basic help with feeds

[affiliate12]

Tweet

hi

looking to create a deals/price comparison/offers/vouchers website and told that feeds are the best bet, i'm new to this so need help with the basics of using a feed and displaying the information.

how are myvouchercodes, oh coupon code doing it? the vouchers/new deals need to be automated but the price comparison does not, but it could be.


(don't promote icodes please) :sneaky

[Cheapdvds]

have a read of the below regarding feeds

http://files.perfiliate.com/solution...GuideFeb09.pdf

as for deals/vouchers then I think you dont relise how many people use icodes or a similar service.

you either use the above services or you use deal feeds from networks plus enter/modify a large amount manually and then that will be taking up most of your time

[affiliate12]

don't really want to use icodes - would build it if there were info on the net

[theDaveB]

Feeds are usually either CSV or XML. Some people download the feed into a database and the website queries the database. The other way is the website queries the XML feed directly.

The XML feed is just a massive file full of data but formatted for you, so it's easy to display. On some Merchants website you can configure the feed and say what fields go into it etc...

I know nothing on the voucher side of things, am talking about products by the way.

My site for instance (Can i Play ? - for all your gaming needs | Xbox 360 | PS3 | Wii | PSP | DS | DSi) is purely XML feeds, no database at all. So every time you refresh the page or goto another page it is reading a live feed and displaying it. As I use to be a software developer I chose ASP to write the code in but there are lots of plug-ins about.

Dave

[accelerator]

There are some more options listed at:

Affiliate Marketing Shopping Development Tools

Rgds

[affiliate12]

Is this correct:

You get a feed from Affiliate Window, upload the XML to your database?

Then, there is info in the feed you uploaded that gets information from Affiliate Window?

Then you have to display it on your site?

Surely thats not live?

[babrees]

No, it's not "live", the only merchants that I know of that have a live api are Ebay and Amazon. Oh, and AWin's Shop window is an api, but of course that works on the datafeeds. But there is no need for it to be "live".

I use Price Tapestry which sets up the database and imports the feeds. I can then "tweak" the feeds as necessary (datafeeds are atrocious to use!). Once it is set up I set a cron job so that all feeds are updated overnight.

[affiliate12]

No, it's not "live", the only merchants that I know of that have a live api are Ebay and Amazon. Oh, and AWin's Shop window is an api, but of course that works on the datafeeds. But there is no need for it to be "live".

I use Price Tapestry which sets up the database and imports the feeds. I can then "tweak" the feeds as necessary (datafeeds are atrocious to use!). Once it is set up I set a cron job so that all feeds are updated overnight.

Thanks, it doesn't need to be live. Say I get a feed from aWin. What happens with it?

[Leeky]

Import the feed into a mysql database, then query the database for the information required, however if the feed is live you don't need a database.

[sharonk868]

have a read of the below regarding feeds

http://files.perfiliate.com/solution...GuideFeb09.pdf

as for deals/vouchers then I think you dont relise how many people use icodes or a similar service.

you either use the above services or you use deal feeds from networks plus enter/modify a large amount manually and then that will be taking up most of your time

Such a very amazing link!
Thanks you for the post.

__________________
Movies Online Free

[suedeapple]

i'm new to this so need help with the basics of using a feed and displaying the information.

Read up on XML, and importing XML,CSVs into a database.

There's plenty of stuff on the web about it. Just use Google.

The principles of xml/datafeeds are not exclusive to the affiliate world. There's a hoarde of information out there, and its a matter of having the intelligence to apply the basic principles to the development you're working on.

Good luck with your venture - you'll sure need it

BTW - from a man of experience, use Icodes, or promotions.co.uk - they provide excellent xml/voucher code feeds, and take the pressure off having to update codes/offers yourself. Dont diss um, until you've actually know what they can do.