Google Alerts - Power For Your home Based Business
Google Alerts - Power For Your home Based Business
As you are aware Google is by far the most powerful website on the planet. They have the power to make millionaires with their amazing search engine and also the power to send people into bankruptcy with there ever increasing ‘Google Slap’.
Nevertheless they have an arsenal of tools which can assist you with your home base business. The one we are going to take a look at today is the Google Alerts tool.
What Is Google Alerts?
Google Alerts is a service offered by Google which monitors the online activity of your chosen topic. Your topic can be anything which you are interested in.
Most home based business owners use Google Alerts to track the level of activity of their own business online. This can be your own name. If you are branding yourself online it would be advantageous to find out what is being said about you by other people. It can be your company and their products / services. It can be keywords which you are targeting. Whatever your topic is Google Alerts will email you of the latest online activity of it.
Google Alert Form
How To Get Going With Google Alerts
Google Alert Form
- Create a Google Account. This will enable you to see all your alerts in one place. Plus it will give you access to other useful Google tools. This is optional, but recommended.
- Visit Google Alerts.
- Enter your chosen search term (your topic).
- Type selects the media format to which the alert relates, News, Blog, Web, Comprehensive, Video or Groups (I would advise you select comprehensive).
- How often, determines the rate at which you want to be alerted to your search term. As-it-happens, once a day or once a week.
- Email length, sets how many alerts you want to receive in one email. Up to 20 results or up to 50 results.
- Deliver to is where you will like the alert to go, either your email address or a feed.
- Hit the Create Alert Button
- Repeat steps 3 to 8 for other search terms which you want to be alerted about.
If you are searching your own name I would advise you to put it in phrase terms “Dwayne Huggins”, this way you will cut down on the amount of other people’s information who have either the same first or last name as you.
The Benefits Of Using Google Alerts For Your Home Based Business
You can use this tool to ‘spy’ on your competition. You can see what articles, videos, blog post etc they are putting out there, and you also get to see where they are putting their content (there may be a high PR site they are using which you don’t know about).
Tracking the use of your keywords is also very important. You can gage the frequency and volume of fresh content related to your keywords.
You can monitor all search terms relating to your niche. This can give you ideas for keywords and content.
You can monitor the media types people tend to use. If a strong competitor of yours is using article marketing as their main marketing strategy, maybe you could consider doing video marketing or Facebook marketing.
View Google Alerts as your own personal home based business crystal ball. It has its eyes where yours aren’t, giving you insight to what you may of missed.
Are You Using Google Alerts?
If yes I would like to hear how you are using it, maybe you know something I don’t. Please share your value.
If no I would advise you to check it out. It’s free, as you can see it can be very valuable to your business. Once it’s set up it just runs until you tell it to stop. I can’t see any reason why you wouldn’t use it. If you can think of one I’d like to hear it also.
Test out Google Alerts. Sign up for the service. Use your name as the search term / topic. Come back here and comment (you can use various sign-in options to comment on my blog just make sure it has your name in it). See if you get an alert for your comment.
Comment away.
Set Alerts to stay aware.
Dwayne
P.S – New here? Like what you have read? Want to be alerted of the next installment?
No problem. Fill out your name and email address in the box below and your wish will be my command.
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