Etsy Success Part II - Pinterest

This is our 2nd part of the Etsy Success Symposium Series.  Pinterest!  If you haven't heard of this site yet, you need to get an account ASAP.  If you need to sign up, it is best to find someone already on there to send you an invite.  Otherwise it can take a long time to be accepted.

Here are a few stats to help you understand how valuable this site can be to your networking:

• Etsy's Pinterest page has over 70,000 followers!

• Their "cool spaces" board has over 95,000 followers.

• There are 1.2 million unique Etsy items on Pinterest and they have been pinned 4.5 million times!

If this doesn't grab your attention and help show you the amazing power of Pinterest I don't know what will :)

GETTING STARTED

So first off it is important to understand you have 2 types of followers on Pinterest.

1.  Account followers - these are people following all your boards, anything that you post.  Your entire account.

2.  Board followers -  These are people interested in specific boards you have.  These followers give you a good indicator of what is popular and helps you find your target market in specific topics.

Make sure you import your facebook and twitter followers to help build a following quickly.

Start building boards that tell a story, give life-inspirations, cover hobbies, materials etc.

WHAT SHOULD YOU PIN?

• Beautiful editorial style photography

• Collections

• What inspires you to Craft?

• Hobbies

• Create a color palette

• Build boards on themes and keywords, and trends.

HOW TO GET REPINNED AND FOUND IN SEARCH ENGINES
 

Make sure you use keywords in your titles, and descriptions.  Keywords are going to help you get found through a search.  And place your boards into categories to help get found easier.

➽ File name - This is really important for SEO.  Most personal websites use the file name in search engine optimization, but on Etsy they don't.  So many Etsy users may not be familiar with this tip.  When you upload pictures to your computer and you give them a name, that name is used for keyword placement in your items on Pinterest. This can be time consuming when taking 100's of pictures but if you can put keywords as the titles on these files you will get better results in searches!

Comment on other pins - You have to be visible and supportive to others and they will usually do the same in return.  

Pin it button on other sites - don't just pin Etsy items.  Get creative and pin all over the web to gain more followers & Repins!

Tweet and facebook your boards

The title of your pins is your URL - make sure keywords are in your titles.

EXTRA TIPS

Peak pinning time is Monday through Friday  4 - 11pm EST.  This means that you will have a higher chance of being seen during those hours.

The expert in the Etsy Symposium highly recommends you put the price in your pins.  They say this will help your exposure because it helps you get into their gift guides.  They were asked if it hurts the look of the board and they strongly felt it did not.

We hope this helps motivate you to use more Pinterest and to start optimizing your boards for better visibility.

Please share your tips, tricks and experiences in the comments.

Thanks.

Check out the Mother's Day Challenge Board on Pinterest