Comments on: When vanity is good for business

By: David Airey

David Airey — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:43:39 +0000

Got two cans of draft cooling in the fridge, Doug.

By: Doug C.

Doug C. — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:28:53 +0000

I've been using Twitter Search since I first created my own Twitter account, but I was unaware of the Google Alerts. Thanks for the tip. I'm Scottish, but potatoes washed down with Guinness sounds great.

By: David Airey

David Airey — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:43:43 +0000

It would be a pleasure, Douglas. And likewise, if you’re ever visiting Northern Ireland, do let me know. We can dine on potatoes washed down with Guinness, have a good ol’ pub fight, then go chasing rainbows for crocks of gold. ;)

By: Douglas Bonneville

Douglas Bonneville — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:29:27 +0000

Well if you are stateside in the Boston area ever, let me know and we’ll make a wine and cheese tasting happen just for you, my compliments :)

By: David Airey

David Airey — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:27:21 +0000

Having never had the pleasure of tasting Vermont cheddar, I’ll have to take your word for it, Douglas. But it’s hard to beat some garlic and herb Boursin.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:10:02 +0000

Hi David

Thanks for the heads up.

I’ve found that automating my username mentions on Twitter has led to some invaluable contacts and followers.

As I can’t ‘watch’ Twitter in real-time all day, for mentions or follow recommendations, it’s really nice to be able to go back and thank someone, drop them a line or follow them back etc.

Worth the effort (little as it is) in setting up and monitoring.

Cheers – Jonathan

By: Douglas Bonneville

Douglas Bonneville — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 16:16:30 +0000

I suppose we should mention the [plus] request as well.

Let’s say you are researching “cheddar cheese” as a phrase, but are not interested in Wisconsin Chedder, but only Vermont Cheddar. Your search could look like this:

“cheddar cheese” -Wisconsin +Vermont

Tough call though. I have had both but I think Vermont Cheddar, extra sharp, is better.

By: David Airey

David Airey — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 13:00:40 +0000

I wasn’t aware of the [minus] request, Doug. Seems like an ideal way to filter the wheat from the chaff. Thanks for that.

By: Douglas Bonneville

Douglas Bonneville — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:25:02 +0000

I have another tip that helps weed through some of the chaffe, specifically for Google Blog Search. It’s best explained by brief example:

- Do a blog search at http://blogsearch.google.com
- Save the RSS feed (button on left) to your favorite reader
- Observe for a few days and notice if there are any repeat false positives.

What is a false positive? Say you are searching for “ham and cheese” because you want the latest news on your favorite sandwich. However, there is a blogger who writes about boats 14 times a day, but his blog is called “Ham and Cheese on a boat ride”. Every time he posts, you are going to get a false positive, and you have to step over his blogginess every time you check the feed. The same would apply to Google Alerts.

- Go back to blogsearch and do another search like this (with quotes): “ham and cheese” -”boat ride”.
- Save the updated search results RSS and delete the old one.

Over a few weeks you might also see something else popping up that you get sick of avoiding in the results. Simply repeat the process but ad another “-” modifier to the search string, save the new RSS feed, etc.

You can get some pretty cleaned up results and useful, niche-oriented feeds that way, over a few weeks.

Doug

By: David Airey

David Airey — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:45:10 +0000

Michael Bolton? That is unfortunate. ;)

João Pedro, nice tip. You’re right about the filtering, but I don’t know of a more comprehensive stat provider than what Google offers.

Mario, something similar? Website Grader

Andrew, I have about $300 in my poker account. Puts things into perspective, eh?

Jessica, that can be true (about responding to criticism immediately), but on the other hand, you need to be careful that you’re not giving a hot-headed response out of anger (count to ten and all that).