I was out surfing the internet as I often do and I came across a post by someone about "Google Alerts". What the heck is that? Well I sort of need to back up just for a second.
I belong to an online club where people (marketing types, small business owners, offline businesses, etc) go to exchange proven and untested ideas on marketing, they also talk about their favorite marketing guru's and what those types suggest or do (Dan Kennedy, Gary Halbert, Jay Abraham, Ken McCarthy) to name a few. Well one person is a direct marketer that specializes in a product designed to help marketers get their information seen, without going into her deal or plugging her product it is in the "lumpy mail or grabber" variety of sales piece.
Well she had landed a decent sized client that she had wanted to cultivate into a regular client plus she was wondering how the current news would effect this client and possible future clients just like them. Well me being highly opinionated(not necessarily right, just needing to put my two cents in) I went looking to see what was out there. I am sure there are news sites that will sell you more or less a subscription service, sort of a "clipping service". (Clipping services will usually subscribe to hundreds of publications and whenever your name or other criteria selected is mentioned they forward you that article.)
Back to her question and how easily Google Alerts has made it for her and everyone else out there, not to mention how they have either put clipping services out of business or just "Made their day". With Google Alerts you now can create an easy path to lead you into information that might otherwise go unnoticed or missed. And relevant and timely information. For her, if I remember right she was wondering how the "stimulus package" would be of concern for Financial Planners well she could have Google Alerts created for "financial planners", "stimulus package" and one that had all four words "financial planners stimulus package". Whenever anything is discovered by Google she gets alerted.
How do you use "Google Alerts"? Well I can imagine you already have thought of some ideas, I know just typing this in has made me think of a few more, such as having individual Google Alerts for each of my own guru's that I follow, marketing ideas, websites that get renewed and googled. You could take that last one, websites googled and if say you had an interest in "joggers blogs" but as a whole instead the individual site posts you could put this in your Google Alerts. Or maybe you like the idea of a wider search criteria, you would then do the jogger and blogs without quotation marks around them like this.
Anyway you slice it, make it your own and use it for all its' worth, can you imagine how smart your kids or if you are the kid, how smart your teachers will think you are if when they required a book report on "Robert Frost essays" that was due in a week, you could put that in a "Google Alert" and sit back and let it collect all the information from multiple sources? Very smart indeed. How about the business owner that is looking for marketing tips? (Darn it all, there I go again opening up a can of worms to go fishing for information with.) =*)
Go open up Google Alerts and see what you too will love about it, and if you have some great feedback please bring it on back here and leave your comments.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
25 Random Thoughts About Me (What are you nuts?)
First off Facebook evidently has been using this Theme lately, while I have a Facebook account(maybe two even, I don't go there, and the only reason I went was to checkout someone else's stuff... "What can I say... I'm weak when it comes to curiosity." And to give credit where credit is due, while I heard about 25 Random thoughts elsewhere, since I don't remember where I will give the credit to this person's blog that I have yet to explore, but I will... I'm weak."
My 25 Random Thoughts... (Sort of)
1.Chicago is my absolute favorite city that I like to visit. I would even consider having a temporary home there. Temporary because I like it in the winter but I am from Iowa and Frostbite sucks, I would prefer a "snowbird approach".
2.It amazes me the number of spelling errors on almost any but the most corporate of sites. Now before you get your "getty-up out-a-whack" I am also aware you can hire a spell checker for minimum wage all day long. And since my tersing of verses is self-inflicted... er taught, I have no room to talk. In the Bible is a line about, "Judge you not lest you be judged..." Forgive me FATHER.
3.I am guilty of getting my news as "catch can", if it can catch up to me it gets looked at. There was a news program on just recently that went on and on about a missing little girl but what they were focusing on was whether the mother should get in trouble for leaving the child in care of a minor, the air time could have been better served by helping with the search instead of being Judge, Jury and Executioner." There is entirely too much negative news and unearned publicity for my taste. On unearned publicity, does anyone really give a rats a$$$ about Jennifer and Brad or Brad and ?
4. I had an acquaintance that I worked with that worked himself into an early grave, and for whatever weird reason I think of him like once a month and it has been 8-9 years since he died.
5.I borrowed this thought from the guy who's blog is mentioned above, "I graduated 43 in my class. How many people were in the class, 42 er sort of, I was 43rd I seldom was there." Now in my defense, those Iowa Basic Skills Tests that they had you take in school, well the last year we took them(Junior year?) I was sitting at a table with all the jocks(I wasn't one) and they were sitting next to the Class Valdictorian. I'll call him Jeremy because that was his name, well Jeremy was pretty darn smart and he some how was all of the teachers's pet. Jeremy was being asked by the jocks what the answers were and occasionaly I would ask also. When the results got back from the Iowa Basic Skills Testing center most of the jocks had between 85-91, Jeremy had a 94 and I had a 97. It pays to follow your own path sometimes, I only asked if the questions answer was not coming through for me. Did I cheat, yeah I did. Did Jeremy, maybe we would have to ask him.
6.I was terrible at going door to door selling.
7.I was in an accident(not my fault) 2 years ago that hurt my neck and back. I went to a chiropractor, actually two, the second one while initially doing some good eventually I believe made it worse.
8.Growing up in a dinky midwest town when you're neither a farmer or an athlete can really suck.
9.I am totally disorganized.
10.I thought GOD had disowned me until my son came along. Until you have kids it really is hard to fathom what unconditional love is. GODs' delays aren't GODs' denials.
11. My dad died when I was 4. My mom remarried when I was 10. It took 15 years to love my step-dad.
12.My best friend from high school found a new best friend and I never did. Well my wife is, but it isn't the same.
13.I really like how easy Blogger is to use.
14.I never got into sports, except "cream the carrier" as a little kid. All the neighborhood trying to catch the football or like me cream the carrier of the football. I Lettered my senior year in wrestling, I wondered how the heck I did that? Coach Sokowloski said, "You were the most improved player." Yeah, I went from "totally-sucky to give him 3 more years...".
15.I miss high school, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
16.I love marketing information, marketing stories and sales people (especially little kids' I encourage everyone that I see selling and buy something from them.)
17.I had a crush all through high school(and after) on a girl that when I first saw her reminded me of Richie Cunningham's little sister, Joanie . She married a doctor, well he wasn't a doctor when they got married.=*(
18.My grandfather was fond of saying, "It's a good life if you don't weaken." Nowadays that's a good trick.
19.I didn't vote for Barack Obama, but I didn't want to vote for any of the Republicans, they all appeared too wimpy or "uninterested". None of them had the fire that B.O. had, as a Christian I prayed that he will be a good \President and prayerfully have a Ronald Reagan turnaround(I read somewhere that President Reagan spent 2/3rds of his life as a Democrat.)
20.I am in favor of a small government and a strong military, in fact I think the United States should take a page from Greece. In Greece all citizens are required to spend 2 years in the military, can you imagine how strong that would make us as a country. If the young people were trained in several disciplines they would never have to worry about unemployment I believe.
21.I believe, if we are to have forced education, that children should have some moral training and self-efficating training every semester they go. Visualizing and positive programming should be part of the package. Matt Furey runs Maxwell Maltz's Psycho-Cybernetics program, Dr. Maltz was a plastic surgeon that helped people see themselves through a more positive light.
22.I remember hearing the comedian "Sinbad" mention that when he was growing up that if he got in trouble anywhere in his neighborhood, not only would he get whooped when he got home he was liable to get whooped by every mother on his way home starting with the one who first heard what he did. "I grew up in the same neighborhood."
23.I grew up reading voraciously, while my book reading has suffered, because of the internet I still read like a madman.
24.I love a good steak, the older I get though the earlier in the day I need to eat red meat.
25.When I was still in high school I was a bit of a thief, you've heard the saying, "There's no honor among thieves." I can vouche for that personally.
My 25 Random Thoughts... (Sort of)
1.Chicago is my absolute favorite city that I like to visit. I would even consider having a temporary home there. Temporary because I like it in the winter but I am from Iowa and Frostbite sucks, I would prefer a "snowbird approach".
2.It amazes me the number of spelling errors on almost any but the most corporate of sites. Now before you get your "getty-up out-a-whack" I am also aware you can hire a spell checker for minimum wage all day long. And since my tersing of verses is self-inflicted... er taught, I have no room to talk. In the Bible is a line about, "Judge you not lest you be judged..." Forgive me FATHER.
3.I am guilty of getting my news as "catch can", if it can catch up to me it gets looked at. There was a news program on just recently that went on and on about a missing little girl but what they were focusing on was whether the mother should get in trouble for leaving the child in care of a minor, the air time could have been better served by helping with the search instead of being Judge, Jury and Executioner." There is entirely too much negative news and unearned publicity for my taste. On unearned publicity, does anyone really give a rats a$$$ about Jennifer and Brad or Brad and ?
4. I had an acquaintance that I worked with that worked himself into an early grave, and for whatever weird reason I think of him like once a month and it has been 8-9 years since he died.
5.I borrowed this thought from the guy who's blog is mentioned above, "I graduated 43 in my class. How many people were in the class, 42 er sort of, I was 43rd I seldom was there." Now in my defense, those Iowa Basic Skills Tests that they had you take in school, well the last year we took them(Junior year?) I was sitting at a table with all the jocks(I wasn't one) and they were sitting next to the Class Valdictorian. I'll call him Jeremy because that was his name, well Jeremy was pretty darn smart and he some how was all of the teachers's pet. Jeremy was being asked by the jocks what the answers were and occasionaly I would ask also. When the results got back from the Iowa Basic Skills Testing center most of the jocks had between 85-91, Jeremy had a 94 and I had a 97. It pays to follow your own path sometimes, I only asked if the questions answer was not coming through for me. Did I cheat, yeah I did. Did Jeremy, maybe we would have to ask him.
6.I was terrible at going door to door selling.
7.I was in an accident(not my fault) 2 years ago that hurt my neck and back. I went to a chiropractor, actually two, the second one while initially doing some good eventually I believe made it worse.
8.Growing up in a dinky midwest town when you're neither a farmer or an athlete can really suck.
9.I am totally disorganized.
10.I thought GOD had disowned me until my son came along. Until you have kids it really is hard to fathom what unconditional love is. GODs' delays aren't GODs' denials.
11. My dad died when I was 4. My mom remarried when I was 10. It took 15 years to love my step-dad.
12.My best friend from high school found a new best friend and I never did. Well my wife is, but it isn't the same.
13.I really like how easy Blogger is to use.
14.I never got into sports, except "cream the carrier" as a little kid. All the neighborhood trying to catch the football or like me cream the carrier of the football. I Lettered my senior year in wrestling, I wondered how the heck I did that? Coach Sokowloski said, "You were the most improved player." Yeah, I went from "totally-sucky to give him 3 more years...".
15.I miss high school, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
16.I love marketing information, marketing stories and sales people (especially little kids' I encourage everyone that I see selling and buy something from them.)
17.I had a crush all through high school(and after) on a girl that when I first saw her reminded me of Richie Cunningham's little sister, Joanie . She married a doctor, well he wasn't a doctor when they got married.=*(
18.My grandfather was fond of saying, "It's a good life if you don't weaken." Nowadays that's a good trick.
19.I didn't vote for Barack Obama, but I didn't want to vote for any of the Republicans, they all appeared too wimpy or "uninterested". None of them had the fire that B.O. had, as a Christian I prayed that he will be a good \President and prayerfully have a Ronald Reagan turnaround(I read somewhere that President Reagan spent 2/3rds of his life as a Democrat.)
20.I am in favor of a small government and a strong military, in fact I think the United States should take a page from Greece. In Greece all citizens are required to spend 2 years in the military, can you imagine how strong that would make us as a country. If the young people were trained in several disciplines they would never have to worry about unemployment I believe.
21.I believe, if we are to have forced education, that children should have some moral training and self-efficating training every semester they go. Visualizing and positive programming should be part of the package. Matt Furey runs Maxwell Maltz's Psycho-Cybernetics program, Dr. Maltz was a plastic surgeon that helped people see themselves through a more positive light.
22.I remember hearing the comedian "Sinbad" mention that when he was growing up that if he got in trouble anywhere in his neighborhood, not only would he get whooped when he got home he was liable to get whooped by every mother on his way home starting with the one who first heard what he did. "I grew up in the same neighborhood."
23.I grew up reading voraciously, while my book reading has suffered, because of the internet I still read like a madman.
24.I love a good steak, the older I get though the earlier in the day I need to eat red meat.
25.When I was still in high school I was a bit of a thief, you've heard the saying, "There's no honor among thieves." I can vouche for that personally.
Searching Your Roots... Well, er sort of
If you are into Genealogy there is a wealth of knowledge out there on the web, I would go into it but when I am talking about "Your Roots" I am really talking about the internet of yesterday. One thing on genealogy research, if you use genealogy.com's site they used to (probably still do) require a credit card on file, when you purchased your subscription in order to search their records you were required to cancel the subscription BEFORE your renewal date or they would automatically "stick it to you" for another year. Now if you really are interested in seeing who is in your family trees' roots that's great, no having to renew yearly but they send out NO(Zero) notices that they are about to nail your credit card again. (I think it is a scummy practice and they probably hit 20 percent of the "unsuspecting and unassuming customers" that buy their product. )
There is an internet search engine out there called Archive.Org I love this site, literally. I probably visit it at least once a day while doing searches. It is really easy to use, just punch in the website address that you are wondering about and up comes any webpages (that were scanned) from their past. If they are a mainstream(popular) site they were scanned on a regular basis. Here is an example: I was thinking of how music is a part of the Amercan culture, it seems each generation has its' own group of idols that teenagers worship so I first did a search on Archive.Org of http://www.americanbandstand.com/ a few hits came up but I knew it should be better than that so then I did a search of http://www.bandstand.com/ that had even less but a link came up about Dick Clark Productions so that made me enter http://www.dickclark.com/ Bingo! That was the MotherLode for American Bandstand's past and present.
What is really Great about using Archive.org is being able to see how a site has evolved over the years. It really is a treasure trove of information. In my Special Report on "Internet Loopholes: Searches for Those Short of Time..." I will outline some very Neat little tricks you can do that make Archive.Org a regular Golden Goose. It is every Information Junkies dream, at least it was mine.
There is an internet search engine out there called Archive.Org I love this site, literally. I probably visit it at least once a day while doing searches. It is really easy to use, just punch in the website address that you are wondering about and up comes any webpages (that were scanned) from their past. If they are a mainstream(popular) site they were scanned on a regular basis. Here is an example: I was thinking of how music is a part of the Amercan culture, it seems each generation has its' own group of idols that teenagers worship so I first did a search on Archive.Org of http://www.americanbandstand.com/ a few hits came up but I knew it should be better than that so then I did a search of http://www.bandstand.com/ that had even less but a link came up about Dick Clark Productions so that made me enter http://www.dickclark.com/ Bingo! That was the MotherLode for American Bandstand's past and present.
What is really Great about using Archive.org is being able to see how a site has evolved over the years. It really is a treasure trove of information. In my Special Report on "Internet Loopholes: Searches for Those Short of Time..." I will outline some very Neat little tricks you can do that make Archive.Org a regular Golden Goose. It is every Information Junkies dream, at least it was mine.
What's Your Favorite Search Engine?
For me it is google, even with all the adsense and adword crap it seems way less commercialized than Yahoo.
When I first got online over 10 years ago, my favorite search was http://www.dogpile.com/ It gave you search results from all the major search engines of that day. They still do give you different search engines in your result but it seems monopolized by http://www.yahoo.com/ .
As I am writing this I seem to recall being inundated with searches that were filled with results from http://www.about.com/ They claim to have 750 Experts helping with your searches and their site tagline is "Guidance. Not Guesswork." I think if you were doing a report for school or college it would be tough to beat About.com but since I am out here in the School of Hardknocks I will stick with Google.
When I first got online over 10 years ago, my favorite search was http://www.dogpile.com/ It gave you search results from all the major search engines of that day. They still do give you different search engines in your result but it seems monopolized by http://www.yahoo.com/ .
As I am writing this I seem to recall being inundated with searches that were filled with results from http://www.about.com/ They claim to have 750 Experts helping with your searches and their site tagline is "Guidance. Not Guesswork." I think if you were doing a report for school or college it would be tough to beat About.com but since I am out here in the School of Hardknocks I will stick with Google.
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