Did you realize that some portions of your site are more popular than others and receive more attention? You might be surprised to learn that how you employ these trendy topics can actually have a big impact on how successful your blog and its content become over time.
Well, you do now. I’ll show you where these hotspots are in this essay and, more importantly, how to take advantage of them.
Contents
What exactly is a hot area?
I want to briefly discuss what these hot zones or hot spots are before we get to the meat of the article. Basically, they can be divided into two groups or types:
- The prominent locations
These are the areas of your blog or website where visitors’ eyes will naturally be drawn. Web designers will tell you that using creative design, you can control where the eye wanders, and I agree with them. However, there are a few places on a site where readers’ eyes are accustomed to landing. These are significant areas.
- The spots that click loudly
The high clicking areas come next after the eye-catching parts. These are the areas of your blog or website where visitors are most likely to click. Aye, you heard correctly. Not every section of a website receives the same number of clicks.
You will be astonished at how much more success you have with things like earning revenue, subscribers, engagements, and other things if you can tap into these hot spots and hot zones.
Further reading: How to Create a Successful Blog Strategy
The top three sections of your blog
So let’s get to the good stuff. Your blog has three really popular areas that you should be aware of and take full use of. As always, if you have any comments or questions, please leave them in the post below.
1. The upper-left corner
Traditionally, one of the most popular areas on a website is thought to be the top left corner. Why? Because consumers of websites have grown accustomed to finding key components there, such as the about page, logo, and some form of description, over time.
Naturally, you’ll notice that section draws your attention, making it one of the most popular sections of your blog. As the first few words fall directly into the attention-grabbing area, your first blog post title is an extension of this hot spot.
The best way to use it
This area’s disadvantage is that it is typically already occupied by the things I just stated. But that initial headline is the only saving grace. Are your header graphics or other design elements diverting readers’ attention away from the headline?
This is something you need to consider very carefully. If so, throw it away. Here on flashreviewz, I make sure the headline is clear, audible, and substantial so there is no chance that some other filler will divert your attention from my strongest tool—my content. Get rid of anything related to a logo or the first headline in your top left corner.
2. Secondly, on the right, below your first title
Given that many people do not believe it to be a particularly hot topic, I really anticipate substantial discussion on this one. And in certain ways (more on that later), they are correct, but overall I have discovered this to be a very lucrative area on my blogs.
You can see on flashreviewz that this is where I prominently display the most crucial element of my website: the area where visitors may request a free eBook in exchange for their email addresses.
So why is it so hot here? It’s not what you may think, in fact. Your outdated mouse is the cause of this area’s high temperatures. Think back to how your mouse looked and how you viewed the web five years ago. What was lacking at that time? The scrolling feature!
We didn’t have the mouse’s handy little scroll feature back then, so we had to manually shift the cursor to the right side to move the window. Because our cursor is most likely to be in that location, we have developed the habit of looking there. Aside from that, this location is true to its name and (as was already indicated) an extension of the hottest spot.
The best way to use it
Now, keep in mind that when I stated that the region wasn’t that great, they were sort of right? Well, the issue is that ads like adsense or banners don’t work at all with it. People have grown used to them in that position because almost every blog you visit will have a 125125 square advertisement around it.
However, content-based items excel in this situation because readers are focusing on and being intrigued by your primary headline. If you offer a free eBook, it needs to be simply promoted in this area at the very top of your right sidebar.
I’d even go so far as to say that the only additional content in this space should be your email subscription box and some well-written material. Don’t post it here if it doesn’t promote your content.
3. The conclusion of your pieces
The third popular area of your site is the conclusion of your articles, which is understandable given that readers are eager for further content to read. If a reader has read all the way through one of your blog pieces, there’s a good probability that they want to engage in further meaningful conversation.
Although this section of the website is below the fold, I have found it to be a very effective location for drawing attention to the appropriate things.
The best way to use it
You will utilize this part differently depending on whether you are managing a blog or a website and what your aims are. On flashreviewz, I use the bottom of my posts to advertise my free eBook by saying that readers will likely enjoy the book if they enjoyed the article as well as by listing some additional topics that are similar.
On my product websites, however, I have a sizable square adsense advertisement with colors that properly match the post’s links and the website’s background. If the article’s content is readable, they consistently have high click-through rates.
What about those social media symbols, though? Don’t they need to get there? Well, to be really honest, I don’t think they exist. I don’t believe anyone uses them. Social media platforms are already simple enough to use, thus I don’t think average users really need many assistance buttons. Naturally, I still have them there, but I don’t give them any weight.
Related post: How to Make Money Online With Your Blog
One word of caution
Here’s a word of caution. There are a million other variables that might make everything I’ve said up to this point irrelevant or false. For instance, you can notice that consumers quickly disregard the region if you post massive Adsense advertising in the top left corner.
Or visitors may begin navigating slightly differently if you use a free theme that they have seen a thousand times before. The hot spots on your site are displayed on a well-known heat map published by Google, which is different from mine because it refers to Adsense units.
You must track and test your own progress. And using Crazy Egg is the best way to do that. You can observe where visitors are spending the most time on your website thanks to this really clever piece of software.
The confetti function is depicted in the image above. It shows all of the website clicks that have been made, with each hue denoting a different type of click. This is a great approach to eliminate all uncertainty. You should start split-testing these stuff to discover which is more effective for you personally, as I describe in my new eBook.
Conclusion
Hot spots on your blog are essential if you want to collect more email addresses, increase ad click-throughs, or encourage users to read more of your blog. Instead of merely guessing, make sure you pay attention to them and track and try various choices.
I’d be interested to learn about any experiences you’ve had with shifting the placement of specific elements on your website and experiencing better or worse outcomes. Please let me know by leaving a comment.
Related reading: 24 Things I Wish I Had Known Before I Started Blogging
