With the current economic and employment market situation and implications, have there been changes in trends regarding  the way people execute a job hunt?  Anything creative or new you’ve seen?

There’s no question that people see a tighter gap of competition for a position.  We are seeing more applications coming in all the time.  This of course brings a new level in qualifications of experience, education, and other hiring criteria.  I also have found that people are really taking their job search further—they are utilizing and leveraging all their resources; essentially “anything goes”.  People have expanded their job hunts to rely more heavily on social media and online networking as a supplement to traditional means for searching.

We don’t want anyone to feel discouraged, so maybe you can clue us in:  as an HR manager of an online network, what strategies do you best relate with for finding the right candidate?

I search the web and use different recruiting strategies to find good candidates or potential employees.  When using the web, LinkedIn is a very useful tool, as it makes desirable web professionals more accessible and easy to contact directly without the need for a recruiting agency as a middle man. I also join and take part in professional and other relevant forums and in several Facebook groups  that enable me to reach a broader spectrum of candidates.   Like many companies, we also rely a great deal on our current employees and business partners to bring in fresh faces for our team.

Based on your experience, what defines someone well fit for Kontera?

First and foremost, we’re looking for people who have an aptitude for technology and are truly passionate about the web. Kontera  wants individuals who can demonstrate their passion for the web right off the bat.  A team-player attitude and willingness to be dynamic with their position are crucial traits.  Like the Internet, the company is evolving constantly, rapidly, and always presenting a new twist.  Employees should be ready for new challenges and get excited about them.  We work hard, but it’s important for us to keep the office environment fun and light—we’re looking for people who will contribute to making our coffee breaks and lunch time fun.

Since you are the first person to interview prospective employees, I’m sure you’ve seen all sorts of interviews, good and bad.  Any examples or tips as to do or not when interviewing?

Assuming that you want to get hired please turn off your cell phone before the interview begins… Another hint – if you forgot to do so – taking that call is not a good idea either . On a more serious note – there’s the obvious rule of thumb: come prepared!  Research the company you are interviewing with so that you know what you’re getting into and they know you’re serious.  It’s always good to get familiar with the market competitors so you can demonstrate a wider knowledge of the company’s challenges.  Work out your “sales pitch”, explain why you are the best possible candidate for a position, be ready to include facts that will promote your “personal  brand” into the answers you are giving the recruiter. Mention your successes and initiatives, but try not to come off arrogant – balance is key.

We’re looking for confident, energetic people where the resume and personality meet to reflect the way you’ll deal with our work environment.  For the most part,  recruiters are looking for focused people—those that present themselves with confidence and send out a message that they’re the best match for the position.

Bottom line, is Kontera hiring?

Absolutely – we’re always on the lookout for talented people and have recently opened a few positions in our US and Israel offices, which you can read more about in our Careers page.

A Few Words on Kontera’s In Text Ad Technology

Kontera’s semantic analysis technology performs at real time to dynamically hyper-link the words that most accurately represent and predict user-intent and engagement. When a Kontera publisher’s site is loaded by a user, our engines analyze the page to select the most relevant keywords and deliver the ads that provide the greatest value to Publishers, Advertisers and users.

It should be noted that keywords which are already hyperlinked are excluded from this analysis.  This means that keywords marked by other providers are also excluded by our system, allowing less of an opportunity to select the keywords that would yield the highest CPC and best CTR. ContentLink ads present the best performance on pages that contain text, uncluttered by too many links.

From the user’s side – pages which contain too many links compete for the user’s attention and result in an unpleasant user experience.  For this reason we believe that the highest quality and best user experience is the product of a perfect balance between text and In-Text ads.

Which Other Ad Networks Work Side by Side with Kontera?

All non- In-Text advertising networks.  Kontera’s ContentLink ads work alongside Google adsense, YPN, banner ads, affiliate networks, you name it- it works. ContentLink ads compliment all monetization efforts on a publisher’s site.  The best marketing strategy often results from combining two or more monetization techniques to maximize a site’s earning potential.  Explore to discover the optimal strategy for your site.

Lori showcased the benefits of the semantic web, how it differs from contextual advertising, and how Kontera’s semantic technology delivers a very high level of engagement and qualified user to the advertiser.

• Story-Level Contextual Targeting
• Advanced Semantic Analysis
• Customized Solutions
• Exclusive In-Text Site Representation to 18,000+ sites
• Network reach to 100MM Uniques (73MM U.S., comScore April 2009)

Patrick, who represents clients Sun and Blackberry, highlighted the benefits Sun experienced using the semantic web and the strong campaign results Kontera delivered for Sun’s Try & By campaign.

Sun Intel Try & Buy Campaign Results:

• Sun Intel Try & Buy Q1 Engagement Rates: 8% – 10%
  - Trending steadily through Q2
• Q1 2009: In-Text’s cost per initiated registration was nearly 5X lower than the cost per initiated registration from banner ads.
• In-text has driven 80% of all submitted applications for this Sun Try & Buy campaign, but with less than 40% of the spend.

To find out more about the benefits of Kontera and the semantic web, read Lori’s interview at iMedia Connection

Today, we are glad to interview Kontera’s Vice President of Products and one of the company’s founders, Assaf Henkin, whom we want to ask more about the evolution of In Text Advertising.

For starters, can you tell us a little bit about the history of Kontera In-text?  What sparked the idea? When did the technology first get developed?

Kontera and the In-Text vision behind Kontera started with the idea of connecting information online.  Meaning that instead of users using search engines to search for information, the question we asked ourselves is how can we proactively link keyword phrases and help users connect to additional information?  So we started with an application where users could click on different keyword phrases and get relevant information from different content sources, product reviews, encyclopedias, commercial information etc.  However, the business evolution prompted us to go more towards advertising and that’s how in text advertising evolved as a subset of In-Text information.

If you think about it, advertising is information and our vision from day one has been to make advertising relevant and useful enough so it’s used as an additional information source.  In the last 18 months we’re going back to fulfilling that promise with our Hybrid product that combines related content and advertising. The future holds exactly that. Our mission is to connect the entire web.  The idea is that every page with text online would have several links powered by Kontera.  These could be links to ads and/or related information.  Our duty, role and responsibility are to make these links relevant and useful so that they’ll become a powerful information tool for users.

What did the market look like when Kontera first emerged?

The market was much less sophisticated-we were pretty much the pioneers of this type of information browsing and consumption.  The market was nascent in the sense of both advertising and content consumption.  You didn’t have any mature syndication models, distribution, RSS, information consolidation-things which are obvious today.  So what we did back then was very revolutionary.  Advertising was also in its very early stages. There were no sophisticated metrics, monitoring or advanced measurement.

Today, the online ad and information market are very different and Kontera is a natural fit in this world because of our level of relevancy, targeting, and the utility value we provide users and the level of performance we bring to advertisers.

Did you have to convince the market back then?

Obviously introducing a new product to the market requires some education. Some publishers were standoff-ish, as they didn’t want to have any automatic mechanism that would add links to their pages. BUT, this is a few years back.  Today, we see a constantly growing adoption rate. The evolution of user-information consumption is also to our benefit, because the model is no longer confined to search and portals alone.

For example, today, while visiting an a Yahoo or AOL page, users will also interact with content from external sources using widgets, RSS feeds, and other products that AOL implemented which are not necessarily controlled by the site managers or editors.  A site’s editors control its content and articles, but there are a lot of other dynamic components that change every time the user will refresh the page.  The change is based on who the user is, their geographical location, the evolving inventory, and this is something that is similar to what Kontera does.  Every time the user views a page that is utilizing our technology, we will select different Keywords, we can show different content and different ads. In a sense, the market is becoming more and more open to having less control and trusting technology as long as the technology delivers positive user experience.

What more can we look forward to in 2009 in terms of new development?

We’ve just completed a major release of our Publisher Center and by mid to end 2009 we’re going to do a new release of our Ad Center-our dashboard for advertisers.  We’re also working on some innovative content units and ad units that are part of partnerships with some of the larger media companies and ad agencies in the market.

Where do you think the In-Text technology is going in the coming future, how do you believe it will be embedded in peoples’ online behavior?

As I said before, we see In-Text as an inseparable medium for users to interact with information and the better job we do at it, the more interlined it will be with users lives’ online. Furthermore, we view In-Text as a very powerful product for mobile information and consumption because of the small devices and small footprints that mobile devices offer.  We are also looking at IP TV or the TV and video implementation online.  Think about video content, or the way TV and movie companies are consumed online today. It is clear that a few years from now, more and more people will watch their favorite TV shows online, using a computer. For our technology it would be a natural extension- a medium where, based on semantic meaning, and on a set of other parameters, additional information could be offered to the user.  This is another area where we expect that In-Text will become popular in the next coming years.

Hairpedia.com has been chosen as Kontera’s April Publisher of the Month for being the ultimate source for all things hair. The site contains multiple strands of advice including celebrity styles, do’s for every occasion, an updated fashion news section, and a bountiful selection of beauty tips.  And the good news is ContentLink ads complement all hair types!

We had a lot of fun playing around with the hair games and found the virtual hairstylist page which allows you to get a preview of your hair-to-come, to be a fun resource. You wouldn’t believe it, but some of our programmers looked really good with Gwen Stefani’s platinum blonde up-do .

We’re pleased to have had a chance to sit down with site owners, Aaron and Jason, the people behind this great site, to talk more about hairpedia.com.

What inspired you to start Hairpedia.com?

Aaron’s wife is a hairstylist, and about 3 years back while working on her website we decided to start a Hairstyle/Fashion website of our own that would improve upon other websites we saw out there.  Plus, we saw how profitable the internet could be from a friend who was doing well online.  With the 10+ years of computer and internet experience we thought it would be a great time to start a web business to complement our computer networking business.

The fashion/beauty industry is extremely dynamic, and we all know that designers are constantly changing their looks, what is the best way to keep up with these ever-changing trends?

We keep up with fashion and hairstyles primarily by watching celebrity trends and going to fashion and hair shows whenever possible. Since Aaron’s wife is a hairstylist she is constantly aware and updating us on new styles. We also have other family and friends in the hair industry so it helps us stay up to date on the latest trends.

Hairpedia.com covers a highly popular niche.  With that said, are there any specific times periods in the year where hair and fashion connoisseurs research at a note-worthy rate?

We always see a lot of traffic around prom and homecoming and during the spring and summer we receive the highest traffic of the year.

As the web springs up with hundreds of new beauty/hair sites every day, can you provide us insight on how you’ve successfully developed hairpedia.com as a leading site in this niche?

We recently redesigned our site to better align with web 2.0 and we continue to expand our site with new features and fun information to stay ahead of the competition.

When did you start monetizing Hairpedia and what role does In-Text advertising play in your overall monetization strategy?

We started monetizing the site as soon as it was created and loved Kontera’s In-text advertising as it complements our profits without adding clutter to the site. Using ContentLink is a great way to add profits and give our visitors more options for products and services.

What sort of responses have you been getting from Hairpedia users with regards to the various types of advertising you employ?

We have not received much response to our advertising, so I guess you can say it’s good since we haven’t had complaints!

With the recent addition of fun hair games to your site, what else can users expect to see in the future when surfing Hairpedia.com?

We hope our visitors keep our site bookmarked and keep coming back because we are developing and adding more features very soon.  One is a user social networking type user area where people can save their favorite styles to review later, or share with other users, and add their own style to allow other people to give them tips and even ask our experts for tips.  We also will have contests for best prom hair, and contests for other events.  Also more weekly celebrity hairstyles and our picks for the best celebrity hairstyle of the week…

The Kontera Publisher of the Month series kicked off in January of 2009. A publisher is selected from Kontera’s network each month and provides an insider’s perspective on what it takes to manage a successful site. To learn more visit the Publisher of the Month Category.

After releasing our updated TOS we’ve received some publisher feedback pertaining to an existing clause. The clause, stating a $5 earnings minimum in order for revenues to be rolled over to the next month, though not a new addition, raised some concerns among a small yet important segment of our publisher community.

Since publisher feedback is highly important to us and as a result, we’ve decided to remove this clause from our TOS effective April 1st 2009.

Something similar has happened with In-Text Advertising. In-Text became widespread as its benefits became well known.  If we look back to earlier in the decade, In-Text Advertising was causing some controversy as some prominent websites, began to display ads and information, within their content.  As quoted on iMedia, “The problem that caused the controversy in In-Text Advertising had more to do with the medium in which it appeared than with the message.”  It was not so much an issue with the advertisement as with the new medium through which they were served.  In the case of Kontera’s In-Text, the benefits to advertisers and to publishers are well known. But as Kontera’s philosophy is three fold, we wanted to highlight the main benefit In-Text hold for users. Indeed, in the last few years, Kontera’s contextual advertising technology has proved its advantages to users by offering a distinct added value- access to highly relevant ads and information that is in sync with the most current interest and state of mind of the reader.

Perhaps the greatest advantage of In-Text lies in the fact that it suits today’s dynamic online mode of work. We are already a different type of online user than we were even 5 years ago.   We refer to the contemporary multi-tasking user.  We know all about the- multi tabbing, multi window, updating my Facebook while completing chart on excel- mode of work.  Considering this, it’s really not surprising that In-Text has earned its popularity over the past few years.  With the possibility of being in more than one place at a time, finding access to extended information while being engaged with content, Kontera’s In Text brings an added value to today’s online user.

Compass Community Services
Each year, Compass fills the needs of more than 3,000 low-income and homeless parents and children. Its services include intake and referral to shelter, emergency shelter, transitional housing, and childcare – in addition to a broad spectrum of counseling, parenting education, prevention, and support services. With its deep understanding of homelessness and personalized support, Compass helps clients regain a solid footing and move toward long-term stability.

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.