amazon product preview javascript

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11/10/2010 4:19:14 PM
AndriaD
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amazon product preview javascript

I could not figure out where this question would go, so I figured the "general" forum might be best. 

I cannot seem to get the amazon product preview javascript to work in Mojo -- it's supposed to pop up the little box with the rating and variety of prices, etc -- and yes, it does work in Firefox even with popups turned off; I've used it on other sites in the past and it doesn't seem to have any problem with browser settings.

The instructions on amazon say to place the javascript snippet at the bottom of the page, before the </body> tag, so that's where I placed it, in layout.Master.  But no go, no informational little popup box.  I notice that other javascripts at the bottom of layout.master appear enclosed inside those <portal: tags -- is that necessary, and what do I do to use that technique?  Still no real clue here about asp.net in general and the code of mojo in particular.  I need a book or something -- I'm sure this is probably very basic, but I haven't studied asp.net to any great depth so I have no idea why just putting the javascript at the bottom before </body> isn't working.

Thx for any enlightenment you can provide,

Andria

11/11/2010 8:33:03 AM
Joe Audette
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Re: amazon product preview javascript

Hi Andria,

I would have to see the scripts and other markup you entered to diagnose it. Is there a document that you can link to that explains what you are trying to do or has the instructions provided by Amazon?

Some things may need to be different in the case of a cms vs a static html page.

You could post the script and markup here in the forums if you use the Paste as Text toolbar item in the editor. Then I could see what you are doing.

Best,

Joe

11/11/2010 2:59:21 PM
AndriaD
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Re: amazon product preview javascript

Ok, the javascript is this:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/s/link-enhancer?tag=cryptdotnet-20&o=1">
</script>
<noscript>
<img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/s/noscript?tag=cryptdotnet-20" alt="" /></noscript>

 

The amazon instructions:

The code should go after your content and before your closing <body> tag.

 

On my layout.Master, it looks like this at the end of the page:

<portal:AutoHidePanel ID="ah1" runat="server">
<div id="toolbarbut">
<span class="showbar"><a href="#">show bar</a></span>
</div>
<div id="toolbar">
<div class="toolbarleft">
&nbsp;
</div>
<div class="toolbarright">
<span class="downarr">
<a href="#"></a>
</span>
<portal:AdminMenuLink id="lnkAdminMenu" runat="server" />
<portal:FileManagerLink id="lnkFileManager" runat="server" />
<portal:NewPageLink id="lnkNewPage" runat="server" />
<portal:PageEditFeaturesLink id="lnkPageContent" runat="server" />
<portal:PageEditSettingsLink id="lnkPageSettings" runat="server" />
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="pageEditContent" runat="server"></asp:ContentPlaceHolder>
</div>
</div>
</portal:AutoHidePanel>
<portal:Woopra ID="woopra11" runat="server" />
</form>
<portal:AnalyticsAsyncBottomScript ID="analyticsBottom" runat="server" />
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/s/link-enhancer?tag=cryptdotnet-20&o=1">
</script>
<noscript>
<img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/s/noscript?tag=cryptdotnet-20" alt="" />
</noscript>


</body>
</html>

Ok, that's what I have; (I underlined the amazon script above, to show where it is in the code at the end).  Still no idea why this won't work on a mojo page.

Thx,

Andria
 

11/12/2010 12:58:50 PM
Joe Audette
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Re: amazon product preview javascript

Hi Andria,

That looks like just a main script, there has to be more to it than that. There must be some markup needed and maybe even additional javascript to hookup instances about specific products. 

Please post a link to the documentation or instructions.

Best,

Joe

11/12/2010 3:00:52 PM
AndriaD
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Re: amazon product preview javascript

Well, no; the sole instructions are:

To put Product Previews on your site, paste the following link enhancer script at the end of pages on which you have image only or text only product links. The code should go after your content and before your closing <body> tag. Hover your mouse over the preview above to see this great new feature. 

 

And this works fine on other CMS (I've used it with Joomla) or plain HTML pages.  For an example, this is what one of their image-only links looks like:

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159240488X?ie=UTF8&tag=cryptdotnet-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=159240488X"><img border="0" src="41cOF0xF2tL._SL160_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=cryptdotnet-20&l=as2&o=1&a=159240488X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />

I actually have just a plain image+text link on my page, but I have used the same technique, plus the javascript at the bottom, to get the little popup box

So, that image (and/or text link) would be on the page; you'd hover the mouse over it, to get the little popup preview box -- except it's not working in Mojo.

I wonder if the javascript should go above the bits of code that deal with the admin toolbar?

 

Andria

11/12/2010 3:33:22 PM
Joe Audette
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Re: amazon product preview javascript

Hi Andria,

See, if I'm to try and reproduce the problem it is important info about the links, I needed that info and thanks for the link to their document. I will look into this tomorrow.

It would help also if you can post a link to a page where this is happening. If it is happening on your site http://mojo.crypticsites.net/ I don't see the script when I view the source of the page. Are you sure you added it to the correct layout.master file?

Also if the Amazon ads are inside the slide show that could be a factor and I probably can't solve that, the slide show is probably wiring up its own javascript and that can interfere with the amazon script.

Best,

Joe

11/12/2010 10:43:36 PM
AndriaD
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Re: amazon product preview javascript

No, it's at my new blog site, http://blog.crypticsites.net -- and it's not in a slideshow, but it is inside the blog -- the links to buy books, in the "extra sidebar content" area -- so maybe it's something in the blog code that's squashing the additional javascript.

You may also get to see how slow the site is to load, when first loading it.  I don't know if it's an artifact of my hosting, of mojo itself, or that I have a lot of images and outside links on the page.  Maybe a combo of all the above.  I saw a post of yours suggesting having a window open with a edit page open, to keep the application pool open or something to that effect, so I have a window with one of my blog posts open for editing... but I can't see that it makes a lot of difference.  Once it finally loads up, it then moves along pretty snappy, but that first load... excruciating.  And no, I don't have it set to cache either on server or browser, because I'm always fiddling with images and CSS in the design.

Thx,

Andria

 

11/13/2010 6:35:16 AM
Joe Audette
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Re: amazon product preview javascript

Hi Andria,

When I visit your site with the Firebug plugin enabled in Firefox it shows a script error from the amazon script. It appears they are using a very old customized version of JQuery and it is not compatible with the newer version of jquery that is also included in the page by mojoPortal.

I was able to produce the same problem on www.joeaudette.com but I then removed it.

Doing some searching on it I found this post which seems to confirm it

http://www.greeneteapot.com/2009/09/amazon-product-previews-in-blog.html

It just seems like amazon has done a very lame job in implementing this. Even when I use Chrome browser on the amazon site when I create an image link it says mouse over it to see a preview but when I mouse over it it flashes an empty box briefly that disappears right away, and this is right on the amazon site. I would have thought a company like amazon would do a better job with their affiliate implementation, but my verdict is they have not got it right and have done half hearted implementation and not enough testing.

Sorry but I don't have a solution for this at the moment.

Best,

Joe

11/13/2010 7:34:36 AM
Joe Audette
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Re: amazon product preview javascript

A few more links about this problem just to show we are not alone.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3221117/amazon-link-enhancer-javascript-error-jquerylink-amazonpopovertrigger-is-not-a

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3719490/using-amazons-link-preview-with-use-of-own-jquery

http://drupal.org/node/140222

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/amazon-product-preview-script-problem

Also I have a feeling that amazon is losing interest in the affiliate programs in general because of the way states are changing tax laws, and given how diversified they are now with selling streaming video and audio and cloud services and kindle etc, it would not surprise me if they put very little effort into their affiliate program going forward.

They have already dropped affiliate programs in New York and Colorado and it seems likely they will do the same in response to tax laws in my own state of NC.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/03/amazon-kills-affiliate-program-in-colorado-thanks-to-taxes.ars

http://www.theinternetpatrol.com/north-carolina-to-enact-amazon-affiliate-tax/

Best,

Joe

11/13/2010 10:57:58 AM
AndriaD
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Re: amazon product preview javascript

Well... that just blows.  Amazon is my only affiliate program for selling books (books that I choose, rather than just a banner for some mail-order "30% off!" or some crap).

How do you find the script error?  I have firebug, but it didnt show me anything about an error; I went to the "scripts" tab, but all it showed me was the source code; when I clicked the "home.aspx" tab is showed me a lot of instances of scripts, but nothing about an error.  I even tried loading it up in IE -- which looks crappy BTW, since I altered the width of the sidebar but didn't think to do anything to the IE-specific CSS -- piece of crap browser! -- but even in IE, which normally is quite stubborn about showing any javascript error it encounters, it didn't show that annoying little "error on page" thing in the status line.  I mean, I'm sure you're probably right about the error, else it might be working correctly, but I'd like to be able to see what you saw.

Hell, I've got a javascript book, maybe I'll write my own popup preview box.  *grump*  I really hate javascript.

Thx much,

Andria

 

11/13/2010 11:28:43 AM
Joe Audette
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Re: amazon product preview javascript

You'll see it in Console view of Firebug. Might have to refresh the page after going to console view and you may have to enable console in Firebug settings.

One could try to write their own widget but it is a shame that amazon hasn't done a better job providing one. The product preview thing came out in like 2006 and it still says "New" next to it. 

I'm curious have you actually made any significant revenue from amazon?  I've used them for years on joeaudette.com and on this site and made next to nothing. 

I'm not sure the popup product details is really going to help your conversion rate much.I think just writing personal recommendations snippets beneath the ads telling your readers why you recommend the book/product will help your conversion rate much more than the little popup. You could also use their iframe widgets to show more product detail.

Best,

Joe

 

 

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