Syahid.. Favebots looks like a cool service I might try this week. You are right that Google Alerts could use some more features to fine tune alerts.

Syahid A.s last blog post..20 Fantastic Mozilla Firefox Compact Themes

Thanks a bunch! Once you try it, it is like a personal assistant for you and it will fetch everything you need right in to your Gmail. I think every blogger should at the least create a Google Blog Search alert for the ‘niche’ terms they blog about.

I digress. I use the ‘FireStats’ WordPress Plugin and the settings panel has an option to turn this on. It is actually a stats gathering plugin and I use it pretty much for this functionality.

I am working on a Top WordPress Plugins post and should post in a couple of days. It has all the juicy plugins I use and more..

Off topic, sorry - just wanted ask what plugin you use to display country, browser and OS for commentators? Thanks

I guess if we think about it we might come up with more ways of using it. Only sky is the limit!

Have a wonderful day yourself!

Thanks for your friendliness and openness to posting links to the works of others! I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say “I appreciate it”!

I’ve been fine–and very busy! Hope you have, too!

Google Alerts can be helpful in so many ways! (Your last-mentioned use for them–checking to see whether Google is indexing your content–is another great benefit of using them–one I hadn’t thought of.) Sometimes I also find links to my content through Google Alerts–often before they even show up on Technorati.

It’s really helpful, for those who sell their work through Constant Content (since we often don’t know where our work will be posted on the internet once it’s been purchased,) to find out which websites have posted our work. This is nice to know–even if they haven’t altered it or removed our byline.

I tend to use comprehensive “as-it-happens” alerts, so I can find my work on any type of website and will be notified as soon as the Googlebot finds it.

Google Alerts are a helpful tool for any internet writer and I highly recommend them!

Have a great day!
Jeanne

That is another great way of using Google Alerts and I think it’s use can only be limited by one’s imagination.

The byline idea is a great way to track plagiarism! I am heading over to check out your post on this topic and I’m glad you posted the link. I welcome my readers to post links to their own posts if it’s relevant to the conversation. And your comment has added some input to this conversation!

One other great side effect of tracking your blog with Google Alerts (I forgot to mention in the post) is that you can find out if Google is indexing your content regularly. If you don’t see your current post in the alerts, then there may be some problem with Google indexing your site. This is especially true after upgrading WordPress or installing plugins that may affect this.

I use Google Alerts to keep track of my work which has been purchased through third-party sites such as Constant Content, to make sure the buyers are complying with the terms of the purchase agreement (e.g., not removing my byline from or altering content that they haven’t purchased all rights to.)

In addition to setting up an alert using my byline–which can help me discover unauthorized changes to legitimately purchased works–I set up alerts using unique phrases from my articles or blog posts, so my work will pretty much be found anywhere on the internet–even if my byline has been removed–which can help prevent plagiarism.

I’ve written several posts on my blog about this subject. Here’s one: “Google Alerts Can Help You Detect Misuse or Abuse of Your Work!” It can be found at the following URL/link: http://www.writersnotes.net/google-alerts-can-help-you-detect-misuse-or-abuse-of-your-work/.

Hope you don’t mind my posting this link. Just thought that since my post answers the question asked in your post, it would be appropriate to share it–particularly since it could prove helpful to your readers.

Thanks!
Jeanne

Appreciate the stumble!