Earned media hits land on broken pages.
Because SSL failed during the quiet period.
Campaign microsites get provisioned under deadline pressure — SSL configured manually, CNAME records pointed at campaign hosting, subdomain delegation set up hours before launch. When a piece of coverage lands three weeks later, those records have drifted and the certificate has silently expired. Your client's biggest traffic day hits a browser warning.
No credit card either way — start free, or trial the full workspace.
- Check cadence (Agency)
- 1 min
- SSL pre-expiry alert
- 30 days
- Vendors watched
- 11
- Encrypted DNS lookups
- DoH
Where digital PR agencies get caught out
Three failure modes specific to PR agency client portfolios.
PR agencies don't manage websites as the primary deliverable — but they set up the campaign infrastructure that media coverage points to. SSL failures in that infrastructure are invisible until the moment they matter most.
Campaign microsite SSL failure
SSL provisioned under deadline pressure fails during media pickup
PR agencies set up campaign microsites, press rooms, and event landing pages on compressed timelines. Manual SSL provisioning during campaign launch is error-prone — CNAME verification incomplete, certificate not yet propagated, or DNS not fully settled before launch. The certificate appears to work at launch. Three weeks later when media coverage arrives, it has expired or the domain configuration has drifted.
Subdomain delegation drift
Press room subdomains break after the campaign ends
Agencies frequently set up press room subdomains on client-owned domains — news.clientdomain.com, press.clientdomain.com. These use CNAME records pointing to agency hosting or press room platforms. When the client makes DNS changes for other reasons, or after a hosting migration, those subdomains quietly stop resolving. The press room stays broken until a journalist or client notices.
High-traffic event exposure
Earned media spikes surface SSL issues with no warning time
A certificate that is two weeks from expiry generates no visible symptoms. The site works, monitors report green. Then a major piece of coverage lands, social traffic spikes, and the certificate expires over the weekend. Every new visitor sees a browser security warning. By the time the agency learns about it from the client, the traffic opportunity has passed.
How it works
Monitor campaign infrastructure through the full pickup window.
Merlonix is designed for agencies managing client web infrastructure across different hosting environments — one account covering press rooms, campaign microsites, and client primary domains with a single alert flow.
01
Add client domains and campaign microsites
Verify ownership with a DNS TXT record — takes under two minutes per domain. Add campaign microsites and press room subdomains as separate monitored assets. Each domain gets independent SSL and DNS monitoring from the moment verification completes.
02
SSL chain validated every 5 minutes with 30-day lead time
Merlonix validates the full certificate chain — not just the expiry date. Issuer, chain completeness, domain match, and SAN coverage are checked on every interval. A 30-day expiry alert fires with enough runway to renew a campaign microsite certificate before any media coverage arrives.
03
DNS record changes flagged immediately
A DNS-over-HTTPS resolver verifies every CNAME, A record, and NS record on every check interval. When a client updates their DNS for an unrelated reason and breaks a press room subdomain CNAME, the alert fires within minutes — before any journalist tries to visit the page.
04
Campaign lifecycle coverage
Add microsites at launch and remove them after the campaign window closes. Monitoring persists through the earned media pickup window — typically 30–90 days post-launch — when coverage still arrives. Alerts reach you via email or Slack, not your client.
What the numbers mean for digital PR agencies
Monitoring that covers campaign infrastructure, not just primary domains.
Digital PR agencies don't have a dedicated infrastructure team. Campaign microsites are set up once and rarely reviewed until a client calls. Merlonix is built around that constraint — minimal setup per asset, maximum lead time on failures, no dashboards to babysit between campaign launches.
30 days
SSL expiry warning lead time — enough runway to renew a campaign microsite certificate before the earned media pickup window opens
< 10 min
Time from DNS change to alert — covers CNAME drift on press room subdomains before any journalist tries the page
250 assets
Maximum monitored domains on the Agency plan — enough for a full roster of client primary domains, press rooms, and active campaign microsites
11 vendors
Upstream services monitored — including campaign hosting and CDN providers common in PR agency stacks
Pricing
Flat monthly fee. Every client domain and microsite included.
No per-domain charges. No per-alert fees. Pick the tier that fits your campaign volume and grow without billing surprises.
Starter
For solo PR consultants watching a handful of client domains and microsites.
$19/ month
- 15 monitored assets
- 3 seats
- 5 min check cadence
- SSL + DNS + vendor monitoring
- Email + Slack alerts
Team
For growing PR agencies with multiple clients and active campaigns.
$79/ month
- 60 monitored assets
- 10 seats
- 1 min check cadence
- SSL + DNS + vendor monitoring
- Email + Slack alerts
Agency
For agencies managing a full portfolio of client press infrastructure.
$199/ month
- 250 monitored assets
- Unlimited seats
- 1 min check cadence
- SSL + DNS + vendor monitoring
- Email + Slack alerts
Compliance
For regulated-vertical teams that need continuous, audit-ready evidence.
$699/ month
- 500 monitored assets
- Unlimited seats
- 1 min check cadence
- SSL + DNS + vendor monitoring
- Email + Slack alerts
Beyond uptime
More than a 200 OK on every client site
The same account also watches the infrastructure and reputation layers a standard uptime check never reaches — each a live check you can turn on.
Turn monitoring into revenue
Resell client-ready reports as your own
Monitoring doesn’t have to be a cost line. Package the branded report and white-label status page as a deliverable in your retainer — the tooling underneath stays invisible, so to the client the work is yours.
Reports under your brand
Hand each client a polished SSL, DNS, and security report carrying your agency’s name and logo — not ours.
Status pages on their domain
Publish a live status page at status.theirbrand.com with automatic TLS and no “Powered by Merlonix” badge.
Your margin to keep
You pay one add-on cost and package it into the retainer you already bill. The markup — and the margin — are yours.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
Do I need DNS or registrar access to my clients’ domains to monitor them?
No. Merlonix monitors from the outside in — it probes each domain’s public SSL certificate, DNS records, WHOIS/registration data, and HTTP responses the same way a browser or DNS resolver would. You add an asset by its hostname; no access to the client’s registrar, DNS provider, or servers is required.
What does Merlonix actually check on each site?
Every monitored asset gets continuous SSL-certificate (expiry, issuer, and chain changes), DNS-record, domain-registration/expiry, and uptime monitoring by default. You can also enable infrastructure and reputation checks a standard uptime monitor never reaches — security headers, DNSSEC/DANE, domain-hijack/registrar-lock, blocklist, and cron/heartbeat monitoring — each a live check you turn on per asset.
How often does it check, and how do alerts reach me?
Checks run on your plan’s cadence — as often as every 1 min on Team and above, and every 5 min on Starter. When a certificate, DNS record, registration, or response changes, you get an alert by email and Slack. Alerts fire on real state changes between definitive checks, not on a transient blip.
How much does it cost, and is there a free option?
Yes — there is a free $0 plan (no credit card) to watch a small number of assets, and paid plans start at $19/mo (Starter). You can also start a 14-day full-workspace trial with no card. See the pricing grid above for the assets, seats, and check cadence on each tier.
Don't let the coverage land on a broken page.
Add your first client domain in under two minutes. The first SSL or DNS alert tells you whether monitoring was worth it — usually within the first campaign cycle. 14-day trial, no card required.