I recently had a couple projects where I had little to no access to back end management…that is I had no ability to create or alter databases on said domains. So I had to hunt down some scripts that could run without sql or cgi access. The following is a list of easy to configure scripts that did the job.

Formmail.php

I’ve been using this script for a few years now as I some times find myself working on web sites where I have limited access to site back ends. Formmail.php is a php based mail form that does not require any sql or cgi to process. This is a great script if you’re running php on your site. It consists of 2 simple to configure files and can be up and running in a very short time. Within 15 minutes of tracking this one down I had my mailform live.

CuteNews 1.4.6

CuteNews is a super easy to use news management program. No SQL is needed as all information is stored in flat files. Comments, user management, archives search and many more features are included with this package. This is another one that takes very little time to set up, but has a broad range of options once configured.

Use of this script is free, but for $39.99 you can have the, “Content Management Powered by CuteNews”, link removed.

MyListUpdater

MyListUpdater is a handy little script you can use if you have 1 small area of your web site that you want to update content for. I’m currently using this script to easily update web seminar dates. Though originally developed for maintaining various types of online lists; MyListUpdater can be easily be configured into a text and image based web widget.

This script is written in php and javascript and does not require any database interaction to run.

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With the new incarnation of NateBal.com one of my many upgrades were custom error pages that didn’t just have redirect code that spit you back to my homepage. My custom error pages are set up with links to some of my more popular posts and categories. Rather than just spitting my users back to my homepage using:

meta HTTP-EQUIV=”REFRESH” content=”0; url=http://www.yourdomain.com/index.html

Your 404 pages can be powerful traffic tools if you let them. After I deleted a post I noticed I was getting a number of errors showing up in AWStats. Realizing that my users were hitting my 404 more often got me thinking I should maybe add some links here to more popular parts of my blog.

Since the addition of these pages I’ve noticed an incline in users as well as them staying for a longer duration. It’s quick, easy and it works!

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I installed a new tracking widget on the current version of NateBal.com called Who’s Amung Us. Well the web map anyways.

Who’s Amung Us is a very cool tool offering real-time stats. Below are just some of the handy features you get with this tool.

Not only can you get an over all idea where in the world your visitors are coming from, but if you mouse over any of the pin-points you get the actual country including city and state. Here you can also see how many people from that area are actually viewing which pages right now.

At the bottom of this same page is a list of pages your viewers are currently on and how long they’ve been there. Notice that all my visitors in this screenshot are viewing the same page. It’s still one of my most popular posts to date.

Jessica Alba’s Non-existant Playboy Layout

In heatmap view you can better see which locations are paying more attention to your site.

I just noticed this today, but if you’re on your map page when a person lands on your site an animated wave forms around the area in question. Again in real time.

Track Visitors In Real Time With The Who’s Among Us Firefox Plugin >>

Check Out My Map Here >>

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