In 2023, almost 65% of affiliate marketers use blogs to generate traffic. So, you might wonder, is it possible to do affiliate marketing on Pinterest without a blog?
Contrary to common beliefs, you can definitely promote affiliate products on this image search platform without a blog. When potential customers click on your referral links, redirecting them to your landing pages still makes sales.
Considering the constant thriving of Pinterest in the upcoming years, make it your new source of income. Read this article to find out how to run affiliate promotion here with simple steps and NO BLOG!
What is Pinterest Affiliate Marketing?
Not running any personal blog or website?
Pinterest, the renowned visual search engine, can be your ideal solution for affiliate marketing.
The platform allows you to monetize your profile from different types of Pins. Adding referral links to these Pins allows you to redirect potential customers to opt-in pages, landing pages, or merchants’ websites.
When a user clicks on these links on Pinterest, they will visit your pages and might take desirable actions (purchase something, provide email addresses, etc.). You earn commissions for successful affiliate sales.
According to global affiliate marketing statistics, in 2023, more than 42% of affiliate marketers chose Pinterest to start their business.
Are you next?
How to Do Affiliate Marketing on Pinterest Without A Blog: Step-by-step Guide to Get Started
Create a Pinterest Business Account
You need a business account, not a personal one, to start affiliate marketing on Pinterest.
If you are fresh on this social media platform, here is how to create one:
- Click Sign up on the top right of your screen > Create a Business account
- Enter required information > Create account
- Fill in the fields to Build your profile > Next
- Fill in the fields to Describe your business > Next
- Choose whether you want to run ads > Next
- Choose where you would like to start or click X to head to your new Business account
In case you already have a personal Pinterest account, here is how to link these 2 together:
- Log into your personal account > Click Add account
- Click Create a free Business account
- Click Create a linked Business account
- Click Create linked account > Fill in necessary information like the above
Pick a niche
This is one of the most crucial steps in your affiliate marketing journey.
You would not want to promote random affiliate products and services on Pinterest. The platform might view your account as spamming and eventually remove it.
Plus, it will confuse your audience. Since they cannot identify your main products, how can you become a niche authority in their eyes?
Find a niche you are genuinely interested in so it is easier to recommend goods related to the category.
However, make sure your niche also matches what the Pinterest target audience usually looks for. When other users are intrigued by your Pins, they will likely click on them or share them on their boards.
If you want to do affiliate marketing on Pinterest without a blog, try these visual niches to win its users’ hearts:
- Beauty and personal care
- Travel
- Home decor and interior design
- Fashion
- DIY crafts
- Food and beverage
Most items in these groups are physical (not digital products) and evergreen. So, people will always seek information and inspiration from them, extending your Pins’ longevity on the channel.
Join an affiliate program
Once you have selected a niche, now it is time to choose a relevant affiliate program.
Affiliate marketers need to join at least one program to promote goods on the merchants’ behalf and earn passive income.
The fastest way is to do a Google search, such as “sports affiliate program.” Begin with a general category first, then dig deeper into sub-niches.
As you review each program thoroughly, you will recognize whether its primary products or services work for Pinterest affiliate marketing.
A newbie should always check these assets when considering an affiliate program:
- A wide variety of high-quality products
- Reasonable commission rate per sale/click/action
- Standard cookie length (around 30+ days)
- Low to no payment threshold (below $50)
- Dedicated affiliate support from a team or manager
If you cannot choose any program through self-search, try joining an affiliate network for more options. CJ Affiliate, ShareASale, Rakuten Advertising, etc., are networks that contain multiple programs in thousands of niches.
Do Pinterest keyword research
Deciding on a niche is not the end of the task here. You need this extra step to ensure your Pins attain high traffic volume.
The keyword search bar on Pinterest allows you to find common words people use to find information. Similar to blog posts, Pins also include search engine optimization (SEO).
The platform automatically suggests relevant keywords when you enter a random one. That way, you can learn which part of your niche (e.g., tattoo) is popular with Pinterest users.
What if you want to explore that broad category a little bit?
Hit the search bar with that keyword, and more sub-niche ideas will show up.
See how simple it is to conduct keyword searching on this platform. So, check out what potential customers care about most regarding your affiliate niche.
The better you pinpoint their interest, the more engaging your Pins are.
Design Pins
Pinterest Pins are visual bookmarks for users to save content they love. This part requires A LOT of creativity to make it fun and attractive (after all, it is all about visuals).
Ever heard of Canva? This free online design platform has a wide range of preset Pin templates.
Even Pinterest has specific templates based on different kinds of themes. Whether you plan your Pins to look modern, minimal, or floral – this platform can offer suitable options.
Try to make use of ready-to-use templates since creating them from scratch will take much time and effort.
Get to know the types of Pins here:
- Standard Pins: One vertical image, ideally in the 2:3 aspect ratio.
- Idea Pins: A multi-image format like Instagram stories, mostly image collections.
- Video Pins: Feature a single video or multiple videos/images; maximum length is 15 seconds.
Depending on your affiliate marketing strategy, you can choose to prioritize which Pin type.
All of them are available to drive organic traffic or run paid ads, so rest assured to do affiliate marketing on Pinterest without a blog.
Build your Pinterest boards
With all the fantastic-looking Pins ready, you need to create boards to gather them in one place.
Assuming your chosen niche is home decor. Some board titles revolve around this industry to build:
- Bathroom
- Christmas decor
- Table lamps
- Vintage furniture
Although creating individual mood boards is good for personal branding, it is not the only way to promote your Pins. Did you know that group boards exist on Pinterest?
These public collections allow multiple users to share content on one board. Posting on such communities contributes to better exposure since you promote your products to others’ audiences.
Search for relevant boards in your niche. For example, the Crochet Community Board, with 1.6K+ followers, is brilliant for advertising craft or DIY affiliate products.
Check out the group board description to see how you can become a contributor. A lot of them require you to follow the board creator.
Also, read the terms on posting new content to a group board. If admins do not allow direct affiliate linking, you can use YouTube videos as landing pages.
Add affiliate links to your pins
The most essential stage in affiliate marketing on Pinterest without a blog is adding affiliate links to your Pins.
Follow these simple steps to insert links to Idea Pins and any other type:
- On your main page, click Create Pin > Upload your media assets
- Fill in the Pin titles and descriptions using niche-related keywords
- Enter an affiliate link in the Destination Link
- Click Publish to upload immediately or schedule for later
Once you are familiar with posting Pins, you should also implement some tricks to improve their performance:
Use the same affiliate link but make various Pins. It will enhance the visual appeal and variety on your boards.
Post at different times of the day and remain consistent.
It is best to recommend products or services you have personally experienced. If not, make sure they are high-quality with good customer feedback.
Disclose to your audiences in Pin descriptions that you include affiliate links here (more detail later).
Pin other users’ Pins to your boards, encouraging them to view these and probably add your Pins to their boards.
Track and analyze results
Of course, you cannot finalize everything and just leave them there waiting for traffic. If you want to get more affiliate sales, tracking and analyzing your results is necessary.
This process provides you with real-time insights on your best-performing Pins, audience interest, user engagement, and other valuable data.
As part of improving your affiliate marketing business, you should review integrated Pinterest reports each month. The channel consists of these analytics for a reason, though.
Or use Google Analytics specifically for those who visit your landing pages via Pinterest. You will grab hold of the products they buy and the generated revenue.
Crucial metrics to consider within your evaluation include:
Click-through rate: The percentage of people seeing your Pins and clicking them. What type of Pins gets more clicks? Do Pins involving a well-known influencer drive more traffic?
On-site time: A high time on-site with a low bounce rate proves your Pins match the content on your landing page.
Conversions: Focus on products you heavily promote but make few sales and those not being advertised but have high conversion rates, then adjust your strategy.
Why choose Pinterest for affiliate marketing?
Pinterest is where people go to find ideas and inspiration, and many visit this social platform with the intent to purchase.
Elevate visual power
Pins are powerful to drive traffic to your affiliate pages, especially if you promote goods with heavy visuals, such as fashion clothing or beauty products. Some other industries that benefit from Pinterest affiliate marketing include F&B, home decor, health and fitness, etc.
Effective lowkey ads
Affiliate links on Pinterest do not look like traditional ads. They are not displayed disruptively like other channels and blend well with other Pins.
Since you insert links in the Pin descriptions, interested users need to click directly on these Pins to view them. It enables a more comfortable customer experience as they browse the feed and find your posts naturally.
Free efforts
It is completely free to join Pinterest. As a beginner, you needn’t pay any upfront cost to start affiliate marketing here.
Once you are done setting up a Business account, you can create Pins to promote the affiliate products or services right away.
This factor is what makes Pinterest a wonderful source of free and quality traffic.
High purchase intent
The best part about affiliate marketing on Pinterest without a blog is that users are eager to figure out new products and spend money on them.
According to Pinterest reports, 80% of weekly users have discovered a new product or brand on the platform. In addition, 45% of its US audiences have a $100,000+ household income.
Is that enough motivation for you to quickly monetize this channel?
In general, affiliate marketers can definitely utilize Pinterest to grow their following and income. It is a place to drive engagement and traffic and boost profile awareness with better return on investment (ROI).
Best Tips for Successful Pinterest Affiliate Marketing
Fulfilling all the steps above is not enough to succeed with affiliate marketing on Pinterest without a blog. Check out the following advice to boost your performance:
Create multiple pins per post
Generate several Pins containing the same affiliate links. More Pins mean more opportunities for user engagement, including views, saves, clicks, comments, and follows.
If you search for Pins in your niche by keywords, you will find a wide variety of visual content available. These diverse Pins can be text-only or in colorful graphics.
Feel free to create as many Pins as possible for one link or a piece of content – no limit. So, your posts must stand out from the crowd to actually convert.
Experiment with different Pin templates, such as vertical versus horizontal images, stock imagery versus graphics, or text-heavy versus visual.
Moreover, think of how you can use a broader range of keywords in this multiple-pin tactic.
If you have a post on haircare products, choose various related keywords for a Pin matching that search intent. For instance, dandruff-free shampoo, hair oil, etc.
All these Pins will drive customers back to one of your landing pages. No need to produce new content every time!
Optimize your profile for SEO
Besides being a social media channel, Pinterest is also a visual search engine to help people look for new content. Thus, optimizing Pinterest SEO can expose your profile better to existing and potential buyers.
If you can apply the best SEO practices to your posts, it is not difficult to go viral on this platform in a few hours. This mainly involves using popular keywords in your niche in Pin or board descriptions.
One way is to type these phrases into the search bar and see which content style ranks well. Or try professional keyword tools like Ahrefs or Keyword Everywhere to streamline the task.
These areas are best advised to implement SEO:
- Pinterest profile: Include general keywords about your content theme in the bio, such as “men’s health,” to promote health supplements.
- Pin description: Get specific for each Pin, such as “how to” for tutorials and “advice” for tips and tricks.
- Board description: Boards are more detailed than your profile but less targeted than Pins. Choose middle-ground keywords like “men’s health tips” or “makeup tutorials.”
Remember to add disclosures and follow Pinterest’s guidelines
When doing affiliate marketing on Pinterest without a blog, you must certainly follow its community guidelines.
As you understand the general rules of sharing content on this channel, your creatives can withstand the test of time and generate consistent revenue.
Therefore, make sure you are aware of these guidelines before running any affiliate campaign:
No link cloaking. Many affiliate marketers use link-shortening tools, such as Pretty Links or Bit.ly, to disguise their referral URLs. However, Pinterest advises that your audience should know exactly where your links will take them, such as a sale page or Facebook post.
Add affiliate disclosures. This is extremely important, following the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rules on affiliate marketing practices. You need to label your content “affiliated” or “sponsored” in Pin and board descriptions to comply with this.
Operate one Business account. If you have ever thought of repinning content from multiple Pinterest accounts, do not.
Running various accounts at once or coordinating with other users to manipulate the platform is definitely against its guidelines.
Leverage tools to boost your efforts
Joining Pinterest for free is one obvious thing, but you might need extra help to leverage your marketing efforts.
As mentioned above, Canva is a fantastic online design platform for all-level users. Even if you do not use its premade Pinterest templates, you can easily design your own.
Besides still images, it also has smart video-making tools to help you produce Video Pins. Who knows, you might find compelling visual inspirations there.
In addition, Tailwind and Buffer are similar multi-purpose tools serving as your social media marketing assistants.
Not only do they automatically create and schedule your 1-week Pins in 30 minutes, but they also provide detailed reports on your profile performance.
In case you need extra help with utilizing keywords, try Ahrefs, Keyword Tool, or Semrush. They are excellent SEO-optimizing platforms for keyword research, link building, rank tracking, and competitor analysis.
Promoting high-performing pins
One last thing to complete in affiliate marketing on Pinterest without a blog is boosting well-performed Pins.
Using paid ads among organic Pins can drive more traffic and grow Pinterest’s audience. Either promote affiliate links directly via these Pins or redirect users to your affiliate marketing content.
Did you know that 1 out of 2 Pinterest users have purchased after viewing a promoted Pin? Thus, advertising them will let more of your Pins show up prominently on their feeds.
The majority of standard, effective ads meet the following requirements:
- Vertical images in high-resolution
- Represent your brand
- Clear content copy
- Reliable links
FAQs
- How much can I earn by doing affiliate marketing on Pinterest?
Even when doing affiliate marketing on Pinterest without a blog, you can easily earn daily commissions from different Pins.
In fact, it depends mainly on how you strategize your marketing efforts. Some can make $50 per day with Pinterest affiliate marketing while others gain even more – no limit.
- Does Pinterest allow promoting affiliate links directly?
Unlike other social media platforms, Pinterest allows users to use direct affiliate links for product promotion. So, all you need to do is insert these URLs into your profile bio, Pin, and board descriptions.
- How can I add affiliate links to my pins?
As you create a new Pin, whether a standard, idea, or video, you can add affiliate URLs to their titles and descriptions. Remember to use niche-relevant keywords alongside them to capture leads.
The Destination link is where to add these links. Then, publish right away or schedule for later.
- How many affiliate pins can I share on Pinterest?
The good news is affiliate marketers can create as many Pins as they like on Pinterest.
As a result, feel free to produce a couple of eye-catching Pins for each post. Just make sure you are promoting high-quality products relevant to your audience.
- Is it possible to share multiple affiliate links on one Pinterest account?
Since you are allowed to create various Pins from one Business account, you can also share different affiliate links.
However, keep in mind that Pinterest requires all referral links to be disclosed. Plus, they must redirect visitors to a functioning, valid page without spam or deceptive content.
- Can I share my affiliate links on group boards?
Besides your personal account, you should join relevant group boards to promote affiliate links as well. This is an effective way to reach a broader audience already interested in your niche.
Always follow each group board’s rules to maintain a good relationship. Add relevant disclosures for better transparency.
Conclusion
One thing is for sure – affiliate marketing on Pinterest without a blog is achievable for every affiliate marketer. If you are concerned about being a newbie in this industry, follow our guidance and tips in this article.
The truth is Pinterest affiliate marketing is quite straightforward and accessible. It does not cost you anything to produce organic Pins in your niche.
So, the first step is to create a Business account and start optimizing SEO for your creatives here. Add a few tricks and let these Pins do their job: attract quality traffic to help you make sales and earn commissions.
