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.

Some combinations just work- Lucy and Ricky, peas and carrots… Google and Kontera ads.

These days, more and more website owners are seeing the benefits in diversifying their ad offering in order to accommodate a wider audience. The market has much to offer in terms of ad types, and the trick is to make the selection that will monetize best while serving your users well. A website’s ad diversity has to go hand in hand with an uncluttered display, allowing users to find the information they seek and to conveniently and easily explore your page.

Many publishers find the combination of Kontera ContentLinks alongside Google Adsense to be most beneficial. In fact, our latest publisher survey showed that an amazing 95% of our top earners and over 70% of our bloggers use Kontera and AdSense in order to maximize their site’s revenues. Further research has confirmed that ContentLink ads have no negative impact on Adsense earnings, but rather increase a site’s overall revenue.

Better still, Kontera ContentLinks don’t take up additional ad space. The ad units are “compact”, hidden behind a relevant keyword until a user actively requests to see them. So in addition to the monetary advantages of a Adsense/Kontera combination, ContentLinks can run next to Adsense ads without the need for additional web space and without competing for user interaction. Since the ads completely differ in format, there’s no issue preventing them from appearing on the same page.

Alan Baltes of actinginfo, one of our favorite bloggers and a valued partner has this to say:

“Kontera has proven to be a fantastic addition to the Adsense ads on my blog. It has increased my overall revenue without having any adverse effect on my Adsense statistics. Best of all, I have received very positive feedback from my blog’s visitors!”

Roger Clark from rogers-resume-help-center.com, a very useful resume and career resource site says:

“Adsense has always been the main source of revenue for my website and I was reluctant to place any other advertising as I feared a drop in my Adsense revenue. I decided to give Kontera ads a try because they did not take up any additional space on my web pages. Within a few weeks the Kontera revenues started to grow and best of all there was no drop off in my Adsense. My Kontera results have exceeded my expectations, and now provide a significant complementary income stream.”

So what are you waiting for? Give the combination a try.

Kontera will be sponsoring the Northwest Internet Advertising Group’s Happy Hour this month. This Northwest meet and greet will be hosted in Seattle (known to coffee lovers and Grey’s Anatomy fans alike as the home of Starbucks and McDreamy).

The Northwest Internet Advertising Group (NWIAG) was created in 2006, with the goal of providing internet advertising professionals an outlet in which to generate ideas and contacts. To further their networking efforts, NWIAG hosts a variety of monthly events, the next of which Kontera is sponsoring.

Come join Kontera for Happy Hour as we mix and mingle with the industry’s finest:

• Thursday, July 24th
• At Seattle’s O’Asian Kitchen
• From 6 p.m. – 10 p.m.

Drupal users will be happy to hear that there’s a new plugin in town. Kontera ContentLinks are now offered along with a range of new features to accommodate your Drupal site.

With the new Drupal plugin for ContentLinks ads, you’ll be able to:

• Add the ContentLink tag to all your pages in one click
• Block ContentLink ads from appearing on particular pages
• Display ads only to non-registered users
• Enable/Disable ads from polls, search results or forums
• Change ContentLinks’ color

Download plugin for Drupal 5.7
Download plugin for Drupal 6.1

Installation:

1. Download plugin and unzip the file.

2. Upload the unzipped folder to your ’sites/all/modules’ directory. If the “modules” subdirectory does not exist, then it should be created.

3. Login to your Drupal Account, and on the left side menu select “Administer” and then “Site building”.

4. Within the “Site Building” section select “Modules”. Scroll down the “Modules” page to find the newly created “Kontera ContentLink” module. Check the box on the left hand side and click on the “Save Configuration” button.

5. On the Drupal menu select “Site Configuration” and then “Kontera settings” to set your plugin preferences.

6. Within the “Kontera Settings” page, add your Kontera Publisher ID in the appropriate field. This is your personal ID which appears on your ContentLink tag:

Now select your ContentLink™ preferences, click the “Save configuration” button and you’re good to go!

Download plugin for Drupal 5.7
Download plugin for Drupal 6.1

Read more on Kontera’s In-Text Advertising

As we mentioned in an earlier post, Kontera’s Video Testimonial Contest was sealed and the winners announced. We received some great testimonials and we want to share the videos of all three winners with you, one by one.

Pay a visit to Randy’s site grownupgeek.com

We said before that when our partners talk we listen. We love getting your feedback and find it to be a great resource in helping us improve our products and services. That’s why creating and maintaining communication channels with you are particularly high on Kontera’s priority list.

This blog, the Publisher Center and our newly added KnowledgeBase are all meant to be exactly that – a two way communication channel.

Take the Knowledgebase as an example. The feedback provided by the thousands of Kontera publishers who visited it, has helped us identify the frequent questions encountered while employing ContentLinks™ and managing your account. The result on our end is a constant update of the Knowledgebase with new information.

One of the most frequently accessed Knowledgebase articles is “How do I add a new site to my existing Kontera Account?” and so we thought to answer it here as well. Adding another site to your Kontera account is easy. In fact it’s a process that can be summed up in three words send - receive - add. And here’s how:

Use the help tab in your account in Kontera’s Publisher Center and send us an email listing the site domains you want added to your network. We will review each site and create up to 5 new sets of tags for you at a time. Upon receiving the new tags, you can immediately add them onto your site’s template directly before the closing body tag </body> of your source code.

Have you visited the Knowledgebase? Have a question that wasn’t included in it? Let us know and we’ll gladly add it.

Send it to blog@kontera.com

By Vered Avrahami

Introducing a taste of Kontera’s live advertising campaigns:

As of last night a Google search query for the term “advertising” yields some 1,010,000,000 results, if you’ll check it again now, the number will probably be higher. Advertising is everywhere, and can no longer be referred to as mere “sponsored messaging”; it has evolved and now offers consumers plenty of added-value.

The ads featured during the Super Bowl for example have their own devoted fans, and for a good reason. They are extremely creative skits, featuring A-list celebrities, and to say it out front – they’re fun. Ads introduced us to many memorable characters, my personal favorites being the Taco craving Chihuahua and the wireless company’s “can you hear me now?” guy. We all use witty ad slogans and catch phrases in everyday conversations – anyone forget the “Wazzup” beer campaign?

These are all examples of successful TV ad campaigns, but advertising online is where the future lies. Kontera’s In Text Ad Program presents a win-win situation for all members of online advertising ecosystem and we manage to do it, if to quote our very own slogan, by: Creating In Text Relevance.

Kontera lives up to the slogan’s 3 part promise. ContentLink ppc ad units guarantee maximum creative flexibility as they can include text, logos, video, audio, flash animations, and interactive forms. ContentLinks are placed where users’ attention is focused, within the text. And finally Kontera’s advanced technology ensures that the ads will be highly relevant to the content in which they’re featured, so ContentLinks simultaneously provide added user-value and a particularly well targeted advertising campaign. See for yourself.

You don’t have to take our word for it, simply watch what a senior Britannica.com executive  has to say about Kontera ContentLink™ Ads.  See more of our BlogWorld adventures.

By Mika Tal

I’m no search engine expert but there are a few basic things anyone who’s ever launched a site knows about increasing its popularity. Golden rule number 1: on the web- your presence largely depends on the level of attention search engines decide to invest in you. We also know well there’s much that can be done to encourage search engines to notice your site. For Kontera publishers, the good news is that while improving your search engine rankings, you improve your ContentLink results- and not only for the simple reason of traffic increase.
Here are a few ways in which your SEO efforts improve your ContentLink results.

1. Search engines love text rich sites. In fact, the ultimate search engine friendly web-page contains 250-500 words.
   This is great news for ContentLink ads. The ideal environment for ContentLink ads is a text rich site. Think of a text rich site as fertile ground for In-Text ads to thrive on. Part of the reason being that the more text a site has, the greater the selection and the number of ads that our relevancy engines can display. Optimizing your website for search engines increases your ranking while enhancing your ContentLink results.
2. Including within your content keywords that are relevant to your users. You are more likely to be noticed by search engines when your webpage contains contextually related keywords. Contextually related keywords give search engines the idea of what your site is all about. So for example, if you use words such as herbs, plants, flowers and fertilizer, you’re probably writing about gardening. Similarly, when a publisher signs up with Kontera, we determine the site’s category in order to target ads which are most relevant according to our contextual advertising technology.
   Relevant keywords are the pillar stone of your SEO efforts. Search engines look for those words that are most relevant for your users. By targeting keywords, you can direct your readers to the most relevant pages on your site, forum or blog. Highly targeted content leads to higher conversions and better visitor experiences.
   Similarly, Kontera’s ContentLinks searches for relevant keywords within your content in order to match it with the most relevant ad. Our engine analyzes the text on your site in order to figure what your content is all about. Within seconds, keywords are selected according to relevancy, click-through rates and revenue potential. These parameters are set to bring the most targeted, highest paying ad to your site. Considering this, optimizing your content for search engine purposes simultaneously optimizes your site for Kontera’s relevancy engine.
3. So what’s the number-one tip for search engine ranking? Fresh Content. Search engines like websites that are frequently updated with fresh, unsullied, content. This is part of the dynamic search engine- webpage relation. Luckily, Kontera’s ContentLink are dynamic ads that bring the most relevant results at real-time. It does not matter how often you update your site’s content, Kontera’s engine analyzes and matches ads to your site each time a visitor enters.

By Vered Avrahami

One of the many great things about the online industry is that every publisher, regardless of size, can generate revenues from his web site or blog. To be an online entrepreneur, you don’t need years of experience or academic degrees; you don’t have to be a marketing expert, a confident webmaster or an advertising wiz; the only thing you are required to do, is to explore the various PPC Ad formats and contextual Advertising methods out there, and sign with the ones that are best suited for your website’s content and overall design. Naturally, we all have our preferences.

As internet users, we are accustomed to the idea that the web’s speedy development, along with free access to reading material, necessitate that a page’s real-estate be divided between content and advertising. We have also learned that advertising could complement content, by providing additional information, tailored to fit whatever it was that we were reading about. As part of our everyday online experience, we have all clicked on an eye catching banner, or on a text advertisement, one of the forms of contextual ads. The newest kid in the PPC advertising block is In-Text Advertising. Kontera’s In-Text advertising preserves the advantages presented by other forms of advertising while introducing new benefits to publishers, advertisers and users.

Kontera’s ContentLinks™ change the rules. In the past when a publisher was interested in increasing his advertising revenues, he was required to allocate additional web page “real estate” for ad placement. This action could potentially impair his content and deter users. With Kontera In-Text, a publisher’s ad-inventory is as vast as his content, since every word could serve as an opportunity for advertisers to communicate with their audience.

With ContentLinks, publishers are granted control over the placement and number of PPC In-Text ads inserted in their content. Publishers are also able to customize the color of the double-underlined Keywords, in order to differentiate them from regular links, and assure that they match the website’s design. These characteristics of Kontera In-Text Advertising guarantee that the publisher remains the decision maker regarding his site’s attributes.