HOW TO SET UP A GOOGLE ALERT ON WILD
HORSE NEWS
It
can be crazy keeping up with wild horse news, but I do it with a great but
under-used feature of Google called an "Alert." I get daily email
from it about wild horses and it's totally free.
To set up a Google Alert: Go to Google alerts , fill out the form, and click the
"Create Alert" button.
The form asks some questions:
Search Query: Here's where you type in WILD HORSES
Type – I set my alerts for all types of alerts – news,
blogs, books, etc.
How often – Once per day is enough for most people
Volume – This isn't loudness; it means how many responses you
want to see. I choose "Only the best results," otherwise you
often get the same story over and over again.
When you get your Google Alerts
they'll look something like this:
You click on a headline, go read
the story and if there's a place to comment, do it.
THIS IS ALL ABOUT PEER PRESSURE.
Your opinion influences other people. They won't know if you're 11 years old
or 87 years old. They won't know if you're a student or a veterinarian –
unless you think those facts are important to mention.
I call my two kinds of comments:
Nicker or a Neigh
A nicker is just a short response.
I might say "wild horses deserve freedom and the land they're given by
law" or "wild horses belong to all Americans and shouldn't go to
slaughter" or " a wild horse sanctuary is a good idea, but
shouldn't be all geldings".
In a neigh we speak for the horses
and act as their protectors. Here's the easy format my friend Suzanne Morgan Williams taught me:
a)
Describe your personal connection to the issue in 2 -3 sentences
b)
Give 3 facts about the issue – 1 – 3 sentences
c)
Tell your reader what action you want him/her to take – 1 sentence
That's it! In 3 – 6 sentences, you
will have explained why you want to share the world with wild horses. Save
your NEIGH as a document and you can use it over again, as sort of a
letter-in-waiting.
Here's one of mine as an example:
As the author of the PHANTOM
STALLION book series about Nevada's wild horses, I've spent much of my
adulthood in the West's wild places. I hear from readers around the world who
see the mustangs as the majority of Americans do: wild horses are a treasure
far greater than the minerals underground. The BLM has sided with big
business and big politics, against the American people. Costly helicopter
round-ups cause the death and dislocation of wild horses and greed rules the
range. It's up to you to stop the round-ups, before the thunder of wild
hooves is silenced forever.
Take my NEIGH apart and you'll see
I showed my connection to the horses as an author, and someone who treasures
them. Next, I gave facts: the round-ups are expensive, they are done with
helicopters and most Americans want the horses to stay free. Last, I said the
round-ups must stop or the mustangs will be disappear forever.
Feel free to borrow from my NEIGH
– all except the part where you say you're me.
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