Handy Tool: Google Alerts

Did you already know about this handy Google tool? I’ve been using Google Alerts for some time to stay on top of a few important search terms. My up-to-the-minute results show up in my email inbox!

“Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.

Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:

- monitoring a developing news story
- keeping current on a competitor or industry
- getting the latest on a celebrity or event
- keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams”

I use a Google Alert to receive notifications any time someone posts something about my shop, In My Head Studios. My search terms are “In My Head Studios” (and the quotes are included in the search term so that all the words return results) and “inmyheadstudios”. If someone blogs about me or features my products, I get an email from Google. I would not have known about some articles about me any other way. So this is a super handy tool to use.

Each week I also set up an alert for the Shop of the Week. This week I have an alert for “Angel Kisses Jewelry”. I know about the blog posts the team is doing and can go comment on them and thank them for blogging the Shop of the Week. This is especially useful if you are Shop of the Week so you know about who is blogging and sometimes tweeting about your shop.

You can choose how often you would like to receive updates: daily, weekly, or as-it-happens. You can also choose the types of results it returns as well, like News, Blogs, Video, or a Comprehensive search. I leave mine set at Comprehensive so I don’t miss anything.

Let Google Alerts do all the work for you! It’s like having a personal shopper finding goodies on the web just for you!