How To Make Money On Pinterest Without A Blog

There are so many different ways to make money online today. It has become the norm for millions of people. The Internet is a vast ecosystem with interconnected channels of websites. 

Each website has its unique purpose and reason for people to visit it. As business people, we like to think of how to leverage everything at our disposal to benefit ourselves.

Today, I want to focus on Pinterest and how you can make money from it without having to write and manage a blog. 

A blog is recommended for many reasons: it’s better for affiliate marketing, it can help you create and structure your content, and gives you a dedicated place to direct and monetize your traffic.

It can be a lot of work though, from my own experience. If you are not detail-oriented and don’t want to spend a ton of time reading and writing, I’m here to help you! 

Although I’ll talk about the pros and cons of having a blog with Pinterest down below, you really don’t need one by default. Just check this out!

Ways To Earn On Pinterest Without A Blog

There are some things you must understand about the platform before you can start making money here. 

I will talk about that below, so be sure to read the whole article. For now, though, let’s quickly go over the best opportunities to earn here that I’ve found.

For the more knowledgeable, just the titles will be enough to understand what I am suggesting.

1. Print On Demand on Pinterest Without A Website

Pinterest allows you to integrate a Print On Demand (POD) business model in various ways. What I love about POD is that it requires no capital investment or money to start.

In a POD model, you only need to make attractive designs that will look good on a product. T-shirts are the most common, but the products may range from key chains and coffee cups to hoodies and pillow covers.

After the design is chosen, you can create listings that look just like a typical product on Amazon. The printing partner will only print the actual design on the product AFTER the sale is made and payment is received.

This way, there is no need to make big batches of merchandise and manage inventory. To learn more, check out our comprehensive article on Merch By Amazon.

Average Earning: $500-5,000/month

2. Affiliate Marketing Without A Blog on Pinterest

This one is a little tricky. It is definitely possible, but as I said, affiliate marketing works better on Pinterest with a blog. Why? Check the points below.

If you don’t know what Affiliate Marketing is, it’s a fully-fledged industry that capitalizes on Word of Mouth. 

Here, businesses offer incentives to people to promote their products. Typically, they will provide affiliates with a percentage of the sale as a commission to motivate them.

Many companies in various industries offer affiliate programs to people, as well as Affiliate Networks like Impact Radius and ShareASale where you can find many programs in one place.

Now Pinterest does allow affiliate marketing, but keep a few things in mind:

  • Some Direct Links Are Not Allowed:

Pinterest does not allow affiliate links from every network. Before starting, you need to check and read the guidelines of your program, the affiliate network, and Pinterest, or you risk suspension.

  • Certain Products And Locations May Be Forbidden:

While checking for that, you will see that a lot of this stuff will depend on where you are in the world.

  • Don’t be Spammy:

If all you do on Pinterest is post affiliate links, you might still face suspension because the platform’s creators prioritize user experience.

  • Transparency is Compulsory:

If you post a pin selling an affiliate product, you need to put one of these hashtags on it: #Ad, #Sponcered, or #Affiliate. If you don’t, you’re almost guaranteed to get suspended. The guidelines are very clear on this.

Okay, so how do you do affiliate marketing on Pinterest? I will give my suggested method for each monetization strategy in point #5 in the “How To Make Money Using Pinterest (No Blog)” section.

Average Earning: $100-3,000/month

3. E-Commerce (Like Dropshipping) on Pinterest

This platform can also work great for selling your own products. Since Pinterest allows you to connect various e-commerce platforms like Etsy to your account, it can also be very convenient.

If you sell handicrafts or any kind of physical product through such a platform, Pinterest is a great way to get more sales.

Average Earning: $1,500-50,000/month (with ads)

4. Selling Digital Products on Pinterest

Using the same concept, you can even sell digital products pretty well through Pinterest. You might need to sell it through a similar e-commerce platform, or you can manage it yourself.

A ton of people sell their ebooks directly through the platform. You can also sell services and digital assets like designs and templates through Etsy, which can be integrated with your account.

Average Earning: $5,000-30,000/month 

5. Bonus: Pinterest Creator Rewards Program

There is a unique opportunity for folks in the US and Colorado, although Pinterest might launch this feature in other places. That is the Pinterest Creator Rewards Program.

In a nutshell, Pinterest wants to grow the platform and its audience and to do this, they are currently giving incentives to everyday people for creating content.

All they ask is that you create original content that provides value to the people on the platform. This is also Pinterest’s way to compete with other platforms and promote what they know will work.

Currently, they are incentivizing people to create short videos like TikTok for their platform. To join this program, you must already have an account with a certain number of uploads and followers. See the full specifications here.

After that, you will get monthly uploads, pins, and followers targets. If you meet or exceed those targets, you will get paid accordingly. 

This program might be discontinued or modified at any point, or it might not be available to you. The point is that Pinterest gives you different opportunities to earn, and you should stay updated on it in your area.

Average Earning: $100-1000/month

How To Make Money On Pinterest (No Blog)

Now, I’ve given you some options for your consideration to earn without a blog or website of your own on Pinterest. But what about the actual method and process? 

I want to advise you on what exactly you need to do to use these opportunities in the best way for you. Take my suggestions as a guideline and develop your own specific strategy.

1. Understand The Platform

First, you should take the time to appreciate what Pinterest is. Get a general feel for the platform and understand what works on it.

Pinterest is not just a social media platform but a visual search engine. It’s a place where people come to get ideas and inspiration for new projects. When people want to buy clothes for the holidays, they come here.

People also use it to find wallpapers for their phones or desktop, which is a legitimate digital product that you can sell here. They also use it to get inspiration for design, work-related things, and lifestyle solutions.

Users have to search for what they want, and that is key to understanding how you want to make money here. User intention is key to your success. While it’s obviously great for aesthetics and designs, infographics and educational resources also work well here.

Also, note that a vast majority of traffic on Pinterest is female, which should be an important piece of information to consider. Although it is quite popular, I think this website is criminally underrated for digital marketing and earning.

2. Figure Out Your Niche

Getting a feel for the platform is very straightforward, a couple of expert YouTube videos will tell you everything you need to know. Finding a niche is a little different, though.

I think you have to pick a niche that you are at least interested in if you want to succeed because you will have to make a ton of pins about it over a long period of time. 

You should also have the self-awareness needed to determine how valuable your content could be to the people on the platform. Once you have a few options, you can easily do research on them.

Just search up the topics, and you will find everything related to it. Then you can start to identify the different niches and what is working for people already. No need to reinvent the wheel, just add your own flair and be open to learning from successful creators.

Don’t worry about being perfect either, once you’ve done a little research, pick something you feel strongly about, and try it on for size. 

If you don’t find any successful accounts in a niche you are interested in, chances are that there just isn’t an audience for it on the platform. So go with your gut on this.

3. Learn Pinterest SEO

While you are doing your niche research, look at all the written words and study them. Being a visual search engine, Pinterest has its own algorithm, and you need to optimize your content according to its system.

I cannot stress enough how important it is for beginners to learn from other big-time successful people on the platform, rather than learn from their mistakes.

If you are familiar with Google SEO, then you should just take a small course on Pinterest SEO on YouTube or Udemy to learn all the nuances. This is the best way to succeed here.

It’s not all that complicated, though. If you are just starting out in the digital world, just learn from others and use your common sense.

4. Create An Account

First things first: You need a business account on Pinterest to do anything money-related here. So make sure you sign-up as a business one.

Having learned the SEO, studied the market, and figured out what works, you are finally ready to start executing and applying. Maybe you already have a brand of your own that you need to present in this website’s style.

If not, look at your competition and develop a brand. This doesn’t mean that you are getting a logo and all that, it just means clarifying to yourself and your visitors what they can expect from your page.

You can put your own name and picture, and that will give it a personalized kind of branding, like a friendly neighbor. Or you can use memes to show how cool and funny you are.

The point is that if you are selling unicorn socks one day, and electric guitars the other, it will be difficult for you to build an audience. That’s what I mean by branding here.

Be sure to apply your SEO learnings on everything from your account’s name, bio, and product descriptions, to pretty much any text you write on your page or content. 

Also, make sure that the name and everything match your brand well. Always create for people first and the algorithm second; that’s my motto.

5. Choose Your Monetization

Having come to this point, it should be clear which of your options to earn is best for you. Let me give you a little advice for each method that I recommend.

  1. POD: 

Pinterest is already pretty full of different people selling POD products, but there is still a lot of potential. Take Amazon Merch On Demand, for instance.

Using this platform, you can promote your designs for free and make sales that will rank you higher on Amazon. You can take it one step further and use Amazon Associates Program to get an extra earning from this strategy.

The most important thing would be to study the competition on the platform in terms of designs and to use SEO. 

  1. Affiliate Marketing:

Read all the program guidelines and see if Pinterest is allowed. Also, check Pinterest’s guidelines to see if you are good to go. Use apps like Shop The Look to imbed affiliate links right to your Image Pins.

Never forget to put the disclaimer hashtag to let people know you are an affiliate, and use original video to build trust and show that you actually use the products you are selling. 

You can also use link tree apps as a loophole to bring traffic from Pinterest to your affiliate product pages. Just imbed the link right to the pins you are posting.

Make sure that you pick products that align with your brand, and are actually compatible with Pinterest. If you don’t know what those are even after your research, just try something out and keep an eye on it.

Mixing valuable content with your promotional ones is a good idea so you don’t come off as an aggressive salesperson. Accounts have been known to be suspended for being too spammy. 

  1. Selling Products or Services:

Whether it’s dropshipping, digital products, or services, you should apply all the strategies I mentioned above. Only sell things that make sense for your account and think of a conversion process.

Try to create a sales funnel through your ins and content in one way or another. Give unique inspiration or expert ideas that solve people’s problems, and end it by selling them something that can solve it easily for them.

Remember that excellent visuals are a staple of this medium, which brings me to my next point.

6. Make And Post Content

This is the bread and butter of your Pinterest strategy, the heart of your entire operation. Content is King, after all. The actual content on your account will be the 20% of the work that gives 80% of the results.

Types of Pins on Pinterest:

  • Image Pins: Images are the most popular ones. The ratio is typically 1:2 or even 1:3. They must be attractive and good-looking. Consider popular trends like quotes and portrait pics that you can apply to your niche.
  • Video Pins: These are currently being promoted organically by the platform. According to Pinterest’s recommendations, 6-14 seconds is ideal for these, although you can go longer if needed.
  • Idea Pins: These are essentially posts with multiple slides. You can have a video on one, pictures in the middle, and a product pin at the end. It’s up to you, so be creative!
  • Rich Pins: I think it’s so cool that this is a feature. Basically, you can sync your store or products from other popular websites, and Pinterest will automatically show them as a post on your page. How groovy is that?
  • Product Pins: This type of post will feature products that are available for buying. Pinterest even has a Lens feature allowing people to try on the products virtually. If you don’t think that’s 100% awesome, we can’t be friends.
  • Collections Pins: Product pins that are grouped together are called Collections Pins.

Those are all the tools at your disposal on the platform. I would also suggest using Camva to create attractive pins for free. You should also create a content plan and schedule pins ahead of time.

Being consistent is super important to succeed. Make sure to publish high-quality and useful pins regularly. I also suggest using Pinterest’s search bar autofill to do research for content ideas within your niche.

You can also use tools like Shop The Look to imbed affiliate links into your images, that’s another loophole for you.

Keep an eye on your competition as well if you need help. Your posts don’t have to be perfect or outstanding; they just have to be better or different from your competitors. 

Use video whenever possible and post original content instead of the stock variety. I advise developing a system that lets you come up with content easily. Think of formats like top 10 lists or Motivational Mondays that are on-brand.

You can make and post anything you’d like, but ultimately, the audience is very unique here. They come in sporadically, are primarily female, and are visiting with something in mind.

People here want tattoo ideas, design inspiration, or high-end artwork. Optimize your posts’ titles, descriptions, and text with that in mind. 

7. Optimize And Promote

Marketing is all about trying things out and seeing what works. Keyword research and competitor analysis are useful for finding opportunities. SEO is needed to reach your target audience.

But since we cannot control other people’s actions, all we can do is try things out and hope for the best. Give the utmost priority to execution.

Once you have a rough plan or idea, just act on it and see how it performs. You can always optimize things as you go, drop what doesn’t work, and double down on what does.

After you have gained some traction organically, you can be confident that your strategy is viable. Then you can run paid promotions and ads. You should also make use of groups and create relevant boards strategically.

Ultimately, millions of users are on Pinterest, and selling products here is still relatively low in competition. But should you do this without a blog or website of your own?

Should You Try Making Money on Pinterest Without A Blog?

As you can see, setting up and running a Pinterest account can be a ton of work. If you have a perfect niche and product for this platform, then by all means, no need to build a whole blog and website.

The website has tons of users, and people have made a lot of money just from their pins. Maybe you are crafting hand-made interior decoration items and selling them on Etsy. Pinterest is your ace in the hole if that’s the case.

Start a YouTube channel, Instagram page, and use this platform as well. That proven strategy has worked for many people working with visually appealing things. Post YT vids of yourself crafting, have a store on IG, and create Pins as content.

If you’re in a wider niche that isn’t perfect for Pinterest, you should still incorporate it into your marketing strategy to utilize its unique traffic and build brand awareness.

Not to mention that if you have a blog and other platforms with content, it’s much easier to run a Pinterest account. That’s because you just need to repackage the content you have already made and optimize it for the new audience.

Obviously, if you are doing Affiliate Marketing, it’s easier to make conversions + there is less hassle than with a blog of your own. I hope that helps you make a decision. Here are some quick Pros and Cons:

Pros

  • Easier and quicker than running a blog and managing a website.
  • More effective if your niche is ideal for Pinterest.
  • It could make more conversions rather than just get leads.

Cons

  • Less than ideal for Affiliate Marketing because of a few restrictions by the admins.
  • A bit more demanding to create original content than if you had a blog.
  • Limited or specialized audience. The platform might be popular, but each website has a unique audience, and the people here tend to have very specific demands and expectations.

In Conclusion

In a nutshell: Pinterest has a ton of potential to make money even without a blog or website. It is a very underrated platform for monetization that is often overlooked.

While getting viral on TikTok is all the rave these days, some common attempts are becoming increasingly ridiculous. This is a platform where fewer people are trying to sell things, and you might be able to stay true to your brand here.

That’s why I think it’s pretty underrated in the online marketing realm. As for the blog part, you just need to learn how the platform works, and then you can succeed by just limiting yourself to it.

My Advice

By committing to one or two platforms, you can specialize your skills and focus on properly nailing them. For POD, handicrafts, and art, this is pretty much the ideal place for inexpensive marketing.

If your project is wider than that and you already have a well-developed sales funnel with a lot of high-value content at the top, you should still make use of Pinterest.

I suggest considering if it can fit somewhere in your overall marketing strategy as well, and adding some on-brand options to monetize this unique traffic.

FAQs [Frequently Asked Questions]

Can you sell affiliate products on Pinterest without a blog?

Yes, there are a few ways you can do affiliate marketing on Pinterest without a blog. You can use a linking app or use an affiliate network that is allowed on Pinterest.

Can I sell on Pinterest without a website?

Yes, you can. You can redirect traffic from your post to anywhere you’d like, and not just a website of your own.

Does Pinterest pay you money?

No, unlike YouTube, Pinterest does not pay you money for views or anything like that. Their creator reward program was the only exception, but that has been shut down now.

Can I earn from Pinterest without running paid ads?

Yes, you can rely solely on organic traffic if your content is good enough, but you might get better results with ads.

Can I earn money on Pinterest without a business account?

No, you cannot. You need a business account if you are on Pinterest to make money since the platform is big on transparency. You can sign up in seconds for free though, so there is no reason not to.

Anirudh Gitai.- SB Digital Writer/Affiliate Marketing Coordinator

Anirudh Gitai

Writer from the heart – whether it is affiliate marketing or fiction – and a proud member of Shivansh’s team! Big fan of combat sports, reading non-fiction, and watching the best of everything from anime and movies to TV and video games.

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