It is the dawn of 2009, and just before we make the final step and shift into a brand new year, we thought it important to recount the many great things that happened in 2008. The final conclusion: 2008 has been an incredibly productive year at Kontera and we believe for our publishers, advertisers and users as well. We’re confident that 2009 will be even better stronger for all parties involved.

In order to keep this post concise, we had to narrow it down to 8 top products and services launched by Kontera that were focused on existing and prospective publisher base, so without further ado , here are the chronologically ordered top Kontera launches of 2008:

1. KnowledgeBase- Launched January 21- The KnowledgeBase surrounds a wide range of information about Kontera optimization, publisher payments, and technical issues. The KnowledgeBase was another move in our push to give Kontera publishers greater independence through accessibility to information. The knowledgebase proves very helpful and accommodates an impressive amount of publishers daily.
2. Publisher Center- Launched January 31- the Publisher Center offers Kontera partners a range of high end capabilities and control over ContentLink ads on their sites and their accounts. What’s even more exciting is the fact that the Publisher Center is continuously undergoing upgrades and updates since its initial launch. It will continue to improve in order to give Kontera publishers a greater control and more possibilities over their In-Text ads.
3. The Kontera Hybrid- Launched March 25- Kontera’s newest advertising solution, a completely customizable, In-Text media layer that simultaneously displays relevant content alongside advertisements. The Hybrid layer enhances a webpage by presenting links to related content, videos, and images alongside advertisements in one cohesive unit. The Kontera Hybrid is currently only available to select publishers.
4. Invite a Friend Program – Launched March 31- Through this program, publishers can send their friends an invite to join Kontera. For each friend who becomes an active member, you receive a $25 bonus award. The Invite a Friend program has been very successful in expanding the Kontera family and it will continue with us well into 2009.
5. New Plugins for WordPress, Joomla and Drupal – Launched throughout May – These plugins are an important milestone in our efforts to simplify ContentLink implementation for use on various platforms. The plugins allow the setup of ContentLink ads, without the complications of modifying your site’s code. Have a look at our WordPress plugin video tutorial.
6. Blogger Widget- Launched June 10- Much like the plugins mentioned above but even simpler, the Blogger widget allows you to implement ContentLink on Blogger blogs with just one click. Login to your Kontera account, click on the “Kontera It” button and the Kontera tag will be automatically added to your pages. Monetizing your blog has never been easier.
7. Kontera on Pluck-On-Demand partnership- Launched November 20- Through the partnership with Pluck, Kontera ContentLink ads are automatically generated within the Pluck-on- Demand content widget creating an additional revenue stream for publishers. Publishers get the whole package: free and relevant content populated with targeted ads.
8. Holiday ’09 Cash Bonus – Launched December 18- Our latest promotion, recently advertised and still going strong. If you are not yet a publisher, there’s no better time to join. Sign up with Kontera by Jan 15, 2009 and as soon as you reach $75 in earnings, we’ll round your balance up to $100. That’s an extra $25 on us!

Happy 2009!

Holidays are the best time to slow down the fast pace of life and to appreciate the moment.  We’ve had a great year at Kontera and we’d like to take this moment to thank all of our partners who’ve been with us along the way.  Our partners have contributed greatly to our network as your voices have been heard, helping us continuously shape and improve our products and service.  We’re anticipating a great upcoming year of 2009, with many exciting additions and developments within our network.

For those of you who haven’t joined Kontera yet, we’re kicking off the new year with a great bonus offer:

Reach $75 in earnings, and we’ll round your balance up to $100!

Click to Join
Find out more about the bonus offer.

Happy Holidays from the Kontera Team!

We all know that images add much value to our websites and blogs; images enhance visual appearance and promote readership. Still, quite honestly, looking for the right image can be time consuming… and then there is the cost and the issue of copyrights—all of which often translates to “forget it- too much headache.”

This is why we like PicApp.

PicApp is an application that enables online publishers to add the best stock photos to their content for free without the copyright or licensing worries.

Here are a few great things PicApp enables you to do:

• Access an inventory of over 20 million images, in every imaginable content category, with 10K images being updated by the minute.

• Get free and legal use of the most recent editorial images from top content providers.

• Get images already tagged with keywords and to promote indexing and SEO.

• Register your search term on PicApp RSS feeder (for example- Brad Pitt, red roses, babies, NFL, etc..) and receive notifications on your RSS tool reader whenever PicApp gets new images that match the search term.

And last but definitely not least:

• You can now download the PicApp WordPress plug-in and use it to search and easily add premium, free and legal images straight from your editor into your post!

With the plug-in, PicApp will be fully integrated into your editing flow, so you will no longer be required to open new browser and look for images.

The PicApp plugin is a quick and easy way to add images to posts, Just take a look at the demo.

PicApp is available to answer any questions and welcomes any feedback at discover@picapp.com

The holiday season is the best time to try out new things.  If you’ve been considering joining Kontera, there’s no time like the present.

To help get the ball rolling, we have a new holiday sign-up offer for you:

Reach $75 in earnings, and we’ll round your balance up to $100

That’s an extra $25 on us!

How to do it?
1.    Join Kontera by Jan 15th.
2.    Sit back and relax.
3.    Reach $75 in your account, and we’ll send you a check for $100!

As a Kontera publisher you’ll benefit from:

• Quick and easy integration;
• Higher CTR & revenues;
• Adsense compatible ads;
• Multiple payment possibilities.

This offer is available for sign-ups through Jan 15th 2009. So, the sooner you sign-up with Kontera the sooner you can start earning.

Happy Holidays!

Become a Kontera Publisher Now!

* You must register through the sign up link on this page in order to be eligible for the bonus.

*Terms & Conditions

We are excited to present our new blog face, refreshed and uplifted.

The Kontera blog has been up and running since June 22, 2007.  It hasn’t always been easy… but with much care and fun, we have proudly made it to POST 99!

And on this festive blog occasion, we’d like to remind you of posts that have gained more attention, and other posts that we really like… and you may have missed:

• Why Google Adsense and Kontera ContentLinks are a Perfect Combination

• 5 Things Kontera’s Top Earners Have In Common

• 3 Reasons Why Your SEO Efforts and ContentLink Optimization Go Hand in Hand

• The Comprehensive Kontera Guide for Payment Info

• Creating In-Text Relevance

• Video Tutorial- Setting Up the Kontera WordPress Plugin
  

Taking a look at top clicked keywords is lots of fun, trying to figure out what exactly made one term turn popular over night sometimes feels like playing detective. So, with no further ado, here are some of Kontera’s top clicked keywords over the last week.

In Sports, “boxing” and “Oscar De La Hoya” get a lot of attention following the latter’s recent loss to Manny Pacquiao. Other popular keywords in this category are “college football” and “cricket.” With regards to “cricket” it’s interesting to note that it now correlates with a top clicked term from the News category, “Mumbai.”  This happens as England’s Cricket Team is preparing to return to India for the Test Series, and its players have announced they’ll donate half their match fees to the victims of the Mumbai terror attack.

In the Entertainment category several celebrities are getting a lot of click-love. “Michael Caine” recently revealed the real ending of The Italian Job on the eve of the film’s 40th anniversary. Guess that playing Alfred in The Dark Knight, adds more interest in light of the upcoming Academy Awards. “Jennifer Aniston” now promotes her soon to be released new film, and her personal life always draws a lot of attention.

The implications of the economic situation are also reflected, as Keywords relating to the “Employment” category are getting more clicks than before. On a happier note, Christmas spirit is already here, with most top clicked Keywords in the Holidays & Special Occasions category directly related to the most wonderful time of the year (we’ll tell you more about this in a special Christmas report).

Where will you be spending your Christmas vacation?
Well, if Travel category keywords are any indication, many of us are thinking about a “ski vacation…”

The “Top Clicked Keywords” post series is aimed at providing you additional information about the top performing keywords in our network.  For previous posts visit our Top Clicked Keywords Category.

We discovered something quite interesting on the Net just recently that we want to share with you. It’s an online self-study course, called Site Build It! (SBI!) that shows you how to create – and have fun with – your own successful internet business.

According to statistic sources on the Net, a large percentage of online business do not make it past the 1st year of operation. While the reasons for this result vary, there’s always one main, constant, never-ending battle each website owner faces: the fight for traffic to their site. And it is this battle, especially for attracting free traffic from the search engines, where the vast majority small businesses fail.

About Site Build It! (SBI!)

Site Build It! is the creation of SiteSell Inc., a privately held company based in Montreal.

When you visit their site,  you will quickly discover that SBI! is an online self-study course (and suite of integrated software tools) that empowers anyone, from beginner to Internet expert, to build a successful online business from scratch.

The most relevant benefit provided by SBI! for online entrepreneurs is the power to attract targeted visitors on an ongoing basis.

The traffic levels to Site Build It! sites, compared to regular sites and blogs, are impressive. According to a Netcraft.com study:

• 6 out of 10 Site Built It! site owners get more website visitors than 97% of all other websites.

• And more than 3 out of 10 – a full 35% of folks using Site Build It! outperform 99% of all websites.

How Does SBI! Do It?

Watch this entertaining, informative 30-minute video for the complete picture.

Final Thoughts

We’re excited to recommend any resource from which our partners can benefit.

Site Build It! is a cost-effective and well-supported way to build a traffic-generating business on the web and we thought that Kontera publishers should hear about it here too:)

Site Build It! Now offers Kontera publishers an unconditional 30-day, money-back guarantee. To get started, click here. 

You can still join the party and get a $25 bonus for each friend you bring. Kontera’s “Invite a Friend” program was launched last April and has proven to be a great success. We’d like to thank the many Kontera partners who have taken part in the program.

So, what are you waiting for? Invite your friends and receive a $25 bonus from us for each friend who becomes an active Kontera publisher. Inviting your friends is now easier than ever:

1. Log into Kontera’s Publisher Center using your user name and password.
2. Click on the “Invite a Friend” button on the right.



3. Type in your friends’ names and send away. Your friends will sign up through the link on your email.
4. Make sure your friends sign up using the same email address to which you sent the message.

-To learn more about the “Invite a Friend” Program please visit our Knowledgebase.

-“Invite a Friend” Terms & Conditions