Note: This review is not paid for. Just my honest opinion of the intext advertising solution provided by Kontera.
This is Part 3 in my case study on in text advertising. Be sure to InfoLinks Review for Part 1 and my Vibrant Media Review from Part 2.
Kontera is the third in text advertising solution I’ve tested out with InfoLinks and Vibrant Media being the previous two. Kontera is a company I covered way back in 2008 but I was running the ads on a different website. A lot can change in 2 years so I wanted to try them out again. The data below is from the same website that I ran InfoLinks and Vibrant Media on in the previous two case studies so that I could show an apples to apples data comparison between the in text advertising solutions.
Income Results for 10 Days:
Yes you read that heading right. I ran the ads from Kontera for only 10 days and you can see why below:
Yah, that isn’t a misprint. From 177 clicks I earned only $4.38! It’s laughable how bad that is. After discovering how well Vibrant Media was performing on my test technology blog I had to stop the test short with only 10 days of data and switch back to them. Funny enough when I switched the ad code back to Vibrant Media in the afternoon on April 12th I still earned $5.48! I earned more money from an afternoon with Vibrant Media than I did over a 10 day period with Kontera. Of the three in text advertising solutions I’ve tested out Kontera has performed the worst.
Kontera Ad Targeting:
Kontera’s ad targeting is very similar to InfoLinks – terrible. Although I never found any missing images (I couldn’t find any with images either) I saw numerous completely irrelevant ads. Just look at the one above where ‘Call of Duty’ serves an advertisement for used Honda Civic Coupes – wtf? This was just one of many perfect examples of terrible ad results.
Wrap Up:
Kontera is so bad I’m not even going to suggest you try them out. It’s astonishing just how bad they are. I don’t know how else I can convey how terrible they are than by restating how bad they are three times in a row. Of the three in text advertising solutions I’ve tested out so far Kontera earned the least which is the most important factor in my mind. The next key factor is ad relevance / targeting which they are about on par with Infolinks, but meanwhile Vibrant Media is way ahead of the other two providers in this area and income earning potential.
In my past reviews I suggested that you test out each provider to see what works best for you, but with Kontera I suggest you don’t waste the time. If you do try them only run their ads for a week at most. Perhaps they’ll work better for you, but in my case they were the worst of all. No wonder they have the best affiliate program of the three solutions.
If after reading this review you still want to try out their in text advertising solution you can do so by visiting Kontera.com to sign up.
(Yah, I’m going to make you type that into the browser yourself)
UPDATE 5/2/2010: A Kontera rep contacted me and he’s told me that the results I’ve seen below are skewed because my website was not receiving ads from their premium partners due to a technical error. I’ve agreed to retest their solution and in the past few days I’m seeing much higher revenues (better than Infolinks but still lower than Vibrant). There is not enough data for a conclusive decision but I will post an updated review at a later date.
I’ve got data from another network I want to share as the fourth and final part of this case study, but their code is causing issues with the free WordPress theme I’m using on my test technology blog so there is a chance I may have to leave them out. If you like seeing more real life case studies from someone earning a living online than you should subscribe to my blog.
Has anyone had better luck with Kontera than me? Are there any other in text advertising solutions I should document on this blog that I may have missed?
haha! I tried them about 12 months ago and got even worse results than you. Maybe they work in some niches but from all the reviews I have read, I am yet to find someone who is making good money (or even decent money) off them.
.-= Tom´s last blog ..What Is Geoarbitrage? =-.
Yah I don’t know who has had good success with them. It annoys me that people like JohnChow (who I know is a great guy – met him a few years back) help promote Kontera as the best in text advertising solution when it really isn’t.
I guess the only thing someone could say against my reviews of in text advertising is the fact that Vibrant has much more stringent requirements for entrance so it’s only natural they’ll pay out more. What I struggle to grasp is why they are THAT much better than the other competitors.
This may be the best review post I have ever read because you are so drop dead honest about your experiences. Not to mention funny as hell 🙂
.-= Jean Sarauer´s last blog ..How to Write Riveting Review Posts =-.
Hey Jean, thanks for the feedback. Yah I only write reviews on products and services that I can use data to back up everything with. Glad you appreciate my sense of humor too lol.
“.. I don’t know how else I can convey how terrible they are than by restating how bad they are three times in a row.”
I laughed out loud several times at that one.
I pretty much shy away from in-text advertising because I’m not a fan of diverting my traffic to another similar offer on another website when I could simply locate an affiliate product and promote in tandem with my content.
Actually, I’ve moved away from a lot of pay per click advertising, including Adsense. I’d rather earn more for my hard work in promoting a website and a few cents or a few dollars per click.
…Once you get a taste of CPA and high ticket affiliate products…you really don’t go back. 🙂
Hey Yolanda,
lol I try to throw in some humor from time to time – glad you appreciated it hah hah.
Yah, I like to mix in Adsense and other in text advertising along side my CPA offers just so that I can diversify my income streams a bit. But you’re right though, if your traffic can be sold products with relative ease than it’s worth perhaps forgoing these monetization methods (especially if you’re using Kontera lol)
I am using Kontera and yes their ad relevance blows. The only reason I use them is because I can’t get into Vibrant yet.
After reading this, I am going to switch to InfoLinks and put in a call to Vibrant. Christ.
.-= ProMovieBlogger´s last blog ..How to Set Up a Movie Website Sidebar: For Profit =-.
Good I suggest you try calling Vibrant. I never take no for an answer:
http://www.makemoneyontheinternet.com/never-give-up-on-a-publisher-program-if-youre-at-first-denied/
I have a 4/5 batting average when it comes to turning around a denied application.
I’m in with Vibrant now. It was beautiful erasing the Kontera code from my main site.
The best part, a week ago Kontera lowered the payout threshold. I get the cash I earned and don’t have to use their service on my main site anymore. I will still use them on my other ones though until I get their traffic up.
Also, Kontera ads have gotten better during the last two months. They said they would be changing things and they have changed for the better.
.-= ProMovieBlogger´s last blog ..ProMovieBlogger featured on Under30CEO =-.
Hi Chris.. I am a newbie and your new reader, I like your honest review about making money on the internet.
for kontera, yeah I know it sucks, i use in one of my niche blog but still don’t earn anything, not even a discount coupon 😛
I am waiting for your review about your amazon tips and trick…thanks see you soon
.-= ysfirdaus´s last blog ..How Does This Blog�s PR Jump from 1 to 3 Without Regular Posts? =-.
Not to mention that getting an ccount wiht them seems to be the hardest.
.-= paul | entertainment tonight´s last blog ..Eslove Briones forced evicted on Pinoy Big Brother House for bad behavior =-.
one succesful site that does use it for text links – geeky gadgets
check out skimlinks too
.-= jules´s last blog ..$10 coupon code at Flip (US) =-.
I read some info from Joel Comm (The Adsense Code and KaChing) and he recommended Kontera.
I went to the Kontera site and the only referral blurb was by Joel Comm so I scratched my head and figured he’s a paid referrer.
Never the less, I plugged in the plugin to my Word Press sites and pasted the code into pages of two sites developed in Dreamweaver, a total of 12 sites of different subject matter and some with products.
It’s only one day and so far the ads are pathetic and don’t go with a thing they are highlighting. i.e. elections – hover the word/link and up pops up a Dictionary.com cloud with a search box and “elections” inside. Duh! This will only frustrate visitors.
One word of caution on the WP sites – one blog has three posts per page and no in-text ads show up at all. You must go to a one post page, similar to clicking a lick to that blog from search, to see any in-texts links. It must have something do to with the quantity of wording but it’s stupid not to cover something with all the content offered.
I will give this about 10 full days, if my head doesn’t explode and report my results back since some time has passed since this review has posted.
See you in about 10 days. I had similar experiences with infolinks.
OK – forget ten-days, my head did explode.
Very similar to Chris, my ads were NOT relevant and were paying $.02 per click.
Why would I clutter my site with their garbage for almost free. I make a very nice income off of Adsense. I treat my web sites as real estate with growing value. I do use Ebay Motors and Amazon as an affiliate but my income isn’t close to Adsense. I also send additional traffic via Adwords and come out ahead (Arbitrage) with that method.
To be on those site you need to pay, there is no free lunch. I’ve tried the other in-text companies before and I say sorry – if you want me to send you traffic than pay me for that nugget of real estate. I don’t rent property for free.
In the end, Kontera as with other’s, doesn’t match up the ads to the content, and clutter the content When they are lucky enough to draw traffic( and they got plenty in a few days) in which I supplied to them they must pay me for that privilege. Two-cents is beyond ridiculous, it’s insulting.
Arrogant? I think not. If we do the heavy lifting to build the site, build the original content and practice good SEO to draw traffic then we are the Shark and the pilot fish advertisers must pay to go along for the ride. It’s that simple.
I do know they take a little more time to optimize. What I like to do is email them and say I want to close my account because of the low pay and then an account rep usu sally hooks me up with a higher income split or approves more premium advertisers.
I thought about running this for one or two months but with so many sites cluttered with meaningless ads it was a distraction.
Keep in mind, Google optimizes to content quickly and if I’m offering that “real estate” you must add value. Google does that and my separate affiliate ads do that because I choose them and place them where I think they will do well.
And remember Chris, you don’t endorse them either. 😉
magnificent points altogether, you just gained a new reader. What would you suggest about your post that you made some days ago? Any positive?
I’ve still got my old Kontera account and was thinking of dusting it off. Unfortunately I can’t find a more recent review than yours (which is from 2010). Which leads me to think that so many publishers gave up on them that it’s not even worth trying again (because when publishers leave, so do the advertisers)
I have just been contacted by a Kontera rep to ask if we would publish ads on some of our sites. I don’t know if things have changed since your review but they are offering me �2 CPM rather than on a PPC basis. This should suit our site as we have a large number of pages which makes it difficult to add in appropriate affilaites. I will let you know how it goes. Oh, does anyone know how it affects SEO?
Doesn’t affect SEO (at least it shouldn’t). Who is the Kontera rep you were contacted by? If you’d like we could continue this conversation via email as I’d be interested in hearing how things are going etc.
A great read (I found myself here after reading comment in ‘4 Alternatives You Need To Consider Beyond AdWords’ article on Search Engine Land. If I’d have been the Kontera rep, think I would have kept quiet! 🙂
I think Infolinks is better then kontera
Gotta test them all