How to Make Money on Pinterest: The Ultimate 2600+ Word Guide for Beginners

Pinterest has catapulted from an online vision board into a dynamic money-making juggernaut. With over 450 million users now, it drives more sales than any other social media platform.

This extensive 2600+ word guide will reveal the secrets of wringing profits from Pinterest through proven money-making strategies.

Whether you want to earn full time income or some side hustle cash, it offers a blueprint to monetizing your passion.

Let‘s dive in!

Size of the Pinterest Money-Making Opportunity

Before covering tactics, it‘s important to scope the magnitude of financial potential available.

Pinterest‘s money-making opportunity breaks down into:

User Base

• Over 450 million monthly active Pinterest users globally
• 92 million users based in the United States
• 85% of users say they have purchased a product because of Pinterest

Revenue

• $710+ million in global advertising revenue in 2021
• Projected to near $3 billion in ad revenue by 2025
• The average order value from Pinterest is $180, highest of all social media platforms
• Average earned revenue per click is $3.99, exceeding networks like Facebook and Instagram

With searches exceeding 100 billion annually, Pinterest holds immense influence over purchase decisions and shopping habits – presenting lucrative potential for those producing shoppable content optimized for such intent-driven discovery.

Now let‘s explore various money-making strategies in more detail:

Getting Started on Pinterest

Before executing any monetization techniques, lay your foundation for success by:

• Choosing a niche: Pick an area you‘re truly passionate about that aligns naturally with what people purchase online. Fashion, home decor, hobbies, recipes, crafts all thrive.

• Setting up a business profile: Pinterest‘s free business accounts unlock more analytics and product features. Here‘s how to convert your existing personal account in a few quick steps:

  

• Optimizing your profile: Include relevant niche keywords in bio and profile to help discovery. Feature blog/site prominently.

• Organizing boards strategically: Align boards by sub-category, product type or monetization method. Keep them focused.

With the basics knocked out, let‘s explore popular ways to profit.

Affiliate Marketing on Pinterest

Affiliate links represent the easiest route into Pinterest monetization for novices.

You simply share affiliate links to products across your boards, earning commissions when followers click and complete purchases.

The key stats around succeeding with affiliate marketing include:

• Top pinners can earn $5,000+ per month in commissions
• Most affiliate conversions happen within 90 days per Pinterest‘s longer buyer window
• Approximately 15% of social media users have purchased products discovered on Pinterest

When comparing niches, home decor, accessories and beauty perform especially well for affiliates:

Below I‘ll share tips to maximize commissions earned:

Choosing the Right Affiliate Programs

Register with affiliate networks like Rakuten Marketing, CJ Affiliate and Shareasale that offer substantial product choice suitable for Pinterest promotion.

I recommend "niche-down" into multiple sub-categories relevant to your audience. For instance for a home decor pinner, separate boards for:

• Furniture affiliates
• Rug affiliates
• Wall decor affiliates

This organization helps you tailor messaging and recommendations more effectively per product type.

Promote Affiliates Strategically

Share pins linking to curated products 2-4 times per week into related niche and sub-niche boards. Provide authentic value detailing exactly why you recommend particular items.

Refresh your top evergreen affiliate pins monthly into multiple group boards to keep funneling passive income.

Track Performance

Analyze affiliate link click and commission metrics within each network. Determine which boards and broader niches perform best.

Double down on what works by creating more content around those theme while reducing links and boards driving low conversion rates.

Avoiding Pitfalls

Steer clear of hype-y claims overpromising an affiliate product‘s usefulness just to make a quick buck. Focus on authenticity.

By sticking to these guidelines as an affiliate pinner over the long-term you will build up steady commission income.

Now let‘s examine selling your own products.

Selling Your Own Products

Once you build authority around your niche, converting visitors into buyers of specialized products you create makes sound business sense.

Regarding benchmark statistics:

• 12% of small ecommerce merchants using Pinterest earn more than $50k per year in sales
• Top merchants can earn over $500k+ per year selling niche products like planners, art prints or t-shirts
• The most popular self-made merch includes home decor, craft supplies, baked goods, apparel, journals and specialty foods

As we‘ve established previously, the most visually engaging niches tend thrive best.

Check out this quick start guide to begin selling your wares through an integrated Shopify store:

Follow these best practices for self-made product promotions:

• Invest in tempting product photography
• Refresh pin posts consistently to stay atop the feed
• Create video demos to showcase products in-use
• Offer limited time sales driving urgency
• Gate freebies likeShipping thresholds incentivize larger purchases

By combining social proof, scarcity and conveying product value across pins, your engaged audience will eagerly transition from followers into customers.

Driving Website Traffic and Sales

If you already own an established ecommerce site, Pinterest can send surges of targeted new customers.

Let’s explore the tactics for maximizing store conversions:

Install the Pinterest Tag

Add Pinterest’s conversion tracking tag to accurately measure revenue driven by the channel and optimize your presence accordingly.

Streamline Checkout

Remove friction from store navigation and enable guest checkout options. Embrace one-page streamlined flows.

Promote Discounts

Share coupon codes and current sales prominently across pin product images. Highlight special promos exclusive to Pinterest followers.

Showcase Products Creatively

Inspire desire in pins by conveying aspirational visual stories around using your products or highlighting built-in features/benefits.

Retarget Visitors

Remarket shoppers browsing your site using Pinterest‘s powerful ads platform.

Check back regularly on analytics for clues on fine-tuning conversions.

Now let’s explore monetizing blogs.

Making Money by Blogging on Pinterest

Driving surges of traffic to blogs opens doors to various income streams:

• Affiliate link commissions woven organically
• Display ad earnings (AdSense, MediaVine)
• Branded sponsorships
• Promoting your niche products/services

According to HubSpot data, the higher your Pinterest follower count, the more potential blog income unlocked across channels:

With creativity and consistency, bloggers can scale incomes well into five-figures through a blended monetization strategy.

Creating Optimal Pinnable Graphics

Share-worthy graphics separate viral Pinterest content from duds.

Analyze top performers across your niche and notice:

• Minimal text overlays
• Clean uncluttered designs
• Bright contrasting color schemes
• Visuals conveying emotion and desire

Tools like Canva, PicMonkey, Splice and Adobe Spark enable easy creation even without graphic design expertise.

Shoot for graphics focused on:

❏ Conveying a covetable visual lifestyle
❏ Inspiring quotes overbackdrops
❏ Intriguing data/stats
❏ Informative tips/formulas

Vivid images engineered to spark saves, repins and clicks will continually channel website clicks as they circulate Pinterest perpetually.

Pinterest SEO Guide

Beyond eye-catching creatives, ensure people find your content in search.

These SEO tips help perk ears of Pinterest bots:

Research Keyword Demand

Identify exact popular queries people enter using Pinterest‘s built-in search bar related to your niche. Mine terms with visible search volume and low competition.

Optimize Profile for Search

Update profile and board names/descriptions with likely search phrases so they appear directly in results.

Embed Keywords Naturally

Weave targeted terms within your regular pin descriptions. Don‘t keyword stuff awkwardly. Write for humans while subtly appeasing bots.

Refresh Evergreen Content

Continually re-pin top evergreen posts to send fresh signals, nudging ranking upwards over time.

Get Repinned to New Audiences

Encourage group board participation from aligned influencers to expand discovery.

Rinse and repeat experimenting to determine what resonates most with the mysterious Pinterest bots as their algorithm evolves.

Now let’s talk community, the special sauce making Pinterest truly sticky.

Building a Loyal Pinterest Community

While SEO puts new eyeballs to your content, community building bonds them into loyal brand evangelists.

Humanize your presence through behind-the-scenes glimpses, responses questions and friendly interactions.

Here’s how to meaningfully engage followers:

Check Notifications Daily

Reply to commenter questions and inputs consistently. Show you care and they’ll stick around.

Credit User-Generated Content

Repin great audience pins in your niche with kudos. Recognition means the world.

Share Journey Candidly

Let followers into your world with inside peaks at daily wins and losses. Vulnerability bonds.

Give Before Asking to Receive

Share genuinely helpful tutorials simply to pay value forward rather than always hustling the hard sell.

Slowly but surely, such authentic community building compounds into loyal brand advocates who actively rally others into your tribe.

Now let’s shift gears into tracking analytics.

Monitoring Pinterest Analytics

Consistently analyzing performance data provides clues for money-making strategy optimization.

Begin by understanding key Pinterest analytics reports:

Here‘s an example drilling into video pin performance:

And visualizing geographic revenue data:

Decipher insights like above to continually refine and optimize your money-making blueprint.

Key Takeaways and Conclusion

Let‘s review the checklist to activate income streams from Pinterest:

✅ Choose a high demand niche suited for visually compelling product pin photography

✅ Set up a Pinterest business profile properly

✅ Implement affiliate links, shoppable pins and other commercial features in your content strategy

✅ Analyze performance data frequently to determine what converts best

✅ Engage meaningfully with a supporter community around your brand

The keys remain:

• Consistency posting content
• Patience allowing compounding growth
• Optimization using analytics clues

While Pinterest monetization takes time initially, the visually-focused platform can yield life-changing income for creators willing to stick with it long term.

Now that you‘re armed with the blueprint, go make that Pinterest money!

I wish you financial success fueling your passion. Keep dreaming big!