How to Use Pinterest Affiliate Marketing to Make Money Blogging

I sometimes use affiliate links in content. This doesn’t cost you anything but I may make a commission payment from anything you buy through these links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. All opinions remain my own.

As a Pinterest manager, one of the questions I see a lot about Pinterest is ‘how to make money with Pinterest.’ And my answer is the same – you don’t make money with Pinterest; you get traffic from Pinterest. You send this traffic to things that make you money, and one of those is affiliate marketing. But there is some strategy involved with Pinterest affiliate marketing.

What is Pinterest affiliate marketing?

Glance back to 2015, and Pinterest banned affiliate links on the platform. As with many things, people had abused the system, and there were loads of spammy affiliate pin accounts ruining the platform, and they were sick of it.

Flash forward to today, and things are different. Pinterest is happy with affiliate sales links, which means there are various approaches to showcase affiliate products among your other pins. This doesn’t mean you should go to pre-2015 approaches and shove loads of pins that just go straight to affiliate products though. There’s strategy to those Pins (of course!)

Finding links and checking the rules

We’ve talked before about affiliate marketing, but in a nutshell, it is a type of passive income way to make money by referring your target audience to a website to buy a product. This is done with something called cookies that track who arrives on the website and from where. If someone clicks a link in your post, the cookie registers it, and then if they buy something, you get an affiliate payout – at no extra charge for the customer.

Sometimes you can add direct affiliate links to your pins, but the most effective way tends to be to create content around a relevant keyword and include the links in it. Then you can promote the blog post to your social media platforms, Pinterest and email list.

Amazon Affiliate Program

There are a few different ways to find affiliate links. One of the big ones is Amazon – they have their own Affiliate program where you can grab special links from their website and use them in your posts. Let’s face it there is something for nearly all niches on there. But Amazon is a little more complicated than other programs, and one stipulation is you can’t use product links directly on Pinterest, social media or in emails.

So what does this mean? Simply, the aim of Amazon is to include relevant and eye-catching affiliate links in your posts. Then create pins for the post and add these to Pinterest. Your reader sees the pin, clicks on your blog post, reads your awesome content and clicks the affiliate link. They buy the item you mention (or anything else) within the 24 hour cookie window, and you get a payout.

Affiliate networks

Another approach is to join an affiliate network that houses a range of programs. These can be some of the best affiliate programs for Pinterest as they are less strict than Amazon.

One example of this is ShareASale, where the Tailwind affiliate program is found. This is different from their referral credit, where you get $15 for referring someone. It is a pay-out based on your referral’s plan and can make you more money if they take power ups.

Rakuten is another example of an affiliate network, as is Awin. There are lots, and they all house different programs. As far as Pinterest affiliate marketing, it is important to check the individual program as to whether you can share links directly to Pinterest. Many of them allow it, but always be certain before you do.

Individual programs

Lots of businesses and even bloggers have individual programs where you can sign up to be an affiliate. I have one for my eBook and Pinterest services, which is available through SendOwl.  People can sign up, promote my products and make money when someone buys something. I don’t have rules, so if someone wanted to share a link straight to Pinterest, I’m cool with that.

In fact, some companies even provide what are known as ‘assets’, often including Pinterest images. You can share these with an affiliate link. The only downside with this is that you can end up sharing the same pin as other people. So it might be better to make your own version and add the affiliate link.

What kind of links could you use?

One of the great things about affiliate marketing is that there’s no limit to the things you can share. I would always say you want to choose things that are relevant. For me, here on this blog, I share tools that I use or have been recommended; sometimes, I share courses and eBooks or bundles. Occasionally it might be books on Amazon or even office stationery or planners because these are all potentially relevant to my audience.

I tend to write review posts on my food blog with affiliate links for the products reviewed. This might be blenders, sheet pans, or the Instant Pot. I also add links for things like unusual types of alcohol when mentioned in a post to show people where to get it from.

There are loads of ideas you can use for affiliate links. Sometimes there are even ‘freebie’ links where you can promote a freebie product or opt-in, and the cookie lasts long enough that if that person takes a paid product in 3-6 months, you get an affiliate payment. 

The technical side of affiliate marketing

As with everything online, there are some technical things to keep an eye on and make sure you cover. Check these Pinterest affiliate marketing rules to keep from getting yourself into trouble!

Top of the list is the need to have the right disclosure on your blog posts that tells people you have affiliate links in your post. If you are in the US, there are FTC regulations that govern. And elsewhere, it is easy to follow the US rules because you will likely get a lot of traffic from there.

You can also add something to your pin to show it is an affiliate post. A simple #affiliate will work, although it is less regulated as to whether you need to do this. Some sources say yes; others say you are okay if you have a disclosure on your post before the links. I’m no lawyer, so check this out for yourself to be sure.

The other thing to watch for is link shorteners from posts to affiliates. I’ve used Pretty Links in the past, but some companies (read: Amazon) don’t like them. And there is some thought that Pinterest doesn’t like them either. You can use UTM codes to make tracking which Pins are sending traffic easier, though.

You Might Also Like The Most Important 5 Questions About Pinterest Followers Answered By Skylark Virtual Services.

How to create a Pinterest affiliate marketing strategy

Now your Pinterest affiliate marketing strategy will depend on your general strategy for both Pinterest and your blog content, but here are a few ideas to help you build it.

Look at replacing links with affiliates

You can create pins that link straight to the product rather than sending the person to your blog post. It is important to be clear that this is an affiliate link; maybe use a picture of the product and a text overlay that says why it is your recommendation. Or a mock-up of the software, course or eBook.

Make multiple pins for the posts with affiliate links

Another approach is to make a number of pins for each post and make some of these go straight to the product. This is also a good way to do A/B testing to see which works better – to the post or to the product?

Create specific pins for the affiliate products

You can also make pins that are just about affiliate products and don’t mention your post at all. Just make sure you can use product photos in this way, and it is allowed. Because Pinterest is a visual search engine, make sure the products have great images if you plan to try this route – and you are permitted to use those images this way.

Create a dedicated email sequence for bigger products, then create a pin for it

If you have an affiliate product that will be an ongoing promotion or even a limited time item like a sale or bundle, you could create a dedicated email sequence for it. Then you could make pins promoting the email sequence. Create a landing page on your blog that highlights why people would want to receive these emails – what’s in it for them? Then create pins sending them to the landing page. This is a little more complex, so it is probably good for time sensitive or more valuable items.

Make a board for products

You can also make boards that you use specifically for your affiliate pins. ‘Blogging Tools I use’ could be one idea, or ‘Best Kitchen Gadgets’ could be another. Ensure you use keywords for your board title and description so Pinterest understands the content. Or just add them to relevant boards based on what the product is or does.

Starting with affiliate marketing

The key to starting with affiliate marketing on Pinterest is first to get a clear picture of how you want to make money and what kinds of affiliates you want to promote. You need to create content that helps people make a decision that they want the product or service you are talking about. Then you can use Pinterest to boost this strategy and drive traffic to the right places.