I know, I know, you’re saying “what the heck is the Omakase program?” and the answer is that it’s Amazon’s first foray into dynamic content-sensitive advertising, through its affiliate program. They call it the Amazon Associates program, but until the release of Omakase, your affiliate links were static and were whatever you built when you logged into their Associates system.
The name comes from a Japanese phrase that’s used in restaurants. Apparently, Omakase means “make the decision for me” and it’s basically the chef’s choice with a meal. In this context, it means you let Amazon decide what products to include in the ad block.
Omakase is new, however, and works a lot like Google’s AdSense program, actually. You add a single line of code to your Web pages and then Amazon dynamically analyzes that individual page each time someone requests it, and injects ads for products that their system believes are the best fit and/or the most likely for your visitors to purchase. Very cool!
One big caveat, however, is that it is incompatible with AdSense itself, because Google limits you with the AdSense terms of service: you cannot include any other context-sensitive advertising on AdSense pages, so do be careful.
Ready to learn more about Omakase? Then check out the Amazon Associates program (it’s a link off the Amazon home page, 4/5 down on the left side) or go and read this tutorial article: Amazon Omakase Program.
Author Dave Taylor writes about business and technical issues on his two weblogs: The Intuitive Life Business Blog and Ask Dave Taylor Tech Support.
[tags]google adsense,amazon associates,affiliate programs,contextual advertising[/tags]