What are your clients, customers, and competition saying about you over the Internet?

One painless way to stay in touch with the digitally-written use of your name or brand is to utilize Google Alerts, a tool designed to help the consumer find information about any subject of interest.  It’s easy to use for the purpose of reputation management.

1. Go to http://www.Google.com/alerts
2. If you aren’t already, sign in to your Google account.  If you don’t have one, you’ve been missing out long enough, so sign up to get your free account and start enjoying the wonders of Google search engine power!
3. In the “Search Query” box, enter your first and last names as you commonly use them.
4. For “Result type”  leave the default at “everything”
5. For “How often” you may want to select “as it happens” or “once a day”  Once a week is NOT fast enough to respond if there is a derogatory post about you!
6. For “How many” select “all results”
7. Last, verify that your e-mail address is correct in the “Deliver to” box.
8. Repeat steps 3-6 for your company name, your product names, and your key management.

You will soon receive alerts every time your search words are detected by Google’s search engine.