Pinterest is one of the top social media platforms on the planet, boasting more than 400 million monthly active users. I use the platform to drive traffic to my blog (here is how), but it’s also a great way to make money through affiliate marketing. Pinterest affiliate marketing is easier than you think, but you need the right strategy.
In this guide, I’m going to walk you through each step, from setting up your account to implementing the best strategies to generate income.
How To Do Affiliate Marketing on Pinterest: Your Ultimate Guide
How To Set Up Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing
Before you can start looking for affiliate offers and promoting them, you have to set up your account for Pinterest affiliate marketing.
Here’s what you need to know:
- You must have a business account to promote offers. You can either create a new account from scratch or convert a personal account to a business one. A business account will give you access to analytics, ads and other useful features to help grow your account.
- Claim your site or social profiles if you have them. This way, you can use your Pinterest account to drive traffic to your blog or profiles for added credibility.
- Optimize your profile by adding your photo (or logo), bio and name. Incorporate relevant keywords that describe your niche.
- Create boards that are relevant to your niche and keep them organized by creating categories. Your boards will contain your affiliate Pins.
- If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to choose a niche and target audience. Your niche will be the topics that you cover with your Pins.
I also recommend that you research Pinterest keywords to focus on with your content. Remember that Pinterest is like its own search engine. Just like Google or Bing, it’s important to optimize your profile and Pins with keywords.
You can find keyword ideas from the:
- Pinterest search bar
- The Explore tab
- The keywords section of Pinterest Ads
- SEO keyword research tools
Keywords should be related to your niche and relevant to your audience. Check out my Pinterest guide that I linked at the top of this article for more detailed information on conducting keyword research.
Once your account is set up and optimized, you can start looking for offers and promoting them.
How To Make Money on Pinterest with Affiliate Marketing
Every time someone clicks your affiliate link on Pinterest and makes a purchase, you’ll earn a commission. Depending on the affiliate program or offer, you may also earn commission from downloads, newsletter sign-ups or other actions.
You can place your affiliate links on your blog, which you can promote on Pinterest. Alternatively, you can even make money without a blog by creating a landing page with all the products that you recommend. The main goal here is to create a Pinterest account around the topic and the products you promote, and publish tons of content that will encourage people to click through to your website or landing page and buy the products.
But first, you need to join affiliate programs.
1. Join Affiliate Programs
You have a niche and you’ve optimized your profile. All that’s left to do is find and join programs that are relevant to your niche and audience.
There are countless programs and affiliate networks out there. Many retailers have their own programs, but you can also find networks that give you easy access to multiple offers from a wide range of businesses. Essentially, networks are like aggregators of affiliate programs.
Some of the most popular affiliate programs include:
- Amazon Associates
- Creative Fabrica
- ShareASale
- Commission Junction
- AWIN
Most programs have requirements that you’ll need to meet in order to get approved and start promoting offers. Some programs are strict and may have traffic requirements. Others are more relaxed, like Amazon Associates, and don’t even require you to have a website.
A few things to know:
- Check the program’s terms of service to ensure that you can promote offers on Pinterest. Some won’t allow it.
- You’ll need to disclose all affiliate links to ensure you’re complying with FTC rules.
2. Create High-Quality Pins
To make money with affiliate marketing on Pinterest, you have to catch the attention of people who may see your Pin in the search results. To do that, you’ll need to create high-quality, engaging Pins. I’ll go into greater detail about creating quality Pins shortly.
3. Promote Pins Strategically
If you want to maximize your earnings, it’s important to promote your Pins strategically.
Make sure to read my full guide on how I drive traffic from Pinterest.
And here are some tips.
Create Several Pins Per Post
Each time you create an affiliate marketing post, generate several Pins with your affiliate link. I create 2-3 pins every time I publish a new post. Then, if I see that the topic is working good on Pinterest, I create more pins for that article. The more Pins you have with your links, the greater your reach and the more opportunities you’ll have to generate sales.
Schedule Your Pins
To stay consistent, try scheduling your Pins in advance. Tools like Tailwind, Hootsuite, Buffer, and Later can help.
Another advantage of scheduling Pins is that you’re more likely to reach users while you’re online.
Try Posting to Group Boards
Pinterest also allows you to create, join and contribute to group boards. Multiple users can share content to group boards. Participating can help expand awareness and your reach.
Look for groups that are relevant to your niche. Make sure you understand the requirements for becoming a contributor and posting new content.
I know that many say that Pinterest boards are no longer as effective or relevant, but it’s still worth trying for affiliate marketing. To differentiate your board pins, you can track them by adding this code to the end of your link: “yoursite.com/page?utm_source=boardname“.
Try Pinterest Ads
Another great way to make money with affiliate marketing on Pinterest is to buy ads. This strategy will require you to make an investment, but the return will be worth it. A good strategy here can be to promote pins that have a high performance rate. This way, you can lower your risk and promote content that you know people like.
Another factor to consider is the affiliate fees you’ll earn—do they justify your ad spending? In many cases, you’ll want to promote products that yield high affiliate revenue. Clicks on Pins can range from $0.01 to $3 or more. It’s essential to check your conversion rate, which indicates how many people purchase products out of your total visitors. By analyzing this data, you can determine the optimal cost-per-click to ensure profitability.
When you create the ads which can actually be one of your pins, make sure that you’re creating high-resolution, vertical images for your ads.
Related: How I made $11,409 in November – Blog Income Report
How To Do Amazon Affiliate Marketing on Pinterest
Pinterest affiliate marketing with Amazon can be insanely profitable. First, before anything, you must sign up for the Amazon Associates Program. You’ll need to be accepted into the program before being able to generate affiliate links for the millions of products on the site.
Once you have a product link, you’ll want to:
- Create a pin (more on that below)
- Paste the destination link to the Pin
- Write your description
- Add a few hashtags
- Post the Pin
If you follow these steps, you’ll now have a Pin with an Amazon affiliate link that can generate money on the platform. Amazon has cut its commission in recent years, but the higher the volume of sales, the greater your commission rate may rise.
I do recommend that you select products strategically and focus on high demand products. High-priced items are also a good choice because they’ll pad your earnings with higher revenue.
How To Create Pins on Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing
You have offers that you want to promote, but now you need to make the Pins that go with them. I’ll cover a neat option that doesn’t require intense creativity below, but you can also opt to:
- Create your own Pin graphics with the help of Canva or another program
- A/B test your Pins and see which ones are working well and which are not
Canva is my go-to option because it already has templates that you can use to make it as easy as possible to create a properly sized Pin.
What is the ideal Pin size?
It depends. Some people recommend 1000 x 1500, but the truth is that you need to have images that are 2:3 aspect ratio. A few image sizes that may work for you are:
- 600 x 900
- 1000 x 1500
- 2000 x 3000
With these points in mind, you want to use tags to help with your affiliate linking. Pinterest also allows for adding product links to the products in your Pin. If you’ve clicked on a fashion model’s outfit, you may see pins for all of the items that they’re wearing.
And each of these Pins are links to affiliate offers.
How powerful is that for earning money from affiliate marketing?
You can follow these three steps to make your Pin:
- Tap the bag-looking icon on the top left of the Pin
- Click the + button under Add products
- Select the images or URL that you want to use to add products
I recommend that you always test the affiliate links that you add to your Pinterest to be sure that they work. Don’t be another horror story of a person who adds the wrong link or a link that doesn’t work and they lose bundles of money.
Here is a great YouTube tutorial on how to make money from affiliate marketing on Pinterest – I think is very detailed and covering everything you should know to start making money!
How To Do Affiliate Marketing on Pinterest Without a Website
Pinterest affiliate marketing without running a website is possible, but it will require a strategic approach to get started. You’ll need to find content to post for your offers, which you can find in many places:
- Go to the brand’s Instagram or other social media pages to find images to use
- Check the brand’s website to see if they offer creatives or other images that you can use
- Create them on your own using a tool, such as Canva
If you’re lucky, you’ll be working with a brand that provides you with content that you can repurpose and use to promote offers across social media.
Once you have the content that you want to post, you can follow our advice from the previous section and begin posting your pins.
You’ll want to verify that the affiliate program allows you to promote offers directly on the platform. If you read through many terms of service carefully, you’ll find restrictions that stop you from promoting the offer without a site.
If you play by the rules, you’ll be able to monetize your Pinterest and make a good income in the process.
