You just need data from Google Analytics from time to time? And you don´t need to combine it with additional informations from other sources? And it is just once or twice a month?

In that case, you may not need to wait for my workshop to build a web controlling desktop., to have the informations fast. There are several excel-solutions out there (at least down to Excel 2003) you can use to get the data quick & dirty.

Check out this article on SEOmoz.

Till now, it was not possible to easily track “events” with GA. So what is an event? It´s the download of a whitepaper, ebook oder any other document. Or the length of a video to load. Or the validation errors of a form. Or the click of an outbound link.

And? I gives you insights in the behavior of your users. You can use it to optimize the workflow, or just to measure, if an action on your website works and how often it has been used. I just started a workshop to setup a “KPI-desktop” were I will implement an example for this event-tracking in a later part of the series.

Want to know more about implementing this tracking-method:
-> Read the full article at the Google Analytics Blog.

Screenshot : Google Analytics

What you will need

You should have a webhost-account, where to put some PHP-pages (Version 5 is required), a mysql-database (later in the workshop) and the CURL-extension must be installed on the server, to retrieve the data from the API. And, of course, a text-editor and for the start, the Google Analytics PHP-Class from Electrictoolbox.

And now?

Get your hands dirty and start some programming. :) Don´t be afraid. The first steps are pretty simple. It will become more complicated later, but I will provide you with the scripts you need, to build up an “ugly”, but working “KPI-desktop”.

What means KPI?

KPI = Key performance indicators. Or: The data, that is relevant for you, to make decisions for the development of your website / online-shop / business.

Ready to go?

Here is a link to the first simple PHP-pages:
-> Google-Analytics API : First Step : Getting the Account-ID