Frequently Asked Questions - Shutterstock Affiliate Plugin

Welcome at the FAQ section of the Shutterstock Affiliate Plugin for WordPress. This FAQ will help you to find a solution for your issue. We continuously update this FAQ with new issues and questions. Please rate a issue if it has helped you to fix your problem. Submit your question using the form below or contact the support if you have a problematical issue.

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   How do I get a Shutterstock API key?

   First, you must apply for and be accepted to the Shutterstock Affiliate Program. Visit http://affiliate.shutterstock.com/ to apply. Once you are approved, you may request an API key by writing to affiliate@shutterstock.com. Please include a link to your site and a description of how you plan to use this plugin.

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   How can I learn more about Shutterstock’s Affiliate Program?

   Please visit http://affiliate.shutterstock.com/ for a complete explanation of the program.

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   Why isn't the plugin showing me any photos in the search results?

   Ensure you've entered your Shutterstock API Login and Key in the settings page. The plugin will confirm your login details by showing a success message.

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   How do I install the plugin?

   We have comprehensive installation instructions on the Installation page.

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   How can my blog readers search for photos with the plugin?

   They can use the standard WordPress search to search for Shutterstock images

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   How much can I earn with the affiliate program?

   That depends on the size of your blog's readership, the nature of the audience and how well you integrate the Shutterstock Affiliate Plugin. Try experimenting with different styles to see which works best for you. And keep creating quality content to attract as many readers to your blog as you can. Do not forget that you can add image results within every post or page with the plugin shortcode.

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   What do this "shortcode" mean, nd how can i add image results to my posts and pages?

   It is a code which can be used within posts or pages to tell WordPress to show image results there. It is very easy to use. All you need to do is to add the following piece of text into the place where you want to have the image results appear:
   [shutterstock keywords="dog"]
   Now replace the “dog” with the keyword(s) you want. The images are downloaded in real time from Shutterstock’s website, so it may slow down the post or page loading.

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   How do I get my affiliate earnings?

   Please visit http://affiliate.shutterstock.com/ for a complete explanation of how you can get your affiliate earnings.

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   Why is this plugin auto-scrolling each time I search for something?

   The plugin is designed to automatically scroll down to the search results. If you don't want it to do this, just deactivate the automatic scrolling in the options.

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    How can i implement the Shutterstock image results into my Theme on any page?

    You can just add <?php echo do_shortcode('[shutterstock keywords="keyword"]'); ?> to any of your themes to show Shutterstock image search results there! Do not forget to replace "keyword" with the search term you want to use!

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    Login and API Key do not work! I get "Login failed - Please check your credentials" message. I'm sure that i have entered the credentials correct.

    This problem is because your provider might block the API connection to Shutterstock. Most provider do that for security reasons. Please tell your provider that your domain needs to have following setting enabled: allow_url_fopen = On
    In some cases you might need to create a individual php.ini with this setting enabled.

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    I got message box saying "0" instead of results.

    Your webserver seems to load slow or the plugin is loading last. Means it's waiting until the connection is established, if no "Data" is coming because of slowness - then it shows "0".

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    Is this plugin doing any kind of caching of results between the searches?

    No the plugin do no caching - it do a direct and realtime connect to some hosters which also causes some issues on some hosters.

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    I've noticed that when I insert your content at the bottom of the page, like on my search pages (the link above), image previews that pop-up on thumbnail hover are not positioned properly, they are partially below the line of the screen. Any idea how to fix this?

    This is an CSS issue, some themes use CSS DIVs and do not position them right on the website. Means they overlay the results of Shutterstock's hover images. We already tried to "override" this but because there are so many themes, you need to fix that yourself.

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    Am I allowed to customize your plugin code for my site's needs?

    Sure you are but please make sure that you save and download your changes. A new update (which will come soon) will override this changes. Feel free to share your changes with us so we can "give" them to all plugin users.

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    I get a "Nothing Found" error

    There are several fixes for that. You might first check if you have used a keyword which might not be in the Shutterstock images database. There might be also an issue that you are using the Version 1.0 of the plugin which had a bug on some webhosters. Please make sure to update to Version 1.1 where we have fixed this bug. We also have implemented a new setting for "Nothing Found" messages - you can now replace them with own Shutterstock images or with random/newest/most popular images for specific keyword(s).

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    Plugin results do not show up on my search page

    If you have enabled the plugin and if you have logged into the Shutterstock API correctly, you might want to check if your WordPress theme has to many jQueries installed. Try to get the plugin work on the standard WordPress theme, which should come with your WordPress installation. If it work s there, you might deactivate some of your JavaScript (jQuery) loaders in your theme. It might also help to move the Shutterstock Plugin jQuery above the "" in your theme.

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    I have changed/activated/deactivated the theme and the Shutterstock Affiliate Plugin did stop working. What can i do?

    As the plugin "writes" itself to the theme, i would recommend to deactivate the plugin, delete it and new install it new from scratch. Please don't just deactivate and activate it, as this will not change anything. Make sure you saved all your settings before you re-install it.

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    Can i search in other languages then english within the plugin?

    At the moment no. We are working on this feature for the next version.

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    How can i limit the search results to show images from my Shutterstock collection?

    Go to settings (Shutterstock in the menu) and look for the setting: "If nothing is found:". Choose "Images from this contributor" and enter your Shutterstock ID No.. If you know implement the search with a crazy keyword like "alskdjasoidjao" nothing will come up and it will show your images only.

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