How anyone can Make Money on Pinterest (up to $500/month)

1 day ago
5 min read

Today I want to talk about how everyday people like you and me can make money with Pinterest.

I'm not a full-time influencer or content creator.

I have a regular 9–5 job, a family, a house to run, and if I'm being realistic, I probably only spend 2–4 hours a week on Pinterest.

If you're in a similar situation and you're wondering whether Pinterest can make you money - the answer is yes!

I started Pinterest as a low maintenance way to get traffic to my blog and haven’t regretted it one day.

Pinterest works particularly well for people like us who are busy.

People who don't want to spend every evening creating videos. People who don't want the pressure of constantly showing up online.

Pinterest is one of the few platforms where the work you do today can continue paying you months, or even years, later.

A pin you create this week could still be sending traffic to your blog six months from now. It could still be bringing in affiliate commissions. It could still be generating ad revenue long after you've forgotten you even made it.

That's very different from most social media platforms, where a post often disappears after 24 hours.

Now, is making money on Pinterest easy? the simple answer is that it does require patience.

It is definitely not a get-rich-quick platform.

But if you're willing to be consistent, create content people are already searching for, and give Pinterest time to do its thing, it can become one of the most low-maintenance sources of income available.

Here's exactly how you can make money on Pinterest while being busy.

1. Create content/ Pins that Answer a Specific Question

Pinterest is a search engine.

People open it because they need help with something:

How to lose weight.
How to organise a small pantry.
What to wear to a summer wedding.
Digital products to sell.
Easy high-protein lunches.

The more specific the problem your pin solves, the easier it is for Pinterest to show it to people so you get clicks to your website or product.

2. How to find a problem to solve

One of the biggest shifts in my Pinterest journey happened when I started what I call the keyword habit.

The "Keyword" Habit: Before you create a single design, use the Pinterest search bar. Type in a broad topic (e.g., "home office") and look at the "autosuggest" phrases that pop up. Those are real things people are searching for right now. Those are your keywords.

Where to put them: Put those keywords in your Profile Bio, your Board Titles, your Board Descriptions, and your Pin Titles/Descriptions. Don't spam them; just write naturally so that both the algorithm and humans understand what you’re offering.

Honestly, people search for the same things on Pinterest every year.

So for someone with little time, your process for finding what to post on Pinterest should be incredibly simple.

3. Get Ahead of the Season

Pinterest users plan much earlier than most people realise.

If you're creating summer content in July, you're probably late. People use Pinterest to plan. That means you need to publish before they need the information.

A rough guide:

Summer content? Start in April.
Back-to-school content? Start in July.
Halloween content? Start in August.
Christmas content? Start in September.
Valentine's content? Start in December.
Spring cleaning content? Start in January.
New Year goals, planners and weight-loss content? Start in November.

Think like a retailer.

The Christmas decorations appear in shops months before Christmas.

Pinterest works exactly the same way.

4. Pin Strategically

Don’t try to do everything at once. Pick one out of the following 3 paths and stick to it for at least 90 days:

Affiliate Marketing: You don't need your own products. Join networks like Amazon Associates or ShareASale, find products that fit your niche, and link your pins directly to them (or to a blog post/landing page that reviews them).
Digital Products: This is the highest margin play. If you have a skill, turn it into a PDF guide, a template (Canva, Notion, Excel), or a mini-course. Pin images that show the "after" result of using your product.
Traffic Driver (Blog/Etsy/Shopify): If you already have a store or a blog, use Pinterest as a "top of funnel" tool. Your goal is simply to get people off Pinterest and onto your own site where they can convert into a sale or email subscriber or give you blog traffic revenue.

The 80/20 Content Strategy

What is this strategy? 80% of your pins should be purely helpful, inspirational content (the "how-to"), and 20% should be promotional (selling your specific product). If you only sell, people will ignore you. There are so many people who join pinterest and drop pin after pin trying to sell something. Its human nature. People would put their guards up. Why should they buy from you? How can they trust you?

5. Be Patient

Pinterest is a "slow-growth" platform. It usually takes 3–6 months for a new account to gain significant traction with the algorithm. Do not get discouraged if you don't see results in week two.

Some of my best-performing pins did almost nothing for weeks.

Then one day they started getting impressions.

Then clicks.

Then traffic.

Then sales.

I've had pins start performing months after I completely forgot about them.

That's normal on Pinterest.

Many people quit too early because they expect instant results.

The work you do today may not pay off immediately.

But if you keep publishing consistently, those pins can continue working for you long after you've moved on to other content.

6. Use Shortcuts

Pinterest can absolutely lead to burnout if you let it.

There is always another pin you could create.
Another title you could test.
Another keyword you could research.

At some point, you need a system.

These days I use shortcuts wherever I can.

If I need pin title ideas, I use AI.

If I need pin designs quickly, I use templates.

If I want visual inspiration, I use Ideogram.

Ideogram is one AI tool that does a surprisingly good job of creating Pinterest-style graphics that attract clicks - that’s what you really want.

The simpler your system becomes, the easier it is to stay consistent.

7.Don't reinvent the wheel

Yea, we all want to be authentic yada yada yada, but not if your goal is to make money on pinterest. Want to use pinterest as a hobby or social experiment, fine. But to make money, look at what your competitors are doing.

If you see a competitor’s pin with a "10 step guide" headline doing well, make your own version that is even better or more updated.

Business account

Remember to make sure you set up a business account.

A business account gives you analytics, which tells you exactly which pins are getting "outbound clicks." Stop looking at "views" (they are a vanity metric) and start looking at outbound clicks.
Claim Your Domain: If you have a website, verify it with Pinterest. This builds trust, gives you better analytics, and attaches your name to all content coming from your site.

Final thoughts

Spend 20% of your time creating designs and 80% of your time researching what people are actually searching for. If you provide the solution to a problem someone is already searching for, the money will follow.