In a previous post Keeping Tabs on Your Market I told you about how you can use Google Alerts to keep track of what those in your industry, competitors or even Bloggers are up to.
It’s a simple concept really. You set up alerts for your main keyword phrases and new posts, sites and pages that include those terms are sent to you in a nifty little e-mail for you to check out. Another neato way to use these alerts is to track new links to your site(s). The alert e-mails then deliver to you the golden opportunity to network and build relationships with folks who have linked to your site.
All you have to do is setup an alert; I use Google and you can read more at the link above (or below). I set up alerts for all my sites for new inbound links. So for this site, as an example, I setup a Google alert to look for “link:http://www.theistudio.com/”. When a new incoming link is indexed by Google, I get an e-mail with a link to the site linking to mine.
When I’ve been notified of a site that found value in my stuff and has linked to me, I always stop by the site and thank them. If it is a Blog post, I’ll contribute to the conversation and again thank them for their support. This little effort on your part can be the beginning of some great partnerships!
Search engines put allot of relevancy on one-way inbound links — sometimes too much so without enough discrimination. But for the time being that’s the way things work and if another site owner “out there” gives you that golden link that search engines rely on to rank you higher, it is well worth your time to thank them!
You will find, as have I, that you’ll meet allot of nice folks, establish new relationships and create networking opportunities that might otherwise not have come your way!
At your service,
Judith
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