Google Alerts: Must be something in the water

You ever have one of those ideas that just keeps getting thrown at you from all kinds of different places? Say for instance, you think to yourself that you should check the coolant in your engine. Just a passing thought. No reason for it. Then you come across an article about how important checking your coolant is. Then your dad asks you, “Hey, have you checked your coolant lately?”

When that happens, you know you better be checking your coolant.

That’s what it’s like for me and Google Alerts this week. My new friend Lori (an advertising smarty-pants) mentioned it to me, and then I read about it somewhere else, and then I read this article over at Duct Tape Marketing. In it, John Jantsch explains how to set up an alert to find out when someone links to your blog.

And what use is that? Well, it’s cool for one thing. And sometimes WordPress doesn’t detect it correctly, but the all-knowing Google will. And Lori informed me that it’s a great way to get to know the people who are writing about you. That, and the fact that I’ve heard about it three times in the past three days lets me know that I better go sign up right about now.