Google Alerts, that is. Do you use them? I am very fond of them and think they are an absolute must for monitoring your internet presence - a big part of marketing. (This is essentially a recycled post, but I bet there's a bunch of you who haven't read it.)For those of you who are unfamiliar with Google Alerts, here's a blurb from the Google website about what this nifty function does:
Google Alerts are emails sent to you when Google finds new results -- such as web pages, newspaper articles, or blogs -- that match your search term. You can use Google Alerts to monitor anything on the Web. For example, people use Google Alerts to:
- find out what is being said about their company or product.
- monitor a developing news story.
- keep up to date on a competitor or industry.
- get the latest news on a celebrity or sports team.
- find out what's being said about themselves.
If you aren't using Google Alerts, please do! It's the best way to track your image through the web and find out what people are saying about you. You can track as many terms as you like with this tool, even your competition or things you just like to follow. I recommend you at least follow your name or author pseudonym and your book title(s). Maybe you also want to follow your agent or editor, up to you. You can specify how often you get the alert so you aren't inundated and you can end at any time. Sign up for your alerts here.
How do you use Google Alerts? Has it been helpful for you?
