I know I rag on you a lot and also see a ton of ragging on you around the net. Seems like the in thing to do. But you make a lot of things I use everyday and I am very grateful for. So in this post I just wanted to say thank you and talk about them and what a difference they have made to our business.
Google Docs
Your Google Docs has changed a lot of the way I collaborate on documents. Since I started the ShoeMoney Newsletter I always first write it in Google docs then shoot over a email to Brienna to proof it. She corrects all my grammar and then sends me a email when she is done. Then I can grab it, post to aweber, fire it off and we’re good. Also we can be anywhere really while this process happens. Also the Excel clone is money. I love being able to ask one of our accountants to share a P/L sheet (like the Elite Retreat) with me and I don’t even have to talk to them after that. I can just look at the data. To me that’s pretty money. And now with Google Gears I can use it all offline too! Just in Microsoft office licenses I estimate we are saving about $1,000 with Google Docs.
Google Analytics
We used to spend a fortune both financially and resource wise on Urchin to do our Analytics. When Google took them over they made it free. Sure its not the only analytical resource I use on my site but its by far the most used. I also love the ability to give other people access to stats VERY easily. This works great for the initial phases of purchasing a website.
Google Webmaster Console
Google really pioneered the space with the webmaster console showing users directly how their pagerank flowed, how googlebot indexes their website and even what pages were returning errors. Outstanding product!
Google Website Optimizer
I can’t even begin to quantify the value of this tool. I think it’s by far the most underrated, underused Google provided tool. How do you put a value on something that shows you very easily that by “using x version of your page; has a 80% better chance of conversion then what you were doing before”.
For example:
.
To do this before we had to setup all are own tracking code and… man what a pain. Google Website Optimizer makes life so much easier 
Gmail For Your Domains
Basically gmail… but so you can use it for your own domains. I do not use this for shoemoney.com… for now we have our own mail servers but I have set it up for many local companies. Its fricking sweet. Its a PAIN IN THE ASS to run your own mail servers. For one its a server…. another one you have to maintain… security update… update spam stuff… pain…
One of my favorite parts was how you can easily add new users/delete and other stuff. Very cool stuff.
Google Ad Manager
This has made the most dramatic impact on us as of late. We used to use Openx/phpadsnew and it was very good but again… had to had its own server which meant security updates… server updates.. and just another point of failure. Not to mention saleability even with caching openx would go down if we got dugg so I would just not have the ads load if coming from digg… which was not ideal for advertisers.
Google Ad Manager also allows us to do better CPM deals with our advertisers and much more.
So if someone pinned me down on a figure I would estimate between server costs/ licensing fees/ hosting/bandwidth that these Google Services are saving us at least 25k per year.
So I just want to say, “Thank You Google!”
About the author...
Jeremy Schoemaker – who has written 2415 posts on ShoeMoney.com.
Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.
Images provided by ShutterStock
Why Do You Give A Crap About What People Think About You? 
Men (And Women) Of Honor – In An Industry That Does Not Have Much 
PPV Advertising 101 – Untap the Potential (Part 1 of 3) 
{ 147 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice post!! I use many of the above tools myself, and can agree that Google is a really great company in the end
I did not even know that Google offered such services, LOL
I never thought that you would actually thank google for anything, but google has been making a lot of changes lately and that could be the reason. Google claims to have let go of a lof of their recruits because of shady business practices. we’ll just have to see how much they have improved
Well, I ask myself everyday how the hell I survived in past without these Google services. I practically manage almost everything online using Google tools. Dig ‘em!
Google is the reason a ton of businesses even exist today. And they provide great advertising opportunities (instant traffic). But just wouldn’t put all my eggs in that basket… But that’s with anything.
as much as some pour hate on Google, its gotta be said that for a small business with limited Capital, Google has the vital tools necessary. I have recently found out about Google Analytic and its probably one of the best web tools I have ever encountered.
I’m sure this thread will forward around within the Googleplex–glad these products work well for you.
You hit so many nailheads there, Jeremy… I haven’t had the time to really get into GDocs yet, but I do love the analytics stuff. I have a problem with having a couple google accounts though, so I’m slowly trying to streamline them all into one.
Great post though! I love seeing a positive take when everything in the world is always so negative. Made me smile!
I would agree Google does have some really nice and amazing applications. I believe anyone running a website these days should use these Google applications to save money, make life just a lot easier, and the best part they all work really well together. Google is for sure blowing the competition out of the water on these apps.
Thanks for the great article Shoe!
Yup, I totally agree. There’s no competition for Google on the rate they’re going. Marvellous online apps.
Apps and services. Google give a lot out for free. There free stuff is awesome, even webmaster tools is helpful.
Google understands the online world. Google has everything you want online. With Google, you can start from $0 to $xxx per month
I strongly agree with you. I start blogging with blogspot blogs with some adsense running. Both are google product that earns me some money to pay for my own domain and hosting services. Even now, I’m still using Google services. Google is not a stepping stone but a partner for all webmasters should have with them.
I remember when that first became real big. Everyone was all over that. Still works. I see a lot of blogger blogs at the tops of the search engines, generating lots of traffic, and making good sums of money. Blogger was my first platform too. lol
you know why Dalirin ? because offer the best service for free as Atniz said about blogpot , everyday they improve blogspot options so much webmasters still use blogspot till today . also they earn much money from them service . i love Google
God dammit Shoe, your giving ‘money’ away! haha.
They are all great products from Google and is amazing at they have provided for free, they’re huge helps all round
Nice post. I use most of these tools already and agree that ‘Optimizer’ is completely underrated. As for Analytics, I would love to hear more about his:
I also love the ability to give other people access to stats VERY easily. This works great for the initial phases of purchasing a website.
Are you talking about the reports function in analytics, or is there something else I’m missing? Do you actually give people access to your stats, or simply print off reports.
Sorry for the dumb-ass question – I just didnt want to miss out an a great analytics feature.
You can give people access to your stats, so in the event that you’re building a website you’d eventually like to sell, then implementing Analytics off the bat, running the reports regularly, and then when ready, inviting someone to check them can help seal the deal so they know you’re not full of poopie.
I hope to see his stats too. Just wondering how much search engine traffic he gets daily or monthly.
yes exactly why… sometimes when companies do ad buys (usually something unique and custom) they want access to your full stats.
Also when buying a selling a website its makes it super easy to disclose stats.
I found Analytics better than statcounter.
Just that its slow
I love all the tools google has for people just starting out. I will continue to love them until them while I’m waiting for them to do something unforgivable to me.
Was this post just to balance out the hating going on recently? Did anything prompt it?
Actually at affiliate summit someone said something to me that was like “now, i know your one of those Google haters” and it kind of really struck me…. as weird. I have more money in Google stock then any other stock.
So I am definatly not a Google hater… also I proudly sport a Google backpack, and wear probably more Google shirts then any other.
Its just weird that I make so many negative posts about them. Anyway
I took your negative post about Google more as a, just don’t put all your eggs in their basket, post… That you should be diversified, and that there is more to the Internet and making money on it than just Google. So thanks Shoe for the good and the bad.
What gone wrong with your new marketplace experiment?
Its taken a back seat for now. It was something I developed for fun and people were deleting others listings (it wasnt very secure) I started getting a overwhelming amount of email about it and just canned it for now. I might bring it back in the future and do it right.
Oh ok, because I was also wondering where that initiative ended up?
Even though, Google has been me from Google Adsense. I really appreciate on what Google has provided us. Thank you Google. By the way, anyone got any program like Google Adsense?
How about thanks to Microsoft for getting everyone to have a computer?
MS have done WAY more than Google thus far. Google may get my thanks one day, but they’re not there yet.
Pete, Microsoft isn’t the only reason everyone has a computer… in fact, I thank Microsoft for making all their software so damned expensive which encouraged companies like Mozilla and Google to create free stuff.
If there were no Microsoft, there’d be no Windows, which means no standard platform for people to make programs for, no standard interface.
Microsoft, via Windows allowed the desktop computer age. Made computers simple enough for anyone to use.
Expensive? Sure. But is it worth it? Yes. If you want to money about money, bitch at Apple.
I doubt there would be a lack of a standard platform if there were no Microsoft, I think we would just be using something different. Microsoft and Google both have their respective successes, but like Mac users are showing the world Microsoft is not the end all to the PC.
I think we would have found a way to make all these things happen regardless of Microsoft, Google however has gone and done what Microsoft wouldn’t (not couldn’t) by making things more accessible to those who can’t (or won’t) pay for them.
I’m not sure you’re giving people enough credit here.
are you baiting a freebie like with intel??
nice post
Touche, lets just hope that Ad Manager stays free! From their FAQ:
Honestly I would be stunned if they ever charged for it. I think its smart to have a way out for them.
I would GLADLY pay 100$ a month for what Google Ad Manager does.
webmaster tools is the only google app i use.
You have missed a lot of things here. Hurry up and try out other apps too.
you even don’t use feedburner !
you should try some app from Google to help you .
if you know about google service you will use the most of them tools
Google is great and I use every tool Google provides, but what happens when they’re not there anymore?
When Google fails, there goes your business. I make sure everything I have on Google is backed-up.
Its not impossible for Google to fail but…. If I had to plan my business around every company that could possibly fail someday even though they are still producing incredible revenues I would get no where.
I will be the first to tell you I’m a Google-holic. You won’t hear a harsh word from me about Google, even though my first website that I ever made money on was buried by them, I still think their products are great and use them daily.
Great post they deserve a big thank you.
Great Post Indeed – I also use many of these Google tools and despite all the bad things that folks talk about they do have some great resources.
nice post! i use most of them and as a conclusion yes, i like google and the tools provided by it. simple and handy!
Google Docs is definitely a revelation. Office really has to run for its money now. Open Office is BRILLIANT and Google Docs is amazing.
Nice, positive post. I agree. Especially on Google Webmaster Tools.
When you say Webmaster Tools shows “users directly how their pagerank flowed”… where is this? Can you elaborate? I use Webmaster Tools but I’m still clueless as to which of my inbound links are valuable and which aren’t according to Google. Can someone tell me where this is in Webmaster Tools?
Check this out :
http://www.shoemoney.com/images/skitch//gwmt-20090120-143604.jpg
I use a lot of these tools and I happen to like them all. Google has some great tools that I continuously check throughout the day.
Hey Shoe, great post, you did mention that you use other analytic software for your sites…what do you use if fact what do other people use as well.?
Cheers
for web stats we also use webalizer on our log files.. can be good if you want to see actual hits that analytics does not record… like remote linked images and stuff like that.
As much as I love Google I can’t help but worry a bit about them having so much control and influence.
You are right, Jabna. Sometimes it’s scary knowing they have so much knowledge about you and your entire business. Pretty scary, but hey – should we worry when they say they won’t do any evil,
?
Jeremy,
Useful information. I have a bit of a challenge in getting my PPC campaigns going, (click-budget-funds) like every other newbie. Trying some coupons on Facebook and Yahoo before tackling Google adsense.
Thanks for your informative post!
Respectfully,
Nicholas Chase
http://www.twitter.com/nachase
Well, I don’t use this, I only use the Google Webmaster Tools. I may gonna try that, because seems nice…
I’ve been using Google Analytics for years I didn’t even realize they had other programs like the optimizer and console. I’ll defiantly be trying those out soon
optimizer is by far the most underrated tool in the arsenal
Lots of useful tools, but it’s Google Earth that I love the best.I spend hours at a time on it, I thinl I must be some sort of Geography geek
They sure offer a lot of free and powerful tools, it makes life a ton easier.
Taken individually each of these products is fantastic. When they’re combined and feeding the Google machine I have serious reservations about using them. If my market is the next one Google seeks (and probably succeeds) to dominate, aren’t I just providing them commercial intelligence of the most valuable sort?
Wow google is saving you lots of $$$ eh
And its also allowing you to make money.
Google provides the best free tools for small businesses, home-based entrepreneurs, and beginning Internet marketers. You’re right, Google has done more for us than we did for Google… hm, is that so?
)
Google is a company.
They make money from us in return.
We are the one who click their ads….
I am sure you are a google freak….lol
I never use google optimizer. My bad!
Not everyone or every company can get it right all of the time. Good to see some humility from you. I do like my Google.
TheBloggerSource.com
Wow.. saving $25k a year! I can buy a car cash using that money. I’m using google analytic and webmaster tool so far. And it is one of the frequently used tool. Haven
‘t check others yet. Thanks for the review. I will definitely check them out.
you are very max taking benefits from google service……very master in blog
great post
I’m already googling for those apps while reading your posts, I’ve never used Google Website Optimizer, I’ve a few e-commerce sites and I think I should start using them from now on, including the gmail for domains too!
Jeremy, Great post. I work with and for people that dislike google because they feel their information is being,,,,blah blah. I love all the products they have. Have you used the custom search engine. One of my faves!!!
I wear my Shoemoney shirt with pride
Google rocks eh :p. they really do, no matter what we say, we can’t live without it. 25K annual savings is really something..
Google is dishonest. Your site will never get indexed organically until you pay them tens of thousands of dollars for their adwords scam. To me that does a disservice to the average web user not in the game who uses their search engine.
Adsense, what a joke, it does not pay near enough, and when it does they try to rip you off.
They go out of their way with all this chaotic crap to protect them from spam yet their methods are a breeding ground for the clever scammers and hackers to flourish.
They are not near as genius as they think they are.
Also you can thank them for creating the environment that spawned the whole dirty crooked SEO industry to grow as it has.
Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer are cruel tools they use to market their crap. So many use them in hopes it will help them grow and make money yet statistics show most fail and have wasted so much time and money. It’s a clever marketing tool to hook the sheep but at the end of the day its is cruel and leaves many hopefuls with a very bad taste in their mouth. But Google does not care, it’s a numbers game, and they know new sheep with visions of success will sign up each and every day.
As this recession is proving, anyone who thinks they are bullet proof from business ethics is sorely mistaken. I look forward to the day these too big for their britches Google boys get knocked down a peg or two.
I really hope that with all the Wallstreet corruption that has been exposed that this trend bleeds down into every corner of the internet and exposes the scum. Maybe even though these will be tough times because our economy has been so full of corruption maybe we need it to purge all the crooks and evil out of it so we can leave a new clean slate for our children to build a new honest economy again. Tough Love!
If you do not post my comments I will lose all respect for you!
Hate to burst your bubble, this blog is mainly a big advertisement and the commenters are for the most part a bunch of hiney licking Shoemoney wannabe groupies.
If you came here for intelligent debate on industry issues you came to the wrong place.
No, we came here for exactly the posts shoe makes, and the comments his fans make. We know what we are getting — if you dont like it “Hey Guy”, fook off to one of your industry issues websites.
Congrats to Obama! I hope you can clean all the dirt and rats out of our economy and make capitolism a good word again!
Google is Best out of the Best.
Got to ask, was the Google Gestapo legal team looking over your shoulder for this post?
I cannot agree more, actually I wrote a similar post weeks ago
Edward
Frontier Blog
http://www.hwswworld.com/wp
Hey Jeremy is it possible for you to have stories on affiliates and conversions ?
That would be really nice.
We’ve been using Google’s tools for years as well… Can’t stand when folks complain about Google… Google gives away so much kick-ass software…
Between Google and my OpenOffice… I’m all set… and for free.
BTW SHOEMONEY – Your comment form has some kind of bug in it. It remembered me and pre-filled my information, but it tagged on the “(required)” text to each field… hence making my email address invalid when I went to submit my comment.
What sucks is when you click in to edit it, it goes blank and you can’t edit it, but if you double click in the field it’ll give you the prefill option if you are using FF.
Yeah, I forgot to mention that annoying feature. Nice work around…
Hopefully he fixes it.
Shoe,
Not here to lick your hiney by the way. Anyway, I’m a big fan of all these Google Apps they have really leveled the playing field for the “little” guy. Thanks Google
Little brown nosing going on, shoe?
Yes, Shoe, great post.
Thanks is in order to Google. Hail to the chief. Whether you love them or hate them, their webmaster services are the bomb!
when Jeremy say ” Thank you Google ” what we ” the small bloggers ” say ??
really they offer nice service helps us , yesterday i moved my feeds from feedburner to feedburner.google because the old site what make troubles to my feeds but i trust that google will improve feedburner after it becomes under google’s hands .
Thank you Google
Congratulation to google and shoemoney for all …
Yeah I am also agree with bandwith issues. They certainly save a great amount of money and fast loading as well.
But however we do know about these tools, and we would really appreciate if you will tell us how you are using it and for what purpose as well.
Just a few hints will work.
It’s beyond refreshing to see someone giving a wee tip of the hat to the big ‘G’ rather than yet another negative tirade about how they’re the new MS. The truth is, Google does many things exceedingly well, exceedingly free and we should all stop to commend them more often.
I honestly have been looking for that ad manager and this optomizer thing is new to me. Google is awesome for this, they always have been but I would be afraid to base everything around them.
It’s sorta like the saying, “You can’t put all your eggs in one basket” cause if Goolge some how drops the ball your eggs are gone.
Google has been great with innovation. They have something that Microsoft didn’t have a the tech giant a few years ago.
Analytics is a great tool. Helps to see where I should be focusing my attention.
Nice informative post. Though I have been using few of the tools mentioned here, I have never used the Google Website Optimizer, but now I think I’d give it a try. Its true that google is helping the small websites and bloggers a lot by providing such useful tools for free. Thanx Google!
I have use google webmaster optimizer and google anaylytic. Google analytic is for my blog monitor. I can see the detail who people are visiting my site. I think i should try Google doc for next after read this article. Really nice.
Yeah, Google webmaster tools is really useful. I suggest to everyone…
Google Webmaster Tools is really useful. I suggest to everyone…
Just Analytics is enough to be thankful for! That alone saves me hundreds of dollars a month on what I was spending not all that many years ago.
Great list.
Google tools are really the best. I use almost all of it and I think they are perfect! Good post!
Google website optimizer is indeed over looked it. Try to use it instead of others application. Thanks
I’ll grant you that they’ve got quite a few positives……now if we could only work on their negatives…..
jeremy i agree with you, these google guys are the best no thought.
Googe is great. It influenced a lot in a positive way most online businesses.
Great post. I personally love the innovation that Google has brought to so many facets of the IT industry. And unlike the competition that cries to regulators all of this innovation is free
Yes, lots of things Google give are free. I guess that’s it’s way of giving back to the community that has given it SO much money,
Google is great. I blog about google on a daily basis. Google Analytics and Website Optimizer are both excellent tools and often times overlooked. I am creating a video series that shows the best way to use the tools.
I’d also like to give some props to their keyword tool(s). Great, fast info.
Thanks for a good post….as a beginner this is useful for me
A lot of people give Google a hard time, as if Google owes them rankings, but the fact is that Google is the second-best set of free services in the world. (Sorry Google, Mother Nature outranks you there!)
Are there any feature comparisons of google webmaster tools to your shoemoney tools anywhere. I’d be interested to see just how much better your tools are than googles.
Wow, at least 25k per year is a heck of a lot of money. You really owe Google a lot of thanks, Jeremy, not just for this, but also for those days with the huge monthly adsense check
. So, Google is our friend, if we want it to be and our enemy if we want it to be.
Hi, Jeremy!
Good post. I’ve recently discovered Google Website Optimizer. It really blew me away! It’s really a bomb if used for Squeze Pages or Sell Pages.
For some of my sites I’ve implemented Google Analytics and it seems the most powerful site tracker that I’ve come across.
Thank you, Jeremy & Thank you, Google!
Luca.
That’s funny that you did this post. But great post. I actually went to a couple of the programs that I wasn’t using that I thought would be helpful and added them to my repertoire.
I’m absolutely in love with Google Analytics. I really like that I can setup goals, and tell where my registrations come from. I can track this back to see not just where my visitors came from, but what ad campaigns actually generate the most signups.
I thought I was on top of things, but I’ve never even heard of Google Website Optimizer. I’m off to check that out now.
Terry
I agree Google has some really nice and amazing applications and, in many of them, they haven’t got any competition.
In the opposite site if a company doesn’t have any competitor, can ends being a monopoly.
Thanks, the tip about Google Website Optimizer alone made this worth reading.
I’m really fond of Google Analytics. And it seems like it’s the most believable stat counter when you’re flipping websites also.
I agreed, Google is the BEST Companies
Google surely has a lot of useful feature aren’t they?!
I agree Google is great for websites, Analytics is great plus its free.
Where would we all be without google?
many people rich due to google.
yes, we have to say thanks.
i don’t know how is internet now without google.
it must be seems empty.
Google really pioneered the space with the webmaster console showing users directly how their pagerank flowed, how googlebot indexes their website and even what pages were returning errors. Outstanding product! —> how i wish i will have that one…
Google is leading the way. I have heard documentaries saying all big companies make mistake and go down. They are waiting for Google to do that, But i dont think so. Google rocks
Next we will have Google cookie recipes and Google appliances to content with.
I am also saying thanking to Google for Blogpost.
Google Ads Manager, Wow! Just what I needed and never knew existed. Thanks
I also love the wide array of google tools, but I haven’t really looked into the website optimizer. But I will now! Thanks for the pointer Shoe.
Google tools really making things easier and better, and good thing about it is it is continuesly getting improved, I also want to say thank you google.
I’m using Google AdSense on my blog, but still not making any money yet.any suggestion,Shoe?I’m new on all these stuffs. Terima kasih, thank you. Greetings from Bali, Indonesia!!
Many people seem to complain about google but when you think about it, they have a great business model… Give out great stuff free and then monetize them by the sheer volume of people. Kinda like this site…
Really Amazing
Thanks for the great article.
Regards
kalil
I have using google webmaster optimizer and google anaylytic. Thank Google
Analytic are great but why didn’t you mention adsense?
Google is the best.Ilike them
Great post, I never have used Google Website optimizer but I think I will give it a shot.I use gmail and it is easy set it up with thunderbird.
Webmaster tools and analytics are the best! I use wordpress and there’s a plugin that enables analytics to work within it
I use just about all of those tools. I do need to learn how to use the website optimizer. 3 cheers for google!
Google definately has quite a few great tools.
I like all these tools as well.
Yes, you`re right! Google Mail is the greatest mail server. If you use gmail you can easly connect from any place to your e-mail and send e-mails direct from your computer. We are waiting to see what`s new in 2010. I heard something new, Google Caffeine, new factor for search engines.
Have a nice day,
Julian
I don’t know what we’d do at our site without the Google Webmaster Tools or Analytics. There’d be no really good way to track how my site’s going.
And of course, gmail. Ah, where would I have been without you before they set up my proper domain email address?
Wow Dick, that was deep.