I’m a big fan of web analytics, but one of the reasons I don’t use them as much as I probably should is because it takes time to go login to another application and view stats which interrupts my workflow. If I just want to check how a page is doing quickly, it takes too long to go check it out.
I’m not alone in this regard, I’ve talked to many people out there who don’t check their analytics enough just because of the work involved.
That’s why I’m a big fan of a product that’s been around in beta for a while but I haven’t heard much talk about, and that’s MapSurface.
MapSurface is implemented similar to a normal analytics application by just pasting a tag onto your pages. Once the MapSurface code is in place, by simply hitting Alt-X on your keyboard, you can see your MapSurface stats for the particular page you’re viewing.
When Alt-X is pressed (which you can do right now to see my stats), the MapSurface dashboard floats above the page and allows you to see statistics for the page you’re viewing like visits, page views, referrers, search queries, site entry statistics, and also view a clidk overlay map on the page.
It’s obviously not as full-featured as a normal analytics application, but it’s so quick and easy to just hit Alt-X while browsing my own site to see quick stats for that page.
For certain types of sites it can also be a welcome feature that other visitors can hit Alt-X to see your stats, such as if you’re trying to prove traffic to advertisers or if you don’t mind opening up to your visitors.
MapSurface is also lightweight as it doesn’t download the dashboard code until Alt-X is pressed, so it doesn’t slow your site down in any significant way.
I’d recommend going to MapSurface.com and signing up for a beta invite.
option-x for those with macs…
This seems like a pretty good program for someone that’s not into analytics and just wants to see the stats on a page. I did not see the page overlay you mentioned but like the rest of it.
Nice find. I’m the same way. But I probably check my stats and my clients stats TOO much. It winds up costing me productive time.
I’ll have to give this a test drive and see how I like it.
Eric Graham
“The Conversion Doctor”
Jason, thanks for pointing out the Mac command.
Marshall, you have to click the Map link near the top to see the overlay. And I agree, this isn’t a complete analytics solution, unless you have VERY basic needs. But it’s also a fast way to check basic stats.