Is Pinterest important if you want to make money online?
Pinterest has been game-changing for me personally when it comes to making money online as a blogger. Up until I figured out how to grow basically just using Pinterest, I used to try growing on other social media platforms, focusing on search engine optimization, and tried word-of-mouth marketing in Facebook Groups.
I grew a little from those methods, and my blog got a few clicks, and my affiliate links would get a few clicks, but I certainly wasn’t making serious money. There is no way I could have quit my job or even bought a month’s worth of groceries on my income.
I knew something had to change if I wanted to have a successful “side hustle,” so I did a deep dive and learned everything I could about Pinterest after hearing some other bloggers talk highly about it.
To my surprise, it was absolutely game-changing, and Pinterest helped me to go from making hardly anything from my blog to hitting $30,000 months from sharing my affiliate links and blog posts with affiliate links on Pinterest. So If you are looking to start building a monetized side hustle this year, I highly recommend learning more about Pinterest and using it for your side hustle.
Today, I want to talk a little about:
How people can make money on Pinterest
What kinds of people and side hustles work on Pinterest.
What you should focus on if you want to grow on Pinterest.
How people make money on Pinterest.
There are several ways to monetize your Pinterest account, including:
Affiliate marketing: This involves promoting other people's products or services in your Pins and earning a commission when someone clicks on your link and makes a purchase. For example, if you see a product linked to Amazon or Target, that might be an affiliate link. This means the creator who posted the pin with the link to the product will earn a small commission anytime anyone clicks on that pin and buys the product.
Selling your own products or services: If you have your own online store or offer services, you can use Pinterest to drive traffic to your website and increase sales. I’ve done this with my own courses, ebooks, and digital downloads.
Creating sponsored content: Brands are always looking for influencers to promote their products on Pinterest. If you have an engaged following, you can partner with brands to create sponsored Pins.
Becoming a Pinterest virtual assistant: Pinterest VAs help businesses create and manage their Pinterest accounts. This can be a great way to earn money if you have experience with Pinterest and social media marketing.
For any of these methods, you can exclusively use Pinterest without a blog or any other social media platforms, or you can use it in combination. Personally, I use Pinterest in combination with my blog. This means that if I have an affiliate link, i include it in a blog post, then I create pins for Pinterest that link to that blog post, and then I make money if anyone purchases after reading my blog post.
However, you can also just create a pin image or video that talks about a product and then include an affiliate link to that product, cutting out the blog or other social media platforms entirely if they aren’t something that interests you.
Who can make money on Pinterest.
Pinterest is a great way to make money online for so many people from so many backgrounds. You can make money on Pinterest and just be a Pinterest creator, meaning all you do is create pins on Pinterest. You don’t have a blog or other social media platforms, but you can also make money on Pinterest if you are or want to be:
A Content Creator / Influencer: If you’ve wanted to be a content creator or are a content creator on another platform, you can use Pinterest to drive new eyes to your content and affiliate links.
You can link your pins to TikToks, Instagram Posts, Facebook Posts, YouTube Videos, and basically any other social media platform out there.
This allows you to promote your content for free to grow the audience you already have, as well as monetize in a new way because you can affiliate links or have sponsored content right there on Pinterest.
This works no matter what your niche. Pinterest has over 400 million monthly users, so even if you have a social following from talking about vacuums, your audience can grow from using Pinterest.
A Blogger: If you have a blog and aren’t getting the traffic or income you want, I highly recommend taking a deeper dive into Pinterest.
Pinterest is the main way my six-figure blog gets traffic. I don’t have to focus on SEO or getting my blog perfect in the eyes of Google and other search engines. I also don’t have to sit around waiting for an audience or income to develop; I can use Pinterest to go get them.
No matter what your niche is, if you have a blog, you should be using Pinterest and can make money from the traffic Pinterest drives to your blog or affiliate links.
An Online Shop Owner: If you have an online shop of any kind, no matter if it’s physical products or digital downloads, you should be focusing on Pinterest if you want it to grow.
Pinterest has a much more motivated audience than other platforms because people on Pinterest are actively looking for ways to change, styles they want to incorporate, and habits they want to have.
They aren’t just scrolling for entertainment like someone on TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook. I know personally I use Pinterest to find inspiration for meals, home decor, fashion, business, side hustles, and basically anything under the sun.
Pinterest is where I go when I’m looking to take action, which means it’s the perfect place to advertise your shop.
I used to run a small T-shirt shop, and I highly recommend using Pinterest if you have something similar or really any kind of online business.
An Online Coach: Similar to running an online shop, if you are a digital coach of any kind, you should be using Pinterest to grow your coaching business.
Pinterest has a much more motivated audience than other platforms because people on Pinterest are actively looking for ways to change, styles they want to incorporate, and habits they want to have.
They aren’t just scrolling for entertainment like someone on TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook. I know personally I use Pinterest to find inspiration for meals, home decor, fashion, business, side hustles, and basically anything under the sun.
If I want to change my life, get healthier, or be more disciplined, I’m looking for tips on Pinterest.
Pinterest is where I go when I’m looking to take action, which means it’s the perfect place to advertise your coaching business.
What should you do now?
If you’ve decided you want to give Pinterest a try as a way to grow something you’ve already got going, like a blog, online shop, social media platform, or coaching business, or even if you just want to try and grow on Pinterest alone here is what you should focus on:
1. Easy to Read Pins.
On Pinterest, you see so many cute pins, but oftentimes in those cute pins, people will use a hard-to-read cursive font.
When I first started, I was on a mission to have the cutest pins, but actually, I was creating pins that were hard to read.
I would use cursive fonts and different color text to match the background; they were just hard to read.
If you want to make money on Pinterest, you are going to have to create easy-to-read pins.
This includes multi-slide pins and video pins.
2. Pinterest Board Titles & Descriptions.
Who knew Pinterest board titles and descriptions mattered? When I first started using Pinterest for my blog, I would just make all my boards titled like this:
“My Ideal Spring Closet”
“- Dreamy Bedrooms-”
WRONG! Now I know your board titles and descriptions actually matter.
In one of my digital marketing classes, we talked about Pinterest, and after it, I went back and changed all my Pinterest board titles and descriptions. Then I started getting so much more traffic from Pinterest.
3. Pinning Often.
Pinterest is a platform that still really wants to grow, which means they do a great job of sharing new creators and different creators instead of just sharing the ones who are already super popular.
The way you tell Pinterest you want them to show more people your content is by posting more often. Ideally, you should pin something every day if you want to reach the most people.
Thankfully, you can schedule your pins in advance, so you don’t always have to be on Pinterest.
4. Pins That Link Directly to Affiliate and Product Links.
When I first joined Pinterest, I was just linking to my blog posts. I thought the goal of Pinterest was to drive traffic to your blog, and that’s it. I didn’t realize Pinterest could act kind of like a blog post or Instagram story, and you could actually link to things directly on your pins.
Now, pinning with a blog is seriously powerful, but pinning directly to product links and affiliate links can be a game changer and offer a real income boost.
Especially if you’re creating easy-to-read, easy-to-find pins.
5. Running Ads Might Make You Money.
Okay, before you call me a liar, I’ll explain. Yes, running ads does cost money, but there isn’t a big risk involved because you control the budget.
I ran Pinterest ads at $0.10 per click, and from those ads, on average, I made $0.40 per click, which means I was making $0.30 profit from every click.
This means the more ads I run, the more money I make.
This is probably not the first strategy I would try to grow on Pinterest, but it has really helped me turn the pins that were already doing well for me organically into even bigger winners for my blog and business.
My last thoughts…
Pinterest has completely changed my business and life forever.
Tomorrow, I’ll have more details for you on how you can personally do each one of the steps I mentioned above.
I know it can be confusing trying to take on a new platform alone when you don’t have much experience with it, and I want to be there to help you kick Pinterest’s butt!
Thanks for being here,
Have a great week!