Handsome Logic

After purchasing RoomDiffuser.com and parking it, I decided to explore some affiliate storefront scripts to measure the performance of some Commission Junction merchants over regular domain parking. Kirsty suggested I try AffiliStore, which generates a full site using a datafeed from any number of affiliate networks.  You can also simply generate your own CSV and use that as the feed.

AffiliStore is free, though you have to pay to remove the link to Position Gold Ltd. that appears in the footer of your site by default. Apparently, they worked out a deal with AffiliStore to place this link with the anchor text “Search Engine Optimisation” on the free installs of the script. However, Position Gold Ltd. isn’t in the first 100 results on Google for this phrase. Not surprising, since it’s pretty much the same as sponsoring a WordPress theme with spammy anchor text.

The script was easy to use and the tables were easy to modify. By default, URLs are dynamic and ugly. But, there are some easy checkboxes and fields within the admin to generate search engine friendly URLs (eg: reed diffusers) and modify page titles. Also built in are an XML Sitemap generator and reciprocal link directory (which you can turn on or off).

AffiliStore’s website doesn’t offer any additional skins and the demo sites linked to haven’t done much to modify the design. Anyone with working knowledge of CSS should be able to modify the template files, though. Even if you don’t know CSS, some simple changes to the image files can spruce up the design a bit.

An easy way to search for sites using the AffiliStore script is to simply search Google for the text that Position Gold Ltd. placed in the footer of each free installation. There’s also a support forum on AffiliStore.com where members often post their own sites.

The script makes good (not great) use of heading tags, but the code is bulkier than is necessary in some parts.  By far the biggest pain in using this script was preparing the datafeed, which I blame more on CJ than AffiliStore. Once the feed was thinned out and formatted properly, AffiliStore took it like a champ.

As for editing the design, if you’ve clicked the link to the store I set up then you already know I haven’t taken it too far. Frankly, it’s ugly as sin. More than anything I was testing the script for possible use for larger future projects.

As a quick fix, AffiliStore works great. But for longer-term sites, there’s still no substitute for a custom job.