Bah!

Had to shift my tutorial website to a different URL as I found out today that there was a rule about putting astores under URL's with the word amazon before the .com bit! I suppose it's to stop people trying to get higher search engine results from having amazon in the URL, just wish I'd know that before setting up the previous one and spamming plugging the link everywhere!
You can find the new one herea with slightly improved site mapping & indexing

Creating Text Links in an Amazon aStore

Creating Text links is very useful and surprisingly easy using the aStore edit/create options.

To get a text link you need to select from your astore tool bar- >build links>build text links> Then choose one of the three options shown -

Link to Favorite Destination, whether it's Top Selling Books, Top Selling Horror DVD's, Top Selling Indie Music

Links to Search Results, Bruce Willis DVD's, Wilbur Smith Books or Harry Potter related items!

Link to Any Page at Amazon.co.uk - Seller Profile, Leave Feedback Link, basically any page that isn't actually a product or search page

Then Get the HTML, click the highlight button, copy and paste into the web page, blog, wherever, making sure you are pasting it using a html edit mode.

How To Build an Amazon aStore

I'm currently working on a website to create a step-by-step guide on how to build an Amazon aStore. Any feedback on this would be gratefully recieved.

1

After signing up for your amazon associates/affliates account this is the first step in creating your own aStore.

The first category can be named using the custom title field. You then add products either by selecting an Amazon category. In this example the main category I have chosen is Music. This will then show the top selling items from Amazons music category. You could create a search filter for this Though it may be better to select a search filter under subcategories.

You can then choose a number of subcategories under the main category, by either using a search filter, adding items individually or using the provided sub categories to auto fill.


Be aware that this first category does not collapse when viewing other categories, so you may want to keep the number of subcategories under this limited.

You also have the ability to add text to the top of each category and subcategory by filling the box at the bottom.

2

You can also change the look of your aStore, very handy for matching the colour scheme of your blog, website, etc

You can select different theme's and colours for all apsoect of the aStore here, including fonts.

One thing I should flag here is that this is where you "Name" Your store, this is easily done by filling in the space for it at the bottom of the page. I have seen many aStores that still display "My Associate Store"

3

On the next screen you will see a number of options to add and position widgets on your aStore

The sidebar can be selected to show on the left or right of the page. If you select no widgets for the home page it will just show your categories and a search box.

Personally I don't like the Listmania options, though you may find them useful

the options for to show similair items, accessories and reviews I do find useful.

4

Getting your link!

You have 3 options here. The easiest is just to select the standalone site, which will display your aStore and you can use the link to it in emails, Blogs, etc.

The most popular use is for using "iFrames", this is a way of integrating the aStore into almost any website, web blog or similair. You just need to tick the iframes button, hit 'Highlight HTML' and copy. Then paste the code as HTML in any web presence that allows the input of HTML.

The final option of publishing to Frames is for the more experienced web master.

I will cover how to add individual items in the next tutorial.

Amazon aStore's - easy to create and very adaptable

Amazon aStores rock and are so easy to build! They also have a lot of adaptability, you can just use the little amazon search button in your blog, add a link to a specific product, create a number of different banners, on various sizes, fill these by setting a particular search term. It’s amazing!

The Tracking is also pretty good too, as well as being a reputable online business the commission starting at 5% is OK too!

As you can set up 99 different tracking id’s the potential is pretty unlimited too!
I’ve created a little website giving tips on setting up an aStore and some examples of what you can do with one.

I used Google pages to create this aStore Tutorial.

How to build your own aStore (Link updated)

Weird Stuff & Art on Amazon!

Now my blogging has lapsed a bit recently, but I just had to share this with anyone who might stumble across this blog.

Amazon are now selling art!

Well a sculptor has used amazons create a listing page to advertise their wares.

Unfortunately they haven't supplied a thumbnail image, but they have a number of images on the listing page, so you'll have to click on the link.
metalgnu

Banksy Mural For Sale (includes Free House!)

He must be the most hyped modern artist in the UK since Tracey Emin. Banksy's roots are in Bristol and his artwork is found all around the city, on walls, buildings and even boats in the harbour!

Recently due to publicity around some high profile Gallery exhibitions his work has become very collectable, if not controversial! Rumours are that even Tom Cruise has been purchasing his work. Recent works have been sold in Sotheby's for as much as £102,000 for a canvas of his work!

Now £102,000 for a canvas might not be so great compared with the millions that are paid for the works of some artists, but you must admit it's a tidy sum! Well, it must have rang the cash registers for the owners of a house that Banksy had painted a 25ft x 6ft mural on quite early in his 'career'. This is a rare example of his freeform work, he moved into using stencils shortly after this work it's believed. The current owners are proposing to set up a street art gallery in an adjoining derelict print works with the proceeds of the sale.

Apparently they had looked at selling it a few times but decided to reject offers that were made when they found out the buyers wished to cover the work. Maybe they should be public funding for this sort of thing, maybe a blue plaque and a listed building status?


Here's a couple of pics of his other work in Bristol
Courtesy of Visit Bristol

On the side of the Thekla, bristols floating music venue

The Mild Mild West, Cheltenham Road.





For more details of the forthcoming sale and exhibition of his work check out the Red Pepper Gallery in Devon.

Please also check his own website for his comments about the prices his work is going for at auction.

Here's the BBC gallery of Banksy art work snapped by the public in London

My favorite all time Banksy Art has got to be the rat he installed in the natural history museum.

His latest book is definitely worth a look or two

Travel Tax Petition Madness

Peter Roberts, from Telford, Shropshire, a member of the Association of British Drivers (ABD) since 2001. Created the largest ever e-petition yet on the Downing Street website. Ok, it's a short history as the No10 website only introduced e-petitons in November 06.

The petition has been backed by an almost viral email campaign verging on Spam. As of time of posting over 1million people have put their name to the petition as a result of emails such as this -

"Sarah Kennedy was on about this proposed car tax scheme on the radio,
apparently there is only one month left to register your objection to the
'Pay as you go' road tax.

The petition is on the 10 Downing St website but they didn't tell anybody
about it. Therefore at the time of Sarah's comments only 250,000 people had
signed it so far and 750,000 signatures are required to stop them introducing it.

This is legit... from 10 Downing Street 's website.

Once you've given your details (you don't have to give your full
address, just house number and postcode will do), they will send you an
email with a link in it. Once you click on that link, you'll have signed
the petition.

Democracy in action?
The government's proposal to introduce road pricing will mean you having to
purchase a tracking device for your car and paying a monthly bill to use
it. The tracking device will cost about £200 and in a recent study by the
BBC, the lowest monthly bill was £28 for a rural florist and £194 for a
delivery driver. A non working mother who used the car to take the kids to
school paid £86 in one month.

On top of this massive increase in tax, you will be tracked. Somebody will
know where you are at all times. They will also know how fast you have been
going, so even if you accidentally creep over a speed limit in time you can
probably expect a Notice of Intended Prosecution with your monthly bill.

If you care about our freedom and stopping the constant bashing of the car
driver, please sign the petition on No 10's new website (link below) and
pass this on to as many people as possible.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk Then click on view petitions.

So you see it has gained plenty of support, but is it democratic to only formulate the argument against and not the argument for, using scare tactics to get a knee-jerk response from the British Public?

The proposals aren't new, and have been discussed openly. This over reaction seems to be based upon the publication of the "Eddington Report" a study commissioned by the government in 2005. This report looked into the possibilities for road pricing, road building, rail and airport investment, as well as the planning system. This report was published in November 2006 and was widely reported on at the time.

The purpose of this petition organised by a minority using scare tactics is quite shameful as it does nothing to discuss or highlight the problems we face if we do nothing.

PROFESSOR DAVID BEGG, FORMER GOVERNMENT ADVISER
If we don't do national road pricing, and we want to keep congestion constant in Britain over the next 20 years, we'd have to build five times the amount of roads the government are planning.

EDMUND KING, RAC FOUNDATION
We believe road pricing on 10% of the network at certain times would help.

SIR PAITRCK BROWN, INDEPENDENT TRANSPORT COMMISSION
We ought to be saying the technology is available for road charging, let's get on with it. Politicians in every party are running scared.

JAMES HOOKHAM, DEPUTY CHIEF EXECUTIVE, FREIGHT TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION
Protecting freight flows along our key Trade Routes should be a priority for government that cannot wait for the introduction of road pricing or the other recommendations in the Eddington Transport Study.

No. 10
doing nothing would lead to a 25% increase in congestion "in less than a decade".

Here's a link to the petition which is in favour of taking action to stop uncontrolled traffic growth, just to provide a balance
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/TRACK-CARS/

Bear in mind that by choosing to do nothing is something you may regret in years to come, and that in doing so you will be condemning this country to traffic chaos. We are a small country with a very poor public transport infrastructure, economically we can't shy away from the difficult decisions that need to be made now, before it's too late! The Eddington study said charging could benefit the economy by £28bn a year.

Here's a couple of other links that are worth checking for a more balanced version of what road charging may involve and why it may be needed.


BBC 1st December - some good links to other reporting of the eddington report

The first news report of the petition as it reached the 230,000 mark on the 11th January

Roads petition breaks a million - BBC News on the story of the petition breaking the million

Added on Monday 12th Feb -
It looks like the weight of the petition has caused the government to admit "it was important to have a proper debate on the subject and consider a range of views"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6352957.stm

Also have been informed the Sunday Post did a rather good job of reportingand investigating the false claims around this petition using this headline-

More than one million sign “nonsense” petition

E-mail lies spark
road tax protest