Amazon Associate Engine Critical Update
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Further to my note regarding the closing down of Amazon’s ECS3. David Cusimano has released the latest update to the script here. It only requires you to upload one file which is called ae.pl to your current installation. This will replace the old file and will enable your
current Amazon datafeed run store to function normally with Amazon ECS4.
Phew!
That’s a sigh of relief as I have many websites with variations of the Amazon Associate
Engine script.
I’ll be performing all upgrades as soon as this post is published. I also use the Calendars
script which has been removed from Kowabunga.com and is now a 1-tier program at Commission Junction and Performics.
There is also an annual license fee of jut $24.95 if you want to continue using the
“DySE::Calendars” script from Cusimano.
There are a few other updates to datafeed generated scripts for affiliate programs so check the site and sign up for more information and to receive the latest updates by email.
Related Articles:
How To Set Up Your Amazon Affiliate Video Widget
Have You Set Up Your Amazon aStore Yet?
Free sign up for Amazon Associates Program
eBay To Migrate Away From Commission Junction
eBay has announced they will be leaving Commission Junction for good by the end of this month. As from 1st April they will be using their own in-house affiliate program. Current eBay affiliates have up unitl May 1st to migrate all of your links to the eBay Partner Network so there is ample time.
“The new platform will go live on April 1st, 2008 PST, at which point eBay will no longer be running its affiliate program through Commission Junction. Beginning April 1st, affiliates should register with eBay Partner Network and migrate their links from CJ to tte new platform.”
- eBay’s Affiliates Managers
Just when I started using the Build A Niche Store BANS type scripts and made a new brandable report. I guess I will just have to update those links all over again and send out a note to all current ebook owners.
That reminds me to add a link to each page at the footer to owners to check for
updates whether they have subscribed for the free report or not. Hopefully this will
solve the problem of me having to rely on email contact.
So if you’re a BANS owner or use any other eBay scripts using the Commission Junction ID keep abreast of the new affiliate problem so you can update your links in good time.
I can’t say I will miss CJ in any way. But I’m so glad I haven’t used raw links in my
report. All I need to do is go into my htaccess file and update one link. Phew!
Recomended Resources:
To get you started on Ebay auctions try the DropShip Source Directory as well as the Wholesale Directory for some great suppliers. I also recommend that you read Robert Tungett’s ‘Auction Riches‘ ezine for more up to the minute Ebay tips and resources.
Learn eBay Dropship SECRETS From A REAL Powerseller
Amazon ECommerce Web Service 3.0 Final Shutdown Notice
If you have scripts running like those offered by David Cusimano who provides Amazon Associate scripts plus lots of other free datafeed based scripts which he manages updates and sets on his own server on your behalf. This is excellent for people like me who don’t want the hassle of setting up cronjobs and manage updates to each datafeed every time a merchant removes or amends their products.
For example I set up a Calendars.com script on my son’s website and several others and this has sky rocketed my earnings from October up until the present date.
I have emailed David recently to ask whether the new script will be ready before Amazon migrate to the Amazon Associates Web Services new and he assures me he is working hard on this project. Again I’m glad to have this outsourced as here is no way I would know what the heck to do. 
Looking forward to the new script so that my Amazon UK and Amazon US scripts keep sending me regular monthly commissions.
Here’s the very last email notification Amazon issued on 20th March 2008.
Dear Associate,
By now you’ve received several messages regarding the upcoming Amazon E-Commerce Web Service 3.0 shutdown scheduled for March 31, 2008. Our monitoring indicates that your associate tag was passed into calls to Amazon E-Commerce Service 3.0 between March 10, 2008 and March 16, 2008. After March 31, 2008, we will no longer accept Amazon ECS 3.0 requests. Please make sure to contact your development team or application provider to ensure that they have upgraded to Amazon Associates Web Service (formerly Amazon E-commerce Web Service 4.0) so that you or your customers are not affected by the shutdown.
Please note that none of the links you generate from associates central are affected by the deprecation. So any links, widgets or banner ads that you may have on your site will not stop working due to the deprecation. Nor should you be affected if you migrated after March 16,2008. Please note that this is the last communication reminder that we will send prior to the final ECS 3.0 deprecation.
Refer to the migration guide for assistance in mapping Amazon ECS 3.0 calls to their Amazon Associates Web Service equivalents. Please visit Amazon Associates Web Service Developer Forum to ask questions.
We thank you for being part of Amazon’s Associate Program and look forward to your continued support.
-The Amazon Associates Team
Amazon has so many widgets and resources to help webmasters monetize their website’s and blogs and many more affiliates are finding that their earnings are rising even though the initial commission rates are generally low. However you could set up niche sites for higher priced items such as electronics or video game consoles and not just focus on books.
People already know and trust the Amazon stores so why not capitalize on this ever growing market. Get started with the Amazon Associates program and don’t forget to sign up for the Amazon Associate script you can use the free test version for up to a month before deciding to purchase a yearly license. By that time the newest version should be ready.
Good luck
Nancy P Redford
-»(¯`v´¯)-»HAPPY EASTER!-»(¯`v´¯)-»
Mike Filesaime Launches PayDotCom Widget Ads
Mike Filesaime has launched a new widget for his PayDotCom web site. You’ll find an introductory “How To” video presented by Michael Ambrosio. Easy to set up and add to your blog, especially if your blog theme is “wigetized” or widget ready. Where you can go into your admin area to view your “Presentation” and simply copy and paste your PayDotCom Widget code into your widget box. You’ll can view the complete process in the video.
Once you register at PayDotCom you automatically become an affiliate allowing you to earn commissions on referrals.
- Another passive way to earn PayDotCom commissions
- Showcases your listed PayDotCom products on other people’s web site’s and blogs
- Quick and simple way to promote PayDotCom marketplace products
Choose from a variety of categories depending on what type of products and services you wish to appear on your widget.
- Computing & Internet
- Sports & Recreation
- Home & Family
- Money & Employment
- Business to Business
- Fun & Entertainment
- Marketing & Ads
- Health & Fitness
- Society & Culture
Choose from 18 color templates to blend you PayDotCom widget to best match your site’s look and feel.
I must admit that it’s been a while since I last logged into my account but when I did I was pleasantly surprised by all of the changes. For instance there is now the following updates for this year:
Mar-11-2008 Cash Affiliate Referral Program
Mar-10-2008 Login Page Ads
Mar-07-2008 Site-Wide Ads
Mar-05-2008 Widget Feature
Jan-20-2008 New Feature Related to the Mailing System
Premium Text Link Ads - 30 Maximum - these ads are displayed throughout the site. I haven’t personally used them but if anyone would like to share their experiences please “Add Your Comments”. Or if you’d like to showcase your site where your PayDotCom widget is featured you’re welcome to do so by leaving a note and link in the comments.
I may decide to place the widget on my newsletter front page later today to test out whether people are interested in viewing PayDotCom products and the marketplace.
Google Announces Official DoubleClick Acquisition
The Inside AdSense team have officially announemeed that Google have completed their acquired DoubleClick. I just read the email announcemnt as below:
“You may have seen today’s announcement that Google has completed its acquisition of DoubleClick. The combined company will offer more tools for publishers, enhance productivity and provide additional revenue opportunities so you can focus on creating more relevant content and improve the user experience on your websites. We will also work with our existing publishers to better monetize their inventory by combining DoubleClick’s and Google’s strength in inventory management, ad serving, and optimization.
If you have a DoubleClick account, rest assured that everything will continue to operate as usual, and that you’ll receive the same support you’re used to. For more information, please read our press release.”
Posted by Kim Malone — Director Online Sales & Operations, AdSense
= * - = = * - = = * - = = * - = = * - = = * - == * - = = * - = = * - =
Therefore the speculation and nail biting is finally over. Now it will be interesting to see what Google have in store for the affiliate management service. Are Google now a monopoly having a more than sizeable chunk of the online advertising market or is this just good business?
How To Set Up Your Amazon Affiliate Video Widget
Amazon Affiliate Video Widget
Amazon have yet another new widget to help boost your affiliate commissions and monetize your site. If you know how to create a video and upload it to the web then you’ll love the awesome new Amazon Video Widget.
Once your video is uploaded to your Amazon Associates back office the Amazon ads ARE NOT automatically embedded into your video. You need to select your product ads but don’t worry I”ll walk you through this. 
Similar service are Google Video Ads but I personally do not like the appearance of the embedded AdSense contextual ads. Also Revver which I use and prefer. Now I’ll be using Amazon’s Video Widgets after all Amazon is a trusted shopping site that people love to visit and they will most likely be more attentive to the ads than some random little known web sites that most other video sites serve.
I don’t know about you but when I see an Amazon link I find them of value and not an intrusive welcoming feature on web sites and bogs.
How To Add Products To Your Video Widget
Hey this is new Amazon gives me FULL control over where, when and what products appear in my video. Now that’s cool. I know exactly what product ads will be featured giving me complete control and allowing me to keep a quality control. All too often I have seen ads irrelevant ads or competitive ads in my Revver videos. Give the nature of Amazon merchandise this seems a good fit for affiliates.
Once your video has ended you can…
“add more products by replaying the video and adding
products where you want”
You can then “Save and Preview” your video and product settings a “Add to my Web page” for a pop up window opens presenting you with your code to embed into your web pages or blogs.
You also have MANY MORE widgets to help monetize your web sites. If you’re interested in finding more about Amazon’s Associates program sign up here for free so you too can plug into their innovative selection of affiliate resources.
I’ve created a quick demonstration video to show you how easy it is to upload your videos to Amazon to embed with product ads. If you’re using an RSS news reader and can’t see the video below just go directly to my blog to watch.
Not bad for an amateur LOL. What are you waiting for?
Head on down to Amazon and get started. Just remember to read through the Terms and Conditions to make sure your video is suitable and is not in breach of any copyright laws.
Good luck all,
Nancy P Redford
P.S.
I have free videos tutorials on how to use Windows Movie Maker to create free video you can download in my newsletter subscriber’s only member’s area. Go sign up and get them: http://www.miriadz.com/newsletter.htm
Finding The Best Payouts For CPA Offers
Want to know how you can earn the highest commissions for any particular Cost Per Action (CPA) program?
Look no further because you can now find the top offers and compare the payouts between various affiliate networks with AffSpy (Beta) and also through Offer Vault.
Affiliates have the dilemma of trying to source which affiliate network provides the highest commission for any given CPA program. Many affiliates find themselves losing out on higher commission structure either because they are unaware of the different payouts or that it’s just too much work trying to locate the best paying offers amongst the plethora of affiliate networks available online.
These two services seek to make it much EASIER for affiliates to complete this process and take charge of our earnings once and for all. Without these kind of services you would have to manually search though a number of networks which is tedious and wastes a lot of your time and effort.
I’m sure you’ll find new affiliate networks listed here that you probably haven’t come across before!
Offer Vault are due to be at The Affiliate Summit, Las Vegas so if you’re going to be there you can visit speak with their representatives live amongst other exhibitors.
As for AffSpy their beta testing is limited to about 100 participants and given the nature of their service those slots are sure to be scooped up in not time at all.
Good luck,
Nancy P Redford
Further Reading:
Marketing Intelligence Tool for The Affiliate
Affiliate Radar Team Announces Release of Offer Vault…
AffSpy - Shop the Best CPA Network Offers
Affiliate Summit Conference Las Vegas
Pay Per Play Audio Ads Revolution
Are you looking for new ways to monetize your web site without having to hard sell to your visitors?
Well read on because I have been presented with a solution to your problem. After
being contacted by the Director of the NetAudioAds I signed up to find out more about how NetAudioAds could help to make more money for me as a webmaster and also provide targeted ads to my visitors.
Unlike conventional advertising such as contextual advertising found with Google AdSense, Yahoo, MSN etc which require a visitor to ‘click’ before you can earn, pay per play ads exposes your visitors to a brief audio ad and you get paid!
“It is amazingly easy to set up and the product sells itself. Best of all it costs ZERO to get involved and it costs ZERO for your referrals to get involved.”
Charles Heflin
Marketing Director
I like the concept that the ads are heard and not seen and there is NO NEED to lose visitors to third party website. Keep you web site visitors and get paid for EVERYONE who enters your site! Each time you refer a new web site to the Pay Per Play opportunity you are adding a new residual stream of income to your bottom line.
Each visitor will hear only 1 ad. Each time an ad is played, you are paid. All this at ZERO COST to you. Promoting this opportunity to your ezine subscribers, social networks and anywhere where people are looking for free stuff that can also earn them money.
NetAudioAds looks like a fresh opportunity for webmasters to increase their revenue with little or no effort and retain their visitors. Join the revolution by signing up for your free NetAudio Ads account.
Network At The Next eComXpo Virtual Trade Show
Be sure to get registered for this week’s upcoming eComXpo Virtual Trade Show where you can surf through virtual online booths of major search engine companies, affiliate networks, internet marketing and more.
Registration is completely free and gives you entry to meet and greet other attendees as well as finding out more about the many exhibitors. Plus
This is a valuable free resource for ALL new and experienced affiliate marketers alike.
Put away your wallets and keep the car in the garage because the entire event is online.
Register here ahead of time to attend the live events during 9-11 October 2007
Be a part of online history and be there at… “The Virtual Tradeshow for eCommerce Marketers”.
Merchants Face Lawsuits Due To Affiliate Misconduct
I want to point to an online video where Dr Ralph F. Wilson talks candidly with Dr Dozier on the subject of the rise in lawsuits against merchants because of affiliate malpractice.
If you run an affiliate program or are an affiliate currently promoting goods and services then you need to be aware of the legal implications for you and your business.
In general it is good practice to screen affiliates before acceptance especially if you are using affiliate networks. Especially as you as a merchant will be held responsible for any problems.
Take a look at the video presented on the 5 Star Affiliate blog.
Want to ‘Fire Your Boss’ Join LinkShare and begin affiliate marketing.
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