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Website Alerts – Protect Your Name Online

You may already use an alert system like the one at trackle.com to help you follow your favorite news and topics online, but did you know that you can set up website alerts to protect yourself and your reputation? Alert tools aren’t just convenient; they can actually keep you safe. There are four main ways to use web alerts to follow your own presence on the Internet.

 

1.      Track yourself on the web.

 

First, you can use website alerts to find your name anywhere it appears on the Internet. Why might this be important? Well, you may not know it, but some people publish personal information that you may not want online for the world to see. For example, if you get a new job, that company might post a profile of you online. By setting up an alert for your name, you’ll be notified if something like this happens and can review the information, perhaps politely asking for some information, like your phone number or spouse’s name, to be removed. It is all about safety.

 

You can also use an alert for your name if you work online. Plagiarism is more and more of a problem, especially with the current popularity of blogs. Many people steal entire articles or blog posts, byline and all, so this system will alert you when something has been published under your name.

 

 

2.      Find your name in local news.

 

With trackle.com’s web alert system, you can also find your own name in local news. For some, this is simply a matter of wanting to print out articles where they’re mentioned as a souvenir. However, this can be a safety concern as well. Misprints and other mistakes in newspapers can cause you to be accused of things you didn’t do, leading to more problems in the future. It can also help you find instances when you were misquoted, so that you can contact the paper and ask for a retraction or correction.

 

3.      Follow your blog activities.

 

Blogs are the premier online form of newspaper right now, so you can set up an alert for your name on blogs for some of the same reasons as listed above. If you’re misquoted, you can quickly contact the blogger to make the corrections, and if someone steals your work or publishes under your name, you can take measures to stop them. People who are often in the media, like business leaders or celebrities, can also take advantage of trackle.com’s blog website alerts for public relations reasons.

 

4.      Keep involved with specific websites.

 

Lastly, you can use alerts to see where you name is posted just on specific websites. If you’re part of a community organization or have a leadership role in a company, chances are that you’re routinely mentioned on their website. You can automate the process of looking for your name using trackle.com, giving you immediate alerts whenever you’re mentioned. For safety, public relations, and more, website alerts can really save you time while protecting you.

Website Change Alert – A Convenient Tracking System

Today, the Internet is filled with blogs, many of which update daily and have RSS feeds that alert you whenever there is a new entry to read. However, not every website has a dynamic blog format. So, if you want to read new information when it is updated, you have to check back regularly to see if the webmaster made any changes. Not only does this take a lot of time, but it is also an imperfect system, since it is easy to forget web addresses or miss changes. With a website change alert system, like you’ll find with trackle.com, you can ensure that you’re up-to-date on all of your favorite topics.

 

There are many ways to use a website change alert system to its full benefit. RSS feeds are a very simplified version of this kind of tool, and many Internet users have a feed reader to follow all of the blogs they read. However, with a premium system like trackle.com, you can add those RSS feeds into a larger system, which will help you “trackle” (ie, track) just about anything online, even on non-blog websites.

 

 

For example, let’s say that you enjoy learning about new iPod products. You can start by following a number of blogs relating to this topic. Add to that the official Apple website, using your website change alert system with the keyword “iPod” to tell you whenever they’ve updated their website in that topic area. You can also look to other websites for iPod information. For instance, you may want to trackle a government website so that you’re alerted if there are ever any iPod recalls.

You don’t have to use a website change alert in terms of a keyword, such as in the iPod example listed above. You can also use it to chart changes made to a specific site you enjoy. Like using a RSS feed, in this case, you’ll be alerted every time the website in question changes. Because many websites have hundreds of pages, it can be difficult to spot these changes manually, so the alerts can save you a ton of time. For example, you might choose to trackle your favorite restaurant’s website. That way, you’ll be alerted every time they change their hours, upload a new menu, or announce special events that you may want to attend.

 

Website change alert systems can also work above and beyond your favorite RSS feed. Let’s say that you enjoy reading news about a fairly narrow topic, like Red Sox baseball. A MLB blog that updates with news on all of the teams might have a few interesting Red Sox articles every week, but you may avoid subscribing to their RSS feed because there are so many other posts that don’t interest you. With the trackle.com website change alert tool, you can follow a specific topic within a specific RSS feed, once again saving you time. The key to any alert system is, in fact, just that – use it for the specific topics and websites that interest you in order to avoid spending hours at your computer every day.

New York Times Best Seller List: Why Should It Matter to Me?

Since April 9, 1942, the New York Times has been publishing a list of the country’s best-selling books, known simply as the New York Times Best Seller List. This is considered by most to be the paramount record of book sale statistics in the United States, and for some, following the New York Times best seller list via trackle.com is the best way to stay up-to-date with the most popular works of fiction and non-fiction alike. But should this list matter to you?

 

There are many benefits to following the best seller list, which is published weekly as part of the New York Times Book Review magazine. First, this is the most all-encompassing list available. The way the list is compiled is a trade secret, but in Times insider Edwin Diamond has said that the list compiles information from over 3,000 bookstores and more than 28,000 other retail outlets and wholesalers. The total number of sales statistics reviewed may actually be much higher.

 

 

Studies have shown that most readers use this list in some capacity, especially as a guide in finding new and unknown authors to read. Fans of John Grisham or J.K. Rowling don’t need this list to tell them to pick up the latest book by that author, but writers who don’t yet have a huge fan following often see huge boosts in sales if they find themselves on the list. As a reader, this is your way of finding new and interesting books to read instead of having a narrow library of books by the same authors from which to choose. Over the years, over 500 books have been on this list, and many successful writing careers started with an introduction to the public via the list.

 

Another benefit to following the best seller list is that you can often find these books at discounted prices. Many bookstores use the list as a way to determine which books they’ll put on sale and feature near the front of the store. For example, Amazon.com has a portion of their website specifically for the New York Times best seller list, and these books are often up to 50% off. By following the best seller list, you can save a lot of money on your book choices.

 

Lastly, the New York Times best seller list is a great way to stay organized and prioritize what you read. The list itself is split into a number of categories to allow as many books as possible to shine. You can focus on the entire list, or just follow specific sections. In addition to splitting the list in terms of fiction and non-fiction, they also have categories for advice, children’s literature, trade fiction, and mass-market fiction.

 

Following the New York Times Best Seller List at trackle.com is the best way to make sure that you’re alerted whenever a new list is released. Instead of checking back every day or subscribing to the newspaper, you can simply add this alert to your profile and have the list emailed directly to you as soon as it is published. This is a great way to ensure that you never miss a good read again.