Leave the energy-wasting agony of useless, ignored reports behind. Learn how to use Google Data Studio to create reports that take less time, contain more insights, and bring the dream of data-driven decisions into reality. Using auto-updating dashboard-style reports, transform your reporting time from data-thrashing to exploring insights and highlighting the actual return of SEO activities to the business.
33. BETA But, you know,
Google Beta
From 2008 WIRED article:
In response to those questioning Google's heavy, and possibly inappropriate, use of
the word beta, a Google spokesperson tells NetworkWorld,
"we believe beta has a different
meaning when applied to
applications on the web...."
77. @TheFieryFX
TIPS &
TRICKS
Ctrl + Click or Shift+Click
PDF – use Google Data Studio
PDF Export Chrome Extension
Copy/Paste all the things
Many changes? Delete/Duplicate
Change timeframe = new report
The comforting bustle and hum of a busy factory was suddenly interrupted, by silence.
Massive production lines froze.
A critical piece of equipment in a long assembly line abruptly stopped working.
This one machine brought the entire factory to a complete halt.
Partially finished products backed up through the warehouse and company executives went into a panic. Tens of thousands of dollars were being lost for every minute that the assembly line was not running.
Operators and floor engineers fiddled and fumbled, but couldn’t get the machine fired up. Officially, it was a crisis.
The chief mechanic was called in and he quickly realized there was only one expert who could help.
The expert arrived carrying a small toolbox. He examined the halted machine from this angle and that, skillfully inspecting for about ten minutes. The workers and executives watched hopefully as he then removed a hammer from his toolbox and walked up to the machine.
Looking closely at one nondescript spot, he struck the machine once with the hammer. The “whack” echoed throughout the factory floor for a moment before it was drowned out by the noise of the machine springing to life and chugging up to full capacity. Goods started moving smoothly down the assembly line and the factory was back online. There was great rejoicing.
The expert then presented his bill for $10,000. “This is outrageous!” the executives exclaimed “10,000 dollars to hit a machine with a hammer? You spent ten minutes here! We require an itemized bill!”
The expert pulled out an invoice sheet, silently wrote a few things down and then presented his itemized invoice:
Item 1) Hitting machine with hammer $1.00
Pause
Item 2) Knowing where to hit the machine $9,999.00
It isn’t the tools that get the job done, it is how they are used. So let’s spend our time together today helping you use your tools better.
My name is Brandy Lawson COO, that is, your Chief Online Officer.
My career started at the tender age of 8 doing data entry for my parents. They had a restaurant here in town called Li’l Peetzas. From there I grew my skills and knowledge, and became a Product Director at the world’s largest domain registrar, you may have heard of them, Go Daddy.
I managed over 10 million email accounts, generating multi millions of dollars. I was responsible for making decisions for the entire systems and operations behind what might just have been your email account. Talk about some customer accountability….
I am a Certified Partner Agency with Digital Marketer… Anyone in here heard of them? I worked hard for Ryan Deiss’ seal of approval.
I have Degree in Marketing, a Masters in Business and closing in on 2 decades of marketing and business experience.
I created a 6-figure business within 3 years while also creating a baby in year #1, I did this by harnessing the right systems, using the right tools, and focusing my time where it mattered most and figuring out how to translate my value to something tangible.
May 25, 1984
2 floppy disks
Commodore 64
Green Screen monitor
Some mad 10-Key skills
It was because of my parents restaurant that I grasped a clear perspective of my love for the intersection of technology and business. And learned the importance of reports…
My father’s innovative engineering mind, yes, his background was in engineering not in the culinary arts, created tools beyond the standard operating procedures for restaurant owners of that time. With his newly minted programming skills he created computer programs to manage payroll, sales, and operations for the restaurant
Using these programs he was able to...
Track trends
Know the profitable hours of operation
Save time by having all his data in one place (my sister & I were the ones inputting it)
Make intelligent decisions based on real data
Why we hate reports
There’s a reason they are the butt of jokes (TPS report)
So, let’s take a little poll in the room
Poll - who creates monthly reports?
Poll - who loves creating monthly reports?
So, let’s poke this bruise for just a moment and talk about Why we hate reports so much
Nothing like trying to turn all of this into a tangible ROI…
Reports feel like they suck your life away.
My team used to spend 4 hours+ a month on reports, Ben had a client whose team had a standing meeting at 1 PM every Monday to discuss weekly reports, and spent every Monday morning preparing these reports. Almost 20% of their week was reporting.
In the beginning I spent a lot of time “concocting” how to put all the information I needed my client to know in 1 place. It was an elaborate plan that took a lot of thought to put together but the resulting report was just basic.
Reports can be… complicated.
Here’s a glimpse of how unnecessarily complicated it was for my team to create reports in the beginning
A friend of mine was frustrated by phone calls he was getting from new clients, bothering him about when they’d start seeing results. He exclaimed – “I gave them access to the dashboard!” Obviously, that wasn’t something they were using and his attempt at demonstrating the value was failing.
Seems like they never live up to the promise of actually showing anything useful
Seems like they never live up to the promise of actually showing anything useful
And yet, here we are talking about reports. So WHY do we need them?
Especially at the beginning, We sell “invisible” services - basically voodoo to the uninitiated
(developer definition: A person who fixed a problem that you don't know you have, in a way you don't understand.)
There can be differences in perception of value and understanding of terminology (stuff we value or understand the work behind is not necessarily what the client values)
very difficult to quantify, evaluate or measure for the average person (until the phone starts ringing) And even then we have to prove it was us
Leads? Sales? Calls? Appointments? Yes, but in order to properly connect the dots as to why these things are happening, reports are necessary.
Leading – tied into our day-to-day efforts (on-site, stacks built, citations, etc.)
Lagging – the stuff we really want to have happen (users, phone calls, leads, sales)
This is my client Jane. We’ve helped Jane improve her internal systems by moving her to G Suite and setting her up with the right tools and services to manage email, contact, calendar & files. We took the porn off her website and keep it maintained for her. We provide her insights into what is happening on her site. We’ve built product pages for her and worked with her on creating a marketing strategy. This is an actual quote from her 2 weeks ago.
So what is Data Studio? – It is Google’s true data visualization tool
This is ALL it does
And it’s free
But it’s Beta
https://www.wired.com/2008/09/google-beta-means-what-we-say-it-means/
Monthly Overview from LunaMetrics
https://datastudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/0B3zl3GIjosRCQTRjdTlNSlNfc3M/page/L1Q
Data Studio Resources from Helpfulee (demo of all-the-things)
https://datastudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/0B2lgFyX5qOqhbFE5RllsdFdtMXc/page/0DlG
SEO Dashboard from Geoff Kenyon
https://datastudio.google.com/u/0/org//reporting/0B28KkM1NI8RyTW41Q0U4VFRuWXc/page/0MnD
Cut reporting time in 1/2
label information in a way the client will understand it (e.g. which page people visit when they come from Google) and thus clients ACTUALLY read the reports
Actually did annual reviews (my story about talking about it for 2 years and how I did it with Data Studio)
Interactive reports
Buggy – still in Beta
Things change – still in Beta
Can be sluggish
Currently free, but that could change
Note the sidebar navigation
7 pages
This template is more of an internal dashboard – single page
Note that you don’t even see any controls on the page
Change Report Title
Set Report Layout
Set Report Theme
Go back into Edit Mode
Apply Report Theme
Report-level vs. Page-level
Think PowerPoint
Change data
Rename metrics
Change the style, colors, legend, etc.
Multiple select
Copy/Paste
Set Data Source (if needed)
Can reset to Report Theme if needed
Select the item you want to add
Change the data information
Change the element to something different
Again, think PowerPoint
Align
Distribute
Share the reports or embed them
PDF functionality isn't native yet - use Google Data Studio PDF Export
Copy/Paste is your friend, even between reports
Need to make a lot of changes and have a similar report? Delete the report and make a copy of the similar report.
For quarterly, bi-annual or annual, just use the same report & change the timeframe