← How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy
How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy
Ep 176 | The BEST Social Media Platform for Etsy Sellers --with Laura Rike
00:47:49
If you're an Etsy seller looking to get more traffic without dancing on TikTok or posting daily on Instagram, this episode is for you. I'm chatting with Pinterest expert Laura Rike about why Pinterest is hands-down the best social media...
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- [00:01]
Lizzie Smiley
Hey, my name is Lizzie Smiley and I absolutely love helping people connect with their calling and all the tools they need to kick roadblocks and excuses right out the door so they can cultivate the life they dream about. If you want to launch, grow, pivot, or scale your Etsy shop, or you've always wanted to develop the mindset and skills to run your own business, then I'm your girl. I've had that entrepreneurial spirit going strong since my very first lemonade stand. And now I'm a work at home mama with multiple online companies and a full time Etsy shop, all while being present with my kids for the everyday chaos and most important milestones. On this podcast, we'll talk about all things business, mindset, Etsy creativity, dazzling our customers, and so much more. There's plenty of room at this table for you, so scooch on in and let's go. I'm holding nothing back. Welcome to how to sell your stuff on Etsy. I'm so glad you're here. Hey you guys, welcome back to the podcast. This week I am flying after the most fun Pinterest conversation ever. This was so good. I can't wait to dig in with you. I had a question to ask though. So I have been testing this question actually on Instagram. If you're not over there, I'm at how to sell your stuff. Love, love the gram. We have so much fun over there. And I have been wondering how many of you guys might be interested in an advanced Etsy workshop. Like, would that be something that would help you? You're not a beginner anymore, but you really want to learn those advanced strategies. Strategies. I've got a really short survey just to find, just to test the waters, just to see if that's something you guys want. And you can also let me know what you'd want me to cover in that because I've been getting very just like all over the board different things about like, well, Etsy ads or like up leveling my thumbnails or how do I scale this and. And everything in between. So many different, different questions. I'd love to know what your thoughts are. So let me know if you want an advanced Etsy workshop. I'd love to put that together. Might even collab with one or two other experts. Could be a really good one. Super curious, but huge news for all of you. You've been asking me for shop audits, you've been asking me for one on one coaching, and my schedule is so crazy right now that I haven't I had to end those at the beginning of the year. But I do have a solution and as of this month, April, I am adding a monthly group coaching call to my trendspotting membership. So if you get my weekly trends emails, it's like a whole list of Here are the trends with a video showing you how to apply them. 5 Opportunities of products you can create right now that are high demand, low competition. Actually you get in there, there's 140 at least opportunities in there waiting for you that you can go create that I've put up there over since September. You get access to all of them, but you're also going to get once a month a live call with me where I will do live shop audits. I will do Q and A. You will get one on one access to me in a group coaching call on Zoom. And I'm hoping that is going to help so many of you who are just like, we just have these little questions we need to be able to ask and this is you want to join my membership? If you use the code keep20 your first month, you can get $20 off. So you're just literally you could come for just a month, it's it would be $17. You'd get to come to a coaching call, get possibly a live shop audit if you're on there live, get access to all of those opportunities to download. So just saying, if there was ever a time to join trendspotting, it's now and then. We had the most amazing time last week at the AI coloring page workshop. It was spectacular. I've gotten so much amazing feedback. Even the Facebook group people are posting examples of what they've created and it's mind blowing. But even more exciting, I announced the next one. So in at the end of April, we are going to be doing an AI printable wall art workshop. I've been asked for this. I really should have done this months ago. You've been asking for this. I get emails all the time because AI wall or printable wall art is a massive opportunity on Etsy. There are shops that are new that are blowing up selling wall art. And the issue that people have is they don't know how to do the sizing. So when you put something into AI, it spits out a certain size and you can't necessarily fix that. So we have to do something, some clever editing to make it work as a file that you can sell digitally. But it's literally a game changer. I've even had other Etsy coaches ask me to create this workshop. So it's coming at you in April. I don't have the details in front of me because the adhd, but if you go down, it'll be down right below the episode and you can see the details and join me for that one. Finally, let me tell you about Laura Reich. First of all, we jumped off kind of quick at the end and I didn't share where you can find her. She is literally all over the Internet as Laura L A U R A R R I K E so jot that down because you're going to want to follow this girl. Laura Reich is a Pinterest strategist and owner of the Of Us is so cute. Simply Pintastic is the company who helps entrepreneurs and content creators increase online sales and sign more clients with the power of Pinterest. Utilizing organic methods and scaling with ads. You can learn everything from her. She's helped clients and students bring in over $50,000 in month monthly revenue. Her clients have become industry leaders with six figure businesses and are growing sustainably by ranking on the first page of Google and getting targeting targeted email leads daily. Laura has been featured on Social Media examiner, huge publication Tailwind. Meet Edgar Agorapulse and ECAMM Network. So we are going to dig into it. This is not a. This is an advanced Pinterest discussion. I'm. I love this chat. I hope you love it too. Come sit with us. Get your favorite drink. Let's welcome Laura to the podcast. Laura. Hey, welcome to the podcast.
- [05:19]
Laura Reich
Hey, thanks for having me.
- [05:21]
Lizzie Smiley
I'm so excited. I've been looking for a Pinterest buddy and you have got all the deets and man, I've never met anyone been in the business as long as you.
- [05:28]
Laura Reich
Oh, I'm super excited to be buddies. Pinterest is my favorite.
- [05:33]
Lizzie Smiley
I okay. And this is where I want to start because I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about Pinterest. I know when I ask someone, hey, what's Pinterest for? The answers are wonderful, hysterical. But from your perspective, what is the most common thing that you think people undervalue about Pinterest?
- [05:48]
Laura Reich
I think the biggest thing people focus on is really the traffic and then they're looking for the sales. But I think there's so much in between that can happen. I think there's education that can happen. You can tell your story in different ways on the platform. I really, really think people are undervaluing the lead generation that can happen on the platform so that you can own that traffic. Because I think that's really a big thing too is like we sell stuff, right? Etsy, Shopify, it doesn't matter. But if you're just taking them to that thing that you are offering them and they are not at the point where they're going to purchase and they're just thinking about the purchases they want to make, you're missing the opportunity in the middle to get them as that lead so you can continue to educate them later.
- [06:35]
Lizzie Smiley
You've already got me down a rabbit hole. So the way that we experience Etsy as like a shopper, I'm always, I'm always telling my, my listeners this because they think they've developed this storefront. I just want to know if Pinterest is the same. They developed this storefront and spend so much time on branding and color and all of this stuff. And I'm like, that matters. But on Etsy, the vast majority of the time, no one's going to come to your storefront. They're going to experience your Etsy listing in the feed. They're going to search hand drawn kitten portraits, you know, and they're going to find a sea of results. And if you've done your job right, you show up as high as possible in that sea of results and then hopefully your first image, your, your profile, your thumbnail image jumps out among the sea of results and someone clicks it and we go from there. And so that being able to stand out that way to me is so different than curating a profile. But tell me, tell me about Pinterest, because I'm thinking it's like the same, right? I'm going to the search bar, I'm typing in again, hand drawn kitten portraits and I'm seeing a sea of results. So my. So is that how they're experiencing it?
- [07:39]
Laura Reich
Yeah, there can be a number of different ways that they're going to be experiencing it. That definitely is one of the most prominent ways that they can find you is by like going into the search, typing in their search term or what they're looking to purchase and then having those pins show up. There's other ways too though that really go back into the code side of Pinterest. So I always teach people, there's a computer Pinterest, there's a user Pinterest, and so your pin can be found by the user Pinterest in that search. However, to be able to properly be listed above those sea of results and make sure that you are found first, you have to first talk to the computer. And so, whoa, that's going to be talking. Yeah, that's going to be talking like the keywords and the algorithm and the categories and all those things first on your profile and your boards and other places like that so that the computer can serve that pin to the right person for the right searches.
- [08:45]
Lizzie Smiley
This is actually very, very Etsy adjacent because we talk about, you know, especially like if someone is in a, is trying to serve a particular niche on Etsy. So I have a lot of people who also do print on demand and they do digital products and those can be more varied. Their niche is I sell digital products. Do you know what I'm saying? And then they're niching down by listing as opposed to buy brand. But I'm thinking like with the. It sounds like Pinterest is the same where you're using your board to teach Pinterest what you provide. Just like someone who's very niche down on Etsy should be using their shop to teach Etsy what they sell and that can really help them have success. But talk to me about this because you were saying like let's say they come across your pin and it's a sales pin and they go and they look at it, but they're not there yet. How are we using strategy on Pinterest to then welcome them down like a, a path of discovery that doesn't try to like go for the jugular? Like how can we, if they're just finding us in the feed on that pin, how are we drawing them back to look at other things that are more appropriate for where they're at in the process?
- [09:47]
Laura Reich
Yeah, so it really depends on the type of like marketing that you have centered around that product. So you could be very minimal and just have your listing or you could have other content on Facebook, Instagram Reels, TikTok, blogs, things like that. And then the thing that I really like to notate is people should be focusing on like the questions you're answering. I know it's a product, right. I know it's something that they're going to purchase. But everybody has a question about this product. Like we could take for example my shirt or your shirt. Right. Like how do I style a floral shirt with a solid shirt? And if you ask that question and then use the keyword that they would be searching to find that shirt, then you're already kind of helping them pass this. Because on Pinterest they're problem aware, right. They know they want this floral shirt. They know that they need it for something coming up. They're not brand specific, so they're just looking, they just need help. But maybe it's that they found one that they like and they don't know how to style it so they didn't purchase it. And that could, that one that they found could be yours even if it's not. If you educate them on this piece that's stuck in their head about how do I even style this once I get it or when is the best time to wear it? Or is this even the right design for this event? Right. Things like that. We know people are thinking. And so if you create a pin that leads back to a blog post that talks about this leads back to a short video on TikTok or Reels that talks about this, that also then is the first click is Pinterest going to the reel and then the reel also can link back to the Etsy product listing. Right. Or wherever your store is. And so you're kind of creating this circle for them because once they start to engage with your pins, they're going to be able to start seeing more of your pins as well. Because again, the system is saying hey, they liked this naturally then they're going to start seeing the questions, the product listings. You don't always have to do just product pin designs either. You can do text based only designs and you can do model shot designs or even now AI type designs. Right. And so you could have a really cool background on just text based only and do an AI design that way. So there's really a lot of different ways where people think Pinterest purchase like pdp. Right. And there's so many other ways to kind of engage them on the platform and get them to be that repeat person that will come back and constantly consume and eventually buy from you.
- [12:51]
Lizzie Smiley
You just cracked this open, girl. I'm so excited. Okay, so I'm thinking like, I'm thinking like scenario. So we're a little, we're, we're not, I'm gonna say little Etsy seller. Some of us made hundreds of thousands of dollars. We're an Etsy seller. We're thinking Pinterest. Okay, I'm gonna link my listing. Here's my best thumbnail. That goes great on Etsy and I'm gon on Pinterest and drive more traffic. Cool, great. Yes, do that. However, you don't even need to have your own separate website because I don't think people should bite off more than they can chew in the beginning. But if you happen to be running any social media, like you said, pull that stuff over and pin it as well. So many of us don't think of that. But then the other thing you said that blew my. My mind is you can kind of. You can kind of create a story with your pins. Like, okay, I used to sell farmhouse style, like, Joanna Gaines signs, like, white with black lettering kind of a thing. And all I did was link my listings. But what if I had done like a here's how to create a gallery wall and all of the information was on the pin. I don't have to have another website. I'm just showing, like, gallery wall ideas. Is the pin with different pictures of these gallery walls I built, and then they click on it and it takes them to the most prominent sign that was in the gallery wall.
- [14:00]
Laura Reich
Yeah.
- [14:00]
Lizzie Smiley
Or like above. Above bed decor ideas. And instead, again, it's just going to my Etsy listing. I don't have a whole other site with a complicated blog. Could I. Yes, fine. But that right away, as a new seller, we're not making it more complicated. We're just adding Pinterest. You can tell the story with just that pin. Am I onto this, Laura? Like, should I be as excited as I feel right now?
- [14:19]
Laura Reich
Oh, and yes, and a million times more. Because that's like the premise of where Pinterest started, too. Right. And they're trying to get back to that. We see more infographic style pins, we see more styled pins of, like, what to do with your outside decor or how to style your house, how to style your wardrobe, what to find in your closet, like, all these different things. But it's in those collage style layouts. And Pinterest has a new thing now too, where you can go in and you can create collages from your mobile device right on the app with things that you already have. So if you're already connected with product pins and things like that up there, then you can make those collages direct on the app.
- [15:03]
Lizzie Smiley
Wow.
- [15:04]
Laura Reich
Easily. And then just have the link back to go to it. So there's a ton of different things that they've definitely pushed out that are in favor of just that.
- [15:12]
Lizzie Smiley
So my understanding that kind of collage pin is that where it would have several links. Like, it's pulling several pins together as like a. Am I getting that or no?
- [15:20]
Laura Reich
Yeah, you can do it a number of different ways. So you can pull it as in, like, you could do different boards that you want on one style pin. You could share the board out to different social platforms with a link that has a collage of different boards or different pins. You could do IT products, you could do it. I mean, there's different pins, there's so many different ways that you can pull it in. They started it is what it appears to be like inspiration type things. Right. And so like when you do like a mood board or you do like a vision board on an individual pin. But as marketers and as business owners. Right. We think about how to expand on that. And so being able to pull in those different things, you could pull in three or four different products as long as they're under that same umbrella of the topic that that pin is going to serve. And then each of them link back to where you want them to link to. So it, there's a number of different ways to be able to utilize that for sure.
- [16:16]
Lizzie Smiley
You know, like for years my students who are in print on demand and digital products have been like, how would we possibly go onto social media? And I was just like, no, I'm kind of with you. It's a little challenging. You could totally do, I mean you, you could do stuff on Pinterest and you'll get something. But this kind of changes the game because I'm thinking like my print on demand people, you could now do, you could do, what was I going to say, like Christian T shirt collection. Or you could do Mother's Day gift ideas and you're linking to a section in your shop and your pin is showing several shirts and you're not having a problem where it's only sending them to one because you can send them to the section. Or like I just did an AI coloring pages workshop that was an absolute hit because now we can use AI to create these things. That used to be so difficult. And like you could, you could literally do Easter coloring pages and then link the section in your shop. And now it's like, here's a way to do, for example, digital products, oh, last minute Mother's Day ideas and it's like your printable gifts that the kids can do their little handprints or whatever. It's a way to sell these things on Pinterest without being like, well, I'm just going to link this listing and it's going to be kind of like, I don't know if it's going to get any traffic. Well, now you're casting vision on how they can use these things and you're even selling collections.
- [17:23]
Laura Reich
Yeah. And the thing that you're hitting the nail on the head with right now too is the fact that it's not just the product listing URL that you can use. It's as many URLs for that one thing. Right. So if you have a collection, say again, I'm going to go back to the shirt, right? Just for an example. You have this floral shirt, it's up on Etsy. Then you have a catalog that is floral outfit, like, right? And then you have like another, I don't know, say, listing for a blue floral instead of the pink floral. Right. Those are all different URLs. And so the other thing that's really cool with Pinterest is as long as it is a new URL, you can pin it multiple times within that same day. Now, if it's the same URL, you're going to want to make sure that you stagger it out. So if I'm doing, let's say etsy.com forward/floral, that's one URL. I'm going to share that out today with one pin design. Right?
- [18:23]
Lizzie Smiley
Okay.
- [18:24]
Laura Reich
Then if you have etsy.com forward slash floral category, that's another URL. I could share that again today. But even if I make multiple designs, I'm not going to want to do both of those with all the multiples designs today, I want to do one tomorrow and one three days out and one seven days out. And so if you think about it that way, then you can start to compound that with a new design and that URL. So then when you start scheduling, and this is how we teach people to do it, like faster and quicker. Right? So you're not spending a ton of time. New keyword, new design, same URL. And if you keep combining those three plus then you have the category URL. That's already six different ways that you're doing something for the same product.
- [19:17]
Lizzie Smiley
Okay.
- [19:17]
Laura Reich
And then you come back two, three weeks later, you have these other pins that you did that are cycling. You go and create a new design with a new keyword. Right? Because they could be focused on Mother's Day for the trend. They could be focused on a floral shirt for spring, they could be focused on a wedding day outfit. And as long as you can bridge that gap to the product with different URLs with different designs, do you see how this could explode?
- [19:48]
Lizzie Smiley
Are you a print on demand or digital product Etsy seller who's tight on time or still learning all of the Etsy secrets? I totally remember the days of having no idea what product to create next before I learned how to make those informed decisions.
- [20:01]
Laura Reich
So.
- [20:02]
Lizzie Smiley
So I can really identify with where you're at. I know how stressful and frustrating it can be to just create listing after listing and see little to no results. You wonder what you're doing wrong and just. You just want someone to tell you what to create that's actually gonna sell. Where are those opportunities? So let me give you a leg up with my weekly trends and opportunities report. You just join my membership and every Monday I'm gonna send you an email with a list of exactly what is trending right now, with a video tutorial showing you how I found those trends and how to apply them in your shop. We're taking guesswork and time, extensive time off of your table. I'm also going to send you five print on demand and digital product opportunities that are growing in demand right now, helping new shops make sales and still have very low saturation in the marketplace. So your tight schedule, your newbie status doesn't have to hold you back anymore. I'm going to help you earn while you learn. You can grab my free demo to start and see an example of what the weekly trends and opportunities email looks like right from the show Notes. See what you're going to get and I will see you on the inside soon. Okay, so you don't want to be doing the same. That's. That's counterintuitive to me. You don't want to be using the same. Because usually I'd create five pins for the same listing in a day. Like I would batch it and you're saying, okay, batch it. Just schedule them on different days. Are you liking the Pinterest scheduler? We were always like tailwind, but are you liking the Pinterest scheduler?
- [21:22]
Laura Reich
I tend to go between the native Pinterest scheduler, Tailwind and Metricool. Those are my kind of three that I use. Metricool. Oh my gosh.
- [21:31]
Lizzie Smiley
Yes. Amazing.
- [21:33]
Laura Reich
I'll give you.
- [21:33]
Lizzie Smiley
How do you spell it? Wait, spell it for me. I've never heard of this.
- [21:36]
Laura Reich
So metrical is M E T R I c o l l.com and so they each have their own unique strengths and differences. Right. So if you batch create designs, you can batch upload to Metricool and have it do like all this cool, fun techie stuff. Right. We'll just leave it at that to keep it simple. To have it schedule out with that interval is what I call it interval pinning. Right. So you give time between each design and things like that. On Tailwind, you can do the same thing, but there are different ways. On Tailwind, where we use an easy way to replace repurpose that pin but still make it a fresh image to Pinterest. And so that's why I prefer that one over like the Pinterest scheduler. Because then you're going to have just like you're going to have a category for this, different products, but it's under the same umbrella. You're going to have different boards for the same category, but under that umbrella. Right. And so you can schedule that out to different boards, batch it and do it that way. It's a little hard to like imagine visually right now. However, you can batch it just like you said. So don't get me wrong, you can sit down, you can create 50 different images, right. It's just how you schedule it to make sure that not all 50 go out today and so that you make sure you're giving time for it to be in the algorithm, to be seen by the computer, to be seen by the user, things like that. So just little nuance things. Etsy has trends, right? And searches, Pinterest has trends and searches. So there's just things that you kind of bring together that way. But yeah, 100% batch create, lead to whatever keyword you want. I also highly suggest batch research for those keywords. So we're always pre planning four to six months ahead on those trends. So that way we don't have to worry about what's going to be happening, you know, in two months. Do we have to quick create this, do we have to create that? We've already given time for the computer to pick up what we're trying to share so that when it's at its peak, we're the ones that are up.
- [24:07]
Lizzie Smiley
There that should actually be very cohesive with us because we're designing ideally, I'm teaching, we're designing our Etsy listings almost a quarter, like three months in advance before an event. So yep, like we're like right now, Easter's in a few weeks, we should be done design. You shouldn't be really designing for Easter anymore. Like if you know, you're super inspired, you can try it. It's not gonna be. It would have been way better if you had done it two, two months ago at this. So that should actually be really nice. And also I want to encourage someone who's new or who's never played with Pinterest before. You don't need to worry about all the bells and whistles right now. You can just start with what's on Pinterest and use the scheduler. But I love Laura, that you're kind of casting vision on how this can become. It can be a Much bigger marketing machine for you. Um, and I think Pinterest is the best social media for, for, for Etsy sellers. And the thing that I love about you, Laura, is Pinterest. Social media generally can be such a time suck. Like, these things can take a ton of time to learn, they can take a ton of time to create. And what you do really well is you make, you help people save time. So, like down the road, as people are getting more advanced their strategy, these other schedulers, they could add to their arsenal to make things even more. It's, it's like, it's like how, you know, you could. Another example for people listening. If you're in print on demand and right now you use Canva to make all your mockups and that's you've got a good system. But then you could upgrade to Cassie's simply listed and it literally mocks them up for you. It just saves time, but it's another piece. So we all level up. We all, we all take one step at a time. What's new with interest? Lately I haven't looked in like a. Oh, go ahead, Laura.
- [25:34]
Laura Reich
Sorry.
- [25:34]
Lizzie Smiley
Please.
- [25:35]
Laura Reich
No, that's okay. I was just gonna say, and just to hit on that point too, if you are brand new, right, you don't have to be pinning 5, 10, 15 times a day. And that's the biggest misconception that people have on the platform is like, everybody out there says like, oh, you have to pin 10 times a day or 25 a day, or if you hit 50, it's not going to be picked up in the algorithm. None of that is true. Okay, so let's just lay that to rest, right? You could pin literally one a day, one every three days. You need to be consistent. I don't personally suggest doing less than one a day. I think that is pretty standard for people to be able to see results on the platform. But if you can batch 10 pins and know every Monday, I'm going to schedule out 10, so that way you give yourself a little, you know, buffer of two, three days and do one a day, you are totally on track for actually having it bring in value and ROI to your Etsy store or wherever you're hosting. You don't have to do all the crazy, you know, trial and error and all that stuff that we were just talking about. That is an advanced step and that will take you further. But again, if you're just starting out and you just want to go set up a profile and pin a couple things, please do that. Because Pinterest is long term. So six months, six years down the road. That pin that you just threw out there because you were getting started could still bring in sales and we're obsessed with that.
- [27:04]
Lizzie Smiley
That's the best part about Pinterest is that it's so much more evergreen than the other platforms where you've only got a short shelf life.
- [27:11]
Laura Reich
Yeah.
- [27:12]
Lizzie Smiley
That's so cool. I love it so much. I was going to ask you, and I'm sorry that I spoke over you before, I was going to ask you what's new with Pinterest, because I really haven't looked in like over a year. Like what? I mean, like, whatever happened with idea pins? Is that a thing? Like, what's happening? Just give us the tea.
- [27:27]
Laura Reich
Yeah, good things. So idea pens are gone, unless you're going to use them for ads. So they came in hot and heavy. Everybody loved them. They were kind of like web stories almost. People were repurposing their web stories for idea pins, vice versa. Then people complained that you couldn't leave the website to get to our website. Yeah, yeah. You were just on Pinterest. So what was the point? When Pinterest is a redirection site at its core, core. So then they started letting some people be able to put links in there. People complained, not everybody had it. So then they just took it away. And so it's completely gone. Unless you're going to do ads now. They're called idea Pin ads. I will tell you, as an agency owner, yes, we did idea pins for our clients because they helped with the impressions and the followers and the visibility. We never really got into it for anything other than that. And when I started learning from other mentors of mine of how to look at the data and the code like the actual HTML, they were never actually going to rank. Static pins are the one thing that tried and true will always rank for you as long as you are doing it correctly. So the thing to know is if you are on the platform and you go to create a pin, if you see a section that says add topics, that is now going to be an idea pin hidden. And I don't use that because I know, I know. So some people still see it, it's still there. I don't use that because in the code, it's not going to help you as a fresh pin. It's not going to show up in specific searches. There's just things that we have found about it that do not work for what we are trying to do as marketers. As a user, nobody cares, right? So go in and if you see the title, the description, the link, and schedule it. If you're on Pinterest, use that one. Okay. Static pins are the things to use. Now. I also have clients. We do video pins. There are a lot of repurposed from whatever videos we have. Whether you're doing them, they're faceless, they're AI, it doesn't matter. But just make sure to upload almost like a static pin to the front cover of the video, so that way it is still visually searchable on the platform. Because if you think about it, when we're doing a video, what are we doing? We're frozen. We start talking. That's not the keyword that's coming out. So if you have captions and it's not a keyword or it's just your pretty face smiling, that's not a keyword. Pinterest can't visually search that. So that's also a new thing I've been teaching a lot of people is make sure to have a cover image on those videos so that you can put in what the title is or the keyword is, or the question or whatever it is that you want searched and searchable by the user. So I think those are kind of the two biggest things to really make sure to watch out for.
- [30:37]
Lizzie Smiley
So that's so interesting. So a lot of us are not. When we have Etsy shops, we're not doing adjacent social media. But I always encourage that people include a listing video on their Etsy listing because it does actually get more visibility in the search results. So one thing you could do as another, you know, another way to promote your listing on Pinterest is you could use your. You could repurpose your listing video. But as Laura said, you're going to want to create a cover photo for it in the Pinterest dimensions. What are those? Real quick Pinterest dimensions?
- [31:06]
Laura Reich
Yeah, so there's a couple of different ones that we use. The standard one is a thousand by 1500.
- [31:11]
Lizzie Smiley
Okay. Yep.
- [31:12]
Laura Reich
Yeah. We've also gone to do like 1250 by 1800 to get a little bit longer. Those are typically the ones that we see the most success on with Pinterest for our clients.
- [31:24]
Lizzie Smiley
I'm going to put those in the show notes. So what you're going to do with your listing video, guys, you would upload it to Pinterest, but then you'd put a cover photo that you would create either from a screen screenshot you like out of that video, or a different image that you had that would Be related. You want to make sure it's kind of cohesive and how it looks. You're going to create your own pin. And what Laura is saying is that Pinterest doesn't just read the text that you type into the pin title, it reads the text that is on the picture itself. So while your listing video probably doesn't have text on it, your cover photo should have it. So it would be like, it would say, you know, Mother's Day ideas or something like that. Or it would say, you know, habit trackers, you know, something like that. You would want to put text on the picture that was relevant to what you. What is what the pin is going to go to, what you're going to link to. Did I get that right?
- [32:15]
Laura Reich
100%, yep. And just go to the search bar of Pinterest, like if you're trying to figure out like what to say on that cover image, go to the search bar of Pinterest, type in Habit tracker and look at the top 10 pins. What are those titles then?
- [32:30]
Lizzie Smiley
Does it auto suggest a title that.
- [32:32]
Laura Reich
Is similar that you could use the search bar?
- [32:34]
Lizzie Smiley
If you put type in the search bar, does it auto suggest things? Is that what you're saying to grab.
- [32:38]
Laura Reich
Also auto suggest things? Yeah, we call that ABC Search. So when you start typing in something, it's going to suggest for you the top searches right from there, if you click on enter, the bubbles did come back. So that was also something. They left. They came back. We got them back. We love them. Okay. Those are also searchable terms. You could click on them and it just expands whatever you had typed in. But if you look at just that top row of pins, nine times out of 10, they're going to extremely align closely with the phrase that you typed into the search bar or clicked on. And so that is something you need to note when you're making that cover image. If it's saying habit tracker and they're saying like the best habit trackers for 2025, then you could say, you know, download the best habit tracker for 2025 and then you're going to more closely align. Now don't be sleazy and don't just take someone's title, make it your own, make it fun, make it goofy, whatever. But have that phrase in there, have your branding on there and that's going to be what stands out.
- [33:46]
Lizzie Smiley
Two things. One, I can't believe how much like Etsy it is. Like I've never actually put it together my brain to this level. The way you talk about It LAURA L. I teach the same thing. You want to figure out what to put on your new listing? Go search what it's for, the actual keywords and look at the top search results or filter by bestseller and get your inspiration from there. Crazy. You're saying the same thing. Okay, but you have said more than once. Now you actually want to put a question on the pin. Talk me through that. Because my thing is my whole thing would be like, oh, simplify down to. So talk to me about that more. Why do you want to have an actual question on there?
- [34:19]
Laura Reich
I think it's going to go back to the fact of like we are humans, right? So the users are going to relate more to it. So if there is a specific strategic thing that you are doing, you don't have to put a question on there. But if you are trying to relate to that person because you already have that, like download this habit tracker right on there or the best habit tracker, then the next one that I would create would be questions that they ask about a habit tracker, right? So if you're going to like, yeah, like Neil Patel has asked the public or whatever. And so I go in there and I look when I search Pinterest, what are the questions people are asking, right? Because that's how I want to serve them. They're thinking them already. And so if I have next to someone that says the best habit tracker, a how do I use the best habit tracker, I'm probably going to click on the one that's going to tell me how to do it better rather than just download it. Because I like to be told how to do things, right? Like that's just the nature of humanity is like, tell us how to do it faster, better, quicker, like how do we get more sales, all the things. And so that's going to be more relatable to them. Now that doesn't mean that it can't lead to your product on Etsy, right?
- [35:36]
Lizzie Smiley
Talk me through that.
- [35:37]
Laura Reich
Telling them exactly in your listing, like, hey, these are my suggestions of how to use this habit tracker. You're already answering that question. So it's still going back to the product listing. As long as it relates to what you say in the description of the product listing. You can still go back to that with that question.
- [35:59]
Lizzie Smiley
Are you brand new to Etsy, about to get started, or struggling a bit to find your groove? What I'm about to say is just for you, okay, I can completely relate to where you're at because I think I can help you achieve success faster. When I first started my Etsy shop. It was not one of those success stories that we hear on, you know, on the big YouTube channels, even on this podcast where I just had crazy success. And it took off right away, right? I all but failed for my first six months, just like a lot of new sellers. And so it's very relatable. And the issue for me was I didn't understand demand for one, I didn't understand SEO. I was way too broad in my search terms and I didn't know how to position my product so that customers just couldn't help but click add to cart. And so once I learned those things, I went from making about $25 a month in sales to $6,000 a month and up. And in the holidays, I would even have $13,000 a month, like at my shop's peak. And the thing about me, if you've been here for a minute, you already know this. I'm a terrible gatekeeper, okay? When I figure something out, when I crack a code, when I get excited, I cannot help but tell everybody who wants to listen. It's like either my, my best asset or my toxic trade. I can't decide. But I put everything that you need to know to fill that beginner knowledge gap into a low ticket, just under three hours beginner course that I have called Six Figure Secrets to getting started on Etsy. In it, I'm teaching you how to find what's in demand for your niche, how to find and use trends, how to start your shop. If you're worried about that part, SEO strategy to find the micro niches where the opportunity is, how to understand the Etsy algorithm and a ton more. The whole thing is bite sized videos, not long form, just small bite sized videos, zero fluff and to the point. You could get the course today, go through the less than three hours over the next couple days, launch your shop this weekend and have sales coming in as soon as Sunday. So let's get you the few missing pieces of the Etsy success puzzle, those little tweaks you need to make so you can start making the sales that you deserve. Because I have never been more convinced that there is room at this table on Etsy for everyone. And the opportunity is so ripe right now. I am in the numbers in the data every day and my mind just keeps expanding on the possibilities. Okay? So as a special treat, use the code save50 to save $50 on the six figure secrets course today. That's $50 off with a coupon save50 and by all means DM me or shoot me an email when those sales start popping, because I want to celebrate with you. So let's say someone sells jewelry and they're going to link back to their earring listing. How would you do that one?
- [38:30]
Laura Reich
Yeah, you could even say something like, I mean, and this is just pulling it off the fly, but like, best jewelry for summertime clothing. Right? So how do I pair my gold dangles Bangles? No, bangles are wrists Dangles. I clearly don't have earrings on today.
- [38:49]
Lizzie Smiley
Y'All.
- [38:52]
Laura Reich
With my floral shirt. Right. And then you would just put in there like this in the listing. Like, these earrings pair well with floral shirts, pink shirts, like, whatever. You could create whatever you want. It's easier if you already have your listing. And then if you use Chat GPT, take your listing, throw it into Chat GPT and say, what are some questions people might ask about this listing? And then it pops out those questions for you. Right? So you could know, like, what is the best way to pair these earrings With a necklace? Like, what kind of necklace would look well with it? What about a headband? What about a bangle? Right. Like, what about, like, all these things? And so if you can't think of those questions, that's totally fine. Have Google go to Ask the public, go to ChatGPT and then just put those in the description of your listing because you already have listed out what you're going to be selling and it's just helping them imagine it on themselves or imagine it in their world, which they're already trying to do. So you're just helping make that connection a little bit stronger for them.
- [40:08]
Lizzie Smiley
I love your suggestions on positioning. This is stuff I've never a, never heard before from, and I've lots of buddies in the Pinterest space, but I've never heard it like this before. And B, just like, so it's like, actually, it's actually brilliant marketing strategy. I had a different B and I forgot it, but it's just. It's brilliant. Laura, I want to know if Pinterest is putting the same emphasis on video content as a lot of the other platforms right now, or if people can get away with just images and still do pretty well.
- [40:35]
Laura Reich
Yeah. So at its core, images are going to be the bread and butter of Pinterest. I do have clients who do well with video for video pins. However, it's not directly reflecting to the sales, it's directly reflecting to the account as a whole how it's growing the followers that we're getting, like, all the things that don't matter in the end, but matter as like the whole piece. Marketing. Right. So if you have video, use it because it definitely will help you as a long term strategy for the growth overall of your like well rounded Pinterest strategy. Right. But I have not seen videos unless used as ads directly relate to sales. The reason being is because we've been taught as Pinterest users that you see an image, you click it pulls it up closer, you click again and it goes to the site that you want to go to. Right. A video, you actually don't get that capability. There's like two or three more steps where like you click on the video it's playing because it's closer, but you have to scroll down and look underneath the title and description for a visit. Website link or something of the nature, depending desktop computer, whatever, mobile. And so there's just a couple more steps to get them through to that website. So while we still use it on a weekly basis for our clients, and I do teach my students to use it as well, it is not something that is going to be like directly related to sales. So it's not a requirement.
- [42:20]
Lizzie Smiley
I'm going to say that is super interesting. I think people are feeling very happy about that. Keep going. I think people are like, yes, I don't have to do video Girl. I can't believe how much ground we've covered. I could talk to you about this. We need to do a symposium. I need 10 hours of this. This is. This is nuts.
- [42:33]
Laura Reich
Yeah. Want to record like four more?
- [42:37]
Lizzie Smiley
Oh my gosh. We should do a series.
- [42:39]
Laura Reich
I'm down, I'm down.
- [42:41]
Lizzie Smiley
Okay, guys, let me know, let me know. DM me if we need to do a Pinterest series, because I think that would be a riot.
- [42:47]
Laura Reich
And we can cover like minute topics too. So if you guys have specific questions or things that you want in a series, like, definitely let her know and I'm game.
- [42:56]
Lizzie Smiley
Oh my gosh. I really, really want you guys to DM me and say you want a series. This would be so fun. I'm enjoying it. So. Okay, but like I said, what your superpower is this. Think this is a big. This can be very simple or it can be very complicated. And it's all in how you learn the strategy. So talk to us about like how what you offer that can help my listeners if they really want to get on the Pinterest train, they want to learn. So they're not, they're not scouring YouTube, finding 50 different opinions that don't agree with each other. They don't want to waste time and they want to be as efficient as they can with this rather than go down like a time suck. Laura, how can you help us? Because actually I'm. I'm signing up right now as well. I need to know.
- [43:30]
Laura Reich
I love it. Yeah. So I have found that there are three different ways people learn, right? And it goes back to the basics. DIY done with you or done for you. And so I have a DIY course. It literally breaks everything down in my four step framework, setup, strategy, systems and scale. So it will walk you through the basic. Basic all the way to the advanced of Pinterest. And then because people don't always like to learn just on their own, they like to have someone to come bounce ideas off, ask questions, things like that. I created my Pintastic results program. And so, yeah, I know you love it. Pin and fantastic. It's Pintastic, my awesome trademark name. So this is where you get access to literally anything I've created my organic course, my ads, course templates, strategy plans. I mean, literally anything that I have done in my 15 years of Pinterest is handed to you. And you have access to all these resources. But the really cool thing is you have access to me and my team every Wednesday on a live call to be able to hot seat out your questions, get directions on next steps that you should be taking in your own personal strategy and journey, things like that. And because I love Lizzie now and she is like my BFF for life and we're gonna do these miniseries because this is just so much fun, I have given her a special link to be able to get it at my secret price that I only do when I'm launching. And so if that's something you're interested in, definitely check with her on how you can get access to that. But yeah, those are like the two easiest ways. It doesn't matter if you're very, very beginner. Don't have a profile. If you have a profile and it's not working for you, you need to scale. Whatever it is, I've got you covered. Covered.
- [45:24]
Lizzie Smiley
And then you can actually do done for you. People can pay your team to do it for them if they wanted to go.
- [45:28]
Laura Reich
100. Yeah, 100. Yep. We do full service management. And then I also have something where I call it my blueprint. And so I actually will write up and create the strategy for you every single month and give it to you. And either you can implement it or if you have a va, they can implement it. So we give you the templates, the titles, the descriptions, the strategy. You should be focusing on everything. You should be pinning. And they just have to input it and put it on the scheduler and then it's ready to go and it's a done deal.
- [46:00]
Lizzie Smiley
Spectacular. Okay, thank you. This is. I actually love how you, how you positioned all that. That's really brilliant. And it helps anybody. I have the most random question. I just want to know, do you think we can resurrect a dead Pinterest account or do we need to start a new one?
- [46:12]
Laura Reich
Oh, my gosh. Love this question so much. Yes, you can resurrect, quote, unquote, a dead Pinterest account.
- [46:18]
Lizzie Smiley
Okay.
- [46:18]
Laura Reich
You can take a personal Pinterest account and turn it into a business account. It does not matter. And the reason being is because it is a dynamic platform. So the second that you start to make changes is the second it starts to help you and implements for you.
- [46:33]
Lizzie Smiley
Okay, I'm super excited. We're gonna say goodbye for now, but you need to know I'm tearing myself away. I. Laura, I could get so emotion right now. I love you so much. Thank you so much for your time and the gift of your knowledge. Your knowledge of how many years since literally since Pinterest was birthed, you've been doing this. So thank you so much. It feels like the biggest gift and we hope you'll come back.
- [46:56]
Laura Reich
Oh, for sure. I will be back.
- [46:58]
Lizzie Smiley
Okay, guys, thank you so much for hanging out with us and geeking out. What a fun conversation. I hope your wheels are turning. Until next week, go make something awesome. I love y'all. And that's a wrap on this episode of how to sell your stuff on Etsy. Thanks so much for hanging out with me today. If you're looking for more resources, head on over to howtosellyourstuff.com where you'll find podcast show notes, all the links from today's episode, the blog, courses, coaching, and more. If this episode was helpful to you, awesome. The greatest compliment I can receive from you is a rate, review and subscribe on this podcast. Not only will it allow us to connect again on a future episode, it lets me know I'm providing it with value and helps other people find this content more easily. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your support. Have a great day and see you next time.