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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!

Highlights from “Calculating Creative” Presentation

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What if we told you your creative resources were hindering your marketing success?

What if the answers you were looking for came from free platforms and tools?

What if we could help you improve your business’s entire creative process?

Well, we can. And it’ll take less than 15 minutes. Learn how data is the key to better creative decisions and more targeted campaigns in a talk given by our President and CEO, Danny Laws, for the American Advertising Federation – Greater Lehigh Valley.

For more information or access to the “director’s cut,” give us a call or drop us a line!

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!

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!

“The 4 D’s of Web Design” to Help Drive Sales

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Web Design is arguably the most important aspect of internet marketing. “A recent study found that 48% of online shoppers viewed a branded website as the most trustworthy source of information.”Although Search Engine Optimization is often referred to as the foundation of it all, without a website the implementation of SEO or any other internet marketing component would be pointless. With that being said, a good web design can help businesses drive sales and increase their overall return on investment. It’s 2013 for God’s sake!!!  That means it’s time to ditch the websites that read like brochures and start creating websites that are going to attract, engage, and convert your target audience. So, what does an exceptional web design look like? Here is what I like to call “The 4 D’s of Design” to help you create the right website to meet your company’s needs and drive sales for your business:

1)    DECISION. The first thing you need to do is decide what your brand, look, and feel should look like. Collaborate with your peers and colleagues and figure out what would be best for your organization. Remember, your website is an extension of your company so make sure it reflects as such.

2)    DEFINITION. It’s also important that you define yourself as an organization. Meaning, make sure your company has a documented and unified mission, vision, and purpose. It is important that your website conveys who you are, what you do, why you do it, and how you can help your target audience.

3)    DIRECTION. The user experience is one of the most important aspects of any good web design. If the user is not comfortable with their experience on the site, then they are most likely going to bounce. Make sure that your visitors are able to navigate through your site and find exactly what they are looking for in a timely matter. The key to a good website is the right combination of fluidity, simplicity, and creativity.

4)    DIFFERENTIATION. There are many organizations out there who believe they have great websites. However, their site isn’t really saying or doing anything that their competitors haven’t already said or done. In order to attract and retain more visitors, it is important that your organization differentiates itself from the competition. What gives you that competitive edge? Understand what sets you apart from your competitors, and then make the most of it.

Once you have a solid website in place, you can then begin to explore additional internet marketing components. The “4 D’s of Design” are by no means all it takes to create a good website. However, by adhering to these four basic steps it will point you in the right direction toward helping your business drive more sales.

If you would like to learn more about how web design can help your business drive sales, please leave us a comment below or call our office at 610-743-5602.