We are happy to announce the release of our new Wordpress plugin!
The plugin enables instant integration of Kontera ads to WordPress blogs as well as some great customization features to help change the Kontera settings to match your preferences.

The plugin allows you to:

• Add the Kontera tag to all your pages in one click.
• Determine when ads will begin appearing on new posts- you can choose to block ads for a particular number of days. Feature ads only on posts.
• Feature ads only on comments.
• Easily change your links color.
• Choose to enable or disable Kontera ads from within your post editor.

Download Kontera-WordPress Plugin for WP 2.8

The plugin integration is a snap – here’s how to set it up:

1. Unzip the plugin file to your local hard drive.
2. Copy the Kontera folder to your blog’s WordPress content/plugins directory.
3. On your WordPress administrator, select “Plugins”.
   
4. Scroll down to “Inactive Plugins” and Click Activate next to the “Kontera ContentLink” plugin entry.
   
5. Now that your plugin is active, navigate to the sidebar and under the “Settings” menu, click to go to the “Kontera Settings”.
   
6. In the top field, enter your publisher ID number. This is your personal ID which appears on your Kontera tag:
   
7. That’s it! It’s time to experiment with the different options offered by the Kontera WordPress Plugin.
   
8. Remember, with this plugin, you also have the option to enable or disable Kontera ads from within the post editor.

Download Kontera-WordPress Plugin for WP 2.8

We hope you’ll find this new tool helpful and look forward to hearing about your experience with it.

* If you are using an earlier WordPress version, please visit the Publisher Resources page on our website for the appropriate plugin.

*Since WordPress is open source and offers a wide variety of themes, we cannot guarantee that the plugin will support them all. Please contact support@kontera.com if you encounter any implementation issues.

David Gorcey joined Kontera in July of 2006 and has lead the Publisher Account Management team for the last two years. He grew up in Southern California and has spent time living in London and Finland before moving to San Francisco 5 years ago. As Manager of Publisher Services, David primarily works with Kontera’s Account Management team on the optimization and management of Kontera’s publisher network.

Can you point out a few things that Kontera’s top earners have in common?

I know we’ve touched on this on the blog already (see post 5 Things Kontera Top Earners Have In Common) but having targeted, well written content is really something that characterizes our top earners. When you think about it, this is beneficial in several ways- 1) it improves the relevancy of the ads Kontera can serve in your content, 2) It also brings you more targeted ads if you use AdSense or something similar, and 3) it helps you from an SEO perspective. The more targeted and quality content you are able to include on your site, the better off you will be from an advertising and user experience perspective. Most of our top earners have also put some effort into the design of their site because you want the aesthetic and flow to be one that users find visually pleasing and easy to read and navigate.

What would you like to tell Kontera’s present and future publishers?

For Kontera’s current publishers, the first thing I’d like to say is that we truly do appreciate your business and that we look forward to pursuing a successful long term partnership with each and every one of you. We value your input and always welcome your insight and suggestions so please keep them coming. Near term, you can expect to see us build on our technological leadership and continue to pursue advancements that will increase our ability to provide relevant advertising with meaningful earnings for you. Overall, I am excited for what 2009 will bring to everyone using Kontera already, and anyone who might be looking to give us a try in the coming months.

What communication channels does Kontera offer to assist and serve its publishers?

Kontera places very high importance on interacting with and responding to publishers. Some publishers have a direct account manager so for them, this is the most effective way to get in touch with us. Aside from that, our email support staff (support@kontera.com) are very effective at realizing what someone’s specific needs are and determining who best can help them with their question. Although different inquiries require varying degrees of resources, our goal is making sure that no matter what it is, a publisher’s question is addressed as quickly and effectively as possible so I would recommend this as the primary communication channel for any publisher questions or input.

Because our product is focused exclusively online, we also play an active role in many online forums and discussion boards that pertain to our industry or product specifically, and this is another way we have been able to engage and communicate with our users. Finally, our blog helps us spread the word on news, developments, or anything else that is going on here, and along with our knowledge base (kb.kontera.com) provides an excellent resource for information and tips. As you can see, we expend a lot of efforts on engaging and interacting with the people that use our technology

Overall, I’d just like to reiterate the value Kontera places on all publishers in our network and our sincere desire to develop successful long term partnerships with every one of you. You’ve helped us become the leader in the in-text marketplace and we look forward to building on that success with you even more in the coming year.

We’re excited to present Kontera’s March Publisher of the Month: lockergnome.com, a blogging network for people who are curious about the world around them.

lockergnome.com is a place for bloggers to learn and share everything about blogging.  Beginners as well as expert bloggers can find interesting, fun information and useful guidelines.

The amazing thing is that you can join lockergnome’s community site geeks.pirillo.com and open your very own blog within minutes. Pay a visit to see the extended network, with forums, groups and videos.

Kontera’s ContentLink ads are proudly featured on lockergnome.com.  We’re pleased to have Chris Pirillo interview on our blog to answer a few important questions.

We’re interested in learning more about Lockergnome. How did it get started, and where did the idea spark from?

Lockergnome got its start because I really didn’t want to finish my Master’s Degree. I knew that the Internet was going to become increasingly important and pervasive in people’s lives. I already shared tips and tricks with people, so I decided to do so in an “official” capacity, by using my own Website. I still share tips and tricks, but I do so in a variety of ways: through Lockergnome, through email, through Geeks, and many other avenues.

What do you typically look for in a blogger that gets featured on lockergnome.com?

Right now, we don’t even accept applications for the most part. For instance, people cannot bother to write well in their application, so why would we accept them to blog for us? I’ve said it before a million times, and I’ll say it again: you have to be able to write well to blog with us on Lockergnome! We’re looking for someone with a good voice, who is full of passion and understanding of the subject they are wanting to cover. Also, you have to be consistent. You need to be able to blog regularly.

Thousands of bloggers set on their online path daily.  What’s the most important tip you can give?

There are so many things you need to pay attention to on a daily basis. You can read everything online, and you’ll never get anything done. The chances of you publishing a blog and having it well-read are not incredibly strong. The reason I’ve opened my doors for Lockergnome is because I know I can get you more attention than you would get on your own. We have excellent marketing benefits that we’ve built over the years. We have a lot of promotional vehicles for content that is well-written. If you’re trying to separate yourself from the other noise out there, make people aware of who you are. Visit others, and leave comments for them. How else will people find you?

When you start to monetize Lockergnome, what role does in-text advertising play?

Kontera came to me in the beginning, and I hesitated. Then I started thinking, and realized that people hate seeing ads everywhere. The Kontera underlined words go over so much better than any other type of ads I’ve ever used. People respond well to them. Kontera is a large part of the monetization system. It’s not all of it, since I refuse to rely on any one type of monetization. However, Kontera works very, very well.

What sort of responses have you been getting from Lockergnome users regarding to the types of advertising you employ?

They’re asking for a larger portion of the splits! However, we do have expenses we have to pay to keep the site operational. They’re looking for more options, of course. I am always looking for new ways to implement money-making opportunities to them. The more customizations I can offer them, the better off they will be. I’m excited to see what the future will bring as far as advertising is concerned.

What wise word of monetization advice you have for bloggers?

Optimize! I realize that’s a general term. I’ve helped a lot of people make a lot of money, without receiving anything in return. I don’t really do that anymore. If you want to pay me to help you, then great! Shoot me an email. But for now, I’ll just be general, and tell you to optimize to the maximum.

We’re very excited to have a blogging expert on the Kontera Blog. Do you have any words of wisdom for us?

Don’t keep pounding on the table! Seriously, stay true to yourself.  If you have a blog that’s all about your company, that’s cool… but it gets long in the tooth. Share interesting and/or personal stories maybe about people that work for the company. If you don’t do that, all people are reading is a series of press releases. That gets pretty boring. As a matter of fact, I doubt many people will read this post, or watch this video in its entirety. If you do, please leave a comment, and use the word pancake somewhere in your comment. I’m serious! Do it! I just want to see out of curiosity how many of you get this far. This is what I mean about adding things outside the normal realm. Talk about something I can’t find anywhere else.

Where do you see Lockergnome going in the future?

As I’ve already said, I want to open it up more. I want to allow more people to participate, turning it into a network of Geeks. People will be able to take advantage of groups and forums, as well. Lockergnome will also continue to grow via the co-brands: Coupons, our Help forums, and a download area is just around the corner!

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.

By Mika Tal

Information- the more we have of it, the better? Sure, so long as we know how to use it.

This is the simple conclusion I came to in one of my ventures through Google Analytics.  With so much information around to explore, one has to know how to ask a question accurately.  Needless to say, narrowing down the mounds of information to a set of central parameters is an important step in learning how to utilize such an advanced tool to one’s benefit.

Today I’d like to suggest a few Google Analytics parameters that can aid you in optimizing the performance of your Kontera pay-per-click ads .  If you’re new to Google analytics, you may find this information especially useful. I’ve narrowed it down to 4:

• New vs. Returning visits- Returning visitors tend to generate a higher CTR for ContentLink® ads.  The reason for this is that visitors who return to your site are already familiar with the information you serve, and with the advantages of Kontera ads.  They are more trusting of ContentLinks and they tend to click the ads more often. For advice on how to get more of your site’s visitors to become returning visitors, consult this great post on entrepreneurs-journey.com

To find out your site’s ratio for New/ Returning Visitors- on your Analytics account, go to Visitors and then click New vs. Returning.

• Top Content Pages – To get the best results, it is recommended that you place your ContentLink tag on all your website’s pages.  However, if you choose to place ContentLinks on a few pages rather than all, make sure the pages you choose are ones that generate traffic.  I’m sure there’s no need to explain why traffic is important for making the most out of your ContentLink ads.

To find Top Content Pages on your Analytics account, go to Content then click Top Content.

• Top Search Engine Keywords- we have published a series of posts on how to maximize your ad earnings by optimizing your site’s content. Knowing which keywords bring the most search engine traffic to your site is important because these are likely to be the more popular keywords, often sought after by advertisers.  These keywords have better monetary potential.

Go to Traffic Sources and then click Search Engines.  Select a search engine and make sure you see the first option on the dimension field: “keyword”.  Google analytics enables you to see all keywords typed into any search engine for your selected date.

• Map Overlay – where are your users coming from?
  Kontera’s top earners are publishers whose sites  get over 55% US traffic.  The reason for this is that online advertisers invest much of their resources on traffic from the US.  While Kontera has partnerships with advertisers all over the world, the highest CPCs generated by your site originate from your US visitors.  An increase in US traffic has an immediate effect on earnings.

Use Analytics Map overlay to see exactly where on the globe your traffic is coming from.
Click Visitors then go to Map Overlay.

I hope you will find this information useful in making the most out of Kontera ContentLink ads  on your site!  If there’s anything I left out, or any additional tips you’d like to share please drop us a comment below.

Bryan Everett, Kontera’s SVP Business and Development, was interviewed on Adotas this week.  In a Q & A series, Everett presents an overview of Kontera- technology, history, and direction. Through this overview, Everett offers interesting insight into the world of In-Text contextual advertising.  Here’s a sneak peek:

Q: With more than 300 ad networks out there, how do you add value to advertisers? Publishers?

A: Considering the economic situation we’re in now, more advertising dollars will be pushed towards performance-based vehicles. As it relates to advertisers, what differentiates us from other ad networks is that we are a Cost-Per-Click based platform which means that they only pay for performance. In addition, we convert well for advertisers once users do click on an ad. For publishers, we provide a very strong additive eCPM to the overall page, as well as a solid user experience because we choose the most relevant keywords and ads at the most relevant and opportune time… Go to Article

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!

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

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

Kontera recently partnered with Pluck On Demand enabling its publishers access to contextually relevant, professionally-created, content and social media tools to increase publisher page views and user engagement. Kontera ContentLink will automatically populate within the Pluck on Demand content widget generating additional revenue for publishers.

What exactly is Pluck On Demand?

Pluck On Demand is a series of widgets that grow your site with contextually relevant content and social media tools.  The widgets read your site and offer links to relevant content from a library of millions of articles and videos. All content is consumed within your pages with your site’s look and feel and is pre-packaged with advertising.  This means incremental page views and revenue for your site.

How does it work?

Pluck On Demand’s free self-serve widget-based product can be added in minutes using an easy step-by-step implementation wizard.  Once in place, Pluck On Demand automatically reads content on a page and provides links to related articles and videos sourced from various high-quality content providers. The full article or video content is viewed within the publisher’s site, driving traffic and engagement.  Pluck On Demand also comes with social media features such as comments, ratings, recommendations, and user profiles, making it possible for publishers to instantly build vibrant community on their sites.
Check out the video to learn more http://ondemand.pluck.com/kontera

How do I sign-up?

Visit ondemand.pluck.com/kontera and add Pluck on Demand to your site today!