Getting Started
To get the most out of the Amazon Link plugin you need to sign up with a number of Amazon services:
- Standard Amazon Account
- Amazon Affiliate/Associate Account for each locale
- Product Advertising API & Amazon Web Services
Amazon Account
An Amazon Account is not essential but the account details and login credentials used for this can be identical for all your other account, it also allows you to be paid with Amazon Vouchers.
Amazon Associate Account
To actually earn commission from sales made through Amazon Links on your site you must sign up to the Amazon Associate program for your targeted locales. I recommend you at least sign up for your home locale and the United States. Sign up for an Associate Account at the following sites:
- Amazon.co.uk Associates
- Amazon.com Associates
- Amazon.ca Associates
- Amazon.cn Associates
- Amazon.de Associates
- Amazon.es Associates
- Amazon.fr Associates
- Amazon.it Associates
- Amazon.jp Associates
Once you have signed up for your home locale, Amazon may allow you to quickly sign up for associated accounts – e.g. Signing up for Amazon.co.uk will then prompt you to sign up for Germany, France, Spain and Italy. At the end of this process you should have a set of ‘Associates ID’s that you need to enter into the Amazon Link Settings Page under ‘Amazon Tracking ID Channels’ -> Default Affiliate IDs.
You may want to set up your payment method now, as prompted by the Amazon Affiliate Site. Once you have done this or have selected ‘Specify Payment Method later’ you will be taken to the ‘Associates Central Home’ Page. At the top of this page is a tab for the ‘Product Advertising API’ click on this to sign up for the API.
Product Advertising API
From the Associates Central Home page navigate to the ‘Product Advertising API’ page and click on the ‘Sign Up Now’ button this should take you to a sign up page, e.g for the UK it is here: https://affiliate-program.amazon.co.uk/gp/flex/advertising/api/sign-in.html.
Sign in using the account details set up for your Associate Account, once you have successfully registered (thankfully only once for all domains) click on ‘Manage Your Account’ then ‘Access Identifiers’. This should take you to the AWS portal.
Amazon Web Services Account
Log in to the AWS Portal using the same account details as before.
On this page scroll down to ‘Access Credentials’ -> ‘Access Keys’. The ‘Access Key ID’ and the ‘Secret Access Key’ need to be copied into the Amazon Link Settings Page -> Options -> Amazon Affiliate Information -> ‘AWS Public Key’ and ‘AWS Private key’ Settings. Update the settings and the ‘AWS Keys Validated’ should now be ticked.
Congratulations you now have a full set of Amazon Credentials to drive the Amazon Link Plugin!
Localisation
To take advantage of the localisation options and all those Associate Accounts you have just signed up for you should enable localisation. This will target the Amazon links to Amazon stores local to your site visitors.
In the Amazon Link Settings page at the bottom of the Options Section is a button to Install the ip2nation database, click on this should install the database on your WordPress installation. Once this is done ensure the ‘Localise Amazon Link’ option is selected.
Thats it!
Note: Periodically the ip2nation database is updated and you need to check the Amazon Link options page to see if you need to re-install it.
Hey, I wanted to thank you for this, I been trying to figure that out all night, and just found your link and 10 minutes later I had it!
I am gonna go test out this plugin now, thanks again
Hi,
Looking forward to firing up Amazon Link! Two quick questions:
- I’ve entered my amazon key codes on the settings page but there seems to be no way to save changes. If I leave the page, everything goes back to the defaults. How do I save changes?
- How do I enter my amazon affiliate code?
@armin brott
Hi,
On the Amazon Link Options page the ‘Options’ section is where you put your AWS Keys, at the bottom of that section there should be a Blue button saying ‘Update Options’, pressing this should save your settings and verify your keys are good.
On the same page there is a ‘Amazon Tracking ID Channels’ containing a ‘default’ section, expand this and enter your IDs for all the locales you have registered for.
Paul
One more question. I thought there was a way to find ASIN numbers by using the plugin to search amazon products by book title, etc. I’m not finding that feature. Do I really have to track down the ASIN number and then come back to the plugin to enter?
Yikes, you’re fast! Thanks for the quick reply to the first few questions. Still hoping for that search feature….
@armin brott
Hi not as lucky with the timing this time!
Once you have validated your AWS keys there should be an Amazon Link box on the post/page edit screen, if not check the ‘Screen Options’ drop down at the top right of the screen.
Cheers,
Paul
Still better than most! Thanks, the search box was there. I need to be a little less impatient.
For some reason your affiliate code (lipawe-20) is still showing up. I tried to put mine in the settings page as you suggested above. Apparently didn’t stick. How can I fix that?
Very sorry to bombard you with questions. Is there a way to have the text wrap around the book cover image instead of having it either above or below the text?
@armin brott
Hi,
Once your code is in the default channel it should be on all links created by the plugin for that locale. Can you make sure any browser cache or WordPress caching plugin is refreshed? This is obviously really important. If there is a bug in this area I need to catch it, so if you find out why it isn’t working I’d appreciate the feedback! Thanks.
I just added your last question regarding alignment/text wrap to the FAQ, here: http://www.houseindorset.co.uk/plugins/amazon-link/faq/#align
Cheers,
Paul
Ah, the problem was the way fields are displaying. The box for the UK code actually looks like it’s where the US code should go, and all the others are a line off as well. I can send a screen capture if you want.
FYI, the link to the FAQ produces this error: Fatal error: Cannot use string offset as an array in /home/stutty/domains/common/diary/wp-content/plugins/amazon-link-genre.php on line 41
Thanks again for the incredible customer service!
@armin brott
Hi,
Thanks for getting to the bottom of that one, the WordPress styles changed in the last revision and screwed up the formatting of the plugin. Thats fixed in the latest version.
Hmmm, that genre plugin is some new code I’m testing – weird I never saw the error! I’ve added some more checks, so hopefully that error is now not showing?
Paul