Not all online businesses can afford to pay for brand monitoring services. So it is a good thing that there are free ways that enables you to monitor your brand and online reputation on the internet. But why exactly is online brand monitoring important for your business? Well, because of the popularity of Web 2.0 these days, people are relying more on what other people have to say.

When a distraught consumer complains about your business; a single blog post can cause a great damage to your brand especially if the blog is popular. Take note that if this particular blog posts is linked to other blogs and websites, more people will begin to associate negative connotations with your brand. But the opposite is also true because brand monitoring can help you know about positive feedbacks so you can replicate your success. Below are some of the free tools that an online marketer can use for brand monitoring:

Google Alerts – you can set this up for your business. Google will send an email whenever a press release, blog post, or any other kind of document uses the keywords you specified.

Omgili – Omgili is actually a search engine that focuses on discussion boards and other consumer content.

Server Logs – consumers who are angry or delighted by your business will usually link to your website. When you look at your web analytics, you will find uncharacteristic sources of traffic from these sites.

Popularity: 8% [?]