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[Must Read] If you use Amazon Affiliate Link Localizer ...

by JamesJeffery
13 replies
Thanks to Pete Myer for recommending this worpress plugin to me, but I've discovered a problem that I think people should be aware of.

I'm from the UK. I tested with a US product.

I installed the plugin, added all my Amazon ID's (apart from JP) and added a product from United States. I made sure the product was available in the UK with the exact product ID.

I then loaded up my page. Nothing! It was showing the US link.

I checked the source code, and seen that the Javascript had been loaded, so the plugin was installed and functioning properly.

I then checked any Javascript errors. BINGO!

Code:
Error: google.loader.ClientLocation is null
Source File: http://mysite.com/wp-content/plugins/amazon-affiliate-link-localizer/js/amazon_linker.min.js
Line: 1
I dug a little deeper and found out that google.loader.ClientLocation is null if Google can't determine your location.

I happened to have an IP that Google can't determine.

Now imagine if I was a potential customer. You would have just lost a lead. Better still, how many leads have you lost because the user was directed to the wrong Amazon site for their country.

Thought I would let you all know.
#affiliate #amazon #link #localizer #read
  • Profile picture of the author JamesJeffery
    I take it people think I'm joking. 20 people with the plugin viewed it, and not a single thanks for discovering they possibly have missing leads because googles geo location can't find some peoples location from their IP address.

    PM me your site that uses it, I will run a test to show you. I've already tested it on my own sites, and on other sites I found on Google that use it.
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  • Profile picture of the author markowe
    I don't have this plugin but I have my own eBay plugin that uses geolocation. It's not an exact science, what can you do? Isn't it better to convert the vast proportion of 'foreign' visitors, albeit misdirecting a few, than only focusing on US and missing out on UK, CA and everything else? It's impossible to correctly identify ALL IP addresses.

    However, if there is an issue with the plugin why not take it up with the author..?
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    Who says you can't earn money as an eBay affiliate any more? My stats say otherwise

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    • Profile picture of the author JamesJeffery
      Originally Posted by markowe View Post

      I don't have this plugin but I have my own eBay plugin that uses geolocation. It's not an exact science, what can you do? Isn't it better to convert the vast proportion of 'foreign' visitors, albeit misdirecting a few, than only focusing on US and missing out on UK, CA and everything else? It's impossible to correctly identify ALL IP addresses.

      However, if there is an issue with the plugin why not take it up with the author..?
      I've sent an email to the author. I am alerting people on Warrior Forums to be aware of the issue. It's not the authors fault as such.

      There are geo location services such as maxmind that offer a free database that is pretty sharp.

      The fact Google can't convert my IP address into a city is worrying because I live in a big city using the IP addresses allocated by BT. Never had any problem locating my IP using other services apart from Google.

      I'm trying to find an alternative to no avail. I will probaby code a similar plugin when I get back today that uses a better geo location provider.

      I've ran mass facebook campaigns dealing with 100,000+ traffic a day using the max mind database and have never had an issue with geo targeting. My concern is how many leads are actually being lost. I can bet it's more than 1 or 2.
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  • Profile picture of the author markowe
    Yeah, you'd think Google's database was pretty on-the-ball. Maybe there's another issue going on there. Could be it's timing out..?

    I wasn't aware of the Max Mind service - I have been using a cheesy open source one - HostIP, which works fine most of the time, that I have managed to test.

    Anyway, not enough Internet marketers are using plugins that geolocate for them and are missing out on a fair slab of sales. I think it's not as much as you think, if you are just relying on Google traffic, since Google tends to target a specific country for your site, but still, I always pick up maybe 20% more sales using geolocation.
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  • Profile picture of the author markowe
    P.S. I just looked at the Max Mind database - it seems more accurate than the one I am using, just on the basis of a couple of tests I did. But you said the database was free, I only see paying options. I would be happy just to have a country code returned for the purposes of targetting eBay or Amazon.
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    • Profile picture of the author JamesJeffery
      I'm on my iPhone at the moment but type in google "maxmind free country database" I will back home in about an hour if you can't find it I will send you a message with the url.
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  • Profile picture of the author markowe
    Thanks mate, got it.

    Shame, doesn't look like there's an online API, just a downloadable file which you have to update every month. Kind of a pain from a programming point of view, especially if you want to bundle it with a Wordpress plugin. Still having a look though, maybe I can use it somehow.
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    • Profile picture of the author JamesJeffery
      If you bundle the plugin with the .dat file and provide an interface to update when it's out of date that should work and be more reliable. You could also create an api on a separate server and pass the ip to it and get a json/text response.

      A lot of plugins that provide geo targeting use ipnation. It's a database file again. I've never used it though.
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  • Profile picture of the author shortorder
    Lookup the GeoTargeting plugin. I think this uses the maxmind db and updates automatically - note: this is a paid plugin.

    You do have to hand crank the Amazon links yourself though and enter them into the plugin.
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    • Profile picture of the author JamesJeffery
      Originally Posted by shortorder View Post

      Lookup the GeoTargeting plugin. I think this uses the maxmind db and updates automatically - note: this is a paid plugin.

      You do have to hand crank the Amazon links yourself though and enter them into the plugin.
      I'm working on an Amazon plugin as we speak that uses Maxmind. It will work exactly the same as the Amazon Link Localizer.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Ward
    I had a similar issue in my testing but didn't dig as deeply as you did. I'm Canadian, and it wasn't giving me any Amazon.ca links at all. I removed the plugin shortly after seeing that.
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    "Keep moving forward."
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Oxby
    Hi James, looking forward to your plugin. I use the localizer (CA/UK) on most of my sites as about 35% of my visitors are from those countries. As you have identified the current plugin does not appear to work correctly.
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  • Profile picture of the author phpnetpro
    Sorry to hear about your issues with that particular Amazon plugin. A javascript localizer like that can certainly have it's drawbacks and isn't a good idea to use that for situations like sales referrals. I don't want to toot my own horn, but this is very relevant - I have my own Amazon Wordpress plugin that does a great job with link localization based on a database and not javascript. I made it because of the poor quality I saw with other Amazon plugins.

    Even beyond the IP issue, with it being javascript based, a certain portion of your visitors won't even have their IP checked if javascript is disabled on their browser. For important issues like this, it's never a good idea to use javascript unless you have also provided degrading code.
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