Yesterday; Thursday, March 4th, the thing we’ve been growing, nuturing, and spending all our time on, went out on its own into the big worldwide web.

SkimKit, our new editorial research tool, launched.

The free desktop application is now available exclusively to Skimlinks publishers, and is ready for download within our publisher interface.

SkimKit is set to revolutionise the linking process for content creators; by allowing you to search for affiliate-enabled products, with one click access to deeplinks, and image URLs. It works a bit like a search-engine product search; except every item in the SkimKit can earn you commissions if you decide to feature it in your content.

There are a bunch of other cools features in SkimKit too: like the merchant search, which lets you browse the entire Skimlinks’ network of merchants, or search for specific brands, and My Starred List, which allows you bookmark products to export directly into your CMS or XML.

SkimKit is also home to Skimlinks’ own brand URL shortener, which trims down your product links, and monetises them too. That means you can still earn commissions anywhere you can’t  use Skimlinks; like on Twitter, Facebook, or within emails and newsletters.

The team here at Skimlinks has put a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears into SkimKit, and we hope you love it as much as we do!

Remember, you have to be a Skimlinks publisher to get your own SkimKit, so if you’re not already with us, apply to join us today!

The Smarta 100 is a collection of the most exciting, promising and disruptive new businesses in Britain, and the 2010 list has just been announced today.

Skimlinks has been named as one of the 100, as selected by judges Deborah Meaden, of Dragons’ Den, Bebo co-founder Michael Birch, Smarta CEO Shaa Waasmund, plumbing magnate Charlie Mullins, and Coffee Republic co-founder Sahar Hasemi.

You can see the full list of winners here, and congratulations to all the other worthy winners!

Quite the surprise on a Thursday afternoon!

Skimlinks has just been shortlisted for the 2010 MediaGuardian Innovation Awards!

We’re up for the Business Model and Startup category, after a ‘lively and hard fought’ judging process, and the full shortlist is available here.

The awards ceremony will be held on March 25th.

Skimlinks is invading America.

This week, our very own @DigiJoe will be opening our new US office – the headquarters for our stateside takeover in 2010.

Situated in Palo Alto, just outside of San Francisco, the office will be filled with our shiny new States Skimteam (currently being finalized), while we simultaneously expand our London office back in the UK.

Although Skimlinks is agnostic of geography – you can sign-up, install and manage your account wherever you are – we have such a strong customer base in the US that we thought it a natural progression to set up an office with local account managers that our US customers can contact at local times.

We’re aiming for our physical presence to grow our US numbers further, and build on the amazing success we’ve seen over the past year.

The coming months will also see the launch of a series of free, new revenue-maximization tools for our publishers, so watch this space.

2010 is shaping up to be huge for Skimlinks!

Want to be a part of the Skimlinks revolution? Check out our jobs page here.

After sifting through over 400 entries in 22 categories, the Econsultancy team has come up with the impressive shortlist for their Innovation Awards.

We are delighted to have been named as one of four finalists in the Innovation in Affiliate Marketing Award, alongside eBay Partner Network, VAC Media and Webgains iSense Site Seeker.

The final round of judging will commence this week, with winners announced next week.

Congratulations, and good luck to all our fellow finalists.