Public Service Announcement 1.04: Psst . . . I Know You're Talking About Me
One of my skills in life is knowing when people have been talking about me. I don't know how most of the time, I just know. I'm also really good at managing to interrupt the gossip. I can tell you how I know when you've been doing it online, though. I get emails sent to me anytime a web page links to burghbaby.com. Here's how you can spy on other bloggers as well:
1. Go to Google Alerts.
2. In the Search Terms field, enter the url of your blog.
3. Leave the Type as Comprehensive.
4. Tell it how often to notify you that someone is talking about you. I have Daily selected.
5. Enter the email address you want the alert sent to.
6. Click Create Alert.
If you use Blogger but publish to a .com address or use any other redirects, you may want to set up an alert for both addresses since you'll only get a Google Alert on exact matches of your search term. For example, the actual address that I publish to is www.theburghbaby.com, but you can also type www.burghbaby.com to get to my blog. Even though both addresses go to the same place, the Google Alert doesn't know they are really the same thing. So, if I want alerts for everything pointed to me, regardless of which url someone uses, then I need to set up an alert for both.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Reader Comments (21)
You rock! I'm totally setting this up!
Well, lookie there. Learn somethin' new every day.
Kewl. How disappointed will I be, though, if no one's talking about me? ;)
Oh, I am SO doing this! he he he
You are a great master and teacher, oh wise one!
I will have to try this. Now I'll know for a certain that nobody really cares.
You'll also want to set up the shorthand variation: http://burghbaby.com and http://theburghbaby.com . Yes, you can get to your site without the www but google alerts treats them as different since they, well, are. :)
Also, I just subscribe to mine in my RSS reader (of which I use google reader) so instead of one daily email or multiple daily e-mails, I just get a little blurb in my reader. I find this easier for me. :)
If I'm talking about you - it's good stuff. By the way, if I successfully get through a lunch today with a friend, I can finally take that bracelet off!
you are super cool (and sneaky) I am going to set this up ASAP.
Good points, Firemom! Thanks!
Nice, now I just have to figure out how to get people to talk about me. ;)
I love to know when people are talking about me. But, I'm with Melissa...I just to figure out HWO to get them to talk about me :)
See, I am pretty sure no one is talking about me.
Hmmm I'm wondering how I can get people to talk about me! LOL Guess I need to do something interesting! LOL
Just set that up - thanks!
I just set it up! Thanks for the info!
No Way. Pshaw.
"Ooohhh Maan!" I'm feeling like Swiper the fox now.
"That sneaky fox. He's trying to swipe our secrets."
Thanks for the tips!
paranoid much? ;) just joking!
I will set this up eventually...when I'm as cool as you or any of the others on my blogroll and I cause others to talk about me (hello, like Amalah's pregnancy? I got two or three people emailing me to see if I read her announcement).
You. ROCK.
SO, did it alert you last week when I put your url in a IM to tell my friend to start reading your blog?
How interesting! Wanna give me another tip? How do you make those categories in the sidebar instead of just having a big fat list there? I've been wanting to do that for a long time!