I am cutting down one of my money maker used on Wayne Liew Dot Com again. This time, it will be the turn for inline contextual advertising platform, Kontera, which is also known as ContentLink by some.
Some readers of mine might have noticed that I have dumped local ad network, Advertlets because of some common reasons which most of the people out there have voiced out. This time round will be Kontera. I guess Kontera has violated my guide, 5 Considerations Before Placing An Ad Panel but specific reasons which helped me in making this decision are as follows.
- Irrelevant ads
I am starting to find Kontera ads becoming more and more irrelevant. Although they boast contextual ad display, I am starting to find that their technology highlights my keyword but giving me the wrong ads, which most of them are by consumer goods sellers such as Shopping.com. “Windows Live Messenger” has been highlighted but the ads popping out clearly showing that it will bring me to a site selling window frames!
- Design spoiler
What I am against Kontera is that these extra “links” might spoil your site by making it having too much of links. The numbers can be controlled but the ads might clogged up in just one paragraph rather than being spread out and adding those exclusion codes might be an extra chore if you want to manage them.Also, you will not have the chance to modify their bubbles popping out. You might have a red themed site like Wayne Liew Dot Com but although the links can be red, the bubble can’t (it will still be orange).
- Slow loading
My site has been complained of slow loading by some Malaysian readers. This site is being hosted in the United States and I am always hoping to cut down the loading time. Removing slow loading ads can be the best choice. Kontera still have the average loading speed but it was the sudden lag during the load that prompts me for doing this. - Readability
This has been the problem which all former Kontera publishers might have faced during their feat with Kontera. The bubble ad popping out will block a number of text if there is a mouse-over on the links. It might kill off a reader’s interest to continue reading your post if it has many traps like this. - Bad performance
The purpose of a money maker is to make money for me. Kontera may be a great money maker for some bloggers but I had a miserable experience with it. I have been with Kontera for such a long time but I have only earned $5++, which you might be earning with one paid post a day.
There are a few more reasons which prompts me to make this decision but these reasons have nothing to do with Kontera. Read on to know what had caused me to be brave enough to ditch two money makers on this blog.
Direct ad sales
I have made my first private ad sales and I would like to welcome Submit Comfort, which will be the first direct ad sponsor for Wayne Liew Dot Com. They are a good service for you to try out if you would like to save some time on the tedious work like directory submissions and social marketing. The prices are reasonable and I can say that they will be very willing to listen and understand what are your needs.
Direct ad sales will not be my major income but still it is earning much better than Kontera ads. If you would like to sponsor or to have your ads on Wayne Liew Dot Com, hop over to my Advertise page for more information.
Ad free aim
I always have the dream of having an ad free blog so that my readers can really focus on what am I writing. Call me a whore or whatever but I have the belief that a blog is always about the contents. Getting my blog ad free will also give out the impression that I am not blogging solely for money.
Is Kontera really so bad?
I would say it depends on what site you will be placing their ads. Shopping sites or tech sites will do very well with them since their ads are revolving about consumer products. Also, if your blog has high traffic and your readers will come to your blog no matter how hard it will get to read your articles, you should try Kontera, I am sure you will get high click throughs as well.
Gathering Your Thoughts
What do you think about Kontera ads? Have you tried them out or will you try them out in the future? If you have been using it, how has it performed for you? Do you have other advertising platforms to be recommended for others?
Other blogging tips that you might be interested in:
Get updates by Email
November 27th, 2007 at 12:15 am
never tried other ads before……. however, I read about Kontera Ads once….. and the person gave a positive review about it…..
November 27th, 2007 at 1:48 am
I tried Kontera Ads on another site before… the earning was damn little.
November 27th, 2007 at 3:42 am
I don’t really like Kontera, they spoil the look of a website and get annoying. Private ad sales FTW, bring in more money and look better than Kontera (and even Adsense). Nice website, btw
November 27th, 2007 at 4:21 am
Kontera si such a pain really, not very good money-wise either. Glad I don’t have any ads on my blog, hope I never have to
November 27th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Kontera ads used to be a terrible performer for me but lately the income has shot up. I placed it into my niche chess websites as well as my Malaysian Wiki. It makes me about 2-3x more compared to my Advertlets which is now the poorest performer for me. I’ll be keeping Kontera and placing it in my other blogs that is related to programming.
November 27th, 2007 at 11:57 am
i dun like those advertising wif link and clicks.. i felt that it make $$ so slow.. i prefer paid post, fast n good
November 27th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
The issue I wanted to discuss with you on MSN was about Kontera but it’s like so hard to see you online. Shall discuss with you when I see you online
November 27th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
I had heard about Google will kill blogs which put text link like Kontera. It is good that our blogs does not contain any text link ads.
November 27th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Good move to take off those ads, haha~ I don’t like that kind of thing because of readability~
November 27th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
@ kljs
It might be suitable for some sites but not Wayne Liew Dot Com.
@ Kitkat
Agreed!
@ The University Kid
Thanks for the visit and comment. I am starting to like private ad sales although I have just made one sale.
@ Tibi Puiu
I need the money to set off my hosting cost and of course for some extra allowance since I am just a student. I am always looking for the way to cut down ads as well.
@ Andrew
Tech-related sites should be doing good with them. Kontera is seeking for metaphor keywords in my site here like wind and so on. Frustrated…
@ cbenc12
Google will be watching you over the comments.
@ yung .
I stay in my college and my college is blocking MSN access. You can get to me via Google Talk though.
@ dicky
Google will KILL blogs that sell links and write paid posts but not ads like Kontera because the links are parsed in a Javascript. No PageRank will be flowing through ad like this.
@ Sean
I guessed I have made the right choice.
November 28th, 2007 at 8:53 am
Never had Kontera because I hate it when it pops up.
Anyway it’s always good to try out monetization, just don’t screw up the user experience.
November 28th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
I am realizing it and this is why Kontera disappeared from Wayne Liew Dot Com.
December 1st, 2007 at 2:39 pm
I’ve yet to try these ads…but after reading your review, I don’t think they’re worth the hassle.
December 1st, 2007 at 8:58 pm
I peeked at your site and I don’t think you should go for it as well because the ads will not be relevant.
January 7th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Hi Wayne,
First of, it’s pleasent to see, you site, as we do share same template colors. I think you’re using Hardi’s template.
I cann’t share my views about Kontera at the moment, as I’ve insalled just few days back.
@ dicky, it’s nothing to do with AdSense or Google. Google is looking after paid links(text links), and Kontera/Adbrite/Amazon etc. all have JS tags.
DG…
January 8th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Hi,
I guess I am using the same theme with you but not too sure.
Hopefully you can have some good times with them with more and more webmasters starting to go against them. You can share with me the results anytime.
January 9th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Hi,
Wayne, I’m not using Hardi’s theme. The basic template on my site is “Connections”. Which I’ve completely re-written thrice. This time, I’ve used Red color on white background, and Hardi’s template saved me alot of hassles in terms of searching for the right color codes, as he had used all of my choice colors.
Hmm, I cann’t say about them at the moment, as I think they’re down at this moment, and to accomodate them, I’ve to disable AdBriste Inline Ads.
Just a quick query, I’ve seen you’re also using AdBrite Text ads, and the same color formating, as of mine. I don’t know, why but the AdBrite links colors are changed on my site. I’ve tried even changing the zone, but I alwyas get green text link instead of Red.
I’ve checked my CSS, if anything clashing, but to no avail. Can you put some insight on this issue?
DG…
January 10th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
I am seeing red now. Have you already fixed it? My ads faces some problems as well, when you mouse over any links on my sidebar, you will see the links being underlined but I don’t want this to happen to my ads but they are still being underlined.
I guess that I have to change the CSS part of sidebar as the CSS might define what is the formatting that Adbrite panels use.
If you have solved it, what have you done?
January 10th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Yesterday, while posting comment here, I was woking on AdBrite code, as I was facing two problems with the default code :
1. If you just copy & paste the AdBrite code, your blog will not validate.
2. AdBrite CSS color error
Yesterday, I had removed their CSS and added my own, which fixed both problems with AdBrite code and it’s working as I expected.
If you want, I’ll post you the code.
DG…
January 11th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Yes, my blog does not validate with the code as well. I face no problem with the CSS currently but I would like to have a validated code if you are willing to share.
Thanks.
January 25th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Hi, I start to use Kontera in 23.12.2008.I want to know Kontera paid money or not? If Kontera paid money how?I read it,Kontera send the chech but Which bank I can take money? Kontera is a good or not ? Who can advice me about earn money on the web ? who can use msn messenger,can add me. my msn messenger is mahmut_cintimur@hotmail.com
January 25th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Kontera is a genuine and real advertising company which mean they will pay when you have earned $100 from them. Your check will be received in a mail after you have decided to cash out.You can bank in the check at most bank.