I sent the same link to three Slack channels last Tuesday and realized I had zero way of knowing which one drove the 47 signups I saw that morning. Honestly, it was a bit of a wake-up call - I had been relying on guesswork to optimize my outreach efforts. Look, I know it sounds silly now, but I had been using a simple curl command to shorten my links, without any real insight into how they were performing.
Why curl wasn't enough
I was using curl to shorten my links, and then sharing them across different channels. But the problem was, I had no way of tracking which links were actually driving conversions. I could see the overall number of signups, but I had no idea which specific link was responsible. I tried using requests in Python to fetch the link metrics, but it was a bit of a hacky solution. The thing is, I was trying to solve a problem that wasn't really solvable with just curl and requests. I needed a more robust solution that could give me real-time insights into my link performance.
The spreadsheet that saved my sanity
I decided to try out Next.js with Postgres and Vercel, to see if it could help me streamline my link tracking. I was looking at the device breakdown in LinkCut, and noticed that a significant portion of my traffic was coming from mobile devices. This was a surprise, as I had assumed that most of my traffic would be from desktop users. I started using custom slugs in LinkCut to track specific links, and set up a spreadsheet to collate the data. It was a bit of a tedious process, but it gave me a much clearer picture of how my links were performing. The spreadsheet became my go-to tool for tracking link performance, and it really helped me optimize my outreach efforts.
When this approach falls apart
But here's the thing - this approach isn't perfect. There are definitely some caveats to using Next.js with Postgres and Vercel. For one, it can get pretty expensive to scale, especially if you're dealing with a large volume of traffic. I also found that the free plan on LinkCut had some limitations - I was only able to create 5 links per month, which wasn't enough for my needs. And let's be real, setting up a Postgres database and configuring Vercel can be a bit of a pain, especially if you're not familiar with the tech. I'm not sure this is the best approach for everyone, but it worked for me.
The thing is, I'm still figuring out the best way to track my links, and I'm not sure I've found the perfect solution yet. Has anyone else had to deal with the frustrations of link tracking, and found a better way to do it?
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