If you like to find out everything there is (and will be) to know about a certain topic, person, or company, you don't have to go looking for it-information can come to you! Thanks to a provider of information on every topic imaginable, Google.com makes staying up to date even easier. Google has been a leading website and search engine for some time. They offer additional helpful products and services, like Google Alerts.

Google robots are constantly scanning webpages, searching for new websites or updates to current sites. They catalog the updates by the keywords that might be queried by a user. Google Alerts can be set up to automatically send you emails listing search results entries of recent articles, webpages, news, videos, or blog posts containing the keywords that interest you. Not sure how you would use it? Consider the following options:

Professional:

*Set up an alert for your name, your company name, etc., to see what people are saying about you. To stay up to date on your favorite topics, just follow the instructions below.

*Keep up with competitors by being alerted of news stories about their developments.

• Compare what is being said about different brand names or products to get an understanding of their reputation and quality.

Personal:

• For fun, set up an alert for your own name to see what comes up!

• Set up alerts for a hobby or event you like to stay informed about or learn more about.

• Find out about sales and reviews for items you've been wanting to buy.

Entertainment

• Follow news and posts about your favorite celebrity, TV show, or music artist.

• Be notified when scores, news, and commentary are available for your favorite sports team.

Regardless of your interests, hobby, fascination, or obsession, there's bound to be something on the Internet about it! And when new information is available, you'll find out right away!

To set up Google Alerts, go to www.google.com/alerts. Type the keywords in the "Search terms" box. To avoid getting irrelevant results, use quotes around your keyword(s) if you are looking for a name or exact phrase. Try to be specific, but don't limit your results too much by using to narrow of a phrase or too many keywords. Next, decide whether you want to limit the results to just news, blog posts, or videos, etc., or choose "Comprehensive" to get all results. Also, you can specify if you want to be notified weekly, daily, or immediately of new alerts. Lastly, type your email address that you would like to have the alerts sent to. You may notice that you do not need to have a Gmail account in order to receive alerts. You may however, prefer to set up a Google account if you want to have more than 10 alerts.

Once you create the alert, you will be taken to the alerts homepage, where you can view, edit, and delete your currently saved alerts. You can edit or delete alerts at any time. Check out Google Alerts! They are helpful and informational for business and for fun!