Thursday, August 19, 2010

Google Alerts

One of the best ways to track every time your name, your books, your website/blog is talked about is to set up google alerts.  I have been pleasantly surprised over and over again to find out the places where others are mentioning me or my books.  With the help of google alerts, you can instantly find the websites  that are talking about you.

To set up an alert, go to your google account page.  On your profile page, you'll see an icon labelled alerts, click on manage and set up your own personal alerts.  One tip though, add "quotes " around your search parameters so the search will be specific to you, for example "Debra L Martin."  At first I didn't know about this little trick and I got alerts every time the name "Debra" was mentioned and trust me, there's a lot of Debras in the world.

So if you want to know who's talking about you, set up your alerts and you'll soon be finding out.  Along the way, you might even find new blogs to follow and great new friends!

3 comments:

  1. Hi Josh,

    I've just started doing book giveaways and I don't know how many I will actually do, that really depends on my guest author at the time. Do you still want me to add my blog if the giveaways are only sporadic?

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  2. I set my alerts for both my name and my book several months ago. It's stunning how many places those two items turn up!

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  3. Alex, isn't that the truth! Some really funky places sometimes, but then when you find your book talked about on a forum, it's awesome!

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