I have been thinking that an Amazon store could be a good idea for monetizing my social network for brides. thanks for the info
GeekLad
· 6 months ago
It definitely wouldn't hurt to try it out and see how you do. I think a niche like wedding planning is well-suited for monetizing with my niche store plugin.
failman
· 6 months ago
Can't say i'm down with you throwing up all that junk at the end of the widget
"Powered By the Amazon Niche Store and Tarzan Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates" and the big huge banner too...
it really makes the plugin useless as it's way too spammy on the "credits"
You should make it an option to display all that information at the end of the plugin and not force it on everyone.
This plugin could of been good, but due to this small fact, it's a huge fail.
To anyone who wants to download this beware, you will have to live with a HUGE amazon banner + "Powered By the Amazon Niche Store and Tarzan Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates" all over your blog.
GeekLad
· 6 months ago
You can disable the Amazon logo by using the parameter logo="none". The "Amazon and Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates" line must stay in order to remain in compliance with Amazon's affiliate program terms of service. I used the Tarzan Amazon API library in order to develop the plugin and they deserve credit for the good work they do. The Amazon Niche Store line is there for SEO purposes for my plugin.
I'm sorry to hear you are displeased with these conditions, but I have stated them very clearly. If you don't like them then don't use it.
jamie of doggiepedia
· 5 months ago
I hope I say it nicer, but I'm unable to use this plugin for the same reasons. There's way to much going on in this plugin that encourages whatever readers I get to surf away from my site without me getting anything out of the deal.
A small time blogger needs to focus on pushing her own site, and your links are just garishly blatant - it honestly makes my site look like a feeder for yours and not a separate entity. A big time blogger is probably not going to use your plugin at all.
It's not at all fair that you're getting PAID (at least 10% of the amazon referrals will be with your aff id, so IF your plugin makes sales for us it will be making sales for you too), -and- you're able to steal my visitors (and get Pagerank). That's not usually how these things work. Frankly, that's why phpBay makes so much money.
Also, from Amazon's operator agreement: 8. Identifying Yourself as an Associate (snip) We will make available to you a small graphic image that identifies your site as a Program participant. You must display this logo or the phrase "In association with Amazon" somewhere on your site. (snip)
Amazon only requires that disclosure ONCE, not on every page and post. Which means I can include it on my Privacy Policy page, along with my Adsense Disclaimer.
Then there's Tarzan. First, is Tarzan even still the name? I thought it was cloud something or other now. Second, it's open-source. I have not read the terms, but I do not think link love is REQUIRED. Give it credit in the admin section then.
Isn't the point of this plugin for ME to make Amazon sales, and for you to get a cut? Not for every reader of my site to get distracted by your plugin credits and then LEAVE my site and get a copy for themselves? Or go to Amazon directly? Or go to the Tarzan site? I can't make referrals if my readers leave, which means that out of you, me, Amazon and Tarzan, I'm the biggest loser. I lose a visitor, I lose a sale, I give my competition a new tactic, and maybe all three.
This plugin can either make both of "us" money, or it can give YOU pagerank and 10% of whatever's left over.
I'm willing to consider trading 10% of my potential sales for the sake of convenience, but part of my potential sales and potentially a major part of my miniscule traffic?
That's not convenient at all.
And I'm not accusing YOU of this at all, but there have been problems in the past with other plugin writers who hosted code on their own servers that "skimmed off the top" a bit more than they said they would. Have you considered an either/or setting? Either you get dofollow linklove OR you get a cut?
I hope you can understand my concerns, and know that I don't mean at all to be offensive. But these are things that we all have to consider; both you as the plugin provider and the rest of us as potential customers or even "partners."
GeekLad
· 5 months ago
Thank you taking the time to share your concerns and suggestions, I do appreciate them. First let me address the issues you mentioned regarding the Tarzan and Amazon terms and conditions.
I do not believe that Tarzan requires any link love or even mention of its use, but I felt compelled to do so. Without the Tarzan library, it would have taken a bit more work for me to develop my own library for communicating with the Amazon API. The code probably would not have been as efficient without it either. Now that you mention it, there is currently no mention in this post that I used Tarzan to develop the plugin. I will be sure to update it accordingly.
Of course one could make the argument it is much easier to share link love when it someone else's link love you are sharing, and I wouldn't dare dispute that. However, I decided that if I was going to share your link love with my site, it would only be fair to share some with Tarzan as well since it also played a part in the development of my plugin.
According to the Amazon terms, you are correct, the logo or phrase only needs to be placed on one page within the website. However, given that I will be splitting 10% of the impressions with other blogs, I need assurance that it will indeed be displayed each time my ID appears.
As to the issue of displaying backlinks as well as taking 10% of the impressions, I've decided it is worth doing so at this point in time. I do realize there are many such as you and fallman that will be unwilling to accept these terms. However, I believe it is worth the risk of losing some plugin users when there are others willing to accept my conditions.
The either/or option is a good suggestion, but it is not something I'm considering at this point in time. However, you do have me considering the development of a competitor to phpbay and BANS and undercutting them by offering a less expensive alternative. Essentially it would function in the same manner, but without the backlinks and 10% impressions. You may have just given me my next project. :)
Copart
· 6 months ago
This might be a great way to make money. Seeing as Amazon already provides the means to sell stuff, all you need to do is just take care of the merchindise. Great tutorial.
Gossip Ho
· 6 months ago
LOL you said in open that you have the links for SEO.
I hope your site does not get sandboxed , as talking like that will grab attention.
GeekLad
· 6 months ago
I've already openly discussed using backlinks in widgets as an SEO strategy:
It's not a big secret and I doubt if I'll get sandboxed. There are plenty of other sites out there that do it, many of them with simple HTML. To name a few:
The store is generated on my server. All the parameters for the store display are passed from the plugin to my server. My server queries the Amazon Product Advertising API to retrieve the information according to the parameters passed to it, passes the store contents back to the plugin, and the store is displayed.
You can actually see what the outputted HTML looks like if you visit a URL that will generate a store. For example:
Currently only the US is supported, but I will likely add other locales in the near future.
steveballmer
· 5 months ago
Hope this works for you people!
privendo
· 5 months ago
How can I put the post category in the keyword as a parameter. This way I can use it in the single_post.php
GeekLad
· 5 months ago
You can use the amazon_store_display() function to display a store. It accepts an associative array with the following parameters: trackingid, keywords, rows, columns, pagination, customcss, and logo. Example:
I believe you should be able to use the get_the_category() function to obtain the category.
privendo
· 5 months ago
as I'm new to this:
a. how should I use this function call within the php? b. should I use the keywords like this: "keywords" => get_the_category() ?
Thanks
privendo
· 5 months ago
or:
before the call:
$category = get_the_category();
and then in the keyword line
"keywords" => $category[]->cat_name
GeekLad
· 5 months ago
This should work, but you will need to select an index when you assign the keywords. Like this:
"keywords" => $category[0]->cat_name
hovesh07
· 5 months ago
Can't seem to get it to work with WP 2.8.2
GeekLad
· 5 months ago
I'll have to upgrade to 2.8.2 soon and do some debugging.
GeekLad
· 4 months ago
It is working on 2.8.2 for me. It may be your host does not allow loading remote files, which is necessary for the plugin to work properly.
Andreas
· 4 months ago
Hey there!
Say is it possible to include items from other Amazon sites like amazon.de ?
Tim
· 4 months ago
Hi there,
I get the following error, any idea what I need to do?
Warning: file_get_contents() [function.file-get-contents]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/bluedigi/public_html/backpacking-in-europe.com/wp-content/plugins/amazon-niche-store/amazon-niche-store.php on line 60
Warning: file_get_contents(http://geeklad.com/tools/amazon/amazon.php?trackingid=shurv456-21&rows=2&columns=5&pagination=yes&pagenumber=1&logo=none&keyword=rucksacks) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/bluedigi/public_html/backpacking-in-europe.com/wp-content/plugins/amazon-niche-store/amazon-niche-store.php on line 60
GeekLad
· 4 months ago
It may be that your host does not allow loading remote content. I tried visiting the store page generated directly ( http://geeklad.com/tools/amazon/amazon.php?trac...) and it appears be generating without any issue.
tim1231
· 4 months ago
Thanks for the reply. I'm no programmer, but the bit of code suggests a setting can be disables/enabled, any ideas what this would be? I use Cpanel, so a fairly common set up. Cheers
GeekLad
· 4 months ago
Unfortunately it isn't something you can enable within cPanel (as far as I know). You may want to contact your hosting provider and show them the error, and ask if they can install/enable the appropriate PHP modules for retrieving remote content.
tim1231
· 4 months ago
Hi,
I got in contact with my host, and they had disabled some php settings for security reasons. It's working a treat, many thanks for your help.
Chris
· 4 months ago
Thanks for the plugin! How do you make the links load into a new page?
GeekLad
· 4 months ago
Just follow the instructions here. You'll need a WordPress blog to use the plugin.
Name
· 2 months ago
is this plugin ok to use with the new rules of amazon in august on the the access keys you have to have thank you
GeekLad
· 2 months ago
Yes, I perform the authentication and everything with my own application ID. This makes it easier for my users to install and use the plugin, as they do not need to apply for an Application ID and provide authentication credentials. All they need to do is supply the tracking ID, which I pass through to the store output 90% of the time.
Name
· 2 months ago
cool thanks for the fast response so i just have to sign up to amazon associaties and get my id no access keys and use your plugin thank you
GeekLad
· 2 months ago
That's right. All you need to do is sign up for an Amazon Associate account to get a tracking ID.
Name
· 2 months ago
thanks alot will do
Barry
· 1 month ago
Is it possible to run this together with the ebay store on one page?
GeekLad
· 1 month ago
It shouldn't be a problem at all. Try it out and let me know if you run into any issues.
Jeremy
· 1 week ago
Hi there. Congrats on the great plugin, it's useful and simple... and free! I have a question: is it possible to search for multiple keywords? Like for example to put the top 5 products of your choice. Putting up a separate search for each brings up the footer every time, and showing the same footer 5 times in a row isn't exactly nice.
GeekLad
· 1 week ago
No, unfortunately it is limited to a single search at a time.
barry
· 1 week ago
Hi,
i have set the amazon store up on a 3 or 4 diff. blogs without issue. But today, using same blog theme, same copy of plug in, smae servers, it refuses to wok. Nothing shows either as a widget or in post. What could be wrong?
GeekLad
· 1 week ago
I'm not sure. There may be an issue between your host provider and my host. Is the plugin generating any kind of error? Can you provide me with a URL for one of the blogs?
Are these blogs all on the same host using the same version of WordPress?
barry
· 1 week ago
same hosting company. Perhaps diff. server. same theme. I think version of WP but not 100% sure
GeekLad
· 1 week ago
The only thing I can think of is that if they are on different servers, the other server(s) may not be configured to allow the retrieval of remote content. You may want to your host's support to see if they might be able to help you resolve the issue.
All Comments
niche like wedding planning is well-suited for monetizing with my niche
store plugin.
"Powered By the Amazon Niche Store and Tarzan
Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates" and the big huge banner too...
it really makes the plugin useless as it's way too spammy on the "credits"
You should make it an option to display all that information at the end of the plugin and not force it on everyone.
This plugin could of been good, but due to this small fact, it's a huge fail.
To anyone who wants to download this beware, you will have to live with a HUGE amazon banner + "Powered By the Amazon Niche Store and Tarzan
Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates" all over your blog.
"Amazon and Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its
affiliates" line must stay in order to remain in compliance with Amazon's
affiliate program terms of service. I used the Tarzan Amazon API library in
order to develop the plugin and they deserve credit for the good work they
do. The Amazon Niche Store line is there for SEO purposes for my plugin.
I'm sorry to hear you are displeased with these conditions, but I have
stated them very clearly. If you don't like them then don't use it.
A small time blogger needs to focus on pushing her own site, and your links are just garishly blatant - it honestly makes my site look like a feeder for yours and not a separate entity. A big time blogger is probably not going to use your plugin at all.
It's not at all fair that you're getting PAID (at least 10% of the amazon referrals will be with your aff id, so IF your plugin makes sales for us it will be making sales for you too), -and- you're able to steal my visitors (and get Pagerank). That's not usually how these things work. Frankly, that's why phpBay makes so much money.
Also, from Amazon's operator agreement: 8. Identifying Yourself as an Associate (snip) We will make available to you a small graphic image that identifies your site as a Program participant. You must display this logo or the phrase "In association with Amazon" somewhere on your site. (snip)
Amazon only requires that disclosure ONCE, not on every page and post. Which means I can include it on my Privacy Policy page, along with my Adsense Disclaimer.
Then there's Tarzan. First, is Tarzan even still the name? I thought it was cloud something or other now. Second, it's open-source. I have not read the terms, but I do not think link love is REQUIRED. Give it credit in the admin section then.
Isn't the point of this plugin for ME to make Amazon sales, and for you to get a cut? Not for every reader of my site to get distracted by your plugin credits and then LEAVE my site and get a copy for themselves? Or go to Amazon directly? Or go to the Tarzan site? I can't make referrals if my readers leave, which means that out of you, me, Amazon and Tarzan, I'm the biggest loser. I lose a visitor, I lose a sale, I give my competition a new tactic, and maybe all three.
This plugin can either make both of "us" money, or it can give YOU pagerank and 10% of whatever's left over.
I'm willing to consider trading 10% of my potential sales for the sake of convenience, but part of my potential sales and potentially a major part of my miniscule traffic?
That's not convenient at all.
And I'm not accusing YOU of this at all, but there have been problems in the past with other plugin writers who hosted code on their own servers that "skimmed off the top" a bit more than they said they would.
Have you considered an either/or setting? Either you get dofollow linklove OR you get a cut?
I hope you can understand my concerns, and know that I don't mean at all to be offensive. But these are things that we all have to consider; both you as the plugin provider and the rest of us as potential customers or even "partners."
appreciate them. First let me address the issues you mentioned regarding
the Tarzan and Amazon terms and conditions.
I do not believe that Tarzan requires any link love or even mention of its
use, but I felt compelled to do so. Without the Tarzan library, it would
have taken a bit more work for me to develop my own library for
communicating with the Amazon API. The code probably would not have been as
efficient without it either. Now that you mention it, there is currently no
mention in this post that I used Tarzan to develop the plugin. I will be
sure to update it accordingly.
Of course one could make the argument it is much easier to share link love
when it someone else's link love you are sharing, and I wouldn't dare
dispute that. However, I decided that if I was going to share your link
love with my site, it would only be fair to share some with Tarzan as well
since it also played a part in the development of my plugin.
According to the Amazon terms, you are correct, the logo or phrase only
needs to be placed on one page within the website. However, given that I
will be splitting 10% of the impressions with other blogs, I need assurance
that it will indeed be displayed each time my ID appears.
As to the issue of displaying backlinks as well as taking 10% of the
impressions, I've decided it is worth doing so at this point in time. I do
realize there are many such as you and fallman that will be unwilling to
accept these terms. However, I believe it is worth the risk of losing some
plugin users when there are others willing to accept my conditions.
The either/or option is a good suggestion, but it is not something I'm
considering at this point in time. However, you do have me considering the
development of a competitor to phpbay and BANS and undercutting them by
offering a less expensive alternative. Essentially it would function in the
same manner, but without the backlinks and 10% impressions. You may have
just given me my next project. :)
I hope your site does not get sandboxed , as talking like that will grab attention.
http://geeklad.com/more-simple-and-easy-seo-to-...
It's not a big secret and I doubt if I'll get sandboxed. There are plenty of other sites out there that do it, many of them with simple HTML. To name a few:
http://twitter.com/widgets/html_widget
http://www.flickr.com/badge.gne
http://technorati.com/tools/linkcount/
$storeurl = "http://geeklad.com/tools/amazon/amazon.php?trackingid=$trackingid&rows=$rows&columns=$columns$pagination$customcss$logo&keyword=$keywords";
You can actually see what the outputted HTML looks like if you visit a URL that will generate a store. For example:
http://geeklad.com/tools/amazon/amazon.php?trackingid=gee0dd-20&rows=3&columns=3&pagination=yes&logo=black&keyword=Blu%20Ray%20Player
the near future.
This way I can use it in the single_post.php
amazon_store_display(
array(
"trackingid" => "yourid",
"keywords" => "whatever you want to sell",
"rows" => 3,
"columns" => 4,
"pagination" => "yes",
"customcss" => "mycustomcss",
"logo" => "none"
)
);
I believe you should be able to use the get_the_category() function to obtain the category.
a. how should I use this function call within the php?
b. should I use the keywords like this: "keywords" => get_the_category() ?
Thanks
before the call:
$category = get_the_category();
and then in the keyword line
"keywords" => $category[]->cat_name
"keywords" => $category[0]->cat_name
Say is it possible to include items from other Amazon sites like amazon.de ?
I get the following error, any idea what I need to do?
Warning: file_get_contents() [function.file-get-contents]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/bluedigi/public_html/backpacking-in-europe.com/wp-content/plugins/amazon-niche-store/amazon-niche-store.php on line 60
Warning: file_get_contents(http://geeklad.com/tools/amazon/amazon.php?trackingid=shurv456-21&rows=2&columns=5&pagination=yes&pagenumber=1&logo=none&keyword=rucksacks) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/bluedigi/public_html/backpacking-in-europe.com/wp-content/plugins/amazon-niche-store/amazon-niche-store.php on line 60
visiting the store page generated directly (
http://geeklad.com/tools/amazon/amazon.php?trac...)
and it appears be generating without any issue.
Cheers
I got in contact with my host, and they had disabled some php settings for security reasons. It's working a treat, many thanks for your help.
plugin.
thank you
This makes it easier for my users to install and use the plugin, as they do
not need to apply for an Application ID and provide authentication
credentials. All they need to do is supply the tracking ID, which I pass
through to the store output 90% of the time.
thank you
into any issues.
I have a question: is it possible to search for multiple keywords? Like for example to put the top 5 products of your choice. Putting up a separate search for each brings up the footer every time, and showing the same footer 5 times in a row isn't exactly nice.
i have set the amazon store up on a 3 or 4 diff. blogs without issue. But today, using same blog theme, same copy of plug in, smae servers, it refuses to wok. Nothing shows either as a widget or in post. What could be wrong?
Is the plugin generating any kind of error? Can you provide me with a URL
for one of the blogs?
think the plugin should at least generate an error.
other server(s) may not be configured to allow the retrieval of remote
content. You may want to your host's support to see if they might be able
to help you resolve the issue.