Sometimes it seems like Google is releasing new products and services beyond what we can track. From Google Calendar and Google Video, to Google Base, Google Finance, and Google Trends, it can be hard to remember just what each one does. One of the hidden treasures is often overlooked in Google's great contribution by Google Alerts. In a few minutes, one can sign up for email alerts that can give them and their business a leg up in the competition. Warnings can be used to spy on competitors, track what people say about your business, or track important news stories.
How does this work
Google Alert email you every time a new term page you choose makes it one of the top 20 search results on Google Web Search. You can also receive notification from Google News and / or Google Groups. To sign up for Google Alert, all you have to do is visit the Google Alerts homepage (http://www.google.com/alerts), enter a search term, type a warning (search for Google News, Google Groups, or web), email frequency (daily, as it happens, or weekly), and your email address. You can set as many conditional alerts as you like using a Google Account. So why would you want an unlimited amount of warnings? Because as a business owner, you have a lot to follow and a limited amount of time to do it.
Check out your Competitors
Every business has a competitor. Most likely, you have a few direct competitors and a few indirect competitors. Although regular monitoring of their websites is an important part of the process, it does not paint the whole picture. The competitor's website is largely based on the image they want to present to their customers. This is great if you want to know what their latest sales are or how much their new product costs, but it will not produce a negative review in last Sunday's newspaper.
This is where Google Alerts comes into play. By simply organizing news, Teams, and search queries for each competitor, you'll know what other people have to say about your competition - both media and consumers, both good and bad.
Keep up-to-date with industry information
Equally important what people say about your competition is what people say about your industry as a whole. If there is a negative PR throw against violent video games, and you happen to be running a video game store, you will probably be affected. By receiving alerts about key keywords related to your industry, you can be on top of any sudden changes and respond appropriately. When your competition realizes what is happening, they will be trying to find you.
Follow yourself and your business
Of course, if it is important to know what people are saying about your competitors and your industry, it would make sense to know what people are saying about you. I have Google notifications for both my name and my business name. I know they are compatible - if one is slandered, it is better to bet it will hurt the other. By accepting warnings, you can be on top of anything bad about you or your business, and hopefully solves any problem before it gets too big. On the other hand, there is nothing better than getting a warning when someone compliments your business. Those are the kinds of things you want to make sure are on the PR page of your business website.
Find News for Your Site or Blog
I have a site where I do weekly news updates about what is happening in the industry. In some churches, there are tons of news to choose from, in other churches it is hard to find anything. In addition to the regular news sites in the industry I browse for information, I have Google Ads organized for each keyword. You may be surprised to learn that a different story often appears in a local newspaper in Google News. Many times these stories have not been seen by my competitors, and I am able to "break" the news in the online community. This works well for blogs - if you have a daily blog about being an entrepreneur, having the word "entrepreneur" warning can bring you a few quality stories each day to help promote new posts.
In this increasingly competitive business world, you need each leg at the top of your competition to win. Used properly, Google Alerts can be a very effective way to track activity across the web. Alternatively, it can search each term daily for new updates. Who has time for that? Spending less time researching allows you to spend more time on the important things in your business.
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