I’ve got an awesome new side hustle to share with you today… And you are going to LOVE it!
In this post, I’m going to teach you – step by step, in detail – how to make money on Pinterest.
This is a fantastically easy and flexible way to make money online that anyone can do.
You don’t need to be an internet marketing expert.
You don’t even need a blog!
- Make up to £40 with a free trial
- Potential earnings of £500+ per month
- Personally tried and tested
- 150,000+ members
- 4.7 Trustpilot rating
You can get started today, with absolutely no upfront costs.
I’ve personally made hundreds of dollars a month with affiliate links on Pinterest.
I made my first sale in just four days after starting this side hustle, and I’ve seen growing results ever since.
Here’s how it works:
- How to make money on Pinterest with affiliate marketing: an introduction
- Why making money on Pinterest should be your next side hustle
- Is affiliate marketing on Pinterest legit?
- STEP BY STEP GUIDE to making money on Pinterest with affiliate marketing
- Best affiliate programs to use on Pinterest
- Golden rules for Pinterest affiliate marketing
- Other ways to make money on Pinterest (without a blog!)
- Your essential Pinterest toolkit
How to make money on Pinterest with affiliate marketing: an introduction
So here’s the basic business idea:
For the uninitiated, Pinterest is a giant virtual pin board. Users search for ideas, and ‘pin’ images that they love to come back to later. Each ‘pin’ is an image with a link. People can click on the image to visit the site it came from.
We can monetise this with affiliate marketing.
So what’s affiliate marketing now?
‘Affiliate marketing’ is simply when you promote an item online and get a commission for any sales. You promote the product using your own special tracking link, which is called an affiliate link.
When somebody clicks on your link and buys a product, the seller can see that you sent them, and you get a cut of the sale!
There are many ways to promote your affiliate links and make sales online.
The most common is blogging. You can also share your links on social media, or in emails to your friends.
But here’s why we want to focus on Pinterest:
Why making money on Pinterest should be your next side hustle
Pinterest is often referred to as a social network, but the truth is, it’s more like a search engine.
People go to Pinterest to look for ideas, and specifically to look for things to buy!
87% of users have bought something they found on Pinterest and a whopping 93% say they’ve used Pinterest to plan future purchases.
This means it’s easy and natural to promote great products on Pinterest without looking spammy.
Also, your pins on Pinterest hang around forever.
It’s not like Twitter, where your message disappears into the ether just minutes after you tweet it out.
If a pin gets picked up and gets a lot of repins (shares), it will keep showing up in people’s feeds, without any more effort on your part.
You don’t need a blog or website to make money on Pinterest. Anyone can create a Pinterest account and starting pinning affiliate links.
That said, you can supercharge your affiliate earnings by setting up a basic website, because it allows you to join even more affiliate programs and create effective content – learn how in my tutorial.
There are certain affiliate programs which do require a website, so check with individual programs before signing up. But there are plenty that you can join with only a Pinterest page.
And you don’t need hundreds of followers.
Again, Pinterest is a search engine. This means that if you pin fabulous images with good, keyword-rich descriptions (more on this later), people will find your pins – even if they don’t follow you.
Is affiliate marketing on Pinterest legit?
You might have heard mixed information about affiliate links on Pinterest. That’s because they were banned for a period thanks to abuse by spammers. Now, they’re officially allowed again.
Of course, you shouldn’t abuse the system and you should take care not to across as spammy yourself.
Here are some basic guidelines for staying legit on Pinterest:
- Don’t use misleading images or descriptions to trick people into clicking on your links
- Don’t flood Pinterest with hundreds of affiliate pins without repinning other content
- Be especially careful to follow the rules if you are invited to any group boards.
You can take a look at Pinterest’s community guidelines for more information.
As long as you follow the rules, there’s no reason not to use affiliate links on Pinterest.
Done correctly, you are simply helping people find the products or information that they came to Pinterest for.
So, how can you get started?
Related post: How to Make Money Online: 50+ Money Making Ideas
STEP BY STEP GUIDE to making money on Pinterest with affiliate marketing
1. Make a Pinterest account
First of all, you obviously need a Pinterest account!
If you already have a personal Pinterest account, start with that. You don’t need a special account to do this.
It’s an advantage if you already have an established account with some followers, even if it’s only a few.
I recommend having a business account. You can upgrade your existing personal account to a free business account – just follow Pinterest’s instructions here.
A Pinterest business account just gives you a few extra features like basic stats and analytics. You don’t need to be a business, or even a blogger, to have a business account.
I currently have two Pinterest accounts: one for Boost My Budget, and one personal account. I’ve used both for affiliate marketing and seen some success on both of them.
If you’ve made a brand new Pinterest account for this, you’ll want to fill it out a bit so it doesn’t look empty.
I recommend making at least 10 boards on topics that interest you and/or that you want to promote products in. This could be anything from baby clothes to interior design to bodybuilding!
You can get an idea of trending topics here, but really, anything goes.
Then, pin at least 20-30 pins to each board. Don’t worry about affiliate marketing at this point. Just repin other people’s pins to fill out your profile.
2. Sign up with affiliate programs
Now you have a Pinterest profile, you need to find great products to pin – from companies that will pay you!
There are lots of different companies that pay commission to affiliates. Pretty much any large retailer you can think of has its own affiliate program. You can typically just visit the website of any retailer whose products you would like to promote, scroll down to the bottom menu, and look for a link called ‘become an affiliate’ or similar. You can also find many, many retailers all under one affilaite umbrella with companies like ShareASale.
I’ve included a list of affiliate programs to promote on Pinterest further down this page. Click here to jump there now.
3. Start pinning your affiliate products
Ok, so you’ve set up your Pinterest profile and joined some affiliate programs. The next step is to start pinning images of the products you want to promote to Pinterest!
You can use the image directly from the retailer’s website, or use a free image editor like Canva to make pretty pins with text overlays and other effects.
Just make sure that the link associated with the pin is your unique affiliate link.
This is essential! Without this, you won’t get paid if somebody buys the product that you pinned.
Here’s how to add your pin and affiliate link to Pinterest:
First, click on the red ‘plus’ symbol in the top right corner of your Pinterest homepage. Then, select ‘create pin’ from the drop down menu.
This will bring up the following screen. Upload your pin image to the block on the left hand side. Grab your affiliate link from the affiliate program website (how you get this will depend on the program), and add your affiliate link where it says ‘add your destination link’ at the bottom.
Be sure to use the full, raw form of the affiliate link. Avoid link shorteners such as bit.ly or Pretty Link. Pinterest have advised that shortened links don’t always track correctly, which means you could miss out on commissions.
4. Write a good description for each pin.
When you add a new pin, there is space for you to add a description. Here is where you write an accurate, detailed description of your product.
Remember, Pinterest is a search engine.
Use lots of ‘key words’ – the kind of words that people search for. This will help people find your pin, even if they don’t follow you.
You can find Pinterest’s recommend keywords by paying attention to the suggested search terms that drop down when you start typing in the search box for ideas.
Also, do a Pinterest search for your main term, and look at the suggestions that pop up in the coloured boxes underneath the search bar:
Hint: if you click on one of those coloured boxes, you will get even more key words.
So if I want to pin some pens to my stationery board, a good description would be something like: ‘These cute gel pens would be perfect for note taking in class!’
This should help my pin show up in search results for people searching for those words.
Your description should also include a disclosure such as ‘affiliate link’ or ‘#ad’.
Regulators like the Federal Trade Commission in the US and the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK require a disclosure. Check with your local authority to make sure you’re following their guidelines.
It’s also just plain spammy if you don’t let your followers know.
5. Pin lots!
Pinterest likes people who pin a lot!
They especially like it when you re-pin popular pins.
Repinning other people’s popular pins keeps your profile fresh and interesting for your followers, and it stops you looking like a spammer.
It also means that Pinterest will show your pins more often in other people’s feeds.
Pinterest basically rewards people who share popular stuff, because they know you’re sharing things that people want to see.
So the more you re-pin popular pins, the more other people will see your own affiliate pins, and the more clicks you’ll get!
You should try to pin stuff several times throughout the day. The Pinterest app on your phone is great for this.
Also, bear in mind that not every pin will make you money. Some pins take a while to take off, and some just never get shared at all.
You can’t just pin one random thing and expect to rake in the cash overnight.
You have to share new affiliate pins every day (preferably multiple pins!), experiment with new pin designs, and eventually you will see the commissions rolling in.
You can also get your pins in front of a bigger audience with group boards. These are especially important for newer accounts that don’t have many followers of their own!
6. Step it up
Everything I’ve described so far is completely free.
Anybody can start working through these steps and start making money on Pinterest, with no special tools or upfront costs.
However, doing all of the above manually can take a bit of time – especially since you need to remember to pin several times throughout your day to see growth.
Luckily, there are tools you can use to automate the process and see faster results.
My favorite tool for scheduling pins is Tailwind.
You could work just one day a month on Pinterest and schedule all your pins in advance. It keeps your account active even when you take a break. It also has great analytics so you can see what’s working best for you.
You can get a free trial of Tailwind and $15 credit off a paid plan here.
Best affiliate programs to use on Pinterest
Here’s my list of recommended sites to join to get your affiliate links to use on Pinterest. These are the best affiliate programs you can join without a website, so they are perfect for affiliate marketing on Pinterest and other social media.
If you do decide to set up a website or blog, there will be even more affiliate programs open to you!
ShareASale – a great affiliate network that doesn’t require a blog. There are 1,000s of different retailers inside. You will have to apply to each retailer individually. However, you can search for ‘auto-approval’ merchants to speed things up. T&Cs may vary by retailer.
Awin – a popular network that gives access to many different retailers. However, it can be harder to get approved without a website. There is a $5 joining fee that is returned after you make your first payout.
Kit – this is not an affiliate program itself. It’s a clever way to create collections or round-ups of your favourite products. It can kind of function like a mini-blog, if you don’t want to make your own website but you do want more of a platform online! You can create a collection of Amazon products on Kit, then create a pin linking to your kit. This is a way to get around the ban on Amazon links on Pinterest.
Ultimate Bundles – an awesome online company that sells themed ‘bundles’ of electronic resources (ebooks, online courses, printables etc) at incredible discounts! They cover all kinds of topics, from homemaking to online business to essential oils. Some bundles only come out once a year, and some are evergreen. You can promote these on Pinterest without a blog. In my experience they sell really well, since they’re such insane value for money!
eBay – everybody knows eBay. The ‘eBay Partner Network’ is another popular affiliate program you can join with no website. Just remember that pins stay around for a while, so I recommend promoting evergreen listings or shops over time-sensitive listings.
AliExpress – this is a Chinese marketplace that ships worldwide. They have products in a wide range of categories. In particular, they have a lot of quirky, fun clothing, accessories, home items etc of the type that do well on Pinterest. They welcome promotion on social media.
Can you use Amazon affiliate links on Pinterest?
Amazon runs its own affiliate program, which is very popular with bloggers.
But can you use Amazon affiliate links on Pinterest? The jury’s out on this one.
I know several people who have contacted Amazon’s support for advice, and they all seem to receive different advice!
As far as I can tell, it seems to be OK with the EU/UK Amazon associates programs – but NOT the US program.
To be safe, I recommend that you don’t pin Amazon affiliate links at all. You risk losing your Amazon associates account.
One clever work around is to create a round-up of Amazon products on Kit.co, and then create a pin linking to your Kit page!
Note on ShopStyle Collective
In previous versions of this post, I recommended an affiliate program called ShopStyle Collective.
While I have received several payouts from them in the past, unfortunately I have also heard some worrying stories such as shutting down accounts with no warning. I also found them to be very poor at communicating and customer support – for example, they changed my payment structure without notifying me.
For these reasons, I no longer use or recommend ShopStyle Collective personally.
How to find more affiliate programs to join
In addition to the affiliate networks listed above, many online retailers have their own affiliate programs.
They will usually have a page on their website about how to join. Alternatively, you can contact their support or marketing department by email or social media.
I recommend brainstorming the stores or products you would like to promote, and then just Google “product name” “affiliate” to see what comes up.
You can also find affiliate programs for electronic products such as e-books and online courses. This will usually be on the last page/module of the book or course. These work especially well if you have a following in the blogging or business niche!
And you can also use ‘refer a friend’ type links, that many, many companies offer. You will offer get these offers in emails after you order from a company online. ‘Refer a friend’ links often reward you in store credit or points rather than cash, but these can still be useful.
What’s the best affiliate program to promote on Pinterest?
There is no one answer to this. The best affiliate program for you depends on what will resonate with your audience.
Some people like to look for the highest paying affiliate programs, and promote those. But if your followers don’t care about that product, you won’t make any sales.
Instead, I recommend looking at what pins are performing well for you. What kinds of products and images are getting the most repins? Then, you can search for affiliate programs to promote more of those products.
The best thing to do is join several different affiliate programs so you don’t have all your eggs in one basket. I lost a lot of income overnight when my main affiliate program suddenly closed down, so don’t make the same mistake!
Golden rules for Pinterest affiliate marketing
There’s a lot of information in this article, but here are the key points to remember:
- Don’t spam
- Write great pin descriptions. Use keywords!
- Declare your affiliate links (#ad)
- Re-pin other people’s stuff
- Re-pin popular content
- Be consistent
- Don’t give up – pin lots, and allow time for new pins to take off!
Other ways to make money on Pinterest (without a blog!)
This guide has focused on how to make money on Pinterest with affiliate links. This is because that’s the method that I use myself to make extra money online, so I wanted to share my direct experience with you.
However, there are several other ways you can make money on Pinterest without a blog!
I go into more detail on these – as well as how to make money on Pinterest with a blog – in this post.
But for now, here’s a quick run down:
Pinterest Virtual Assistant
Pinterest affiliate marketing is great – not least because you can make recurring passive income! But, it does take a while to build up.
If you want a steady monthly income on Pinterest – and fast! – consider becoming a Pinterest Virtual Assistant.
Pinterest VAs or managers manage Pinterest accounts for bloggers and businesses. The work may involve some or all of these tasks:
- setting up a Pinterest profile
- creating pins (this is the most common task!)
- keyword research
- writing pin descriptions
- manually pinning client pins
- scheduling pins in Tailwind
- applying to group boards
- analysing pin performance and reporting back to clients
Experienced Pinterest VAs can earn up to $100 per hour! So if you have a solid understanding of how Pinterest works, this is one of the top ways to use Pinterest to make money from home.
>> Here is a detailed guide to becoming a Pinterest Virtual Assistant.
Market your own products on Pinterest
Do you create your own products to sell on Etsy, a print-on-demand platform or an e-commerce site?
You can pin your own products to drive traffic to them! Don’t forget to use Pinterest best practises, such as keywords. You can also look for relevant group boards to pin your products to for additional exposure.
Pinterest influencer
If you have a large Pinterest following, you can apply to brands for sponsorship. Here are some of the ways you can make money as an influencer on Pinterest:
- create pins to promote a brand
- repin brand pins
- run a collaborative group board with a brand
Related post: How to Start a Blog to Make Money
Your essential Pinterest toolkit
As I mentioned above, anyone can start Pinterest affiliate marketing by simply pinning manually a few times each day – but it may take a while to see results.
If you want to take this side hustle seriously, here are a few tools and resources which will help you out:
Tailwind – the Pinterest scheduling tool I use. It gives you great control over your pin scheduling and useful analytics too. I can schedule a month of pins in a couple of hours with Tailwind. Get a free one month trial when you sign up with this link.
Canva – the image editor I use to make my pins (and all other graphics on this site). They have a free version and a paid version with extra features. The free version is more than good enough to create fantastic pins.
Earn money on Pinterest: Let’s go!
There you go! This article only really covers the basics of affiliate marketing on Pinterest, but I hope it’s enough to get you started.
This is really such a cheap, easy and fun side hustle to play with, and I’m really enjoying it so far 🙂
I hope it works for you, too!
By the way – not keen on sharing affiliate links directly on Pinterest? Check out these other posts on you can get paid to pin:
>> 4 Fantastic Ways to Make Money on Pinterest
>> How to Make a Full Time Income as a Pinterest Virtual Assistant
Have you shared affiliate links on Pinterest? What are your results? Any questions for me?
I’d love to hear how you get on!
📌 Pin this for later
This sounds good, I thought Pinterest affiliate marketing was just directing them from a pin to an article with affiliate links in. Do you have an example pin that I can see what kind of thing it looks like please? I definitely want to try it!
Thanks Francesca! Yep you can direct pins to an article if you want, but you are also now allowed to pin affiliate links directly, which means even non-bloggers can do it! Here’s a pin I made recently in Canva to promote the ebook I mentioned in the article: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/751678994027900768/
On my personal account, I have boards for fashion, dream home, stationery etc and I literally just pin product images directly from ShopStyle Collective. Sometimes I combine 2-4 images into a collage type pin on Canva (depending on the shape of the image) but I usually just pin the product image without making any edits. ShopStyle makes this so easy because you can do it in one click from within their website or app! Let me know how you get on if you give it a go 🙂
Hello how do set up an account to collect the money I make from affiliate marketing.. shopstyle collective I have already signed up but don’t see anywhere for that
Hi Erica, Shopstyle Collective pay by PayPal. You have to reach $100 in your account and then they will email you to confirm your PayPal address. More information here: https://shopstylecollective.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/213793403-When-should-I-expect-to-receive-payment- Hope that helps!
I found this article very useful, some great tips that I will be trying out. My blog is very similar to yours about having various income streams online. Mine is only two weeks old, I can’t wait to get to a year a blogging. Looking forward to more articles.
Great – let me know how it goes if you test it out! I will check out your blog too. Always up for learning more ways to make money online! 🙂
http://PinPinterest.com is till now the best tool I have found for managing my Pinterest and the webpage with respect to the schedule and the content. The amazing thing about it is that it is evolving and learning and this is possible due to the sophisticated artificial intelligence that it uses. It analyses the pins, images, the content and the way I set the schedules for the whole week and then it works automatically following the pattern and even saving the account from being banned as it imitates the human-speed…now that is simply amazing.
Thanks Sarah Jane. I haven’t heard of that one – I use Tailwind and Board Booster. Will keep it in mind.
Hi!
I went to try and start this up but when I go to join it says website url. I can’t join without this. I don’t have a website what do I do?
Thanks!
Hi Chloe, you can just use the url of your Pinterest profile in this spot!
I tried this and it didn’t work, can you give an example please.
Hi Lindy, you can use your Pinterest profile instead of a website. For example, the address of my Pinterest profile is https://www.pinterest.co.uk/boostmybudget/
Hope this helps
Hello, thanks for this useful post.
Pls can I do this pin affiliate from anywhere? I’m currently in Nigeria Africa.
Thanks
Hi Funmi! It will depend on the affiliate networks you join. I think Shopstyle Collective accepts anyone with a PayPal account so it depends if you can get one of those?
How do you exactly sign up with affiliate companies? Do you google, browse through Pinterst or search through Shopstyle Collective?
Hi Tiri, Shopstyle Collective is an affiliate company that gives you automatic affiliate access to all the stores that it partners with. I recommend signing up with them first because you can promote so many different brands and you don’t have to sign up separately for each one! If you want to promote a brand that isn’t on Shopstyle Collective, just Google and see if it has its own affiliate program.
Hi,
super post!
It is giving me the motivation to have a go at Pinterest.
I have an account that I have a few followers on but have only been using it very sporadically to pin the odd Ebay listing.
I was wondering if I try to join Shopstyle Collective, could I use my Ebay store: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/onlytoplabels
as a website address?
Hi Lynda, you should probably check with Shopstyle Collective, but my feeling is it would be better to use your Pinterest profile url if you don’t have a blog. They will want to see that you have a platform where you can share affiliate links and I assume you can’t do that on your ebay store.
Hi!
I followed your recommendation and tried to sign up with Shopstyle Collective, but their answer was that I need to grow up my Pinterest account although I have 1,673 followers. They also asked me to post content several times a week across all major platforms, including Pinterest, Instagram, and all of your social networking sites. So, people need to work on their social networking in order to get accepted by Shopstyle Collective.
I think people should know this.
If you have any suggestions I would appreciate it.
Hi Carolina,
Thanks for sharing your experience! I really need to update this post now as I’ve heard a few people had problems with Shopstyle Collective.
Another option is Magic Links! I’m not very experienced with them myself yet but heard good things. They are easy to get into for beginners (minimum 100 followers) and have a wide range of retailers. Some retailers pay per click and some pay commission for sales.
Good luck!
Hello, I have come across your blog and it has been really motivating seeing your posts especially about starting a blog and tips around that. So much so that I have made the leap to starting my very own blog! I have just written my first blog post and put a lot of time into writing the 3000+ words then even more time refining, proofreading and doing some SEO on it. I have just published it and will be looking to promote it on pinterest tomorrow once I get some time ( Its quite late at night right now 🙂 ). Would you mind checking it out and letting me know what you think? I understand if you don’t get the time 🙂 I enjoy reading your posts very much.
Parabloga Is the site. Only very recently started it and it’s my first website so work in progress still
Hi Jamal! Thanks so much for your comment! Congrats on launching your blog! Blogging has truly been life changing for me and I’m sure it will be for you too if you put in the work 🙂
I checked out your blog and it looks great! Nicely designed, and I think you have a great potential niche in inspiring young people to learn about personal finance and careers.
3000+ is awesome. Longer posts usually do really well in SEO. It takes a few months for Google to trust a brand new site but after that you should start seeing great traffic if you keep writing long content. Pinterest has been the quickest way to get traffic in the short term for me so I would recommend getting on that as you said.
I would just recommend adding some more headers (H2/H3) to break it up, since it’s such a long post. Headers are good for SEO, especially if you use keywords, and it makes it easier for the reader too.
Thanks for sharing your blog with me and I look forward to reading more from you!:)
Thanks for the feedback I will definitely put that into practise! I’ve setup a pinterest account and currently getting my feet on the ground there. I even happened to stumble across your pinterest by some stroke of luck 🙂
Most of all thank you for the reassurance that giving a few months at least should allow me to start seeing some results from Google. This should keep me motivated and going 😉
I’ve been on autopilot in life for the past 6 months just going to work and back. A blog has added a bit of excitement and something new.
I appreciate you taking the time to give me some pointers and I wish you further success in the future
Hello,
maybe my question did not go through that I posted on your Blog yesterday. First off, thank you for all the great information. I am also doing your Pinterest Affiliate Marketing 101 course right now.
I have a question so, I only have had one Pinterest account which was more Personal PIN’s until a few day’s ago. I had contacted MagicLinks but I do not meet all the criteria yet for them to approve me to use Affiliate Links. Since I don’t have many followers yet, how can I get anybody to let me use their Affiliate Links? Thank you so much for her help.
Hi Jackson,
Thanks for your comment and question! Another affiliate network you can use is ShareASale. It’s not as convenient as Magic Links because you have to apply to each individual company separately, but I know some people are using it with success. It helps to get accepted if you write a personal message, mention which products you want to promote and why.
I know it’s frustrating when you just want to start earning money but I do recommend taking time to focus on building up your account in the beginning! It will help getting accepted to programs, and also you’ll be in a better place to start earning if you have more followers and a more established account when you start. One tip to grow fast is to focus on trending topics. You can see trending suggestions by Pinterest when you click into the search bar without typing anything.
Good luck!
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond back.
Great information.
Petra
hi we can how much pins share daily?
Hi, there’s no limit, but it’s important to be consistent each day, so pick a number you can handle! Also remember to repin other people’s pins more than you pin affiliate pins. If you only pin affiliate links you’ll look spammy. To start you could try for example 5 affiliate pins and 15 repins.
hi,
great article.
Curious though…what sort of $ are we talking here per month for this side hustle? As a minimum?
Cheers
Hi Jane, hard to say because there is no minimum and the speed you see results will depend on your account health, followers, niche, group boards etc to start with. I made very little my first few weeks/months while I put in the groundwork, but then it started to snowball and I reached a consistent £200 per month working very part time. Since then I have focused more on blogging than Pinterest alone so I haven’t seen further growth, but I do know others who are making more.
Hi – I’ve just applied to MagicLinks, waiting to hear back now (fingers crossed!). Any idea how long they normally take to apply? The email says it could be up to 72 hours, but I’m hoping it might be a bit quicker – itching to get started!
I can’t remember sorry, but I don’t think it took long! Maybe a day or so?
Hi there, great post! I just started with Shareasale and wondering.. in the description of the pin, does one have to put something in there to notify that the link is an affiliate link? TIA 🙂
Hi Karen, great question! Yes, you should always disclose. I usually use #affiliate or #ad in the pin description. This is sufficient for most networks. But just in case, check the T&Cs of each individual affiliate program, as occasionally they will have their own recommended wording.
Great, thanks!
Hi, great and insightful article. Is pinterest better for specific niches? Do you think pinterest is worth pursuing for a golf blog as a way to generate good traffic and monetize?
Thanks! Pinterest is definitely bigger for some niches than others but I think it’s worth trying for any niche. I have another blog in a niche that I thought wouldn’t do well on Pinterest but it has actually really taken off and gets a lot of traffic, possibly because there isn’t as much competition and it’s easier to get your pins seen!
Brilliant post, I loved it! I think that it is a mix of dedication and patience when it comes to Affiliate Marketing. There is so much money to be made with it and if you have a plan and the patience to let that plan formulate, you will succeed 🙂
I totally agree with your point about pinning lots! That is all I have done on my Pinterest since I recently launched my new site this past month ( https://www.chrisryankingston.com )
Anyway, thanks for the post and keep up with the good work 🙂
Thanks Chris, good luck with your new site and hope all your work on Pinterest pays off for you!
Hi There,
Thanks so much for this fantastic resource. I was wondering… do you use Amazon at all? Would you recommend Amazon products for pinterest and how does it differ from MagicLinks?
Thanks in advance
Hi Lorena! I don’t use pin Amazon affiliate links directly on Pinterest because their T&Cs are a bit unclear… I know a few people who’ve asked Amazon directly and some have been told yes, some have been told no. Also seems to be different reactions from the US and EU Amazon. So I feel it’s safer to steer clear for now. MagicLinks specifically encourages pinning their links so that’s one of the best networks to start with 🙂
Hi, great content! I read your blog till I fell asleep last night. And started reading again this morning. I signed up for Pinterest about a month ago. I’m not doing anything because I have no clue! Besides, I’m not really sure it fits my blog concept. My blog posts are all over the place right now. Trying to find my voice, working on my writing and pinning down the niche as I go. But, it’s a bit frustrating with zero traffic 🙁 I noticed that you provided quite lengthy and helpful feedback and am wondering if you could pop in and share your wisdom? https://moneyhabitmuse.com
I want to give a go at Pinterest and would appreciate your feedback. It’s always great to see UK bloggers doing well!
Thanks!
Hi Sage, thanks for your comment! I’m glad you’re enjoying my blog 🙂
I would definitely get started on Pinterest as soon as possible! It can take a while to learn the ropes but it’s still the quickest way to get traffic for a new blogger in my opinion. Way faster than Google. I’ve had a look at your blog and I think your content would do really well – I see you have a lot of list posts and catchy titles, which tend to do well on Pinterest. Once you start to get some traffic it will be easier to define your niche because you can see what’s popular and write more of it 🙂
I make all my Pinterest graphics for free on Canva. I just use the Pinterest standard size template. You can use their ready-made design templates to start with until you get more confident designing your own. You can get free stock photos from sites like Unsplash and Pexels.
A couple of important things about Pinterest for bloggers:
1) Pinterest is a search engine. You need to use keywords (words people search for) so that your pins will be found in search. An easy way to do keyword research on Pinterest is simply type in your main word (e.g. money) and see what suggestions Pinterest gives you in the predictive text or in the coloured boxes under the search bar (e.g. money saving tips, money management). These are all words that people are searching for, so use them in your pin titles, descriptions, board names and descriptions, even your profile page.
2) also, Pinterest is obviously very visual, so pins really have to be eye catching and text has to be CLEAR. Over 80% of Pinterest traffic is mobile, so when I design on Canva I like to zoom out really small and make sure the text (or at least the key word) is clearly legible even when the image is tiny.
Also, since you’re in the UK too, have you joined the UK Money Bloggers group of Facebook? It’s a goldmine of info 🙂 There is also a UKMB Pinterest group board you can join – just search within the group for details.
Hope this helps and good luck with your new blog!
Oh my – thank you so much for your thorough and wonderful reply. I’m trying to get my head around Pinterest. I’ll take everything on board. I’ll be super happy if I can make blogging as half successful as you do!
You’re welcome! Looks like you’re off to a great start with your blog. Keep it up!
Dear Sir,
i am maintaining my pinterest account where my monthly visitors reached to 1.3 million and 60 K daily engaged, 2010 followers too.
I would be more than happy if you kindly send me affiliate link or procedure or how can i take benefit.
That’s great, I recommend you follow the instructions in this course: https://www.boostmybudget.com/go/24-hour-affiliate-sale
Hi sir I am from Nepal and m using Pinterest app since one month. I also want to earn money from Pinterest.can you help me how to growing up in Pinterest and I also want to join with you
Hi! I can’t give you personal support but try following all the steps in this article and let me know if you have specific questions 🙂
Hi sir I am from Nepal and m using Pinterest app from one month. I also want to earn money from Pinterest.can you help me how to growing up in Pinterest and I also want to join with you
Hi, I just came to this post from your Pinterest pin, and I am very much impressed by your valuable content, especially about the MagicLinks. It is entirely new info for me. In the past, I know only about the Skimlinks and Viglinks for monetizing the blog content links. So this time I will use this MagicLinks for my Pinterest board and thank you so much for sharing this much info with us.
You’re welcome Ajay, good luck in your affiliate marketing!
I found your blog on a very late night time. It opens my eyes of that Pinterest can do for any business. I myself saved a few fashion pins which I’m thinking to buy from that link and overall, I will consider joining an affiliate program asap.
Hi,
I have 1million monthly viewers and 1.1k followers.
How can I utilize this by making money on pinterest?
I am Titiloye Timothy’s Blog on Pinterest
Two possible ways:
1) promote relevant affiliate offers following the steps in this tutorial.
2) use Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog and monetise with affiliates, advertising etc
Hi B., thanks for your blog and for your willingness to share all these tips! I started a blog a year ago and have been trying to write posts regularly. But not regularly enough for MagicLinks, by the looks of it. I have around 275 followers on Pinterest, but MagicLinks’ reply was more focussed on my website, see below:
“At this time, your page(s) does not meet one or more of our acceptance requirements below.
Page Statistics
Quality and/or Originality of Content
Consistency of Posting
In the meantime, here are some of MagicLinks’ top tips to grow your page(s):
Commit to posting new, original brand-friendly content to your page(s) multiple times per week.
Create original, eye-catching photos to go with your posts.
Engage regularly with your followers, and with pages you follow.”
It would appear that they will only accept full-time or more established bloggers at this stage. As a working mum, I’m happy if I can write a blog post every few weeks, let alone several per week! Apart from ShareASale, are there any other affiliate networks that are more suited to part-time bloggers? 🙂
Keep up the good work with your blog!
Hi Isabel! That’s a shame about Magic Links. They used to accept everybody but I’ve heard from a few people that their requirements have got stricter. Thanks for letting me know as I need to update this article. The other main affiliate networks I use are Awin and Shareasale. Also Maxbounty but I’m not sure it has many products for your niche. These programs are a little more time consuming to get set up than Magic Links because you have to apply to individual companies within the network, but it’s worth it – you just have to be focused. In fact I would generally recommend deciding which products you want to promote on your blog and then looking for suitable affiliate programs, rather than starting with the affiliate network and then randomly promoting their products.
Two more aff programs for bloggers that you can’t use on Pinterest: Amazon associates program (you can promote anything sold on Amazon, very useful for any niche!) and Skimlinks (converts normal links into aff links where possible. I don’t make very much with this one but it’s useful to hoover up little commissions you might have missed otherwise).
Good luck with your blog! 🙂
Hi there. I have read and pinned a few of your posts over the last few days. I am a UK blogger and I want to branch out my side hustles a bit more. The hope is that I can get to a point where I am earning enough from my blog and affiliates etc to cover my part-time wage so I can just work from home (and hopefully build things even more!). I have shared a few links with shopstyle but have only made pennies from them. I am signed up to AWIN, Amazon already and have just applied to magiclinks on your suggestion (hoping I make the cut). My question is, how do I put images of products onto canva and add my affilaite links to them? I am fine with adding text links to blog posts, but this is confusing me lol. DO you have a post showing how to do this, or a YouTube video. Your blog posts are so helpful, thank you so much.
My blog is : http://alisupsidedownworld.com/
Hi Ali! You simply save the product image from the product website onto your computer, and upload in Canva. When you are working on a pin template in Canva, there is an upload icon on the left side tool bar. I don’t have any videos or tutorials so hope this makes sense! Some affiliate programs will also have an area in the affiliate dashboard where you can download images to use, but otherwise I just take them from the store website.
To add your affiliate link, you need to upload a pin manually on Pinterest (don’t just pin the image directly from the product website or Canva). Pinterest keep changing their layout but at the moment you go to the red plus sign in the top right corner and click Create Pin. Then that gives you a screen where you can upload your image, write the pin description and add your link. You copy and paste your unique affiliate link from the affiliate program website. Hope this makes sense!
Hey , thanks for the heads up..I followed your directives but just 1 follower. Please can you help me know how to pin and repin? So my profile can be great.Also how do I get to know my Url on printerest. Thank you
Hi Gillian,
To find your URL on Pinterest, go to your Pinterest profile page, then take the web address from the top of that page. It will probably be pinterest.com/YOUR USERNAME. For example, mine is https://www.pinterest.co.uk/boostmybudget/.
To pin and repin, just look for the ‘save’ button that appears when you move your mouse over each pin. It is a bit difficult to explain in writing but you can find lots of video tutorials on YouTube, such as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=letk2hPOXzc
Hello, great post on using affiliate links on Pinterest. I tried signing up for MagicLinks and they didn’t accept me. It could be because I just started my blog and don’t have that much traffic yet. Is there any other affiliate networks you would recommend that allows new bloggers and that won’t get my Pinterest account shut down?
Have you had any success with Viglinks?
Thanks!
Hi Rachel, I’ve never tried Viglinks but some others to try are Zazzle and Shareasale. With Shareasale you have to apply to individual brands separately inside the Shareasale platform.
Hi..
I tried signing up with magiclinks and shareasale but both declined my request? I have pinterest account with 500+ followers. What could be the reason? Could you guide for other affiliated market links too. So that we can apply there also.
Thanks
The same with me!
Awesome post! I keep hearing all about pinterest over and over. I now feel like i’ve been missing out. 🙂
Do the strategies still work though?
I’ve recently started my own blog, and i’ve been doing SEO, but it’s been growing suuuper slow. Was wondering if you could pop in and give me some advice. This is my blog
https://bazaarofmarketing.com
Maybe i’m doing something wrong.
Thanks and keep it up!
Thanks! SEO is really important to set up on your blog from the start, but in my experience it takes 6-12 months for a new blog to start to appear in Google searches, even if your SEO is perfect. So if your blog is new, don’t worry about Google traffic for now – it will come in time.
In the meantime, I have personally always found Pinterest the best source of blog traffic other than SEO. Pinterest often has updates and there are a lot of strategies around but the basic strategy is always the same – pin lots, pin good quality content (your own and others). Pinterest likes new pins at the moment, so make as many new desgins as you can.
Depending on your niche, you might also have success driving traffic from other social media networks, answering questions on Quora, Reddit, etc. But for me Pinterest always comes out on top.
Good luck!
Hi, this is a great post but, I have a question.
I have a ShareaSale account but, I have a problem using the short links they provide in Pinterest Pins
The links work. However, when I try to share or re-pin the pins, Pinterest flags them as SPAM. Similarly, if I try to schedule the pins with Tailwind, it will not accept the short links from ShareASale.
Do you have any experience of this?
If using a business account do you have to put an address and phone number?
I don’t think I did when I signed up.
Thank you for your insighful post. I would like to make money here on pinterest without a blog and this is perfect. I am looking forward to creating my business account, building my pinterest profile, getting followers, supporting others and getting started with affiliate programs. Thanks again for the inspired post!
Thanks for sharing an idea for making money from Pinterest
Thank you.very useful information.
Wow, some really helpful tips, thank you ❤️
Thanks so much for sharing. I always thought pinterest is just for driving traffic. ❤ Your post and the structure too.
Regards from Germany.
Pinterest is so useful to bloggers and online marketers in many ways! <3
Hi there,
Nice to see a very in depth and actionable post. I ran into this looking for some good information that I could use to get going a bit more with Pinterest. There are a few nuggets that I can really use here.
Thanks for sharing and take care.
Thanks a lot
I was using Pintrest for other things but this is a great idea.
I am going to use Traffup to drive traffic to a Pintrest account. It works really well for some reason. I get a lot of traction, views and clicks that way.
There is an affiliate program that I will try and promote there.
Thanks a million.
Hai there,
How can i get affiliate link?
Can you please explain me how to get it.?
Thank you😊
Hi! The exact method varies according the affiliate site, so it’s difficult to give a simple explanation here. First, you need to sign up with one of the affiliate programs here: https://www.boostmybudget.com/this-is-how-you-can-make-money-on-pinterest/#Best_affiliate_programs_to_use_on_Pinterest. Then, once they approved you, you can create your affiliate links from inside that site. The method is different on each site, but they all have tutorials for you.
Hi. Thanks for this helpful pin. I wonder though how to earn.. there’s been no mention of how to place the earnings on a financial institution, ur bank or money wallet? Or have I missed something throughout the article?
Hi Lillian. You get paid by the affiliate programs. See a list of my recommend affiliate programs for Pinterest here. The exact method depends on the program(s) you use. So, if you decide to join Zazzle, then Zazzle will pay you for all the users you refer to their website who make a purchase. You can join as many or few affiliates programs as you like, and each will pay you separately. Hope that helps!
Thank you for this insight. I just opened a Pinterest business account can you explain to how to pin and repin also explain what is Disclosure.
Disclosure means that when you pin an affiliate link, you have to write that in the pin description. You can write ‘affiliate link’ or ‘#ad’. As for how to pin and repin, I suggest you search YouTube for some Pinterest for beginners tutorials. It will be easier to understand by video.
I love this and just what I’m looking for to start. Can you use Clickbank as an affiliate program for Pinterest?
I did try using Clickbank on Pinterest a couple of years back but unfortunately my links were blocked. It may be worth trying again as they update these things all the time. Or if you strongly wish to promote a Clickbank product but can’t link directly, you can get around it with an extra step such as setting up a landing page or write a review on a free blog site (with your affiliate link included) and link to that from Pinterest instead.
I’ve always ignored affiliate marketing in the past but now im beginning to see how it’s such an embarrassment of blessings…
It’s definitely worth paying attention to the potential of affiliate marketing!
Thissss is sooo informative! Thanks a bunch for saving my life!
HI there,
Thanks for such a detailed overview regarding monetization on Pinterest and other social media such as Instagram & facebook etc.
Kindly i have a team of 20 people and we are willing to start affiliate marketing in which pins are created in a niche such as “DIY” and we want to earn by repining by our followers and viewers. Can you recommend some website links where we can get this influential affiliate marketing campaigns from clients?
Hi there, see this section of the above post for a list of the best affiliate programs to use on Pinterest.
Tks for sharing. I would like to use Pinterest to get more visit to my blog
Good ideas.but how best can I start on it while am remote areas of Uganda in Africa? Thanks.
Hi Christopher. You can do this from anywhere in the world. You just need to make sure that the affiliate programs you choose will let you join (and recieve payment) from your country. Most affiliate programs will let you join from anywhere if you can accept payment by PayPal in your country. Start with the affiliate programs listed above, check their information pages or contact their support and see if you can join from Uganda. Then, you just follow the steps above. Pinterest is international so you can target an audience in the US or anywhere else in the world. It doesn’t matter where you live, as long as you can find affiliate programs that will pay you.
For other ideas to make money online that will work in your country, see this page: https://www.boostmybudget.com/how-to-make-money-online-internationally/
Hi am still confused of how I can start . because I’ve liked the ideas .help me.thanks
Very useful blog post! I have been concentrating only on Instagram till now to drive traffic to my blog. I am going to start focusing on Pinterest from now! I am going to try Pinterest affiliate marketing now! Thanks!
I haven’t give it try to Pinterest yet . But After reading your blog . I will give it a try . As I realise I am losing traffic to my blog by not using it. Thanks