Gathering information and facts takes time and effort. So why not let the internet do it for you?
How?
By setting up ‘Google Alerts’.
It’s easy, it’s painless, and the information you get can be priceless.
For example, I am currently interested in sleep (probably because I’m not getting enough of it!!) So I set up an alert for ‘sleep’. I call this the incubation period. For a couple of days, I get daily emails on all things ‘sleep‘. After reviewing the alerts, I notice a trend toward a couple of sub-topics which help me narrow down my article idea. I create alerts on these two new sub topics and a couple of days later, I have enough information to write an informed and marketable query letter. All thanks to Google.
Google alerts can help you discover trends, find out what people are saying, discover experts, and find out what’s already been published. It’s a gold mine of information.
Try it and see….
Monday, February 05, 2007
Let Google do the research for you…
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4 comments:
Great tip Liz! I never thought of using it that way. Right now I just have it set-up to e-mail me if my name or blog comes up (okay a little vain but interesting nonetheless).
Thanks Liz. I'm researching travel trends and this will definitely help me.
Terah
Hope it works well for you both.
Harmony, I googled my name once and discovered too many other people out there with my name - it was kinda disconcerting.
Cheers, Liz
Great tip, thanks Liz. I hadn't thought of using it as a research tool.
Yvonne
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