Luke Szkudlarek

I got into the habit of creating my personal FAQs, things that aren’t complicated but sometimes difficult to find. Thought might be worth sharing with others. I started my Google Analytics FAQ page for this purpose, will keep updating it, here’s a selection of my FAQs so far:

Q: How to export more than 500 rows in Google Analytics?
A: Open the report, which you want to export and add &limit=50000€ to the end of your URL. You will still see the number of rows that you selected at the bottom of the page. But, when you export it to CSV you will see up to 50,000 lines. Important: Make sure you select CSV, this simple trick doesn’t work with other formats.

Q: How to use filters to include data only from one subfolder?
A: Go to Analytics Settings then Filters, type in filter name and select “Predefined Filter”-> “Include only” -> “traffic to the subdirectories” -> “match” and put the name of the subdirectory e.g. ^/Blog/. Then all you need to do is apply the filter to the profile that you would like to use to analyse the data for that subdirectory (i.e. Blog)

Facebook’s strength comes from the network connections. It is astonishing that users in Jersey have been using Facebook without a network since 2006.
If you are in Jersey I am sure you’ve noticed that Jersey, Channel Islands or Saint Helier don’t exist as a network on Facebook.

As there are almost 43,000 Facebook users in Jersey I thought it’s time to do something about it.

Jersey, Channel Islands, St Helier do not exist (…on Facebook)

Jersey not listed.

Channel Islands? No luck.

Tried St Helier too!

Why Jersey needs a network?
There are two key benefits of creating a network for Jersey:

1) You will be able to see and browse profiles of users within a network – meaning easier to connect with your friends in Jersey.

2) You can see groups and events that are specific to Jersey. You will be able to find out quickly about latest events, offers and news stories.

In short, once Jersey is added as a network you will be able to benefit from some of the core features on Facebook.

How you can help – 2 simple steps
Facebook does not allow users to add new regional networks. But, there is a form that you can use to submit suggestions to FB.

Step 1 – Go to the Facebook suggestion form

Step 2 – Fill in the form. Here’s the message I sent to facebook:

Suggestion: Add a regional network for Jersey, Channel Islands
More details: I live in Jersey and I would like to bring to your notice that Jersey is not listed as a regional network. There are 43,000 facebook users in Jersey and they are unable to benefit from additional features offered to users affiliated with a network. Please add a regional network for Jersey, Channel Islands. If you require further information about Jersey please do not hesitate to contact me. You can find more information on Jersey on the websites listed below: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey or http://www.jersey.com/.

Step 3 – UPDATED: 17th Oct 2010
There is another form to submit locations that are not listed on Facebook. Please click here and submit Jersey and Channel Islands.

Hopefully if Facebook receive few of these they will realise that there is another Jersey outside of USA!

Yesterday I ran across this article in Jersey Evening Post “Jersey is a travel hit” it says that:

“JERSEY has beaten places such as Sydney, Ibiza and London in a list of online holiday destination searches by UK residents.

Internet data collected by Experian Hitwise lists Jersey at 23 in the top 50 most searched-for flight destinations in the world. The database registered each time someone in the UK searched for flights to Jersey between April and July this year.”

The article doesn’t say what keyword variations have been taken into account, what’s the orgin of the data or if the negative terms such as “new jersey” were excluded.

Anyway, I’ve taken a search phrase “flights to” and DESTINATION and Google Trends results are completely different. “Flights to London” is far more popular than “flights to jersey” or “flights to ibiza”. In fact, according to Google there are probably 10x more users searching for “flights to London” than “flights to jersey”. Any ideas where Experian Hitwise UK is taking the data?. For the time being, I hope no strategic decisions are made based on this information.

When it comes to coffee making I go through phases that last about a year. In 2008, I was obsessed with cafetiere coffee. Last year I got a filter coffee maker and have been enjoying fresh coffee since then.

Few weeks ago when I saw the AeroPress Espresso Maker for the first time I didn’t think it was going to be a hit. It looks odd, few plastic tubes and a stirrer. And now, I would like to recommend the Aeropress to others. It makes a delicious coffee, quicker than any other coffee maker. I’ve had it for a week and I’m truly impressed with the quality of the espresso. It looks, smells and tastes just like a proper espresso from a good coffee shop, much better than any Starbucks or Costa.

The best part of the Aerobie AeroPress is the cleanup. It’s much easier to clean than any cafetiere or coffee maker. I love the simplicity and I’m thinking of getting another one for work. I’m going to test a finer grind to see if I can achieve even a richer brew. But, really you don’t need to be an expert to make a good quality espresso with the AeroPress. If you use a cafetiere you will definitely find the AeroPress easier to use and clean. And don’t worry about the filters you can re-use them as many times as you want. You can also get them on Amazon.

Gerd Leonhard delivered a wonderful presentation at the future of digital marketing in London last week. In his presentation Gerd used the quote “data is the new oil of the Internet”. He wasn’t sure who the author was but thought the quote was a powerful statement, particularly in relation to the social networking & sharing information online.

So who said it first?

New search features released by Google in May 2010 enable you to narrow down search results by time and keywords. Now in couple minutes you can find the original author – of course with an assumption that all content is indexed by Google!

If you use standard search queries you will probably find that it was Gerd Leonhard. In order to find the first result I had to use a combination of phrase match, negative terms, change the sort order and specify date range. The search phrase does almost look like a piece of code.

Here’s the final Google query “data is the new oil” -site:www.mediafuturist.com -@garyr0binson -leonhard -gleonhard

You will see the first result is linking to the speech delivered by Meglena Kuneva (EU Consumer Affairs Commissioner) in Brussels on 31st March 2009. Ms Kuneva said “Personal data is the new oil of the Internet and the new currency of the digital world” . If you trust Google she is creator & original author of this powerful quote.

After reading Ericks’ article and comments on how Google will crush Wolfram|Alpha I thought it would be good to summmarise the discussion as there seem to be a lot of confusion what Wolfram|Alpha is/isn’t.

See the differences in the table below and feel free to adda comment if you think I missed anything.

At the same time I have to say I’m very excited about the Wolfram|Alpha project and I wish it had been available few years ago when I was still at the uni.

Title
Search Engine	Yes – google is indexing the web and returning list of pages	No – it generates output by doing computations from its own internal knowledge base
Free	Yes	Yes, free for personal noncommercial use
Audience	Mainstream audience, thanks to its simplicity	Everyone, but given its complexity and it will attract mainly academic audience
Link with information source	connects users with information source	connects users with information
Database updates	real-time dependent on the indexing frequency	potentially real-time subject to manual data input and approval
Typical queries	general interest, shopping	scientific, academic
Business model	Mainly Pay Per Click contextual ads	Paid subscriptions with enhanced features for large-scale and commercial use and business partnerships
Fundations	1995: Based on a search engine called BackRub, BackRub operated on Stanford servers from 1995	1988: Wolfram|Alpha is built on the Wolfram Mathematica system, which has been in continual development since 1988
Languages	41	English only
Limitations	authority based on PageRank, lack of common data structure	Wolfram|Alpha can only know things that are known, and are somehow public. It only deals with facts, not opinions
Key strenghts	Simplicity and a wide range of knowledge/data	computation and mathematics
Data checks	Mainly automated and managed by Google spam team. But, given its mainstream audience highly affected by spam	Automated and manual, including exper review. Less likely to be targeted by spammers
Data upload	No – data needs to be published on the web	Yes – submission process sumilar to wikipedia
Private personal information	Yes	No. It contains only information that is considered public.
Adult content	Yes, particularly when SafeSearch Filtering is off	No. It has no adult images or narrative. It gives only factual answers to factual questions.

Conclusion
Many similarities but they are two completely different tools – targeting different audience.

I think Wolfram|Alpha has its right to exist as a niche and reliable tool for research and I’m sure there are businesses who will pay for additional features. What do you think?

Despite what rumors (see comments) say this offer is 100% live and Barclays still offers free Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS) to all customers, who are registered for Online Banking. I’ve just got my activation code. It’s a great offer and it can save you spending £51 on anti-virus software. Kaspersky Internet Security suite also includes spyware, adware, firewalls, parental controls and spam filters.

Here’s what you have need to do to claim your free license.

Step 1
If you are registered for Barclays Online Banking Click here and click on the Log in button

If you are not registered for Online Banking Click here and click on Register button. Unfortunately, it’s not going to give you an instant access. You’ll have to wait a couple days for your Online Banking passcode or PINsentry reader.

If you don’t have Barclays current account you can open an account online. Here’s is a page where you can compare all Barclays current accounts.

Step 2
When you log in click on the “Kaspersky offer” link in the bottom left corner of the screen.

Step 3
You need to register with Kaspersky. You are going to need a valid email address and your Barclays Online Banking membership number.

Step 4
Now check your email and click on the activation link in the email.

Step 5
Download and install the software.

After a couple days you will receive an email from Kaspersky with your activation code, which will let you to use the software for a year on three different machines.

About Kaspersky Internet Security
“Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 offers top-notch antivirus and spyware protection at a reasonable price. It’s no resource hog either – a common security bundle complaint.”
according to PCAdvisor

“Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics” by Brian Clifton is the first and only comprehensive Google Analytics manual. Brian Clifton is web analytics expert who worked at Google helping to develop Google Analytics for more than 2.5 years. There is probably not many people in the world who know more about the product. So when I ordered Advanced Web Metrics I expected a lot of useful hacks rather than boring interface/reporting explanation.

I use Google Analytics everyday and this book answered many questions that have been nagging at the back of my mind for months. If you are wondering what’s the best practice for tracking video or visits from image search with Google Analytics this book is definitely for you.

Here’s my top 5 of the Advanced Web Metrics
- powerful hacks and great examples
- 10 recommendations for web analytics accuracy
- ‘virtual pageviews’ for tracking transactions on non e-commerce sites
- using exitTracker to capture clicks on banners and other outgoing links
- changing referrer credited for conversion

Even though I’ve used Google Analytics a lot I didn’t know that GA keeps data for a minimum of 25 months and that the penultimate referrer gets credit from direct traffic transactions.

So just to sum up, it’s a great book for everyone who works with Google Analytics. Please bare in mind though that you need to have HTML/JavaScript knowledge to get the most out of the examples/hacks.

More about Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics
- Marshall Sponder Review
- Official book launch on Brian Clifton’s blog