You’ve heard a dozen times over that you should use Google Alerts for everything important to your small business:  your brand, competitors, employees, legislation in your field and so on.

Bookmark this post to remind yourself to do that if you haven’t already set up your alerts.

But now Google Alerts are even smarter. Google Scholar, that bastion of professional journals and academic papers, also has an alert system.  The alerts are kludgy and more than a little ugly, but I’m mpressed after seeing the Google Scholar Alert workaround by Alex at Google Operating System.

And I’m reminded that we could all use Google Scholar–the most amazing knowledge ever collected–more. Reading blog posts, keeping up with social media, doing whatever work you also do that keeps you in clothes with a roof overhead all often get in the way of hardcore research.

I strongly encourage you to start a new program of reading and understanding an academic paper in your field once a month. This will soon become an addicting habit if you love your work.  You don’t have time to read everything. That is why media channels exist,but don’t let distilled news keep you away from Google Scholar and the direct learning you receive when you schedule time for true industry research.

I use Google Scholar for phrases like “advertising” and to track a family member’s medical interest.  There are undoubtedly three or four keywords applicable to your life or your business that make sense to read about regularly.

Setting up Google Scholar alerts is a smart thing to do.