The Art of Monitoring Your Online Presence with Google Alerts
by Ann Kaleshnik at ZD Design Agency
Doing an internet search of your company is a great way to see your competition and how customers think of your business. A quick Google or Yahoo search can provide reviews, blogs, and news articles that include your specific search word or words (in this case your name or your company name).
However, many businesses have never taken the time to do this and if they have it probably isn’t done on a regular basis. And a constant update is what can help your business get ahead of the competition. This is where Google Alerts helps.
Google Alerts is a free email update system that sends an alert to your inbox when a new search result is created based on a particular topic. That particular topic is of your choosing. For example, let’s say you work in the hospitality industry and want to know every time your hotel’s name has been mentioned on other websites, blogs or social media accounts.
Google Alerts send an e-mail based on your set delivery times, which can be as they happen, to daily or weekly. The alerts allow you to be aware of the good, bad and ugly information posted about your business. Seeing these alerts in a timely manner allows businesses to have a glimpse of public perception and what bloggers or writers are putting out there.
Another advantage to Google Alerts is that you can also keep tabs on your competitors. It’s a great way to have an inside view into how your competition is interacting with their customers, any new products or services they might be offering, and what their customers think about them. Just set up an alert with your biggest competitors name and see what kind of customer review feedback they are getting and what press they are receiving.
Bottom Line: Google Alerts helps businesses be aware of everything being said about them on the internet. It is great way to track all the positive things being said and also create awareness about the negative comments so businesses can correct and adjust business practices.
To try Google Alerts just follow the easy steps below:
1. Visit http://www.google.com/alerts and sign into your Google account.
2. Create a new search by typing in any relevant information in the following categories:
- Search Terms (This is where you would type in your business’s name, industry, or competitor)
- Type (You can pick the specific source the result generated i.e. blog, news, discussion, or you can simply select everything.
- How Often (Pick how often you would like to be updated)
- Volume (This is the newest feature, you can chose if you want all the results or just the best)
- Deliver to (you can chose to have the alerts sent to your Google email or to another address)
Try it out! Google Alerts is a great way to stay in the loop and ahead of your competitors.
