Pinterest Affiliate Marketing Tutorial for Beginners (2024)

Suman Karki

Imagine this: you’re scrolling through Pinterest, pinning gorgeous home decor ideas or the latest fashion finds. But what if you could earn money every time someone clicks on those pins?

Yes, you can make money by pinning your ideas on Pinterest with the Affiliate Marketing Strategy. Depending on your niche, you can share visually appealing, and click-worthy pins that drive traffic to your affiliate links, and generate commissions.

In this blog, we are exploring step-by-step Pinterest Affiliate Marketing tutorial with examples to turn your Pinterest browsing into a lucrative side hustle.

Step #1 Choose your niche

First things first, choosing your specific topic, or niche is the most important decision to make before jumping into creating beautiful pins, and promoting products.

Some popular niches for Affiliate Marketing on the Pinterest platform include Home Decor, Pet Products, Fashion, Travel, Finance, and Health. Here we have covered the Top 5 Most Lucrative Pinterest Affiliate Marketing Niche.

In addition, you can research niches based on your interest, target audience, and affiliate program availability.

Here is an important guide to research market demand, and competition on Pinterest.

• Use tools like Pinterest Trends (https://trends.pinterest.com/) and Google Trends (https://trends.google.com/trends/) to see search volume for potential niche keywords.
• Look for niches with a healthy balance of search volume and competition. Super competitive niches might be hard for beginners to break into, while very low-volume niches might not offer enough opportunities.
• Explore established Pinterest accounts and boards in your niche ideas. See what kind of content resonates with audiences and identify potential gaps you can fill.

Step #2 Choose Affiliate Marketing Programs

Depending on your niche, you can find various affiliate marketing products to promote on Pinterest. There are lots of affiliate marketing programs that offer products to complement your content and offer good commission rates.

Clickbank, CJ Affiliate, Digistore24, ShareASale, Impact, and Rakuten Advertising are some of the popular affiliate marketing programs you can join, and find products related to your niche.

In today’s example, we are choosing a health product from Egg Whites International listed on the popular affiliate marketing platform ‘ShareASale‘.

Once you create your account on ShareASale, you can search for various products to promote. Here we are choosing pure liquid egg whites from Egg Whites International that help people improve their health, gain muscle, and lose fat.

As per the stats, the affiliates are earning an average of $12.27 per sale.

Step #3 Create and Optimize your Pinterest Profile

After you choose your niche, and products to promote, it’s time to create an optimized profile on the Pinterest platform. Your profile should be polished, and informative to attract the right customers and enhance engagement.

Here are the steps to create, and optimize your Pinterest profile:

• Choose a high-quality profile picture that reflects your brand or niche.
• Use relevant keywords throughout your profile description and bio. You can think about the types of products you plan to promote and research popular search terms related to your niche.
• It is highly recommended to switch to a Pinterest Business Account. It offers valuable analytics and insights to track your progress and optimize your strategy.
• If you run a website or blog, you can claim it, and connect to your profile. This establishes credibility and allows you to drive traffic back to your site.
• Create boards focused on specific themes within your niche. This helps users find the content they’re interested in.

Step #4 Create High-Quality & Visually Appealing Pins

Now, it’s time to create high-quality pins to increase views, engagement, and clicks.

Based on your niche, you can create and curate beautiful, and engaging pins using high-resolution images, or videos. Use easy-to-read text and visual elements.

Once you finish designing pins, you can include relevant keywords in your pin titles, descriptions, and board titles to enhance search discoverability. It is recommended to write compelling captions for your pins to attract users to click. Likewise, Call-to-Action (CTA) can be leveraged to direct users to your website, blog, or landing page for affiliate links.

For easy creation of high-quality pins, you can use free tools like Canva which features a variety of pre-designed templates, and easy-to-use tools. Use texts, illustrations, images, and visual elements to make your pins stand out.

This image shows how I created a pin to promote the Pure White Egg product we chose for our affiliate marketing campaign.

Step #5 Publish your Pins with Affiliate Links

Till now, we have chosen our niche, affiliate marketing platform, products to promote, and also designed pins. After completing these steps, it’s time to publish pins on your Pinterest profile!

Here is the step-by-step guide to publishing pins with affiliate links on Pinterest.

• Access Pinterest: Log in to your Pinterest Business Account.
• Create a Pin: Click the “+” icon in the top right corner and select “Create Pin.”
• Upload Your Image: Choose the image or video you want to use for your pin from your computer or device.
• Add Your Destination Link: Paste your affiliate link into the “destination link” field. This is where users will be directed when they click your pin. However, it is recommended not to use direct affiliate links in this field as it may trigger spam in the Pinterest system. So, it is better to direct users to your affiliate landing pages, or your blog which contains affiliate links of the products you are selling.
• Optimize Your Pin: Fill in the title (60 characters max) and description (up to 500 characters) for your pin. Include relevant keywords throughout.
• Organize Your Pins: Select the board where you want to save your pin. Consider creating specific boards for different product categories or themes within your niche.
• Hashtags: Add relevant hashtags to your pin description to increase discoverability. Use a mix of popular and niche-specific hashtags.

If you manage to drive traffic to your affiliate page, and generate sales to the product your are promoting, you get compensated based on the commision rates. This is how you make money with Affiliate Marketing.

Tips to Get More Views, and Clicks on Pinterest

Designing, and publishing pins on Pinterest is not enough to snag more views and clicks. Here are some tips you can follow to succeed on the Pinterest platform.

• Always use high-quality photos, graphics, or videos to create stunning visuals. Ideally, a 2:3 aspect ratio (vertical format) is considered perfect for Pinterest Pins.
• Tailor your content to address your target audience’s needs and interests. Offer solutions, answer questions, or provide inspiration through your pins.
• You can experiment with different pin styles such as video pins, standard image pins, and story pins (Slideshows).
• Include captivating descriptions to attract users to click on your destination link.
• Maintain consistent activity by pinning frequently. Ideally, aim for a few pins per day or every other day.
• Use scheduling tools like Tailwind to plan your pins, and ensure a steady stream of content.
• Analyze Pinterest analytics to track your progress including impressions, clicks, and engagement rates. Based on the results, you can try using different pin formats, titles, descriptions, visuals, and posting times to find out what works best for your niche, and audience.

Final Takeaway

Here we go! You’ve taken the first step towards turning your Pinterest passion into a profitable venture.

Always remember, that consistency and smart working strategy are vital for achieving success in Pinterest Affiliate Marketing. You might not see your result soon but one day you will thrive!

Let’s end our discussion with key takeaways to keep in mind:

• Focus on a specific niche to attract a targeted audience genuinely interested in the products you promote.
• Publish fresh, high-quality pins, and blog content to maintain audience engagement.
• Don’t use direct affiliate links on your pins! Instead, redirect users to the landing page or your blog.
• Use Pinterest analytics to understand what resonates with your viewers and adapt your strategy accordingly.

By following these tips and putting in the effort, you’ll be well on your way to seeing those affiliate commissions roll in. Have any questions? Let me know in the comment section below!