Pinterest Affiliate Marketing: A Guide for Beginners

Did you know you can turn your love for posting on Pinterest into a source of income? While Pinterest doesn’t have monetization programs like TikTok and YouTube, it offers plenty of tools and resources that can help you make money. One of them? The outbound linking feature that enables you to direct traffic to external pages. This feature allows for affiliate marketing, a great way to earn passive income, even long after you create your Pins.

However, not all affiliate marketing efforts work. The truth is, you can post links and register minimal to no conversions — if you don’t know how to do it right.

Fortunately, we’ve got you covered. This blog takes an in-depth look at Pinterest affiliate marketing, guiding you on everything from how it works to how to maximize your earnings from this money-making tactic.

What Is Pinterest Affiliate Marketing?

Pinterest affiliate marketing is a strategy that involves promoting products and associated buying links in your Pins. Basically, you add links to product pages in your posts and earn commissions when people click and make purchases.

This is an excellent way to make money on Pinterest because you don’t just get paid once; you can earn passive income over time, as long as your Pins and links remain active.

How It Works

Pinterest affiliate marketing is relatively straightforward. Here’s how to get started:

Create a Business Account

Don’t get us wrong, you can earn from affiliate marketing with a personal account. However, these accounts are quite limiting, as they lack access to growth tools such as Pinterest Analytics and Ads.

Start by switching to a business account or creating a separate one (if you still want to maintain your personal profile). To switch from personal to business:

1. Log in to your personal profile.
2. Tap the more options icon.
3. Go to Settings.
4. Click Account management.
5. Look for the “Convert to a business account” option, then tap “Convert account“.
6. Build your profile and describe your business.
7. Select whether you want to run ads, then tap Next.

To create an entirely new account:

1. Head to pinterest.com and tap Sign up.
2. Click Create a free business account.
3. Provide your email address, birthdate, and preferred password.
4. Fill out your profile and business information.
5. Select whether to run ads and click Next.

Note: Make sure you’re logged out of your personal account when signing up for a business account.

Join Affiliate Programs

Once your business profile is all set, look for and join affiliate programs that align with your interests or niche. For example, if you’re into interior design, look for home & decor programs.

There are two ways to find affiliate partners. One, you can work directly with product or service providers, such as Amazon (via Amazon Associates). This typically requires you to contact target companies or apply to their programs.

The second option is to join well-known affiliate networks such as AWIN and CJ Affiliate. With such networks, you have access to numerous brands in different niches.

Create Engaging Pins

This is when the marketing truly starts. Create visually appealing posts that promote affiliate partners’ products. For example, if you’re an affiliate marketer for a travel company, take pictures and videos of your travel experiences.

Make sure all your images and videos are high-quality to make a good impression on your audience. Also, come up with compelling titles and descriptions that incorporate your niche’s keywords.

Share Your Pins and Affiliate Links

Next, upload your content and add relevant affiliate links to your Pins. To do this, start by copying your unique link from your chosen affiliate network. Then:

1. Go to your Pinterest business account.
2. Tap the plus button.
3. Upload your images or videos.
4. Add your title and description.
5. Paste your affiliate link in the destination URL section.
6. Pick a board that aligns with your niche. This helps Pinterest’s algorithm categorize your content.
7. Add keywords relevant to your Pin to improve visibility.
8. Tap Publish.

Remember to add a disclosure that you’ll earn from the attached link. This is required by both Pinterest and most affiliate programs, including Amazon Associates. Moreover, this kind of transparency can help you build trust with your audience, potentially encouraging conversions.

You don’t need to write a lengthy disclosure. Something as simple as #affiliatelink, [aff], or #paidlink in your Pin description should work.

Is Pinterest Affiliate Marketing Worth It?

Without a doubt. If you play your cards right, Pinterest affiliate marketing could become a stable source of income. Here’s why:

Large Target Audience

Pinterest is one of the largest social media platforms, registering 600 million monthly active users. This means you inherently have access to numerous leads that could eventually turn into buying customers.

The best part? Pinterest is relatively popular across genders and age groups. According to the platform, 70% of its users are female, and 30% are male. Further, it reaches 46% of people in the 18-24 demographic, 40% of those in the 25-34 group, and 39% of those aged 35-44, in the US. These numbers are great for affiliate marketing, as they mean you can work with brands targeting different audiences.

Buying Intent

Unlike other platforms where people scroll for entertainment, Pinterest users visit the app with a buying mindset. According to Pinterest data, 50% of its visitors consider it a shopping tool.

Many are already interested in the products or services they search for; they just need a slight nudge to make a purchase. That’s where your Pins and affiliate links come in.

Lasting Visibility

Pinterest is built for long-term content discovery, unlike platforms like Instagram, where posts disappear quickly. Further, the visual platform is more search-driven than feed-driven.

Because of these features, your page can get evergreen traffic for months or even years. The only catch? You need to optimize your Pins for search. When you do, you’ll have lasting visibility, which equals consistent, low-effort sales.

How to Maximize Pinterest Affiliate Marketing Earnings

The truth is, Pinterest affiliate marketing doesn’t generate revenue for all users. To make it work, you need to implement strategies that put your Pins at the top and drive your audience to take action.

That’s where we come in. Here are our top tips for boosting your marketing earnings:

1. Optimize Your Account and Pins for SEO

Search engine optimization isn’t just great for Google or your standard search engines. It’s also essential on Pinterest. Remember, the platform is a discovery tool for many people. They don’t scroll as they do on other socials; they actively search for what they need.

One of the best ways to optimize your profile for search is to use relevant keywords. Find keywords related to your niche and content, and incorporate them into your profile, Pin descriptions, and board descriptions.

For your profile and board descriptions, use keywords related to your account’s overall theme. You could use “women’s fashion” if you’re a fashion content creator.

For Pin descriptions, go more granular. If you create a post on winter fashion, for example, you could include “women’s winter outfits” as a keyword. The more specific you are, the more likely your Pins are to appear in potential shoppers’ search results.

2. Use a Multi-Pin Strategy

Don’t create one post per affiliate link and call it a day. Instead, create multiple Pins for each affiliate link. For example, if you’re promoting a kitchen appliance, make several posts about it and include its affiliate link in each.

The more Pins you create, the more opportunities you have to appear in potential buyers’ search results — and register conversions. This is especially true if you target different keywords in each Pin. Say you use the keyword “kitchen appliance” in one Pin and “home cooking” in another. You’ll appear on both “kitchen appliance” and “home cooking” search results, potentially increasing sales.

3. Leverage Rich Pins

Rich Pins are Pinterest posts that automatically pull data from a website. The platform offers three types of rich Pins:

• Product Pins: Sync the most up-to-date product details, including availability, pricing, and descriptions.

• Article Pins: Pull blog information like headlines and author details.

• Recipe Pins: Contain recipe details, such as ingredients, serving sizes, and cook times.

For affiliate marketing, enable Product Pins. This way, potential shoppers can make well-informed decisions without having to leave the app.

4. Try Different Post Formats

Different audiences prefer varying types of content. To determine what resonates with your audience, try different content formats and monitor your analytics. For example, if you’re unsure whether your people prefer image Pins or video Pins, post both formats and regularly check their performance.

Key metrics to monitor include:

• Engagements: Number of Pin clicks, saves, or carousel swipes.
• Pin clicks: Number of taps on Pins to open them in close-up.
• Outbound clicks: Number of times people click on affiliate links.

Luckily, you can find this data on Pinterest Analytics. To access it:

1. Log in to the Pinterest app on your device.
2. Tap your profile.
3. Click the chart bar icon.
4. Select Analytics.

If video Pins register the most engagements and clicks, create more video content for your affiliate links.

Tip: Use the same affiliate link across different content formats during A/B testing to ensure reliable results. If you use different links, it becomes harder to attribute changes in engagements and clicks.

5. Automate Posting

Want to increase your chances of getting consistent revenue from affiliate partnerships? Automation should definitely be part of the plan. And, we have just the solution for you: GeeLark.

GeeLark is an antidetect solution provider that offers both antidetect browsers and cloud phones. These solutions help keep your Pinterest profiles isolated, minimizing the risk of multi-account linking. But that’s not all. With GeeLark’s cloud phones, you can also automate image and video posting. This is especially handy if you struggle to stay consistent.

When you automate Pin publishing, you never have to worry about forgetting to post or missing your ideal publishing window. What’s more, you can batch-create and schedule content. This lets you focus on other tasks while still staying on top of your affiliate marketing hustle.

To automate Pinterest posting with GeeLark:

1. Download the GeeLark app and sign up.

2. Set up cloud phone profiles (a unique one for each Pinterest account). To do this, log in to your GeeLark account, go to New profile, and complete the required details.

3. Tap Applications, search for Pinterest, and install the app.

4. Log in to your Pinterest account(s), just as you would on your standard device.

5. Head to Automation to access the GeeLark Marketplace.

6. Search for the “Post Video on Pinterest” or “Post Images on Pinterest” template (depending on your most effective content format).

7. Select Create a regular task.

8. Upload your images (or videos), add pertinent details (such as Pin titles, descriptions, and affiliate links), and pick your preferred publishing dates.

9. Verify everything’s good and tap Confirm Publication.

GeeLark will then handle the posting, ensuring your Pins and affiliate links go up regardless of whether you’re online.

Pinterest Affiliate Marketing Best Practices

To achieve your Pinterest affiliate marketing goals, adhere to these best practices:

Follow Pinterest’s Community Guidelines

This minimizes your risk of account suspensions or permanent bans, so you can keep earning. Key Community Guidelines to follow include:

• Add an affiliate marketing disclosure to all Pins with affiliate links.
• Avoid promoting prohibited products, like drugs and firearms.
• Dont mislead audiences with fake images or links.
• Steer clear of spammy behavior, such as keyword stuffing and repetitive pinning.

Stick to Your Niche

Only share affiliate links for products that align with your type of content. For example, if you’re a fashion creator, share fashion-related links.

This isn’t to say that you must lock yourself into a single niche. You can diversify across multiple areas, but make sure you have a separate account for each one to help the Pinterest algorithm categorize your account.

For complete account isolation, use GeeLark’s cloud phones. Each phone has a unique fingerprint, which allows you to bypass Pinterest’s device fingerprinting system.

Make Sure Each Pin Offers Value

Stand out from other Pinterest creators sharing similar affiliate links by providing valuable content. Make sure your Pins are entertaining, informative, or educational. This could give potential shoppers the nudge they need to click your links.

Hop on the Pinterest Affiliate Marketing Train

Pinterest affiliate marketing can be an excellent source of income, but only if you’re strategic. To get desired results, optimize your profile and content for SEO, create multiple Pins for each affiliate link, focus on the most impactful content formats, and automate posting. Also, remember to follow Pinterest’s Community Guidelines to avoid account bans.

With GeeLark, you can automate Pin and affiliate link publishing at scale. The platform offers AI-powered automation templates that handle pinning for you, so you never have to worry about missing posting windows.

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