57 photography web sites we promoted (Group A) had an increase in “major” traffic. 100% -WOW not a single one fell down. A “normal” 1 month change in traffic rank can range from 0 to 25%, up or down.  Group A’s increases ranged from 814% down to 32%, but averaged 252% more traffic. 41 out of 57 doubled their Traffic Rank or better. These are stats compiled from Alexa, an independent 3rd party, whose business is tracking web sites. The photographer’s web site that was sitting on the internet with just a for sale sign, increased in Traffic Rank from 21,607,418 to 7,286,198. That is a 196% increase. The portfolio site we promoted increased 204% while the other two sported a loss of 20% and 30%. It is safe to say that whatever we promoted won by a landslide.

Group B Section 1, fell 4.9%. They were comprised of 22 Best USA Photographers members. The fall is well within the normal range of expected movement, but the swing was more stable than Group B Section 2.  Still note that Best USA Photographers is rated in the top 60,000 sites in the USA and under 300,000 in the world, so millions are still seeing your work even if they are not going to your site. Section two, with 35 non-members had the exact same fall of 4.9%. This gives us further proof that it is NOT the old methods of Search Engine Optimization that will get people to your site. It is good-old-fashion personal contact that is going to bring people to your site.

The difference between Group A and Group B is unheard of. Web sites just do not increase that much without some major promotion. Did Best USA Photographers have something to do with the 252% increase? It is astronomically unlikely that out of 57 web sites that ALL had a MAJOR increase averaging 252% while the other 57 had an average fall of 4.9%. We think that the site “for sale” with an increase of 196% was very telling for people who might be skeptical. The statistics point that just one of our new marketing methods had everything to do with the 57 increases. If it was just one or two that increased you might be able to point to a promotion, seasonal incentives, mailing or news article. But it was all 57, when their counter parts did not have major increases.

What they see and what they do once they get to your web site is another matter of concern. We will have information and programs to cover that also. So far we have seen nothing like the new Best USA Photographers. One of the best things is that it doesn’t depend on Google.

To see the results and stats go to http://www.bestusaphotographers.com/alexa-test.html
We have removed the names because some may not like to have their traffic rank announced to everyone. Members if you would like to know where you sit in this traffic rank test, please give us a call 360 461-2202 and we will send you a copy of your Alexa Screen Captures for the two days and tell you which numbers you are.

What this proves is that the NEW methods of Best USA Photographers will work and work very well. Be sure to read the 10 components to understand how things have changed. It is not just being on the website that makes a difference, it is how you are  promoted. An additional factor that points out the quality of traffic on Best USA Photographers is that during that 30 day period our average time the visitor spent on our site was 33 minutes – one of the highest in the world. We have not found any site higher. Have you? Plus over 85% of the people visiting looked at more than one page – this is extremely high too. These are the two major factors internet marketers look at to convert lookers to buyers. To prove a point we did not mail for the last two weeks and our averages have dropped considerably.  These test that we do may cause fluctuations in our statistics, but they are important to insure we are going in the right direction.

That said everyone needs to work on converting traffic to customers. This is an educational matter that we will address in the coming months with our members. The internet and marketing in the USA have changed and if you don’t keep up you’ll fall behind in sales. We will also come out with some promotions of our own that will stimulate people to convert, but this will be in the fall of 2010 after we have put together material with your new images for potential customers.

 

 

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