Use Google Alerts to make your life a little easier!

Are you looking for the latest news, gossip, articles, on a particular subject, and would you like to be updated on them regularly?

It does not matter the topic: Pinterest, your favorite team or athlete, movie or movie star, your favorite chef, all very popular topics. So what is the easiest way to keep up on the latest?

Well if you are not familiar with Google Alerts, now is your time to learn more. Google Alerts is a great tool that will send you an email with information that is posted on the web about your topic.

I have been using this tool for some time to keep up on the various topics I am interested in, and as my interests change I adjust my Alerts accordingly. Then each day I check the gmail account I have set up specifically for these Alerts.

I set up a specific account as the Alerts I set up are important enough to me that I do not want to miss a one.

Let’s get you set up, it’s fairly simple.

1.  Set up your separate gmail account -

• Just type ‘Google.com’ in your URL bar, hit Enter, and follow the instructions
• If you already have an account, sign out, then do the above.

2.  Now that you have a Google gmail account set up open a new tab and type in the URL google.com/alerts then hit Enter.

3. You should see your Google+ tool bar across the top of the screen with a +YourName in the upper left. Below that will be Google Alerts, and under that will be “Search query:”

4. In the ‘Search query’ box you will enter the word, or string of words, you want to start tracking.

• Now this is where you need to be specific about what you want to receive Alerts on. If you are not careful you will receive more junk than you would like.
• As an example, if you enter “Apple” because you are a fan of Apple computers, you will receive articles on Apple orchards, apple juice, anything ‘apple’.
• So, be specific enter “Apple iPad” (with the quotes) and the search will pull in articles with that exact phrase.
• If you would like more information about ‘Search Queries’ click on the ‘Google Alerts Help’ below the ‘Create Alert’ button. Or, feel free to contact me to assist you with setting up your first alert.

5.  Next is ‘Result type:’ Click the arrow on the right of ‘Everything’ and select what type of results you want.

6.  Next select the ‘How often’, that will depend on your needs, and remember that depending on what you are receiving Alerts on you may receive one or two Alerts per day, or hundreds.

7.  Select ‘How many:’ for all results found or only the best (according to Google)

8.  Finally, select the email address you would like these Alerts sent to, as you may have set up a separate account this may not give you any options.

9.  Lastly, click on the “Create Alert” button to create the beginning of these Alerts being sent to your email address.

You may have already tried, but you will now go back up to the “Search query:” and enter your first query, as you enter the query you will see an example to the right that will show you an overview of what you will receive for the query you have put in.

This is great as you are getting this immediate feedback and may adjust your ‘search query’ accordingly.

You may find that after you have Created your Alert that after a day or two you are not seeing what you had expected, simply come back to this page, click on Manage Your Alerts and adjust your query as you sit fit.

That’s it, you will now receive your Alerts and know all there is to know about your topic.

Any questions, comments and/or feedback is greatly appreciated – Click Here To Send!

To your continued success,
Bob

Robert J Banach
Publisher
Leadership Insights Newsletter

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