The first thing you need to get over about the term “Ego Search” is the word ego. An “Ego Search” is a search done on one’s name, or by looking up information on oneself via a search engine. Everyone has done it at some point. You just go to Google and you search to see what’s out there about you. Usually you get a lot of information, but many of it is not relevant. There is just too much content and none of it relevant top your needs. What you want is a connection to customers and to understand what they are saying about you, your company, and even your competitors.

This is one of the promises of the new world of WEB 2.0 and Social Networking. As you are reading this, there are hundreds of things being written by satisfied and dissatisfied customers about your company and your brand. It’s word of mouth in text form. But how do you track this? There are many paid services that offer a solution, but many are limited by users accepting cookies, or installing code. Some are limited in the content they draw from, or they offer incomplete sources.

With all these considerations in mind, there is a new website which we have discovered, called YackTrack. This search engine, as opposed to a regular search engine, allows users (i.e. you) to do a search on your company (or brand) and read the web “chatter”. YackTrack is focused on the social networking sphere, and as of this writing, they are using the follow sources: Blogger/Blogspot blogs, Digg, Disqus, FriendFeed, Google blog search, IntenseDebate, Mixx, StumbleUpon, Technorati, TypePad Blogs, MoveableType blogs, Twitter, and WordPress blogs. The great thing about YackTrack is that you can do a search based on your company URL or by keyword.

More than search, YackTrack is also working on many useful enhancements including an API to track those keywords important to you in RSS form. The documentation for version 1.0 of the API can be found here. You should make it part of your weekly (at minimum) task list to check YackTrack to see what people are writing. When thousands or million of dollars are being spent on marketing, there is nothing more important then ensuring your message is getting out the people properly. It’s like an immediate focus group for good and back feedback. It is an opportunity to make changes before you end up with a scandal or a tarnished brand. Remember, because of social networking customers can organize online like never before. But it’s not even that. One search by a customer in search engine on your company or product with several results including bad reviews could mean lost revenue. We of course know you cannot control every customer, but you need to know what is going on and if you have bad business habits, beware, because your days of a good reputation may be limited.

In the end, YackTrack, is the first major product to address the social network phenomenon in a multi-search functionality. It is important you become aquatinted with it, and include it as one of your tools. Like never before, word of mouth is instant, international and permanent.