TicTap Contextual Ads

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TicTap Contextual Ads is a free technology that shows Adsense-styled Amazon product ads in your web pages.

TCA has the following benefits:

Earn commissions as Amazon Associates.
Differentiate your ads by styling them with CSS.
By hovering the mouse over a product, your users will see product information and reviews.
Available for Amazon.com, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.co.jp.
Enhance your current Amazon product links to show product information and reviews. Enhanced links can be styled with CSS too.
You can continue to use Google Adsense.
You get to keep all of your referral income.

Live Demo

This is an example of an enhanced Amazon link.

WordPress Plugin for TCA

Are you a WordPress user? Then head this way to get the WordPress Plugin for TicTap Contextual Ads. Non-WordPress users should follow the instructions below.

Instructions

In order to use TicTap Contextual Ads, please paste the following code into your web page.

Select code

You only need to configure the tca_run() function which runs the TCA service.

The function declation is tca_run(aff, maxResults, userdef_str, useTitle, useDesc, useKeywords, amazon_locale, image_width, enhanceLinks).

aff: Your Amazon Associate ID. If you leave an empty string, TCA will use TicTap's Associate ID.
maxResults: The number of products to show, up to a maximum of 50.
userdef_str: Keywords you use to search for products. If you use non-ASCII characters, your web page's character encoding should be set to UTF-8 or errors will occur.
useTitle: true or false. Should TCA include your page's <title> string to search for products?
useDesc: true or false. Should TCA include your page's <meta description=".."> string to search for products?
useKeywords: true or false. Should TCA include your page's <meta keywords=".."> string to search for products?
amazon_locale: Set it to 'com' for Amazon.com, 'ca' for Amazon.ca, 'de' for Amazon.de, 'fr' for Amazon.fr, 'co.uk' for Amazon.co.uk, 'co.jp' for Amazon.co.jp.
image_width: The width of the product images, in pixels.
enhanceLinks: true or false. Enhance your own Amazon links to show product information and reviews.

The search string that TCA actually uses is the combination of useKeywords, userdef_str, useTitle and useDesc, depending on what you set. Our tests show that too many keywords lower the relevance of products returned.

TicTap Contextual Ads CSS Styling Options

TCA uses the following classes and id:

id: tt_amsense: This is the main <div> block that contains the entire TCA ad.
class: tt_amsense_pdt: Every product is placed within its own <div> block. They are contained inside the tt_amsense <div>. Within this block is a <table>. The table has two data cells, one for the image and the other for the product link.
class: tt_pdt_link: Styling option for the product links.
class: tt_amsense_attribution: Header and footer attributions for TCA.

The picture on the right illustrates the CSS styles below.

#tt_amsense{width:20%; border:3px solid red}

.tt_amsense_pdt{padding:7px 1px 7px 3px; background-color:white; border:3px solid blue}

.tt_pdt_link{font-size:77%;}

a.tt_pdt_link:link {text-decoration:none;}

a.tt_pdt_link:visited {text-decoration:none;}

a.tt_pdt_link:hover {text-decoration:underline;}

a.tt_pdt_link:active {text-decoration:none;}

.tt_amsense_attribution{font-size:77%; background-color:cyan}

Here is some CSS that you can use straight away.

Select code

Enhanced Links CSS Styling Options

Select code

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use TCA with Google Adsense?

In order not to violate Adsense's TOS, you should set useTitle, useDesc and useKeywords to 'false' in tca_run(). Use userdef_str only, and you should be fine. Having said that, you should still read their TOS :)

How many blocks of TCA ads can be placed in each web page?

Currently, TCA works with only one block of ads.

Can you explain what enhanced links are?

Sure. People insert Amazon products links in their web pages right? Normally, you would have to click on them to enter Amazon's site to view product information. With enhanced links, you can get the product information and reviews by hovering your mouse over those links. Look, here's an enhanced Amazon link for the Apple Ipod.

Can I enhance my existing Amazon links without displaying TCA ads?

Yes. In tca_run(), set useTitle, useDesc and useKeywords to 'false', userdef_str to '' (empty string), and enhanceLinks to 'true'.

I'm using foreign characters in userdef_str, and TCA doesn't show any items.

First, check that your web page's character encoding is UTF-8. Then make sure you've set the Amazon domain correctly. For example, if you want products in German, use 'de' for amazon_locale.

I set useTitle, useDesc and useKeywords to 'true', and I'm not getting products.

It's possible too many words were used and this resulted in no products found or products with low relevance. Set some of them to 'false' and try again.

Can I display products by specifying ISBN or Amazon ASIN?

Yes. Use this format for your userdef_str: (ISBN1 OR ISBN2 OR ASIN1). The brackets and upper-cased 'OR' are necessary. But if you use this option, you must set useTitle, useDesc and useKeywords to 'false', and you cannot add other text to userdef_str.

Yikes, my Amazon links are altered once I set enhanceLinks to 'true'.

Yikes, don't panic! This happened because you were using Amazon's super long URL. We shortened it as it is easier to work with. Rest assure that we did not hijack your Associate ID, change the product or the underlying HTML code. It works like before.

Will you customise TCA to my needs?

Just let us know! We'll try to be as helpful as possible, and your requests might even make it into the stock version of TCA.

How does TicTap support its ongoing development of TCA?

We insert our Associate ID into the 4th product of each block of ads, and the 2nd and 4th items under Similar Products. Other than this, you get to keep all of your referral income. Oh, and your Associate ID is never replaced with ours if you decide to enhance your links.

Does TCA work with Amazon's Preview Beta?

No, something odd always happens! But you don't need to use Amazon's Preview Beta if you enhance your links with TCA. It has all of Amazon's Preview Beta features, and more.

Roll Call

Here are some folks who are using TicTap Contextual Ads.

If you'd like to be added to the roll call, please let us know.

TicTap Contextual Ads Labs

Feeling adventurous? Then head down to our TicTap Contextual Ads Labs and try out the latest enhancements to TCA. Remember to tell us if you see something you like or dislike; Damon and I love to get feedback.

As the code is experimental, we suggest that you don't use it on a production website.

Questions? Feedback? Bugs? Please contact us (Damon and Alex).

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