Google Data Studio

[bernard]

Is this thing cool or what?

Just made my first custom report here, with exactly the stuff I need to stay updated, but just as importantly MOTIVATED. I love seeing the numbers go up as the day goes on and look at traffic now vs last period. Excellent for motivation. Goes on a tv screen with chromecast.

Now I just need to figure out how to code that custom connector to my affiliate stats.

Do you use Google Data Studio?

 

[idiotbrigade]

Hell yeah... Google Data Studio is free and better than most all enterprise-level dashboard solutions. There's just so much that can be done with Gsuite

 

[bernard]

As for getting the affiliate stats, I have two solutions as far as I can tell, one I can use Google Sheets and import xml from api (though I read dynamic files are an issue) or I can write a php script to fetch to a mysql and then from there to GSD.

 

[Potatoe]

I remember when we used to at least try to keep some of our business data out of Google's hands.

Turns out if they wanted everything, all they had to do was ask.

 

[paulcarl]

I remember when we used to at least try to keep some of our business data out of Google's hands.

Turns out if they wanted everything, all they had to do was ask.

I grew skeptical of Google when I realized they put people in an "information bubble" with their search results. I'm smart enough to not be fooled.

I grew suspcious of Google when I read about their persecution of SEOs by abusing their access to their emails. I follow "the rules," they won't abuse their access to my email.

I grew outraged with Google when their censorship became overt by both straight up removing content and also by making content more difficult to find in the SERPs. Google went so far as to censor my emails by sending emails from a certain party straight into spam while the other party always made it safely to my inbox. I need to take my head out of the sand.

I still use Google Drive after giving up on self-hosted alternatives but I did find this software, Cryptomator (https://cryptomator.org/), that encrypts everything you upload to Drive. This will suffice until I find a better storage provider. I'm open to recommendations.

My email will move to ProtonMail once I have the courage to pull that trigger, probably once I have a Drive alternative.

Piwik/Matomo (https://matomo.org/) will replace Google Analytics.

I'm using Chrome still as I type this. Maybe later today my next bit of procrastination will be switching over to Firefox.

Have any of you guys avoided Google with client work? How do you communicate your concerns about Google to customers without scaring them off because every other vendor they've ever talked to pushes Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager?

 

[turbin3]

I wonder what SAAS niche they'll put out of business next by releasing another "free" addition to their platform? GDS is nice and all, but there's no getting past the evil empire that's behind it.

I hate to say that Ragnar, as I don't want to diminish your enthusiasm and motivation. When I first saw it, I got pretty excited too. Got up and running with several cool reports and dashboards pretty quickly, which was awesome. A month or so later, after doing so for one client, I felt bad when they gave the boot to the SAAS platform they were using. That platform does a great job, and works really hard on improving their product, but putting G + FREE in front of people makes it a no-brainer for most legit businesses.

@paulcarl has the right idea. I already distributed almost all my emails across Protonmail and several other more trustworthy providers. Another worth checking out is Kolab Now. They're closer to a replacement for G suite, in terms of drive/storage, calendar, office stuff and other tools.

At a minimum, for client work, my one requirement is that I never discuss linkbuilding or anything closely related over email. I'll only do so when I can verify for a fact they're not routing email through Google. At least so far, it's safe over a freakin phone call. Discussing and doing linkbuilding deals over Gmail is just asking for trouble...

Unfortunately with GA and GTM, there are no realistic alternatives for most businesses, especially most SMBs. Free, easy, and extensible is something Google has done well.