You probably don't even know about them. Few people do.

Even fewer people realize how many different ways you canuse them to get free publicity, increase your search enginerankings, and make yourself a media celebrity in your field.

I'm talking about "news alerts."

Google offers Google News Alerts at www.news.google.com.Look in the column to the left of the page.

Yahoo has a similar service, as do a number of other webportals and news outlets.

News alerts are the Internet's new -- and one of its most powerful -- secrets weapons for attracting attention from radio, TV and newspaper reporters.

You can sign up for news alerts for free. Then you choose keywords related to your industry, and whenever those keywordsshow up in a news story--practically anywhere--you get anemail notification and a link to the story..

News alerts allow you to identify and contact the journalistwho did the story to suggest a follow up, offer another angle, etc. on the story they've already done.

You can even set up news alerts for a competitor's name. Ifthey're quoted in a story somewhere, you'll be notified byemail. That gives you an opportunity to contact the reporterwho wrote the story and position yourself as a future resource for similar pieces.

You can also set up your news alerts so that every time yourname appears in the media, it sends you an emailnotification.

It's a great way to find out when your news releases, tipsheets, or articles have been published. This can beextremely valuable since people who print yourstuff don't always let you know they're doing it.

Furthermore, when you find out that something by you orabout you has been published, you can get copies orreprints to use in a multitude of ways to further establishyour credentials with the media.

For instance, you can print out stories you may want to include in your media kit, or even mail to journalists toreassure them that your topic really IS newsworthy--and that you indeed ARE an expert in your field.

I got quite a giggle -- and a little bit of a shock -- whenI set up a news alert for my own name recently.

I got an alert from Google a few days later telling me the name "George McKenzie" had appeared in a Scottish TV story.

When I clicked on the link, I found out it wasn't reallyabout me--it was about a Scottish lawyer named Sir GeorgeMcKenzie, an advisor to King Charles the Second 300 yearsago.

I won't give you the details here -- a little too gruesomefor a family friendly article. But you can read it if youchoose by clicking on

http://www.publicitygoldmine.com/sirgeorge

News alerts are one of the Internet's most important developments for helping people get the attention of the media.

They're free, easy, versatile, valuable, and best ofall--your competitors probably don't have a clue they exist.

For more information on how to use news alerts to identify reporters who are already doing stories about your industry, go to http://www.publicity-pro.com/searchenginepublicity.htm

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