How to make Money on Pinterest Without a Blog

While most articles on making money with Pinterest are geared toward bloggers, there are many ways to earn on Pinterest without a blog.

My focus will be on how to sell your products on Pinterest and how to start a Pinterest side hustle—your own small business from home using Pinterest.

The first part of this article will focus on how to sell on Pinterest, and no, you don’t need a website. If you don’t have an online store, you can sell via Etsy, eBay, or Redbubble and link your pins to those platforms.

The second part will cover how to start your own agency and manage Pinterest accounts for local small businesses. I’ll even show you how to acquire your first customers for your Pinterest management agency.

Why Sell on Pinterest?

Instagram seems like a great place to show off your products, right? But here’s the catch: if your Instagram account doesn’t have thousands of followers, getting a lot of sales can be tough. 

You can only use one clickable link in your bio, which isn’t ideal. You tell people, “Click the link in bio for this amazing product,” but let’s be honest, it’s not the most effective way to get buyers. People want to get to the product faster, with fewer clicks.

That’s where is Pinterest’s power. It’s more than just a place to find pretty pictures. Pinterest is where people go when they’re looking to browse, discover, and actually buy things.

Pinterest is a bit like a treasure hunt. People use it to find new ideas, products, and inspiration for their projects. And here’s the best part: Pinterest focuses on what’s relevant, not just what’s new. 

So, unlike Instagram, where your post gets buried under newer ones, on Pinterest, your content stays in the game longer. It’s like planting a seed that keeps growing over time.

Now, this is exciting for small businesses and new brands. On Pinterest, 97% of the top searches are unbranded. What does this mean for you? It means that people aren’t just looking for big, well-known brands. 

They’re open to discovering new players in the market, like you! This is a fantastic opportunity to get your brand out there and seen by potential customers.

Nearly half of Pinterest users in the US are making good money – we’re talking over $100,000 a year. These are people ready to spend on things they discover on Pinterest. 

With over 450 million people using Pinterest every month and a growth rate that keeps climbing, the platform is a bustling marketplace for your products. And in places like the US and the UK, a huge chunk of Pinterest users end up buying things they’ve seen on the platform.

Pinterest is not just another social media platform; it’s a powerful tool for businesses, especially if you’re just starting out or running a small operation. 

It’s where your content lives on, reaching people who are ready to discover and buy, long after you’ve posted it. For generating traffic and sales, Pinterest could very well be your secret weapon, surpassing even Instagram in its ability to connect products with potential buyers.

QUICK OVERVIEW:

1. Set Up a Pinterest Business Account

A business account gives you access to Pinterest Analytics, ads, and shopping features.

• Go to Pinterest Business and sign up for a free business account.
• If you already have a personal account, you can convert it to a business account.

2. Claim Your Website

This helps establish credibility and allows Pinterest to track activity from your site.

• Go to Settings > Claim and enter your website URL.
• Follow the instructions to add a meta tag or upload an HTML file to your website.
• Once verified, you can access rich pins and analytics.

3. Enable Rich Pins (Optional but Recommended)

Rich Pins pull extra product details (price, stock, description) from your website.

• To enable, add Open Graph or Schema Markup to your product pages.
• Use Pinterest’s Rich Pin Validator to apply.
• Once approved, Pinterest will update your product details automatically.

4. Create High-Quality Pins for Your Products

Pinterest is highly visual, so your pins need to stand out.

• Use high-quality images (1000×1500 pixels is ideal).
• Showcase your product in action—lifestyle images work better than plain product shots.
• Add text overlays to highlight key features.
• Use keywords in descriptions to improve searchability.

👉 Example: If you sell handmade jewelry, create a pin showing someone wearing the piece in a stylish outfit.

5. Optimize Your Pinterest SEO

Pinterest is a visual search engine, so you need to optimize for search.

• Use relevant keywords in pin titles and descriptions.
• Create keyword-rich board names (e.g., “Boho Handmade Earrings” instead of “My Products”).
• Add hashtags to increase discoverability.

Example Keywords:
If you sell eco-friendly candles, use keywords like “sustainable candles,” “handmade soy candles,” or “natural home decor.”

6. Set Up Pinterest Shopping (Pinterest Catalogs)

If you have an online store (Shopify, WooCommerce, etc.), you can sync your products with Pinterest.

• Shopify users: Install the Pinterest for Shopify app to auto-sync products.
• Other platforms: Upload a product feed manually via Pinterest Catalogs.

Once connected, your products will appear in the Shop tab on your profile.

7. Promote Your Pins with Pinterest Ads (Optional)

Pinterest Ads help reach a wider audience and boost sales.

• Use Shopping Ads to promote specific products.
• Try Conversion Ads to drive traffic to your website.
• Set up Retargeting Ads to reach users who engaged with your pins but didn’t buy.

• Pin regularly (at least 5-10 times per day).
• Repin relevant content from others in your niche.
• Join group boards to expand your reach.

9. Track Your Results

Use Pinterest Analytics to monitor what’s working.

• Check which pins get the most saves and clicks.
• Adjust your strategy based on performance.

10. Offer Exclusive Deals or Freebies

• Create pins for special discounts or limited-time offers.
• Promote a lead magnet (e.g., “Download our free styling guide” in exchange for an email).

A Step-by-Step Guide on Setting Up Your Pinterest Account

Common Terms On Pinterest

A pin is a “post” that is saved to a board, pins are the most important part of your Pinterest content strategy as a well-designed pin will get you thousands of impressions while a poorly designed one will just be “meh”.

A board is a category where you save or repin pins, a board is similar to a blog category but on Pinterest you’ll be posting(pining) photos (ideas) instead of 500-word articles

You can have a fashion account, and create different boards for different things such as “Jewellery”, “Dresses”, “Sunglasses” etc

A Repin is like a share, when your “Repin” someone’s “pin” to your “board” your followers will see this “repin/share” as your own pin, and they can also “repin” it.

It’s like you share a post on Facebook and your friends share that shared post, the shared post now has a “viral” effect.

People say this is a “Fluke” stat but it’s actually the most important statistic on Pinterest because it helps you understand the momentum your account has gained in a month.

On Instagram this statistic is called “profile visits”, but it’s slightly different on Pinterest because followers are not important on Pinterest and the “monthly viewers” statistic is the number of unique users that have seen your pins or repins.

This is the number of “TIMES” your pins or repins have been seen on Pinterest

Uhmm what else? I think these are the important terms, OK let’s go to setting up your Pinterest account to drive traffic to your store.

Creating a Pinterest Business Account: Step-by-step guide to setting up a Pinterest Business account.

Login to Pinterest with your Gmail account (don’t worry we won’t use this account, it will only be our research account).

Type in the name of your product in the search bar, you’ll get a few suggestions by Pinterest (the type of suggestion you get when trying to search a video on YouTube).

It is important to note these suggestions as they’re what others are searching for.

Let’s assume I’ve got a home improvement store and I sell indoor water fountains, when I input “indoor water fountain” into the search bar, Pinterest may suggest.

• “indoor water fountains ideas”
• “Indoor water fountains small”
• and “indoor water fountains for kids”

Now, copy the top 3 suggestions.

REMEMBER: Copy the suggestions that appear before you hit the search button.

Repeat this step for all your products/product categories until you have 7 – 9 keywords, save these “suggestions into your notepad”.

Time to Create your account.

Go to business.Pinterest.com. Create a business account.

•  Input your business info
• When asked “do you want to advertise?” click I’m not sure
• Add your business logo
• Add business link and verify
• Now go to edit and in account name add one of those suggestions you copied to your account name

Let’s assume my indoor fountain business name is Fontana, I’ll name my Pinterest account :

Fontana | Indoor water fountain ideas

BUT why are we doing this? Remember I told you Pinterest is a search engine, so we’re adding keywords to our brand name, so we can appear on Pinterest search results.

Now go to your description and write a good description that includes one or two keywords you saved during your Pinterest research.

Mine for this example is:

The Best Indoor fountain ideas and indoor fountain for kids design.

REMEMBER: Don’t sell with your description.

Let’s Create some boards

Tap on the ➕ icon in the app and click on create board.

Now create board titles with the “keywords” we copied during our research.

Use one keyword as a title for each board until you create 7 – 8 boards.

Creating Attention Grabbing Content.

.Go to Canva(dot)com or hire a Designer on Fiverr (will cost you a lot tho).

I’ve got a team ready to help you with design if you wouldn’t mind expert help, 2 store owners only!

Use the default Pinterest dimension on Canva.

Place your product in the frame.

Write a good offer caption.

Add a good call to action at the bottom of the photo, a simple “click now to get 30%” off will do wonders to increase your link clicks.

Hire a writer and post how to content on your Shopify blog, then create graphics to post on Pinterest (for ecom).

REMEMBER: Creating high quality pins is the best investment you can make, Canva can do the job or hire a designer on 5ver.

Momentum Building

I’ve told you how to create good pins that’ll help you get a lot of clicks, but don’t start pining your own content just yet

BUT why?

Pinterest rewards engagement with more engagement and this means it’s easier for your own content to go viral when you interact with other people’s content through repining, commenting, and following others.

This process is called momentum building, can surfers surf without waves? Nah! Bigger waves = Better surfing (I don’t surf but this example just came to me, hope it applies)

So the steps to moment building include:

Repin the pins of others to your boards, this can be done by tapping on your board, clicking more ideas, and adding similar pins to your boards.

Repeat this step for all your boards.

It’s a numbers game so the more pins you add to a board daily determines how fast you build momentum.

I advise 60 – 80 repins to each board daily, but don’t Repin 60 or 80 pins at once, you can do 30 in the morning and 40 in your free time.

Leave relevant comments on posts (optional).

Follow others.

The number of followers you have doesn’t matter, any well-designed and ranked pin will perform once you’ve got momentum.

Do the momentum building tactics for 15 – 20 days before you begin to pin your own designed content.

Pining Your Own Content 

Now here’s the sweet part, doing this right will get you results and doing this wrong won’t have a positive effect.

Do the necessary keyword research, and add a few keywords to your pin title and description.

Write title descriptions longer than 22 words.

Do not engage in keyword stuffing.

Don’t use sales terms in your titles.

It’s that easy.

Growing Your Pinterest Presence

There’s no quick or easy way to succeed on Pinterest. The key is consistency—keep pinning, and don’t just pin your own content. Share things that are useful and relevant to your audience.

Many people don’t realize that a Pinterest account can cover multiple topics. Because of how Pinterest works, you can attract followers with different interests. My personal account has over 15K followers, and while some follow for travel, others follow for business, marketing, and personal finance content.

One of the biggest advantages of Pinterest is that content lasts. A tweet might be relevant for a few minutes, a Facebook or Instagram post for a day—but Pinterest pins can drive traffic for years. I have pins from nearly a decade ago that still bring in hundreds of visitors every month. One pin has even generated around $100 in affiliate commissions every month for over six years.

Remember, Pinterest is a search engine. To be found, you need strong images (Pinterest uses image recognition), compelling headlines, and keyword-rich descriptions.

Make your account more than just a collection of your own content. If you only pin your own stuff, there’s little reason for people to follow you. Instead, curate high-quality content from various sources while mixing in your own posts. 

For example, I have a board on early retiremnt where I pin articles from different experts, and when I create something relevant, I add it there. This approach works across all social platforms—those who provide value beyond their own content tend to grow the most.

How to Rack Up Your First 1,000 Pinterest Followers

Step 1: Make Your Pinterest Profile Irresistible

Let’s make your Pinterest profile something people can’t resist following. Here’s how:

• Start with At Least 10 Boards:
  • People like following active accounts. If you’ve only got a couple of boards, it looks like you’re not that into Pinterest. So kick off with at least ten boards.
  • Pick board topics that show what you’re all about and include words people might search for on Pinterest.
• Find and Use the Right Keywords:
  • Pinterest is all about finding cool stuff. Use keywords (those are the words people type in when they’re searching) in your profile and board descriptions. This way, folks who are already into what you’re into are more likely to find and follow you.
• A Profile Photo That’s All About You:
  • People connect with real, relatable folks. So, pop a friendly photo of yourself in your profile. Look into the camera and smile like you’re greeting a friend.
• A Cover Image That Tells People What You Offer:
  • Your cover image is like a big billboard on your profile. Use it to show off what you can do for your followers. Include a call to action – like a quick, catchy phrase that tells them why they should stick around.

People are always looking for stuff that’s useful or interesting to them. It’s just how we’re wired. So make it clear what you’re offering, and that’ll make them more likely to hit the follow button.

Alright, once you’ve got your profile looking great, we’re ready to start pinning!

Step 2: Figuring Out Who You Want Following You on Pinterest

So, you’re after more Pinterest followers. But have you thought about exactly who you want these followers to be? It might sound a bit backward, but if you narrow down who you’re trying to attract, you’ll probably get followers quicker.

You need to figure out who your audience is. This group might be the same folks you’re reaching out to on other platforms, or it could be a slightly different crowd.

Once you’ve got a clear picture of who you want following you, ask yourself some key questions:

• What do they really need?
• What questions do they keep asking?
• What are their biggest headaches or challenges?

Jot down these points. These are going to be what your first pins are about. (We’ll talk more about this soon.)

Remember the keyword research you did in step 1? That’s going to come in handy here because it shows what people are actively searching for.

Now, here’s the main tip: When you’re gunning for your first 1,000 followers, focus on giving them what they want, not what you think they need. This is super important, so make sure it sinks in.

To hit your follower goal, you’ve got to meet your audience where they’re at. This might mean sometimes pinning stuff that doesn’t thrill you, or that seems too simple or obvious.

(Quick reminder: What’s basic or obvious to you might be brand new to someone else. You’re already a pro at this, but they’re just starting out and want to learn.)

Doing this – focusing on what your audience is actually looking for – is your ticket to more followers, and quicker.

Let’s roll up our sleeves and move on to Step 3. Time to start pinning!

Step 3: Keep Pinning Regularly

Step three is all about pinning regularly. If you want more followers, you’ve got to keep your Pinterest game strong and steady. This step is super important for growing your follower count.

Step 4: Spread the Word About Your Pins

Now for step four: let everyone know about your Pinterest boards and pins.

• Use Your Social Media: Every now and then, pop a post on your social media about what you’re pinning. Give people a glimpse of the cool stuff you’re sharing on Pinterest and, if you can, include a link to your profile.
• Facebook and Twitter: You could highlight some of your Pinterest boards or pins in your Facebook group, or even tweet about them.
• Instagram Stories: I like to link to my favorite Pinterest pins in my Instagram stories. It’s a great way to cross-promote and get more eyes on your Pinterest content.

The idea is to use all the tools you’ve got to let people know what you’re up to on Pinterest. The more you share, the more people will check out your pins and, hopefully, start following you.

Step 5: Rinse and repeat – until you get your first 1,000 followers on Pinterest!

Monetizing Your Pinterest Account

Sponsored Pins.

I’ll lay out the method here so that if it’s something you are already aware of you can skip reading the rest. The method involves Pinterest and group boards. I created some large group boards and also got invited to dozens of others in the same niche. 

Let us use jewelry and eCommerce/sales as an example. You could create a bunch of boards promoting handmade jewelry and also ask to join already established ones or likewise they could be shopping group boards for gifts etc. 9 out of 10 boards allow members to invite other members so find boards that allow you to invite others if they are not boards you made yourself.

Once you have 10 or more large group boards on your profile you can start doing two things to earn money from them.

1. Sell invites to these boards. If they are sales, eCommerce boards you can invite other small business owners to pin to the board. Explain that Pinterest is one of the top drivers of traffic online. Also mention how pins don’t peak in traffic until they are around 4 months old, so they will get lots of traffic for months and months from pinning there.
2. Sell pins. You can sell promotion to the same audience by telling them you will pin their items from their site or where they have them listed directly to these boards. Explain how the boards have thousands of followers and get literally hundreds of thousands of views each week. Again explain the longevity of pins and how they will be getting a good ROI using this method for a long time to come.

To sell the invites and the pins you can make an account on Fiverr or similar micro job sites. Use good keywords to get the listings out there and share them in places that your demographic hang out. If its handmade jewelry or eCommerce try Etsy users. 

If its mlm, work from home stuff try posting to some groups on Facebook etc and on company pages so that all the distributors of that company see it. Say that if they are not using this method to generate sales and signups then their competitors are.

This is one of many methods I use to generate a steady income each month. I would say I get about $2,000 – $2,500 a month on average from this method without doing much promotion at all. In fact now that it has been going for a while its a lot less time than I had to put in at the start. so granted it was not always that amount each month nor was it less time like it is now. 

I have also found some great clients doing this too for higher priced services and subscription packages. I might offer a social media management package or a reputation package etc. If they seem like they will be easy to work with I push other services to them.

This method would be a great method for a noob to start off with to earn some cash to spend on apps, bots etc. There is no reason why someone could not scale this up and have a huge site offering invites to pages and earning 4 figures a day. I have priced it various ways via different accounts. 

Sometimes I offered 5 invites for $5 15 for $10 and 30 for $15, but I soon realized that Pinterest had put a limit on invites so I would hit blocks and be unable to send any more invites out. So I changed the prices to $5 for 1 invite $20 for 5 and $100 for 35 and I get people buying at every level. If they buy just one I direct them to my other service offering a pinning service so that they can pay me to do it instead of doing it themselves.

I also set up the quick replies on Fiverr so that when an order comes in i am able to do it in a matter of minutes and mark it as complete right away with a standard message that I can populate in one click. 

I wake up and take about 10 minutes to do 3 or 4 orders and move on to the next thing on my list for the day. In terms of dollars per hour its in the hundreds which is not bad. If I could find a dozen things that paid me a few hundred dollars an hour I would be really happy lol.

Account Management Services

There are many small business that don’t have a dedicated person for Pinterest marketing so you can earn by setting up services for Pinterest account management for other businesses.

Acquiring Clients for Account Management Services

Where to Begin? Look Around You!

Your first stop? Your own network. This includes friends, family, colleagues, and acquaintances. Think of it as starting a conversation at a friendly gathering. You mention what you’re doing, and someone says, “Hey, I know someone who could use your help!” That’s how it starts. You don’t need a hundred clients right off the bat. Just a few good ones. And here’s the thing – if you do a great job, word spreads like a pleasant rumor. Before you know it, more work offers might start coming your way than you can handle!

It can be difficult to find new clients that aren’t in your network if you don’t have the time to do the work. So, likely you’ll need to either market or advertise and if you’re just starting off, I’d say team up with a salesperson. So, what can you do?

Smart Moves to Grow Your Client Base

Team Up: Consider partnering with someone good at sales. They handle the pitching, you focus on Pinterest magic.

Go Social: Use your social media to announce your services. A simple post saying you’ve got room for a few more clients can spark interest. It’s like putting up a sign in your digital front yard.

Engage Locally: Dive into local online communities. Chat in Facebook groups, follow local businesses on Instagram, use hashtags that people in your area use. It’s like joining the neighborhood watch, but for potential clients.

A Website: Having a website is like having a digital business card. It tells people you’re professional and serious. You don’t need anything fancy. Start simple, and grow as your business does.

Google Business Profile: It’s like putting a pin on a digital map. People search for something, and there you are! Plus, it’s free. It’s pops up in the Map section when you Google things, 30% of your business from Google comes from that section. 

The other 70% of your business from Google comes from your Website. The reason these are important is because customers looking for a service do what? They go to Google and type in what they are looking for. We all do.

Word of Mouth: Keep your current clients happy, and they’ll be your cheerleaders. Satisfied clients often lead to referrals. It’s like doing a good job gardening for one neighbor and having the whole street call you up.