Heatmap Your Pages Options

[Renee]

Just found out about a pretty unique stats program that has a heatmap overlay. This is a mighty awesome resource for us small fry webmasters. A heatmap visual gives you an instant analysis of your page without number crunching. Finally!

Just throw a small javascript at the bottom of your page.

Google Analytics gives you navigation link by link, but seeing a heatmap on your page leaves no doubt about how your visitors read your page and where they go. There's also a summary list of clicks on each link. Test different landing pages, ad placement, design layout changes, which content gets the most attention. Tracks Adsense ads--now you'll know not only which ad was clicked, but which position is most popular in an ad block.

They have a free membership which allows four sessions to be tracked, and of course, paid ones (with an annual discount, but you have to ask).

http://crazyegg.com/

This post has been edited by Renee: Dec 3 2006, 05:49 PM

[bragadocchio]

I had the good fortune to meet the guys who make this software earlier this year, and I've just sent an email to the CEO of the company to see if he would stop by and discuss it, for anyone interested.

I know that he's preparing to depart for the Chicago SES today, so we may not hear back right away, but hopefully we will soon.

[A.N.Onym]

ClickTracks Appetizer (the free version) can show you the % of people, following the links, if you feed your logs to it (its a desktop version).

A heatmap may be more visibly comprehensive, I guess.

[bragadocchio]

It's possible that looking at the information together, from clicktracks and crazyegg might have some benefits, too.

[EGOL]

I am running Clicktracks optimizer and crazyegg. Crazyegg shows WHERE the click happens. If you have multiple links to the same URL on a page CT lumps them together but CE separates them. Big value there if you ask me as sometimes I have two text links plus image links to the same URL on a single page.

[A.N.Onym]

Ah. That's right, EGOL. Then CrazyEgg seems to be superior to the free software (which may be used by the rookies, nevertheless).

I'd figure CrazyEgg may show similar stats as ClickTracks, if not, it'd be interesting to see the split between the links to the same page, as Bill said.

[travis]

Did someone say "small fry webmasters".

Well, where are some piccy's ?

[JohnMu]

I assume it's a javascript that plugs into your browser event stream.. Is that problematic? Could it skew the results? or perhaps make the site unusable for certain users?

I wonder if it also marks where the average "fold" is or where users started to scroll, that would be neat

John

[Renee]

I'm one of those "small fry webmasters" and "rookies" who puts on way too many hats because that's just the way it has to be for now. At this stage of the game for me, too much analysis means paralysis. Yes, CE is pretty rudimentary, but I find the simple visual is exactly what I need to make decisions about a page.

Some pages are very long and I was thinking about splitting them up, so I'm running tests to see if enough readers make it to the bottom of the page. Before, I'd just go ahead and try something and have to wait for weeks and months to see if I did the right thing. This gives me a way to determine if I even have to bother doing something. I have enough text links in some pages to determine this, in others, I'll place some links so I can test them.

There's showcase (product) pages that I plan to test to see which items are most clicked through. These are affiliate links and there's only a handful of vendors who provide enough stats that I can find out which items were actually purchased. I have found that moving the popular items above the fold increases sales, so now I can test pages where I don't receive specific buy info. I'll run tests on Adsense pages (you can see the position of the ad that was clicked in a block). Yes, I do use channels, but it's so much easier to view this information visually.

There is a List View summary that shows your anchor text (or alt text), link type, number of clicks and percentage clicks each link has, and there's also number of visitors/clicks info in the upper left corner. I understand that more features are due in early 2007.

This is certainly not for everyone. But if you're getting overwhelmed by numbers crunching (and the mistakes that you can make when you're inexperienced with parsing stats), the heatmap is an instantaneous "aha"--no thinking involved. Maybe this is too simple a concept for some. For me, it's a refreshing, organic experience.

[Renee]

I set this session up last night after making changes based on a previous test, so there's not much data yet. I'm getting about 1600-1800 visitors a day, about 25% are repeats. (Please, I know the home page is strange! ) Here's some pics, the heatmap, list summary view, and color-coded click/percentage views:

[AbleReach]

I'm digging the color coded click percentage view.
Handy.

You sound happy. Thanks for sharing the joy.

[JohnMu]

(time to switch skins again, it sounds like an attached image ... )

Looks nice, Renee!

[egain]

Quite a nice little tool (especially since the limited format is free )

[bragadocchio]

(time to switch skins again, it sounds like an attached image ... )

With a tip of the hat to Ron Carnell, the images should now be visible in all of the different skins available on the forums. I tested them, and I'm seeing those heatmap images in each of the skins.

Thanks, Ron.

[AbleReach]

< aside>

Bless you, Ron!



</aside>

[Wit]

Wheee! You're right.

33 cheers to Ron

[JohnMu]

yay!! picture time - Thanks Ron! (and Bill for letting us know)

[travis]

Thanks Renee,

That looks superb.

Looks very interesting.

[Ruud]

A free heatmap is available from dreamVENDORS. Really just/only a heatmap: no stats.

Although a heatmap is a little bit like eye tracking for those who cannot afford it, it does take time to get usable results, I think. Reality is that the heat will be there where the links are. Only with eyetracking can you figure out; ok, I have my links here but people first look there. With a heatmap, changing the position of your links influences your measurements

@Egol: good use of heatmaps!

@Renee: you're an impressive multitasker. Thanks for sharing!

[Cath]

Does anyone here use eyetracking?

Which software/hardware do you use?

thanks

This post has been edited by Cath: Dec 5 2006, 09:27 AM