Comments on: Reasons to Have a Vanity Folder in Your News Aggregator

By: Michael Hall

Michael Hall — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:04:43 +0000

you always give such great advise, i have used google alerts for a while, and just recently started using google reader for rss feeds, but i was mostly using them to track where my domain was mentioned and to track phrases that my ideal prospect would be posting usually in the form of ‘how to xxx’ or ‘how do i xxx’, as you suggested wherever persons are allowed to ask questions there is also usually a way to provide an answer.

i just leave a well though out answer, and link back to my website which covers the subject in more details – great way to get a constant supply of free leads – i like to think of it as reverse blogging – posting content to other person’s sites to get their visitors to come to my site

cheers

By: Ami

Ami — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:02:20 +0000

I tend to use Google alerts and it keeps me busy enough. It realy is amazing the number of alerts that come through on a daily basis. Wouldn’t cal it my vanity folder. The complements and positives are great but it is the negative press that one actually creates these for. And of course scrapers

By: Dawn

Dawn — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:39:24 +0000

This is a very useful article. Thank you.

In reply to Mark above

Make comments moderated on your site.

Then, you can delete or mark as spam those that simply steal your blog post in its entirety.

Easy!

//Darren –

Great tip! However, if you find people stealing or plagiarizing your content what can you do about it? Recently, I have been getting some trackbacks and when I go to the page all the person has done is essentially copy and paste my post on their site…

By: Lars Behrenroth

Lars Behrenroth — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:21:38 +0000

I’ve been doing this for quite some time to keep track of my posts.
As a record producer and independent label owner it not only helps me keep track of where my music is played and what people think of it but also where my music is shared illegally.. I’ve found quite a few of my tracks this way and could contact rapidshare, megaupload and what else they’re all named to take the illegal links down.

By: Sara Mariani

Sara Mariani — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:32:18 +0000

I know I’m late to the party, but I just read this post after seeing it in Steven Snell’s Social Media article. In addition to being great advice for bloggers, it’s a useful practice for any company trying to manage its reputation online.

I’ve set up Google alerts to track clients’ media hits before, but now I think I’ll ad their vanity folders to my Google Reader and recommend that each company does the same. Thanks for the tip!

By: Jeff Finley

Jeff Finley — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:35:52 +0000

Yeah great info. I set up a tab in my Netvibes to handle it.

By: David Ward

David Ward — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:36:05 +0000

I’ve been putting this off for some time but finally decided to take your advice Darren, thank you!

By: Callum

Callum — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:53:44 +0000

I think this post is missing a link, you have a url as text in the post (under the Trackbacks section). Otherwise, good post, useful to list the alert services.

By: Connie Brooks

Connie Brooks — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 02:14:35 +0000

Thank you, I just got all of this set up for the first time, and I am really looking forward to using it. I never even thought about tracking my own feeds / mention-ables this way :)

I really appreciate the post and the clear instructions.

By: blogsir

blogsir — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 03:08:04 +0000

I Have a Vanity Folder too.

I have the problems with technorati too.

By: Kerri

Kerri — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 07:22:19 +0000

Technorati is great but am also having problems with it.

By: Joanna Young

Joanna Young — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 22:42:51 +0000

Hi Darren

I’m having trouble with technorati too (see Paolo’s comment above) – any idea what’s up with them at the moment?

Joanna

By: Denzuko

Denzuko — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 22:39:06 +0000

This is great, though it also applies to any kind of web presence from MySpace/Facebook/Livejourner, Twitter, Cafepress/Ebay, to your blog, wiki, and standard website.

What it breaks down to is always know who’s viewing your site so you know your not an island out in the depths of cyberspace.

By: Prince John

Prince John — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 05:56:51 +0000

Narcissism kicks in
But I think it is necessary for all bloggers, as long as they resolve to spend only 5 minutes a day at such a folder, especially for the new bloggers who find links from blogs or directories they didn’t know existed.

By: Silky

Silky — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 13:41:53 +0000

Although this is a great idea, one should also beware:

There are few more crushing blows for a blogger when one sets up a vanity folder or similar only to find that no-one if talking about you!

In fact, the only thing that is possibly worse on the ego than this is a Technorati Authority of zero,

By: Noel

Noel — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 04:59:54 +0000

Anyone tried Allthat? (www.allth.at)? It seems to do the persistent search things that would be useful in keeping track of mentions on websites.

By: Carlo Selorio

Carlo Selorio — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 01:29:31 +0000

Great post Darren!

Cheers,
Carlo

By: Maya Norton

Maya Norton — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 18:01:11 +0000

Keeping a vanity folder– although I don’t call it that :) — has helped me to become a better blogger.

It makes blogging a conversation in which I can follow those in my niche, stay abreast of the topics most important to me, and keep updated on the blogging version of the word on the street.

Also, my experience has been that the best relationships in the blogosphere come from those with whom you have spoken or commented with multiple times. If someone quotes you, gives you a trackback, or refers to something you say, it is a nice compliment and also gives you a starting point for a mutually beneficial relationship with that person.

Maya Norton
The New Jew: Blogging Jewish Philanthropy

By: Jaffer Maniar

Jaffer Maniar — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 15:24:34 +0000

This is a great tip Darren !

I am getting to it right away !

Thanks !

By: WereBear

WereBear — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 18:58:34 +0000

I’ve done google searches to see how I’m coming up, but I didn’t think of starting a news alert type set up for it.

But then, I’m new to getting RSS feeds, but the more I subscribe, the more addicting they are…