Regular readers (all three of you) probably know that I'm a bit of a web analytics fan. Recently, I've seen a number of fun new twists, including heatmaps. The basic idea here is that you drop a bit of javascript onto a HTML page and everytime someone clicks the javascript logs it. Then, through magic, an image is created that shows roughly where people are clicking on a page.
The end result isn't anything much different from what ClickTracks (which I also use) has been doing for a while. And I think Google Analytics has it, too. Sure, the heat maps are a bit more nuanced, and they look cooler, but they're both driving at the same point.
Anyway, I recently signed up for a nifty hosted heatmap service, Crazy Egg. (How Web 2.0 is that name??) So far, it is pretty easy to use, and I like the results. I have the nagging idea that it might not be tracking all the visits, so I'll need to check that against my logs at some point.
Then, today, my trust web designer Jonathan sent me a pointer to a roll-your-own heatmap system. I haven't tried it out, but it is pretty cool that someone has put together all the pieces to provide this feature. That isn't to say that there isn't some value in having a company like Crazy Egg host a service like this, but it is also nice to be able to customize it...
Posted by Karl
August 23, 2006 06:38 PM