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What is a site heatmap and how can I read them?

Aggregate heatmaps are used by researchers to identify and map exactly where people look when they're presented with visual information.They often use pupil tracking equipment.For website purposes, heatmaps are also employed but rather than tracking where people are looking, you can track where they are actually clicking to see what is most intriguing to viewers.

If you own a web site, it may interest you to know what users do while visiting your site.Clickmaps or heatmaps are a way of charting statistics to visually show you where users are clicking.This information can be very useful in finding areas that need to be changed, layouts that aren't working as intended or anchors that aren't being understood as you would like.

With a heatmap, you can see every single click a user makes on your website.It could be over a link or can be in blank areas.You can track it all. There are several steps that are taken when programming your website in order to find out where users are clicking.These steps will allow you to collect, process, and show your findings.

You can also purchase products online that will aide you in producing heatmaps.One such site called Crazy Egg offers a free tool to get a heatmap on your site.It is really easy to install the code and the system will immediately start converting all traffic into a visually interesting map of where visitors click.

Using a heatmap can help you track, evaluate and thus improve your site.You may discover that many people are clicking on logos that were not designed as links.Conversely you may discover that what you thought was an obvious navigation tool does not appear to be so to other people.You can see which areas are more popular and consider placing advertisements in those areas.

Other benefits are that you can test different versions of a web page to see which one works better for you.If one doesn't work, you can tweak it a little and see if you get more traffic.You can also discover which ad placement produces the best results.Some say that you want the most important information towards the top, but it can all depend on your particular layout.Trial and error is sometimes the way to go.In addition, you may be able to learn which content leads to improved sales.

When a heatmap is produced, it appears in the form of an overlay that goes over your website.High traffic areas are colored differently than low traffic areas.In order to read a heatmap you have to understand what different colored regions mean.Each colored region of the page indicates the percentage of people who viewed that area. Each color represents a range of viewing activity.For example, areas that are colored red are viewed by between 80% and 100% of the people who are visiting your website.The following is a summary of what all the colors mean:

Red: 80-100% of viewers clicked in these areas.
Brown: 70-80% of viewers clicked here.
Yellow: 60-70% of viewers clicked in these areas.
Green: 50-60% of viewers clicked here.
Light Green: 40-50% of viewers clicked in these areas.
Blues: less than 40% of viewers clicked here.

The idea is to get a clear picture of where your visitors are clicking and use that information to enhance your site's results.If it's important to you that you understand how people travel through your website and what areas they focus on so you can maximize the efficiency of your design, it is well worth it for you to pay to get a heatmap produced.

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