Google Alerts: Business Intelligence Made Easy (and Free!)

When I speak, I'm always shocked at how few people use Google alerts. It's one of the questions I always ask, "How many of you use Google alerts?" And, typically, less than 10 percent of the audience raises their hands.

Less than 10 percent.

This is such an important tool. And it's free. Every single person in the entire world should have Google alerts.

Even if you aren't using the Web for business growth or using social media tools, monitoring others' online conversations to understand what is (and isn't) being said will make you better at your job. It gives you intelligence you just wouldn't otherwise have.

What if someone is praising your company or one of your colleagues online? Don't you want to know that? What if they have something negative to say? Wouldn't you rather know so you can do something about it instead of letting it sit out there and fester?

Setting up Google alerts is very, very easy.

1. Go to the alerts home page. If you're not signed into your Google account, you'll need to do that first.
2. Enter the type. I recommend "everything" because it will monitor every conversation on the web for you.
3. Click how often you want to receive the alerts. I recommend just once a day so your inbox isn't overflowing.
4. Enter your email address.
5. Before you click "create alert," go back to the top and enter your search term in the search bar. You can click "preview results" to see what types of information you'll receive so you know if you need to modify your terms.

Don't know what to search? Following are 11 different ideas:

1. Your name.
2. The company name (you can even do company name + city to filter the results).
3. Your competitors.
4. Your industry.
5. Top producers who work for your competitors.
6. Your colleagues, peers, or employees.
7. The company name plus the word "sucks"; you'd be surprised at how many people will write something to that effect that you'll want to see.
8. Any common misspellings or abbreviations of your name or company name.
9. Services or products you offer.
10. Local organizations you support.
11. Industry organizations.

You don't need to do all 11, but I definitely recommend the first three. 

You'll receive one email for every search term, including a couple of sentences and a link so you can easily scan them and move on.

This is the easiest and most effective option for monitoring the Web and making yourself smart about what's happening in the world outside of your office.