Amazon.co.uk Associates Blog

Associate Tip: Refine Search Results Links

Have you ever wanted to send your visitors to a specific page of search results on Amazon -- not just cameras but Canon® or Sony® digital cameras, not just blenders but hand blenders that are 400w, not just toasters but discounted toasters, or not just children's books but children's books about pirates by John Matthews? Use the method below to construct a link to a page of search results that has the refinements you want.

Step 1: Look up the "node" of the category in which you want to perform your search by going to Amazon.co.uk, browsing to your desired category, and looking for "node=" in the URL. For example, the node for Photography is 560834, the node for Kitchen Appliances - Blenders is 10706571, the node for Kitchen Appliances – Toasters is 11716951, and the node for Children's Books is 69.

Step 2: Construct a basic search results link to that node using the following format: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?node=NODE-HERE&linkCode=qs&tag=ASSOC-ID-HERE , substituting the node you looked up for NODE-HERE and your Associates ID for ASSOC-ID-HERE

Step 3: Add one or more of the following refinements to make the search results more specific. Each time you add a refinement you should add an ampersand -- & -- followed by the type of the refinement, an equals sign, and the value to which you want to refine the results.

* Keywords. Use keywords to narrow the results to items that meet a descriptive quality. If your keyword phrase is more than one word, we recommend using the URL-encoded value of a space -- %20 -- between words.

• Format: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?node=NODE-HERE&linkCode=qs&tag=ASSOC-ID-HERE&keywords=KEYWORD-PHRASE-HERE 
• Example: 400w hand blenders within Kitchen Appliances - Blenders: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?node=10706571&linkCode=qs&tag=ASSOC-ID-HERE&keywords=400w%20hand

* Brand. Use brand to narrow the results by the maker of the product. If the brand name is more than one word, we recommend using the URL-encoded value of a space -- %20 -- between words. In many categories, you can show results from more than one brand using the pipe character -- | -- between brand names.

• Format: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?node=NODE-HERE&linkCode=qs&tag=ASSOC-ID-HERE&brand=BRAND-NAME-HERE
• Example: Photography products by Canon or Sony: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?node=560834&linkCode=qs&tag=ASSOC-ID-HERE&brand=Canon|Sony

* Discount. Specify the percent off to show products that are discounted. You can specify an exact range like 10-20 (between 10% and 20% off) or an open-ended range like 40- (40% off or more).

• Format: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?node=NODE-HERE&linkCode=qs&tag=ASSOC-ID-HERE&pct-off=X-Y  X is the lower end of the discount range and Y is the upper end. You can leave either one off to specify an open-ended range.
• Example 1: Photography products that are 40% off or more: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?node=560834&linkCode=qs&tag=ASSOC-ID-HERE&pct-off=40-
• Example 2: Kitchen Appliances - Toasters between 10% and 20% off: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?node=11716951&linkCode=qs&tag=ASSOC-ID-HERE&pct-off=10-20

* Book author. Specify the author's name or part of it to refine a list of book search results. Note that you add two items to the link format to do this: the author's name and the type of author search. If you specify the full name of the author, use last name comma first name.

• Format: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?node=NODE-HERE&linkCode=qs&tag=ASSOC-ID-HERE&author=AUTHOR-NAME-HERE&select-author=field-author-like
• Example: Children's books by authors with the name Matthews: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?node=69&linkCode=qs&tag=ASSOC-ID-HERE&author=Matthews&select-author=field-author-like

* Book publisher. Specify the publisher's name to show only books issued by that company.

• Format: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?node=NODE-HERE&linkCode=qs&tag=ASSOC-ID-HERE&field-publisher=PUBLISHER-NAME-HERE
• Example: Children's books published by Atheneum: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?node=69&linkCode=qs&tag=ASSOC-ID-HERE&field-publisher=Atheneum

Here are examples of combining these refinements.

Example 1: Canon or Sony digital cameras:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?node=560834&linkCode=qs&tag=ASSOC-ID-HERE&keywords=digital%20camera&brand=Canon|Sony

Example 2: Children's books about pirates by John Matthews

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?node=69&linkCode=qs&tag=ASSOC-ID-HERE&keywords=pirates&author=Matthews,John&select-author=field-author-like

Note: Since Amazon product categories may treat search differently, we recommend testing your link to make sure it shows the products you want.

You want to download this tutorial? Please find here the pdf-file.

RSS chicklets for Amazon.co.uk Associates Blog

Have you customized your personalized page on other websites to receive your favorite blogs, news and RSS feeds? Then take the opportunity to remain up-to-date with the Amazon.co.uk Associates program by adding the Associates Blog to your favorite site. Simply click one of the following links and our blog posts will be automatically added to your customized page:

Pageflakes

netvibes

Yahoo

newsgator

Rojo

Google

AOL

Bloglines

Below is an example of the Amazon.co.uk Associates Blog on a personalized Pagesflakes site:

Second Life Online Bookshop: Amazon Associate „SNOWBOOKS“

This time we would like to introduce you to an Amazon Associate from the UK which in our opinion has been been very creative in implementing online activities and in utilising the benefits of the Amazon Associate program:

Snowbooks, a small publisher in London, runs an online bookshop from the virtual world “Second Life” where it sells books that are available from Amazon.co.uk alongside its own titles. Why not see for yourself:

Snowbooks presents its latest book like in a normal Brick & Mortar bookshop. Just a single click and readers can order the book directly from Amazon.co.uk.

Like the company name, the Snowbooks Online Bookshop resides in the colder regions of Second Life, where snow falls all year round. Even the architecture of the bookshop is in keeping with the surroundings: A log cabin like in the mountains or in Canada.

In the store itself Snowbooks provides a good selection of books that invite visitors to a comfortable and leisurely read and can be purchased directly from Amazon.co.uk.

Since Snowbooks maintains frequent contact with authors and has regular meetings with other companies, it also has a publishing office with official opening hours.

And for larger meetings it has its own meeting room on the first floor.

Here you can visit Snowbooks’ online bookshop in the virtual world of “Second Life”. Read more about this on the Snowbooks website.

Do you also apply creativity when it comes to the Amazon Associate program?

Then let us know and drop us an e-mail with "Innovative integration of the Amazon Associate program" in the subject line. We look forward to being able to feature your solution in one of our next posts!

Create tracking IDs for your new aStore or for your Amazon.co.uk advertising campaign

Do you want to monitor the success of your various links to Amazon.co.uk quickly and simply? Then take advantage of a great feature for Amazon.co.uk Associates and create tracking IDs for your campaigns and aStores.

With tracking IDs you can analyse the performance of various websites, link placements or advertising strategies and at the same time accumulate referral fees under a single Associate ID. Any tracking ID created in your Associate account will be assigned to your Associate ID.

Example:

An Amazon.co.uk Associate with the Associate ID “your-assoc-id-21” can analyse two different aStores by creating additional tracking IDs using “your-assoc-id1-21” and “your-assoc-id2-21” and can analyse the performance of individual title links that contain this tracking ID using “your-assoc-id3-21”. All tracking IDs generate referral fees for the Associate account “your-assoc-id-21”.

As an Amazon.co.uk Associate you can display the clicks, orders or referral fees for all tracking IDs together in the Associate Central reports or filter the reports according to individual tracking IDs. The tracking ID summary report is particularly useful as it displays the results for all tracking IDs in the form of a summary.

It couldn’t be simpler to create new tracking IDs:

http://affiliate-program.amazon.co.uk/gp/associates/network/store/add-tracking-id.html/

(Amazon.co.uk Associate Login required)

Tips for success for your aStore: “powered by Amazon.co.uk”

Have you already set up one or more aStores and want to improve their performance? A few of our aStore partners had a great idea that we just had to share. Why not display the “powered by Amazon.co.uk” logo in a prominent position within your aStore to increase the confidence that visitors to your website have in your shopping service.

Here is an example of how this could look:

As a result your potential customers can be sure that you fulfil important buying criteria - secure payment, attractive prices and fast delivery. It is not without reason that Amazon.co.uk is one of the top online retailers in the United Kingdom.

It is just that easy:

1) Upload an image (logo + powered by Amazon.co.uk) onto your own server.

Example:

2) When creating your aStore, specify the URL of your image in the “Configure Store Header” field under the “Color and Design” menu.

Example:

http://associates.amazon.co.uk/gp/associates/network/store/color-design.html

The image should not be more than 200 pixels wide and 75 pixels high. The logo will appear on the left next to the shop name on the title page and on each individual page in your shop.