Now, I can understand if the web developer is working with a client that isn’t focused on ecommerce, but shouldn’t advanced ecommerce analytics be a requirement if the client is in ecommerce? While I need to do what seems like their job but I also love it since it allows me to test and implement interesting scenarios (for example, earlier this year when I needed to make sure cross domain tracking and roll up reporting worked) and to ensure everything is tracking accurately. With the new client, I need to figure out how to setup cross domain tracking via a popup window (which is bad in itself cause of all the popup blockers). It should be fairly easy, I just need to sit down and think about. I’ll do a write up when I figure it out since there’s no answer currently online (at least, not in a single article).

To achieve what the clients wants we would have to get either one Google Analytics number and install it on all their domains or have a separate Analytics number per domain and then one Analytics number that would be for all domains. I opted for the second method because, first, if the client wants to give access to one of the domains, they would give access only that specified one and not to all the profiles. Second, it is much simpler to do this method than to have one Google Analytics number and filter out all the domains correctly.

Roll Up Reporting

To get that, we would need to setup roll up reporting which isn’t mentioned in Google’s Help. The only article I found by Google in regards to this was on their blog. Unfortunately, it is not for the new asynchronous tracking so I had to do some more digging and found this post on the Google Analytics help forum that tells me exactly what I need to do. To do all this, we would need to get a tracking code for every domain then a master code for all domains and add the following to every domain:

<script type="text/javascript">
	var _gaq = _gaq || [];
	_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXXXXX-A']);
	_gaq.push(['_setAllowLinker', true]);
	_gaq.push(['_setAllowHash', false]);
	_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
	_gaq.push(['t2._setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXXXXX-B']);
	_gaq.push(['t2._setAllowLinker', true]);
	_gaq.push(['t2._setAllowHash', false]);
	_gaq.push(['t2._trackPageview']);
  (function() {
    var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
    ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
  })();
</script>

UA-XXXXXXXXX-A would be replaced with the tracking code (your Google Analytics number) for each individual site and UA-XXXXXXXXX-B would be replaced by the master code. So to clarify, the UA-XXXXXXXXX-A would be different for each site, but UA-XXXXXXXXX-B would be the same across all sites. _setAllowLinker and _setAllowHash are needed for cross domain tracking to work. _setAllowLinker allows for cookies to get passed across pages on different domains and _setAllowHash “turns off domain hashing which is critical for cross domain tracking or GA will reject your cookies integrity, and rewrite the cookie.” If for some reason, you had to add additional trackers, you can just copy the lines with t2 and replace with t3, t4, awesome or any variable you want.

Example (UA-XXXXXXXXX-C would be the new tracker for whatever reason):

<script type="text/javascript">
	var _gaq = _gaq || [];
	_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXXXXX-A']);
	_gaq.push(['_setAllowLinker', true]);
	_gaq.push(['_setAllowHash', false]);
	_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
	_gaq.push(['t2._setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXXXXX-B']);
	_gaq.push(['t2._setAllowLinker', true]);
	_gaq.push(['t2._setAllowHash', false]);
	_gaq.push(['t2._trackPageview']);
	_gaq.push(['t3._setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXXXXX-C']);
	_gaq.push(['t3._setAllowLinker', true]);
	_gaq.push(['t3._setAllowHash', false]);
	_gaq.push(['t3._trackPageview'])
  (function() {
    var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
    ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
  })();
</script>

Cross Domain Tracking

If you did setup the code earlier, to ensure that user information gets carried from domain1.com to domain2.com we would need to pass _link (for links) or _linkByPost (for forms) functions from the first to second domain. To set that up, any domain pointing to domain2.com from domain1.com would need to have this as the link.

<a href="http://domain2.com" onclick="_gaq.push(['_link', 'http://domain2.com']); return false;">domain2.com link</a>

If we were passing a form from domain1.com to domain2.com, the <form> tag would need to have the code below used. A common scenario for this would be an online store where the first domain would hold the actual store and the second domain would hold the shopping cart. When the customer goes from store to cart, it’s usually to checkout and usually using the POST method so we could need to push the visitor’s info to the new domain.

<form name="form" method="post" onsubmit="_gaq.push(['_linkByPost', this]);">

Using those methods, the user’s information would be correctly passed from one domain to another so in your stats you would see the original referrer that led them to the first domain and not the first domain as the referral.

Now what?

Doing the roll up reporting and cross domain tracking for our client should allow the following:

1. We would have a separate profile per domain and then allow us to add additional profiles to each property for any kind of filtering we want.
2. 2. All visitor’s information would be correctly passed from one domain to another domain so we wouldn’t have domain1.com as a referral for domain2.com.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment. I normally don’t do articles like this but this setup took me too long to find so hopefully it’ll be easier to find for you. If my explanation isn’t correct, please say so. The setup works for me and is accurate but my explanation might not be 100% correct.

Sun rising as I head to work. Taken with iPhone 4 using Hipstamatic.

Download:
Tap2Unlock
Tap2Unlock (unlock only)
To install it, you need to SSH into your phone and drop it into /private/var/stash/Themes/ and use Winterboard to enable it.

I have only used Adwords for a month, 6-8 hours a day and I skimmed the help center for an hour or so and managed to pass the test with a 89% score. Most of that is attributed to my hands on experience and my coworker mentioning that the test would ask for really pointless questions like the size of an image ad that’s allowed (which you could easily look up, I do not know why information like that is required to know). The test itself won’t be a cakewalk for those who haven’t managed a campaign or dealt with features such as the ‘My Client Center’ which is used to handle multiple accounts. I remember one question asked what I would do as the first step when dealing with a new client. Out of all the answers, the one that dealt with talking about the advertising goals for the client was best suited. Those answers aren’t available in the Adwords Help Center (at least I couldn’t find it afterwards) so it’s best to have some hands on experience before taking the test.

Some questions that were on the exam:

• The maximum length of a video ad
• What was the advantage of using the display ad builder
• What the formula for ad ranks was
• What the Adwords Discounter was
• If image ads show up on mobile phones
• When to deliver key messages in the video ad

Out of the 120 questions that were asked in the exam, I’d say a good 20 of them won’t be found in the Help Center. You’ll be required to think about these questions which will turn out to be very easy if you’ve had experience with a client or fooled around in Adwords and are very familiar with the interface. It was a shame there wasn’t enough resources online for helping people with this but I guess it’s a way of filtering out those who shouldn’t get it. I still have one more exam to go so hopefully that won’t be any harder then this was. If you have any questions, leave me a comment and I’ll answer them.

Ever since I had florentines in a random cookie tin, I remember the deliciousness of them. I was reminded again after not having it in a while when Norma brought them from the office she worked at and it was on my mind since then. I actually made these a while back but didn’t write about it until now. I took this recipe from Giada on the Food Network and it’s amazingly difficult for the amount it produces. I can’t imagine making these again unless it’s a special occasion but they are oh so damn good.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sliced almonds, chopped
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into pieces
• 1/3 cup whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Stir the almonds, flour and zest in a medium bowl. Stir the sugar, butter, cream, and honey in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the almond mixture. Cool the batter for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Using 2 teaspoons 1 teaspoon of batter for each cookie, spoon 8 6 mounds of the batter onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing evenly apart (the cookies will spread). Flatten the batter slightly with your finger.

Bake the cookies until they are lacy and golden brown, about 10 minutes. 7 minutes. Gently slide the parchment paper with the cookies onto a rack and cool completely. Transfer the cookies to paper towels. Repeat with the remaining batter, lining the baking sheets with clean parchment for each batch. (The cookies can be made up to this point 2 months ahead. Cool completely, then store airtight in the freezer. Defrost before continuing.)

Stir the chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until the chocolate melts. Spread the melted chocolate over the bottom of 1 cookie. Top with a second cookie, bottom side down, pressing lightly to adhere. Repeat with the remaining cookies and chocolate.

Note: I changed some parts of the recipe according to reviews and my personal experience. The timing is crucial, 30 seconds later or earlier and it’ll be burnt or undercooked. Also make sure you use one teaspoon instead of 2 teaspoon for the cookie size. It won’t be cooked if you use that much and all the cookies will mold into one big cookie. I opted out of getting orange zest cause…well, I didn’t have any and I could care less for the orange flavor. And last but not least, try to use wax/parchment paper or Silpat for the baking sheet. I made the mistake of not using either and I regretted it (first batch would not get off of the baking sheet, I had to toss it).

Usually, I’m not a big fan of marshmallows but Norma is and I’ve always been interested in how these are made. I was just going to make marshmallows but I noticed I had extra semi-sweet chocolate chips and graham crackers. The following recipe was taken from Barefoot Contessa’s Toasted Coconut Marshmallows but I just ignored the coconut part. I found cutting the marshmallow with a wet knife or something that doesn’t stick makes it go by so much quicker.

Ingredients:

• 3 packages unflavored gelatin
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions
Sprinkle confectioner’s sugar in an 8 by 12-inch nonmetal pan.

Combine the gelatin and 1/2 cup of cold water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and allow to sit while you make the syrup.

Meanwhile, combine the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Raise the heat to high and cook until the syrup reaches 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Remove from the heat.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly pour the sugar syrup into the dissolved gelatin. Put the mixer on high speed and whip until the mixture is very thick, about 15 minutes. Add the vanilla and mix thoroughly.

Pour in the marshmallow batter and smooth the top of the mixture with damp hands. Sprinkle some more confectioner’s sugar on top. Let it cool for about an hour or until the marshmallow is firm.

Remove the marshmallows from the pan and cut into squares. Roll the sides of each piece carefully in confectioners’ sugar. Store uncovered at room temperature.

In other news, I just read some of my old posts from 2003 and noticed that my writing was definitely different and so was my maturity. So, I’m setting those to private. With the way potential clients/employers/anyone looking up your info so easily, there’s no need for anyone to read about how I was before.

Sunset along Newport Pier during my photowalk a few weeks back. Used Photomatix to make HDR then used lightroom and photoshop to clean it

I’m already bored. Well, in the sense that I feel like I have nothing to look forward to even if it’s the typical 9-5 job. However, hopefully while looking for a job, I hope to accomplish several things. I recently discovered Los Angeles’ Official Visitor’s Site which is surprisingly, full of updated information on what to do in Los Angeles. Things like walking tours (self guided), scenic drives, free museums, I’d like to check out all of that while bringing my camera along so I can take pictures. My newest layout, which is just a simple design is almost done. Just need to update the single posts page, comments area and fine tune the minor details. Hopefully I can have it up by the end of this week. I would also like to redo the header image but won’t if I can’t think of anything.

Photowalk

I went to Newport Pier on Sunday with Norma, Brian (and his son, Rex), Bryan, Cody and Jay and walked around taking some pictures. I got some decent pictures and will upload it to my flickr account after I process some of the photos. So far, I’m still taking at least one picture a week, hopefully my skills will improve. I am going to go with my friend Chris on Thursday to walk around downtown LA to shoot come pictures. Probably pass by Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Walt Disney Concert Hall and Museum of Contemporary Art, the idea coming from here.

Other things I’d like to do are take a scenic drive on Mulholland Drive which is apparently has a gorgeous view and just wonder around Griffith Park (largest city park in the country) and maybe check the observatory while I’m at it. Hey, I’m unemployed, I have all the time in the world!

Time to start an ex girlfriend blog!