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You’ve probably heard that split testing elements of your website can improve your conversion rates. And that’s true. But there are many kinds of split testing out there. And there are many ways to set up split tests on your website.

There are many differences among the split testing software options on the market today. Let me give you a brief taxonomy of the subject matter.

The first main division is between simple split testing (single variable) and multivariate testing.

With single variable testing you just pick one element on your page to test. Take your headline, for example. If your current headline says “Are you having trouble with tooth decay?”, you might want to see how “Do your kids have tooth decay?” works. In a single variable test, you just find a way to rotate each of those headlines on your page, and keep track of how many sales each generates.

Google offers a single variable split testing tool, but you have to have an Adwords account to use it.

Single variable testing can be slow. How would you like to test 10 times as much with the same amount of traffic? Well, you can. You use a method called multi-variable, or multivariate testing. This allows you to test several elemens on your page simultaneously.

So there’s the main distinction between single variable testing and multivariate testing. But once you get into the realm of multivariate testing the options seem to multiply again. One difference among multivariate tools is between tools that are hosted on someone else’s server, and ones that you install on the same server as your webpages. Hosted solutions can be slower, and more expensive, but you don’t have to install any software.

Hosted solutions include Google’s Website Optimizer, and Vertster. Installed solutions include the Split Test Accelerator and Kaizen Track.

Taguchi testing is only one kind of multivariate testing. There are also “full factorial” tools, and random independent rotators. When you run a Taguchi test, you run only a small fraction of the possible combinations of your factor levels. You might, for instance, run only 18 pages to test 4374 combinations. This is made possible by orthongonal arrays. This allows you to find the best combination with out running through all of them. You do have to be careful about your factors interacting negatively with each other, but if you take care as you design your test, you can avoid the bulk of the problem with these. The Split Test Accelerator, Vertster, and Kaizentrack are Taguchi testing tools.

When you run full factorial tests, as you would with Google’s Website Optimizer, you create a few factors, and a few options for each factor, and the software cycles through each combination. So, if you have 5 factors with 2 options each, you would cycle through 32 different pages. FFT can be used like a Taguchi test for small test designs. Or, if you run a lot more traffic to it, you can deal even more effectively with interaction effects by just letting all the interactions (good and bad) play out. Note that you can’t run as many combinations with full factorial tools as you can with a Taguchi too.

Some multivariate tools randomly serve the options for each factor independently from what is served for the other factors. This can lead to more flexible test design, but also to more interaction effects and other statistical noise, leading to longer tests.

Now that’s just the overview. There are many other features to compare and questions to ask. Does a tester allow you to exclude bots and spiders? Does it allow real time access to data? What kind of reports does it show? What kind of information does it track for each visitor, and is the visitor-level data available for viewing. Etc.

Dominic DeLong has used taguchi testing tools for years to improve landing pages.

The Federal Trade commission plans to award 1.6 million dollars to thousands of consumers who were scammed into paying money that they didn’t owe by con artists who utilized threats, harassment and lies to get them to pay up.

Back in 2003, the FTC sued three companies that were operating under the name National Check Control. They charged them with abusing and harassing consumers. This included falsely threatening criminal prosecution, collecting amounts that were not due, illegally communicating with third parties and other violations of federal laws.

Two years later the court put a permanent halt on their business and ordered them to pay back the consumers they had conned. The defendants, Check Investors Inc, Check Enforcement Inc, Jaredco, Inc and the companies owner Barry Sussman tried to appeal the case to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court in vain.

One day after the appeals court didn’t agree to look into his appeal, Sussman suspiciously retrieved an amount of coins valued at $335,000 from a bank safe deposit box. The federal court demanded that he turn over them to the FTC to pay back the consumers. Later, a federal jury convicted him of two felony counts, one for theft of government property and one for obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to forty one months in federal prison and is serving his sentence now.

The FTC was able to recover 1.6 million dollars to give back to the conned consumers. They plan to distribute the funds to 24,916 consumers who lost a hundred dollars or more as a result of the scam. They will begin to receive checks this month.

The Federal Trade Commission is responsible for putting an end to fraudulent, unfair, and deceptive practices that may be harmful to consumers. Also, they provide information to help the consumer in seeing, stopping, and avoiding scams.

Rapid Recovery Solution is a New York debt collection agency.

Collectors generally have goals that they are expected to meet. A lot of the times these include success rate goals or average calls per hour. Because most collectors work for commission, they may depend on a certain level of success for their own needs.

At times, bill collectors work weekends and evenings, while other collectors work part time, but the majority works forty hours per week. Usually the work schedules stay flexible.

It is generally required that collectors have at least a high school diploma but candidates with college education or customer service experience are preferred. After they are hired, debt collectors will receive on the job training. Some formal classroom training may be needed, like training in specific computer software. They will most likely be trained in telephone techniques and negotiation skills.

They should also learn the specifics of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and other state laws. Bill collectors should obviously have decent communication skills, and people skills, because they have to speak to people every day, some of them are in stressful financial situations. They should be able to handle rejection in a mature way. Any type of experience with computers or telecommunications equipment can be helpful.

The ratio of the amount of success and the amount of experience a bill collector has is parallel, which means more money in commissions. Successful collectors will usually get larger accounts with opportunities to earn higher. Workers who get added experience, skills and training are more likely to advance.

In 2008, there were around 411,000 debt collectors. Twenty five percent of collectors were employed by businesses, nineteen percent worked for financial and insurance agencies, and eighteen percent were employed by the health care field.

The amount of bill collector positions is expected to grow faster than the average of all other jobs. It is expected to grow by around nineteen percent from 2008 to 2018. It is projected that new jobs will be created in industries such as financial and health care services. For both in house bill collectors and third party collection agencies, jobs are expected to grow.

Mallory Megan is employed by a debt collection agency. She also composes stories on business and finance, credit industry and debt collection.