by Dean Chafee
Would you like to be alerted daily about new sites, blogs or newsgroups that may have popped up that refer to you or your website?
Google has a feature called Google Alerts that can do just that. This is a great way to stay aware of your "internet footprint" and possibly protect your reputation and/or identity.
It's easy. If you have a Google account, sign in and click on the My Account link at the upper right. In your list of Services, click on the Alerts link. Here you can create a new Google Alert with the search terms, type (areas to search), how often including "as-it-happens", and your email address. Click the Create Alert button. That's it. Now every time new Google content matches your search terms you will receive an email about it.
If you don't currently have a Google Account, you will need to sign up for one to use this feature. Simply go to www.google.com and click the Sign In link in the upper right corner, then click the 'Create an account now' link. The sign up is quick and easy and you can take advantage of other Google account features like Personalized Home and Search History which are also very useful.
I suggest creating at least one alert for your full name, and make sure to enclose it in quotes for proper results, and another for each web site you own and/or operate. For example, I receive a daily search results for my name "Dean Chafee" and another for my primary website "www.howtofixyourstuff.com".
You can also use this feature for tracking news about your favorite sports figure or celebrity.
This is actually very informative to see who may have picked up one of my published articles or created a link to my website. The daily search gives you an incremental result that is, at least for my small footprint, very easy to manage.
Try it, you'll like it!
About the Author
Get your fix at www.HowToFixYourStuff.com. A community of People Helping People Fix Stuff.
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