How To Make Money on Pinterest (From Day 1)
I know you’re thinking, “But I don’t have a following. I’ve only used Pinterest for inspiration and DIY projects, how do I reach potential followers?”
Create content about your passions! The beauty of Pinterest is that it’s a search engine for images and a platform for creating boards and pins about what you love. So like Kevin Cosner in Field of Dreams, “If you build it, [they] will come.” Beginners find applications like Canva or Stencil useful when creating pins.
You can start a blog, sell handmade items, become a virtual assistant, teach, promote brands and companies and so much more. Even if you don’t want to start a blog, build an audience of a few thousand followers with your boards and pins and marketers will start to reach out.
How to Make Money on Pinterest With A Blog
First things first, start a blog! You’re much more likely to make money by starting a self-hosting blog with a web hosting company that isn’t free. People are less likely to take you seriously if you work through WordPress or any other free blogging platform. Find a cheap web hosting company that suits your needs and budget and choose a domain name.
Set up your page and start writing content for your blog. You’re going to want to write at least 5-10 helpful posts about your niche to introduce yourself to your audience. If you are unsure what you want to write about, use a market demand guidance application like SEMrush to see what people are searching for. Make sure that you pick a niche that you are love learning/writing about as you are going to be dedicating a bit of your free time to it.
Now, sign up for a Pinterest business account and create pins. Join at least 10-15 group boards and make as many boards as you can about your niche. This is also an optimal time to vitalize your profile and add useful keywords that will drive more Pinterest traffic to you.
As soon as you are running your blog and Pinterest account, you can get paid to display ads on your blog. The more traffic your blog receives, the more you will make. Google Adsense is a great place to start. They pay very little, but they do not require a minimum number of page views to get paid. When you have more views you can apply to other ad networks that pay higher and better relate to your niche.
You can also make money through affiliate links and products. These companies will reward you with a small commission when a sale is made through your blog. Be sure to link the affiliate product or URL on your blog and attach your pin and boards to your blog link. This will drive traffic to your blog and links, but not spam Pinterest users with them.
How To Make Money On Pinterest Without a Blog
On Pinterest, you can sell your handmade crafts and items as well as promote other products and companies. Remember to be careful when selling your products and be mindful of Pinterest’s sell policies as they may change. Describe your products using accurate, simple keywords.
If you don’t want to write a blog or creating a product isn’t quite right for you, there are other ways to make money on Pinterest. You could become a virtual assistant to help bloggers and influencers optimize their accounts.
Pinterest Virtual Assistants typically create pins, automate the pinning process, complete keyword research, and work with ad networks for their clients. Some even dabble in scheduling and managing other social media for clients as well. You can easily cash in around $500 per month per client you work with, or more if you take on more duties for them.
Once you learn how to optimize Pinterest and gain a following, you can charge people to promote their brands and products. You can do this with or without a blog and start making some passive income just by creating pins and boards about them. This can be done through the creation of pins, posting on your account, creating boards, and sharing information about them with your followers.
You can even make money teaching your successful strategies to others. If you have connected to other companies and brands, others are going to want to know how you did it. Keep growing and learning more to keep gaining followers and share your knowledge. You can monetize on this with courses, coaching, ebooks, and more.
Once your following is growing, you can promote affiliate links through your pins to earn a commission through different companies. The company of your choice will give you your own personal link to add to your pins, and when someone makes a purchase using that link you reap the rewards. Be sure to read your contracts thoroughly as some companies do not want their affiliate links posted on Pinterest and some do not allow you to take pictures of their product from the website, which can make creating pins difficult.
At the end of your pin, use a #affiliate or #affiliatelink hashtag to disclose your relationship with that company. This is an FTC requirement. You should always try to be as transparent with your following as possible.
In the recent past, Pinterest has changed their stance on affiliate marketing. First no longer allowing it because some pinners felt they were being spammed by the way the links were being used, and more recently allowing it again while requiring a higher level of transparency. This is a valid point to add because a policy change could result in the change or loss of your side income.
Some companies pay pinners to drive traffic to their site or product by posting about it. This is one of the simplest ways to create a passive income because as long as they are receiving traffic, you get paid whether or not someone makes a purchase. A really easy way to do this is to create promoted pins, which look like normal pins but are actually ads. They are similar to Facebook ads in that you pay to promote them and they are platform-based. You can use keywords to promote these ads even further and reach more pinners.
Stand Out
There are a few tools you can use to make your pins more eye-catching and drive more traffic to you. When you are trying to make money, you need to make sure that your pins look organized and professional. If your account is a mess, it will be near impossible to gain a following. This is best done by keeping images relevant and easy to look at. The simpler, the better.
You can use digital image tools like Canva or Stencil to create and refine your images. These tools can also be used to create flyers and business cards which can come in handy if you are operating a blog or affiliate/ad business.
The way you describe your pins also plays a large role in how much traffic you drive to your account. Make sure you are describing your pins using easily searchable keywords. The more simple and to the point they are, the better. Start by searching keywords in your search bar that are related to your niche. You’ll quickly find what keywords do and don’t work for you. You can also use marketing research programs to see what people are searching for.
To really immerse yourself in the Pinterest world, engage with other pinners and join group boards. Make your mark by pinning others’ pins, following others, and participating in the social media side of Pinterest and your followers. Remember to post helpful and relevant content, which can change with the platform environment or if there are any changes to anything about your niche.
Make sure that you keep up with policy changes as well. It can spell disaster if you are monetizing on Pinterest or any other platform in a way that has been specifically banned. Keep learning and gaining knowledge about the platform as you go, and be aware of practicing good business hygiene.
With so many ways to monetize your efforts with Pinterest, it’s no wonder why so many bloggers and affiliate businesses love the platform. From managing your blog to driving traffic to yourself, to promoting affiliates and products and selling handmade products, there is truly is something for everyone. Find your passion and dedicate a bit of your free time and you too can make thousands of passive income dollars a month.
Wallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!
