Something for the geeks: A command line tool to access the API´s of Google. My first idea: This can be the base for new plugins for wordpress or custom-made online-applications like CRM or shops. Like a calendar application, a synchronisation of contacts, archiving of invoices to Google Docs, publishing of new videos to Youtube and so on.

Google has launched a simple but very useful app for computer nerds everywhere: GoogleCL, a command-line tool that allows users to do everything from upload folders to Picasa to adding appointments to a Google Calendar.

Google CL is a Python application that makes Google Data API calls through the command line. A command-line interface (CLI) is an interface where the user can tell the computer to perform specific tasks by typing commands. You’ve probably seen them before, most likely via the MS-DOS command-line interface. The CLI is in contrast to the mouse-based interface that we all use today, known as the graphical user interface (GUI). [more...]

All the buzz about Facebook’s most recent changes has left marketers scrambling to get a grasp of what these new products and features mean for their business. For marketers, keeping up with the entire social web is a job in itself, and Facebook’s constant evolution doesn’t make it any easier. To sum up the recent announcements, it is appropriate to simply state that Facebook has moved one step closer to creating the semantic web — that is, a human-powered web — and positioning itself at the center of this new universe. Facebook’s Open Graph protocol will help cultivate richer and more useful data in an attempt to make “social” the new default of the web. more...

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