Are you using Google Alerts? If not, read on, then get started! Those of us who have been around long enough remember the days of newspaper “clipping services”, programs where readers actually pored through newspapers and periodicals looking for references to any particular business or subject, clipping out the articles (yes, with scissors) and forwarding them to subscribers. As you might imagine, this process was as far from instantaneous as it was from inexpensive.

Well, along comes the 21st century and Google Alerts. With Google Alerts, you can monitor the Web, news, blogs, groups – essentially a comprehensive range of online media – for references to your business or industry. Just as importantly, you can also monitor references to any of your competitors. Simply sign up for a free account with this Beta program, enter a search term (within quotes seems to be the most effective), and indicate how frequently (weekly, daily or immediately) you would like to receive lists of any new references to that search term (or phrase) which are found by Google’s spiders. You can setup an unlimited number of alerts.

The advantages to keeping informed in this manner are enormous. Particularly with the growth of social networking websites, you might discover new linking opportunities … or less than flattering reviews of your company, product or service that you might want to counter with alternate opinions. Quite honestly, until you subscribe to this service, you cannot really know what kind of buzz might be circulating, right behind your company’s back.