Each day I monitor not just my own Google alerts but those of my clients as well. If you are wondering what people have to say about your business you should be using Google Alerts as well.

Getting started is easy, simply go to Google Alerts and complete the form.

Of course like any web based tool, there are always a few tricks:

1. Don’t just track your company name, track the names of your products and services.

2. Track your name and executives names as well. If you own a blog, consider tracking the names of your main writers. This will let you know  when ever a news article or blog mentions their names.

3. Think like a search engine.

Track phrases by using “quotations” and ” -negative keywords”. For example my name is Karrine unfortunately I share this name with a video vixen who receives a lot more press then I do so I search  “Karrine -Steffans”.

Things to Google Alert:

Your name

Your business name

Your executives names

Your product names

Your competitors business names

Your competitors Executives names

Industry phrases with quotations