Open your FTP client software (or use the control panel provided by your web host) and upload the Associate-O-Matic files to your server (web host).

TIP: Some FTP client software examples are FileZilla, CuteFTP and SmartFTP.

First, upload (FTP) the encrypted PHP files in BINARY mode which are:

• shop.php
• admin.php

Then, upload all of the remaining files and let your FTP software decide the mode to use whether it be ASCII or BINARY.

• /aom/[all the files]
• /aom/images/[all the image files]
• /aom/cache/

Ideally, you would FTP the files to your main public site directory. Just make sure you don't overwrite any of your existing non-AOM files if they happen to be named the same.

Example Store URLs:

• http://www.yoursite.com/shop.php (best choice, shortest URL)
• http://www.yoursite.com/dir1/dir2/shop.php (also works, longer URL)

The shop.php and related files can be placed anywhere off your public directories so long as the hierarchy of Associate-O-Matic files remains the same in relation to themselves.

Set the permissions for provided files/directories.

Normally this can be done by right-clicking on the file or directory from your FTP client.

NOTE: Windows users should contact their web hosting provider to determine the best method for changing file/directory permissions. Most likely they will provide a mechanism to do this within their control panel.

The permissions for Linux/Unix users are as follows and can vary from web host to web host:

NOTE:  You may need to modify your permissions beyond the below recommended settings. You'll know because Associate-O-Matic will give you cues that you still need to write and/or read enable a particular folder such as /aom. For example if 775 doesn't work you may need to make it 777.

• shop.php  [CHMOD 644]
• admin.php  [CHMOD 644]
• /aom directory  [CHMOD 755]
• /aom/images directory  [CHMOD 755]
• /aom/cache directory  [CHMOD 755]
  
• /ioncube directory
• all other permissions should be fine by default

We use ionCube PHP Encoder to protect our source code. Associated files are found in the /ioncube directory. Normally, simply uploading these files to your server will be all that is required. If you have any problems related to ionCube, please more in-depth ionCube installation instructions.

You can rename your shop.php and admin.php files or leave them as is.

If you rename the files, be sure to keep the .php extension on the end.

For example, instead of:
http://www.yourdomain.com/shop.php

You could name it:
http://www.yourdomain.com/best_store_ever.php

Now that all of the files are on your server, it's time to open the Associate-O-Matic Control Panel.

This would be the admin.php file or the new name if you renamed it.

For example, in a web browser open the address replacing "yourdomain" with your domain name:
http://www.yourdomain.com/admin.php

NOTE:  The first time you open the Control Panel, you'll be asked to enter your login username and password. Once set, you'll be asked for this login on all subsequent visits. If you ever decide to change your login, simply delete the file in the /aom directory called cfg.login.php. You'll then have a chance to reset the password. You can also reset the login from within the control panel.

Once you enter the Control Panel, you'll see a number of settings.

At this point you'll want to make sure you enter your correct Amazon Associate ID, Amazon Access Key ID and Amazon Secret Access Key. Please see the Amazon section of our documentation for more information. Also, enter the main information for your store. Please see the Site section of our documentation for more information.

Don't be overwhelmed by the number of customizations you have at your disposal. You can actually save your settings at this point just to make sure everything works. Or go ahead and enter some more of your site details and then save.

In the Control Panel Settings section of our online documentation, we describe in much more detail each of the various settings. You can login to your Control Panel at any time and update your settings.

If you would like your domain name to point to your store page (shop.php), please read this post in the Tips & Tricks section of our forum:

http://www.associate-o-matic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=52

Congratulations! You're done. Lastly, view your store from within a web browser.

For example:
http://www.yoursite.com/shop.php