Admit it, you’ve Googled your name at least once. But how often do you Google your business name?
If you’re like most business owners or marketing managers, you don’t have time to Google your business name or the latest industry trends every day. And you don’t actually have to, thanks to Google Alerts. This FREE (yes, 100% free) and super easy-to-use tool, you can get the latest articles on absolutely any topic you choose, including your business name.
Google Alerts send you emails notifying you about the latest articles about anything you want!
Once you’ve set up your Google Alerts (see below on how to do this), you’ll then start receiving the latest news on the topics of your choosing at the frequency you’ve set. There are so many reasons this is handy, such as:
Keeping an eye on your online reputation: Create alerts for your own business name. If someone is talking about your business online, you’ll know.
Staying in the loop with industry news: Ensure you know what’s happening with the products you sell, the services you offer and your industry in general.
Knowing what your competitors are up to: If you’re going to keep an eye on your own online reputation, it doesn’t hurt to ensure you’re not being outdone too. Add in alerts for some of your top competitors’ names too.
Being aware of any legislation changes: Did you know legislation around hiring contracted workers changed recently? By targeting ATO news and relevant business news sites, you won’t ever be out of the loop again.
Well, anything you want: Literally any topic you want the top daily (or weekly) articles on, you can set up to be sent you.
To create Google Alerts, all you need is a Google Account.
How to set up Google Alerts:
- Sign into your Google account.
- Head to https://www.google.com.au/alerts.
- In the ‘Create an alert about…’ search bar, type the topic you want to receive alerts about.
- Before you click ‘Create Alert’, press ‘Show Options’ and select how often you’d like to receive alert emails, what type of content you want to receive, the area the content comes from and what email to send to.
- Click ‘Create Alert’.
- Wait until the next day (or week) for your first email.
- To delete an alert, sign into your account, head back to the link above and click the rubbish bin symbol next to the alert you wish to delete.
Google has plenty of other free tools to play with, like Google Drive.
Did you know you can create interactive forms, word documents and spreadsheets, store images, check on the latest trending Googled topics and more, all for free? These are some of our favourite FREE Google tools.
Check out some of our latest articles:
A list of free small business workshops in Queensland.
Top 7 reasons to upgrade to a HTML5 website.
What is WordPress? The pros, cons and prices guide, without the lingo.
WordPress or HTML5 website builder—Pros, cons & hacks.