September is at the doorstep, bringing with it a breath of cool autumn air… and, of course, some exciting fall events:

OMMA Global
Sept 18 -19 (NYC)

OMMA Global “Platform Wars” will focus on the countless Web sectors and the race to provide the next great platform on which consumer applications are built.
Hear from leaders in the interactive marketing revolution and discuss where the online media world is headed.

Kontera’s booth will be in the mini-trade show area. Stop by to meet us and learn more about Kontera.

MIXX Conference Awards

Sept 22 – 23 (MIXX Awards on Sept 23 – NYC) 

The MIXX Conference and Expo, the Official Interactive Event of Advertising Week 2008, is the preeminent event for marketing and agency professionals and the publishers and technology firms who help drive their efforts. MIXX brings together the industry’s most prominent and influential speakers talking about the most pressing and innovative topics in interactive today. Further, the powerhouse list of marketers, agencies, publishers and industry professionals in attendance offers huge networking opportunities.

Meet Kontera! Stop by booth 102 to meet the team and learn more about Kontera.

We are thrilled to announce that Kontera has been chosen by AlwaysOn as one of the AO global 250 winners.  The AO Global 250 were selected from over hundreds of companies, nominated by a panel of industry experts in the online technology, media, entertainment, enterprise and greentech sectors from around the world.

From our press release page:

Kontera was specially selected by the AlwaysOn editorial team and other industry experts spanning the globe, based on a set of five criteria: innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value, and media buzz. Kontera was also awarded the AlwaysOn Top 100 in 2007 for the company’s proprietary contextual technology. Keep Reading >>

Everyone knows that top clicked Keywords and the current search trends usually go hand in hand. It’s always interesting to see which words get all the attention in a given week. That’s why we’ve decided to publish a series of posts about Kontera’s most clickable keywords.

Of course, the most generic keywords like computer, car, mobile phone, news -are always under the limelight- this is nothing new. But every now and then, we run into some surprises.

Take the Sports niche for example: the word “Basketball” always attracts a massive amount of clicks. However, during the last week it seems like the Beijing Olympic Games and Phelps’ astounding performance have turned the spotlight from the court to the pool. The word “Swimming” has surpassed “Basketball”, but even Phelps can’t beat “Football.”

Check out the table below for some of last week’s top performers. We’ve collected the most interesting categories and maybe you’ll find some tips here…Stay tuned for the next posts in this series.

By Emily Wallace, Business Development Manager

So you have decided to try a new revenue-generator for your site or blog.  But Kontera ContentLinks seem a little too good to be true—they don’t use up any of your space, they bring completely additive revenue and they only require one-time implementation.  Decidedly skeptical, you drag your feet; you never get around to putting the ads up, or you only install the Kontera code on a few pages to test it out.  Maybe your Kontera rep even lets you know that you can start small if you prefer.  It is your website, and of course we want you to feel comfortable.

However, if you are looking to earn some real money, this is what you should do:  the moment you receive your Kontera code, install it across your entire site.
Then watch.

For the first one to two weeks, the algorithms behind Kontera ContentLinks are going through an automatic optimization process to “learn” all of your existing content.  Every time the algorithms encounter new content (your latest blog post or article), they analyze it in real time and perpetually ensure Kontera is serving the best ads possible.
After the first couple of weeks, your metrics will hit their stride; in the second half of your first month, you will see the true revenue opportunity with ContentLinks.  If you had started the month by only implementing ContentLinks on a small portion of your site, then the metrics wouldn’t be as meaningful.  With more coverage (ideally 100% of the pages) on your site, you will see the clearest revenue picture for long term monetization.

One of Kontera’s top publisher partners, Tim Carter of AskTheBuilder.com, shared some sound advice, “It’s really important for those who are testing ad products to look at the big picture.  If possible, have [ContentLinks] run site wide for at least a month . . . If you are testing just a small part of a website, be sure to extrapolate the revenue out to all pages of the website.  Finally, understand that different pages of a website might make far more revenue than other pages.”

Because certain areas of your site may perform stronger than other areas, site-wide data will be the most accurate. Whether you have just received your Kontera code or implementation has long been on your to-do list, I encourage you to immediately begin maximizing the revenue your site or blog is capable of earning.  If you have been wading in the Kontera pool, I encourage you to swim with us and soak up the revenue you deserve.  And if you haven’t signed up for a Kontera account yet—what are you waiting for? Become a Kontera Publisher.

Many good things came out of the OMMA Video and Publish one-day Conferences, and we are glad for having had the opportunity to participate in the event.

Diana Kost, the Assistant Search Planner at Neo@Ogilvy, New York is the winner of Kontera’s raffle.  She took home with her a brand new Wii and came back to tell about it.  Read what she has to say:

Two things entered my mind when I heard I won the Nintendo Wii that Kontera raffled off at the OMMA Publish event in June.  Please view said “things” below.

1. Thank you Kontera! There is a benefit to carrying my business card around and
2. I can’t wait to give it to Mama Kost! (my mom)

And so after I omg’ed to all of my friends and co-workers, I called my mom to let her in on the good news. It was, after all, almost her birthday.
Me: Guess what.
Mom:  What?
Me: I won a Wii and I am giving it to you for your birthday!!
Mom: Really? Thanks!!!
Me: And you call me selfish.
Mom: Thank you. I don’t.
Me: Wait. Should I have told you I bought it? I am a working woman.
Mom: No. You’re poor. Winning is good, too.
Me: Cool. So can I borrow the car?
Mom: No.
Me: But I just bought you a Wii. How rude.

To really understand the joy behind her exclamation fueled thanks, you must understand my mom. You see, at age 61, my mom, Isabella, is a gamer. Her first system was the regular Nintendo, the one where you’d have to blow on the games when they stopped working. She mastered the Mario Brothers, all of the Zelda’s and would genuinely get mad at me if I even dared play one of her games. Because the system would be in my room, I’d have to make sure she saved before I switched to the TV.

As time and technology progressed, so did Mama Kost’s taste. So much in fact that we ended up purchasing every single Nintento system ever made just so she could get her Zelda fix. I tried to nourish her addiction with new games and while she wasn’t that keen on all of them, she did really enjoy Prince of Persia. She beat them all.
With the Wii in hand, I expect my mom to get just as addicted. Not only because it’s new, but also because she can work out while she plays. After receiving the gift, she made her way to the store to get Super Mario Brothers. She was assured it was different but upon coming home and playing, she realized it was the same game she had already beaten with another system. But don’t fret. Mama Kost will soon be an expert in golf, tennis and will likely progress to be the lead singer of someone’s Guitar Hero band.  Probably her own.

Kontera deals with online advertising so the web is our natural habitat :).
So, we decided to launch a series of posts where Kontera’s very own recommend websites they find useful.

Without further ado here are a few recommendations:

Ronen Tamir, Java Script Team Leader: A top resource for the developer community is W3Schools.com which is the best site to learn just about everything you need to know about HTML, Browser Scripting, Server Scripting, Web Building and more. You name it, they’ve got it.

Chaim Aharonson, Flash and Java Script Developer: FlashKit.com – an excellent resource that I began using when I was learning flash and have been frequently visiting ever since. I also recommend GoToandLearn.com which includes fantastic and very informative step-by-step video tutorials.

Ira Polubessov, Graphic Designer: I often visit TheFWA.com . This site includes an extensive collection of trendy and popular websites. I find that it’s a great place to examine current trends in web design and get useful ideas to solving graphic design challenges.

Keren Zohar, HR Manager: I appreciate the possibility of being able to connect with people of professional expertise from all over the world. This is why I’ve often used LinkedIn.com for finding and recruiting professionals to join our team.

Our SEO and SEM Managers had a tough time pin pointing only one or two websites. Since we wanted this post to go live today we had to put our foot down. Here are a few of their recommendations:

SearchEngineJournal is definitely one of the first places to visit when plunging into search marketing. This extensive and constantly updated blog is a very valuable resource that keeps you in tune with the latest in a very dynamic industry.
As far as SEM goes, we believe in peer-reviews and find Digital Point to be a fun hangout place to get updated and tested SEM advice.

If you’ve only just taken up SEM here are two tools that will be helpful right from the very beginning: SplittTester.com and PPC-AD-Wrapper. The first will assist you in analyzing your ads effectiveness. The second, which can be found alongside other tools at SEOBook.com, will save you quite a bit of time when working on your campaign’s keyword list.

By Jennifer Nedd, Account Executive

Thanks to everyone who attended the Kontera sponsored NWIAG event on July 24th in Seattle, WA.  The event was held at the new upscale restaurant, O’Asian where over 200 online professionals networked while sampling O’Asian appetizers and cocktails.  It was a great opportunity to put many faces to many names.
Kontera would like to congratulate raffle winner, John from ZeroDash1, who won an iPod touch and a special thanks to Andrea Bruch and everyone at NWIAG for organizing a fantastic event.

Thanks again Seattle for making Kontera feel welcome!

Caption:
Lori Xeller, Kontera,
Eric Osgood, Cole & Weber
Jennifer Nedd, Kontera