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Get FREE OpenSource Heat Map Stats for your Site
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Stats are nice but sometimes you just need to see through your readers eyes. Where are they clicking, what are they drawn to, and what ads my readers will click on. The difference in ad placement or article placement could be the difference between $10 and $100 a day so getting it right the first time can not only save you time but make you money too. Heat maps are the best way to get the full picture but they can be costly, there a couple of big players out there like FuseStats and CrazyEgg but they all charge for their service ($9.95 for 40000 visitors at FuseStats and $9 for 10000 at CrazyEgg just to start). They do have versions that allow you to have free tracking for lower traffic sites but the problem is sites of that traffic level rarely care as much about heat maps until the their traffic gets large enough to start tweaking ad placement.
The good news is there is a great solution and its the free heat map creator ClickHeat, they are even opensource. Just upload their code to your site and follow the simple instructions on screen to install. Ok maybe a little more nudge could be given in the help section. Make sure you are CHMODing the directories it asks you to in the install.
AKA If you get a red X in the setup for any section go to the directory in your trusty FileZilla right click on the directory and enter “777″ into the file attributes section, this should do it. Otherwise its clear sailing, log into your page and just like the high priced guys you get a pretty usable free heat map. You may want to wait a while to check your stats because you want to gather data for about a week to get an accurate picture of your click traffic. The best part is all this is free and its not cutting into your ad revenue to get a better idea on where your visitors are going.
Map Mashup snitches on Speed Traps
You all know I am fan of going over the speed limit, and you all know I am not a fan of my yearly ticket from the good old boys calling themselves Michigan State Police. You also know that I have been all over other ways to call attention to the infamous speed trap like the software that runs on your Windows Mobile phone that alerts you to the Popo via GPS. This Microsoft Maps mashup integrates user posted speed traps and you location. This way if you are planning on making a long holiday trip you can have the Radar Detector on super sensitive in some areas (you wouldn’t slow down). So save your bacon, no pun intended.
Writing Blog entries around Top Paying Keywords
Writing articles on your blog using certain keywords that are profitable has it’s faults…
Somewhere there is a super hairy Yahoo using guy with super bad credit, a hundred school loans, searching for information on how to get Best Buy Gift cards. He plans to drive there in a crappy lemon car that he will crash and need to sue because it caused his acid reflux to flare up. Bet you can’t wait for these guys to show up to your site?
Add MyBlogLog or Gravatar Avatars to your Blog’s Comments
Looking to add avatars to your site? Why make all of your readers re-upload their avatar to yet another site when you can just use the one they have. MyAvatars is a WordPress plugin that uses your Gravatar or MyBlogLog avatar and puts it next to your post. If you have neither MyBlogLog or Gravatar avatars clicking on the avatar silhouette cause the plugin to open up MyBlogLog so you can register. Adding MyBlogLog or Gravatar avatars to your site is a really nice feature and will have your users asking “how did they know”?
Oh and the Avatar above is NOT me.
Quick Eyedropper Tool Does One Click Color Pick
I’m a regular user of ColorZilla for Firefox but there are occasions when my color picking possibilities need to include the desktop and in those cases Instant Eyedropper is the tool of choice. Its a little awkward at first but once you get used to the way it works you will never want to go back. Just left click and hold the system tray application and drag the little window over the pixel that you want pick up coloring information on. A nice feature in the Instant Eyedropper tool is that it automatically takes the HTML color or RGB color and puts it into your clipboard so you can copy and paste into your application of choice. This little tool should be in every developer’s arsenal.
The Best Adsense Alternative or Supplement CPC
If you are anything like me you have ads on your website and are constantly experimenting with the newest thing on the block like WidgetBucks. Seems like Google Adsense is the best and highest paying dog on this block but can you supplement your Adsense revenue without getting yourself in trouble with the Adsense police? TTZ Media in my opinion looks like one of the best ways so far at showing ads that don’t get in the way of Adsense. Clean and unobtrusive, they do something other ad engines like Widgetbucks and Amazon Affiliate programs don’t do, they show great deals. We all shop sites like Fatwallet, Spoofee, or Slickdeals for a good deal but in this instance TTZ Media show those great deals on your site and make you some money. Its not all about referrals and CPA either. They pay out by clicks not buys which means you are more likely to get paid than other services that require your reader to go buy something and do it now. This is a great plan for them because their publishers will continue to use them as long as they are getting paid and as they grow they can gain market share. I am assuming the math works also, usually paying out $.15 per click, which makes the little guys feel good when they get a click. As your site grows your click revenue grows with you.
The best thing by far about their code is that it is highly customizable by keywords, colors, and number of products. This way you can blend your ads into your site easily and make them pertinent to your site’s readers. Another extra benefit is that they look great and don’t look like the millions of other ads out there so are more likely to get attention. They are OK to install on a site with Adsense also, and complement Google Adsense with their clean look that reminds you of a Google product. So give them a try and supplement your Google Adsense revenue.
You can see my ads underneath my Adsense and CJ banners and on the right sidebar
