If you’ve noticed an increase in contextual links on my post pages, that’s because I signed up with Kontera ContentLink ads and added their contextual ad links to my blog. Kontera sends plenty of ads to my single post pages, too many if you ask me. So this is a short-term experiment at best. The advertisements become an eyesoar if you see too many per paragraph/page. Max # of Ads Filters would solve this problem in a snap.
Do Kontera Ads positively effect the reader’s experience?
Update: Word travels fast on the internet! Christopher Brown, Director of Account Management at Kontera, sent me the following e-mail:
In reviewing some of our sites, I noticed your page
http://www.investortrip.com/experimenting-with-kontera-ad-links/
Our algorithm provides us a number of ways to customize how we mark on
your pages. Would you be interested in working with me to customize the
look and feel of our ContentLinks on your pages?Please let me know.
Now, I’m having second thoughts about Kontera. Management did not have to contact me directly on the same day I joined the program. In terms of customer service, Kontera gets two thumbs up!
The ads look interesting, but if there are too many of them in a single post, it will become a distraction. Is it possible that you can remove the double underlines and make it the same as other hyperlinks in your posts (no underline). I think that will make the ads look more natural.
According to their implementation guide, you can only adjust link colors and section targeting. One option would be to change the CSS on my hyperlinks to a double underline, but I don’t want to trick visitors into thinking my links are the same as Kontera Ads. Thank you for your input.
Too many ads just ruins the whole reading experience. Especially when they are those pop up type ads.
Even i have signed up for Kontera. Probably i wont end up using it.
Kontera said, “they would lower my ad density.” So I’m going to leave them for now. Although if more readers have complaints, I’ll ditch the links.
I understand people wanting to monetise their blogs and sites, but those types of ads really annoy me.
Kontera Ads have been removed. I wasn’t happy with the cluttered look. Things look MUCH better now.
i used to run them as well but it definitely makes things a bit cluttered.
I kept getting 10 cent clicks with Kontera’s in context ads. Unless you’re running a forum, Kontera is a complete waste of time in my opinion.
TJP,
Thanks for the perspective on Kontera ads. I have started noticing them on a number of blogs, and the ads seem a bit intrusive. In a addition, there often are too many in a post. While I am always interested in addtional ways to monetize a blog, I will pass on Kontera.
@ Super Saver
I may experiment with Vibrant Media’s intelitext sometime next week. One of their representative’s contacted me, and sold me on the sales pitch.
Morningstar runs intelitext, too. In-text monetization is highly effective if you find the right network.
TJP,
I also noticed that MSN.com was using Vibrant contextual ads. I’ll be interested in your evaluation.
@ Super Saver
I’m adding the IntelliTXT tags today. We’ll see what happens.
I recently applied the Kontera ContentLink Ad across my website and this works fine using IE, Safari and Firefox but not Opera browser. Initially, the page looks fine, but when you run your mouse on the link, the enter text link and text on the page expands and difficult to read. What do I do?