What are Google Alerts?

It is a free notification service that will send you an email anytime Google finds something on line that you want to watch for; like your name “King Kong”, your boss’s name “Micro Manager”, your competition, your kid’s names, etc? If Google finds any page on the internet with content matching what you are watching for, you will receive an email with a link to that page. Google seems to be freaky at finding every page eventually.

Here’s how easy it is:

Input the topic, name or any search terms you want to monitor. Select whether you want Google to monitor everything (comprehensive), or choose to target news, video, blogs, the web or online groups. Then select how frequently you want to receive email updates, and then finally how many links per email you want to see (20 or 50).

Click Create Alert and you are done… sit back and wait! Then depending on how common your search term, it could be minutes, days or months before you receive your first alert.

As an example below, here is a Google Alert landing in my inbox from monitoring my own name online.

Here are a few other great resources, tips, & alternatives:

Google Alerts Help http://www.google.com/support/alerts/?hl=en

10 Tips For Small Businesses http://www.sbinformer.com/guides/marketing_your_product/articles/090608-10-Ways-to-Use-Google-Alerts-for-Business-Social-Media

Yahoo Alerts http://alerts.yahoo.com/

Windows Live Alerts http://alerts.live.com/Alerts/

Jonathon Fields Blog Post http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/stalking-or-due-diligence-google-alerts-gone-bad/

How are you using Google Alerts?

I’m not enjoying it as much as I use to, honestly don’t think I’m making a major difference & by the lack of comments on the majority of posts I’d dare say you agree! No hard feelings… some time the truth just plain sucks! To date my blogging efforts have been strangely scattered and not social in nature. I’m not only NOT reaching enough readers, I’m not reaching out and really connecting with YOU, with other bloggers, or wickedly interesting people behind the technology, services or ideas I often recommend!

This changes as of right now. No more just tweeting my blog post links. No more Mr. Passive Promotion! I quit blogging today and won’t post again until I can truly step it up a notch.

Here is my future plan to find blogging enjoyment again, produce better content,  and in the process enlighten YOU and hopefully earn the right to ask for your comments and ability to share with your network!

1. No blog post will get published, unless it can truly make a difference to you or someone you may know.

2. I will frequently start reaching out and promoting through this blog the insanely brilliant people, bloggers, authors, tech owners and professionals who are doing amazing things on & offline. These people are the ones that truly deserve your time and attention!

3. Lastly, I have shyed away from controversy for too long.  In doing so, I have avoided posting some truly thought provoking content! When I start again I will come back with thicker skin, and be tackling some tougher issues.

I quit blogging today! I look forward to coming back soon.

Here they are:

10. Backup Drive, Google Docs or DropBox

Many of our precious digital memories or business related digital documents are considered irreplaceable. If you don’t take the time to back them up, you are at risk of losing it all if your computer crashes ( I speak form experience . Make this the year you sleep soundly at night knowing that your data is backed up via a back up drive, and or you have utilized a free or paid online storage service.

9. iPhone or iTouch (Top 10 there’s an APP for everything list!)

Gone are the days of frustrating mobile devices that make using the internet and other online services painful. I recommend that everyone have either an iPhone or at the very least an i Touch so that you can; unwind anywhere and rediscover the power of music, use abundantly available free WIFI to play games with friends, and or connect with business colleagues and create the next Google, even if you aren’t on the same continent.

Here are my Top Ten apps; Wordpress, Skype, Google Apps, Dragon Dictation, Facebook, Echofon (Twitter), LinkedIn, Scrabble, PS Mobile (Photoshop), & PayPal

8. Skype

After recently teaching my parents to use Skype while they travel for two solid months, they were astonished that they could call any phone number in North America for less than the cost of  one  Star Bucks Latte a month. I’ll say that again in case you missed it… for about 3$ a month they have unlimited long distance to any phone!!!! So if you have been hiding under a rock until now,  and haven’t downloaded Skype, what are you waiting for? Skype is so much more than just cheap long distance, as its great for free video chatting, instant messaging and real time business collaboration.

7. Windows 7

Finally, Microsoft has hit the mark with their new operating system. If your PC is still running XP or Vista then it is well worth the effort to upgrade. Here are just a snippets of the 100’s of  improvements you could experience; very simple Home Networking (easy to connect all your PC’s to a home group), faster boot up & down times, and vastly improved user interface even if the changes feel ever so slight! Either way, it’s worth the upgrade!

6. RocketDock

This little free APP saves me time every day, and helps me keep my often cluttered desktop more organized. If you have too many icons on your desktop and want an easier way to get acces to your most frequently used programs, then this is the ticket. The price is right (free), but if you do like it consider donating a little cash to the developers, as they have been nice enough not to charge.

5. GoToMeeting

Ok, so this one is definitely not cheap, but if you are in business and need to conduct super effective remote meeting(s) with one or more people then Citrix has this market locked up. I have used GoToMeeting for several years and highly recommend it to anyone. Some of my favorite uses for this service are;  giving remote presentations, white boarding ideas with partners, connecting to a friends computer and helping, and so much more.

4. GoToMyMac, & GoToMyPc

Although I wrote about this back in 2007 (here), I still use GoToMyPC when I am on the road to work off of my main super computer Again, this isn’t a cheap service, but if your business life depends on you reliably accessing your main computer RIGHT NOW to help you close a deal, then this other Citrix product is for you. There are other alternative free services out there for sure, but I have never found anything as reliable and robust.

3. Elance.com

After reading Tim Ferris’s book (The 4 Hour Work Week) I was reminded of this outsourcing service, and finally took the plunge to get a few side projects completed. On Elance you can virtually post almost any type of job or project you can think of and experts around the world will bid to get the work. For often very reasonable prices you could have a script ghost written, hire a programmer or web designer, have a database expert create you the perfect database, hire a virtual assistant, and so much more. Make this the year that you truly act on delegating those tasks you need done, but really know you don’t have the time or desire to get to.

2. Dragon Naturally Speaking

When it comes to typing I had two choices. Either spend the time to truly teach myself how to type or accept my limitations and use technology to my advantage.  What do you think i decided? I finally bought Dragon Naturally Speaking and now talk to my computer, and watch as my words are magically typed out on the screen. No word of a lie, this has probably saved me a 100+ hours in the past year. I have found Dragon to be 98% accurate, and it works on any program I have on my PC that accepts typed text like Word, FireFox,  gMail, etc.

1. Life Is What You Make It

I think I have saved the best for last, but you can be the judge of that.  I know in my heart that there is NO technology on the planet that can truly  make our lives better like other human beings can. Yes, software and online services can save you time & money, of which can be applied to the other areas of your life that mean the most to you. Let this be the year that you consider hiring an executive or life coach to assist you in making this your best year ever. I use & highly recommend Deb Raven.

I hope one of these Top 10  saves you time & or money! Please let me know what tools you use and I truly look forward to hearing your comments. All the best to you in 2010!

As the ‘Slow PC’ question comes at me so often, not so long ago I even put together a guide, that I give to email subscribers, friends & family who are prepared to put forth a little elbow grease to get their computers running top notch. If you want this free guide, just sign up to my email list top right and shoot me an email and I will gladly send you a PDF version.

For those of you who are non techie, and don’t want to spend a few hours reading and manually cleaning your machines, then my best advice is to spend a few bucks and use the king of PC Fixer Upper software called System Mechanic. Umm, the name kind of says it all,  so I though I would just paste this video which has a link for more info below.

Cheers,

Lee

First result was his LinkedIn  profile… good start!

The rest of the first page results were related to his name appearing in various charity and foundation Web documents. What can I say, “He is a quality guy!”

Then I asked a simple question, “Do you own your name.com?”

His answer didn’t surprise me, “NO, how do you go about getting that?”

The conversation that led from there was me assuring him that it’s not hard, it’s not expensive and if your name is available you would be crazy not to make the annual investment of around $10 a year! So as we finished our drinks, I promised to send him an e-mail that night with a link where he could check to see if his name was available and purchase it at discount.

This is the link I sent him on how to search and purchase your own name online using a service called GoDaddy :  GoDaddy (See & click on image below on what do when you get there)

Now, he is one of the lucky ones and will be picking up his name.com right away! If you have a very common name, like Mike Smith, then it is a totally different conversation. (If you are in that situation should mean an e-mail as I have a few friends in the domain brokerage business you may want to talk to!)

Thank you! AKA thanks, tks or thankyou!!!!

Today, I received my 100th blog comment and two emails from various people thanking me for my help and gosh darn it feels good! What can I say, “I like to help!”

In retrospect, I think I only thanked two people today who helped me… Should have been more!!!!

So a big thanks to all of you who take the time to not only read my infrequent blogging, but a special appreciation to readers who take the time to comment, ask questions or even challenge my point of view!

I’m here to help, so please don’t be a stranger and drop me a line anytime!

How can I help you?

I may not be an IT specialist, but if you are like me and happen to be remotely good with a computer these days, you quasi de facto become tech support for your parents, siblings, friends and co-workers.

So this post is for all you UNPAID tech support geeks… you know who you are! Feel free to post your best questions in the comments below as I feel your pain.

3.  I don’t know what I clicked but now my screen is sideways and my neck is getting sore?

This one came from my Dad! I couldn’t stop laughing after I walked him though rotating his desktop under his display properties. I love you Dad… but holy cow!

2.  I think I have a virus? I WASN’T looking at those sex websites or anything so I don’t understand how I got it.

Ummm, I will protect the more than one not so innocent people by not naming names, but  too many people apparently don’t have a teenager they can blame.  Two words for you folks -Antivirus Software!!!

1. My computer is sooooo slow and its only a year old?

When asked if they change the oil on the car…yep of course. When is the last time you cleaned up your computer?  (Shaking their head….) If you think that a registry is where you go to select presents for a wedding and defrag is a war term, please, please go buy System Mechanic!

I will post more if they come to me, but I’m sure there are few stories out there that put mine to shame.

Mahatma Gandhi was quoted as saying, “Be the change you want to see in the world!”

I agree and don’t know too many people that would dispute Gandhi. This quote has been an inspiration to me, but for some reason, has always seemed incomplete… So my deepest apologies to Gandhi but I changed it!

“To be the change you want to see in the world you must constantly be changing!”~ Lee Raito

Change is the one constant we can all count on. Whether it’s changing to an iPhone, changing your income, or changing your lifestyle…

YOU just have to decide to change and go for it.

Mahatma Gandhi would have loved the iPhone!!!

1. You ‘Secretly’ want to get rid of your computer, and sort of enjoy the fact that some pimple faced hacker genius teenager on the other side of the world can use your PC while you sleep to send millions of spam emails.
2. You have a crush on the technician at the computer shop and you feel the monthly $29.95 Virus Removal charge is more economical than the online dating site eHarmony! Oops… another Trojan horse!
3. You’re broke or just plain too cheap. (Guess nobody told you basic AVG was free!!!)
4. Your Mom works for Norton.
5. Last, but not least, you’re a Hacker and think it would just be DUMB to use anything that is legit.

For everyone else…

Part 2- Traditional Blogs Are Dying- Long Run Projection Rates

Part 3- Traditional Blogs Are Dying- The Problems

Section 4: How To Stay Ahead of the Curve and Profit

The internet is still in its infancy, and although blogging is here to stay it will get progressively more difficult to stand out in the crowd with a traditional blog.  New and existing bloggers will not only have to innovate to stay ahead of the curve, they will have to adapt daily to the new technologies being created at the speed of light. This last and final section of ‘Traditional Blogs Are Dying’ will focus on:

• What web properties to keep a close eye on to stay ahead of the curve.
• How Multi Media Blogging & Social Networking is no longer an option, but a bare minimum.
• Utilizing Micro blogging & the next wave of Micro Video Blogging
• Profiting from the death of traditional text blogs

Web Properties You Need To Watch to Stay Ahead of the Curve

There are a select few websites that continuously stay on top of technology affecting the new blogosphere. It is imperative that you stay tuned to what these sites are not only writing about, but implementing on their own multi-media blogs and micro-blogging accounts.

If you take a little time each day to say abreast of these sites, and jump on top of implementing new technologies first, you will stay ahead of 99% of traditional blogs.

As you will see the new wave of multi-media blogs are seamlessly integrating audio, video, micro blogging and social networking.

http://www.mashable.com/ (All That’s New On The Web) This is ‘THE’ site to stay on top of social networking and new start-ups. Visit Mashable Daily or signup for daily updates, and you will stay ahead of the curve.

This will help you stay on top of Wordpress, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and more…

http://lifehacker.com/ Life Hacker Blog is a great site to watch for new tips & downloads available across the web, of which many are mutli-media related.

http://scobleizer.com/ Pay attention to what Robert Scoble not only blogs about, but how he seamlessly integrates audio, video and micro blogging into his WordPress Blog.

Some Additional Sites You Should Watch

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/ Google’s Official Blog is a necessity to watch, as whenever they release new products or update features, you want to be in the know.

How Multi Media Blogging & Social Networking Are Becoming The Bare Minimum Standard

As of today, many will disagree with this Quasi-White Paper and that is to be expected. Staying ahead of the curve has always meant doing things differently than the masses.

Just think of how you consume information today, as compared to just a decade ago. Google has been around really just over ten years now, and as video technology has vastly improved in the last few years, it is quickly becoming the preferred medium online. Just look at the popularity of YouTube and other video sites. This reality is why many bloggers are choosing to innovate with audio & video to set themselves apart from traditional bloggers.

It is now easy to include Video and or audio on most major blogging platforms online; Blogger, WordPress & Live Journal just to name a few.

Here are a few links for various blogging platforms that make adding multimedia easy:

Blogger: http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=67428

WordPress: http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2007/02/05/4-new-ways-to-embed-video/

LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=268

While video blogging has been around for many years already, many bloggers and companies have shyed away from the technology for various reasons; technology confusion, personal disclosure & implementation in the past have been to blame. It is now easier than ever to implement the technology, and internet users expectation of a more personal internet experience require content providers to bare their faces and voices to the masses. It is this expectation that will cause countless traditional blogs to die over the coming years. Those blogs that fail to recognize the paradigm shift to multi-media will fade into the obscure grave of millions of traditional text blogs.

Here are a few recommended resources for video & audio (podcast) blogging:

Video Blogging by Jay Dedman

Podcasting Bible by Mitch Ratcliffe & Steve Mack

Utilizing Micro Blogging & The New Micro Video Blogging

Micro Blogging

http://twitter.com/guykawasaki Guy Kawaski has over 68,000+ people following him on the micro-blogging service Twitter. He drives millions of clicks to his traditional blog (http://www.guykawaski.com/) and anything else online he is promoting, by simply making very short micro blogging posts which are immediately seen by his interested readers.

A micro blogging post is limited to the same amount of characters that a text message on a cell phone, which is approximately 144 characters.

e.g. Guys inputs a short message online or over his cell phone, and it becomes immediately available to his followers.

Not only is Twitter micro-blogging, it is also direct communication with readers. For example I sent Guy Kawaski a question on Twitter, and with in less than 40 minutes he had responded with his answer.

Twitter is at the forefront of the micro-blogging world, and some very famous traditional bloggers have chosen to move away from the old style blog and focus on micro-blogging instead. One such example is Jason Calacanis http://twitter.com/jasoncalacanis.%20Jason’s%2040,000+ followers watch his every move and communicate with him in real time.

Twitter provides an amazing direct connection with readers that just doesn’t exist with the commenting systems on traditional blogs today (it’s coming though). It is this speed and connectivity that readers and internet users are flocking to. Bloggers today, who want to stay ahead of the curve, must integrate micro-blogging into their process.

Micro Video Blogging is Ahead of the Curve

There are two services that you will want to not only keep your eye on, but as well jump into and integrate into your process.

http://www.seesmic.com/ is a video micro blogging service.

Seesmic brings conversation alive through video. It allows you to see and hear people share their experiences straight from their webcams.

People record a video directly on Seesmic’s website, or upload an existing video straight from their computer, or link to a video posted on a social network, then viewers respond by recording a micro video of their own.

Micro Video Blogging again can be stand alone for some, or if tightly integrated with you main site, Twitter and social networking accounts, will set you apart from the crowd and connect with readers and users in away that just is not possible with a traditional text blog.

http://12seconds.tv/ is another Micro Video Blogging service that is currently in Alpha. Keep an eye on this one, and request an invitation to join as they are not open to the public as of today.

Profiting From The Death of Traditional Blogs

The end goal was to show you or your company how to stay ahead of the curve and profit as the blogosphere makes a fundamental shift from traditional text blogging, to integrated multi-media & micro blogging. The fact is that a large majority of existing and new bloggers simply won’t make the shift. They will keep toiling away at writing great text only content, that as each day passes will get drowned out by the billions of other blog posts that go unnoticed.

So simply by adding multi-media, micro-blogging and micro-video blogging to a traditional blog, will one profit from the death of traditional blogs?

YES, you will ABSOLUTELY stand out amongst the crowd of traditional text blogs, and that alone is the first step to profiting from the death of traditional blogging. In the end, gaining more readers and more viewers, will translate into advertising sales, direct sales, affiliate sales or however you choose to monetize your site.