ProBlogger - Latest Posts |
Set Up ‘Alerts’ to Monitor What is Happening in Your Niche [Day 10 - 31DBBB] Posted: 15 Apr 2009 04:23 AM PDT I’m often asked by friends, family and readers how I spend my time on an average day of blogging. Those asking are often surprised to hear that while ‘writing‘ is one definitely one activity that I do a fair bit of that there are quite a number of other activities that take up quite a bit of my focus. One such important activity that I spend considerable time on as a blogger is ‘watching’, ‘monitoring’, ‘listening to’ and ‘reading’ what others are writing on their blogs or social media accounts. Reasons to Be Aware of What Others are Talking About in Your NicheThere are quite a few reasons that bloggers monitor what’s being said on other blogs and in the news on certain topics. These include: 1. Ideas for Posts - one of the main challenges that bloggers face at different times is running out of things to blog about. Keeping abreast of what others are writing about gives you an almost unlimited supply of ideas and helps you to keep your posts on topic with what is buzzing in your niche at any given point of time. 2. Awareness of Breaking News - this is more relevant for some niches than others but sometimes knowing when a story is breaking in your industry can be very important. Being unaware of such stories can make your blog look out of touch to readers wanting to know the latest. 3. Profile Building and Perceived Expertise - bloggers who are obviously aware of what else is happening in their niche are often seen as experts and authorities in their industry. I know of a number of bloggers and twitter users who’ve built profiles for themselves simply by having their finger on the pulse of their niche and linking to interesting and useful content on other sites. 4. Networking - using some of the ‘alert’ tools below enables you to know who is talking about issues relevant to your niche within a short time of them doing so. This enables you to make connections and build relationships with these people. 5. Reputation Management - knowing quickly when others are talking about you, your company, your brands and your blog is valuable information as it enables you to not only build relationships with those who are saying positive things about you but also manage negative talk. There are other reasons to be aware of what people are saying in your niche - but lets move on to some of the ‘how to do it’. Today your task is to set up a variety of ‘alerts’ or ‘watch lists’ for your blog’s niche.There are many services around to help you keep track of what people are writing. I’d love you to suggest those that you use in comments below - but here are a handful that I regularly use:
As mentioned above - there are many tools around to do this type of monitoring. The key is to find one or two that fit with your style and rhythm of blogging and to regularly check them. Types of ‘alerts’ to set up:Lastly - let me outline a few types of alerts to set up. These are the two that I most commonly set up: 1. Industry Words - these are words relevant to your blog’s niche. For example if you blog about the wedding industry you might like to monitor words like ‘wedding dress’. If you blog about Britney Spears - you’ll want to be watching for any use of her name. The key is to find keywords that highlight when stories are breaking about your industry but ones that don’t overwhelm you with results. 2. Vanity Alerts - these are keywords that are specifically relevant to you. They include your personal name, your blog’s name, company name, brand names and even URLs. Warning - Monitor in ModerationLet me finish with a word of warning. Don’t become obsessed with monitoring what OTHERS are saying. While I do believe it can significantly enhance a blog to be aware of what others are doing online in that space - it can also become a distraction (if not an obsession). The key with all tasks of blogging is to do them in a balanced way. Set up some ‘alerts’ today - keep an eye upon them - but don’t forget to actually do some writing yourself instead of just watching what others write! Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger. Set Up ‘Alerts’ to Monitor What is Happening in Your Niche [Day 10 - 31DBBB] |
You are subscribed to email updates from ProBlogger Blog Tips To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
Inbox too full? Subscribe to the feed version of ProBlogger Blog Tips in a feed reader. | |
If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: ProBlogger Blog Tips, c/o Google, 20 W Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 |
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar