12 Proven Ways to Make Money with Pinterest: Pin It for Profit!

Thankfully, there are plenty of ways you can use the platform to make money.

Pinterest does not pay you directly like other social media platforms like YouTube or Twitch. But there are still plenty of ways you can make money with Pinterest and below, I’ll cover 12 of them! I’ll also give you tips for making money on Pinterest, and answer some common questions you may have about making cash on the platform in the FAQ section.

How to Make Money with Pinterest

Here are the best ways you can use Pinterest to earn money.

1. Use Pinterest Ads to reach new users

• Best for selling digital & physical products online.

Did you know that one of the best ways to make money with Pinterest is by using Pinterest ads?

These are called Promoted Pins and they look like regular Pins. The difference is that they are strategically placed where your audience is most likely to see them, like on your target audience’s home feed, category feeds, and search results.

You do have to pay for Promoted Pins, so this is a spend-money-to-make-money type of venture.

Handily enough, Pinterest has a guide all about ads. You can check that out here to learn more.

Using ads is particularly useful if you have something you want to drive traffic to or build an audience for.

If you have a clothing store, for example, then you can use Promoted Pins to reach new customers who may be interested in your brand.

While you are spending money, it’s worth it if you can get a good return on that investment. If those ads result in 10x more traffic to your store or website, then you can up your profits.

Setting up ads

You will need to have a business account in order to create ads. You can learn about business accounts here.

The amount you pay will depend on the budget and spending limits that you set for your campaigns. Learn how to set your bid here.

You’ll need to go to Ads Manager at ads.Pinterest.com to start running ads. The first time you access Ads Manager, it will ask you to select your country. Make sure you choose carefully because this will determine your billing currency and you won’t be able to edit this later.

So, if you have an online business, consider running ads on Pinterest to get your products or services in front of potential buyers.

2. Share shoppable Pins for your products

• Best for people who sell stuff online either on their own website or on a third-party site like Etsy.

Another way to increase sales if you sell products online is to create and share shoppable Pins for your products.

These are known as Product Pins.

Product Pins can be used to get your products in front of people on Pinterest who are already looking for ideas and things to purchase.

These Pins are enriched with metadata and formatted to let people on Pinterest know that they are shopping.

Product Pins contain:

• Pricing information
• A product title
• A description
• A link back to a specific product through which a customer can place an order

Pinterest has a guide all about Product Pins, including links to posts that provide more information on them, so you can check that out here.

3. Make money on Pinterest with affiliate links

• Best for anyone who’s looking to make money on Pinterest without selling any of their own products.

Affiliate marketing is a popular money-making method online because it allows you to earn money selling products, without having to create any products of your own.

With affiliate marketing, you join an affiliate marketing program and get affiliate links for products.

You can get affiliate links for products in pretty much every category you could think of from clothing to electronics.

Then, you can post your affiliate links in various places online, such as:

• Blog posts
• A product resources landing page
• Videos
• Social media platforms, including, you guessed it, Pinterest

When someone clicks on one of your affiliate links, they’re taken to the product page, as they normally would be.

If they make a purchase, you will receive a commission on the sale.

So, you make money selling other people’s products.

You can leverage Pinterest in your own affiliate marketing venture by creating Pins that link to content that incorporates your affiliate links.

This could include links to blog posts, YouTube videos, or any other content that incorporates your affiliate links.

Sharing your affiliate links on Pinterest is a great idea because it means your links can be found by anyone who’s searching for that particular product, and you can earn a commission if they make a purchase.

Tips for affiliate marketing on Pinterest

Since Pinterest doesn’t have its own affiliate links, the commission you earn will depend on the terms that you have set up with external affiliate programs or merchants.

Here are some tips for affiliate marketing on Pinterest:

• Make sure that you follow the relevant guidelines on affiliate marketing. So, be sure to disclose when affiliate links are present, as the FTC guidelines state. You can learn more about the FTC’s guidelines on affiliate marketing here.
• Make sure that you only share direct links. Pinterest discourages the use of link shorteners or tools that disguise the real URL. So, make sure you don’t use those types of tools when sharing affiliate links. You can learn more about Pinterest’s policies here.
• Be sure to optimize your Pins for keywords that are related to the affiliate products you’re linking to. After all, Pinterest operates as a search engine, so by making sure that your content features keywords that users are searching for, the content is more likely to generate clicks and engagement, which could lead to an increase in sales.
• Create board themes. It’s not a good idea to just create a bunch of unrelated affiliate links and throw them together on the same board. This is unlikely to get your results. Instead, you should put thought into your Pins, and curate Pins around a central theme.
• Create good descriptions. It’s important to take the time to write some good descriptions. It’s important to convey why these affiliate links or Pins are important and be sure to use related keywords and hashtags for Pinterest to use in the search results.
• Make sure you use high-quality media. You want people to click on your affiliate links, so be sure to make high-quality Pins.
• Don’t just share links. People don’t tend to like it when all you do is promote affiliate links, so be sure to create quality boards that are useful to the user.

4. Make money blogging (indirectly) on Pinterest

• Best for bloggers & website owners

Pinterest can be a valuable tool for bloggers. Bloggers can use Pinterest to drive traffic to their blog.

As a blogger, you can make money from the ads on your site, affiliate links, and sponsored content. The more traffic you can get to your blog, the better.

More traffic results in more views on ads and more people to potentially click on your affiliate links. It can also open up more sponsorship opportunities.

So, using Pinterest to get more visitors to your blog is a great idea. Incorporating Pinterest into your traffic-building strategy can help to drive revenue.

Ranking for keywords on Google is obviously incredibly important, and all bloggers should ensure that they’re working on this.

But ranking for keywords on Google can also be complex and time-consuming, and it’s often changing its algorithm, which also makes it hard to maintain a consistent ranking.

On the other hand, ranking for keywords on Pinterest can be more straightforward, and it can help you to build up a following for your blog as well.

Interestingly, 85% of Pinners say that Pinterest is where they go to start a new project.

You could capture some of this traffic if you can create useful content that aligns with what your potential audience is looking for.

If you have a blog about sewing, for example, and you create useful Pins that are related to the keywords that your audience is looking for, then a Pinner who’s headed to Pinterest to learn about sewing can see your posts, click through to your blog, and then be able to learn from your site.

Tips for using Pinterest to promote your blog

Here are some tips you can use to help you grow your web traffic through Pinterest:

• Make sure you create content that’s highly relevant to your blog. You don’t want to create content that doesn’t align with what the user is looking for.
• Have a browse through Pinterest Trends to see which keywords are trending with users on the platform. This way, you can see if there are any trends that you can leverage to increase traffic to your own blog.
• Create multiple Pins for each blog post, which have an optimized title, description, and image that’s related to the keywords that users are searching for. This can get more users to your posts.
• Save your Pins to boards that have optimized titles and descriptions. Again, be sure to incorporate keywords that your potential audience is searching for.
• Create article rich Pins. Rich Pins are a type of organic Pin that automatically syncs information from your website to your Pins. Rich Pins are a free product that’s available to anyone on Pinterest who has a business account. There are a few different types of rich Pins. If you’re a blogger, then Article rich Pins are particularly useful. Article rich Pins add the headline or title, the description, and the author of the article or blog post from your site. You can learn more about creating rich Pins here.

5. Make money on Pinterest by posting pictures using “Shop your Look”!

• Best for influencers, bloggers, or brands who want to promote their products.

On Pinterest, shopping engagement grew by 20% in 2021.

So, shopping on the platform is a priority for many Pinterest users.

If you enjoy topics like fashion, beauty, and home decor, you could leverage that to make money on the platform. All you need to do is help users shop your look.

For example, let’s say you post photos of your outfits. Then, you could tag the specific items in that photo so that your followers can shop that look themselves. So, you would link to a pair of boots, a dress, a skirt, or a sweater, for example.

You can also do this with beauty products too, as I mentioned before.

For example, you could share a skincare routine or a makeup routine, and then tag the items you’ve used, like your foundation, moisturizer, or mascara.

“Shop the look” Pins allow you to earn extra money just by promoting what you already wear and use.

Once your account is set up, you can create your “Shop the Look” Pins, and then earn money if someone orders the items using your links.

Shop the Look Pins are a good way to link to several products at once in a single Pin. Whether it’s an outfit post or a home décor post, each product available for purchase in the photo is shown via a white dot that users can click on to see more.

Using Collections Pins

Pinterest actually allows you to tag products in a collections Pin so that people can shop your look.

Collections allow people to find products from fashion to home décor Pins. When a person taps on a collections Pin, they will see a search icon in the bottom-right, and when they click on this, white dots will appear on the Pin that people can then tap to view and shop for exact or similar products.

Learn more about creating a collections Pin here.

6. Create sponsored content

• Best for influencers, bloggers, or creators with a large following.

Companies want to get their products and services in front of their target audience. One of the ways they achieve this is through influencer marketing.

Companies pay influencers to promote their products and services on social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and, of course, Pinterest.

You may be able to work with brands if you have a large enough following.

You could work with brands to create sponsored content specifically for Pinterest.

Or you may be able to get a higher rate for sharing a sponsored blog post or social content from other platforms with your Pinterest audience too.

Once you have a following on Pinterest, do some research to find companies in your niche and then approach them for sponsorship opportunities.

If you have a decent following and good engagement on there, it will be easier for you to find brands that are willing to pay you to promote their products or services. You could offer them a deal to display their branding on your Pinterest account for an agreed upon period of time, such as a month, six months, or a year.

7. Create Idea Pins to promote brand partnerships

• Best for influencers, bloggers, or creators with a large following.

You can use Idea Pins to promote brand partnerships.

Idea Pins can be used to record multiple videos and add images, lists, and custom text in a single Pin.

Just like with other Pins, Idea Pins will stay on your boards once you’ve published them.

Creators on Pinterest can tag a brand or company that they have a partnership with in an Idea Pin.

When a creator adds a paid partnership to their Idea Pin, the paid partnership label will automatically appear when the Pin is published. Brands need to approve the tag in order for their name to appear with the paid partnership label on an Idea Pin.
According to Pinterest, “A paid partnership is a relationship in which a creator creates content with a brand that they have a material connection with in order to promote the brand or its products. These partnerships are already established by the creator and brand outside of Pinterest.”

So, you can use the paid partnership tool to be matched with brand partners, and possibly get paid for promoting partner brands.

Using Idea Pins on Pinterest

Here’s how you can use the paid partnership tool:

• Create an Idea Pin. You can learn more about how to do this here.
• On the “Finishing touches” screen, tap “Advanced settings.”
• Toggle on “Add paid partnership label,” and then select “Add a brand partner.”
• Search for the brand to tag. You can tag only one brand per Idea Pin.
• Select “Add” beside your desired brand.
• Select “Add” on the “Approval needed” popup window. Before the request is submitted to the brand, the Idea Pin must be published.
• The selected brand now appears in the “Advanced setting” screen for review.
• Return to the “Finishing touches” screen and click “Publish.”

Once the Idea Pin is published, the “paid partnership” label will appear on the Idea Pin without the brand’s name. The brand will get a notification email, and they will have the option to approve or decline the tag. If the brand approves the partnership, then its name will be added to the “paid partnership” label.

Brands can pay you to make this type of content and share it with your audience. And, they may also choose to use the Pin as part of their ad campaign.

There are plenty of brands that are looking to work with creators, so this can be a really good option. To get brand partnerships, it’s a good idea to ensure that your posts have a niche and that you have an audience of followers and good engagement. You don’t need a ton of followers to get a brand deal though.

8. Manage other people’s Pinterest accounts for them

• Best for people who are looking for a way to make money on Pinterest without selling anything or working with brands.

Managing other people’s Pinterest accounts for them is a good option if you:

• Don’t want to sell stuff
• Want to know how to make money on Pinterest without a blog
• Are not an influencer and don’t want to partner with brands

It offers you a way to make money without having to sell anything, have a blog, or partner with brands.

Managing a Pinterest account can be pretty time-consuming, and many people, like those who run a full-time business, just don’t have the time to run it themselves.

So, some people will hire someone to manage their Pinterest account for them.

This can be a virtual assistant type of role where you’re responsible for creating and uploading Pins.

You could get paid to do tasks like creating and uploading Pins, keyword research, and even helping develop a Pinterest strategy for your client’s primary business objectives, like growing web traffic or increasing conversions of shoppable Pins, for example.

So, you can get paid to work as a Pinterest virtual assistant and help with tasks like creating and uploading Pins. Some positions may involve marketing strategies too.

You can find Pinterest manager jobs or Pinterest virtual assistant jobs online.

If you can, try creating a portfolio that outlines the results you have gotten from growing your own Pinterest account and other businesses’ Pinterest accounts so that you can share it with potential clients. This will show clients that you have experience running Pinterest accounts. There are plenty of resources online that can help you learn about managing a Pinterest account.

9. Sell Pinterest templates

• Best for people who are creative and have an artistic flair.

People want to save time, so they use Pinterest templates. You could earn money by selling these templates.

You can create your own set of Pinterest templates and sell them on sites like Etsy or even through your own website.

What’s good about this method is that once you have made your templates, you can get a recurring income from them, provided you can get them in front of the right audience.

10. Teach others how to make money on Pinterest

• Best for those who have been successful on Pinterest and want to monetize their strategies.

Another way that you can earn money with Pinterest is to, well, teach others how to make money on Pinterest! If you are successful making money with the platform, then you can teach others how to do the same.

You can create eBooks, video series, or courses on how to make money on Pinterest and sell them.

11. Learn a skill from Pinterest and monetize it

• Best for anyone looking to learn and monetize a skill.

You can learn about so many different things on Pinterest, like carpentry, baking, and gardening. It’s basically like a huge online library where you can learn about a bunch of different things.

Pinterest allows you to gather and organize these resources in one place, which is awesome.

You can use Pinterest to gain a marketable skill and then monetize that skill.

For example, you could learn all about baking there, and then start a baking YouTube channel. Or, you could learn about carpentry and start building and selling your own furniture. There are so many options.

You can learn so many different things on Pinterest and many of them are marketable skills.

So, think about what you can learn from Pinterest, and then make money from it.

Also, depending on what you decide to learn and how you decide to monetize it, you can then turn to Pinterest again to promote your products or services.

12. Pinterest Creator Rewards

• Best for content creators.

If you’ve been researching how to make money with Pinterest, then you will have likely seen the Creator Rewards program mentioned on various websites.

With the program, creators could earn money for creating original Idea Pins in response to monthly reward goals created by Pinterest.

Unfortunately, the Creator Rewards program ended in November 2022, so this is no longer a money-making option on the platform. Pinterest has created another program called the Creator Fund. However, this new initiative is only for “underrepresented creators.” So, many people won’t qualify for it.

Tips for Making Money on Pinterest

Above, I’ve given you lots of methods for making money with Pinterest. In this section, I’ll cover some simple tips you can use to make money on the platform with whatever method you choose to use to earn money there.

Create eye-catching Pins

Pinterest is a popular platform, which, as I said earlier, has millions of users. That’s why it’s important to ensure that your posts stand out. After all, there are tons of Pins on the platform, so you need to make yours eye-catching and also professional looking.

There are lots of tools you can use to help you create high-quality Pins that will grab the attention of your audience.

Canva, for example, has some great templates. There are plenty of other places to find templates or high-quality images you can use to create great Pins.

Unsplash, for example, has a ton of high-quality images, and many of them are free!

So, create some great high-quality Pins that will catch the attention of your audience.

Use Pinterest SEO

Keywords are crucial on Pinterest because they help users find your content. Pinterest acts like a search engine, similar to Google. Users can enter keywords to discover relevant content.

That’s why it’s important to implement SEO strategies.

When you use the right keywords to describe your content, it helps people discover your Pins through direct search and Pinterest’s recommendation algorithm.

It’s important to incorporate your keywords in multiple places, such as:

• Pin description
• Text overlay
• Board title
• Board description
• Profile description

You can find keywords by researching on Pinterest.

First, create a list of terms relevant to your business. These can be broad terms like “Mexican recipes,” “mahogany furniture,” or “skincare products.”

Next, enter a term into the Pinterest search bar.

For instance, if you run a skincare blog and want to write about skincare, type in “skincare” or other relevant keywords in the Pinterest search bar. As you type, you’ll see a dropdown of related keywords.

For example, when I search for “skincare,” I see related terms such as “skincare routine,” “skincare products,” and “skincare tips.”

Add any relevant keywords to your list.

Another way to get more keyword suggestions is to type a term into the search bar (like “skincare”) and either click on a suggestion or search for the initial keyword.

Once you’ve hit search, you’ll get a bunch of results. Underneath the search bar, you’ll see some colored tiles suggesting related keywords.

You can click on these keywords to view more niche suggestions.

Spend some time researching the platform to get keyword ideas.

It’s a good idea to explore more niche suggestions. These related keywords are valuable because they may not be as heavily targeted by other creators but are easier to rank for and still relevant to Pinners.

Once you’ve created a list of keywords, start using them.

Make sure to use keywords naturally, avoiding excessive stuffing.

When describing your Pins, use simple and to-the-point descriptions. It’s also beneficial to use hashtags.

Engage with other Pinterest users

Interacting with other Pinners on the platform is essential.

While the search algorithm is crucial, Pinterest is also a social media platform.

To maximize your platform benefits, engage by clicking on people’s follow links, Pinning other people’s Pins, and commenting on posts.

Follow other users and interact with their content; this can help generate engagement for your posts. You can always unfollow people if you don’t like the Pins in your feed.

Make sure you have a business account

If you want to make money on Pinterest, you need to have a business account.

This is crucial for making money because many of the money-making options on there are only available to those who have a business account. For example, you will need a business account to use Pinterest Ads.

Having a business account is also important for contacting brands for partnerships and affiliate links. Business accounts provide access to features like analytics. Best of all, business accounts are free, so you should definitely get one if you want to monetize Pinterest.

Schedule your Pins

If you want to use Pinterest for making money, it’s essential to upload consistently. Scheduling your Pins is one of the best ways to achieve this, ensuring you don’t forget or miss upload deadlines.

Adding new Pins over time, consistently, helps you reach more people compared to uploading many posts at once.

You can use a tool like Hootsuite to schedule your Pins. While Hootsuite isn’t free, it can help you schedule Pins efficiently, potentially increasing your Pinterest earnings.

Have a press or media kit

One approach to making money on Pinterest is by working with brands.

If you plan to focus on influencer partnerships rather than direct sales, having a press or media kit is essential.

A media kit includes statistics and data on your followers and engagement. It provides key facts about your blog, business, or Pinterest following.

You can use a media kit template from Hootsuite, or create one using Canva.

Having a media kit is a good way to let brands know what you have to offer.

Pinterest Monetization FAQs

In this section, I’ll provide answers to common questions about making money with Pinterest.

Can you get paid from Pinterest?

Pinterest does not pay creators directly. However, you can leverage Pinterest to earn money by sharing shoppable Pins for your products, creating sponsored content for brands, promoting your blog, or selling Pinterest templates. Essentially, any method mentioned above can help you get paid on Pinterest.

How do beginners make money on Pinterest?

Beginners can make money on Pinterest by selling Pinterest templates, managing other people’s Pinterest accounts as virtual assistants, or engaging in affiliate marketing.

How many views on Pinterest do you need to make money?

Pinterest doesn’t pay per view like YouTube. Instead, Pinners make money by promoting blogs, using affiliate marketing, or selling products and services. Creators can also earn by partnering with brands for sponsored content. Explore our list for more ways to earn on Pinterest.

How many followers do you need to make money on Pinterest?

The number of followers on Pinterest doesn’t directly determine your earnings. However, having at least a thousand followers can facilitate successful marketing through affiliate links or sponsorships. You can start with zero followers and grow rapidly by posting engaging content.

How Much Money Can You Make on Pinterest?

Your earnings on Pinterest depend on your chosen method. For instance, earnings from affiliate marketing differ from those of sponsored content.

Here are average earnings and pay ranges for some Pinterest money-making options:

• Blogger: $22 an hour on average. Pay ranges from $5 to $50 an hour.
• eCommerce seller: $75 an hour on average. Pay ranges from $5 to $193 an hour.
• Affiliate marketer: $75 an hour on average. Pay ranges from $5 to $193 an hour.
• Influencer: $21 an hour on average. Pay ranges from $6 to $38 an hour.

Pin It!

While making money on Pinterest requires time and effort, it can be highly profitable. There are numerous ways to earn on the platform, such as sharing shoppable Pins, affiliate marketing, and promoting blogs.

Unleash your creativity and start monetizing your pins today! With these proven methods, the opportunities for financial success on Pinterest are endless. Get ready to pin your way to financial success!