Why You Should Use Google Alerts If You're an Author

This article is in response to a comment that fellow CP Benscudder made on my video "How to Create A Google Alert." He asked me to write an article and explain why someone would need a Google Alert if they were an author.

To Keep Track of When Someone Searches for You on the Internet

Most of us that are authors Google our name every so often just to see what comes up. I like to know what my readers will find when they Google my name. One thing I found out from a Google Alert for my name is that there is another writer with my name (although her name is Regina Paul-Bloxham, and that there is an actor now dead named Paul Regina). This helps me to know what my readers might be pulling up when they Google my name. Now the chances anyone is going to confuse me with either of these people is slim, but knowing their names are also coming up with mine is good too. I have discovered that the more internet presence I have the less these names pop up in the first couple of pages when someone Googles my name.

Ideally, having a Google Alert for your name will help you to see all the places that your name appears on the internet. I have found blogs discussing articles I've written for Associated Content because I have this alert, and that I would probably never have known about otherwise. This is just one example of how having an Google Alert for your name can be advantageous.

To Help You Keep Track of How Often Your Author Website is Being Visited

Many authors have an official website and I'm certainly no exception. I have an alert for both my old official website at Bravenet and my new one that is under my domain name www.reginapaul.com because I want to know when people are visiting these websites. It is one way for me to keep track of whether my forwarding message on the front page of my old website was working and that people are clicking through to the new website rather than relying on what was on the old one. The alerts let me know right away that people are mostly viewing the new website.

To Help You Know When Someone is Searching for Your Book

I have a Google Alert for the titles of each of my books so that I know when people are searching for my books. This is one way that helps me to keep track of possible sales. While I cannot be certain that just because someone visited my book page on my publisher's website that they actually bought my book. I can at least keep track of how often my book website at my publisher is being visited. Another nice thing is that with just the title, any websites that contain your book's title and that someone has visited you will be alerted about. One way that this has worked to my advantage is when I put up my book trailer for my science fiction romance Getting Out Alive on youtube. When the trailer had only been up for maybe twelve hours, a blog called Best Science Videos added it so that anyone visiting that blog could view my trailer there. I would never have known that had happened without an alert nor been able to say thank you to the blog owner.

To Help You Know When Someone Has Visited Your Book's Purchase Pages

A final way to use Google Alerts to keep track of your books and sales is to create an alert with your book's purchase pages. For example my romantic suspense novella Destiny's Choices is for sale at three different online outlets, Amira Press (my publisher), Coffee Time Romance Bookstore, and Fictionwise. I have an alert for the purchase page my book is on for each of those places. That way anytime someone visits those pages I get an alert. It is one way to help me keep track of possible sales, and if people are finding out about my books. Of course it won't tell you if people are actually following through, and buying your book, but it's nice to know if they visited the page.

These are just a few of the advantages of creating Google Alerts if you are an author. I have found them to be of tremendous help with my marketing campaign and figuring out what is working and what isn't. I hope you find this information as useful as I have.