aboutourwork:

We’ve all done it. Call it egosurfing, vanity searching, egosearching… we’ve all searched our own first and last name to find out to see what pops up. Whether we’ve done it for entertainment purposes or to manage your personal rep, it’s actually smart to do so from time-to-time to ensure that you maintain a positive personal image online.

When it comes to your business though, it’s critically important to know what’s being said about your business in the press, by your customers, and even your competitors… in real-time.

There are several tools that can monitor your business and its brand - for a price. Luckily Google has a handy yet often overlooked tool that’s been around a little while to help you monitor your business online called Google Alerts. And the good news, it’s free. 

Google Alerts is a monitoring/notification tool that monitors the web 24/7 for whatever keyword or phrase that you give it and emails you whenever it finds that phrase in a new web page, news story, video, or blog.

If you’re a small business, here are the top phrases to monitor:

Your Company Name:  If you don’t monitor anything else, monitor your company name. You need to know when your name is mentioned, whether good or bad - immediately. If a customer praises you, thank them. If your competitor says something negative, address it. 

Your Competition:  It’s always good to know what the competition is up to and setting up an alert to track them is a good way to know what they’re up to in real time

Your Business Partners:  Create alerts for your key business partners (customers, vendors, etc.) Whenever an alert pops up for them, be sure to let them know… good or bad. It’s an easy way to show that you care.

Google Alerts is a simple yet powerful tool to help monitor the reputation of your business online. It’s free, takes less than 5 minutes to set up and once you do, it’s in the background, only emailing you when it finds a phrase that you give it. Keep in mind though, Google Alerts only provides content from Google’s own search engine. 

Check it out today. Google.com/Alerts.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/158371508748