This post is about the first plugin, Amazonify (author: Gary Keorkunian) and how we finally got it to work! We’ll discuss the other plugin, AmazonSimpleAdmin, in another post later on.

We are making the assumption in this post that you already know how to download, install and activate the plugin into your WordPress blog. Also, you must already have an Amazon Associate ID.

So now we’ll start with our version of the instructions on how to use the Amazonify plugin in your self-hosted WordPress blog. Count yourself lucky in finding this post, cause we’re (hopefully) saving you a couple days of work and frustration.

First of all, you need to decide what type of product you want to display on your blog: a product you choose on your own, or a product you let Amazon choose for you that is relevant to your post.

Now you need to know and understand the format required for the plugin and types of ads you can display.

This is the format:

where…

• amazonify = this is the starting “tag” for this plugin. You MUST have this in place and it MUST be enclosed in square brackets as shown above.
• asn = is the Amazon product code you wish to display. This code is required if you are not letting Amazon choose a product for you (i.e. the type is omakase). The product code will be either the ISBN-10 number for books, or the ASIN number for CDs, DVDs, VHS, Electronics, Software or Video Games. Note: make sure you use the 10 digit ISBN number (i.e. ISBN-10) for books instead of the 13 digit ISBN number (i.e. ISBN-13). When we tried the later, we got a link to Amazon, but not to the actual product we were trying to display!
• align = defines the alignment of the Amazon ad block (e.g. right or left). If you leave this field blank (i.e. you don’t use it), the default is “left”. Note: this field is ignored when you choose a type is text.
• type = the type (i.e. style) of Amazon ad to be displayed. Options include:
  • product – displays the “image and text” product box (this is the default). See the example below

• • text – creates an text link. You get to define what the text is for the product.

• • omakase – displays the Omakase links in any size as defined by the width and height values. However, the sizes must be supported by Amazon. We suggest you stick to the defaults. Using this option will give you a product as chosen by Amazon to display on your blog.
• tracking_id = your Amazon Trackng ID. This is important if you want to get paid when someone purchases the product through your post. There is a default tracking_id that will be used if none is supplied as part of the syntax. This default tracking_id is the one that you would set up in your WordPress Administration panel, under Settings, Amazonify. When you install this plugin, the default is left blank. So either make sure to include the tracking_id in the syntax, or go and initialize the tracking_id in the adminstration panel.
• width = the width of the Omakase ad when the type is omakase. This option does not apply to the other types. The default is 120 if you don’t enter any value.
• height = the height of the Omakase ad when the type is omakase. This option does not apply to the other types. The default is 240 if you don’t enter any value.
• text = the description you choose to describe the Amazon ad type of text. Keep this text short and sweet!
• /amazonify = this is the ending “tag” for this plugin. You MUST have this in place and it MUST be enclosed in square brackets as shown above. Don’t forget the forward slash (i.e. /).

Here are some other things you need to know about using this plugin.

1. The text between the colons are called fields (ok, we’re calling them that!)
2. Keep your colons! If you choose to ignore any of the fields in the sytnax above, make sure that the colons still exist. You should have 6 of them in total! What this means is that if a field is not entered (e.g. the align field is ignored), you should have 2 colons in a row (e.g. …asn::type…).

Here are the 3 different examples of the Amazonify plugin syntax.

Amazon Product Image (i.e. type = product):

Amazon Product Text (i.e. type = text):

Amazon Omakase (i.e. type = omakase):

So, that’s it in a nut shell. If you have any comments they are most welcome!