Amazon Link usage question

Hi Paul,

We are a publisher and would like to install Amazon Link on our new wen site. I cannot tell if your plugin pulls the following information from Amazon:

TITLE
AUTHOR
BOOK DESCRIPTION
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
SHORT SYNOPSIS
PUBLICATION DATE
PUBLISHER
BOOK TYPE (i.e. paperback)
PAGES
ISBN
LIST PRICE

Amongst other things the plugin _currently_ provides the following data from Amazon:

TITLE
ARTIST / AUTHOR
MANUFACTURER/PUBLISHER
THUMB
IMAGE
RANK
OFFER_PRICE
LIST_PRICE
PRICE

The plugin can be easily updated to provide some of what you want for example there currently there is an installable option to return the EDITORIAL CONTENT.

If the Amazon Web Service provides it then the plugin can retrieve it (I don’t think AWS provides BOOK DESCRIPTION, AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY or SHORT SYNOPSIS.

BOOK TYPE, ISBN, NUMBER OF PAGES & PUBLICATION DATE can definitely be added if required. See https://docs.amazonwebservices.com/AWSECommerceService/latest/DG/CHAP_response_elements.html#NumberOfItems for more options.

Paul

Hi Paul, Thanks for your reply!
To be honest I don’t understand quite a bit of the technical stuff you wrote (am more the ‘conceptual thinker’ less a programmer; my programming skill is maybe 1% of yours!).

I notice however that you seem (again) to think of EXPANDING your plugin although you agreed yourself earlier that DOWNSIZING may be wiser, no? ??

Anyway, having given it yet more thought, I’d say the KEY issue with Amazon Link (at least as it was), is this – Please correct me where I might be wrong:

–> When the prefered (affiliate or other) offer changes, with Amazon Link, I’d have to make that change INDIVIDUALLY to ALL posts/pages that contain the old offer! But you may not even know all those posts/pages, if you have hundreds or thousands like I have on my site. Hence, a huge (if not impossible!) logistic/time-wasting exercise. Everytime. A nightmare. ??

–> And, next in line: If Amazon Link plugin were to fail/make problems/be discontinued/is deactivated, (or crashes?), my site would show garbled content/gaps. Not even the link texts(!) will be shown (because they are inside the shortcodes).

And the KEY advantage (at least for me) is its feature to be able to show other Amazon locales in a cute popup when a user hovers over a referal link! (Btw, is it really not possible to notice user’s hovering over an Amazon iframe image (maybe inside a div tag?), and then showing the cute popup too??)

I think the above are my two MAIN worries about implementing Amazon Link. I think, for these reasons alone, a ‘redirect-based’ solution is far superior to a ‘shortcode-based’ solution.

Hence, if I were able to develop sth like Amazon Link (which I am not), I would probably have opted for the redirect-based solution.

This, although I wasn’t even aware of what you immediately replied above: that you can use arguments in the redirect link.
Thinking about this, I wonder however if that is necessary at all, maybe you make things ‘too sophisticated’ again?

Here’s my take on it, how I would do it (if I could, technically):

1) I would use one wp db ‘table’ (is it that?) to save all redirects. But the table must of course be ‘unlimited’ in size, in case a user accumulates thousands of redirects over time; or imagine product types like books, shoes, or mp3 songs – you’d need thousands of affiliate redirects right away!)

2) Amazon Link could still continue to offer the very handy ‘product search’ feature – in that case, after the admin has decided on his product(s) I would directly present him the created redirect links, for each locale he has entered affiliate id’s for. If he wants, he clicks SAVE, and it’s done and dusted!

Now the admin can even use these redirect links say, in pdf books or reports he publishes! Because anyone who clicks such a redirect link will, for a split of a second, visit his site, but then be immediately redirected to the current offer for that recommended product. Regardless where he found the link and clicked it! Result: Much more commissions, for the plugin developer too, in all cases where the admin hasn’t put in all locales.

What I am not sure yet (with my current knowledge): Whether I would make the plugin save one redirect per locale, or whether I would ‘code’ different locales (and other stuff) into one and the same redirect per product, like you (I think) suggested above?!
But maybe I find a conceptual answer to this by the time of my next post ??

I agree THIS kind of Amazon Link plugin would be quite different to your initial aim with the ‘wishlist’ thingy (which I still have no clue of; I get no presents from anyone…).
However, I think THIS kind of Amazon Link plugin would be usable in a thousand times more cases (at least). As the name “Amazon Link” suggest: It would go beyond ‘wishlists’ and would basically allow any Amazon Affiliate to conveniently (and easily! ?? use your plugin!

Actually, maybe even use it for a few non-Amazon affiliate offers too (if it’s redirect-based). ??

That’s my current ’50 cent’ on this.

Hi,

Lots to talk about, so I think I’ll break it into separate response!

Alas as is the nature of Open source development that the project will continually evolves until it can read email (Zawinski’s law) ;-).

There are two aspects to the plugin, link generation and content creation both of which can be localised. With my plugin the two are quite intertwined e.g. the issue you raised with the iframe and the popup.

The original plugin was solely used to create links to Amazon (as I could never remember the exact format of the links). The template/content aspect is a later addition.

I guess my usage model is each link goes to a different product and is only ever used once on a site. E.g. I write an article reviewing an ipad v1 and add a product link to it on the Amazon site. I write another article reviewing a Galaxy tablet and add a product link to that page.

If a new version of the ipad is released then I would have to manually change the link (and update the article).

In your usage model you have more general offers (e.g. 20% of pet products at Amazon) that you have inserted into all posts that are related to pets? When the offer changes you need to update all those posts rather than just change the ‘link destination’?

I agree I don’t think my plugin is suitable for that sort of feature, it is more individual product focussed.

I’m still not sure on how you manage your site content, is it off-line in CSV files or on-line via the WordPress?

Although thinking about it, since the shortcodes can be quite concise it would be relatively simple to find one instance of the offer shortcode and use it as the ‘search string’ for a global search and replace across all your content (there are plugins that do this)?

Paul

Re:

And the KEY advantage (at least for me) is its feature to be able to show other Amazon locales in a cute popup when a user hovers over a referal link! (Btw, is it really not possible to notice user’s hovering over an Amazon iframe image (maybe inside a div tag?), and then showing the cute popup too??)

You are right this is possible, proof of concept is to change the iframe template content to have %LINK_OPEN%…%LINK_CLOSE% around the whole iframe item – In firefox this also adds a nasty border around the iframe but some simple CSS would take care of that.

I can’t think of a solution that only uses redirect links that would enable you to add the popup to your site? What would the links in the popup point to? What ASINs would they use?

As far as I can see you need something in the post content to trigger the creation of the popup and the querying of the backend database to get alternative ASINS etc.

You could create a ‘generic’ popup using javascript that scans the content for a particular link type then adds the required popup perhaps doing something simple link appending the country code to the end of the link name?

e.g. find all links of type https://www.mydomain.com/go/ and add a popup that creates links to https://www.mydomain.com/go/myoffer-fr … myoffer-uk, etc.

With regard plugin failure I don’t see that the redirect solution is much better as the links will presumably just come up 404 not found if the plugin is not working or removed?

Paul

Aha, implicitely you answered already what I wasn’t sure about above:
So then: I would ‘code’ different locales (and other stuff) into one and the same redirect per product, like you suggested earlier.

No, no general offers, I have only specific products too (I said before, this is best anyway, specific links). But Paul look: A normal flow of writing articles is that you DON’T have a recommendation of a certain product only on one page/post, you may have it on 20 or more if you have hundreds or thousands of pages. Basic (bad?) example: Say you have a shoe site. Each post is about one shoe model/one color of it, but on multiple of them you might also ‘need’ to recommend say, a blister plaster (to help walking-in of that shoe). – Of course you can apply the same logic to ANY industry (i-pads too, say, a silicone cover or whatever! ??

After reading you reply above I’d hence conclude:
————————————————-
If it was me, I would have ‘the core’ of Amazon Link work differently, all the good ‘add-ons’ you made I would leave, and what’s not really helpful for this purpose (Amazon Link!) I would leave out (unless it’s implicitely possible, like say OTHER affiliate links, if I use redirects).

The ‘core’ difference would be:
– For each product the admin wants to link to, I would present him ONE redirect link with arguments in it as you suggested above (mainly for all locales, MAYBE for templates too if considered ‘really helpful’).

– I would certainly show the cute multinational popup at least for text-links (as you do) and for i-frame image links (as you don’t). – The i-frame image links are hugely popular because they show really useful info for any site visitors, and make them click through!

– Now, when a visitor clicks a DEFAULT (Amazon Link plugin based) redirect link, I would make the plugin process this link and send the visitor to the target page (based on a lookup in the wp db table for the ip addresses, which I think, you import into wp).

– And when a visitor chooses a flag from the multinational popup, I would use this info to send the visitor to a different locale (IF it was an Amazon link, else not necessary). Like your plugin does already: It ‘notices’ which flag the visitor is clicking and sends him to THAT locale! So I don’t see much (any?) need for change here.

– The crucial point you made above yourself: ALL locales’ affiliates tags (and MAYBE templates too) are embedded in that ONE link for a certain product. And depending on whether the visitor clicks the default link or a flag link, the plugin would process this info and redirect him to the right target page.

Look: The redirect-based solution works in a way that it processes a certain link (eg “https://mydomain.com/go/i-pad-silicone-cover-transparent”) and, WHILE LEAVING THE LINK TEXT INTACT EVEN IF THE PLUGIN ‘FAILS'(!), if it works, it does a lookup of this ‘source’ link in the db, finds the associated target link, and sends the visitor there! ??
——
That’s the aspect ‘link generation’ of your plugin (which you said above, was its only original purpose anyway).

Re/ the aspect ‘content generation’ I think you mean that Amazon Link can embed different ‘templates’ into page/post content?
I may need to think more about this part, but at the moment I’d say, this can still be done too, with redirect-based solution, if the ‘source link’ already holds the parameters for the template. Then, again even if the plugin fails, the LINK TEXT is still there (as an essential part of all posts/pages content), only it will now certainly just be TEXT, rather than being transformed by the plugin to say, a wishlist template or whatever.

> With regard plugin failure I don’t see that the redirect solution is much better as the links will presumably just come up 404 not found if the plugin is not working or removed?

It IS much better because the LINK TEXT would still be there, Paul. And instead of a standard 404 a good admin will have a sensible error page anyway (sending notification to admin, offering user search alternatives, linking to a featured products page, whatever).

> As far as I can see you need something in the post content to trigger the creation of the popup and the querying of the backend database to get alternative ASINS etc.

That ‘something’ could be the ‘source link’. The plugin could ‘map’ this to whatever it needs to, in addition to processing the redirect. Like Amazon Link now ‘maps’ locales, templates etc too (I assume).

What do you think of this?

David

I guess I’m reluctant to have to build that redirect database and associated management pages into the plugin, seems like a big task. I prefer the idea of the original content holding all the information needed to create the links rather than relying on a database in the backend.

Obviously this is completely incompatible with the idea of ‘standard’ links that the admin can remap to different products as the offers change. But it might be possible to do this separately… needs more thought.

It would be relatively trivial to change the plugin to search for different string patterns rather than [amazon ... ]. I could get it to look for say:

<a class='amazon-link' argument='args if needed' href='https://www.domain.com/go/XXXASINXXX/'>Link Text<//a>

On plugin failure you would still get the link, just no popup or template expansion.

Next step change the XXXASINXXX to be a ‘source id’ that is looked up in the database.

Paul

I probably haven’t understood all you meant, but
> I prefer the idea of the original content holding all the information needed to create the links rather than relying on a database in the backend.

Yes, but right now your plugin relies on the wp db too, with everything it does.

Again, the crucial drawback of Amazon Link as it is now, is that it is a mammoth task to have to change all product links/text/template individually when a recommended Amazon product changes (plus the garbled/gap content).

I my point of view, and I assume for thousands of other users, Amazon Link will only make sense to be used once:

– it leaves at least the content (incl link texts!) in place if the plugin fails
– and any necessary change to an individual Amazon product is necessary only ONCE across the entire site, not individually on (maybe) hundreds of pages/posts(!).

That the links won’t work if the plugin is off is obvious, that’s not the issue – that’s the purpose of Amazon Link ??

If I understand correctly, your suggestion to use:
<a href='https://www.domain.com/go/XXXASINXXX/'>Link Text<//a>

would solve only the first of the two issues above?

Anyway, it seems I’m getting too much hung up in ‘co-developing’ a plugin I am not even using (yet) ??

No worries, thanks again for all the feedback and good luck with your site!

Paul

I didn’t mean to discourage you Paul! I wouldn’t stop thinking about improvements, Amazon Link is a great plugin and absolutely worth the extra time!

Also, I myself too would love to try out your next version. Eg you wrote above sth that started with “I’ve had a bash at…” and although you linked that version, I fear your brief explanation wouldn’t allow me/us to use it correctly just yet.

I will continue to be a happy tester for Amazon Link. Not least because, as mentioned, I am still looking for an urgent replacement for the every-day-crashing geoposty-redirect based solution that I am currently using!

Since I already HAVE thousands of Amazon i-frame image style links, I just need to wait until you have a version of Amazon Link that shows the multinational popup for this type of link as well – and you wrote above:
> You are right this is possible, proof of concept is to change the iframe template content to have %LINK_OPEN%…%LINK_CLOSE% around the whole iframe item – In firefox this also adds a nasty border around the iframe but some simple CSS would take care of that.
(which I didn’t fully understand)

While copying your note from above I saw your question again:
> I can’t think of a solution that only uses redirect links that would enable you to add the popup to your site? What would the links in the popup point to? What ASINs would they use?

I’d say: The solution you supplied yourself above as well:
<a class='amazon-link' argument='args if needed' href='https://www.domain.com/go/XXXASINXXX/'>Link Text<//a>
sth like that, plus sth like ‘onmouseover= show popup’.
(I assume you are currently using javascript in Amazon Link anyway?)

Another MAJOR reason why I’d love to see Amazon Link become usable for me is that: Currently I have to ‘hardcode’ all Amazon links into my html code (as I don’t know how to use their API thingy). Since Amazon constantly change the products they offer in my sector, my links are constantly ‘outdated’. It would be great to have a plugin ‘knowing’ how to query the Amazon API and to update the links automatically/live (as I understood your plugin CAN, if we have an AWS account), no? I opened one ??

Just wondering Paul, you haven’t given up this “pet project” of yours, have you?

Did you meanwhile get a chance to implement the changes you mentioned above you would/could make?

You see, I am persistent ?? I’d need your plugin!

Hi,

No, not given up,, just a bit busy at the moment!

I’ve had some ideas on how to update the plugin that might suit your needs better, but still need a lot of work.

I doubt I’ll do an official update before the new year, as its an important time for most affiliates don’t want to break any websites!

The development version will be ticking along in the background if you ever want to try out the latest updates.

Don’t forget the plugin already allows you to do ‘search’ links that might suit your needs to a certain extent.

I like the idea of redirect links but you need to be careful as Amazon terms and conditions are quite specific that links must clearly go the Amazon site.

Paul

Next year? Oh, then I’d really prefer to test your development version, maybe it helps you too, getting some feedback.

Where do you have that one? Public anywhere?

And, easy to use, or have you “crypted” things to help your own understanding, but which I wouldn’t understand (not a programmer)?

Hi,

The development version is basically the latest SVN version hosted on the WordPress site.

I haven’t updated it since the post above that added a simple redirect style link using ASINs.

It can always be found at https://downloads.www.ads-software.com/plugin/amazon-link.zip, if you click on the developers tab above it is the Development Version under the ‘Other Versions’ heading.

I’m adding all the new stuff as installable ‘extras’ plugins at the moment, once I am happy with the new stuff I’ll build it into the main plugin.

I’ll let you know when I do another update, or keep an eye on the development log. Although you might find that a bit cryptic ??

Paul

Thanks. However, did you notice that the latest “development version” (3.03) is older than the latest real version (3.04) ?

I doubt you go ‘backwards’ ??

Real PITY if you only want to bring out the improvements in the NEXT year. I’d love to be able to use Amazon Link ASAP.

Also, tip: Why doing (yet more) installable extras? Why not slimming it down to the really useful things as suggested?

(Reminder: a) For changed products only ONE website change required that applies to all pages where the product has been published; b) If the plugin is off, at least the LINK TEXT must remain on the page to avoid garbled content; c) The popular Amazon iframe image links should also have a multination popup)