How To Add Amazon Widgets To Your Lens
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Easy step by step tutorial to put an Amazon Affiliate Widget on any Squidoo Lens
Well, now you can. With a little (actually BIG!) help of Clearspring, the widget network, and Squidoo's Clearspring Module. It's not quite as easy as putting the Squidoo module on your lens, but pretty close.
I've been fidgeting around with this ever since it first came out but could never really get it to work. But once I figured out which buttons to press and which options to choose it was really quite easy.
You don't need to be a a techie to implement this, I promise.
IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!
Clearspring.com has acquired AddThis and will no longer accept new signups. Although existing widgets may continue to serve for a while they can no longer be accessed nor modified. Furthermore, Squidoo will cease to support Clearspring widgets and will eventually remove them from the system, as announced on Feb. 18, 2010 here.
So please, disregard the current contents of this lens and check back soon, or favorite the lens so you will receive a Squidcast once a different solution becomes available.
Amazon Carousel Widget
Amazon Widgets Showcase
Look what you can do with your Amazon Associate Widgets!
Here are some examples of Amazon widgets on a Squidoo lens. You can use this procedure for other kinds of widgets, too. I'll leave it up to your imagination, but please keep it clean for all our sake's...
Amazon Movies and Videos Widget
Amazon Slideshow Widget
GoldBox and Lightning Deals Widget
Sale - Cheap - Quick - Hot Hot Hot - Buy Now!
Let me know if this lens was helpful
IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!
Clearspring has announced that existing widgets will stop working after April 2, 2010. No new signups are possible. Instead, Clearspring has aquired AddThis and will continue to offer a different way of embedding content into web pages. It is not quite clear how this would work for Amazon widgets, but I will update this lens as soon as I've been able to create a new tutorial.
If you have created widgets with this method I would advise you to remove them from your lenses before the April 2010 deadline to avoid potential problems!
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jackywww
Jun 25, 2011 @ 12:50 am | delete
- Pandora Bracelets Canada has always tried the best to give you Titanium Jewelry the best and perfect finishes. Pandora Canada has also tried the Pandora Jewelry Canada best to bring you the best Pandora Charms Canada accessories to increase your personalities and beauty. We hope our accessories will bring you luckier and happiness. So in this season, Pandora Jewellery launches a variety of Pandora Jewelry which contains Pandora Beads Pandora Charms Pandora Bracelets and so forth. You will titanium rings for men get whatever you want.
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Jun 5, 2011 @ 11:21 pm | delete
- Nice lense, I just published my first lens... yah!... I tried to add the amazon widget, but it would not work, is this more than a copy/past function?
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miaponzo
Jan 18, 2011 @ 12:50 pm | delete
- Thanks for the useful lens.
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CCGAL
Nov 11, 2010 @ 12:15 pm | delete
- It figures ... I saw my first carousel widget on a lens today, rushed over to make one of my own, discovered it won't work in the text module, googled "how to add amazon module to squidoo lens" (you're number 1, btw) arrived here ... and discovered they don't work any more. *sigh* But thank you anyway, because your big red notifications just saved me a ton of fruitless effort this fine day.
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Squidster
Nov 11, 2010 @ 12:44 pm | delete
- Yeah, it's a shame. Thanks for your kind words just the same. :)
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Wir55
Sep 28, 2010 @ 7:24 pm | delete
- On my Amazon associates page I can add a Widget and get a code without signing up for anything else. Once I get a code, where do I put it on Squidoo? I tried a text module but that didn't work. Help
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Squidster
Sep 28, 2010 @ 9:05 pm | delete
- Regular Squidoo modules do not work for this, and support for the Clearspring module has been discontinued. Existing modules like you see on this lens might cease to function at any time and Squidoo has not yet released an alternative.
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Wir55
Sep 28, 2010 @ 9:21 pm | delete
- ok thanks
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andreaberrios
Sep 12, 2010 @ 3:36 pm | delete
- I can't sign up something is wrong with the link... good information!!
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Squidster
Sep 13, 2010 @ 2:26 pm | delete
- I'm sorry, I thought it was pretty obvious from the big red notices I placed on this lens. This method is no longer supported. The only reason why I have not deleted this lens yet is the hope that Squidoo will someday approve a new method of placing Amazon widgets on our lenses.
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Mikayla
Dec 15, 2009 @ 6:22 am | delete
- Thanks for your clear and detailed instructions. Please visit my lens How To Create Amazon Affiliate Links for more ways to add Amazon Associate Links to your blog or website.
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stargazer00
Dec 8, 2009 @ 2:37 pm | delete
- Wow! Thanks for figuring this all out for us!
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j_nicole1
Dec 3, 2009 @ 10:09 am | delete
- I went to clearspring to create an account but it keeps taking me to addthis site. It won't let me even sign up
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Evelyn_Saenz
Nov 25, 2009 @ 7:23 am | delete
- Thank you so much for helping me to add a Carousel to my new lens, Harry Potter LEGO Hogwarts Castle Set, I never could have done it without your clear writing and visual clues,
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ChapelHillFiddler
Nov 21, 2009 @ 7:21 am | delete
- Perfect, beautiful. Turns out I reinvented the wheel when I did a lens on using Clearspring to put your own music on squidoo! Wish I'd thought of your excellent idea of screen shots with arrows. I'm going to send folks over here in future. Six, seven stars.m
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Archive: Clearspring Tutor
This content is archived since it no longer works.Step 1: Add A Widget
Once you've signed up and are logged in we can now start to create a widget. You'll find the button on the top right.
Step 2: Where Do You Want To Add Your Widget
You will be asked where you want to add Launchpad. Choose "On my Webpage" for a seamless integration. There will be no additional widget frames around your widget, unless you want to publish a widget for sharing.
Step 3 and 4: Name your Widget and Add Your Code
Building a widget for your Squidoo lens is really easy as A, B, C! You can ignore most of the options on this page. Just do the following steps:
- A Name your Widget. This is just for your future reference. It will not appear anywhere on the published widget.
- B What Do You Want To Share?: Add the code you got from your Amazon Associate account.
- C Click on "SAVE".
Step 5: Publish Your Widget
Yay! You're well on your way to publishing your very own Amazon widget on your Squidoo lens. Way to go!
When you reach this screen "Congrats..." resist the temptation to grab the code on your right side. It won't work on your lens.
You want to click on the link in the middle on the left side that says: "Publish Your Widget".
Step 6: The Widget Home Page
You'll land on this page with a lot of shiny apps, which you can safely ignore for now. Just hit the link near the top where it says "Widget Home Page Settings".
Next, you will be teleported to the page for your Widget Home Page Settings. There's nothing you need to do here, except to click on the link which will finally take you to your Widget Home Page:
Step 7: Post Your Widget To Your Squidoo Lens
A new window or tab will open and you're close to the finish line. The Widget Home Page!
For the first time you will see a real live preview of your widget. If it doesn't look as expected go back to square one and create a new widget. Or, if it's something you can change on the Amazon Associates page you can change the code over there. You cannot change the code that is inside your Clearspring widget! At least I haven't found a way to do that. Feel free to correct me.
Assuming it looks good we can now go to the final step - putting it on your lens! For this you must locate and click on the familiar Squid on the right hand sharing menu. If you don't see it try clicking the "All" tab and scroll down. It should be near the bottom left. At this point you should be logged in to your Squidoo account because in the next and final step Clearspring will connect to Squidoo and get your list of lenses.
The look of the sharing menu has changed a bit recently. If you do not see the Squidoo Squid on the sharing menu please click on "All" services and then scroll down the (alphabetical) list until it appears. It is a bit shy but it's really there!
The final step is here! You're almost done! Choose the lens on which you want your widget to appear. This will add a Clearspring module to your lens. You will be able to enter title, subtitle and description as usual - but you won't be able to see or edit the widget code itself.
Your familiar Lens Workshop will now open and you will find your new widget added to the bottom. Here you can edit title, subtitle and description if you want. You still won't be able to see the actual widget code though.
You Did It!!!
