I suspect that when Google came up with Google Alerts they knew they had a cool tool that people could use to keep track of subjects they were following and wanted the latest news on those subjects coming to them in their email inbox.

People have used Google Alerts for following things like Nascar, the musician Pink, Soccer, their favorite WWE wrestler, you name it.

But, many people have found other clever uses for it as well, as it is a very powerful tool whe it comes to staying on top of who is saying what about whom and where it was said.

Recently, one of my members shared they way they use Google Alerts with me for this very purpose, and I found it worked so well that I would now like to pass it on to you.

Google Alerts searches the Google archives for any given search term, and if it finds it, sends an email to you with the link to where it found the search term, and a summary of the text where it was found. This is very handy for someone that is either particularly vain, or someone that has a vested interest in what is said about them, or even about their product.

Doing this kind of search manually would be agonizing, as you would always get the same results, and they would not be based on the most current occurences of your keywords.

So, if you go to Google Alerts and

1. type your name  or your product name or even your Twitter username (which looks like @rondavies);
2. for “Type” select “Comprehensive”;
3. for “How Often” select “once a day”; and
4. enter your email address where asked.

You will receive any new occurences of that search term (your full name or product name) as they come into the Google archive system.

This means that if someone says something nice about you on blog XYZ.com, (or heaven forbid, not so nice), and Google spiders thier normal update for that blog and finds your name, you will be notified by email within the day.

Then you can either thank them, or spank them I suppose, depending on the nature of the comment or post where your name or product name were found #;>)

Another very cool, very easy to use tool from my little toolbox.

Have a great day!

CubePoints is a very cool point reward and management system for WordPress that enables users to earn points by  commenting at your site.

Motivate users to participate in your blog discussions by offering them points which they can use to purchase goodies of any variety, and even donate them to other users.

Awarded a certain number of points for each comment users make. Should the comment is deleted from the admin panel, the points will automatically be deducted.

CubePoints has an admin panel providing the admin with the ability to adjust the points of  users quickly and easily.

CubePoints Admin Interface – Manage the points of your users:

CubePoints Admin Interface – Configure CubePoints to your liking:

Allow users to donate to other users, directly from the comments box:

Get Cubepoints Here

If you’re one of the WordPress users that has upgraded to WP 2.7, or one of those smart people that have installed the “Wassup” plugin for WordPress, you may be wondering what the “wp-cron.php” file is about that keeps popping up in your stats. Don’t worry, it’s nothing nasty, just the WordPress blog engine executing a few commands and updates based on date and time.

Below is a link to download the WordPress Cron Demo plugin. It demonstrates how the WordPress Cron feature can be used to accomplish a number of things.

Taking control of your WP Cron processes (Cron just means “chronoligical” or “time-based”) can help free up resources in your WP install and your web server.

Installation & use:

1. Download Cron Demo v1.0 and extract to a local folder.
2. Upload extracted contents to wp-content/plugins folder and activate from plugins tab in WordPress admin panel.
3. Go to the “Options� administration menu

Plugins Page

[tag]Cron Demo, Plugin, WordPress Plugin, Cron, WordPress Cron[/tag]

I have been asked about this a few times, so I am going to try and clear the air as best I can.

For some time, a number of clever web 2 marketers have been sneaking “External Links” in over at Wikipedia in categories related to their keywords.

Ok. I can sense a few blank faces so I will explain…

Google ranks your site based largely on the authority and quality of the sites that link to you. This means that if WordPress.com links to you, and Google does consider WordPress.com to be an authority site, that value is passed on to your site when Google ranks you, and when they determine your Google Pagerank.

Since Wikipedia is clearly seen by Google as an authority site on literally thousands of subjects, getting a link from wiki to your site would be a good thing, no? Let’s explore this a little more deeply…

Many of the Wikipedia category pages and result pages are ranked by Google as PR 5 or even 6 in some cases. A free PR 5 or PR 6 link to your site certainly wouldn’t hurt would it?

But wait…before you knock yourself out chasing links from Wikipedia you should keep one thing in mind…

Wikipedia uses strictly “nofollow” links.

Now, this does not mean that a link from wiki to your site is not a good thing, it just means that Google does not credit your site with any of the “good stuff” that would normally have been carried to your site if Wikipedia was NOT “nofollow”, that’s all.

IMHO, a link from them must have more value than no link at all, mustn’t it?

If this kind of pursuit interests you, have a look at the video below where I linked a Wikipedia PR6 page to my affiliate program directory site called “WhichAffiliate.com”

Cheers,

Ron

[tag]Affiliate Program Directory,Blank Faces,Clever Web,Comotion,Free Pr,Good Stuff,google,Google Pagerank,Imho,marketers,pagerank,Pr6,Web Marketers,Wiki,wikipedia,Wikki[/tag]

I am looking for general Internet or affiliate marketing products to review on RonaldDavies.com for the second week in December time slot, as well as to send to my list of subscribers (see below to join the review list). This usually costs $1000 (ok, so its actually $997 :>) but someone is going to get this review done at o costs for the reasons below.

If you provide software or services that fall under the Internet marketing genre, and even better is they apply specificallly to affiliate marketing, please drop me a note through the “Contact” page of this blog.

I have a spot open for December as a result of the review I already completed for the second week in December slot getting pulled due to scheduling conflicts.

The product or service must be your own. or you must have the right to distribute it. The review will be in typed text and image format, as well as reviewed in Youtube in video format, as suitable.

The exposure I provide is free, and my readership is extensive. Usually there is a $1000 charge for my reviews, but again the scheduling problem has left me a little short.

Take advantage of the Christmas flurry and get your product in!

Cheers,