Archive for the ‘Google’ Category

If you are a reader of this blog, you probably know by now that I am a lover of all things Google! There are so many free tools, applications and services they provide that really help out a small business owner. One such tool is the ability to set up a Google Profile. Now, lets say someone meets you at a networking event. Maybe you were out of cards (heaven forbid! ) or some how the contact loses your business card. He might just remember your name though. So, if he goes out to Google and types in your name, do you think he could find you? If your company name is the same as your personal name, then he might be in luck. However, if like me, the company name is different, it could be a needle in a haystack, or could it?

If I go out to Google and type in “Megan Walker” (my own name), here is what comes up:

Forget about the search results for websites, there is also a section near the bottom that will highlight profiles. So, if the person I met doesn’t remember my company name, but remembered my own name, he can easily get to me that way. Below is how my profile will look to someone searching online. Notice on the right I have many different links set up. All of them will lead back to Purple Star Consulting, in various different ways.

If you don’t already have a profile, you can simply click here: www.google.com/profiles Setting up a profile is easy. You can choose how much information to share, upload a photograph, add links and more. Try to keep things consistent. If you use a photograph of yourself for your Twitter or Facebook account, use the same one here for easy recognition. Add links to LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, your website and your blog page in particular.

Have fun, and get to it! Feel free to share your new profile link below. Mine is www.google.com/profiles/purplestarconsulting

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Google Alerts is a great functionality that allows you to track keywords, phrases and information that is being posted out on the internet. You can use your current Google account (perhaps you have AdWords, AdSense or Google Analytics already?) or create a new one. Then, go out to: http://www.google.com/alerts/

You will see the following screen. Type in what you wish to monitor. In the example below, Newcastle is my home town in England. I would be quite interested to see if there are news stories or content posted online with this in the text. I can set it up and would like one e-mail a day, if there is any new content out there that Google has found for me. You can determine how many results, and also will add an e-mail address you want this sent to.

Direct from Google Alerts – they currently offer 6 variations of alerts – ‘News’, ‘Web’, ‘Blogs’, ‘Comprehensive’, ‘Video’ and ‘Groups’.

• A ‘News’ alert is an email aggregate of the latest news articles that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google News search.
• A ‘Web’ alert is an email aggregate of the latest web pages that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top twenty results of your Google Web search.
• A ‘Blogs’ alert is an email aggregate of the latest blog posts that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google Blog search.
• A ‘Comprehensive’ alert is an aggregate of the latest results from multiple sources (News, Web and Blogs) into a single email to provide maximum coverage on the topic of your choice.
• A ‘Video’ alert is an email aggregate of the latest videos that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google Video search.
• A ‘Groups’ alert is an email aggregate of new posts that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top fifty results of your Google Groups search.

You can see below, some of the searches I have set up. I am interested if my name is mentioned, my business name and several other items. This will also help if you want to see how quickly a blog post is indexed by Google. Once you receive an e-mail that mentions your blog post, you know Google has indexed it. Pretty cool!

Have questions? Let me know below!

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