An open letter to Jonathan from Kontera

1. 70

   Evan Hutchinsonposted 13 years ago

   Since I've seen you here. One of your support staff found my account, so I retract my other thread. However, I'm still deleting your service off of my websites.
   
   Number one, your revenue reporting is AWFUL. The fact that you don't have all-time revenue on your site, or any possible way to access my total account balance, is absolutely atrocious.
   
   Number two, there is no reason you need those damn annoying flash popups to come with your links. Just the link, and make it look like any other link. Or at least make it less annoying and obtrusive.
   
   And number three, your CPC SUCKS. I'm getting mere pennies per click, when I should be getting quite a bit more judging by what I'm making on Adsense. Start finding more advertisers and charging them more, if you really can't afford to pay me more than 2 cents per click.
   
   I won't quit if you fix the problems, but until you do, bye bye Kontera.

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      cohenj88posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Hey Evan,
      
      This is Jonathan from Kontera. I have no problem with you writing an open letter to me, but if you also forward it to me at jonathanc@kontera.com or through my HubPages mail, I'll be able to respond to you faster.
      
      Regarding our revenue reporting system, you can manually track your revenue dating back 6 months. If you'd like to track your revenue back any further than that you can contact us at support@kontera.com and we'll be happy to generate a report supplying that, or any other info.
      
      In terms of Text links, there are a lot of companies that provide what you're describing, but simple text links can't capture the attention of site visitors in the same way as our more visually engaging In-Text ads. With Kontera what your getting is the sweet spot between ads being too in your face, remember Kontera ads only even appear if someone scrolls over them with their mouse, and is actively interested in seeing them; and ad types that recede so much into the background that they never covert into ad clicks.
      
      In fact, comScore, the leading internet marketing research firm recently did a study about Kontera and found that Kontera In-Text links are both 4-5 times more effective than the norms for internet display ads and also one of the least intrusive ad formats. You can read more results from the comScore study here:  http://www.kontera.com/advertisers/research-results
      
      In respect to CPC, Kontera features an exclusive ad inventory from some of the biggest brands in the world including Ford, Toyota, Microsoft, Oreo, National Geographic, Kmart, HP, Blackberry, Domino's Pizza and more. These often Rich-Media ads are the most attractive to site visitors and offer the best possible CPC.
      
      Which ads you receive varies according to a number of different factors including the content of the web page, traffic sources, geo-tracking, current campaigns running on our network, advertiser preferences and more. Kontera’s algorithm takes all of these factors into account to ensure we deliver you with the most relevant and high-performing ad.
      
      It could be for whatever reason, you're not receiving these premium ads, if you want to contact me, I'll be more than happy to look into it.
      
      Finally, concerning AdSense, some publishers see better revenue with AdSense, some see better CPC on Kontera. However, because Kontera and AdSense are displayed in completely different parts of a webpage, they're completely different revenue sources that can only add to your revenue. Many of Kontera's over 15,000 publishers are already combining Kontera and AdSense with great success.
      
      Thanks,
      
      - Jonathan Cohen
      Kontera Community Manager

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      1. 0

         Charlinexposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Jonathan, it's nice of you to respond. I am not quiting yet but the earnings from Kontera are just incredibly low. How low? I am sure you know. 
         
         Can you improve that for us?

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         1. 60

            cohenj88posted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Hey Charlinex,
            
            First of all, I really liked your nature photography
            
            Regarding your earnings, if you e-mail me at jonathanc@kontera.com I can forward you to an account manager who can see if there's anything that can be further optimized on your account.
            
            Thanks,
            
            - Jonathan Cohen
            Kontera Community Manager

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      2. 87

         WryLiltposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         "With Kontera what your getting is the sweet spot between ads being too in your face, remember Kontera ads only even appear if someone scrolls over them with their mouse, and is actively interested in seeing them."
         
         Are you serious? When I'm doing a google search and come across a page with Kontera adverts, I feel like I have to keep the mouse at the bottom right corner of the screen. If I don't, and let my mouse accidentally wander.... Kontera adverts make me feel like the page is a mine field and my mouse pointer will set one off if I get too close.
         
         I have a Kontera account. Activated it for a month or two... but while I was making maybe $1 off Kontera, I was making about $20 off Adsense - and with the same amount of clicks. Right now I only use it on hubs that have sensitive content and that adsense wouldn't approve of their adverts on. Which isn't many.

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2. 65

   alternate poetposted 13 years ago

   where's the letter you are replying to ?

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      YU_First 1posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      ... really really Alternate poet... you are a handful!

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      1. 60

         YU_First 1posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Jonathan do you also earn from Kontera Ads, lol?

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         1. 60

            cohenj88posted 13 years agoin reply to this

            While I'm definitely a Kontera Publisher, over the last 4 years work and marriage have pretty much erased any free time I used to devote to blogging.

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3. 84

   psycheskinnerposted 13 years ago

   "...they're completely different revenue sources that can only add to your revenue"
   
   Um, blatantly not true as many people here have discovered.  Kontera *can* reduce overall revenue.

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   1. 59

      darksideposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I'm a long time Kontera detractor. I've not been a fan of theirs since soon after trying out the program, however there three things which gives me pause to actually like Kontera.
      
      1) They used to take away peoples earnings if they didn't make $5 in the month. This infuriated me. Because anyone starting out will find it hard to generate revenue. Being constantly penalised month on month doesn't make for a good business partnership. However they did away with that some time ago now.
      
      2) As Evan has said the "revenue reporting is AWFUL. The fact that you don't have all-time revenue on your site, or any possible way to access my total account balance, is absolutely atrocious." I've brought that up in at least one previous thread, and I don't know if it was ever answered. But rest assured, while you can't see it, your earnings previous to that sliding time frame is still going to get paid to you. Something I discovered just this morning.
      
      3) While I do not have any Kontera ads on my hubs, there are people I have referred that do have them. And that's where I've earned the bulk of my past earnings, and in the future the entirety of my forthcoming revenue. It might be a very small income stream (more like a trickle) it is adding up, and involves no effort on my part. Even if the Kontera ads are encroaching on potential Adsense revenue I should keep in mind that I have no control over how my referrals generate their revenue, so if a visitor clicks on Kontera it's revenue I wouldn't have gotten anyway.
      
      So all things considered, Kontera is doing me some good. And no one is more surprised than me.

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   2. 75

      thisisoliposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      The people who have actually tested it would disagree with that statement, the amount you lose through adsense is more than recovered through Kontera earnings.

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         psycheskinnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Other people who did show actual numbers did not find this to be true.

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4. 93

   Pcunixposted 13 years ago

   I really don't understand why HP has this. Too many people detest that kind of ad.

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5. 62

   Froggy213posted 13 years ago

   As a hubber who has been a member for quite awhile and who has collected quite a few checks from adsense,and ebay--I have never received one check yet from Kontera. Jonathan, I am getting quite close to removing all Kontera ads also.

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      cohenj88posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Froggy213,
      
      I took a look at your account and your actually receiving some great premium ads for brands such as Yahoo, Dodge Ram, HP (in this case Hewlett-Packard, not HubPages), and National Geographic. The only issue I'm seeing is you seem to be averaging about 1 ad click a day and at that scale I can understand why reaching a payout would take a while.
      
      If you want, feel free to contact me via e-mail and I can go over your account in more detail.
      
      - Jonathan Cohen
      Kontera Community Manager

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6. 59

   brettbposted 13 years ago

   I've taken Kontera off all my sites as well, mainly because the CPC was so poor.
   
   I also got fed up as my long established IT site was showing Kontera popups for "Windows... search for windows" and that kind of stuff, it really insulted the intelligence of my readership.

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7. 51

   Olorunlanaposted 13 years ago

   My interest is in someone who know what it takes to get to where s/he is going if you do contact me and tell me how. If you dont contact me and I will tell you how.

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   1. 87

      WryLiltposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      SO basically you're saying you:
      
      Want someone to tell you how to make money.
      But if no one can, you'll tell US how to make money?

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8. 75

   thisisoliposted 13 years ago

   Hey, Just thought I would chip in with my $0.02 here. 
   
   I have been testing Kontera extensively, and have been trialling it on and off through seasons, events and months.  My results (So far) have led me to the following.
   
   Kontera detracts very little from Adsense.
   What Kontera does detract it makes up for in clicks.
   
   Since Kontera is a low value advertising solution (It is not a banner, it does not immediately catch the eye, it is just a text link) Advertisers are going to pay less.  However considering it does not use up an available ad spot, it is only a mild competition to Adsense.  Since most people will see the Adsense advertisement FIRST, Kontera is just another way to mop up a few more clicks.
   
   Kontera is actually more of a danger to your sales modules such as Amazon, and EBay, and thats what my test of disabling Kontera this Christmas will hopefully shed some light on.
   
   Kontera's reporting does need improvement, even if it is down to a visual track of your account balance.
   
   One way in which Kontera could be improved is if they followed Google's lead and allowed you to customize ad code with keywords to help optimize the ads appearing on a particular hub. just some way to help us target the words that matter, rather than the words that dont.
   
   For the most part I think the major problem with Kontera is that a lot of people simply don't like any form of pop-up advertising.
   
   However I do pay close attention to a lot of people who have said that they have tested Kontera and the majority of them seem to simply be turning it on and off.
   
   The Good News!
   
   Kontera won't make you much money till you get a large amount of visitors, it will still make you some, but it wont be losing you, or earning you, hundreds of dollars for quite a long time.
   
   Until you get to the point where it is making a significant difference, play about with it a little! Do some in depth testing, figure out how to optimize the Kontera ads, don't just complain when they don't pay you much for a lot of poor quality traffic. Testing doesn't take a huge amount of time, mostly all you have to do is download monthly reports from the advertisers.
   
   What you shouldn't do is simply follow what people are saying without looking in to it yourself.

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9. 51

   Olorunlanaposted 13 years ago

   Hope you got it right, but no! it ali about getting somewhere from no where

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10. 61

    DeAd Dolls Incposted 13 years ago

    Kontera... What Can I say about it...
    
    First off the Low CPC is just insane because you never get anything more than $0.02 cents which is crazy when you think about it. Even though Kontera "Adds" to your overall earnings you still have to reach payout. So if you reach $100 with ADSENSE in one month it'll take 8 or 9 months with steady views and clicks to reach the minimal $50 payout for Kontera.
    
    So in the long run it doesn't ADD any value but takes away from it. I've taken Kontera off my hubs and only have ADSENSE now, until Kontera can offer better CPC then it'll go back on until then I set up another account using my PUB number from them so my account stays active.
    
    Sadly I don't know of anyone who has reached payout or even is making a good income off of Kontera...It's not for me and I haven't recommended it to anyone since I first signed up.
    
    Hopefully things get better for Kontera as a company, because you could put inline TEXT ADS from Adbrite and get $0.25 to $0.50 a click compared to Konteras INLINE TEXT Ads which pay like I'm sorry to say it "Crap".
    
    -DD

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11. 59

    Peter-Jan Celisposted 13 years ago

    Here is how I think about this stuff:
    
    Google: Sends me lots of free traffic, Adsense pays well
    Kontera: Sends me no free traffic, doesn't pay well
    
    => Conclusion: No Kontera, obey the master Google, tit for tat: As long as Google is nice to me, I'll be nice to them too by only using Adsense for click advertising.

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12. 59

    CYBERSUPEposted 13 years ago

    Interesting reading for a newbie. Was considering joining Kontera but I will put a hold on that idea for now.

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13. 72

    KeithTaxposted 13 years ago

    Give up on Kontera. Jonathon spews the same story on every complaint. Instead of improving reporting and optimization, he spends his time defending Kontera. He probably thinks your an idiot. That is why Kontera does not address the issues and acts like you are the problem.
    
    I wrote a hub on how to deactivate Kontera on any site you visit so the annoying ads don't appear. And yes, Jonathon couldn't wait to put add his two cents worth. You can read his BS here:
    
    Kontera Scam

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14. 61

    florencemanoharanposted 13 years ago

    Hi
    I joined hubpages 2 years ago...but started writing again now. I just
    added kontera to my site today and went through all the information
    about kontera. I would like to know if you can see my
    hibpage(username:florencemanoharan) and let me know if they are
    installed and if not...how to go about it?
    
    Thank you for the help in advance and looking forward to your reply.
    Also can you pls let me know if the cotent in the hubpages is enough
    for now or if my account will get banned.
    
    Also can you let me know when I will be able to see the ad's on he
    content I wrote as I am unable to see anything now.
    
    Thanks again
    David

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15. 59

    BobbiRantposted 13 years ago

    This is most helpful because in the affiliates section I have contemplated those ads, glad I decided against it.  You have all been most helpful in my decision making.

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16. 60

    Malestone7469posted 13 years ago

    I really wish to know if Kontera has improved their CPC.
    Have they improved their interface for Ad Revenue?
    What are the current Kontera obligations, have people opted out more or less. Are people opting back into Kontera?

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    1. 70

       Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       And, you raised a 4 months old dead thread to post that reply?
       
       HP is and/or phased out the program. So, it's actually quite irrelevant to HP members and it's forum.

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17. 75

    thisisoliposted 13 years ago

    Oops, just realized how old this thread is!

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