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Using Google Alerts To Help Your Business
t times it seems that Google Alert, all that you need
Google releases more new to do is visit the Google Alerts
products and services than homepage
we can keep track of. From Google (http://www.google.com/alerts),
Calendar and Google Video, to enter the search term, type of
Google Base, Google Finance, and alert (search Google News, Google
Google Trends, it can be Groups, or the web), frequency of
overwhelming just to remember emails (daily, as it happens, or
what each one does. One of the weekly), and your email address.
oft overlooked hidden gems in You can set up alerts for as many
Google's enormous offering is terms as you like using a Google
Google Alerts. Within minutes, Account. So why would you want an
one can be signed up for email unlimited amount of alerts?
alerts that can give them and Because as a business owner, you
their business a leg up on the have a lot to keep track of and
competition. Alerts can be used very limited time to do it.
to spy on competitors, keep track
of what people are saying about Spy on Your Competitors
your business, or follow an
important news story. Every business has a competitor.
More likely, you have several
How Does It Work direct competitors and several
more indirect competitors. While
Google Alerts sends you an email regularly checking out their
each time a new page for your websites is an important part of
chosen term makes it in the top the process, it doesn't paint the
twenty results on Google's web whole picture. A competitor's
search. You can also have the website is very much crafted to
alert check Google News and/or the image that they want to
Google Groups. To sign up for a portray to their customers. This
is great if you want to know what you can be on top of any sudden
their latest sale is or how much changes and react accordingly. By
their new product costs, but it the time your competition
isn't likely to feature a realizes what's happening they
negative review in last Sunday's will be scrambling to catch up to
newspaper. you.
That's where Google Alerts comes Track Yourself and Your
in. By simply setting up a News, Business
Groups, and search alert for each
of your competitors, you will It goes without saying, if it's
know what other people are saying important to know what people are
about your competition - both the saying about your competitors and
media and consumers, both good about your industry, it would
and bad. stand to reason that it's
important to know what people are
Keep Up To Date on Your saying about you. I have Google
Industry Alerts on both my name and my
businesses name. I know that they
Equally as important as what go hand in hand - if one is
people are saying about your getting slandered you better bet
competition is what people are it will hurt the other. By
saying about your industry in receiving alerts, you can be on
general. If there's a negative PR top of anything negative relating
swing against violent video to you or your business, and
games, and you just happen to run hopefully nip any problem in the
a video game store, you will bud before it grows too large. On
probably be affected. By the flip side, there's nothing
receiving alerts on important key better than receiving an alert
words related to your industry, where someone praises your
business. Those are the types of the online community. This works
things that you want to make sure well for blogs too - if you have
are on the PR page of your a daily blog about being an
businesses website. entrepreneur, having an alert for
the word "entrepreneur" can fetch
Get News Stories for Your Site you several quality stories each
or Blog day to help inspire fresh posts.
I own a site where I do weekly In this increasingly competitive
news updates about what's going business world, you need each and
on in the industry. Some weeks, every leg up on your competition
there are tons of news items to that you can get. Used properly,
choose from, other weeks it's Google Alerts can be an extremely
hard to find anything. In efficient way to track what's
addition to the regular industry going on across the web. The
news sites that I check to get alternative would be to search
information, I have Google Alerts each term every day for new
set up for each of the key terms. updates. Who has time for that?
You'd be surprised how frequently Spending less time researching
a unique story from a local enables you to spend more time on
newspaper pops up in Google News. the things important to your
Many times these stories haven't business.
been seen by my competitors and I
am able to "break" the news to
About the Author:
Adam McFarland owns iPrioritize - simple to-do lists that can be edited at any time from any place in the world. Email, print, check from your mobile phone, subscribe via RSS, and share with others.
Read more articles by: Adam McFarland
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
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