written by Peggy Richardson | March 4th, 2013
At the end of the last post, I left you with this:
Next time, we’ll talk about how to manipulate the links on a Pinned image, including affiliate links, and super-mega-enlarged images.
So, let’s go ahead and complete our tour of a Pinterest blog post, first adding affiliate links and then manipulating image size.
4. Adding An Affiliate Link To A Pinterest Pin
Let’s assume we’ve pinned a nice image, using any method you like. (The magician waves his wand, and we are now looking at our pin on Pinterest. All through the magic of blogging, my friend.) Inside that pinned image – click on the image itself to open it up – and you’ll see these fields:
Notice that yellow arrow? That’s how we’re going to add an affiliate link to this image, so that anyone who clicks on it will be transported to a location where they can buy the product in the image. Inside the “Edit” screen, we can again manipulate the description of the image, and so on. But the field we care about right now is called “Link”. This is where you place your affiliate link for the product.
I’ll tell you a little secret: sometimes, affiliate links can be stripped out by Pinterest themselves. Someone who clicked might be still directed to the page for the product, but if they buy it, you won’t get credit for the sale. So first, we’re going to do what’s known as “masking the link”.
Let’s say your affiliate link for the product is something like:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/020530902X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8 &tag=MYAFFILIATECODEGOESHERE&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957 &creativeASIN=020530902XThat thing is ugly, right? And long. And, nobody is ever going to remember that. Which is why we’re putting it behind a Pinterest image – so they just click and don’t need to do anything else. But masking is useful outside of Pinterest, because you can make a masked link into something attractive, something that people can remember. All of the following are masked versions of that same link:
1) A QR code:
The QR Code to mask an affiliate link is great for things like business cards or other real-world media.2) A shortened link: http://goo.gl/sHZ7m Still not spectacular, but a lot less annoying than the long string above. There are plenty of link shorteners on the web, and in this case, I used Goo.gl.
3) A URL: When you buy a domain name for $5-ish bucks, you can use it to re-direct any URL of your choosing. So for example, if you click to http://imarriedmygoldfish.com/, (glub!) you’ll get to the same page.
So back to our Pinterest “link” field in that last image above – either numbers 2 or 3 will work in that field. Number 3 is the safest, because you control it for as long as you own the domain. Number 2 is probably just fine, because it’s Google, after all. They’re not exactly on the verge of going out of business. However, some other link-shorteners might be. Plus, Goo.gl might decide to change their rules without any notice and strip out affiliate codes. But no matter what you choose, just take that masked link whatever way you’ve created it, and paste it into that field. Then hit “Save Pin” – the big red button. C’est ca – fini! Your very own affiliate link on Pinterest. Do enough of these, and many people make good money doing it.
5. Adding The Option For Super-Sized Images
The advantage to this is obvious when it comes to design, or food, or etc. The larger images are in demand, but you don’t want them sucking bandwidth loading each time. So, to make the Pinner see all the images available when they click to Pin, you have two options.
First, you can make the giant image a clickable link of the first smaller image. See how I’ve done this, again using WordPress to insert an image into a blog post:
The purple arrow shows the name of the actual image I’m inserting. Notice that the native size of that image is just under the minimum size for Pinterest optimization – roughly 600+ pixels wide by whatever tall. But then check out the green arrows: I’m a little smaller, by about 100 pixels native size, and I’m decreasing the appearance size of the image in the post even more, to make it look a little more relaxed on the page, down to 188×300, as shown at the second green arrow. This is just aesthetics – a larger image would look silly and take over the page.
But to make a nice chubby image available for Pinners and others, you can have that image link to another, larger version of itself. Check out the large orange arrow in that image. It’s a larger version of the same photo, but about 3 times the size. That means that when Pinners click to select that image, they won’t be offered the tiny version, they’ll be offered the HUGE version of that image – the one that’s referenced in that field where the orange arrow points. Neato, huh?
For the geeks among us…
There’s a second way you can add not only larger images, but plenty of them, to any webpage, and make them very Pinnable. You can add an image, but tell it to display at only 1px by 1px side, at the bottom of the page. See how I’ve done this from my html program, Adobe’s Dreamweaver, here in the image properties box.
When someone clicks to Pin something from your page, especially, from a browser Pinterest button, all the images on that page are displayed to them, even those that are only displayed this small. What a very rich offering!
Well, I hope that this series has helped you visualize more ways to get Pinterest working for you. I’ve had fun creating it. Please comment and show me how you’re using the information! I love to see that.
Peggy Richardson
eBook Creator and Podcaster Blog at WizardofeBooks.com Peggy Richardson is a geek with a difference. eBook creator, podcaster and opportunist, Peggy Richardson uses her technical background to be an efficient and modern transmitter of information. Having now participated in the creation of over 180 eBooks and other digital information products for both herself and her clients, she seeks ways to get people talking, and build communication channels online and offline. Peggy blogs about eBooks and the world of online publishing and marketing at WizardofeBooks.com. With curiosity and flair, Peggy excels at making the unclear clear, bridging the gap between people and technology, and generally stirring up trouble.
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