We Are Live!

June 26, 2008

The Search Monitor monitors advertising activity on the web. We watch advertisers on paid search – what they bid on, their ad copy, and their ranks. We also watch blogs, news, and landing pages. We are looking for trademark abuse, brand mentions, affiliate marketers out of compliance with terms, and competitor promotions, pricing strategies, budgeting strategies, and ad copy.

We started this journey because of a deep concern about how blind we all are to what is really happening with our markets online. We may have a great understanding for the few hours we spend here and there poking around, but what happens on a day to day, and nightly basis alludes us. So we said, why not monitor and record for posterity all that we see day and night, all the time. This will tell us something. We’ll be informed.

What we found has been astounding. As we lift open the covers we are seeing so many amazing things. Like we know who is price testing and what price wins out. We know who is piggy backing your brands in the middle of the night – surprising we find parked domains, phishing sites, and spyware to name a few of the culprits. We have learned about some really neat affiliate tricks that generate great traffic for the affiliate while at the same time hijacking the merchant’s brands. We know whose budgets are strong, and whose are capping off and when. Plus a whole lot more.

We’ve been in a quiet beta mode for the past 6 months with ‘friends and family’ comprised of interactive agencies with whom we have built up great relationships over the years. These pioneers have been pounding away on the system and giving us fantastic feedback. We are pleased that the product is the comprehensive result of a community effort. We want to thank all of our great partners for working with us so diligently and for your phenomenal feedback.

More to come…