Jed had a great idea the other day, so I’ll give him all the credit up front.
The Amazon Affiliate Program Tiny URL Maker
*Gongs sound*
*Loud billowing god-like voice comes down from heaven*
World! I give to you, the TinyAmazonAffiliateURL.
*Squeaky little voice shouts up from a law firm*
(the true name of this program has been changed to protect the fact that I don’t know what it should be)
The Short Story without a Moral
Jed and I (and a zillion other people) use Twitter pretty often, and Jed wanted a way to refer to an Amazon product using an affiliate program, but quickly.
So, alas, I whipped together a very rough program to search for amazon products and with your affiliate number/key, you can not only get the url to the amazon product, but I throw it through the TinyURL hoops and come out with a really short URL that obfuscates (read: hides) the affiliate key.
This little script is useful for a few reasons. First, it’s quick to get a url for affiliate products, and second, you can hide the fact that it’s got an affiliate link on it.
The second reason is a bit more sketchy than the first, but they both serve their purposes. So, without further ado, I give to you the TinyAmazonAffiliateURL. Long name for a tiny url. Go figure.
Now, for your moment of zen. Here’s Jed speaking at his commencement:
Posted by Jed
HAHAHAHA. Thanks!
Posted by nate
No problem Jed. :) Thanks for being so cool. Now everyone knows what I know.
Posted by Vince
Wow Jed, you’re a great speaker.
Posted by Vince
D’oh! And the amazon/tinyurl stuff is pretty sweet too.
Posted by nate
Thanks Vince. :) Let me know if you use it often and if you have any suggestions for improving it. I’m open to that.
Posted by Heather
Wow, this is pretty cool – but is there any way you can have it search all of amazon instead of just the specific areas?
-Heather
Posted by nate
Heather, I thought about doing that, and it’s possible, it just takes a little longer to run, so I didn’t do it. But, if you beg and plead, I could probably get that to happen. :)
Posted by Sukh
Hi
Is it possible to get a copy of this Amazon TinyUrl script?
Thanks
Sukh
Posted by nate
That’s a great question Sukh. I’ll have to think about that. What do you think it’s worth? What would you like to do with it?
Posted by nate
By the way, I changed the links in this post to point to a new page dedicated to the script. I’d love for your questions and my subsequent answers (including the one about “Can I get a copy of this script?”) to be over there. Thanks.
Posted by affiliate tracking
affiliate tracking…
The normal everyday person would feel that spending the time to rack up stories on this subject of thought is a waste of money….
Posted by nate
And yet, you took the time to drop in your spammy links. Thanks, but you’ve been edited.