How To Market Your Etsy Shop On Pinterest

Pinterest is an amazing tool for promoting your Etsy shop because the pins you put on Pinterest can be found by pinners for years and years.  I’m going to show you how to market your Etsy shop on Pinterest and how simple it really is.

Using the proper keywords to describe your handmade items is the most important point when marketing your Etsy shop on Pinterest.  The right keywords in your title and description will help pinners find your Pinterest pins when they search for a topic.

Pinterest is searchable content and that’s the best kind to market your Etsy shop long term because people can continue to search for and find this content forever.

This post contains affiliate links.  See my disclosure here.

How To Market Your Etsy Shop On Pinterest

How To Claim your Etsy shop on your Pinterest account

The first thing you need to do is set up a Pinterest account and claim your Etsy shop if you want to use Pinterest to promote your Etsy shop.

You will need a business account on Pinterest in order to do this.

To claim your Etsy shop on Pinterest, go to your account settings on Pinterest.  You can find this area in the top right-hand corner of your screen.

Then go to Claim on the left-hand side of your screen and scroll down until you see Etsy.  Click the claim button to claim your Etsy shop on Pinterest.

Once you’ve claimed your Etsy shop on your Pinterest account you’re all set to start pinning and to use Pinterest for Etsy.

How To Pin Your Etsy Items On Pinterest

How To Pin To Pinterest From Your Etsy Listing

The first way you can advertise your Etsy shop on Pinterest is by pinning directly from your Etsy shop.

Make sure you are logged in to both your Etsy and Pinterest accounts.

If you go to one of your items on Etsy, there will be share buttons with a Pinterest button at the top of the listing.  You can click that icon and a pin will auto-populate for you.  All you have to do is pin it to the board of your choice.

How To Create A New Pin In Pinterest With The Create Button

The second way to pin your Etsy products on Pinterest is by creating a new image and uploading it to Pinterest.

You can do this using Canva which is a free designing tool.  I like to make vertical images since the ones pinned directly from Etsy are usually horizontal.  Most pins that do well on Pinterest are vertical images.

Put catchy wording on your pin that make people want to click.  It has to be relevant to your item though.  Don’t use clickbait that doesn’t deliver on the promise you’re making on the pin.

If you want amazing templates to use to make your Pinterest images, Carly at Mommy On Purpose has the best Pinterest templates that make it so simple to create beautiful pins in minutes plus there’s a Facebook group that goes with the templates that is SO helpful.  This Facebook group is how I keep up with all the changes happening on Pinterest to keep my Pinterest strategy up-to-date.

I really struggled to make pretty pins on my own.  The pins I create from these templates get WAY more engagement than my old ones I used to design by myself.  And my Pinterest account has increased by 3,000 followers since using these templates.

Once you’ve created an image, you’ll need to upload it into Pinterest.  To do this go to the top left-hand corner of your screen where it says “Create” and choose “Create Pin” or right under your profile picture there is a Create Pin button.

Write a description for your pin using keywords.

Add alt text.  What you want to do in this space is describe your picture.  I recommend using keywords here too if possible.

Put in the link to your Etsy listing.  Go to the product in your Etsy shop and copy the URL (web address).  Paste it into the URL spot for your pin on Pinterest.

Choose a board to pin to.  If you don’t have any boards set up, you’ll need to create one.  You’ll see that option in the drop down menu next to the Publish button.

Then click Publish.

How To Find Pinterest Keywords For Your Etsy Shop Pin

When you create your own pin in Pinterest, you’ll have to add your own title and description, but this gives you the opportunity to target new keywords that weren’t in your Etsy listing.

To find keywords for your Pinterest pin title and description, go to the search bar on Pinterest and type in a main word for your item.

After you type that word you’ll see suggestions in a drop down menu.  If these apply you can add those keywords to your title or description.

Then go through the alphabet using your main word.  So type your main word, then a space and then the letter A and see what keywords show up in the drop down menu. Do the same with the letter b, c, d and so on.

The words that show up are things that people have been searching recently.

I recommend writing down your keyword ideas or putting them into a Google doc so you can go back and look at them when you’re writing your pin description.

Once you’ve got all of your keywords, write a description using as many of them as you can while still making sense.  People will read these descriptions so you want them to make sense to a person.  Don’t just keyword stuff.

Tips For Marketing Your Etsy Shop On Pinterest

You can pin your products more than one time on Pinterest.

I recommend making new pins for your products about once a month.  You’ll need to use a new picture and description each time you pin a new pin to Pinterest if you want to get maximum impressions and engagement.

Don’t pin the same product too many times too close together.

Pinterest wants new fresh content.  If you keep pinning the same product over and over they will think your account is spam and block you or close your account.  Wait a few weeks in between pinning the same product again.

Make new images when you pin your Etsy items on Pinterest.

Again, Pinterest wants fresh content.  The same old photo over and over is going to result in less impressions and less engagement and won’t lead to more sales in your shop.  New photos and pins get seen by more people and get you more sales.

Don’t repin the same pin to multiple boards.

This used to be the way to get found on Pinterest, but that’s no longer the case.  Pinterest does not like when you keep repinning your own pins over and over to different boards.  This is a sure way to get your account marked as spam.

Instead make a new pin for each board you want to pin your Etsy item to and be sure to leave at least a couple of weeks in between pinning that same product.

Make pins for your Etsy shop sections.

Not only can you make pins for individual products, but you can also pin the sections of your shop too.  Go to one of the sections in your shop and copy the URL at the top and add that to the URL section in your pin.

Make Pinterest pins that lead directly to your Etsy shop.

You can also make pins that have the link to your Etsy shop rather than an individual listing or section.  This will allow customers to see all of your items in your shop rather than just one product.

If you do this, it would be best to do a collage of your items on the pin instead of just one product.  That way it won’t be misleading anyone to think they’re going to one specific item and then have to try to find it in your shop.

Keep in mind that Pinterest marketing for your Etsy shop is a long game.

Your pins will probably get a little traffic right after you pin them, but it can take anywhere from 4 weeks to 9 months for them to get indexed on Pinterest and to really take off and bring high traffic to your Etsy shop.

You have to be patient with this Pinterest marketing strategy for your Etsy shop, but when it starts to work it will be well worth the wait.

I hope you now see how simple it is to promote your Etsy shop on Pinterest and you’re prepared to get started with your Pinterest marketing plan.

The results I’ve seen from marketing my Etsy shop on Pinterest have been phenomenal, but it did take some time for it to get going.  I dedicated myself to pinning one pin on Pinterest per day and now about 25% of my Etsy traffic comes from Pinterest.

Good luck and happy pinning!