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The Importance of Maintenance

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I am going to take a break this week from writing about the Google Analytics API and focus on something very important that is often overlooked. Website and webserver maintenance is one of the most important jobs related to a website, and yet, many people do not perform it. In some instances this may be because their trade is totally unrelated to the field of web development and web maintenance, and they are unsure of what to do or who to ask. In many cases, the issue of maintenance is financial.  However, the long range financial burden of a broken site can be much higher than a maintenance plan.

The Problem

A client pays for a shiny new website coded in the latest language with the latest software updates. The site is designed and developed with best practices in mind. After the development process is complete, the client declines any more maintenance with the site, citing their own ability to maintain.

What is maintenance and monitoring?

The process of monitoring and maintenance is the act of having someone consistently watch for signs of issues with a website. Monitoring by webmasters may be done by the use of Google Analytics to watch for traffic changes, Webmaster tools to ensure that the user experience is at its best, or many other tools such as visual inspections. In addition, many of these tools offer alerts which allow webmasters to monitor errors and provide the best possible user experience.

Webmaster Tools

What happens next?

For the foreseeable future, if the client properly updates the site, there should be little to no issues. However, changes in employment or a lack of properly trained individuals at a client’s workplace may result in the eventual downturn of the site. If at any point there is a lapse in monitoring that is more than a month or two, the site may be partially or wholly unable to be salvaged.

This may seem a bit extreme, but it is entirely possible that a month or two of neglect can be the downfall of a website. This is particularly true when a site uses a piece of software to run such as a content management system (CMS), and when that solution is open source. Despite all efforts to correct any issues along the way, developers or webmasters may need to spend a significant amount of time working to ensure that the site is functioning at its best and continues to align with the ever changing best practices. Additionally, the only support is a community of developers, who may or may not be available in a time of crisis. While the site may be always be considered “salvageable” by a technology professional, a cost-benefit analysis may deem it unsalvageable, just like when a car is totaled. Sometimes, the cost of repair is simply not worth it. Technology, particularly lines of code, can be extraordinarily complex and involve a lot of time, trial, and error.

If the neglect goes on for too long, the site may be impossible to repair. In some instances, the entire website will need to be overhauled. In this case, the “damage” or the risks of causing said damage seriously outweigh the benefits of updating. Making massive updates, such as updating across many versions, or making significant changes can seriously affect the workings of the site. Sites in this situation are in working condition, theoretically, but they often do not live up to their owners’ expectations.

Damage? Seriously… this is a website

Absolutely websites can be ‘damaged’! But, not in the same way that you might break a window with a baseball. This sort of damage could be errors in lines of code or simply outdated code. Each update edits the code, making important changes. If you compile those lack of changes over time, it can definitely become a serious issue.

I can’t afford maintenance from my provider. What can I do to ensure my site is alive and well?

If you are unable to get maintenance your provider may at least be able to answer questions. Never be afraid to ask for help! In addition, ensure that the website is checked once a week. If updates are available, they may be something as simple as clicking a button. This way, if there are issues, they can be addressed immediately. Also, if you are not equipped to fix the problem, it can be directed towards someone who can.

What are the long term effects?

Though the upfront costs of maintenance may seem like something that can be set aside, the reality is that the potential loss of business growth as well as the potential costs of issue resolution may have a major impact on business finances. A little upfront maintenance can prevent a lot of issues in the long run.

Have you ever had a website go down because of lack of maintenance? Tell us in the comments!

Google Analytics API – Lesson 4: Authentication

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Google Analytics API – Lesson 4: Authentication

If you’ve been with us through the entire series, welcome back! This time we’ll get in and get our hands dirty in some code. If you haven’t been with us for the series, start by reading the first part of the series, which discusses some background, and the second part of the series. We also have added the third part of the series which prefaces today’s lesson.

Picking Up Where We Left Off

The next step in the process is to start editing and uploading the files. Before we begin editing files, we must first get the information to place in the files. This part is mainly Google’s authentication.

Well, How Does the Authorization Work?

Google uses Auth 2.0 with a special token to authenticate a user. If you have ever allowed an app to access your Google information, this is the same process. When you use a Google app, which is what we will be developing, it will first request access by you. This will require a Google login from the account you wish to use the app with. Then, it will ask for your permission for the app to access your account. Finally, it will return an authorization token to the application. This token has an expiration. It also may expire early depending on your browser settings.

Where do I go to Authorize?

To get your information for authorization, head over to the Google API Console. When in the console and logged into the appropriate account, click the dropdown in the upper left hand corner to create a new project. Name the project any name you choose.

API Project

Once you have created a project, navigate to the services page. Ensure that you turn on the Analytics API. Once you have completed that, click the ‘API Access’. This will take you to an area where you can generate the keys you will need.

For our purposes, we’re going to be doing a web application. We are still working in PHP for this project. All of the demonstrations will be live and on the web. Input the appropriate information here.
After you have submitted the client ID settings, you’re done! You will be redirected to the API access page, where you can see all of the information.

What if it breaks!?

Luckily, you can’t exactly break this one. However, as we move forward with more coding, you will need to keep an eye on these settings. There are some errors that you may run into that could be caused by the settings you made here.
For the next installment, we will be discussing how to actually implement these items into the previously downloaded code. From there, we will move forward with uploading and testing the application!

Have more questions about starting with the Analytics API? Tell us in the comments, and stay tuned for the next part of the series!

A Guide to Data-Informed SEO Storytelling

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How our SEO Tools led us Astray

Experience has shown that for a large portion of business owners, a glaring issue exists with the accepted perception of search engine optimization and the plethora of assistive software suites. Everyone seems to tout that high rankings and “the top spot on Google” are the primary goals associated with an SEO campaign, so vendors make solutions to fit those expectations. The problem is that these tools are proving ineffective at impacting businesses’ actual goals and objectives because they don’t help answer some fundamental questions, including:

  • Why is the business choosing to explore search engine marketing tactics?
  • Why are high rankings the primary goal?
  • In what way(s) do rankings specifically impact future marketing efforts?
  • How will SEO be justified from a budgeting standpoint?
  • Where is the connection between SEO and more leads and sales?

Getting Back to Basics with Goals and Objectives

The first step toward finding the answer to the questions above falls to outlining goals and objectives. Generally speaking, these goals and objectives help businesses enhance their “kwan” (And yes, that was a Jerry Maguire reference!). An example of a business goal would be to grow sales. An example of an objective would be to grow sales among new customers through organic search traffic by 25% of the next 12 months. Note the distinct differences here. While goals are very general statements, objectives provide additional context with which appropriate metrics can be identified.

It is critical that all key stakeholders agree and sign-off on the business goals and objectives because they’ll form the foundation for the next step toward data-informed storytelling: identifying Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Regardless of whether you work for an agency or an in-house marketing team, it always boils down to, “Did we make money or lose money as a result of our efforts?” For that, proper measurement planning is essential.

KPI Mapping that Aligns with Goals and Objectives

KPIs represent the way by which progress is measured regarding a marketing campaign. When defining these metrics, it’s important to also identify reasonable thresholds. That way, appropriate action can be taken if the numbers fall above or below your expectations. By aligning the KPIs with the aforementioned goals and objectives, it will help the key higher-ups to see SEO’s tangible value. Figure 1 (below) shows a very generic mapping of a goal and objective with a possible choice of KPI. If you complete this process, it will give you a better understanding of what data needs to be collected to show the impact the SEO is having on your business.

KPI mapping for Sales Growth
Figure 1 is a simplified version of mapping sales growth for new customers via organic search traffic and potential outcomes from this audience.

The Case for a Measurement Plan

The fact of the matter is that with all of this data making its way into your SEO campaigns, you’re going to need analytics to effectively capture your metrics and provide a way to visualize progress (and tell a truly impactful story). This will require an approach and a plan of action to accurately collect the data necessary for reporting. One of the most simple, but effective approaches can be found on Occam’s Razor By Avanish Kaushik. Just be sure to thoroughly document what data you’re collecting, how, why, and provide an example of the output. It should help everyone not only understand what you’re trying to show, but also offer them the chance to make changes to the approach if necessary.

Analytics Implementation

Google Analytics is a commonly used solution for analyzing this type of information. It’s important that you implement the measurement plan accurately and evaluate the data that’s being collected for reporting. A good place to start is the setup checklist and starter guide provided by Google. There are also numerous videos available on the Google Analytics YouTube channel.

Reporting

Using GA’s more advanced features as our primary example, there are multiple opportunities to not only streamline your reporting process, but also add deeper dimensions to your data-driven “story.” Creating advanced segments, custom filters, and dashboards can bring to light information you may not have otherwise seen. Exploring deeper into the data you’ve collected can make for more established insights, which lead to greater impact among your audience.

Custom SEO segments in Google Analytics

For your SEO campaigns, this could mean creating a dashboard showing correlations between site visit metrics and organic keywords or pages per visit organized by geographical location. With a little analytical know-how, you’ll have no problem tying your data back to your high-level goals and objectives.

SEO traffic data in Google Analytics
Conversions broken down by traffic source.

Figure 3 and 4 are example of items that might be found in your SEO performance dashboard.

Conclusion

There is a big misconception surrounding SEO for the average uninformed business owner, VP of marketing, or IT professional. On the frontlines, we always seem to hear business professionals talk about rankings, but they rarely care to understand why their business is even paying for or considering paying for SEO services. We still hear that the need for “visits” or more “hits” to the websites is the be-all end-all. Rather than the end in and of itself, SEO provides the means towards achieving unique business goals. The story of this journey from campaigns and tactics to business success is told through data, first and foremost.
Have your SEO tools and processes led you on the path to righteousness or dishonorable data? Let us know in the comments below!

Google Analytics API – Lesson 3: Starting to Code

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If you’ve been with us through the entire series, welcome back!  This time we’ll get in and get our hands dirty in some code.  If you haven’t been with us for the series, start by reading the first part of the series, which discusses some background, and the second part of the series, which provides a high level overview of the steps we will be taking today.

Let’s Start at the Very Beginning…

The last installment in this series will look markedly similar to this session.  However, throughout the next few posts I intend to reference code samples and actually guide you through the step-by-step process from my perspective.  The goal is that you should be able to follow these instructions as a supplementation to Google’s already thorough instructions.

Since my final goal is to query specific metrics from Google and eventually move them to a database, I chose to complete this process in PHP.  This way, I can easily interface with a MySQL database.  PHP may not be the best language for the process that you are trying to complete.  For this reason, Google also provides several other languages.  This guide still may be useful in understanding overall how the process works, for those of you who may prefer Java or Ruby.

…A Very Good Place to Start

The first step, if you have not yet completed it, is to read the first two blog posts in this series.  This will give you the background necessary to understand the process that I am going to follow.

In the last post, I mentioned the code libraries and the Hello Analytics API tutorial.  The first step for this process will be to download the proper files.  The PHP library can be accessed here. 

The download area looks like this:

Google Client Library

Once you have reached this page, click to download the latest release file.  The file will be in a tar.gz format.  Use a file manager such as WinZip or 7Zip to extract the .tar file to your desktop or other convenient location.

Open the containing folder.  Within this folder, there will be several more directories.

It should look like this:

File Structure One

License, notice, and readme are all files necessary for legal purposes.  You will not need to access these files for this tutorial.  The other three folders are of the most interest.

Open “examples”.  Once you have done that, you will see a lengthy list of a multitude of examples.  To keep things simple, I recommend that you delete all of the folders and files except for the analytics folder and the batch text file.

When that is complete, it should look like this:

File Structure Two

Once that is complete, you will free up some more space and make the files easier to work with.

Now your files are prepared for the process.

Understanding the Files and Process

Within this analytics folder is the actual code that will run and display in your browser.  In addition to this folder, the “src” folder at the high level holds the code that runs in the background.  This code will ensure that you are authenticating properly.

In its simplest terms, the whole process works as follows:

Visit test site -> click link to authenticate -> allow application authentication via Google -> return to your original page with an auth token -> complete any more processes in your application.

Preparing for the Next Session

Now that all of the files are downloaded, you will need to prepare for the next post.  In the next few posts, we will be editing and configuring code, getting this code on to our server, and running the code.

You will need the following programs to complete the next section:

A text editor such as Notepad++ or Notepad.
A FTP client such as FileZilla.
A live webserver.  If a live webserver is out of the question, those of you who are comfortable with some development may be familiar with a locally hosted server such as WAMP, MAMP for Mac, or XAMPP.

I completed this testing on a protected subfolder of a live domain.  If you do not have a testing environment that is live to work with one of the AMP programs will suffice.  If you do have a live environment to work with, this is when you can edit or set up a new directory to work with.  Either that, or install and configure your FTP client to work with your server.

In addition to having the proper software setup, you should familiarize yourself with the files in the analytics folder, such as the Hello Analytics file or the authorization files.  Once downloading and installing the text editor, open the files and browse through them.

At this point, if you have not already done so, you will need to create a Google account.  Once that has been completed, you are now ready to begin development.  We’ll see you at the next tutorial!

Stay tuned for the next part of the series where we will begin to edit and understand the code!  Questions?  Comments? Post them below!

Google Analytics API – Lesson 2: Resources

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The second part of this series will outline exactly where to begin when working with the Google Analytics API. Google provides all of their code and a lot of information, which can be quite overwhelming. Throughout this post, I will break down the necessary resources and next steps to begin programming with the API. If you haven’t checked it out yet, head over to the first part of the series for some background before continuing.

Where do I start?

Fortunately for those of us who are new to the idea of programming with an API, Google provides a Hello Analytics API tutorial. This tutorial allows you to select from four languages: Python, Java, JavaScript, and PHP. If none of these languages work for you, you’re welcome to follow the tutorial and use one of the beta languages available.

This tutorial will explain how to download and install the client libraries, use the API console to create OAuth 2.0 tokens, and give code samples. Full code samples are available in their respective Google code libraries and code snippets are available in various tutorials to get you started. These code snippets provide information about exactly what each piece of code is doing and explains how it works. In time, when working with the code, you will be able to understand and edit it appropriately to create new and interesting applications based on the API.

In addition to the analytics tutorials, it may be beneficial to set up a development environment. This information can be accessed by doing a simple Google search for the language that you prefer. In addition, it will allow you to better read and synthesize code.

What’s next?

After reviewing the documentation and setting up with the Hello Analytics API tutorial, it may be useful to download some code samples and begin to review them. If you choose to do so, you can also run these programs or upload them to a server depending on which language you have decided to use.

PHP Code

One important item to note is that you must edit your files to include the correct OAuth 2.0 information, which you receive from following the Hello Analytics API tutorial. Items such as the client ID and URI will need to be added in the configuration file that you have downloaded. Most of the code libraries provide information or documentation on where to make these changes. If the information is not in the code library, it will be provided in the comments section accompanying the file.

Sample Application

What should happen?

When your libraries are downloaded and you run the files, the first key item that should occur is for the OAuth 2.0 to activate. This will either launch your browser or launch another window in your browser with a Google popup asking if the application is permitted to use your account information. You should then allow access.

PHP API

If this occurs successfully, you may then use the other code snippets to query data from the Google Analytics servers.
Please keep in mind that the data from these code samples will not be pretty. It may use some basic formatting, but it will most likely output in a very simple format. Further styling and programming may be necessary to have the data appear in a certain way.

What if it breaks!?

The code breaking is always a very real possibility. I am hard pressed to think of a situation in which my code actually worked perfectly on the first try. In one instance I used PHP as my desired language. After uploading the code, I was able to authorize the attachment of the application to my Google account. However, once the authorization would finish, I would immediately receive a server error.

500 Server Error

When something like this occurs, usually you receive an error stating which line the error is occurring on. This all depends on the language that is being used. For PHP, it presents the line error right in the browser.

If you run into errors and are not able to resolve them by reviewing the code, there are many resources that are available to use. The first option is to complete a search with the information or the error in it. This often yields results from a number of other people running in to the same problem. If you are unable to find your problem by conducting a search, there are other options. Stack Overflow, Google Developers Forum, and some subReddits such as /r/learnprogramming are all valid resources where other developers are available to answer questions.

Have more questions about starting with the Analytics API? Tell us in the comments, and stay tuned for the next part of the series!

SEO Tips to Increase Visibility and Stop Content Jackers

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Most of the time when we talk to prospective clients about SEO, the first things they think of are keywords, descriptions, and page titles. Now, just about every marketing person on the planet thinks they’re an SEO expert. Yeah right, just like everyone that can code HTML is a web developer too. The point is that SEO goes well beyond descriptions and titles; in fact, SEO includes a number of factors that impact rankings and these factors are always changing.

With that said, I’m going to cover a few “off-page SEO” tips to increase organic search visibility and stop people for stealing your content without giving you credit for it.

Use Rich Snippets for SEO

Rich snippets are a type of structured data that allow webmasters to

mark up content in ways that provide information to the search engines. Depending on the scenario, the websites that leverage rich snippets see better results or enhanced results in the search engines. An example of enhanced results could be reviews or ratings in the results. In general, this can lead to better click-through rates. Schema.org provides several types of examples of data that can benefit from structured markup which includes people, products, reviews, businesses, events, and more. Google has a tool called “Structured Data Testing Tool” to preview or get help with markups. In my opinion, you should read more details on schema.org to understanding it better before implementing.

structured-data-tool

Improve your Load-Time

You want to minimize web server response times to limit slow page loads. Remember that response time is going to vary from page load to page load. If possible, I would recommend a good dedicated server and an onsite webmaster to proactively improve server response times. Whenever possible, I would also recommend optimizing images, but not at the risk of poor-quality or low resolution visuals. There are a number of solutions to help with this, from Smush.it™ to some of Adobe’s Products. As you’re programming your website, you should consider opportunities to combine/compact CSS, optimize the order of CSS, move items to the head of the document, etc. This will all help to improve load time, SEO, and the user experience. Load-time is a factor that’s associated with search rankings, and Google Analytics offers a direct link to their PageSpeed Insights to test your site’s pages.

Have a URL Strategy

When you redesign a website, it’s usually due to updated branding or to support new business related functionality on the site. The linking structure, internal site links, and link building are usually on the minds of the webmaster or SEO person, but it’s important that you carry over as much link equity as possible by using redirects, a custom 404 page, and canonical links. Canonical links help to communicate to the search engines which page should be credited as the original. You should also use absolute links (“https://dabrianmarketing.com/blog.html”) instead of relative links (“/blog.html”) in the programming to limit scraping or “jacking” of your content. Remember that this content should be consistent with your updated branding and still support your business’s needs.

Conclusion

In the development phrase of your redesign or continued SEO, you should consider the impact that technical items will have on your brand’s reach and visibility. Furthermore, it’s important to categorize your business and products / services with rich snippets. I would recommend that you update your XML sitemap and submit to search engines as well as directories to reinforce ownership. You can even take it a step further with a good copyright and terms of use policy.

Take a look at the off-page SEO, improve your URL strategy, try rich snippets and try the PageSpeed insight tool to limit the number of issues that might be adversely impacting organic search traffic.