How to Make Money on Pinterest Without a Blog

Fully updated for 2025!

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!

You can get started today, with absolutely no upfront costs.

I’ve personally made hundreds of dollars a month with affiliate marketing 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:

Introduction to making money on Pinterest with affiliate marketing

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 or your business mailing list.

But here’s why we want to focus on Pinterest:

Why affiliate marketing on Pinterest should be your next side hustle

Pinterest is often referred to as a social network, but the truth is, it’s actually 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. In fact, great content is helping Pinterest users to achieve their goals!

Also, your pins on Pinterest hang around forever.

It’s not like Instagram or X, where your post may as well disappear forever the day after you post it.

If a pin gets picked up and gets a lot of repins (shares), it will keep circulating in people’s feeds, without any more effort on your part.

And if you take the time to learn Pinterest SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), you can make sure your pins will show up in searches months or years down the line.

I still get traffic to this website from pins that I made 5 years ago!

But 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 or other social media 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.

How to make money on Pinterest with affiliate marketing in 2025 (UPDATED STRATEGY)

In the original version of this article, I talked about linking pins directly to your affiliate links.

In 2025, this is not the strategy I recommend anymore!

Technically, pinning affiliate links is still allowed.

However, Pinterest – and many retailers – have come to associate excessive affiliate links with spammy, poor quality pins.

Some of the big retailers – including Etsy and Amazon – do NOT allow you to post their affiliate links on Pinterest.

Some other affiliate networks are identified as potential spam by Pinterest’s filters and the links are automatically blocked!

If you pin a large quantity of affiliate links directly on Pinterest, you are at risk of Pinterest restricting or closing your account. At the very least, they may decide that you are not a high-quality pinner and restrict your reach.

You can still pin affiliate links on Pinterest – but sparingly! I recommend proceeding with caution!

So, what do we do instead?

Don’t worry – it’s still very easy to make money on Pinterest with affiliate marketing! There is a safer option that does not leave your account at risk.

The answer is to link your pins to a different platform, which will house all your affiliate links.

If you have a blog, this is the obvious solution! In fact, if you are serious about making money online with Pinterest or affiliate marketing, I highly recommend you start a blog. This is because:

1. You own your own platform, and you have total control over it!
2. There are so many other ways to monetise a blog! As well as affiliate links, you can make money from displaying ads, sponsored posts, selling digital products, and more.
3. Some affiliate networks will only let you join if you have your own website.

If you are tempted, I have a full tutorial for starting a blog right here!

But, I fully recognise that starting a blog is not for everybody. It is a lot of work. 

Luckily, there are other options!

I promised I would teach you how to make money on Pinterest without a blog, so here you are:

How to make money on Pinterest WITHOUT a blog

If you don’t have a blog but you still want to utilise Pinterest for affiliate marketing, here’s what I recommend:

There are several third-party platforms where you can create your own shoppable, curated lists of products, and include your own affiliate links.

Then, you link your pins to these pages instead of directly to the product! Easy peasy!

Here are the platforms I recommend:

Platforms to create affiliate storefronts

Beginner-friendly

Benable

My number 1 recommendation for beginners! Anyone can join – no website or social media following needed. (It will ask you for your social media when you sign up, but you can just skip it.)

Once you’ve joined, you automatically become an affiliate for most of their 35,000+ brand partners (although there are a few you need to get approved for individually). You can get paid to promote products from Amazon, Etsy, Nike, Tripadvisor, Ulta, to name just a few!

At the time of writing there is a waitlist to join but you can skip it using my invite link or code V87DQ.

Kit

Anyone can join. They currently support 26 different affiliate networks, listed here. However, links are not automatically monetised; you need to apply for the individual affiliate programs yourself. 

Walmart Creator

Create your own storefront with personalised collections of your favourite products from Walmart, the world’s largest retailer. They welcome creators of all types, and there’s no minimum follower count. You must be over 18 and live in the US. 

Influencer platforms

If you have an existing social media following, try one of these:

Amazon Influencer storefront

Curate your own shoppable storefront and ideas lists of Amazon products. This is one of the easiest “influencer” programs to get into. You need an active and engaged account on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok. However, there is no minimum follower requirement. I have heard of someone getting approved with just 40 followers with a new TikTok they made especially to get into Amazon! Engagement and activity seems to be more important than follower count.

ShopMy

You need a social media channel with at least 1,000 followers (although they consider accounts on a case-by-case basis). You don’t need to apply for affiliate networks separately as you will automatically get access to their 50K+ partners! 

LTK (previously LikeToKnow.it)

Another very popular platform if you have an existing social media following. It is renowned for being exclusive. They don’t say how many followers you need to get approved, although they do ask for ‘a high number of engaged followers on your social media channels’ and at least four months of original, shoppable content. You will earn commission on all the products you share, with no need to apply for separate affiliate programs.

Right, so you’ve chosen a platform for your storefront and set up and account. Now, how do you start getting paid?

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!

I recommend a business account. This gives you access to stats and analytics, so you can see what’s working. You don’t need to be a business, or even a blogger, to have a business account.

You can upgrade your existing personal account to a free business account – just follow Pinterest’s instructions here.

Consider starting a new account for affiliate marketing. This way you can stay tightly focused on your niche (fashion, beauty, decor, travel etc) so that Pinterest can easily understand what you’re pinning about and push it out to the right people.

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.

Make at least 10 boards on topics 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 save other people’s pins to fill out your profile.

2. Create your affiliate content

Now you have a Pinterest profile, you need to create some shoppable content that will appeal to Pinterest users!

By now you should already have either a blog, or an account with one of the affiliate storefront platforms listed above (Benable, Kit, LTK, Amazon influencer, etc).

Let’s choose our first topic and create a post!

To make sure I am creating content that people are searching for, I will do some research on trends.pinterest.com. (Note: you need to be logged into your Pinterest account to use this page.)

I see that two Disney outfit keywords are trending – ‘disney outfits women winter’ and ‘disney park outfits’. That sounds right up my street! So I decide to create a roundup of Disney park outfits 🙂

I head over to Benable and create my collection.

3. Start pinning your affiliate products

Ok, so you’ve set up your Pinterest profile and created some affiliate roundups on your platform of choice.

The next step is to start promoting your roundups on Pinterest!

You can just pin the product images directly. But for more impact, I also recommend using a free image editor (I love Canva) to make pretty pins with text overlays and other effects. Canva has loads of free pin templates you can use.

Here’s how to add your pin and link to Pinterest:

First, click on the menu icon in the top left. 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 link from the affiliate program website (how you get this will depend on the program), and add your link where it says ‘add your destination link’ at the bottom.

Be sure to use the full, raw form of the link. Avoid link shorteners such as bit.ly or Pretty Link. These can signal ‘spam’ to Pinterest.

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 or list.

Remember, Pinterest is a search engine.

Use lots of ‘keywords’ – 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 recommended 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 bubbles underneath the search bar:

Hint: if you click on one of those coloured bubbles, you will get even more key words.

Use as many of these as you can, but write naturally in full sentences – don’t just list out all the keywords.

So if I want to pin my Disney outfits list, a good description would be something like: ‘Here are my favourite Disney park outfits for women! How cute are these Disney outfit ideas? If you’re looking for inspo for what to wear to Disney in winter, click through and check it out – or save this pin for later!’

This should help my pin show up in search results for people searching for those words.

Important: if you pin affiliate links directly, your description should also include a disclosure such as ‘affiliate link’ or ‘#ad’.

If you link to a blog or third-party site, the disclosure should be on your landing page.

Government 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!

Saving 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.

You also need to be pinning your own, unique new pins regularly. Aim for a minimum of 2-5 new pins per day, but you could even make a lot more.

Now, don’t panic! You don’t have to be creating 5 fresh idea lists or blog posts every day. You can (and should) create multiple pins for each link.

Think: pins featuring individual items, pins featuring a collage of items, pins with different text overlays, or without text.

You can make several variations on the same pin quickly and easily in Canva with a few tweaks like changing the font or the colour.

You don’t want to pin all these pins at once! Space them out a few days apart over several weeks. You can use the inbuilt Pinterest scheduler to do this.

This shows Pinterest you’re a consistent pinner, and stops you spamming the same link too much.

Bear in mind that not every pin will make you money. Some pins take a while to take off, and some just never take off at all.

It usually takes 4-8 weeks minimum for a pin to get indexed by Pinterest’s search engine.

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, watch your analytics to see what works…. and eventually you will see the commissions rolling in.

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? Perhaps you sell digital products on Etsy, Stan or Beacons?

You can pin your own products to drive traffic to them! Don’t forget to use Pinterest best practices, 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

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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 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 tried affiliate marketing on Pinterest? What are your results? Any questions for me?

I’d love to hear how you get on!

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