Using Affiliate Datafeeds

[moneybox]

Can someone point me in the correct direction to get information on how-to use datafeeds on a affliate site?

I understand how they are used and what they are used for, its the implementation that I am having a problem with.

Thanks in advance,
Trevor

[Lynn Terry]

There seem to be different types of datafeeds, and different ways to use them. You might have to get more specific to get your questions answered, as there isnt anything listed in the general searches or even Wikipedia for 'datafeed' or 'data feed'.

I'm in the same boat - while I've used them a bit, mainly affiliate datafeeds, I'd love to learn more about them and about the various ways we can use them.

In the case of affiliate datafeeds, most merchants offer ways to use them if they offer the feeds. For example, at (an affiliate network that specializes in physical products), offers datafeeds for each of their merchants, along with easy ways to use those datafeeds.

If you are working with them, click Tools > Get Data Feeds and you will see that you can download each merchants datafeed in Text, XML or CVS format. There are tools & programs you can use to do various things with these feeds. Or you can go to Tools > Dynamic Datafeeds and it gives you copy & paste code to display the datafeeds on your site (in PHP, ASP or ColdFusion) and it even tells you how you can customize it.

Most affiliate merchants give you tools and options like this if they offer a datafeed that you can use to promote their products.

I know to use Datafeeds with WordPress, which is something I am about to try out and test on some of my not-yet-public blogs. I love the concept - but like you, I just havent fully gotten my mind wrapped around all of the options.

Anyone else using datafeeds and care to pipe in with some info here?

[Kirk]

Trevor,

I've modelled quite a bit of my business around eBay's affiliate datafeeds - it's powerful, but I must admit it took a little work to setup. With eBay, there are two key approaches to tapping into their feeds, Javascript and XML. The Javascript path is dead simple, but you're pretty much stuck with their layout (but works for most people). With XML, you can pretty much do what you want.

Here's a sample of (someone's else) Javascript site: http://www.handbags-and-purses.org/
And here's one of my XML sites that the above site *inspired*: http://www.handbagszone.com/

After some consternation, I decided to bite the bullet and go the XML path using PHP. One of the key reasons I initially choose XML was to leverage the updated content for the search engines bots (since javascript is ignored by SE) - the auction data is updated in real time and is always changing. I also knew I could leverage the same PHP code base over all my sites.

My favorite feature of eBay's affilate programming interface is the ability to insert tracking codes into the affiliate URLs. This is *key* for me since I track the keyword page they bought from and the specific Adwords campaign that got them there. It would be a crap shoot without this tracking feature...

Check out http://affiliates.ebay.com/ for program details. If you decide to go for it, I'll be happy to give you some code examples to get you going...

p.s. Teli's datafeed tool looks pretty cool - I checked it out sometime ago and was really impressed with it.

[moneybox]

Thank you both for you quick replies. When I get e bit more time, I will research(read more about) the suggestions and let you know how things are going.

Thanks again,
Trevor

[mogsta22]

[Lynn Terry]

That would be cool. I'm setting mine up next week using her script. I'll send you a PM

[theuniek1]

[Lynn Terry]

[moneybox]

[theuniek1]

Hi Trevor,
I just set up a site called . Not too much has been done with it so far, but as time comes available, I will develop a template and get to work on the site.

~ Teli

[affiliates]

I've also used Teli's wonderful script and thought it so good I created a short training video for my subscribers.

You can view it here:

http://www.affiliates-world.com/affilia ... videos.htm

I also own Fourth World Web Merge but haven't used it seriously, though it does seem an excellent way to take any kind of data and convert into static HTML (which can then be imported into XSite Pro)

[moneybox]

[cscarpero]

A am in the process of using them with my blogs. I have RSS2Blog and will be auto posting them. There is a guy over on Warrior selling some pre made ones that you just plug in your id and run with it.

[theuniek1]

[PattyGale]