How To Finally Monetize Pinterest!

Are you ready to actually get paid for all your hard work on Pinterest?

Pinterest can be a goldmine for business owners. Unfortunately, it can also be a huge time-suck if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Updated August 24, 2020

For that reason, I’m going to walk you through all the steps you need to know to finally monetize Pinterest!

But first…

Not Sure Pinterest is Right for Your Business?

This is a super-common concern among business owners. They think that only lifestyle businesses can make money on Pinterest…businesses in niches like fashion, beauty, food or fitness.

But the truth is, pretty much ANY business can make money on Pinterest!

For example:

Plumbers and handymen…

Physicians and other healthcare professionals…

Network marketers…

And even insurance companies!

Regardless of your niche or industry, Pinterest can drive huge amounts of traffic and sales.

Still don’t believe me?

According to eMarketer, nearly half of all Pinterest users rely on the platform to find and shop for products.

Plus, Pinterest users tend to have deep pockets: according to Pew Research, the majority of Pinterest users make $75K+ per year.

In other words, it’s definitely worth your time and effort to be using Pinterest for your business!

How to Monetize Pinterest

Not sure where to start?

If you’re brand new to Pinterest, you’ll need to go back to the very beginning, by creating a business account and claiming your website.

If you’ve already done both of these, feel free to skip to #3 below.

1. Create a Pinterest Business Account.

The very first thing you’ll need to do is create a business account. If you’re new to Pinterest, you can create a business account from scratch, and if you already have a personal account, you can convert it to a business account.

You can do both of these here.

This is important for a few reasons:

• It’s against Pinterest’s terms of service to use a personal account for business purposes
• A Pinterest business account gives you access to important analytics, such as your most popular pins
• Having a business account means you have access to advertising, rich pins, and other revenue-generating features. More on these later in this post.

2. Claim Your Business Website.

If you want your profile to include a link to your website (which you do), and if you want access to your website analytics on Pinterest (which you also do), you definitely want to claim your website.

You can claim your website here.

This involves a simple process of uploading a little bit of code to your website.

That may sound scary, but it’s really pretty simple, even for non-techies!

Check out the link above for full instructions on how to upload the code depending on who your webhost is (e.g., Bluehost, WPEngine, WordPress, etc.).

3. Set up Product Rich Pins.

If you sell physical products on your website, you’ll definitely want to set up product rich pins. These rich pins are connected to your product pages, and show the most up-to-date price and availability of your products.

The best part about creating product rich pins is this: all you have to do is apply for rich pins and set it up ONCE, and all your past and future product pins will automatically be converted to rich pins!

4. Optimize Your Pins for Search.

Be sure to use your keywords in your pin description

A huge part of monetizing on Pinterest is ensuring people can actually FIND your pins. And if you want them to get found in Google and in Pinterest’s native Search, it’s important to make sure you’re utilizing some basic SEO.

To give your pins the best chance of getting found in Search, the main thing you’ll want to do is use your keywords in your pin descriptions.

For instance, if my pin is of a red women’s shirt, I could write something like, “This red women’s shirt is a popular option for Spring 2020”.

Other places to use your keywords include the product page or blog post you’re linking to (particularly in the title), in your board titles, and in your hashtags.

Another important Pinterest SEO strategy is to always be adding fresh content. You don’t have to add something every day, but you should be adding new content on a regular schedule. Tailwind’s SmartLoop is a great tool that can make this process super easy!

5. Seek Out Sponsorships.

Example of a sponsored campaign from I Heart Arts n Crafts

If you’ve built a solid Pinterest following in a particular niche, there are undoubtedly companies who will pay you for sponsored campaigns.

These campaigns might include having you pin branded images to your account, linking to the sponsor’s website from your pins, or doing reviews of their products on your blog.

There are so many options for making this work.

Just be sure you can truly recommend and stand behind any products you’re promoting, so you don’t do any damage to the reputation you’ve worked so hard to build!

6. Create Pins for a Lead Magnet on Your Site.

An example of a pin for a freebie from Made Urban

Pinterest is Ah-MAZing for helping you build your email list. And once people are on your list, they can get to know you, and you can promote your paid offers.

Here’s how to do this: Create an amazing freebie you can offer on your site. Also known as a lead magnet, this free product should:

• Be closely related to your paid product(s): e.g., If you have a paid workshop on how hairdressers can use social media to get new clients, your freebie could be a pdf that helps hairdressers set up their social media accounts.
• Speak to a single pain point. Your lead magnet should address one, and only one problem or issue.
• Is actionable. Your lead magnet is a chance to show people you can help them get results! So make sure it addresses a single problem, and that it helps them solve that problem.
• Look nice! When your freebie looks nice, people are more likely to download it, and to see it as more valuable.

For more tips on creating or perfecting your lead magnet, check out my post, Check Your Lead Magnet For Greatness in 60 Seconds!

Once your lead magnet is ready to go, create pins that promote them, making sure to properly optimize them for SEO (see #4 above).

7. Drive Traffic to Your Affiliate Offers.

An example of a pin for a product review post from Brianna Marie Lifestyle

Not only can you monetize on Pinterest but it is also great for building your email list, it’s amazing for getting traffic to your website or blog!

One way to actually make money from this is to promote affiliate offers on your site.

There are SO many ways to you can do this, including:

• Writing a blog post where you do a review of an affiliate product
• Creating a resource page where you list all the products and tools you use and recommend
• Adding banner ads on your site that promote affiliate offers
• Including affiliate links in your blog posts

It’s also possible to create pins that link directly to the affiliate site, however it’s usually much more effective to link to your own blog. People want to know why YOU love the product before they’ll be willing to buy it!

Love these ideas, but have NO idea how to actually move people from Pinterest to your website?

I’ve created a training, just for you!

In my mini course, How to Use Pinterest to 3X Your Website Traffic, I’ll walk you step-by-step through everything you need to know to optimize your pins (and website!) for maximum clicks and traffic.

This training is available through my Business Builders Academy, which not only gives you instant access to my Pinterest mini-course, but to over 50+ other mini-courses and workshops, tons of eBooks, checklist and worksheets, and much more!

Are you ready to finally start monetizing your Pinterest? Which strategy above are you going to use first?

About Author

Kim Garst

Kim Garst is a renowned marketing strategist and speaker who is trailblazing the use of artificial intelligence in digital marketing. With over 30 years of experience as an online entrepreneur, Kim helps entrepreneurs grow their business and authority online by using AI technology. She is leading the way with proven AI frameworks that help entrepreneurs build authority in their space.

She is keynote speaker and an international best-selling author of Will The Real You Please Stand Up, Show Up, Be Authentic and Prosper in Social Media.

Named by Forbes as a Top 10 Social Media Power Influencer, Kim is well-known for her skill to simplify complex technology and make the use of AI understandable for business growth. Her relatable, actionable advice helps guide new entrepreneurs to harness the power of AI to succeed in digital marketing. Kim is leading the way in combining human and technological skills to create a new model for AI-powered marketing.

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