Create a Heat Map of Your Blog

One of my favorite marketing blogs is Neuromarketing by Roger Dooley.  Earlier this month, Roger published a post that led me to find Feng-GUI, a website that offers free heat maps of your blog, so you can learn where the hot spots are and what people are looking at on your blog. 

Feng-GUI is promoted as “Feng-shui for graphic user interfaces”, and it’s meant to simulate eye tracking.  While it can certainly be argued that Feng-GUI leaves a lot to be desired in terms of truly simulating eye tracking, it’s still fun to try.  If nothing else, it can give you a better idea of the most eye catching areas on your blog and may help you develop design and ad placement strategies for further testing.

I gave Feng-GUI a try and created a heat map for Blogging Tips, but it showed an inordinate amount of attention to the red navigation bar at the top of the page, so I didn’t think it provided a good representation of what Feng-GUI can tell you.  Next, I created a heat map for my personal blog, Women On Business.  The heat map that was generated by Feng-GUI is pictured below.

What does the heat map of Women On Business show?  It appears that the graphics are positioned well.  If the eye tracking is to be believed, readers are first drawn to the graphic in the first post then to the subscription area, the header, the ad for my copywriting class then to the ad from the BlogHer ad network on the far right and so on.  This is actually an acceptable path as far as I’m concerned.  The main purpose of my Women On Business blog is to share information and build a network.  Ads are very much secondary in terms of my overall blog plan for Women On Business.  With that said, I’m satisfied with this result.

Of course, it’s important to remember that Feng-GUI is not a substitute for real eye tracking, but it’s nevertheless fun and it makes you think.  Give it a try then come back to Blogging Tips and leave a comment to share your experience and findings, and let us know what you think of Feng-GUI.