There are two options or strategies that you can use when implementing Affiliate links into your Pinterest pins and boards.
Option #1 – Don’t Change Anything
With the ban on using Affiliate links, most bloggers or website owners had a little “work around” for using Pinterest. Their focus was on directing Pinterest traffic to their blog, especially if the post had Affiliate links included. Each pin’s click-through link was the blog post from which the image came from. Since Affiliate links weren’t allowed directly on Pinterest, directing people to a blog post which contained Affiliate links was a great strategy – and still is! You get the best of both worlds, more traffic on your blog and a potential sale from someone clicking on an Affiliate link within the post.
Option #2 – Change the Website URL
With the lifted ban, Affiliates now have an additional strategy to consider when pinning an image. Instead of directing people to your website or blog post, bloggers can now insert an Affiliate Link! It is that easy! Find the appropriate link in your account or use our bookmarklet to grab a link on the fly and then paste it into the pin’s Website URL!
The good thing about this strategy is that it takes fewer clicks for someone to reach your Affiliate Link. The bad news is that they might not make it over to your blog where there are more Affiliate links just waiting to be clicked!
**Don’t forget to follow FTC rules and disclose the ad to the readers!
Which option should you choose?
Both! Test out the options and see which one works better for your categories, boards, audience, etc. You might find that one strategy works better than the other, but remember to continue using both on your Pinterest page because they each have their own benefits!