Manual spying

Spy-tools is an extremely important instruments for the affiliate marketer. It simplifies the work by automatically tracking ads and displaying information in a real time. 

Buying access to the service, you will be able to get the opportunity to download top landing pages, see lists of redirects, and data on demography, countries. Here also you can find the best traffic sources and profitable offers.You can see which affiliate networks work directly with the advertisers.

Surely, that this is quite valuable information, but not everyone can affort $100-150 per month for it so.

We'll set out what can be your best options without using the spy-tool.

Alternative ways of tracking

1. Browser + plugin (Mozilla Firefox + Random Agent Spoofer) – this  will help you to change the IP for you to check how viewed are the pages and the banners by users in a targeted region.

Install the plugin. In the settings, enter the desired IP.

In this case IP is for Italy.

In the “Profile” select the browser and device (ios, android, tablet, etc.), which pretends to see whether the ads are displayed correctly.

After it we monitor placements. It is website where ads are showing up on.

How could you search them?

• If it is possible, you can get domains from the the ad network’s office;
• from the tracker;
• browse  through the pages by yourself.

 For example, the Italian from the desktop in the browser Chrome 52.0.2743.82 (OS X 10_10_5) sees the site with ads.

2. Mozilla Firefox + plugin User Agent Switcher + VPN – this will makes you  appear as located in a different country, and under the guise of a certain device to see how your advertisement or competitor's advertisement runs for the desired GEO.

By clicking on the “Import” button, you can load the list of user agents ( User agent called data that your browser sends to the server). We will use them to see how the site is displayed for different browsers or screen resolutions. Files with a list of user agents can be found in free access on the Internet.

After that we connect VPN.

There are several paid and free options. For example, let’s check VPN Unlimited right now.

There, you have access to over 60 countries.

The amazing thing is that VPN does not  fall while working, unlike free analogs. The loading speed of  the site remains great.

For countries which banned  VPN services, they have the KeepSolid Wise protocol, which could evade this.

The service provides a 7-day trial, so you can try it by yourself. Here are the prices, just for informations:

Can also review redirects by yourself.

One of the ways to see where the link leads and determine which CPA network resell is to check the link on this site http://redirectdetective.com/ 

Plugins also perform a similar function. For Mozilla Firefox, you can install Live HTTP Headers.

And for Chrome – Redirect Path.

What  are the benefits using the manual spying?

Website monitoring is much more cheaper, than buying access to the service.

Moreover, the process is also quite simple, though laborious. An advantage is that banners rotate in real time, which means that you see the actual information. However, when you are searching, you still can’t see all the ads, some percentage will go unnoticed.

As you can see, it is possible to obtain information on redirects without spy-tool, to spy on banners, to analyze other people's advertising platforms and creatives. Spy tool will make it faster and much easier. There you will find answers for the most popular affiliate marketing questions.