Our new self-serve ad placement software has been live for a few weeks now and the responses have been great.

Although we have seen some isolated transition bugs, our team is responding quickly and users report that the process of placing an ad is much easier than before!

Most importantly, the new ad placement process represents a leap forward for most of our clients. The process restructures how newspapers approach classified ads by making the “Write Your Ad” step the only required step for an online ad. Once the ad is written, a user may check out or use our software to optimize their ad for print publication. By positioning print as an up-sell, we were able to eliminate confusing package choices and path-narrowing fork pages that require users to decide in advance how they wish to distribute their ad (e.g. print, online or both). We also eliminated the up-front registration and login barrier.

Our user tests have verified the simplicity of the new process and the ease with which customers can move through ad placement and checkout.

You can read more about the feature set in our blog post of August 4, 2009.

Great news! Our new self-serve user interface is now available in beta.

Kaango has been developing a new self-serve ad placement system that allows users to post ads quickly and easily. The following new features are included in this release:

3-Steps MAX. The Kaango system enables placement of an ad in a maximum of three steps and a minimum of one step (for online-only ads). Users may skip entire steps if desired.

Real Time Cost Summary. The cost summary updates automatically as the user makes choices.

Persistent Ad Preview. User can see small versions of their ads throughout the process.

One-Step Photos. Users may simultaneously upload as many photos as they wish.

User-Friendly Error Checking & Messaging. Intuitive and bright “cartoon bubble” reminders appear if users attempt to proceed without completing required fields. Once the field is completed, the message disappears immediately.

Quick Start. Users no longer need to log into the system before commencing to build their ad. Users are prompted at the end of the process to either log in or register.

Quick Checkout. We eliminated the credit card pop-up window and now include ad previews right on the checkout page so users can see exactly what they are buying.

No Side Banner. We eliminated the right-hand skyscraper ad position from the ad placement process. The ad distracted users from the ad posting process and caused JavaScript conflicts.

Micro-branding. To further reduce distraction during checkout, we now have a “micro” branding mechanism to simplify the headers and footers as a user progresses through the checkout process.

Field Level Data Saving. Data is saved as the user exits EACH FIELD instead of on every page save. This means that users who interrupt the process lose nothing and may resume right where they left off.

Print Power. Step We significantly improved the print ad up-sell/order process to allow users to move through their ad creation quickly and without confusion over which ad they are creating (online vs. print).

One Click Login. When users reach the checkout page, they can login by way of a Windows-style login box that appears in front of the page content but not in a new window. Logging in allows the user to proceed without losing any information.

Ad Cart. Kaango has re-written its entire shopping cart software to enable 100% accuracy in ad placement and accounting.

Abandon Ad Alert. Users will be alerted if they attempt to leave the process along the way. We will prompt them to log in to save their work.

To find out how to access the beta site to review your property’s settings, please contact clientsupport@kaango.com.

Systems Administrator
Jr-Mid Level Open Source & Windows Systems

Kaango Classifieds is seeking out an addition to our dynamic Engineering team. A successful Kaango Systems administrator is ready to contribute daily, drawing on their own experience and collective team wisdom to recommend Best of Breed, Enterprise-appropriate solutions for whatever business problems might be presented. The ideal candidate would have 4 years experience in LAN, WAN and/or Help Desk experience.

The chief duties of the System Administrator at Kaango is monitoring and management of all LAN and WAN system resources. The SA role has responsibility for 50+ systems, workstations and servers, with the majority of WAN server administration under RedHat Enterprise. LAN servers feature an Active Directory deployment for office security, network access permissions and remote access. In addition to responsibilities for corporate hardware, the Kaango SA is also responsible for vendor management and making recommendations on vendor selection.

Required
- Windows-based Networking and workstation setup; MS Windows Vista predominant
- PC&Network troubleshooting and remediation
- Ability to work independently and as a member of a team to fulfill corporate and personal objectives
- Internet security for Windows and open source environments
- IP Chains/Firewall/ACLs
- Excellent communication skills
- Remote server/package installation and maintenance
- Experience operating internal asset management, change management and licensing compliancy company-wide
- Professional integrity
- Interest in joining a fast-paced, high reward startup environment

Nice to Have
- Apache/LAMP stack administration
- Server performance tuning
- Production Support experience with mission critical Enterprise Systems and Services in a 24/7 environment
- Virtualization and quality control networks/labs
- MySQL/RDBMS performance tuning and capacity planning
- System benchmarking
- Utilization and resource management experience for large volume data services
- Agile Methodologies (SCRUM specifically)

Contact careers@kaango.com to submit your resume.

Kaango welcomes the Journal Register Company, a multimedia publishing company, to our growing list of over 200 media groups. The Journal Register Company launched 13 property sites in Connecticut in July of 2008 and 27 property sites and 1 regional classified portal in Philadelphia in December of 2008.  Michigan, Ohio and NY are slated to launch by end of Q1 2009.

Journal Register Company continues to strengthen their online business by strategically partnering with leading online vendors to drive new online products and online advertising solutions in their local markets.

Journal Register Company owns 22 daily newspapers, approximately 300 non-daily publications and operates 239 individual Web sites that are affiliated with the Company’s daily newspapers, non-daily publications and its network of employment Web sites. These Web sites can be accessed at www.JournalRegister.com.  All of the Company’s operations are strategically clustered in six geographic areas: Greater Philadelphia; Michigan; Connecticut; Greater Cleveland; and the Capital-Saratoga and Mid-Hudson regions of New York. The Company also owns JobsInTheUS, a network of 20 employment Web sites.

Kaango welcomes Regent Communications, Inc. (www.regentcomm.com) and Radio One- Richmond (www.richmondradioadvertising.com) to our growing list of radio media groups looking to provide online classified ad solutions for their listeners.  Fourteen (14) new sites, representing 65 FM and AM radio stations in 14 mid-sized markets, will be launched by early February 2009.  Both Regent and Radio One Richmond will also provide its listeners the opportunity to ask experts questions via Kaango’s Ask the Expert® service.  If you are a radio media group interested in providing your listeners with the opportunity to place or find ads, and at the same time increase your listener retention and radio station’s monthly revenues, please contact clientsupport@kaango.com.

Michel Claussen, Director of Client Services, is working with Salesforce.com to offer Kaango clients a robust support ticket tracking tool.  The software will integrate with Rally Software to allow clients to submit issues directly to the Kaango team.  Each client will be able to view a list of issues, obtain the current status and view estimated resolution dates.

High-level flow of the Salesforce.com to Rally integration.

Michel has completed requirements gathering, tool evaluation and is now working to build the implementation plan. In a few weeks Michel will be requesting participation in the initial rollout. If you are interested in participating, please email clientsupport@kaango.com .

Kaango Issue Resolutions Released Sunday, November 16:

Order Process:
DE560:  Ensure bundle pricing is consistently reported on each step through checkout
DE729:  Synch live pricing summary and order entry for bundles
DE725:  Ensure custom enhancements are properly bound to ads when transaction is complete
DE567:  Ensure changes on sandbox page in management tool
DE709:  Home page feature ads use thumbnail for liners when enhanced image processing selected
DE629:  Ensure broken image icon does not display for valid images on front and back end

Statements and Reporting:
DE685:  Add appropriate statement lines for Verisign processing reconciliation

Ask The Expert:
DE695:  ATE ability to save expert moderation settings
DE698:  ATE add “please wait” when performing user search.
DE696:  ATE send email to asker after question has been submitted
DE697:  ATE ensure moderate emails are sent
DE486:  ATE: enable XML link

One of the best ways to get users to spend more money is to invite them to do so!  The Kaango system allows you to send emails to classifieds advertisers as soon as we receive a liner ad in the system.  Numerous publications in the Kaango network effectively us this strategy and generate conversion rates of up to 60%! This translates into additional revenue each month as liner advertisers spend more money after you thought you had closed the transaction!

Steps to send out upsell emails:
1. Collect email addresses when taking orders.
2. Include the email in your import feed.
3. Turn on the “Upsell Email” feature in the Kaango management console.
4. Customize your message in the upsell email and offer at least one “free” photo to get the advertiser engaged in updating their ad.

Once we receive the email via your import feed we do the following:
1. If the user is not yet in our system, we will create an account for the user and link the incoming advertisement with that account.  We will send an email to the user explaining this and offering the user the opportunity to upgrade the ad.
2. If the user is in our system, we will associate the incoming advertisement with the user’s account.  We will also send a notification to the user that the ad has been published and may be modified or upgraded.

Upsell emails are a proven way to increase your monthly revenue.  For more information or specific training, please contact clientsupport@kaango.com

Last week, we conducted our first media user group meeting in Denver.  Turnout was good, with individuals representing clients from across the country.  More importantly, we had ample time to exchange ideas, explore new concepts and unveil the exciting upgrades we anticipate releasing this November.  Day one was focused on our new user interface and data architecture.  Our “K-Architecture” will allow Kaango to provide clients with virtually limitless ways to access and display data from the Kaango system.  The user interface promises to be best-of-breed in our industry.

The second day of our conference was more like an internal Kaango meeting than a typical conference.  We asked participants to rank their top four areas of concern with Kaango and we used the most popular issues as discussion topics for the day.  Opening the format of discussion allowed our clients to engage in the same decision-making processes that we employ in our planning meetings.  I believe our clients not only got a glimpse into what we face when prioritizing requests, but they also saw how thoroughly we engage in feature enhancement, defect fixes and conceptual planning.

The feedback on our conference has been uniformly positive.  We will absolutely have an in-person meeting once a year, although the next one will likely occur outside of Denver.  I believe that meeting face-to-face and exploring issues in more than a cursory fashion gives both Kaango and our clients comfort that we are moving in the proper direction and at the proper pace for all involved.  Besides, it’s always great to see the faces of those with whom we communicate every day.

I congratulate our team on creating a great forum for our clients and for leading Kaango into what will be our most successful year ever.

Michael Kranitz
President & CEO

The Kaango Denver office is preparing to host the 1st Annual Users Group Meeting this week.  We are expecting over 40 participants over the two day event including representatives from the following organizations:

• Bay Area News Group
• Denver Newspaper Agency
• El Paso Times
• Hearst
• Houston Chronicle
• Journal Register
• Lee Enterprises
• Los Angeles News Group
• Media News Group
• Pioneer Press
• Scripps

Topics covered will include a review of the new user interface for Kaango.com and it’s partner sites, upcoming new features, tips on best practices, and various open discussions with the newspaper experts.  The event will be on October 8th & 9th.  I will updated the blog with important topics discussed and some pictures early next week.