I’ve known about the in-page analytics and visualisation tool CrazyEgg for a fair sometime now, but it wasn’t until very recently did I realise just how interesting and useful it can be!
It all started when AppSumo offered a FREE lifetime use of CrazyEgg for any one web page. Being extremely cheap and curious I  decide to give it a go, I wasn’t even sure where I would use it to begin with. I ended up installing it on the front page of this very website and after just a few days I was like WOW! All along I thought Google Analytics was all I need to understand what works on my site and boy was I wrong! Google GA is a fantastic tool in itself, allowing me to see if people are coming to my site and what they like to read (WordPress Calendar & Trello). What I didn’t really realise was exactly HOW visitors were using my page. Where they like to click and what they try to click on!
One great example was I originally had my name “Chi Wai Li” highlighted on the home page and it turns out people were clicking on it thinking it’s a link. I’ve since change that to save the confusion but I’m very curious what they would think it would link to? Perhaps my bio or even my twitter? But isn’t that what the top nav and icons to the top right are for? As a website designer, it’s really fascinating to see how users interact with my websites.
It also got me thinking about how I should structure my site. Originally I created this was website as my portfolio, to help me find a full time or freelance work. Since I don’t really need to do that anymore, I’ve made some minor updates to shift the focus into my writing. With over 1000 unique visitors a month I’m pretty proud on this site and hopefully with the help of CrazyEgg I can do a even better job. I am actually rather excited with seeing this data!
It really goes without say that I am very strongly recommending CrazyEgg, it really is a fantastic tool to help you optimisation user experience for your website.