Getting Started: Using Pinterest to Make Money From Home

 

How to Make Extra Money With Pinterest

In my last post, I covered why you should be using Pinterest for online marketing. Now, let’s talk about how to get started using Pinterest to make money from home.

Maybe you have a product, blog, or website you want to drive traffic to. Pinterest has 442 million active users! It just makes sense to use it as a way to bring those users to your site.

There are many tools and tips you’ll learn along the way, but I don’t want to overwhelm you before you even start.

It will all come in time if you stay consistent and keep learning. But for now, let’s look at the absolute first tools I used to get my feet wet.

 

This post contains affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through one of these links, I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you. All opinions are my own. Read my full disclosure here.

 

Making Money on Pinterest with Affiliate Marketing

There are many ways to use Pinterest marketing to earn extra money from home. If you have a business, product, blog, etc. it really is an amazing way to drive traffic to whatever it is you want to get seen.

Maybe you’ve toyed with the idea of starting a blog. Or perhaps you’re dreaming of starting a printables business where you sell digital products.

For me, what got me started making money with Pinterest, was an article (which I found via Pinterest, btw) about affiliate marketing.

I was searching for ways to make money from home in a desperate attempt to not return to work once my maternity leave ended.

I learned that Pinterest allows you to pin affiliate links. These are links you’re given by a company to promote their product. If someone purchases through your link, you get a small commission.

Well, it sounded too good to be true but I wanted to give it a try. This article boasted that you didn’t even need a website.

And it’s true. You CAN start affiliate marketing on Pinterest without a website. But I learned after a lot of trial and error, that Pinterest favors pins that link to your own blog or website.

And so, I got to work. Learn how YOU can start a blog HERE.

 

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Related Reading: 7 Ways to Maximize Affiliate Marketing Efforts (& Sales)

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Create a Blog/Website Using SiteGround and WordPress

A blog is also a great way to reach a niche market you are passionate about and promote affiliate links to your audience. 

When I started this blog I needed a platform. I chose to use WordPress (WordPress.org NOT WordPress.com).

WordPress is where you design and control your blog or website’s look, pages, posts, etc.

I decided on using SiteGround as my web host. They had a great reputation, fast load times, and great customer support. I set up my domain name with them and installed WordPress through them as well.

For any issues I had getting anything set up, I used SiteGround’s online chat feature and got fast help and answers to any questions I had. If I couldn’t figure out how to do something, they went in and did it for me!

They offer themes and templates to make it easy if you don’t quite know how to get started. I highly recommend them as a host for a new blogger.

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Related Post: Why SiteGround is Your Best Option For Web Hosting

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Pinterest Business Account

I didn’t have a business or product to promote but I still wanted to try my hand at affiliate marketing. After setting up my blog, the next thing I did was create a Pinterest Business Account.

Joining as a business gives you an inside look at how your pins are performing using Pinterest Analytics. It allows you to see what pins are getting the most views, clicks, and saves, and by who.

You can also see what boards are your most popular and how many people are actually seeing your pins per day. You’ll quickly learn who your audience is and that’s such a powerful tool.

You’ll see what’s working and what’s not. Allowing you to adjust things as needed. You absolutely need a business account to start using Pinterest to make money.

Learn how to set up a business account (the right way) here:
How to Set up a Pinterest Business Account

 

 

Pinning Affiliate Links Using ShareASale

(Affiliate links are provided by an online retailer who then pays you a commission to promote or drive traffic to their sites, resulting in sales).

Next, I needed products to promote. ShareASale kept getting recommended to me as a great place to start.

ShareASale is an Affiliate Marketing Network that is free to join. You’ll find lots of merchants in various niches who are looking for bloggers to promote their products.

Ever wonder where bloggers get those ads that run down the sidebar of their blog posts? Find a merchant that fits your niche and they’ll provide you with those sidebar ads.

You can also create a custom referral link for the specific products they sell.

There are fantastic merchants like Stella & Dot, Gymboree, and Wayfair looking for promoters. You choose a product to promote, write a review, create pins, and get sharing to Pinterest and on your blog.

Join for free here.  

NOTE: Just make sure you are pinning your own content as well and not JUST affiliate links. This looks spammy and could get your Pinterest account suspended. You also need to disclose when you share an affiliate link. You can do this in the pin description.

To be sure you fully understand what you can and can’t do on Pinterest, have a read of their Community Guidelines – specifically make sure you comprehend their Spam policy.

Legally, you also need to disclose affiliate links within blog posts. More on how to do that in this post.

* If you’re still not confident in your understanding of affiliate links, the link below is not only an example of one of my affiliate links but will also take you to a great (and very affordable) e-book that can help you get started:

 Affiliate Action Plan – From Clicks to Conversions in 1 Month.

 

Design Pins with Canva

Canva is a great way to create your own pins. It’s free to sign up and they have great images and templates to get you started. It’s fast and very easy to use.

You may have found this blog post on Pinterest from a pin I created using Canva. You can use their templates or create a pin from scratch, adjusting colors and sizes to make things really eye-catching and effective.

Sign up for Canva here.

Need styled stock photos to create your new pins? Grab my 10 Free Styled Stock Photos here and some free pin templates here.

 

 

Become an Amazon Associate

You can buy pretty much anything on Amazon these days. This means you can find lots of products that fit in with your audience. You can join Amazon as an Associate and place product referrals on your blog or website. If that referral leads to a sale, you get a commission!

The Amazon Associates Program is one of the largest and most successful online affiliate programs out there and they make it really easy to use.

To join or just get more info, simply scroll to the bottom of Amazon.ca or Amazon.com and find “become an associate” OR go here (Canada) or here (US). Once you join you have 180 days to make your first sale.

This program is the perfect fit for using Pinterest to make money!

You can place Amazon affiliate links on Pinterest. BUT you must make sure you disclose it as an affiliate link.

Make sure you read the Associates Program Operating Agreement to fully understand what you are allowed to do. 

And if you really want to make the most of your 180 trial period and ensure you make that first sale and understand all the rules, check out this helpful guide:

Journey to the Center of Amazon by Debbie Gartner (Debbie earns about $4000 a month with Amazon!)

 

Related: Getting Started as an Amazon Associates (tips for success)

 

YouTube for Tutorials

In the beginning, YouTube is your best friend. I stumbled upon affiliate marketing through Pinterest. I was intrigued and wanted to learn more. YouTube made it so easy to learn all the terminology and how it worked.

I learned some basic steps to take (much like these) in video format that allowed me to listen while I did other things around the house.

There are so many useful tutorials and anytime I had trouble using one of these new platforms, I could always find a helpful “how-to” video that steered me in the right direction.

 

 

Facebook

It may seem silly to spend time on another platform when you’re trying to grow your Pinterest account. But Facebook offers a LOT of great groups where you can ask questions, make connections and build your brand.

Some groups offer daily threads where you can request new Pinterest followers or ask others to share your pins (in exchange for sharing theirs too). Other groups are simply a safe place to ask questions and learn from others who are more experienced.

You can find some of my favorite Facebook groups for bloggers here:
10 Helpful Facebook Groups to Grow Your Blog

 

 

 

Last but definitely not least…

Pinterest is an incredibly powerful tool when it comes to growing/monetizing a blog or website. But only if you know how to use it.

You may think you know how Pinterest works. I know I did. Until I discovered Pinteresting Strategies.  

That’s when I realized just how much I didn’t know!

Thanks to this course, Pinterest is my number 1 source of blog traffic. It is, in my opinion, THE BEST Pinterest course out there.

It was without a doubt the best investment I made for my blog and a major contributing factor to me now being able to earn money from home, full-time.

If you get yourself up and running but just aren’t seeing results, I urge you to check it out. You can read more about my personal experience with it (and get a coupon code) here: My Honest Review of Pinteresting Strategies.

 

To wrap this up…

These resources will provide you with the basics you need to get started using Pinterest to make money from home. It won’t happen overnight, but this will give you a good foundation to get started.

Check out the links I provided and feel free to comment with any questions you may have.

 

You may also like:

Common Pinterest Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
How I Use Sendowl to Make Consistent Affiliate Sales
7 Real Ways to Make Money Online for Beginners

 

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How to Start Using Pinterest for Online Marketing