Blogger Tips and Hints

You can change the tracking ID for an Amazon associates widget, even after the widget is created and in use on your site.

Tracking Amazon widget performance

Widgets (aka gadgets) from Amazon Associates can be used to display certain content from Amazon on your blog / website.   Some of them are fixed format, while others (eg the MP3 widget) let you select a range of items from Amazon's stock to display.

In two of my blogsites, I use Amazon MP3 widgets to include snippets of songs that my readers might be interested in, without breaking any copyright laws.

If Amazon sells more than one version of a song, then I put in quite a bit of time choosing which specific version to include, so that a variety of styles are shown - this makes it more likely that my readers will see something that they like.

Because there are two sites, I set up two tracking-ids within my Amazon Associates account, one for each site, and use these to know how many of my Amazon visitors have come from each site.  This will let me analyse the performance of each site as they grow.




Problem:  assigning the tracking ID

When you create a new widget on Amazon, the tracking ID that is assigned to the widget is the one that is selected when you start the widget-creation process. There is no way to change the tracking ID part way through the process.

Changing it on the left sidebar resets the widget-creation process back to the beginning, so you have to start again.  This isn't much of a problem if you're just getting the Amazon code for a simple gadget with no selection or maybe a context sensitive one.  But it's extremely frustrating if you've spent 15 mintues carefully choosing exactly which versions to a song to include.


Editing the tracking ID after the widget is created:

Recently I discovered that it is possible to change the tracking-id, and other features too, after the widget has been created.   To do this:

1  Log in to Amazon  (either .com, or whichever one you are working with) and go into the Associates section

2  Choose Widgets from the top menu.  This changes the contents of the left-sidebar to show items relating to widgets.

3  Choose My Widgets.  This opens a screen where you can change of the details of the widget, including the name and the tracking ID - and has a button that you can use to Edit the widget contents, and one where you can get the the code for the widget.

4  Choose the item(s) that you want to update, change them

5  Save the change.



There is no need to change the code that is on your blog or website:  the tracking ID, name, etc are stored in Amazon, not in the code.

What you and your readers see:

The tracking ID has no effect of what your reader see - unless they're beign particularly eagle-eyed when they look at the URL that is generated when they click on the widget.

But it means that when someone visits Amazon, as a result of clicking on the play or buy buttons, the visit and the credit for any qualifiying purchased that they make are given to you using the tracking-ID that you chose.

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Related Articles:




Getting product and widget link code from Amazon

Amazon Associates and blogger - an overview

Copyright, blogs and bloggers

Amazon integration is with Amazon.com only

Stop malicious use of your Google AdSense id

This article is an update about the interation between Blogger and Amazon, and what options Blogger users have instead.

Blogger and Amazon working together ...

Boats at Amazon River. Novo Airao, Amazonas, Brazil. By José Luiz FilhoOwn work copyright left. Multi-license GFDL an Creative Commons CC-BY-SA (2.5., 2.0 and 1.0)

In December 2009, Blogger announced integration with Amazon (which was actually only integration with Amazon.com).

At the time, there were hints that this was only the first of many new money-making  options and programmes for Bloggers.
These features were added to Blogger to support the integration:

• Ability to sign up for Amazon.com on the Monetize tab
• Existing Amazon.com users link their Blogger and Amazon account on the Monetize tab
• A tick-box on the Monetize tab that let "amazon-integrated" bloggers turn on the Amazon-product-preview  without having to install the code
• Amazon Product Finder (APF) - a gadget that bloggers could use in the the Post Editor, to make a link to a product from Amazon.com without leaving the Post Editor screen
• A range of gadgets from Amazon were added to the list  in Add a Gadget 

... but not any more?

For months, there have been complaints in Blogger-help-forum that existing Amazon.com associates couldn't  link their Blogger and Amazon.com Amazon.com accounts on the Monetize tab any more: the function just returned an error, or appeared to work, but didn't actually storing the connection.

Now, with the release of Blogger's new interface, the Monetize tab has been renamed Earnings.  There's no mention of Amazon on it, and no sign of the Amazon Product Finder (APF) in the Post-editor.   And there are reports in Blogger-help-forum that people who had APF turned on in "old blogger" find that it's gone in the new interface - and is broken even if they switch back to the old interface.


On the Amazon.com site their official Amazon-Associates blog is now made with TypePad.   I know that I recently saw instructions about putting things (widgets?) into Blogger, that that these commented that blogger has a new look.   However the instruction were still based on the old interface.   And today, I can't find them at all.

There has been nothing said (that I've seen anyway) by either company.  But I think it's safe to assume that the Blogger / Amazon integration has been abandoned.


Why Did This Happen:

My guess is that there are two big issues.

Firstly, Amazon.com is a lot more than just a bookseller:  Google and Amazon are competitors in some areas (eg document storage), so there's bound to be some friction, even though they managed to agree a compromise in 2009.   And possibly that compromise wasn't profitable enough for either of them.

Second, and possibly more importantly, there is an internationalisation issue.

Blogger is a multi-lingual, multi-country platform:  different languages and cultures are catered for within the same platform and subject to the same terms and conditions.  Blogger users all live with the same rules, that are based on American law (eg the 13-year age limit, which is most probably based on America Children's Online Privacy Protection Act).

Amazon, on the other hand, have different platforms for different countries (even amazon.ca for Canada, vs amazon.com for the USA+rest of the world).   This is understandable, because countries have  vastly different laws about on-line selling and taxes, so Amazon's rules need to be quite different in different places.  Even in the European Union,  we see regular updates to the terms and conditions that basically amount to the addition of new countries/languages - Amazon.es (for Spain) was the latest one - and these come with small rule-tweaks too.  These big differences mean that integration with a multi-national product like Blogger is not easy:   there would be lots of on-going issues with making the sites work well together.

My guess is that these two factors combined have killed off the integration.


What can bloggers do instead

You can still sign yourself up for Amazon.com (or Amazon.co.uk, or .ca or whatever-other country), and make the links to products and Amazon-widgets yourself.   Personally, I think this better anyway, because it gives you control ove the look and feel (colours, backgrounds, tracking-IDs) used on the ads, and choices about where to install the HTML on your blog.

There is no alternative for the Amazon Product Finder gadget - except opening Amazon in a different tab, and making the links there as you need them.  It's little bit more work - but only just.

There are still Amazon.com gadgets in the Add a Gadget list  (from Layout in the new interface, Design > Page Elements in the old one) - you can find them under the features tab.



For now at least, it looks like Blogger's monetize tab is limited to AdSense , and it is a money-making option that you can sign up for from within Blogger.  (Even though there are a few vital extra steps that you should take, even though Blogger hasn't told you about them, like blocking certain ad-categories, and stopping malicious use of your AdSense ID).

And there are, of course, many other advertisting programmes and affiliate programmes that you can consider if AdSense doesn't work for your blog.

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Related Articles:



Signing up for Amazon.com

Alternative advertising programmes

Stopping malicious use of your AdSense ID
.
Making links to products and Amazon-widgets yourself

Changing colours and design of Amazon.com advertisements

Installing the Amazon Product Preview code

Amazon / Blogger integration is with Amazon.com only

If you are an Amazon Associates publisher, then you have a great deal of control over the color schemes used in your ads, and some control over the other elements.  This article describes the options that are open to you:  it's writen for Blogger users, but the info applies to all Amazon affiliates.

Easy links between Blogger and Amazon?

Between 2009-2011, Blogger and Amazon were integrated, and there were tools that made it very easy to put Amazon ads into blog posts.  However the integration is gone from the most recent version of Blogger - and besides, many publishers would prefer to customize the colour and style of ads on their site.

Amazon gives some control over these features - you simply need to log into their site, and set up the options that you want.


Making Amazon product ads that match your colour scheme.

Log in to whichever Amazon you're using.

• Remember, there are different Amazons to use for different readers.  
• For Amazon.com, log on at:    https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/ 

From the row of tabs at the top of the screen, choose Links and Banners / Product links

This article shows the options for putting product links, banners, widgets and page-links from Amazon into your blog-site.  



Overview:

The integration between Blogger and Amazon.com means there are a number of ways to link your blog and Amazon - and the tools that Amazon provides means that there are a wide range of products you can show and functions your can provide to your readers.

You may do this just to make your blog look more interesting, or to make money by being an Amazon Associate and recommending their products to your readers.

There are four options for putting a link to Amazon inside your blog:

1. Use one of the Amazon widgets found in Blogger's gadget menu.
   
2. Use the Amazon Product Finder that is available when you're using the Post Editor in Blogger
   NB  This is only available if you've added previously - you can no longer add this to your blog, since Blogger / Amazon integration has ended.
   
3. Log in to the appropriate Amazon site, find the product that  you want to link to, and choose "Link to this page", from the site-stripe at the top of the page.
   
4. Log on to the appropriate Amazon site's Associates page, and use either the Links & Banner, or Widgets tabs.

Options 1 still works - but you have no way of linking the gadget to your Amazon Associates ID.  It lets you put:

• Amazon gadgets into any place that you can put a regular Blogger gadget (header, footer, sidebar, etc),
• Links to individual products from Amazon inside Posts or Pages.

Options 3 and 4:

• Can be used with any Amazon site, no matter what you did with Amazon previously.   
• Let you put the code into your blog in the same way that you install any 3rd party HTML into your blog.
• Give you the full code for their widgets (ie gadgets), so you can put these gagdets into posts.    This is unlike gadget/widgets that you get from Blogger, which cannot be put into posts - at the moment anyway.
• Can also be used if you want to put Amazon links inside other types of blog or website that allow you to install your own HTML/Javascript.

Option 1 - adding an Amazon gadget in Blogger:

• Go to
  Post-Sept 2011 Blogger (ie the new UI):  Layout > Add a Gadget. 
  Pre-Sept 2011 Blogger (ie the old UI):  Design > Page Elements > Add a Gadget. 

• Choose one of the Amazon gadgets from the list.  (use the search item at the top of the list of gadgets to just get Amazon ones).  

• When you have configured the gadget (eg entered a title), press Save.  

• Then drag-and-drop the new gadget to where you want it to appear.

I strongly recommend only selecting gadgets that say "By Amazon.com" underneath their description (because I just don't trust 3rd party gadgets).

Also, be careful that the gadget(s) you choose don't conflict with any other tools that you have - for example, in you are using a Google Custom Search, one of the terms and conditions is that Google is the only search provider on your site, and this may mean that you should not use Amazon's search gadget.



Option 2 - using the Amazon Product Finder:

This option is no longer available, because Amazon / Blogger integration is over.



Option 3:  Using Amazon's Link to this Page:

This gives you a very quick way to get the HTML you need to put a product-link into your blog, which you can then put into your blog in the usual way.

It's particularly useful because it lets you link not only to a product, but also to other pages, for example, and up to date list of Amazon sellers who are currently providing a particular product - Example of a link to used copes of HTML Dog's XHTML / CSS guide.

See Amazon's article explaining the site stripe for more information about this.


Option 4:  Using Amazon's own code builder

If you go to the Affiliates page on the Amazon that you have signed up for, there are a number of ways (top menu, sidebar) to get into their code building tools.

These tools are fairly intuitive to use:  choose the options you want, copy the code, and install it into your blog.

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Related Articles: 



Amazon Integration is with Amazon.com

Putting HTML from 3rd parties (like Amazon) into your blog

Changing the Look of Amazon Associates advertisements

Turning on the Amazon Associates Product Finder switches you to the new editor

Google Custom Search Engines

Series of articles about Amazon Associates and Blogger.

When Blogger users put an image-only link from Amazon into their blog, there is often a problem with the image not being found.  It applies to code generated at Amazon, not to ads that are made using the Amazon widgets in Blogger.  

Overview:

Previously, I explained how to build customised Amazon product links for use in Blogger. You may need to do this if your readers are mainly not from the USA, or if you need to change the size of the advertisements.

One of the options for links is Image-only:   the link shows a picture of the item, which your readers can click.  When they click on the picture, they are taken to Amazon to buy the product.

This article explains how to fix the problem of the image not actually showing up on the published blog page, even though no error is reported and Amazon's reports say that the ad displayed.


What is causing the picture to not display?

The procedure for building an image-only link has a step:

"Save this image to your server, then cut and paste the HTML code in the lower left textbox into your web page."

Unfortunately, the HTML that Amazon generates assumes that you will save the image onto the same directory in the server that the web-page is stored on.   This is fine for many web-site builders, but doesn't work for Blogger users who store their pictures in Picasa by default, or on other image-hosting services.


How to fix it:

Description:
You can fix the problem by uploading the image file to Picasa, or any other file host service, and altering the HTML to use this uploaded file.


Follow these steps:

1. Copy the HTML provided by Amazon's link-builder, and paste it into wherever you want it in your blog.
2. Copy the location of the image that Amazon is telling you to put onto your server.
3. In another window, log on to Picasa Web Albums using the same Google account that owns your blog
4. Choose Upload
5. Choose an album to put the image into
   (You may want to keep a separate folder for all Amazon Associates products, or you may want some other arrangement eg one folder per page).
6. Use the From an URL tab, and enter the location that Amazon told you for the source of the image (copied in step 2)
7. Press Upload, and wait while the picture is loaded.
8. When the picture has loaded, Picasa-web-album shows the album summary page.  Click on the picture you just loaded.
9. Click Link to this Photo (on the right hand bar) to get the link value (ie the URL or hyperlink) for the photo, and copy it.
10. Go back to the place in Blogger where you put the HTLM provided by Amazon in Step 1 and edit it.
11. The HTML will have this structure:
    (I've put in some link breaks and bolding to make it easier to read - you can do the same, provided the Post Options - Ignore new lines option is selected ):
    
    <a
    href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0975841963?ie=UTF8&tag=bloggerhintsa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0975841963">
    <img border="0"
      src="41FxC9u%2B%2BVL._SL160_.jpg">
    </a>
    <img
       src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=YOUR-AMAZON-ID=as2&o=1&a=0975841963" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />
12. Find where it says SRC "blah-blah-blah.jpg"  (ie the piece in bold)
13. Select everything inside the quote marks, and replace it with the link value for the picture that you loaded into Picasa, so it becomes something like:
    
    <a
    href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0975841963?ie=UTF8&tag=bloggerhintsa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0975841963">
    <img border="0"
      src="http://picasaweb.google.com/YOUR-GOOGLE-ACCOUNT/YOUR-ALBUM-NAME?authkey=Gv1sRgCOGyrv2X0-OvmAE#5430348305093079170">
    </a>
    <img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=YOUR-AMAZON-ID=as2&o=1&a=0975841963" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />
14. Save the change (ie publish the post, or save the gadget etc).

Here are some examples of working image links:

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Related Articles: 



How to build customised Amazon product links for use in Blogger

Putting third-party HTML into your blog

Hosting pictures outside Picasa

Finding a Picture's URL in Picasa-web-albums

Understanding Google accounts

Picasa and Picasa-web-albums, and overview.

This article explains the effects of using Blogger's Amazon Associates integration on your Blogger editor, and how this can be undone. 

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Sept 2011 Update:  

It now appears that the integration between Blogger and Amazon is history.  

I've left this article here to avoid broken links, but it's no longer relevant.  See building your own Amazon advertisements for update information about putting Amazon ads into your blog.

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What is the issue?

In Dec 2009, Blogger added an Amazon Associates option to the Monetize tab.  I've written about this previously in Amazon Integration is with Amazon.Com.


An issue for some Bloggers is that turning on Amazon Associates Product finder automatically switches them over to the updated editor.

New Blogger Editor (compose mode) with the Amazon Product Finder


Some people (like me!) don't have a problem with this and barely noticed the change.

But for people who were using the old editor, it may appear that the Amazon integration has changed or removed a number of functions, including the Post Preview option.   And because the editor-selection is for your Google account, not for individual blogs, the functions are removed from all your blogs, not just one.


What to do about it:

Firstly note that one of the effects of activiating the Amazon Product Finder is turning on the new editor for your entire Google account.

Even if you don't turn on the Amazon Product Finder, you can still use the Monetize / Amazon Associates function to link your blog with Amazon.     You will have to build your links manually (as explained in Changing the Look of Amazon advertisements) - and this may be a good idea anyway, as it gives you more control over how they look, and is essential if you're readers aren't mainly from countries serviced by Amazon.com.

Secondly, if you have already turned on the Amazon Product Finder and want to remove it all its side effects:

1. Under Monetize / Amazon Associates, remove the tick beside " Enable the Amazon Product Finder for the Blogger Editor "
2. Under Settings / Basic, choose the Old Editor
   
   
   
   Settings / Basic option for choosing which Blogger editor to use
   

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Related Articles:



Amazon Integration is with Amazon.Com

Changing the Look of Amazon advertisements

Integration between Blogger and Amazon is history

A list of articles about the relationship between Blogger and Amazon Associates, including hints-and-tips for working more effectively with Amazon, and using Amazon sites other than Amazon.com.

These articles may be useful for people who use Amazon Associates ads on other blogging platforms (Wordpress, TypePad etc) - or even on other types of website. But they are targeted towards Blogger users, consider Blogger issues, and have instructions that are specific to Blogger.

Amazon Associates and Blogger - an Overview

Amazon/Blogger Integration is with Amazon.com

This article looks at the integration between Blogger and Amazon Associates (Amazon.com), the fact that there is not any integration between Blogger and Amazon.co.uk (or any other Amazons), and the consequences of this.

Blogger and Amazon integration:

In December 2009. Blogger announced a new level of integration between Blogger and the Amazon Associates programme.

For Blogger users, this announcement was the start of

• An Amazon Associates section on Blogger's Monetize tab
• Being able to sign-up with Amazon Associates from this tab, and 
• Access to an Amazon Product-Finder tool from within Blogger's post editor:  this tools makes it easy to create links to Amazon Associates products while writing a post

One key point that the Blogger documentation doesn't stress is that the integration is with Amazon.com only.

Consequences:


If you use the Amazon Associates product finder to put an Amazon link in your blog, and it's clicked by a reader from Europe, Canada, Japan, Germany ... etc, then they first go to Amazon.com (ie the USA's Amazon).  But the system very will suggest (or maybe enforce) that they go to their "local" Amazon to purchase the product.    If this happens, you don't get any commission for purchases they make.

An Alternative:

You are allowed to sign up with each of the different Amazon's (Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.jp, etc) yourself.   If you do this, you can put separate links from them into your blog.    It's probably only worth signing up for ones where most of your readers come from, since you will have to display separate links for each Amazon.   Here is a list of all the Amazons (at the moment).

You can use the same email address and web-page to sign in to the different Amazons, however you cannot use the same password.   (Which makes me think that they're integrated at some level, and hopefully this problem will go away, one day.)

The downside is that because the Blogger integration is with Amazon.com, any product links that you build with the Amazon Product Finder for the Blogger Editor will be with Amazon.com.

You need to go to the individual Amazons, and use the product builder there (or be very clever with creating links yourself) to get product links for the other Amazons.

NB  If your readers aren't from the USA it's probably best to go into the Monetize / Amazon Associates tab and turn the Amazon Product Finder feature off.   It will only be confusing.

To get links without using the Amazon Product Finder for the Blogger Editor, go into the Amazon site that you want links to, sign in, and choose Link-Builder.   The process is fairly simple, and it gives you access to a wider range link sizes and types.


Example Amazon.com links:

A text link:   
 See how Amazon do business by reading   Big Shots, Business the Amazon.com Way: Secrets of the Worlds Most Astonishing Web Business (2nd Edition)



Product links generated from the Product Finder for Blogger:

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Related Articles: <



Building customised Amazon product links for use in Blogger.

Building Image-only ads from Amazon

Changing the look of Amazon advertisements

Product Preview (Amazon Associates)