Here at Kontera we’re so sure we have the smartest and coolest publishers, that we’re willing to put our money where our mouth is.

We’re giving our Publishers a forum to show off that swagger on the wall of our Facebook page, where twice a month you can win a $75 gift certificate and other cool prizes!

Here’s how it works:

• Every other week we’re going to ask you two questions on Kontera’s Facebook wall.
  1. One question that’s industry related- about the world of blogging, Kontera, and web monetization.
  2. The other question will tackle an even more serious topic: YOU. We want to learn a little more about your interests, like what’s your favorite scary movie or what horribly annoying pop song is currently infecting your head .
• You can leave your answers as a comment on our Facebook wall – and put it to the vote of the Kontera Fans.
• The publisher whose comment receives the most “Likes” from their fellow Publishers and Facebook friends will be awarded the first place prize of a $75 Amazon Gift Certificate.
• Additionally, two runner-ups will get a $50 gift certificate each, and the next two runner-ups will receive a $25 voucher each.

So basically, every couple of weeks five happy winners will enjoy some online spending money – just for sharing their opinion! It’s fun, it’s easy, and best of all… it’s virtually impossible to give a wrong answer.

So what are you waiting for..
Find out this week’s questions – Start now »

* While all comments are welcome, and everyone can vote for the best answer (by “Liking” the comment), only current Kontera Publishers are eligible for the prizes. If the winner with the most “Like”s is not a current publisher in good standing with Kontera, the winning will be passed on to the next runner up.

To paraphrase Depeche Mode, you guys just can’t get enough!

Kontera’s Summer Blowout promotion has gotten such an enthusiastic response from our affiliates, that we’ve decided to extend the promotion through the month of September. The terms remain exactly the same, except for the new end date:

• Kontera affiliates will earn a $25 bonus, for every publisher they refer to Kontera by September 30^th , that generates at least 25,000 U.S. page views during their first 30 days on the network.
• That’s on top of your usual  10% monthly Affiliate commission.

Simply keep on referring those quality publisher to sign up to Kontera using your dedicated Affiliate URL. Eligible Affiliates get the bonus automatically added to their account.

And now you have an extra full month to earn some more spending money!

You can learn more about the Kontera Affiliate Summer Promotion.
If you’re not yet an affiliate, you can apply to become one.

It’s still three weeks until the NFL season officially kicks off, but already fervent anticipation has overtaken the Kontera network. Since the first preseason game on August 8^th, the popularity of football related keywords on Kontera has skyrocketed, a trend that can only continue as the regular season draws closer.

Many of the NFL keywords generating ad clicks so far have been related to Fantasy Football, such as NFL Fantasy, Fantasy Football, and NFL draft 2010. Also extremely effective has been the video game Madden NFL and the term Monday Night Football, referring to the number one rated cable franchise.

Among players and coaches, the names triggering the most ad clicks, corresponds pretty directly to the headlines of on ESPN. Brett Favre, with his Hamleteque indecision over whether or not to retire has been the most clicked keyword player, followed by suspended Ben Roethlisberger, holdout Darrelle Revis, nose tackle Albert Haynesworth, and Peyton Manning.

Mike Shanahan of the retooled Washington Redskins generated the most In-Text ad clicks among coaches, followed by the divisive Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots, and Dallas coach Wade Phillips.

Looking at the numbers,  there’s no question that football is more popular than ever this year, with Footbal related content is a sure touchdown for our publishers!

As the NFL will be taking up the next five months of our collective lives, NFL phrases are projected to remain among the Kontera network’s top performing keywords, benefitting relevant publishers and delivering insatiable football fans even more of their favorite sport.

Earlier this month in Los Angeles, Kontera participated in the annual ThinkLA! Interactive Golf Romp. In true LA fashion the Interactive Golf Romp is more about socializing with friends, colleagues and associates, and less about golf.

This year the Interactive Golf Romp was held at the Executive Course of the Manhattan Beach Marriot. Eighteen foursomes enjoyed a 4pm shotgun start and embarked on 9 holes of the worst golf ever played.

At the Kontera sponsored 4^th hole, golfers were treated to fabulous Kontera swag like water bottles and the extremely popular bottle openers.

Our fearless server Manny kept the party lively by drenching each and every golfer with mass quantities of Bud and Bud Light.

The Interactive Golf Romp concluded with a heavily attended mixer where schmoozing was at an all time high. Attended by a wide range on industry types from partners at RPA, to planners at OMD, to brand managers at Sketchers, the Interactive Golf Romp was a great way for Kontera to mix, mingle, and spread the good in-text word in LA.

While we might not have dominated the Golf Links, Kontera still tops the In-Text leaderboard, and a fun afternoon was had by all; conversing with our Ad Agency and Marketing friends about the virtues of In-Text, against the most scenic of backdrops.

In a series of A/B testing conducted by Mike Rowe from the Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs, the 2011 Ford Super Duty Truck was found to completely out perform its competitors in everything from fuel efficiency, towing abilities, torque and engine power. Ford wanted to showcase its winning truck using the video hosted by Rowe. Yet, for a truck with these many features, there was just too much to convey in just one video.

That’s why when Kontera teamed up with Ford to build an ad unit to educate consumers about the benefits of the 2011 Ford Super Duty, Kontera’s expert development and design teams created yet another In-Text industry milestone: the first In-Text multi-video ad!

This Expandable ad unit features a video carousel, presenting three 2-3 minute long video clips of the 2011 Super Duty in action.  End users interacting with the ad choose the video they wish to see, which is being played maximized to the full size of the expanded ad unit.

The innovative ad unit also offered a 15 second teaser video displayed before the ad expands to its full width, and provided multiple calls to action, linking to different Ford landing pages, from “Price & Build” to “Incentives & Offers”, and “Request a Quote”.

Providing a fully immersive, multi-video experience, Kontera has once again expanded the limits of what an In-Text ad can be. Thanks to our exclusive Topical Targeting capabilities, Kontera can predict user intent and match it advertisers preferences; delivering advertisers a qualified and engaged In-Text audience at scale.

With Kontera superior contextual technology and innovative Ad units, The Ford Super Duty multi-video campaign has proven extremely successful in delivering Brand Awareness lift, Message Recall and a considerable increase in relevant consumers’ Purchase Consideration.

A recent comScore study also found similarly impressive results when measuring the impact of Kontera In-Text ads for other Brand engagement campaigns. In this comprehensive study, Kontera In-Text ads were found to deliver Brand Lift 5X the norm!

To learn more about the impact of Kontera In-Text advertising on key brand measures and on brand-related consumer behaviors, as well as on end-users’  attitudes to In-Text ads- visit our comScore Research Results page.