Heat Maps Can Enhance Your Analytics

Fifty-six percent of readers who took our poll on desired WC sessions indicated they want to learn more about website traffic analysis: analytics. This is an excerpt of a post from one of WC’s sponsors regarding “heat maps,” a supplemental software to existing analytics. A link to the full article is available at the end of the excerpt.

“How far down do your website visitors scroll? Which images and headlines do they expect to be clickable?  Where is the best place to insert a photo or button?

“Heat maps are visual representations of the relative popularity of your website’s elements; and they can answer these and other non-intuitive questions.  As a small business owner or non-profit organization, you need to know where your website visitors are getting frustrated. You need to see the elements that are causing your visitors to hit the back button and you need to know where your visitors are clicking.

Web analytics software like Google Analytics can tell you how your visitors found your site; which pages of your site are most popular; how long your visitors spent on your site; where your visitors are geographically located in the world and more.

Although most web analytics software can give you the “numbers”, they cannot tell you which parts of your site visitors expect to be clickable. They cannot tell you exactly how far down a page your visitors scroll. Without this information, you don’t know whether your visitors ever saw your call to action; whether they value one image over another; or whether a specific field in a form is the culprit for that page’s peculiar bounce rate.”

Read the full article here.

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What Would You Like to See at WordCamp 101?

If you haven’t already heard, we are adding a brand new track to this year’s WordCamp: WordPress 101. In preparation for it, we’d like to get some feedback from our Campers. This is your conference, too. We’d like to make it as valuable for you as possible.

If you will take just a few seconds to fill out this short poll, we’ll tally the results and see if we can get the more popular topics worked into the program.
Thanks for your time.

Fill out my online form.
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WordCamp Fayetteville 2012 to Offer Free ‘On Ramp’ for Beginners

For Immediate Release
May 15, 2012

WordCamp Fayetteville 2012 to Offer Free ‘on ramp’ For Beginners: Free Friday Program Dedicated to Novice WordPress Users

2012 WC Fayetteville Fayetteville, Ark.—This year’s WordCamp Fayetteville will be bigger and better than ever with the addition of a beginner’s track that caters to WordPress newcomers. The three-day event will be held from July 27-29 at various locations in Fayetteville, Ark. Tickets are on sale now for $30 and can be purchased online at https://2012.fayetteville.wordcamp.org/tickets/.

“We are working hard to provide a broad range of valuable content for all types of WordPress users,” said Christopher Spencer, founder of WordCamp Fayetteville. “This year’s WordCamp Fayetteville brings several new features as we expand our programming.”

Founded in 2010, WordCamp Fayetteville joins similar conferences held all over the world each year that provide valuable resources and information about utilizing WordPress, which is open source web software that allows users of all skill levels to create blogs or fully developed websites. WordCamp Fayetteville is Arkansas’ only conference dedicated to WordPress and web fluency.

This year’s conference will feature four tracks:

  • WordPress 101: for those who are completely new to WordPress and want to learn about how it works.
  • Content Creator: for those whose product is their content, such as those who use WordPress for a blog. (This was formerly known as the blogger track).
  • Entrepreneur: for those who use WordPress as a utility or content management system for selling and promoting goods or services.
  • Developer: for people who create themes, write code or are interested in other “behind the scenes” aspects of developing WordPress.

Megan Perez of Sharp Hue Web Design will head up the WordPress 101 track. He realized it was necessary to add a beginner’s track after speaking to several people at the 2011 conference.

“Many people from last year’s WordCamp simply wanted to know how to get started,” he said. “They wanted to know the difference between a page and a post, how to upload an image, how to change the name of their site, add new user accounts and so on. That’s when I knew we needed a different track; a track dedicated to beginners.”

WordPress 101 will cover all of the basic mechanics from start to finish: managing user accounts; navigating the dashboard; writing, editing and publishing posts; creating pages; managing the media library; working with links, menus, themes and widgets; using plugins; security precautions; and backup strategies. The track will also cover front-end aesthetics and marketing strategies: choosing color palettes; finding free images, logos, and icons; RSS feeds and social media integration.

WordCamp Fayetteville will also feature a Friday night (July 27) session for beginners to give them a primary introduction to the web software. This session will be held at The Iceberg CoWorking Space in Fayetteville from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. There will also be a meetup for all WordCamp participants at a Fayetteville restaurant, which will be announced at a later date.

The primary conference day is Saturday, July 28 at the Don Reynolds Center on the University of Arkansas campus. The four tracks will have sessions throughout the day from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. The individual workshop sessions were shortened this year to allow more time in between for people to ask questions and help each other.

“That’s one of the best parts of WordCamp, the collaboration between participants and people learning from each other,” Spencer said. “It can be a bit like a job fair with all the local tech companies scouting for new talent.”

The Iceberg will also host an after conference party on Saturday the 28th from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. The weekend activities will conclude on Sunday the 29th with one-on-one consultations with the WordPress Wizards at The Belford Group in Fayetteville.

For more information about WordCamp Fayetteville-related activities, visit wordcampfayetteville.com or contact one of our volunteer staff members:

Christopher SpencerChristopher Spencer

Founder, WordCamp Fayetteville
Christopher@ozarksunbound.com

Megan PerezMegan Perez

Beginner’s Track Coordinator, WordCamp Fayetteville
megan@sharphue.com

Angie AlbrightAngie Albright

Marketing Committee Chair, WordCamp Fayetteville, angiealbright@thebelfordgroup.com

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Get Your Dashboards Ready!

We are pleased to announce that WordCamp Fayetteville is finally descending upon us. Registrationis open and tickets are now on sale.

This year’s camp will take place from July 27th to July 29th at the Reynolds Center on the University of Arkansas campus. Admission is $30 and includes your choice of over 30 conference sessions, continental breakfasts, a Saturday lunch, consultations with WordPress Wizards and a special event for attendees who register for the Beginner’s Track. Plus, you’ll get a t-shirt. And maybe buttons. And maybe stickers. Everyone likes stickers. They stick to stuff.

If you haven’t had a chance to attend a Camp yet, please consider it. WordCamps have taken place on six of the seven continents and in more than 30 countries from Turkey to Japan. In both 2010 and 2011, WordCamp Fayetteville was the only WordCamp between Dallas and Birmingham. This once-a-year event is not only about communing with small business, non-profits, educators, bloggers, journalists, developers and designers. It’s about developing the local economy and advancing the entrepreneurial spirit of Northwest Arkansas. It’s affordable. It’s informative. It’s like riding in a Jeep without doors: just plain awesome.

You should come. It’ll be fun.

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