WP Shopping Pages – Affiliate Shop Plugin Documentation

WP Shopping Pages Documentation

1. Installation
2. Quick Start Guide
3. Adding Templates
4. Creating Pages
5. Options
6. Tips and Tutorials
7. Affiliate Program
8. Support Forum

1. Installation

Installing WP Shopping Pages is not different from installing any other plugin on your Wordpress weblog, so if you have done that already you probably won't have any problem. If you never installed another plugin before I recommend you start with having a look at this detailed guide on how to install a Wordpress plugin.

You will need to follow the two steps outlined below to install WP Shopping Pages on your blog:

Upload the plugin to your website. You can either do this by using a FTP program (like Filezilla) and uploading the whole "WPShoppingPages" folder you got in the .zip file to the "/wp-content/plugins" folder of your Wordpress installation. Alternatively you can also upload the .zip file directly via the "Install Plugins" screen in your Wordpress admin area (under "Plugins > Add New").
Activate "WP Shopping Pages" on the "Plugins" page of your Wordpress admin area.

2. Quick Start Guide

This section will describe what you need to do to get started and create your first Shopping Pages immediatelly. If you also want to customize your page templates and utilize WP Shopping Pages to the fullest you should also read the following sections of this documentation before starting to use the plugin.

Go to the "Options" screen of the WP Shopping Pages admin section. You can find the link to it in the bottom left corner of your Wordpress admin area.
Enter your affiliate and API details: The "Amazon Affiliate ID", "Amazon API Key", "Amazon Secret Access Key", "eBay Camp ID", "Linkshare Web Services Token", "CJ API ID" and "CJ Website ID (PID)" are all required to use the specific features. After entering your details click "Save Options". Those are the only options you have to enter before using the plugin, all others are set by default but you can of course edit them if you want.
Navigate to the "Add Pages" (Main) screen of the WP Shopping Pages admin section.
Enter the keywords you want to create a Shopping Page for in the "Keywords" field, one single keyword per line. By starting the keyword with "-" you can make the page for that keyword a subpage of the previous keyword's page (see here for details). When you are done click "Add Pages" and one page will be created per keyword.

3. Adding Templates

To add/edit/copy templates go to the "Templates" screen of the WP Shopping Pages admin area. There you will see the existing templates (in the beginning this will only be the default templates) displayed in a table on the right side and a form to add new templates on the left side.

Deleting Templates: To delete a template click on the "Delete" link next to it in the templates table on the right. Alternatively you can delete several templates by selecting them and then using the "Bulk Actions".
Copying a Template: To copy a template click on the "Copy" link next to it in the templates table. Its content will then be copied into the "Add New Template" form where you can edit it and then save it as new template by clicking "Save New Template".
Editing a Template: To edit a template click on the "Edit" link next to it in the templates table. Its content will then be copied into the "Add New Template" form where you can edit it and then save your changes by clicking "Edit Template".
Adding a Template: New templates can be added via the "Add New Template" form. You have to specify a name for the new template, its type (Amazon or Page) and its content/ template code. If you are not yet familiar with what to put here it is best to start of by copying one of the default templates.

Template Type

WP Shopping Pages knows a few different types of templates, which are used for different purposes or elements of the created pages.

Page Template: This is the most important template. It defines the structure of your shopping page and tells the plugin where to place Amazon, CJ or Linkshare products or eBay auctions and how many of them.
Amazon Single Template: This template is used for every single Amazon product on your Shopping Pages. It decides where to display the thumbnail, the price and other Amazon details. If you have 5 Amazon products on your page for example, the "Amazon Single Template" will be used 5 times, one for each product.
Linkshare Single Template: This template is used for every single Linkshare product on your Shopping Pages. It works in the same way like explained for the Amazon tag above.
Commission Junction Single Template: This template is used for every single Linkshare product on your Shopping Pages. It works in the same way like explained for the Amazon tag above.

Besides that there are also the eBay Auction Template, which can not be saved in the "Templates" screen but is specified in the "Options" screen. It decides how a single eBay auction looks on your pages.

Template Code and Tags

The Template Code is the content of your template. Basically you can put anything in here, including HTML code and static text, and it will then be displayed on your Shopping Pages in the same spot. Generally you should always include some of WP Shopping Pages template tags. Those tags, which always start and end with square brackets (i.e. {keyword}) are replaced by WP Shopping Pages with the content it gets from the Amazon, Linkshare, CJ and eBay APIs. Which tags you can use depends on the template type you are creating (i.e. "Page Template" or "Single Amazon Template"). You can find a list below or in the admin area of WP Shopping Pages.

Conditional Tags: In Amazon templates a set of conditional template tags can be used, to only display content if a certain condition is true. For example you could use it to only display a "reviews" section in your template if the product actually has reviews. All conditional tags are enclosed in square brackets. You can find them in the tag list below.

1. Page Template Tags:
{keyword} - Replaced with search keyword
{amazon} - Replaced with 1 Amazon product
{ebay} - Replaced with 1 Ebay auction
{linkshare} - Replaced with 1 Linkshare product
{commissionjunction} - Replaced with 1 Commission Junction product
{amazonsearch} - Affiliate Link to Amazon search page for {keyword}
{nav} - Replaced with an unordered navigation list (1 link to each Amazon product on the current page)

2. Amazon Template Tags:
{keyword} - Replaced with search keyword
{title} - Product title
{thumbnail} - Thumbnail image
{smallthumb} - URL to small thumbnail
{mediumthumb} - URL to medium thumbnail
{largethumb} - URL to large thumbnail (if available)
{description} - Product description
{features} - Short feature list
{price} - Product price
{link} - Product link
{url} - Product URL
{buynow} - A buy now button linking to the product.
{buynow-big} - A bigger buy now button linking to the product.
{reviews-iframe} - displays the 3 most popular reviews inside an iframe.
{reviews-noiframe} - displays the 3 most popular reviews without the surrounding iframe.
[has_listprice]...content...[/has_listprice] - Conditional Tag: "Content" will be displayed only if there is a listprice for current product.

3. Linkshare Template Tags:
{keyword} - Replaced with search keyword
{title} - Product title
{thumbnail} - Thumbnail image
{description} - Product description
{summary} - Summary of the product description
{price} - Product price
{url} - Product URL
{category} - Product category
{imageurl} - Product image URL (also used in the {thumbnail} tag)
{buynow} - A buy now button linking to the product.
{buynow-big} - A bigger buy now button linking to the product.
{merchant} - Name of the merchant the product is sold by.

4. Commission Junction Template Tags:
{keyword} - Replaced with search keyword
{title} - Product title
{thumbnail} - Thumbnail image
{description} - Product description
{price} - Product price
{saleprice} - Product sale price (if available)
{listprice} - Original price product is listed for
{currency} - Currency the prices are in
{url} - Product URL
{imageurl} - Product image URL (also used in the {thumbnail} tag)
{buynow} - A buy now button linking to the product.
{buynow-big} - A bigger buy now button linking to the product.
{advertiser} - Name of the advertiser the product is sold by.
{instock} - Wether the product is available currently

4. Adding Pages

To add new Shopping Pages go to the main page of the WP Shopping Pages admin area by clicking on its title. There you will find a list of the already created pages on the right hand side and a form to add new pages on the left.

Added Pages List

Delete Pages: To delete Shopping Pages from your blog select their entries in the list, then select "Delete" in the "Bulk Actions" form element and press "Apply".
Update Pages: To update Shopping Pages select their entries in the list, then select "Update" in the "Bulk Actions" form element and press "Apply". This will recreate the selected pages from scratch, using the latest template settings and Amazon products the plugin can find.

Adding New Pages

The "Add New Pages" form is used to create new pages. The required settings are explained below:

Page Title: Defines the title of created Shopping Pages. The tag {keyword} can be used and will be replaced with the keyword for each page. Popular values for the page title are "Buy {keyword}", "{keyword} Shop" or "{keyword} Reviews".
Keywords: A list of keywords you want to create pages for - one per line! One Shopping Page will be created for each keyword in the list with a title according to the "Page Title" setting. See below to learn how to declare parent-pages here.
Page Template: Decides which template to use for the created pages. The drop down list will contain all page templates that have been created in WP Shopping Pages previously. If "Random" is selected a random page template will be selected from the list for each created page.
Amazon Single Template: Decides which Amazon template to use for the created pages product entries. The drop down list will contain all Amazon single templates that have been created in WP Shopping Pages previously. If "Random" is selected a random Amazon single template will be selected from the list for each created page. (Please note: This setting is only displayed if more than one Amazon template has been created by you.)
Linkshare Single Template: Decides which Linkshare template to use for the created pages product entries. (Please note: This setting is only displayed if more than one Linkshare template has been created by you.)
Commission Junction Single Template: Decides which Commission Junction template to use for the created pages product entries. (Please note: This setting is only displayed if more than one CJ template has been created by you.)
Amazon SearchIndex, Amazon BrowseNode and Ebay Category: Those three fields are optional settings you do not need to change. You can use them to further define the products and auctions you will get for your pages.

Declaring Parent and Sub-Pages

You can declare subpages of a previous page in the "Keywords" field of the "Add new Pages" form by starting them off with a dash ("-"). This is best explained with an example, so have a look at the following screenshots:

Explanation: In this example the page for the keyword "books" will become a main (first-level) page, while all the pages below it starting with a single dash will become its subpages (second-level pages). The pages starting with two dashes will become subpages of the first previous keyword with only one dash (third-level pages). So, in this case "programming books" will be a subpage of "books" and "php books" a subpage of "programming books" (making it a sub-subpage of "books").

Below you will find another example with the page structure highlighted with colors:

Adding sub-pages to existing pages

If you want to add pages created by WP Shopping Pages as sub-pages to a page that already exists on your blog, i.e. because it was written by you or created by another plugin, all you need to do is start the name of the existing page with a "#" in the WP Shopping Pages "Keywords" field.

Example:

#About
-Books
-Laptops

Entering this would have WP Shopping Pages search your blog for an existing page called "About" and if found add two pages ("Books" and "Laptops") to it as sub-pages.

5. Options

To change the options of WP Shopping Pages go to the "Options" admin screen. A description of each setting follows below:

Amazon Affiliate ID: You affiliate ID for Amazon, usually looking like this: "name-20".
Amazon Access Key ID: You need a free Amazon Product Advertising API Key to use WP Shopping Pages. You can sign up to the API for free here and then find the key under "Access Identifiers".
Amazon Secret Access Key: In addition to the API key Amazon requires a Secret Key for all calls made to the API. You can also find this key under "Access Identifiers" in your Product Advertising API account.
Amazon Website: Specify which Amazon site and language you want to use.
Amazon Search Method: Only applies to keywords consisting of several words. If set to "Exact Match" the plugin will only return products that contain all words of your keyword phrase in the exact order, if set to broad it will return products containing all words but in any order.
Amazon Description Length: Specify the maximum length (in words) of the Amazon product description.
Skip Products If: Gives you the option to prevent certain products with missing information from being added to your pages. Applies to CJ, Linkshare and Amazon products.
Ebay Camp ID: You affiliate ID for eBay.
Ebay Language: Sets the language the auction details will be posted in.
Ebay Country: Determines which eBay website will be used, i.e. "United Kingdom" will return auctions from ebay.co.uk.
Ebay Auction Template: This template specifies how eBay auctions are formatted on your pages. Template tags available:
{descriptiontable} - The standard description as returned by eBay in a table with thumbnail.
{description} - Only the description text (without a table and a thumbnail).
{thumbnail} - The tumbnail image
{price} - The current price of the auction.
{title} - The title of the auction.
{url} - Affiliate link to the auction
Post Type: WP Shopping Pages can add either pages or posts.
Post Status: New pages/posts created by WP Shopping Pages can either be added as drafts (allowing you to review them before going live) or published immediatelly.
Post Author ID: The ID of the user that is used by the plugin to create all pages. Defaults to 1 = the admin user.
Comments on Pages: If set to "Disabled" commenting will not be possible on the created Shopping Pages.
Linkshare Web Services Token: Your API ID is required for CJ to work. You can sign up for free here and then find the token in your account.
Linkshare Sort by: Defines how to sort responses from the Linkshare API.
Commission Junction API ID: Your API ID is required for CJ to work. You can sign up for free here.
Commission Junction Website ID (PID): Your website ID is required for CJ products to work. You can find the PID in your Commission Junction control panel under "Account" > "Web site Settings".
Commission Junction Advertisers: Decides which advertisers are used to display products. Possible Values:

joined - This special value restricts the search to advertisers which you have signed up for in your CJ account.

not-joined - This special value restricts the search to advertisers with which you do not have a relationship.

CIDs - You may provide list of one or more advertiser CIDs, separated by commas, to limit the results to a specific sub-set of merchants.

Empty String - You may leave the field empty to remove any advertiser-specific restrictions on the search.

Important: You can only earn commission for advertisers you have signed up for in your CJ account!
Commission Junction Sort by: Defines how to sort responses from the CJ API.
Auto Update: If enabled WP Shopping Pages will automatically update your pages with the latest information on a weekly basis.

6. Tips and Tutorials

How to display the Shopping Pages?

To allow for greater flexibility where Shopping Pages are displayed is decided by your blog's template alone. Shopping Pages are treated like "normal" Wordpress themes, so they will automatically be displayed in lists of Wordpress pages. Most Wordpress templates have a place where all pages of the blog are listed in the navigation, i.e. premium templates often have a dropdown navigation for pages at the top. If your theme does not have that you can always simply add a list of pages to your sidebar with the Wordpress Pages Widget (Under "Appearance > Widgets" in your Wordpress Admin) or the wp_list_pages() template tag.

Activating Link Cloaking

To set up link cloaking in WP Shopping Pages it is not enough to enable it in the options. There are additional steps required and you have to edit your .htaccess file which it is only recommended for advanced users. Here is what you have to do:

1. Enable link cloaking in the options.

Go to your WP Shopping Pages options page, check "Cloak Affiliate Links" and save the options.

2. Insert Code into the .htaccess file

Wordpress can insert the necessary code into the .htaccess file itself as long as it is writeable (which it should be if you already set up permalink rules for your blog – which you should do!). To update the file go to "Settings" > "Permalinks" in your Wordpress admin area and just click on "Save Settings" (you don't have to change anything on the page).

If it worked you will see this message and can continue with step 3:

blog2

If it didn't work it is probably because your .htaccess file is not writeable. In that case you will also be told so by Wordpress on the "Permalinks" page. To fix that you can either set permission to make the .htaccess file writeable or use your FTP program to update the file yourself.

If you want to insert the code yourself, this is the full code that has to be on top of the .htaccess file:

# WP Shopping Pages Link Cloaking START
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^elink/([^/]*)/([0-9]+)/([0-9]+)/?$ http://YOURDOMAIN.com/wp-content/plugins/WPShoppingPages/cloak.php?post_id=$2&link_num=$3&cloaked_url=$0 [L]
RewriteRule ^elink/([^/]+)[/]?$ http://YOURDOMAIN.com/wp-content/plugins/WPShoppingPages/cloak.php?name=$1&cloaked_url=$0 [L]
</IfModule>
# WP Shopping Pages Link Cloaking END

Be sure to replace the YOURDOMAIN part with your actual domain name!

3. Move the WP Shopping Pages link cloaking rules to the top of the .htaccess file.

Wordpress can automatically insert the necessary redirection rules but unfortunatelly it can not automatically move them to the top of the .htaccess file – and that is where they need to be! So check your links now and if they do not work yet you will have to edit your .htaccess file and move the rules to the top. To do that follow the following steps:

Download the .htaccess file to your computer with a FTP program. You can find the .htaccess file in your blogs main directory. See this link for more details on how to find your .htaccess file if necessary.
Open the file with any text editor of your choice.
Look for the lines that read "# WP Shopping Pages Link Cloaking START" and "# WP Shopping Pages Link Cloaking END" inside the file. Move those two lines with everything between them to the very top of the file. (If you can't find the lines just insert the code you find in section 2 above into the file at the top.)
Save your changes and upload the file to your weblog again via FTP. Make sure you overwrite and replace the old file!

7. Affiliate Program

Earn 30% commission on every sale you refer by using the WP Shopping Pages affiliate program!

8. Support Forum

WP Shopping Pages Support Forum

The WP Shopping Pages support forum is part of the WP Robot support forum, which is already a popular forum with several thousand members. Simply sign up there (it just takes a minute) and post your questions!

Please always post support requests in the forum, where they will be promptly responded to. Emails might not be answered!