How to Make Money on Pinterest Without a Blog: Multiple Creative Ways

Casually scrolling and posting content on Pinterest is one of the ways ‘pinners’ use this image-sharing platform. But if you’re here, you’re probably dying to know how to make money on Pinterest without a blog.

According to reports, Pinterest has more than 367 million monthly users worldwide. So, if you play your cards right, you could make a decent income on the platform without breaking a sweat.

What you’re going to learn in this article are the strategies, tips, and tricks to monetizing Pinterest without a blog. So, dive right in to discover more.

Top Ways to Make Money on Pinterest Without a Blog

Pinterest is the third-largest social network in the US. Like other networks, it can provide a lucrative marketplace for sellers and a handy platform for users to make money.

Owning a blog on Pinterest is a great way to generate income. However, this is not an article on how to make money on Pinterest with a blog.

Moreover, that route could come with a high starting and maintenance cost. Luckily, there’s a way out.

Here are the top three ways to make money on Pinterest without owning a blog:

1. Work as an affiliate marketer
2. Promote and sell your products
3. Become a Pinterest virtual assistant

This article will take you through the step-by-step process of making these lucrative strategies work on Pinterest. But first, why use Pinterest, and how does the Platform work?

Why Pinterest?

There are several excellent platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, to make money. But what sets Pinterest apart is that you can reach people quickly while they are deciding what product to buy or service to pay for.

According to the 2019 Pinterest Seasonal insights, an astonishing 98% of pinners try new things they find on the platform. This figure means users actively seek ideas and products. It also implies that they are waiting to hear you out.

If you know anything about making money, you’ll agree that this is all anyone needs to promote a brand, sell a product, or render a service.

To get started, you need to signup on Pinterest by entering your details on the app or website. My preferred choice is to sign up from scratch instead of with the ‘sign up with Facebook or Google’ option.

Why? Because you can make changes if there are any.

Once you open an account, you’ll be prompted to select a couple of topics that you want to view regularly. Pinterest uses these selected topics to help its algorithms recommend ideas to you.

How to Use Affiliate Marketing to Make Money on Pinterest

Affiliate marketing is the top way to make money on Pinterest without a blog. Fundamentally, it involves promoting a brand or client’s products to earn a commission for traffic or sales.

Interestingly, almost everyone has promoted a product or service before. Just think back to that lotion, restaurant, or phone you loved and couldn’t help but convince your friends and family to try.

If the brand decides to pay you to increase their sales or traffic through your referral, you become their affiliate marketer.

This lucrative revenue sharing system is easy to achieve on Pinterest, and you can get paid in three ways:

1. Pay-per-lead (PPL): Your guess is as good as mine on how this system works. All you have to do is to bring potential customers (quality leads) to the landing page or website of a company, and you’ll get paid. You’ll find the full list of pay-per-lead programs you can join here.
2. Pay-per-sale (PPS): In this case, getting customers for a brand isn’t the end of the road. You have to make sure they take action (make a purchase) before you can get paid. If you want to get into pay-per-sale programs, then check out some of the top-paying ones here.
3. Pay-per-click (PPC): As the name implies, you just need to sound convincing enough for users to click on the link to get paid. Click here to find out a comprehensive list of pay-per-click programs you can jump on.

Working affiliate programs that pay you per sale can be challenging. However, the commission with this option is usually higher than for only bringing leads or making people click on links.

Like flour to bread, having a landing page is critical to Pinterest affiliate marketing. Why? Because some affiliate programs don’t allow you to add affiliate links to pins.

Moreover, landing pages can be the last piece of the puzzle for pinners that need more convincing to take action.

You don’t need to own a website or blog to get a landing page. All that’s required is to sign up on reliable platforms like Builderall that can host one for you.

With Builderall, you have all the tools needed to do affiliate marketing without a website.

You only need to drag and drop things to create your landing pages with it and there are done-for-you landing pages and funnels available for use.

Here is the step-by-step process of implementing affiliate marketing on Pinterest.

Step 1: Sign Up

This is a no-brainer and an unavoidable step if you’re looking to learn how to make money on Pinterest without a blog. However, you first need to find a niche, an interest area.

Having several focus areas on Pinterest isn’t a crime. But to get the most out of affiliate marketing on the platform, you need to narrow down your options. One or two focus areas should be enough.

Here, signing up doesn’t mean creating a personal account. You need a Pinterest business account, and a program or company to work with.

With a business account, you get extra features like Pinterest Analytics. Moreover, brands would be able to see your monthly viewers when they check your profile.

There are two ways to become an affiliate marketer: looking for companies on Pinterest yourself or joining an affiliate program. Luckily, there are lots of affiliate programs and companies looking to hire middlemen on Pinterest.

ClickBank is one of the top product retailers in the world.

It has an affiliate marketing network that you can join. Pinterest offers a great marketplace to promote ClickBank’s products. In return, the platform draws more customers to the site.

Applying to affiliate networks is the preferred option for many Pinterest affiliate marketers. First, you won’t have to look for individual companies that want to increase their traffic or sales through their affiliate programs.

Secondly, this option usually provides a higher commission than when affiliate marketers job-search themselves.

Once you get accepted to an affiliate program or join a company as an affiliate, you’d be provided with affiliate links. They are your basic tools to get the job done and start earning on Pinterest.

Step 2: Create eye-catching pins and a top-notch board

Once you have a near-perfect account, then you need a pin for the products and services. 85% of pinners care more about visuals than any other thing.

Therefore, if you’re serious about knowing how to make money on Pinterest with affiliate links, you have to nail this step.

Pinterest allows you to create boards that your followers and other users see. Your board should have a suitable title and a catchy feel.

However, it should be highly related to your niche. When ready, then you can start preparing your pins.

Many tools like Crello and Snappa can help you design pins from scratch or with a template. The most popular free software for designing Pinterest visuals is Canva.

Understanding what draws pinners to click a link can come in handy in this step. Firstly, you must use bright colors when designing a top-notch pin.

Consider Pinterest’s allowable shape and aspect ratio when designing. Also, consider making vertical pins and using HD images because they stand out more and are easier to read.

When your pin is ready, place it on the board. This makes it visible to pinners that are interested in your niche.

Step 3: Use your ideas to reach out to pinners

Lastly, bring out your SEO arsenal. Pinners search for keywords on Pinterest. Therefore, if you want to have any chance of earning your commission, your pins must pop up in search results.

This is where Tailwind can help you out. You can use this Pinterest management tool to team-up with influencers and reach new audiences.

Pinterest allows you to add descriptions. So, make sure you use the right words. But don’t forget to include the affiliate link. When a pinner clicks on a link in any of your pins, they should be redirected to a website.

Alternatively, if you have a landing page builder, then you can easily double-link. This means placing your affiliate link on the landing page. Then, including the landing page link on your Pinterest account.

Affiliate marketing is one good answer to ‘how to make money on Pinterest without a blog?’.

If you follow these steps to the letter, you should be able to make a decent income irrespective of whether you are paid per lead, click, or sale.

Tips on Affiliate Marketing with Pinterest 

Here are some useful tips if you find that you’re not getting the reach you want while promoting products as an affiliate marketer:

1. Create multiple pins for your affiliate links

Affiliate marketing is like fishing. One net should get you enough fish for the day. But to bring back a shoal, you need several nets. The same goes for the number of pins you create.

Your goal should be to attract organic traffic or sales for a brand. Therefore, your pin could convey information about the specific focus area.

For example, picture that you’re an affiliate for a phone manufacturer, and your task is to promote a new device. Clearly, one of your pins could focus on the features and specs of the device.

You can have another centered around the difference between previous models and the device. Your third pin could explain how to keep the phone safe. All these pins will contain the link to the website, thereby increasing your reach.

You can create different designs for each pin to touch things up.

2. Keep things simple

With multiple pins and a burning desire to earn your commission, there’s a tendency to overdo things. And by overdoing things, I mean over-commenting, messaging, or pinning on the platform.

This isn’t the right way to make money on Pinterest. In fact, your account could get flagged for spamming, or worse suspended.

Instead, ensure you’re moderate in your activities. This implies posting pins at intervals and giving them time to reach users.

Tools like Tailwind can help you manage how frequently you post pins on the image-sharing platform.

3. Grow your followers

Pinterest, like Google, is a search engine. Therefore, if you’re doing the right things, people will get to see your post even though you don’t have any followers.

However, at the end of the day, the affiliate with the most followers makes the most money.

While affiliate marketing on Pinterest isn’t a competition, getting ahead of your competitors can make a difference. The first step to get the upper hand is to find your competitors.

You can do this by simply searching for a keyword and clicking on ‘people’.

The second step is to follow your competitor’s followers. All you have to do is to click the ‘followers’ tab to see them. Nevertheless, you have to be careful with who you follow.

As a rule of thumb, don’t follow pinners that don’t have a profile picture. Don’t also follow many users at a time. Your account could get banned.

You can also grow your Pinterest followers fast by promoting your Pinterest page.

4. Use Pinterest group boards to your advantage

Earlier, we mentioned how to create a personal board for your pins. However, there’s another option to increase your reach that can benefit several pinners at a time.

Group boards are boards where several collaborators can place their pins. People use them because they help in distributing pins quickly.

For example, picture that you share a group board with two other collaborators that have 1000 followers each. These collaborator’s followers would likely see your pin even though they don’t follow you.

To find a group board that’s relevant to your niche, you first have to search or get admitted into one. However, you could also create a group board and invite collaborators.

How to Make Money on Pinterest Selling Your Products

Next on how to make money on Pinterest without a blog are the ways your products can bring you money.

Pinterest’s stats are impressive and huge for businesses. Therefore, the platform is undoubtedly a great place to market your physical or digital products.

A step-by-step process of monetizing Pinterest by selling your product

Follow these steps religiously if you’re looking to market your product on Pinterest:

Step 1: Determine your target audience

In affiliate marketing, you have to find a niche that you are interested in. However, when selling products, your niche is already set. Now, you need to discover your audience. This is where Pinterest analytics can prove useful.

69% of Pinterest users are 18 to 49 years old.

Step 2: Create fascinating visuals

There’s no getting away from making eye-catching designs on Pinterest. Without acing it, your product description and title won’t be convincing, even to an absent-minded pinner.

You can’t sell directly on Pinterest without owning a blog or website. So, you’d need to place your products on marketplaces like Etsy, Amazon, and eBay.

The links to product pages on these sites can then be embedded in pins. So, when users click on your pin, they’ll be directed to your products’ pages.

Having a landing page for your products can also come in handy. You can use it just like we discussed in affiliate marketing.

Generally, your graphics should include bold fonts, HD pictures, and designs that align with your brand.

Furthermore, pins that show a service or product in motion have a 67% chance of driving sales. Therefore, you should consider including steps on how to use your products in the design.

Step 3: Focus on the SEO aspects

Using keywords, titles, and product description are essential when selling products on Pinterest.

Tips on How to Sell Products on Pinterest

1. Use rich pins

Sometimes Pinterest’s 2:3 aspect ratio doesn’t allow you to add everything about your products on a pin. The solution to this is to use rich pins, which show extra information on your pins.

There are three types of rich pins: product, recipe, and article rich pins. If you’re looking to make money selling your product on Pinterest without a blog, then product rich pins would be the most useful to you.

Product rich pins reveal the availability, product information, and recent price directly on your pin. Although they are free for any pinner to use, your application needs to be processed first.

Pinterest has several algorithms, most of which deal with the recognition of visual images. One of these algorithms matches similar images with ‘rich’ information by a process called amplification.

Although using rich pins is important, consider checking the rich pin information included in other images that are amplified.

2. Organize your pins

Another tip you should consider is arranging your pins into catalogs. To use this feature, you first have to create a data source of your products.

When your data source gets the go-ahead from Pinterest, your products will automatically be updated when you make changes to their information.

Getting the right data source is the tough bit involved in organizing your pins. So, if you don’t have the correct one, then you can stick to rich pins.

3. Work on increasing the social proof of your products

Understanding how pinners use the platform plays a decisive role in determining sales or profits. So, you have to make sure you deliver and up your social proof.

There are several ways to get this done. However, three strategies stand out from the rest.

Firstly, you can capture the moment when a celebrity or influencer uses your product. Alternatively, setting up marketing campaigns can help your business look credible.

This, in turn, will help you make money on Pinterest.

The third option is to create a landing page with Builderall. You can add testimonials and reviews on it to boost your products’ social proof.

How to Make Money on Pinterest as a Virtual Assistant

Since you’re looking for how to make money on Pinterest without a blog, becoming a virtual assistant is another option you can consider.

But what does a Pinterest virtual assistant do, and what does it take to become one?

A Pinterest virtual assistant (PVA) is a business user that grows or manages the accounts of brands or other users on Pinterest.

As a handy side hustle, a virtual assistant’s job description includes several tasks. Some of the common ones include pin design, scheduling and management, reviewing analytics, and keyword research.

Here are fundamental skills and things you need to know before taking up the role of a virtual assistant:

1. In-depth understanding of how Pinterest works and its best practices
2. How to manage, schedule and design compelling pins
3. Experience with Pinterest SEO
4. Understanding of Pinterest analytics and what performance indicators to track
5. Compelling marketing strategies

PVAs can also help brands with zero presence on Pinterest to gain followers from scratch and bring traffic to their website.

A step-by-step process of earning money as a Pinterest virtual assistant

Step 1: Find clients that require your services

It’s impossible to become a Pinterest virtual assistant without opening a business account. But the real work is in getting clients or brands that need your service.

Reading through blog posts and searching the platform should reveal a number of clients that need virtual assistants. Still, be on the lookout for openings for similar roles.

Another strategy you can try is pitching potential clients through emails or trying out other social media platforms.

Any method that brings you closer to the brand or client you want to advertise for is preferable.

Step 2: Define your strategy for each client

Virtual assistants can make up to $1000 or more in a month. However, to really generate an income, you need to have a working strategy for your clients.

As I mentioned earlier, you can’t possibly do all tasks meant for a virtual assistant. However, a strategy that addresses the needs of customers is sure to bring you cool bucks regularly.

Indeed, many users only provide pin research, SEO services, monthly pin scheduling, and research analytics for their customers.

Step 3: Get to work generating traffic or increasing sales for your clients

Several free tools like Loop88, Pinvolve, and PinGroupie can help you grow a community on Pinterest. Clients generally take their hands off their accounts and allow you to refurbish it.

As a Pinterest virtual assistant, you can work for only 10 to 15 hours a month and still make good pay.

Getting a Better Understanding of How Pinterest Works

You can’t get the best out of Pinterest if you don’t understand how it works.

Here are tips relating to your account, graphics, and other activities that will help you make money on the platform:

1. Learn how to use keywords correctly

Like Google, Pinterest shows you the words pinners search for on the platform. Therefore, half of your work is cut out for you from the start. However, you still need to use them correctly for them to be any good to you.

Sentences, where you include keywords, should read naturally. This implies that you need to find smart ways to use them. No rule states you can’t take notes from how your competitors use keywords.

As a side note, don’t expect your pins to rank high for their respective keywords at the get-go. It usually takes time before they get to the top of the ladder.

2. Create a cutting-edge account description

Your account summarizes what your followers and other pinners should expect from the pins you place. So, you need to take out time to fill it correctly. I also recommend you add SEO-friendly descriptions.

Your ‘about me’ section should include keywords. Most importantly, it should be readable and fun. You don’t want to come off as someone who only wants to make money from others.

3. Learn how to set up your Pinterest boards correctly

Pinterest boards should be a destination for your pins. It can turn a passive viewer into one that desires to take action or use the information on the pin.

Therefore, it is another area you should concentrate on if you’re looking to make money on Pinterest.

Take this REI board as an example. Pinners find it useful because it contains several pins, some of which are products, and the rest are recipes and tips. All pins in it are top-notch, easy to read, and well-designed.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Monetizing Pinterest

Now, let’s go through some mistakes you should be wary of when making money on Pinterest:

1. Not understand the correct pay to charge or commission to receive

You can make a whole lot of money from Pinterest. However, this won’t happen overnight. You’ll need to be patient and willing to get average pay when starting.

Charging high prices can drive potential customers and brands away.

For example, virtual assistants can negotiate their pay with clients. But if you fix a high price than the average, then you shouldn’t expect to have a lot of customers.

Affiliate marketers on Pinterest hardly get to choose their pay. However, a Pinterest virtual assistant can earn between $5 to $300 per hour.

2. Using short URLs

If you decide to promote products on Pinterest, then you’ll be provided with links to these products. Some of them can be long and messy, and there’s a tendency that you will want to shorten it.

However, this is a terrible idea even though they allow for easy tracking.

When a user clicks on a long, messy URL, they get directed to the page instantly.

However, with a shortened link, the user may be sent to an intermediary page. Moreover, Pinterest doesn’t allow certain URL shorteners, including bit.ly.

If you continue shortening links, you run the risk of not get paid your commission since users aren’t exactly going to the site.

Using the link to your landing page would be a better way to go about it.

3. Focusing solely on selling to your target audience

This is a mistake that affiliate marketers and users that sell products can make.

Pinterest isn’t technically a virtual marketplace. People want to learn and be entertained with pins and not bugged with call-to-actions.

Therefore, while selling or promoting is important, don’t allow pinners to blacklist your account for the wrong reasons.

Instead, try to find a balance between educating and selling to your target audience. Every time you educate them subconsciously allows them to concentrate on what else you have to say.

Don’t be a walking advertiser.

4. Not keeping tabs on your analytics

If you opened a business account, then you should get to see amazing analytics about your activities.

Hence, if you’re serious about learning how to make money on Pinterest without a blog, then you would always track your performance.

Pinterest analytics and Tailwind are tools that can help you know the things you’re getting right and areas you need to improve.

Moreover, the brand or company you work for might want to find out your track record before getting into business with you.

5. Neglecting Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations

Pinterest is pretty stiff on user compliance to FTC regulations and community guidelines. They are included in the platform’s housekeeping tips.

These guidelines require nothing but transparency about your partnership when promoting products and services. However, it also applies to how you should use labels on images and pins.

You can easily use #affiliate or any other creative means to disclose that you’re promoting an affiliate link.

FAQs on How to Make Money on Pinterest Without a Blog

Q1. Can I earn money on Pinterest without having a blog/website?

Yes. You can earn money on Pinterest without a blog or website. All you have to do is follow the tips and strategies we’ve included to get started.

Q2. Does Pinterest pay pinners for placing pins on the platform?

No. Pinterest doesn’t pay pinners when the place pins.

If you want to make money on the platform, you need to get a commission from affiliate programs, sell your products directly, or work for Business owners and bloggers as a Pinterest VA.

Q3. Should I take an affiliate marketing course before I start promoting on Pinterest?

Taking an affiliate marketing course is always recommended if you want to be successful in affiliate marketing.

However, this article on how to make money on Pinterest without a blog offers everything you need to get started the right way.

Q4. Does the number of followers I have on Pinterest matter?

Yes. The number of followers you have on Pinterest is important. Indeed, it plays a decisive role in determining how much you can earn from promoting or selling products on Pinterest.

Q5. What are the best affiliate programs to join that doesn’t require a blog?

There are several high-paying affiliate programs that don’t require you have a blog/website which you can join. Here is a list of some of the best-paying no website affiliate programs.

In conclusion

Pinterest is a top image-sharing platform where you can make decent pay. It has a large user base, and according to its 2019 seasonal insights, 97% of searches are unbranded.

This means you can get to pinners early in their decision-making process. All you need to do is find out the strategies and tips that can help you.

If you really want to know how to make money on Pinterest without a blog, then you’d find the tips and strategies we’ve included useful.

But here’s one last strategy to help you make money on Pinterest as a side hustle or full-time job: have a plan and stick to it.