*I get commissions for purchases made through affiliate links in this post at no extra cost to you. I do not promote anything I haven’t validated or personally used myself.
If you’re looking for ways to make money on Pinterest, you’re in the right spot.
Pinterest is a place people go for inspiration, to browse on their downtime, or to find something specific. That’s the case with most users at least. They have a need or a desire and they are looking for a way to accomplish or fulfill just that.
The good news for you is, you can use that to your advantage and find a variety of ways to generate income on the side. You have a pool of millions of people at your disposal to market yourself to.
They are there looking for something and hopefully, you are the one that can provide it to them and make a lot of money while doing so.
Using the tools you have learned in my previous articles, Pinterest for Beginners 101: The Essential Info You Need to Know and 7 Reasons A Pinterest Business Account is Better for Success, this is your chance to now try and turn that into ways to make money on Pinterest.
You’ve laid the groundwork. Now is the time to focus on how to convert your growing audience into a profitable one.
Learn all the tips on how you can make money online using Pinterest.
Drive Traffic to Your Website
We can all agree that driving traffic to your site is the ultimate goal. If you are a business selling a product or service, this can drastically increase your chances of making more sales.
The more people you can get in front of, the higher your conversion rate. Chances are, they are already interested in what you have to offer because they clicked the Pin sending them to your site.
Maybe you don’t offer a product or service and you’re a blogger who just writes blog posts. Traffic will still be very beneficial in a number of ways.


First, you most likely have affiliate links or ads on your site. The more visitors you get, the more chances you have of someone clicking on those links and making a purchase. That’s money in your pocket.
Another way is leveraging your traffic to either get a higher payout from an existing affiliate relationship or using it to get into a new affiliate program that might be more exclusive and offer higher payouts.
The more traffic you can generate, the more opportunities will be available for you to make money and put more in your bank account each month.
Using Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog can be a very successful way to start earning money on Pinterest.
Pin Affiliate Links
This is one way to make money on Pinterest you have to be careful with. To start, Pinterest has changed its TOS on this topic multiple times over the years.
Currently, it is allowed but that hasn’t always been the case. You’ll want to make sure you stay up to date with this as you don’t want to risk being in violation of their terms.
Secondly, you need to make sure you are clear on the TOS with each individual affiliate program you are signed up with.
If you check out my Pinterest, you will come across a mix of both types of Pins. Some Pins link directly to the affiliate site and other Pins will lead to blog posts on my site that will then lead readers to the affiliate website.


Possible Ways of Posting Affiliate Links
You may have the option to use your affiliate link directly in the Pin which is the easiest option. I didn’t know you could make money on Pinterest this way until recently.
Some affiliate programs allow you to put your affiliate link directly in the Pin. The stipulation to that may be that you aren’t allowed to have their brand name, logo, or certain keywords on the picture or in the description section of that Pin.
This is usually because they are utilizing Pinterest for their marketing strategy as well and they don’t want you to swoop in, create a Pin that looks identical to theirs, and then get paid for it.
If you are marketing a brand for a commission, they are going to want you to create a strategy different than what they are already doing.
Sometimes, the only way you are allowed to Pin an affiliate link is by linking to your website. This may mean that you write an article about a product or service on your site. You will talk about all its pros and cons and why it might be better than a competing product.
Your article will then contain the affiliate link to that product. The reader can then click on the link which would lead them to shop that particular item on that affiliate’s webiste.
This is definitely one of the more popular ways to make extra money online utilizing Pinterest.
Again, there can be many variations of the TOS from brand to brand. Believe me, they are all different. Read them carefully. If you still don’t understand or maybe need some clarification on some verbiage, reach out to them and ask.
You want to make money on Pinterest but you don’t want to get kicked out of your affiliate programs.
The last thing you want to do is waste your valuable time promoting a product and lose out on a commission because you went against their TOS.
Make sure you fully understand how to earn money with each affiliate program.
Don’t put yourself in a position where an affiliate program could make the decision to kick you out of their program. You risk losing all future commission opportunities because of such a mistake. That sounds awful. So be careful and do your homework.
Get Paid to Pin
This doesn’t mean you get paid by Pinterest when you Pin things to your boards. Getting paid to Pin is a term thrown around that people don’t necessarily understand and sometimes think they will earn a quick buck just for Pinning.
I definitely didn’t think Pinterest was going to cut me a check or deposit funds into my bank account every time I pinned something but I was surely confused by the term.
Getting paid to Pin can mean a couple of different things.


Become a Pinterest Manager
This has become a highly popular way to make money on Pinterest over recent years.
This means someone pays you to manage their business account. The details of the work you will be doing and your pay should be agreed upon prior to starting any type of work. This ensures the expectations from both ends of the deal.
It could be as simple as taking over their existing account and maintaining what they are already doing.
A second option could be you setting up a brand-new account, creating all the boards, scheduling the Pins, and also creating ads.
Whatever the details of your agreement are, be sure to have it in a contract. Don’t put yourself into a postion where you do a bunch of work for someone and then they aren’t willing to pay you.
Sponsorship
Brands are constantly looking for people who have a big following to partner with. They want the opportunity to get in front of potentially new customers and you are their avenue to accomplish that. Why not use that as a way to make money on Pinterest?
The partnership would most likely consist of you promoting a product or service for that brand. This may require you to create Pins tailored to advertising whatever you agree on with that company.
Simply make sure that before you agree to any type of sponsorship, it’s something you believe in. If you don’t believe in the product, you won’t come across as authentic to your audience while trying to promote it. If you seem skeptical or not all in, it will show.
Sponsorships shouldn’t only be about money. Let me clarify what I mean by that because we obviously do sponserships as a way to make money online.
Making sure you are staying true to yourself and portraying that to your followers is the only thing that matters. If you involve yourself with the wrong brand, you could destroy your reputation and lose your following.
Losing them will negatively affect your business in the long wrong. Be true to them and you will always prevail. All in all, this is an additional way to be paid to Pin.


Teach Other People Your Strategy
There is also the option of teaching others what you already know. Some people find this a very easy way to earn more income by utilizing Pinterest.
Maybe you have mastered Pinterest. You know the platform inside and out and you are just bursting with information that you know everyone wants to get their hands on.
Use your knowledge and turn that into an online course that you could sell to generate passive income. There are a variety of platforms you could use to build your course and start making money fast.
You will have no problem driving people to your website to sign up for your courses if you truly are knowledgeable in using the Pinterest platform. It will be fairly easy for you to create stunning Pins to lure in your future students.
People are always looking for ways to make money. They will gladly pay for a course that can teach them just that if the price is right.
My Thoughts
Let me just say, even though Pinterest is such an amazing platform to use because of the potential to convert followers into customers, don’t let it be your only focus.
You should always be diversifying your streams of income and never relying on just one source to bring in income every month.
Your pay structures can change, TOS change all the time, the affiliate can change their policies, sponsorships can end if they no longer find you relevant and ad companies may no longer want to advertise on your site.
Trends can change or a brand could go bankrupt. Who knows? Whatever could happen is unknown. Just be sure to make money on Pinterest in as many ways as you can.
Simply pay attention to your numbers and always keep your eyes open for new opportunities. Don’t allow yourself to miss out on a chance to make as much money as you can on Pinterest.
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I’ve seen many fellow bloggers become Pinterest Managers and make serious money doing it. This is a great post filled with viable options to make money on Pinterest. I have done some of these things, but not many.
Great article, did not know much about Pinterest! Thanks for sharing this article
Amy, this is super helpful! I have been focused on getting content onto my blog, and am now at the point where I need to think about my next steps. I definitely need to learn more about using Pinterest!
Interesting! I didn’t know that you could pin affiliate links on Pinterest. That’s good to know. I am still exploring affiliate marketing and the legalese is putting me off a little. I am so worried about infringing any of the conditions! Thanks for sharing!
Yes, but make sure it’s allowed with each individual affiliate program. Some do not allow you to while others do.