We partner with bada$$ companies that offer products that help our readers achieve their goals! If you purchase through our partner links, we get paid for the referral at no additional cost to you! Read our disclosure for more info.
Pinterest has long been recognized as a treasure trove for recipe hoarders, wedding visionaries, and home décor aficionados. But what you might not yet realize is that Pinterest is also a hub for lucrative monetization opportunities.
With over 498 million users, it’s past time you learned how to make money on Pinterest.
One reason we love Pinterest is that it liberates content creators from the often daunting requirement of on-camera presence.
Unlike platforms where success seems inextricably tied to the charisma and visibility of the person behind the camera, Pinterest allows you to captivate and engage an audience through compelling visuals and creative presentations alone.
This makes it a magnet for content creators looking to monetize.
The most popular ways to make money on Pinterest are:
- Affiliate marketing: Promote products and services through affiliate links on your pins, earning a commission for any resulting purchases.
- Sponsored content and brand partnerships: Collaborate with brands and businesses to create sponsored pins that align with your brand and audience.
- E-commerce: Utilize Pinterest’s “Shop” feature to sell products directly through your pins.
- Digital products and services: Sell digital products such as e-books, courses, printables, coaching, and consulting that cater to your audience’s interests.
- Advertising: Utilize Pinterest’s advertising platform to promote your own products or services, or offer ad space on your popular boards to other businesses for a fee.
- Pinterest Management Services: Offer your expertise to businesses and individuals looking to improve their Pinterest presence, managing and optimizing their accounts for a fee.
You may have heard of the Pinterest Creator rewards program, but it has since been closed.
We will explore all of these methods in further detail along with key strategies to increase reach and engagement on Pinterest.
Before you begin your journey of learning how to make money on Pinterest, make sure that you have a Pinterest business account to access the full features of monetization and analytics.
How to Find a Monetizable Niche on Pinterest
96% of Pinterest searches are unbranded, meaning users are searching for general ideas and inspiration rather than specific brands.
This creates an open playing field for content creators, but it also means you need to be strategic in finding a niche that can be monetized.
Here are some tips for how to choose a niche on Pinterest that you can use to make money.
1. Explore Popular Pinterest Categories
Start by exploring the categories on Pinterest, paying close attention to those that align with your interests, skills, and expertise.
Categories like food, fashion, and home decor tend to be the most popular on Pinterest and have a high potential for monetization due to their high search volume.
But don’t be afraid to think outside the box and find a unique niche that resonates with you and your audience.
2. Explore Current Trends on Pinterest
You can use Pinterest Trends to discover what topics and content are currently trending on the platform. You can see information about general trends:
Or specific trends within your given topic:
This can give you an idea of what people are searching for and interested in, allowing you to tailor your content accordingly.
3. Consider Your Target Audience
Understanding your target audience is crucial when choosing a niche on Pinterest.
Consider who your ideal audience is and what type of content they would be interested in.
This will help you create content that resonates with them and attracts advertisers and partners looking to reach a specific demographic.
4. Analyze Competition
Take a look at other Pinterest accounts in your chosen niche to see what type of content they’re creating and how well it’s performing.
This will give you an idea of the competition and help you differentiate yourself with unique and high-quality content.
6 Best Ways to Make Money on Pinterest
Now that you have a niche in mind, let’s explore the different ways you can make money on Pinterest.
1. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is probably the most popular and lucrative method for making money on Pinterest.
It involves promoting products or services through your pins via unique affiliate links. When a user clicks on the link and makes a purchase, you earn a commission.
You can make money with affiliate marketing on Pinterest in two ways:
- Linking affiliate products directly to your pins
- Linking affiliate products in your articles and then creating pins to drive traffic to your affiliate articles
To get started, you’ll need to join an affiliate program or network and find products and services within your niche that you can promote on your pins.
Some popular affiliate marketplaces include Amazon Associates, ShareASale, and CJ Affiliate.
The most common example is adding directly affiliate links the the URL of a pin. You’ll see this often in the fashion and beauty niches.
Another key strategy to know is that high-paying affiliate programs will pay you higher commissions, although the products may sell better in articles rather than directly in pins.
A good example of a pin leading back to an affiliate-focused article is our Pinterest pin for our article on best scheduling software.
To be successful with affiliate marketing on Pinterest, choose products that align with your niche and create visually appealing pins that entice users to click through. When adding an affiliate link directly to your pin, make sure to disclose that it contains an affiliate link in line with proper disclosures and best practices for affiliate marketing.
2. Sponsored Content and Brand Partnerships
Collaborating with brands and businesses is another great way to make money on Pinterest.
You can partner with brands to create sponsored pins that align with your brand and audience, promoting their products or services in return for a fee.
To find partnerships, reach out directly to brands within your niche or join influencer networks like AspireIQ or Izea.
In order to partner with great brands and sponsors, you generally need to have significant reach on the platform and engaging content.
Start by creating a media kit to showcase your audience demographics, reach, and previous brand partnerships.
When creating sponsored pins, be sure to clearly disclose that it’s a paid partnership and maintain a strong sense of authenticity in your content to keep your audience engaged and trusting.
3. E-commerce and Product Sales
If you have your own products to sell, Pinterest is a fantastic platform for driving traffic and sales.
You can create buyable pins that allow users to purchase directly through the platform, or use Pinterest as a way to drive traffic to your e-commerce website.
Some creative ways to use Pinterest for e-commerce include:
- Creating shoppable boards featuring your products
- Showcasing user-generated content featuring your products
- Using Rich Pins to add product information and pricing to your pins
Having visually appealing, high-quality images of your products is essential for success on Pinterest.
You can use Shopify or other e-commerce platforms to set up a store and integrate it with Pinterest. Once you’re set up, you can create Product pins to advertise your products.
Before setting up product pins, you must first review the merchant guidelines and requirements and apply to join the Verified Merchant Program.
Be sure to create visually appealing pins that highlight your products and use keywords and hashtags to increase visibility in searches.
4. Digital Products and Services
Similar to selling physical products, you can also sell digital products and services on Pinterest through platforms like Etsy or by creating your own website.
Some popular digital products and services you can advertise on Pinterest include:
- E-books and online courses
- Digital planners and printables
- Design and consulting services
Be sure to tailor your pins and descriptions to highlight the benefits of your products or services and use keywords and hashtags to improve discoverability.
There are a variety of ways that you can make money on Pinterest by selling digital products, including:
- Creating pins that link directly to your sales pages
- Creating pins that link directly to shop pages
- Linking pins to email opt-ins and selling products in a sales funnel
We’ll talk more about the last option in the next section.
We have had success with all 3 options. Generally, the more expensive your product is, the more success you will have selling the product with an email sales funnel.
When you create pins that link directly to sales pages, you will need a platform to sell your products on such as Etsy (marketplace), Teachable or Kajabi (for online courses), or Clickfunnels (eBooks and other digital products).
5. Advertising
You can also make money through advertising on Pinterest. You can create promoted pins that will appear in users’ feeds and search results, targeting specific demographics and interests.
To get started with Pinterest ads, set up a business account and then create a campaign. You can set your own budget and track analytics to see how your pins are performing.
Using promoted pins is a great way to increase visibility for your content, reach new audiences, and drive sales.
You can use Pinterest ads to drive more traffic to:
- Articles on your website (that sell affiliate products or your own)
- Email opt-ins with sales funnels that sell products
- Pins with affiliate links directly in the pin
The key to getting the most out of this strategy is to carefully target your Pinterest audience and create engaging pins that make people click and convert.
Running ads can get expensive, so it’s important to experiment with ads until you get a positive ROI (return on investment) before scaling up your budget.
This strategy generally works best with more expensive products (over $100) because ads can be expensive to run, but make sure to experiment with different products and different method of advertising.
You will also need a Pinterest business account to access the Pinterest ads manager.
6. Pinterest Management Services
If you have a strong understanding of how to use Pinterest for business, you can also offer your services as a Pinterest virtual assistant, manager, or consultant.
Many businesses struggle with effectively using the platform and are willing to pay for someone to manage their account and help them grow on the platform.
As a Pinterest manager, you can offer services such as:
- Creating and optimizing Pinterest profiles
- Developing a pinning strategy and content calendar
- Managing and scheduling pins
- Analyzing analytics to track performance and make adjustments
You can also offer consulting services for businesses looking to improve their own Pinterest strategies.
Simple Pin Media is a great example of how Kate Ahl has built an entire business around Pinterest management services.
To get started with offering these services, you can create a portfolio showcasing your experience and results, and post your services on a platform like Fiverr or Upwork.
10 Strategies to Earn More on Pinterest
Now that we’ve covered the various ways to make money on Pinterest, let’s discuss some key strategies for success on the platform.
1. Optimize Pins for SEO
Pinterest is a search and discovery platform. Pinterest traffic is distributed in two ways:
- Search engine: Pins are ranked in the search engine according to user engagement (repins, clicks, comments).
- Smart feed: Your pins will be shown to your followers and other users who have similar interests.
Pins are discoverable for months, even years, after their original posting, making their long-term SEO value significant.
To increase your visibility on both search and smart feeds, it’s important to optimize your pins with SEO (search engine optimization) tactics. This includes using relevant keywords in your:
- Article or blog post titles
- Pin titles and descriptions
- Board names and descriptions
- Pin images (use text overlays with keywords)
- Pinterest profile (title and description)
You can use the Pinterest search bar to discover keywords or use another keyword research tool to get ideas. Ubersuggest is a great free option.
2. Utilize Rich Pins
Rich pins provide more information and context to your pins by pulling data from your website or Etsy shop. There are 3 types of rich pins:
- Product Pins: Displays real-time pricing, availability, and where to buy the product.
- Recipe Pins: Includes ingredients, cooking times, and serving sizes.
- Article Pins: Includes headline, author, and story description.
Using rich pins can help your pins stand out in the feed and provide valuable information to users, increasing the likelihood of them clicking through to your website or shop.
You can use an SEO plugin like YoastSEO or RankMath to add the appropriate metadata to your website to enable rich pins.
3. Verify Your Website
Verifying your website on Pinterest adds a checkmark next to your website URL in your profile and pins, increasing credibility and trust with users.
It also unlocks access to analytics for your website and the ability to create ads. To verify your website, you will need to add a meta tag or upload an HTML file to your website’s backend.
This is a simple task, but it’s an important one if you want to earn money.
Each Pinterest account can only have one verified domain, so it’s important to create multiple Pinterest accounts if you have multiple domains or businesses you want to advertise on Pinterest.
You can still cross-promote on different accounts, but each business should have its own account.
3. Create Eye-Catching and Engaging Designs
Pinterest is a visual platform, so it’s important to use high-quality, eye-catching images for your pins. Use bright colors, clear text overlays, and attractive fonts to grab users’ attention.
You can use Canva or other graphic design tools to create beautiful pin designs. Canva also has templates for Pinterest pins and many other types of projects.
In addition to the visual elements, it’s important to also make sure your pins are engaging and provide valuable information. Use strong headlines and descriptions that entice users to click through to your website or shop.
Make sure to create enough curiosity on your pins to make users engage further.
Every like, comment, share, or click your pin receives is positive engagement that will increase your reach in the algorithm.
4. Pin Consistently and Frequently
Pinterest rewards accounts that consistently pin high-quality content by showing their pins more in the feed. It’s important to have a consistent pinning schedule and stick to it.
You can use scheduling tools like Tailwind schedule pins in advance and ensure that you are consistently sharing content on the platform. Tailwind will also help you create an entire marketing plan around your Pinterest content.
Tailwind also comes with an AI writing tool called Ghostwriter that helps you create titles and descriptions for your pins.
You can sign up for a free Tailwind plan here.
If you want to grow an account quickly, make sure you share at least one new pin several times a week.
You can also create multiple pins for each article. We generally create at least 3-5 pins for each blog post so that we have more content and opportunities for engagement.
5. Join Tailwind Communities
With the free Tailwind plan, you’ll also get access to a feature called Communities that lets you collaborate with other users to increase your reach and engagement on Pinterest.
You can look for Communities to join in your niche. Once you’re in, you can upload pins for others to share on Pinterest. In exchange, you are generally required to share at least one pin from someone else.
It’s a reciprocal-sharing community that can help you get more engagement, which is especially important when you’re just starting out.
You can join Tailwind Communities related to your niche or start your own community for your followers to participate in.
6. Join Group Boards
Group boards are a great way to increase your reach on Pinterest. These boards allow multiple users to contribute pins and for Pinterest users to access new followers on these boards.
By joining Pinterest boards in your niche that already have thousands of followers, you can get your pins seen by more people and increase the chances of them going viral.
You can find group boards manually by searching for other users in your niche and looking on their account to see if they have any group boards.
Another easier way to find group boards is to use a tool like PinGroupie, although it can be competitive to find Pinterest boards that are still open for collaboration and accepting new users.
Make sure to take care with your messages to board owners. If you can find an email contact, this is usually a lot more effective than messaging directly on Pinterest or commenting on pins.
It’s also important to only join active and relevant group boards with engaged followers. Otherwise, your pins may get lost in the shuffle or consistently shared on under-performing boards.
7. Analyze and Adjust Your Pinterest Strategy
If you want to get the most out of your efforts to make money on Pinterest, it’s important to analyze your performance and adjust your strategy accordingly – like you would for any other social media platform.
Use Pinterest Analytics or a third-party tool like Tailwind or Google Analytics to track your Pinterest traffic, including pin performance, follower growth, and website traffic.
Make sure you have a Pinterest business account set up to access the full features of Pinterest Analytics on your account.
By understanding which pins are performing well and what types of content your audience is interested in, you can tailor your future pins to better engage with them and increase your reach on the platform.
It’s also important to stay up-to-date on changes in Pinterest’s algorithm or features so that you can adapt your strategy as needed.
Consistently analyzing and adjusting your strategy will help you stay ahead of the game and continue to increase your reach on Pinterest.
FAQs About How to Make Money on Pinterest
Can you get paid on Pinterest?
You can get paid on Pinterest in several ways. One of the most popular methods is with affiliate marketing, where you create pins linked to products and earn a commission for each sale made through your link. Businesses can also leverage Pinterest to drive traffic to their e-commerce website or blog, increasing revenue through sales or advertising. Influencers and content creators can also partner with brands for sponsored content. Lastly, offering services like Pinterest account management or consulting for businesses looking to improve their Pinterest strategy can also be lucrative.
How many Pinterest followers do you need to get paid?
There isn’t a strict minimum for the number of followers you need on Pinterest to start getting paid. Success and earning potential on Pinterest are not strictly determined by follower count but rather by engagement levels, the quality of your pins, and how effectively you drive traffic to monetized websites or affiliate products. Typically, having a few hundred to a few thousand engaged followers can be a solid foundation for affiliate marketing, sponsored content, and direct sales. The key focus should be on building a dedicated and active audience rather than solely increasing follower numbers.
How do you make passive income on Pinterest?
Making passive income on Pinterest involves creating and pinning content that drives traffic to income-generating websites such as affiliate marketing sites, blogs, or online stores. Pinterest users can add affiliate links to pins or in blog content. Creating Product pins is a great way to sell e-commerce products. Another way to make money off Pinterest is by driving traffic to email opt-ins and selling digital products in those sales funnels. Consistency in pinning and engaging with your audience, along with monitoring what content performs best, are key strategies for success.
How do I grow on Pinterest?
Growing your Pinterest account and increasing your reach involves several strategic steps. You should always start by optimizing your profile and content for relevant keywords for your brand or niche. Design high-quality pins that drive curiosity, clicks, and engagement with your audience. You can also collaborate with group boards or Tailwind communities to expand your reach and visibility on the platform. Ultimately, consistency and engagement are key to growing your Pinterest presence.
Take Your Pinterest Marketing to the Next Level
Pinterest is a great way to increase visibility for your business while also making money! By following the strategies and tips in this guide, you can create a successful Pinterest marketing strategy that will help you reach a wider audience and drive more traffic to your website or shop.
Remember to always keep an eye on the latest trends and changes within Pinterest, stay consistent with your pinning schedule, and constantly analyze and adjust your strategy to see continued success on the platform.
If you want some help on this journey and to unlock the full potential of your content (and time), check out Mastering Pinterest Marketing.
This course will teach you our secrets to building an engaged audience and driving significant revenue through Pinterest.
Whether you’re looking to grow your business or start making money on Pinterest, this course offers all the tools and insights you need.
Click here to learn more about how to elevate your Pinterest game to the next level.