Pinterest is a social media network that enables users to find and share new interests by pinning videos or images to their boards or others. It was established in 2009 and has over 300 million monthly users today. Vast reach, right?
Well, this vast reach doesn’t only support you having access to millions of other users. It also provides you with great options to make money.
Yes, you read that right. It’s possible to make money on Pinterest with or without a blog. In this article, we’ll introduce you to Pinterest money-making ideas. We’ll also show you how to execute these ideas fully.
Enjoy!
Can You Make Money on Pinterest?
It might be quite surprising to hear that you can make money on Pinterest. After all, it appears as just another fun social network.
Well, beyond pinning your favorite DIY crafts or home décor to your board, there are tons of excellent means to make money on Pinterest. You can earn with or without a blog, through ads, and affiliate marketing, among others.
How Much Can You Make on Pinterest?
In case you still see Pinterest as a social network or search engine that allows you to pass the time, well, you’re missing out. Not only can you make money on Pinterest, but you can also actually earn high.
Although there’s no specific amount that you can earn per day or month, you can earn reasonably. And that’s above $200 per day if you put in a great effort.
However, the incredible thing about this is that you practically don’t need any wide array of experience. For instance, with this article, you can get fully equipped and earn the right to smile at your bank balance.
How to Make Money on Pinterest
Now that you know you can make money on Pinterest, you might be wondering how. Well, don’t get worked up. It’s relatively easy.
All you need is a good hang of your computer or smartphone. And a top willingness and dedication towards learning. Still, to do this, you’ll need to follow the following steps.
Step 1: Create an account on Pinterest
First, you’ll need an account on Pinterest. And not just any account, a business account. Don’t worry; it’s free, so get right to it by clicking here.
Next, if you have a blog or site, you’ll need to claim your website on Pinterest. This is to ensure you can easily direct your audience to your content and enjoy cool perks like website analytics.
Don’t worry; it’s not as complicated as it sounds. Pinterest has provided a step-by-step guide that allows you to do this easily. All you need to do is click here to get started.
Also, when creating your account, remember to input the essential keywords in your bio. This way, users can quickly locate you.
Step 2: Make pins and boards on Pinterest.
You now need to start making boards by creating pins for your account. You can create a great pin using free tools like Canva. It’s also easy to use.
Also, you should consider using “blog graphic” when selecting a dimension on Canva. This way, your design fits perfectly with Pinterest.
Again, just like in step 1 above, ensure you add relevant keywords to your pins and board descriptions. However, you must avoid keyword stuffing.
This is a deal-breaker that’ll stop you from getting traffic on your page. And without traffic, you can’t make money on Pinterest. Keyword stuffing on Pinterest can even get your account banned.
Step 3: Enlist on group boards then create additional personal boards each month.
If you’ve read other articles on Pinterest money-making ideas, you must have come across the instructions to get on group boards. Well, they’re right, and it’s very vital if you intend to increase your traffic and make money.
Yes, this advice remains the same regardless of reports of Pinterest directing more focus to individual boards. Join group boards that are important to your preferred niche.
You should also prioritize smaller boards with fewer contributors as Pinterest favors them. However, in case you want an alternative, you can use Tailwind Tribes. With it, you can upload pins to tribes where members can share them.
Also, ensure you create new personal boards every month. This way, you can still benefit from Pinterest’s focus shift to individual boards.
Step 4: Monetize your account
After all this, you’ll need to monetize your account so you can earn on Pinterest. This involves picking any of the money-making ideas and utilizing your account to achieve them.
Now that you’ve set up your account and pins let’s get right to our favorite part – making money.
Top Ways to Make Money on Pinterest
There are primarily two ways to earn on Pinterest. And they are with and without a blog.
How to make money on Pinterest with a blog
Using a blog is among the best options to make money on Pinterest, especially if you’re already a blogger. If you’re not and you feel the orthodox 9 am to 5 pm job isn’t your thing, this is a great choice.
Now, you may be wondering how to make money with a blog. Well, you’ll need to go through two processes. First, you’ll need to follow a 2-step guide. Afterward, you can then engage in active money-making activities.
- The 2-step guide.
Step 1: Establish a blog.
After all, this is about how to make money using a blog. So, the first step is to create a blog.
In case you aren’t sure what a blog is, it’s simply an informational website – business or personal – that holds content about a topic.
For instance, a fashion blog will contain information about fashion news, updates, and options. Hence, you need to create a blog that focuses on a particular subject of interest.
You can choose to create a free blog on Blogger or WordPress.com. However, this isn’t the best option. For instance, applying to affiliate programs and ad networks might be extremely difficult with a free blog.
As such, you should consider opting for a paid blog if you want to get serious and, in turn, earn money.
Step 2: Post-top-notch content
Next, you’ll need to post content connected to your preferred niche on your blog. And this content must be excellent as it’s very critical to your success.
It’s quite simple. Readers want something that provides a solution to their everyday problems. They also need the answers or information to be passed across to them in a simple and easily understandable manner.
Even more, they want you to produce them interestingly.
As such, you’ll need to identify your target audience, what they want to read, and how they want to see it. Afterward, produce between 5 to 15 posts that capture your audience’s needs. Also, ensure you do proper research and effectively engage your readers.
Achieving this might be easier if you choose a niche you’re genuinely interested in. For instance, if you aren’t a fashion person, you’ll likely know very little about it and get bored quickly.
As such, pick a niche that compliments your skills, passion, and market needs. And always remember to write from the perspective of your audience. Ask yourself, “If I was my audience, why would I read this?”
Beyond this, also offer high-quality freebies. These free offers entice new readers and make them interested in viewing your post.
After, you can request their email address, send subsequent posts and freebies, and establish a lasting relationship with them.
Active money-making activities
After following through with the 2-step process above, you’re ready to earn on Pinterest with a blog. Still, this is not the end of the route; you’ll need to engage in active money-making activities.
Here are two effective ways to begin earning on Pinterest after creating your blog and a Pinterest account.
1. Advertising on your blog
This involves the traditional way of making money through a blog – advertising. However, in this case, rather than Google or other platforms, you use Pinterest to drive the required traffic to your blog. Not to worry, it’s a great choice.
Pinterest isn’t only a social network; it also functions as a search engine, although visual. As such, people can search for things on it, after which it pops up results that direct users to different pages.
Luckily, Pinterest is far faster and easier to use in getting traffic than Google, especially when your blog is new. All you need to do is create a pin for every new article you publish on your blog. You can also add them to group boards, so people get to know about your post.
Then, when used consistently and correctly, you can drive enormous traffic to your blog. After, you can partner with businesses to advertise their products on your blog, thanks to the traffic.
When this is done, you start making money from displaying an advert. Also, based on the number of ads placed on your blog, you can earn between $5 and $20 per 1000 page views every day.
Also, remember that more ads and more views equal more income. As such, you might consider using platforms like Google AdSense, MyFinance, and Media.net, among others. Although the pay isn’t all great, especially if you’re new, it’s a great option.
Now, after a few months – 3 to 4 – you can then opt for a more high-paying ads company like Mediavine. You’ll need to have at least 250,000 sessions per month and be around four months old.
However, when you move, you can record up to a 300 percent increase in your earnings. So, it’s worth it.
2. Affiliate marketing on Pinterest
If you’ve been wondering how to make money on Pinterest with Amazon, this is it. This method involves making money through affiliate marketing.
Although it seems all technical and farfetched, it’s straightforward. It involves promoting a product or business to customers and getting a commission in return.
Just imagine yourself convincing either a friend or a stranger to buy a product and then earning a commission for each sale you make. Well, that’s all about affiliate marketing.
Only you get to do it through affiliate links that help you and the business identify that a customer comes from you. Also, the customer bears no extra cost from using your link. So, there’s no turn-off for your customers.
Note, that you’ll usually need a blog or website where you can post content, insert your affiliate link, and convince people to make purchases.
Don’t worry, in case you don’t have a blog, you can still earn money on Pinterest through affiliate links. We’ll show you how later on.
How to Make Money on Pinterest With Affiliate Links?
Making money through affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money online today. Well, that’s mostly thanks to the natural process it comes in.
Here are the simple steps to follow if you decide to choose the Pinterest affiliate marketing idea.
Step 1: Join an affiliate program
To make money on Pinterest through affiliate links, you’ll need first to join an affiliate program or programs of your choice. To do this, you’ll need to
- Identify the scope of services or products that your audience needs. And this is very important because trying to sell retirement pension plans to older people might be futile. This is because they most likely have one already. So, identify your niche and choose a product that is in demand among your audience.
- Check out for businesses in that line of product or service that offers affiliate programs. Ensure you get a full review of the affiliate programs and pay special attention to their commission structure, cookie duration, payment options, and affiliate support.
- After identifying a popular affiliate program, apply to become an affiliate partner. Note, that you might be able to register directly or need to go through affiliate networks like Clickbank, Viglink Expedia, CJ affiliates, Awin, and FlexOffers, among others.
- Wait till you’re approved or accepted as an affiliate partner. Then, create your affiliate links to start making money.
- Note, it’s not a bad idea to join more than one affiliate program. It’s a smart choice. It allows you to offer alternatives and complementary options to your audience. In turn, you increase your earning possibility.
Step 2: Use your affiliate links
Once you’ve created your affiliate link, you now need to use them to earn money. To do this, all you need to do is include your affiliate links in your blog posts and promote your blog posts on your Pinterest account.
For instance, you can post content about the best gaming release of the year if you’re in the gaming niche. Then with your affiliate link, direct your readers to where they can buy it.
Now, thanks to the significant amount of traffic already routed to your blog through Pinterest, you can be sure to get increased purchases.
Again, remember to provide fantastic content on your blog if you intend to keep your audience impressed and improve traffic.
How to Make Money on Pinterest Without a Blog
So far, earning through a blog has turned out to be an excellent option for Pinterest. So, you feel discouraged because you don’t have a blog. Well, don’t be, you can easily create a blog/website with no stress or hassle. Click here to learn how.
However, in case you still don’t have a blog, you don’t need to get troubled. Yes, even without a blog, you can always make money on Pinterest. There are various available options to do this.
Still wondering how? Here you go.
1. Affiliate marketing on Pinterest without a blog
Oh yes, you can also make money on Pinterest through affiliate marketing without a blog. All you need to do is join an affiliate program, as described above.
However, in this case, rather than using Pinterest to route traffic to your blog, you can directly input your affiliate links on Pinterest.
Then, when your readers click on the link, they are directed to the service or product page. There they can purchase while you receive your commission afterward.
However, you should know that Pinterest has quite an unstable policy when it comes to direct affiliate marketing. For instance, it was allowed when Pinterest started.
Then, in 2015, it was banned on the platform. And though it’s now enabled, you can’t be sure it won’t get banned again.
Also, you might encounter some limitations. For instance, you can’t talk about the service or product. Nor can you provide enough information that’ll convince your audience to purchase the product.
Again, some affiliate programs – like the Amazon affiliate program – prohibit including affiliate links on pins. As such, it might be best to have a blog or site to explore affiliate marketing fully.
Regardless, if you decide on this option, ensure you research the affiliate program terms on adding direct links to pins.
If they don’t support it, don’t add it as you’ll be unable to earn. Better, pick affiliate programs that support adding affiliate links to pins.
Now all this doesn’t sound very easy. Guess what, you can easily avoid it by using a landing page.
This way, you can input your affiliate link on the landing page and then input the link to the landing page on your Pinterest profile. Don’t worry, Pinterest never flags landing pages.
Also, using a landing page is an excellent option as you can easily customize the page for a specific marketing campaign. Even more, you can create an email list with the landing page.
Then you can follow up on these customers and introduce them to new offers. Sounds great, right?
In case you need a host for your landing page, you can check out Systeme.io. It is fast, easy, and comes with a professional outlook.
Also, add hashtags to your pin explanation to reveal your affiliate status. This way, you can earn the trust of your audience. Hashtags like #affiliatelink or #affiliate should do the trick.
2. Become a Pinterest virtual assistant
If you’re wondering how to make money pinning on Pinterest, then this is the how. Yes, you get paid for just pinning.
This method involves getting employed by a business as a virtual assistant. Usually, most online influencers, companies, and professional bloggers are too busy to set up a Pinterest account.
Even more, they need someone to manage their account, improve their online visibility, and route traffic to their sites through Pinterest. This is the part that you play.
Generally, your task will involve managing the Pinterest account of a business, blogger, or influencer. On the other hand, your specific functions will include:
- Creating pins.
- Automating the process of making pins.
- Scheduling pins.
- Collaborating with Ads Manager (Pinterest) to post Promoted Pins.
- Making keyword research.
- Establishing various sales funnels and opt-ins, among others.
Also, this method is pretty flexible, as you can have multiple clients and offer several management services. However, you don’t get paid by Pinterest. Instead, you receive payment from your employer either on a salary or wages basis.
Regardless, it’s still a great choice as you can earn as much as $50 every hour based on your level of experience. You can also negotiate directly with the business on your payment rate and structure. So, there’s no saying what price you’ll command.
With this method, all you need is basic knowledge about using Pinterest. Guess what, you also get a cool name – “Pinterest Virtual Assistant.”
3. Market personal products and services on Pinterest
Just like Etsy or Shopify, Pinterest allows you to make money by selling your services and products on it. And although it’s not a direct income from Pinterest, it’s still all Pinterest thanks to its search engine.
In case you’re wondering why this is a great option, this is why. Available data shows that Pinterest helps 90 percent of end-users to decide on what to purchase.
Similarly, users – 66 percent – buy items after seeing them on Pinterest. More, Pinterest routes more traffic – 33 percent – to e-commerce sites than even Facebook.
So, if you’re an e-commerce owner, Pinterest is a great option to earn. Still not convinced, you can click here to get more data on Pinterest.
Also, all you need to do is create a pin for a new product, and eventually, boards for product categories. You can even do this using various themes and styles.
Afterward, include the link to your service website or store in the pin explanation. Then you can sell a wide range of products which includes:
- E-books.
- Courses
- Printables
- Home décor articles.
- Accessories and clothing.
Even more, you can also market your services on Pinterest. Popular services that you can sell include:
- Consulting services.
- Management services.
- Coaching services.
- Branding services.
Similarly, to effectively enjoy this option, you’ll need to harp in on Promoted Pins. They are just like Facebook ads, only that Pinterest runs them.
As such, apart from answering the question of how Pinterest makes money, they help promote your services or products.
Also, depending on your preference, you can place ads in search or browse mode. However, we recommend the search mode as it places you in front of searchers.
4. Curate a shared board with a brand
Generally, this involves creating a board for a flat fee. This fee is paid by the brand interested.
You then share this board with the brand. And you’ll be expected to leverage your content, audience reach, and expertise to promote the brand. As such, you need to have a large and high-quality following to achieve this.
However, when doing this, ensure there’s a mix of the brand’s pins and yours. You can also include pins from others to increase your audience reach. It’s a win-win as you’re also increasing your views and followers.
5. Pin contribution
This usually involves working for a brand to develop new pins for them. And this is popular among smaller brands that can’t afford a full-fledged creative team.
In this case, you’ll usually work for monetary payment without any form of direct credit for the creation.
However, it could also take the form of a joint promotion. In this case, you’ll work together with the brand to create pins for an advertising campaign.
In return, you receive money. In this case, the pins could be placed on either your profile or the brand or both accounts.
Tips to Help You Make Money on Pinterest
As lucrative as making money on Pinterest sounds, it’s not a “get rich quick” plan. Yes, you can earn well. However, you’ll need to put in a lot of effort to achieve this.
To do this, here are a few tips.
1. Create a top profile
One of the few things that can make a mess of your attempt to earn on Pinterest is having a weak profile. As such, you need to ensure you create a top-notch profile when you begin.
You must also ensure that your pins are fantastic and adequately described. You need to appear professional to your audience.
Also, ensure you create a media or press kit for your potential partners. This should reflect critical statistics and facts about your business, blog, and Pinterest profile.
2. Apply SEO
Although most individuals consider Pinterest as merely a social network, it’s more than that. It’s more of a search engine, just like Google. As such, you need SEO to maximize the platform.
SEO is a strategy that helps you to ensure that an engine prioritizes your content when people engage in a search. This is important because most people only click the first results after each search.
So, to ensure people open your post, you need to ensure that your post is ranked high.
To do this, ensure your pins contain pictures and text relevant to the subject. For instance, if you’re talking about fashion, it might be wise to use an image of a woman dressed up and standing outdoors.
Also, ensure you place relevant keywords in your board title and description, account description, and pin title and description.
To find these keywords, you can always use Pinterest’s suggested search function. Input broad words and jot down the suggested searches.
Excellent Tools That Aid Money Making on Pinterest.
To earn significantly on Pinterest, you’ll need to have full access to Pinterest’s interface. To do this, you’ll need specific tools. They include:
1. Canva
Pins are the basics of this network, and you need to ensure that your pins are as attractive as possible. As such, you’ll need to undertake the general editing of your pins. To do this, you need editing software.
This is where Canva comes in. As earlier stated, it’s a free tool that allows you a wide range of editing options. You can add and remove text and change the text’s font, size, and color.
You can also edit the background of your pin to include a picture of your choice or reflect your preferred color.
Even more, it’s effortless to use. It also offers a free tutorial on how to use its function in case you’re having trouble picking up its basics. As such, you don’t need to have prior experience with graphic design to use this software.
Also, with it, you can avoid the cost of contracting a graphic designer. You can design based on your preference and at your convenience.
2. Tailwind
This is a powerful must-use tool if you intend to explore the Pinterest money-making ideas above fully. This is because it offers a variety of uses.
First, it’s a great choice if you want to schedule pins. Usually, it takes time to set up pins manually on Pinterest.
However, with Tailwind, you can now spend less time scheduling your pins. For instance, you can plan your pins for a full week within 20 to 25 minutes. You can even create as many as ten pins with one click.
Well, beyond being a fantastic time-saver, this tool also allows you to plan weeks ahead. Even more, it provides analytics for every pin made and analyses your boards. This way, you can inspect your pins and boards’ performance.
Also, it provides a tribe function as earlier described. As such, you get access to a broader range of connections and audiences within your niche. You also get access to excellent and vital content without hassle.
There’s also a SmartLoop function that allows you to easily recirculate your top pins at the best period for high engagement. It also ensures your pins don’t get redundant by putting them back in action regularly.
However, it doesn’t come for free as it costs $9.99 per month for an account. Still, it provides value for money. It also offers a free trial that you can take advantage of to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.
Conclusion
It’s always a great idea to make money online, especially if you feel you aren’t cut out for orthodox jobs. Looking for options? Well, Pinterest provides one of the best.
Thanks to its multiple earning possibilities, ease of use, and popularity, you can be sure to earn reasonably with it. In this article, we’ve gone through everything you need to know to earn through Pinterest.
Now, it’s up to you. Select one or more of the options above, follow our instructions, and begin earning.
