One of the nice things that we don't often hear about is Google Alerts. (www.google.com/alerts)

You can use Google Alerts for a number of different useful things. You setup the particular alert and when Google finds something that matches your alert terms you receive an email with a brief description and a link to the particular site or post.

You can use it to be notified of something you are interested in. Some people use it to see what similar sites are posting. Others use it to be notified when Google finds your link on another site.

There are a number of things you can do with Google Alerts if you think about it. You will want to be careful about setting up a vague or popular term. If you set up an alert for the term: facebook and you have the How often option set to: as-it-happens you could end up with more alerts then you want.

To be notified when Google finds your link on another web site you can enter a Google Alert similar to this:

• Search terms: link:http://www.yoursite.com
• Type: Web or Comprehensive
• How often: as-it-happens or once a day
• Email length: up to 20 results
• Deliver to: your real email address

Say you were interested in getting an alert when Google finds something about Boonex Dolphin you might set up an alert similar to this:

• Search terms: Boonex Dolphin
• Type: Comprehensive
• How often: once a day
• Email length: up to 20 results
• Deliver to: your real email address

You can also create more Google Alerts with additional Search terms or variations of the term that you would like to be notified for.

Maybe there is a hobby, current event, or other you are following. You could potentially set up an alert for something like this too.

It's a nice feature that some people are not aware of and it is often overlooked. If you have any other Google account you should be able to set up Google Alerts using the same login details as your other Google account. So no need to create a new account for this.