How to make money on Pinterest: the traffic machine most people underestimate

Most people think of Pinterest as a place for wedding ideas and recipe screenshots. Marketers think of it differently: as a search engine where people go specifically to plan what to buy, cook, build or wear next. That intent is exactly why Pinterest can make money, even though it doesn't pay creators directly.

Here's how to make money on Pinterest in practice, what works now that the old creator payments are gone, and why it suits people who can't post every day.

Why Pinterest is different from other platforms

• It works like search. People type "small bathroom storage ideas" and save what they find. Good pins keep getting found for months.
• People are planning to buy. Pinterest users are often in the early stage of a purchase or project, which is perfect for affiliate links and shops.
• Links are the point. Unlike platforms that keep people inside the app, Pinterest pins are designed to be clicked through to a website.

One important change: Pinterest ended its program that paid creators for original Idea Pin content in 2023. Today the money comes from where your pins send people.

How to make money on Pinterest: 5 ways

Way	What you need	How it pays
Affiliate pins	Affiliate programs in your niche	Commission per sale
Traffic to your blog	A blog with ads or affiliate links	Ads, affiliates, your products
Traffic to your shop	An Etsy or online shop	Product sales
Paid partnerships	An engaged audience in a niche	Brand fees
Pinterest management	Skills and a few results to show	Monthly client fees

1. Affiliate pins

Pinterest allows affiliate links on pins, as its guide to getting started with affiliate links explains. Follow each affiliate program's own rules, disclose the relationship, and pin products that genuinely fit the idea you're showing, like "a cosy reading nook under $200" with links to each item.

2. Traffic to your blog

This is where Pinterest shines. Pin helpful posts from your blog, and visitors arrive, read, click affiliate links and see ads. Many food, home and travel bloggers get a large share of their traffic from Pinterest. If you don't have a blog yet, see how to start a blog and make money.

3. Traffic to your shop

Printables, planners, wall art, crafts and home decor sell well from Pinterest because they're visual and planned purchases. Pair it with selling digital products on Etsy for a simple setup.

Pinterest rewards pins that help people plan: ideas, lists and step-by-step visuals. Photo by Harper Sunday on Unsplash.

4. Paid partnerships

Brands pay creators to feature products in pins. Pinterest has a dedicated tool for this, described in its help article on paid partnerships for creators. It's meant for formal brand deals and is separate from affiliate links.

5. Manage Pinterest for businesses

Many bloggers and shop owners know Pinterest works but don't have time for it. Designing pins, writing keyword-rich descriptions and scheduling them is a real service businesses pay for monthly.

How to make pins that get found

1. Use keywords people search. Type your topic into Pinterest search and note the suggestions. Use those words in your pin title and description.
2. Vertical images. Tall pins take more space in the feed and get noticed.
3. Clear text overlay saying exactly what the pin offers: "15 cheap meal prep ideas."
4. Several pins per link. Different images and headlines for the same post reach different searches.
5. Pin consistently. A steady schedule works better than bursts.

A simple weekly Pinterest routine

• One hour on Monday: design several pins for one new post, product or affiliate roundup.
• Schedule them across the week rather than posting them all at once.
• Check analytics monthly: which pins bring clicks, and make more like them.
• Refresh old winners with new images and headlines every few months.

How long it takes

Expect a slow start. New accounts often see little traffic for the first couple of months, then pins start being found and keep bringing clicks long after you made them. That's the big advantage: work you did in March can still earn in September.

What to avoid

• Spammy pinning of the same link over and over with no value.
• Hiding affiliate links or skipping disclosure.
• Using other people's images without permission. Make or license your own.
• Courses promising passive Pinterest income in weeks. It's a slow-building channel, and the FTC has acted against "passive income" schemes, as we cover in passive income ideas.

Pinterest won't make you rich on its own. Paired with a blog, a shop or affiliate links, it can become one of the most reliable free sources of buyers you'll find. For more ideas on building online income from content, see how to make money on Instagram.