Back several years ago at the big “agency”, we charged client’s a pretty penny for an article clipping service. This kept the client (and us) up to speed whenever the press picked up a release or the client made the news in some way. We also kept track of competitors as well.
Now you can do this for free with Google Alerts. Just type in the keywords you want to track, enter your email address and the frequency you want to be updated, and you’ll get email updates when any content concerning those keywords is added to the World Wide Web.
Google Alerts can dramatically cut down on prospecting time by keeping you up to clued in on any activity posted on the web relating to clients, prospects, key contacts, RFPs, special events, whatever.
For example, say you want to track news on a key contact within a company. Enter their name and company and press enter. Takes about 30 seconds.
Don’t overlook one of the most important uses of Google Alerts, which is to track info about you or your company. Enter your name, your company name, your web address, your blog URL and any possible variations of these such as:
- http://www.sitename.com
- www.sitename.com
- sitename.com
If you want to take managing your reputation to the next level, check out Social Media Trader’s post that provides several other tools.
How do you use Google Alerts? Please let me know.
