Ever get tired of googling your name or company to see what’s being said? Would you like to get that information in real-time instead of when you remember to do it? One way to do just that is through Google Alerts.
At the insisting of Cosmopolitician, I just started using Google Alerts and wanted to give a quick and dirty tutorial on how to set them up. It’s ridiculously easy.
1. First go to the Google Alerts homepage: http://www.google.com/alerts
2. Type in the search term you want to get alerted for. For example, I searched drmiggy.
3. Decide if you want a comprehensive search or if you want something more specific. If you are only interested in what bloggers are saying about you then you can search only blogs.
4. Determine the frequency of your alerts. I am searching them “as-it-happens” because I’m not expecting a whole lot of activity for drmiggy, but if you are searching a more general term and don’t want your inbox inundated then you can choose to have them sent less frequently.
5. Type in the email address you want the alerts sent to and click the “create alert” button.
6. If you want to be really thorough you can create several alerts for different permutations of your original search term. I also search “dr.miggy” in case people use the period. Also if you are searching a phrase like “doctor miggy” then I would use quotes to be on the safe side. I don’t want an alert for every time someone uses the word “doctor”.
7. Now sit back and wait for your alerts. After about a day, start to feel like no one loves you because they aren’t talking about you.
8. When you get an alert in your inbox just follow the link and decide if it’s relevant to you. For example if someone is singing your praises on their blog you can read about it and even comment. Ditto if you are getting dogged. Eventually I might only search my name in blogs, because I’m not sure there’s going to be a whole lot of “News” about drmiggy, but who knows? Maybe one day I’ll do something cool like TrueLightTracy and get interviewed by ABC.
It could happen.
I am so glad you posted this, I’ve ben wondering what the hell this was.
Thanks, Dr. Miggy! You rock.
By: Dr. Ding on August 5, 2008
at 6:34 pm
I think I will sign up for Dr. Miggy Google Alerts, too.
By: F. on August 5, 2008
at 9:42 pm
Thanks for posting this. I went back into my Google alerts and added a few more and made some edits.
I also shared this post with Jay Lee and how he could set up alerts for himself and flickr photos.
By: Imelda on August 12, 2008
at 12:12 pm
[...] got a reminder today from Dr. Miggy’s recent post about how useful Google Alerts can be. Google Alerts, like it sounds, send you emails when any term [...]
By: Hello. My name is … » Archive » Who’s talking about you? on August 12, 2008
at 12:22 pm