How to Make Money on Pinterest

Today articles popped up as some tried to paint picture sharing startup, Pinterest, as a shady site that makes money off your words. This New York Times post about pinterest is worth a read.


Is pinterest making money, quietly?

I am sure they are not making money, but they need some revenue to maintain the infrastructure so you can keep pinning.

How can you make money on Pinterest? Here are five tips to help you make money from your pins.
1.) be cool about it: pinterest does not have banner ads or search ads. They have built a huge following in a short amount of time by letting users share great content and keeping brands out of it.
2.) follow the affiliate model: this is how pinterest is making money. You can follow the same methods to monetize your pins. Have you notices the gifts link with price ranges? You can go for a similar result with boards that focus on a specific topic and make each image link to a product page where you get a kick back.
3.) promote stuff you like others will like it too. EBooks about penny stocks probably are not what your friends will repin. Consider your audience. Did you see 98% of pinterest users are women? I think you can save your football jersey pics for tumblr and focus on products that will appeal to the masses of pinterest. I've chosen to focus on baby stuff using the amazon affiliate links.
4.) link somewhere: posting pics from your phone can be interesting, but it won't be profitable. Pinterest (non-mobile) lets you enter a URL and select from pics on that page.
5.) repin and follow others