Be on Alert with Google Alerts for REALTORS®

How do rumors get started? The unverified information is passed from one person to another. With the Internet, rumors grow faster than a wildfire.  There is a free tool provided through Google that you can use to prevent this – and that tool is Google Alerts.

Google alerts is a content detection and notification service that automatically notifies users when new content from news, Web, blogs, video and/or discussion groups matches a set of keywords predetermined by you. Google alerts allow you the opportunity to:

• Track keywords and stay abreast of trends without doing a daily search. All alerts are emailed to you.

• Track yourself, your blog, your domain name, and more. Tracking this information allows you the opportunity to do damage control if you or your company isn’t painted in a positive light. In addition, if someone is marketing your listing without your permission, you will know it as soon as their ad hits the internet. This is especially good for Craigslist scams.

• Track your competitors. After all, your competitors can sometimes give you some great marketing ideas.

• Find customers looking to purchase in your area i.e. “looking to purchase a condo in Chicago”.

Here are a few steps to get you set up:

1) Visit http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en

2) Keep "Type" as Everything. I change "How Often" to" As It Happens and " Volume" to All Results because I want to determine what I think is worth checking out. Then enter your email address and hit "Create Alert." You can play around with these settings and see what you like best. If you don't have a Gmail account they will send you a verification email so check your inbox and make sure you follow the instructions to verify your setup.

3) How your alerts will appear:

4) When an article, blog, news or video is posted to the Internet you will receive an email like the one below highlighting the posting.

Marki Lemons is our newest contributor. Be sure to check out her profile on our contributors page. To learn more about cool, free tools from Google, read "7 Google Tools for REALTORS® Part 1" and "Part 2."