Pinterest is one of the best ways to draw traffic, but the problem is that most people use this social media channel to draw traffic to their personal blogs.

What happens if you don’t own a blog but you want to benefit from Pinterest?  Can you do it?

Absolutely!

In today’s post, I wanted to talk about the many ways you can make money on Pinterest without a blog.  These ideas are 100% legit and will work, as long as you put some effort in.  Of course, the money won’t flow in immediately, but over time, like many online money-making ventures, great things can come to those who wait and do things right.

How to Make Money on Pinterest without a Blog

Sign Up for an Affiliate Program

There’s an affiliate program for everything, and the great thing about an affiliate program is that you don’t need a website to promote a product and earn a commission.  Pinterest can suffice.  If I were to choose any option, this would be the quickest way to start now.

And, if you don’t know what an affiliate program is, it’s a special link for a product/service that you will receive that you can then promote on your website, Pinterest, etc, and then earn a commission each time someone clicks that special link and performs the action necessary to earn the said commission.

So, for example, if you were promoting Amazon products, you could earn up to 12% of the sale if they use your link.  If you were to promote a bank, let’s say, you could earn up to $150+ for every person who successfully signs up.  All terms vary, but usually, you will receive a percentage of the sale or a flat rate, but you will know everything on your dashboard.

It’s a good idea to start brainstorming products and/or services that you’re interested in.

What you will want to do is explore some of the more popular affiliate programs such as ShareASale, CJ Affiliate and Clickbank, to name a few.  There are so many, and this alone could be its own post.  What I recommend is that you search for “top affiliate programs” or even be more specific if you have a topic in mind, say, “sports.”  Again, there’s an affiliate program for everything, and you should be able to find a ton of them.

Here’s a simple step process to get started:

• think of a niche
• find affiliate programs that relate to the niche (a quick search can yield results)
• optimize your profile
• create pins
• add the affiliate links to your pins
• join group boards
• create boards that relate to your niche
• start promoting

Now, when you do sign up for an affiliate program, not all affiliates allow you to solely promote on social media outlets, such as Pinterest, so when you do sign up, just make sure you read the fine print to ensure you’re abiding by the rules.

And, as for promoting these links on Pinterest, that’s a whole another book, and I couldn’t possibly cover it all in this post.  For that reason, I recommend you check out the many highly rated courses on Udemy.

Sell Physical and/or Digital Products

Even if you don’t have website experience, that’s okay, as you can create your own storefront through other means, such as Amazon, Shopify and Etsy, for example.  Anyone can do this, I promise.

And, if you’re thinking about a store and shipping out products, this isn’t the case as you can sell digital products, such as:

• courses
• digital art
• e-books
• knitting/sewing patterns
• planners/organizers
• spreadsheets
• sticker templates
• templates
• worksheets

However, you can sell physical goods, as well, if that’s what you choose to do.

Like the affiliate products, you can create pins based on the products you’re selling and start pinning them on Pinterest.  Again, Udemy has a variety of low-cost courses that can help you create a passive income on the platform.

Decide what you want to do here.  You can do a mix of each or focus on one vertical.  Digital items require no inventory and can create a passive income, wherein physical items will take more of your time, such as shipping, inventory, etc, but you could be dealing with less demand.

Sell Your Personal Services

If you have a service you can sell, then Pinterest can be a great way to market yourself.

While a website is a nice way to promote yourself, it isn’t necessary as long as you know how to optimize your profile on Pinterest.

Whether it’s professional coaching or even offering a local service such as a cleaning company, it’s open to all.  I can only touch upon so much here, but if you’re able to promote/optimize your profiles, then the traffic is endless.

Build a Following and Look for Sponsorships

I’m not sure how large your following is, but if you receive a lot of views and followers, then you could find that brands will be willing to pay you to pin some of their images on your account.  In turn, this can help with brand awareness and/or lead generation.

In most cases, brands won’t come to you, but it doesn’t mean you’re not worthy of selling ad space.

What you will want to do is figure out the top brands in your niche and reach out to the brand managers.  Oftentimes, this information can be found on LinkedIn or even with a quick search on the official website.  Approach this person and let them know what your following could possibly bring to them.  It’s best to build a media kit that’s simple to skim so that they can learn more about your audience.  Again, you will need a following of at least 10,000+ followers at a minimum to garner any interest.

This is more of a cold calling/e-mailing type gig, but it’s one that can build you a decent side income, especially if you have a great following.

Consider the Pinterest Creator Program

Pinterest will pay you through the Pinterest Creator Program, which was designed as a way to develop content that’s not found elsewhere.

If you’re interested in the program, you do need to meet some requirements, which include the following:

• must be 18+
• have at least 1,000 followers
• have original content
• have ideas to pitch
• U.S. (at least for now)

The requirements aren’t much, but if you feel you can offer an original idea and you have at least 1,000+ followers, then who knows?  Worst case, they deny your application.

Quick Blueprint to Use Pinterest to Make Money

I wanted to create this post as a way to give you guidance as to where to look.  If I were to create it in detail, this would soon turn into a large e-book and I didn’t want to do this.

If you were interested in any of these ideas to make money, then these would be the steps you would need to take to start earning.

1. Pick out a niche
2. Set up a Pinterest account and select topics that relate to a niche
3. Start keyword research using the Pinterest search engine to see what it suggest
4. Research competitors to see which keywords they are using
5. Use the keywords you found and add them to your Pinterest profile
6. Create boards using your SEO terms and add pins to it
7. Design your pins (Canva is a great option)

Final Thoughts

One of the great things about Pinterest is that you don’t need a blog to start making money.  All you need, most of the time, is a Pinterest account, an affiliate link and some nice pins that can convert.  It’s going to take some time to learn the market, but with the right pins and affiliate programs, you can start making decent money.  You’re just going to have to invest time into these courses to figure out what works for you.  I just wanted to create this blog post as a stepping stone.

Again, it’s going to take some time, but over the months, you can see some progress.  Maybe you won’t get rich, but maybe you’re happy with a few hundred dollars a month.  Whether you want to earn a side income or a full-time income that changes your life, it’s all possible.

That’s going to do it for now.

As always, if you want to add to this guide and/or comment on your experience, you’re more than welcome to add your thoughts in the comments section below.