How To Plumb My Site Logs Daily

[HeyJim]

I'm not sure how complex the solution to this project really is, only that one minute it seems simple to me and then a minute later simply overwhelming.

 

It it's simplest form, I'm thinking along the lines of a macro that would daily (automatically) examine my logs for search terms used to bring people to my site then add new ones to an ad group in my Adwords campaign.

 

Adding new ones would naturally mean a database to check these phrases against before new ones were added and in my status as a very novice ME guy I'm thinking maybe this would be bit too much to tackle? I guess, even if the macro would just return a list of new search terms that would be major help to me. Probably a bit much expecting it to add the words in for me as well.

 

Could you offer a basic approach in terms of commands and procedures I should use in my approach? Not the actual macro (well, I mean, if you're so inclinded...) but what should be my basic approach in terms of determining whether each keyword phrase is unique or brand new?

 

In a related vein, is this the kind of information that would be well explained in the $50.00 manual that's available? I don't recall anyone praising it for it's help yet I'm big on preferring a *very good* manual on my desk. Also, is this project one that would definitely find the PGM Functions library a big help?

 

Thanks for any guidance.

[joe]

Hello Jim!

 

Macro Express can read information from text, CSV, and tab delimited files. It can also write to these files. It has some tremendous string manipulation commands built in, too. Macro Express has logic commands such as If/End If, Case/End Case, and so forth, that enables decision making constructs in your program. If you are familiar with any other programming language then the learning curve for Macro Express is very short. If not, then it will be longer because of new concepts that will take time to learn.

 

Without more detail, it is difficult to know which approach to use for your exact situation. Are the log files, for example, text files? Can they be accessed using something like Windows Notepad or can they be read only by whatever software generates them?

 

It is best to break large projects into smaller tasks. Take part of the project and make a macro that works, then move on to the next task, and so forth, until you have a completed project.

 

As to Macro Express Explained, I have no idea who reads it or what particular problems they are trying to solve. There is no particular group of people buying it. I get orders from single users, small companies, corporations, colleges, universities, and government agencies, and have shipped to 20 different countries.

 

The book is what it is: one of many places to go that may, or may not, help. Hopefully the former! Everyone's idea of a *very good* manual (book) is different. Those users who have written to me have liked the book and found it useful. I have not heard from those who dislike the book ... at least not yet

[cyberchief]

I have not heard from those who dislike the book ... at least not yet

Sorry, Joe... we are still trying to fit all of our complaints into an email that won't take an OC12 to send.

 

Just kidding. As a reader of the book... I can say that for the newbie to ME, it is invaluable. Read it from front to back. You will have a better idea of what you can do in ME. I didn't read it until I had already started creating Macros. After reading it... I ended up removing most of my Macros and typing them the "correct" way.... or, at least the way that works better and faster.

[randallc]

Hi,

Joe's book is great!

it has stimulated me to get all my maros working when I wasn't sure anything could be done or made reliable; there's usually an answer!

Best, randall