THE LAFAYETTE REPORT: GOOGLE TOOLS FOR REALTORS SERIES - USING GOOGLE ALERTS TO MANAGE YOUR ONLINE REPUTATION AND MORE

I use Google alerts and just love them.  I have lots of trigger words my town, my lake, my name, my company name and I also do Google searches using a paragraph at time from my copy of listing posts and blog posts.  I've caught up with many a cut and paste plagiarizer that way.  Google does offer some great tools.  Hadn't heard of Google Calendar, so I'm off to check that out now... thanks.

Tammy:  Many people have a love/hate relationship with Google.  I don't like Google Docs, GMail or Picassa - others rave about both.  I pick and choose what works for me.  Even if I use one service like Box.net, I like to have a back-up like Google Docs.  Hope you come back for the remainder of the series.

Thanks for putting all this informaiton in such a helpful format. This sure makes it easier to learn.

Guy - I'm glad that it helps.

Ryan,

I learned about this at Raincamp in Dallas, thanks for showing us how to utilize these tools!

I have heard of this-- but I have not followed thru.  Now I have a better idea of how to start using the Alerts.

Thanks for the info

Ryan, I have been using Google Alerts since learning about it on AR. Also use steprep and they pick up different alerts than Google. Don't know about the others, but will check them out. What a great idea for a series!

So do you copy an entire blog post and put it on an alert? Do you routinely do this when you publish, eg, create an alert for each new post? Intriguing...hadn't thought about it but a great idea.

Thanks!

I already see how I could use this tool!

I've just started using some of the Google products the last couple of weeks (gmail, local business center, and analytics) and I have found ways they could help by business.

This sounds very interesting... Now, where's that free time I've been looking for?

Hi Ryan - I've been using Google Alerts for a couple of years. This post is a great reminder that I need to fine tune them for today's market.

Ryan, We use Google alerts and analytics. They do have excellent value and FREE!

Steve

Another detailed, informational, and terrific post.

I will be back for the others -- thanks!

I've been trying to use Google Alerts to get information about the term, "California Valley" (an actual community). No matter how I put it in the seach, I get all sorts of hits that are not correct: things like, "a northern California valley..." or "the central California valley...".

I've been putting the term in quotes, hoping to get ONLY the results I'm looking for. Any better solutions? Thanks in advance!

Thanks Ryan.  I use google analytics but I did not know about google alerts.  I followed your instructions and its great.   I somehow signed up to get general info about my local real estate market.  Articles on local banks, stats, etc.   Most of us are too busy to research aritcles etc.  This will keep me up to date!  Thanks again.

Ryan... I love my Google Alerts and Google Voice. Two great tools. Now I need to intergrate more Google tools..

The knowledge that we gain and make use of here is phenomenal...and like building blocks one brick at a time and over time we've built a solid structure.  Thanks for the great article.

Now I have a much better understanding of how to utilize Google Alerts!  I had haphazardly set it up before without much thought and finally discontinued it.  Now I hope to better utilize it.

Thanks for sharing and I'll be looking forward to the full series.  I've started a folder in "Favorites" to save them so I can better absorb and go back to the information.

Sue of Robin and Sue

Thanks for making sense of this.  I had looked at Google Alerts before but could quite grasp the true benefits.  I'll try it again.

Good post. Seems at the end of the day that it will end up between Google and Microsoft. With all of the "free stuff" the winner may just be Google

I find that Google Alerts doesn't pick up everything.  For example, I have a Google Alert on my name.  Although Google indexes all of my ActiveRain public comments on other members public posts, I think I have only received one or two Google Alerts over 6 months even though I have posted numerous comments.

Ryan,

Very resourceful post!  All 20 tools you mention are valuable not only in productivety but in helping your website rank inch its way into the top ten of certain searches like the Google Local Business tools and listings.

Ciao

A great overview and introduction to Google alerts. I had heard of it, but wasn't aware of all of these features. I'll check it out. 

I have been using Google Alerts -- a little. But now I understand how powerful it can be. Thanks.

Ryan, thank you so much for this post. We've heard so much about Google Alerts but never got around to looking into it. Now, with your step by step instructions, we have no excuse.

Hello Ryan - Thanks for putting this list together.  I will anxiously await your future posts.

RYAN THIS IS WONDERFUL!   What helpful and useful information.  Thanks for sharing

Gogle alerts not only give me the ability to see when my post are indexed and where my name and team is coming up, it is also a powerful research tool for me. I monitoe the demograhpic and economic information of my area. It helps me to be first on news. I blogged about a private label paper company taking the 312,000 SF of the old Lucent building and bringing more jobs to Oklahoma City. I was at a Realtor retiremment party and tested out this knowledge from the previous day. No one knew about it. It helps make you to go to person.

Ryan,

This is without a doubt the best thing I've learned for my business this month!  Thanks for including the expamples of ways that we can make this tool more useful.  I can easily see myself setting aside a few minutes each day to review the results!

Ryan,

I can see tons of applications....with both calendar and alerts...both are super helpful and full of tons of inforamtion. What a great series!

Ryan:

I knew about Google Alerts but did not really quite understand all of its benefits.  You have laid out a terrific plan for being able to use this tool. Great job. 

Thanks for the great info.  My IT person needs to get busy!  Oh wait, I don't have an IT person.

Russel - Raincamp is fantastic.  I hope it gets here soon.

Paul - The search terms are the key.  Otherwise, it pulls a fair amount of irrelevent items.

Sharon - Trackle is pretty good tool.  However, you have to log-in to get the search results.  SocialOomph is great for Twitter.  As to the blog posts, I put in key words for specific topics as well as blog titles for my best material.  For example, right now I am searching on "Google Tools" AND "Realtors"

Carey - I like the local business center.  However, I have had problems with our multiple offices.  Analytics is a great product. I'm not a fan of GMail.  I like branded e-mail addresses.  However, I like the G-Mail ads.  I will be hitting that topic shortly.

Don - Google Alerts are one of the easiest and least time consuming things to actually set up.  The search box above is all it takes.  The trick is how you use it.

John - Google Alerts has tipped me off to a number of problems.  Without them, we would have had lost leads.  I update our Google Alerts at least monthly.  It has been a great tool for us.

Steve - Absolutely agree - excellend value is correct.

Aaron - I'm glad it helps.

Sonsie - I would add modifiers "City of..." or California+Valley+real+esate

Brandi - It is a nice tool for getting hyper local information.

Google Alerts have been great for me.  It just takes some tweaking in the beginning to set them up to where the are helping you and not annoying you!

Ryan,

I learned about Google Alerts here on AR.

It has been helpful, since I have written to several people requesting that they not use my material. So far, everyone has been compliant.

Brian

I am so glad it is snowing here today so I got to stay home to read these great posts.  Ryan this is so cool and I will be setting up Alerts this afternoon.  Way wonderfull!!! I will look forward to more of your tips. 

You provide the rest of us with some very good information written in an easy to understand format. Thanks.

I already have Alerts set up, but I haven't reviewed any of it. I haven't figured out exactly how to utilize the information taht it provides to my advantage, and while you have explained it easily enough, I am not sure that I quite "get" it yet. I'll probably need to read this over a few times before I can make any sense of it.

Roland - I am still waiting on the illusive invite for Google Voice.  Oddly enough, Google Voice is really just a relaunch of Grand Central Station.  Waiting to discover the differences.

Frank - Like the analogy.  You can never start too late or stop too soon when talking about using technology.  Next big thing is just around the corner.

Sue - Glad it helps.  The "what" to include in search was the key.  It took me awhile to adjust the keywords and search terms to get the items that I was trying to monitor.

Charita - For any tool, it takes awhile before you figure out how to integrate it into your business.

Tony - I wouldn't count out Apple.

Marc - I agree that Google Alerts can be under inclusive.  For that specific reason, I also use the other non-google tools mentioned in the post.

I am in the same predicament as William. I receive google alerts daily but have not idea what the alerts mean. Sometimes the alerts come from comments I have left but I leave comments on AR everyday, they do not always show up. Alerts come from other people googling me or my info? Still confused. Do I need to cal you?

Thanks so much Ryan - I love to get these tips to help me understand and best use internet marketing, etc.  There's soooo much on AR, but find these brief, clear featured posts help alot.  I'm off and running with this newest tip.

I think google is taking over everything and I love it. I use google everything and just switched to google voice. It's amazing wish I had an invite left for you!

Shelly Whitworth
www.MorSystems.com
www.MMGCustomSites.com

Ok. I'm straight to google.com to study up on this. I also need to study other google tools. Thanks for the reminder.

Ryan,

Thanks so much for enlightening us all about the power of Google.  I am going to make sure I am properly utilizing All of these tools!  Only used Google analytics.  Thanks again for sharing your smarts!

kp

Great post Ryan!  I just set up google alerts for keywords for my area so I will see how its works.  Love the post and im looking forward to reading more of your blogs.

Best regards, Dave

www.WestallRealEstate.com

Thank you for sharing that information with us! I am going to subscribe for future blogs! Keep up the good work!

Hi Ryan. I love google alerts! I use it for my name, and also for my area's name, and am amazed what pops up.

Fantastic topic and well presented!  I'm definitely subscribing to your blog.

Ryan - I can't tell you how invaluable this tool is to me... I have found more of my pics on others websites countless times... I have been using this alert system since last year and it is my favorite email of the day... Great tutorial and thanks for sharing with everyone else..

Thanks for all the info!!  I will make sure not to miss any of the series.  Now I just need to find the time to get all this figured out.

Hi Ryan -- I have found this valuable for a few of the reasons you list.  It's amazing what tech can do when used well.  I love the layout of your series, very professional, relaly well done!

Great load of information.  I have used Google alerts for at least a year.  It is great to check on traffic.  And, google maps are great except when they are WRONG!  And, I drive all over looking for the real address.  (Doing BPOs and counseling sellers makes me cranky when I arrive twenty minutes late!)

Ryan, I need to use Google Chat on Friday afternoon. Anyway you could jump ahead and post instructions on how to set up and use this Google product before I hit the Friday video chat call I need to do? This is assuming we can get out after another round of DC area snow the next few days.

Ryan, I've been using google alerts but can't decipher the alert.  I'm finding that it's not consistent with everything it's picking up.  Am I doing something wrong?  Thanks for the series.  You've definitely given me some other ideas of things to check on.

Thanks for the detailed explaination on how the alerts work. I now have a newbie blogger question. How does reblogging figure into this? For example, on this post it has a green Reblog button at the top. Does this mean you have given permission for others to reblog (post, publish) this post, as long as they give you credit for it, or do you still have to be asked, and give permission?

I can't keep up with the technology.  I just learned about Google analytics.  Now I have to learn about Google alerts.  Geez, it's a never ending battle.

I've used StepRep and Google Alerts but haven't heard of the other two.  I'll have to look into them.

Ryan,

Looks like there are quite a few things we mortgage pros can use with Google Alerts. Worth taking a closer peek.  

Hi Ryan. I will give this another try. I had previously set my Google alert for my name .... I had no idea there where that many criminals with my name.

Hi Ryan,

I use some of these tool.  I will definitely follow this series.  

Hi Ryan, I couldn't live without my Google Alerts! Such a great tool. I agree that to pick and choose what works for you is the way to go. I love alerts, analytics, gmail is okay, and I'm not a big fan of docs, but keep tinkering... Nice post, thanks.

Darrell:  I absolutely agree.  Google offers a suite of productivity, lead generation and other business tools.  Google Local Business is a great product.

Joseph:  I hope it helps.  Google Alerts is a nice tool.

Angelica:  Google Alerts can be a useful tool.  Just need to have a plan on how to use them.

Dan & Amy:  Activerain is a great place to stay informed of tips and trends.  It is a great resource for agents.

Andy:  I hope you continue reading the series.  It is a good series.  However, if you have different uses for the Google Tools, please post.

St. Cloud Realty:  Glad to share.  I hope it helps.

Joe:  It is a great research tool.  I also use it to track marketing campaigns for builders.  It is amazing how many new ideas can be captured and adapted for use from successful sales campaigns in other areas of the country.

Mo:  It is great to discover new ideas.  It is more important to incorporate the ideas into practice.

Lori:  I'm glad that it helps.  I am preparing for a presentation and thought I would share some of it via this series.

Claudette:  We all know the tools.  The point of the series is to introduce the tools and show how they can be used.  I hope you continue reading the series.

Jenna:  We all were many hats and it is good to have tools that can automate or simplify our job.  I hope the series is helpful.

Jennifer:  Absolutely - tweaking search terms is necessary to achieve the desired result.  It takes time - it even changes over time.

Brian:  It is unfortunate that people cut and paste posts - especially since most people will grant permission when asked.

Suzanne:  Thanks for reading.  I hope you find the series helpful.

Gregory:  Thanks for reading and adding me as an associate.  I am glad that you find the posts helpful.

William:  Like an tool, it works better when there is a plan.

Terrie - Like any tool, you need to have a plan or purpose for using it.  I use it for monitoring and researching.  If you need help, feel free to give me a call.

Evelyn - Short and to the point... I agree posts in small doses are great - especially if they give examples on how to effectively use.

Shelly - I'm still looking for that invite.  I have seen the previews and was familar with Grand Central (which was bought by Google).  I definitely like what I see.

Amy - Google has a great suite of free tools.

Karen - Google Analytics is a great measuring tools.  I hope you enjoy the remainder of the series.

Dave - Thanks for reading and commenting.  Let me know how Google Alerts works for you.

Mark - We all love subscribers.  Glad the posts help.

Erica - It is a very good tool.  As mentioned by one of the comments, it can be underinclusive.  However, it hits the main points for me.

Ryan - thanks for sharing such useful information on google alerts. Your explanation will make it easy to set up. Heading there now!

As always your information is so useful and simply put

Maria - Glad it helps - even better that my writting style can be easily undersood.

Diane - Thanks for reading.  Try to post information and ideas that other Realtors can use in their daily practice.

Ryan - please explain what that means, having a plan...I'm utterly clueless now.

William - We have a plan for the alerts.  Some alerts are to track reputation - agent names, brokerage names, etc.  Other alerts are set up to track clients, former clients and even competitors.  Other alerts track technology, market trends, etc.  The point is that when you set up an alert with a purpose it is more effective. 

So, let's say I want to know how many times a keyword shows up in searches so I know whether to target that keyword phrase in my blog posts...I would then set up a google alert for that keyword to measure how many times each day that keyword phrase comes up?

That makes more sense now, but some concrete examples would be helpful, just to make sure that I've got the point.

It looks like I have not been using Google Alerts as effectively as I could. Thanks Ryan.