Dot Sauce

How To: Append Your Affiliate ID to Any RSS Feed Using Yahoo Pipes

Before I get into the actual solution for adding affiliate IDs to RSS feeds, here is a little background information on what led me to seek out this method as well as an example of how I am putting it into practice.

I am a big fan of the Envato web goodies marketplaces, ActiveDen, AudioJungle, VideoHive, GraphicRiver, but most especially, ThemeForest. Hundreds of fresh, high quality CSS/HTML and WordPress themes can be found from top designers.

The Envato referral program is pretty neat, earning members 30% of the first cash deposit made by anyone they refer. It is not a traditional affiliate program by any means. However, it can still be a nice bonus for little effort (the content really sells itself).

My earned cash is spent on awesome WordPress themes! I have downloaded many premium themes this way, essentially for free.

I Wonder If I Can…

I contacted Envato to request a way to add my affiliate ID to their new category RSS feeds. They replied to let me know that they currently do not have code in place to accomplish this, but would be looking into my suggestion.

I’m pleased to present that I may have saved them the trouble!

Solution for Adding Affiliate ID to RSS Feeds

I decided to find my own solution and came up with a custom Yahoo Pipe for appending my affiliate id to any RSS feed.

Using this solution I would be able to share all the beautiful WordPress themes as they are released on ThemeForest with my @ThemeHunter Twitter followers and earn some cash while doing so!

The Custom Pipe

I am using Yahoo Pipes to alter the original RSS feed and output a completely new feed with affiliate ID appended to the end of each feed item URL. Here is my custom pipe structure:

(Get This Pipe)

Customize the Pipe

Here are the simple steps you need to take to make this your own.

1. Login and Clone the Pipe so you are able to save and customize.
2. Paste your desired RSS feed URL into the “Fetch Feed” box.
3. Replace “?ref=DotSauce” with whatever affiliate ID you need to append.
4. Run your new pipe and get it as RSS!

Using my custom pipe you can create an unlimited number of revenue generating feeds from your favorite affiliate or referral programs. Embed your dynamic feeds on your site or even share them on social networks!

I hope you enjoyed this resource. Please consider sharing this article with fellow affiliates. If you have any questions or related ideas I would love to hear them. You can find the comments tab above the article.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Tags: Blogging, Marketing, Scripts & Software, Tools & Resources, Web Development