How To Start Selling Art On Pinterest

Selling art online is exhilarating, rewarding, and overwhelming.

There is a wealth of information available to help you with different digital marketing strategies and to let you know what art sells best.

The obstacle is that you could find yourself wasting precious time trying to find the best solutions to your questions.

That is why I am writing this Pinterest for artists resource post for you.

Before we get started, I do want to speak highly of Pinterest.

When I started my art blog, I was struggling to build an audience.

I knew that it would take some time, but I was getting impatient.

Throughout that time, I kept hearing people talk about how Pinterest is a great platform to build an audience.

I decided to give it a try, I am so happy I did.

Within just a few months, my art blog traffic increased by over 300%.

I am now on the path to reach over 100,000 monthly page views.

I don’t have to tell you how much traffic my blog is receiving has affected my art sales.

Developing a Pinterest marketing strategy has helped me to promote my art to a broader audience.

Is Pinterest Good For Artists

Pinterest is just like every other tool available online for businesses. Every online marketing tool has pros and cons, and will all help you reach a broader audience and make your workday a little easier.

One reason some people might not do well on some social media platforms over others is maybe their audience does not hang out on that platform. Another reason is that they do not spend enough time learning how to market their art business properly on a particular platform.

If you want Pinterest to work you have to learn how to promote art on Pinterest. You have to learn all of the different strategies that are working well for other artists and business owners.

The one thing that separates Pinterest from other social media platforms is that Pinterest is not a social media platform. Pinterest is a visual search engine.

You might have heard me say a million times that blogging is the best tool for driving traffic to websites. However, it does take time for each post to rank on Google and Bing, and there will be times when some posts will not do as well as you were hoping.

While you are waiting for your posts to be indexed by Google, you should be promoting them on Pinterest and other social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The difference between Pinterest and social media platforms is that your pins will always be searchable.

Can You Sell Products On Pinterest

Yes, you can sell your art on Pinterest. In fact, it might be a platform where you should spend some quality time marketing your artwork.

Unlike Facebook, you will not receive instant likes and comments on your “pins.”

What Pinterest will do for you is allow you to create an online portfolio of your artwork.

Pinterest Boards makes it possible to separate your artwork into specific subjects or time of creation.

If you sell prints of your original art, you can even create a board for that as well.

Do you sell your art prints on merchandise?

You can also create Boards that will highlight your merchandise.

In my opinion, Pinterest might be the next best thing after blogging that builds an online presence and help you to sell more art online.

Take some time to map out what content you will be sharing on your Pinterest business account.

Artists Pinterest Board Examples :

New Art
Sold Art
Giclee Prints
Merchandise
How To Care For Your Art
About Art Business

These are some examples of boards you might want to have for your account.

The more you plan now the easier it will be for you in the future.

You can start selling art on Pinterest once you have your Business account set up and a few boards designated for your artwork.

Can You Sell Art On Pinterest

Just like selling crafts on Pinterest, you can also sell original art and giclee prints on Pinterest.

Pinterest is an excellent tool for artists to sell original paintings and drawings online.

Pinterest has just recently started allowing sellers to sell directly from their pins. The program is called Buyable Pins.

At this point, sellers will need to have a Shopify or a Demandware e-commerce solution.

I predict that Buyable Pins will be available for all sellers in the future.

If you are using Shopify or Demandware as your e-commerce solution, you can have a “buy it” button right on your pin where people can click and purchase.

For more information, visit Pinterest Buyable Pins.

Even if you do not have a Shopify or Demandware account, you can still sell your art on Pinterest. You will just have to go about it differently.

Create a landing page where people will be able to purchase the art you are interested in selling.

On the landing page, have a way for someone to pay with PayPal or any other gateway you are using to collect currency for your online business.

Create Pins that showcase the art you have for sale and link the pin to your landing page.

Your pin should make it clear to the viewer the art they are looking at is for sale.

You can do this by adding a caption to the image or include it in the description of the pin.

If a person is interested in learning more about purchasing your artwork, they will click on the pin.

After clicking the pin they will be redirected to your landing page to learn more about the art and a way for them to purchase if they choose to do so.

What Crafts To Sell On Pinterest

According to Jennifer Beese 2015, 93% of shoppers shopped online in the past six months.

This is great news for artists and crafters. People who visit Pinterest are looking to purchase items.

The hard part is not creating the artwork or handmade crafts, the challenge is finding the people who are interested in what you have to offer.

Once you know who your target audience is (people interested in purchasing your products) you can focus on creating content that will attract them to your posts and Pinterest Pins.

The readers will learn more about you and your business, and if your product provides value to them, they will purchase products from you.

For More Information On What Crafts Sell Best Visit:

Most Profitable Crafts To Sell And Make Money

Why Should You Start Selling Art On Pinterest

Pinterest is a terrific way for you to build brand awareness.

People go online for information, shopping, or entertainment.

If you want people to find you online, you will need to create ways for people to be able to search for your products or services.

Google is the largest search engine in the world.

If you would like to sell art online, you must publish SEO optimized blog posts that relate to your creativity and your art business.

If you do not write blog posts, people searching to buy paintings or drawings like yours will never find you. They will be directed to your competition.

You will be putting money into your competition’s wallet if you are not writing blog posts.

Related posts:

Why am I talking about creating blog posts if this post is supposed to be about selling on Pinterest?

Blogging and Pinterest go hand in hand.

Just like Google, Pinterest is a search engine.

People visit Pinterest and type in keywords that relate to something they are interested in into Pinterest’s search bar.

Pinterest will then suggest Pins that relate to that specific topic that was typed in the search bar.

Unlike Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, pins are searchable for as long as you have the pins posted.

Posts on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have a lifespan of about a day or two (if you are lucky).

Pinterest Pins are searchable for as long as they are active.

However, in time your older Pins will not see as much traffic because Pinterest wants fresh content.

Google on the other hand will keep a post on number one in the search results for as long as it is the best content available for the query.

Why You Should You Promote Your Art On Pinterest

Pinning images of your art will help you to build an online presence.

Let’s say 10 people see your art and are attracted to it.

They will want to purchase it then, or they will want to “pin” it on one of their boards for a later time.

People that follow the person will see that they saved a “pin” to one of their boards. If someone notices your art being “pinned” to someone’s board they are following and likes the pin, they will repin the pin to their board.

Some of my pins that I have published over 5 years ago have over 20,000 repins and are still driving traffic to my site.

You can easily see how building brand awareness on Pinterest is easy to do.

Learning how to start selling art on Pinterest is easy; all you have to do is:

Create Pinterest boards with keyword-rich titles and descriptions
Create high-quality images that reflect the content of the pin
Add a keyword-rich title for the pin and add a keyword-rich description that explains what the content is
Add a link to the page you want the reader to visit

Pinterest Statistics

Here are some statistics that will help you understand how beneficial Pinterest can be for your art business.

Dara Fontein wrote a great post that highlights Pinterest statistics that relate to businesses. You can read her full article at The Pinterest Statistics That Matter to Your Business.

I want to share with you some statistics from Dara’s article that caught my attention.

75% of Pinners use Pinterest on mobile devices
67% of Pinners are under 40-years-old
Male users have grown 120% in the past year
87% of Pinners have purchased a product because of Pinterest
72% of Pinners use Pinterest to decide what to buy offline
Over 5% of all referral traffic to websites comes from Pinterest

We know that more people are using their mobile devices for searching online.

It did shock me that the percentage of Pinners using mobile devices was not higher than 75%.

When Pinterest started to become popular, it was known for attracting females.

However, every year more men are going to Pinterest for information.

You can see from the statistics, people go to Pinterest to help them with their purchasing decisions.

Pinterest is a great place to find new things that you can never find anywhere else.

What makes Pinterest so appealing is that you can scroll through all the images quickly until something catches your eye.

Or you can use the search bar to help pinpoint exactly what you are looking for.

Pinterest Business Account vs Pinterest Personal Accounts

Just like Facebook, Pinterest has a Personal account and a Business account available.

The appearance of a business and a personal account is the same.

However, there are some key differences you will want to be aware of.

Pinterest terms of service now state that any account that wishes to use Pinterest for commercial purposes must create a business account and agree to the business-specific terms of service.

Businesses can set up their account with their business name instead of using a first name and last name as the personal accounts.
Business accounts provide analytics that will help you learn more about your audience and show you what pins are producing the best results.
Businesses accounts allow you to apply for Rich Pins.

Rich Pins highlight the title of your website or post in the description section.

If you are planning on promoting your art on Pinterest, it is essential to create a Pinterest business account.

How To Create A Pinterest Business Account

Creating a Pinterest business account is easy and will only take you a few minutes to set up.

You can set up a business account from your personal account or start one from scratch.

Read this article for a step-by-step tutorial on how to set up a Pinterest business page, Create a Pinterest Business Account Step by Step.

Apply For Rich Pins

Rich Pins will help your pins stand out.

You will have up to five types of Rich Pins to choose from that will add specific details to a pin and separate your pins from all of the other pins that are not rich pins.

Article pins include:

The headline
Author of the post
Link to the post
Post description

For more information, visit Pinterest Rich Pins.

In this video, Desiree Martinez shows you how to set up Rich Pins for Pinterest.

How To Get Your Art Noticed Online

The best professional bloggers and online businesses have a clear idea of who their audience is.

Successful online marketers have created an “avatar” or “buyer persona” to help them understand whom they are marketing to.

Knowing who your audience is will make it easier to create content they are searching for and will keep them coming back for more. You can focus on the key topics that will connect them with your art business and artwork.

Having someone land on one of your blog posts is one thing, but creating content that will inspire them to visit your site frequently is a win.

Related Posts:

A few things you will want to know when you are creating an “avatar”:

Age
Gender
Location
Job
Income
Education
Family status
Interests
Deposition making
Frequently visited websites
Struggles

The information you gather from above will help you build a successful business on Pinterest because you can discover the keywords they are using in Pinterest’s search bar. Once you know the keywords they are using, you can start creating content about their queries.

Sell Art On Pinterest With Etsy

Do you have an Etsy Shop?

Pinterest is also an excellent way for you to drive an enormous amount of traffic to your Etsy listings.

Create Pinterest boards that complement your Etsy Shop sections.

The different boards will help you to seperate your products making it easy for a shopper to find what they are looking for.

Include a keyword-rich description for each board you create. The keywords will help your boards to rank higher in Pinterest’s search.

Don’t forget to pin in everything you have on sale in your Etsy shop.

Make it clear to the viewers that the item they are admiring is available in your Etsy Shop in the description of the pin.

Take some time to study what is working for other etasy shops.

Research other artists and crafters who are using Pinterest to promote their Etsy Shop.

Write down everything that is working for them and try to implement their strategies to your Pinterest marketing plan.

Are you interested in starting an Etsy Shop?

Visit How to Start an Etsy Shop Tutorial.

How To Use Pinterest As An Artist

Now that you know the benefits of promoting your art on Pinterest, and you have created a business account and applied for rich pins, let’s talk about how to start selling art on Pinterest.

Art marketing is all about building brand awareness.

If you are interested in selling your art online, you must make people aware that you create art and that your art is available online for them to purchase.

Pinterest is a great tool to help artists build brand awareness.

Keep in mind that Pinterest is not the only tool you will want to use to market your art online.

You will also want to focus on:

Blogging
Email marketing
Social media marketing

But for now, let’s go over some Pinterest marketing strategies you can start implementing today.

On Hover Pin It Button

People love to share things that they like. Make it easy for your readers to pin images on your blog posts.

If you make it easy for them, they will pin it.

Most people will not take the time to highlight the URL of your post, log into their Pinterest account, create a pin, and add your image.

People are busy and do not have the time to put in the extra effort.

The On Hover Pin It Button is easy to activate.

Pinterest provides detailed instructions on how to get your On Hover Pin It Button Activated.

After you have the On Hover Pin It Button activated, people will click on the pin It button that will appear over your images when they hover it.

Social Warfare is a social sharing plugin that I use for social sharing. The bonus with Social Warfare is that you can create and hide Pinterest images so they will take up too much space on the post, and you can activate On Hover Pin It.

Designate Boards To Represent Your Blog Categories

Create a board for every category you have on your artist blog and website.

To learn how to create Pinterest boards, visit How To Create A Pinterest Board Step By Step.

Every time you publish a post, pin it to the appropriate board.

Your boards should be related to your art blog.

You might have heard me say in other articles that a niche is essential for your art business.

The same pertains to your Pinterest business account, especially if you’re trying to use Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog.

Let’s say that you’re a wildlife artist who writes about new wildlife paintings, paintings in progress, how to care for pictures, how to frame paintings, etc.

Your Pinterest boards should match your website’s categories, so when someone discovers you on Pinterest, they have a clear idea of what to expect from you.

The bottom line is that it will make it easy for your followers to find the information they are searching for.

Build Relationships With Artists

Pinterest is a search engine just like Google but is seen as a social media platform by many people.

For example, you have to have a Pinterest account in order to Pin new content or repin content to boards.

Other people on Pinterest can follow your account and look at all of the content you are saving on your boards unless you make a board private.

Another feature Pinterest has that is similar to social media is the use of hashtags.

So it is possible for you to build relationships with other artists on Pinterest, which will help you to build your brand recognition and reach a broader audience.

Most artists are willing to help each other out.

Comment On Pins

One thing that separates Pinterest from other social media platforms is that most pinners do not comment on pins, but when someone does take the time to comment, make sure that you take the time to respond.

Responding to comments will help you build brand awareness and encourage other people to engage by commenting on your pins.

Pinterest Image Dimensions

You have probably already noticed that images on Pinterest are long and narrow.

This is because people have noticed that tall images stand out more and receive more engagement.

Create Pinterest images for your Pinterest boards so people will notice your pins.

Pinterest recommends that images should have a 2:3 aspect ratio. The optimal size is 1000 x 1500 pixels.

However, there will be times when your paintings have a larger width than height.

What should you do?

I have found that uploading my art on a 1000 x 1500 pixel background produces great results. I add text to explain what the image is with the extra space.

Here are some articles that will help you with creating Pinterest images:

How To Upload Your Art On Pinterest

There are multiple ways that you can upload your art to Pinterest.

To Upload your art directly from Pinterest, login to your Pinterest business account, and click Create > Create Pin.

Next, drag and drop an image or click on the box to upload an image to Pinterest from your PC.

After you have uploaded your image:

Add title
Add description
Add URL
Select what board to pin
Click publish

Another way you can upload your art to Pinterest is directly from your WordPress website.

I use Social Warfare for my social share buttons because it allows me to create pins in and publish them in the background where people can not see unless they click on the Pinterest share button.

In my opinion, this makes it a better experience for the readers of the blog posts. I have seen many bloggers put a Pinterest image in their blog posts, and the image is so large that it interferes with the post.

To pin a pin from your site with Social Warfare, visit the page you want to pin and click the Pinterest Share Button.

Another way you can upload your art to Pinterest is directly from your WordPress website.

I use Social Warfare for my social share buttons because it allows me to create pins in and publish them in the background where people can not see unless they click on the Pinterest share button.

To pin a pin from your site with Social Warfare, visit the page you want to pin and click the Pinterest Share Button.

Most print-on-demand sites like Fine Art America have social share buttons that make it easy to pin from the landing page.

Join Pinterest Groups

A great way to build your following is to join groups that relate to your niche.

Most groups are private, and you will need to ask if you can join.

After you have been accepted to join a group, you will be able to pin your content to the board.

This will help your pins to reach a broader audience.

Take some time to find some groups that you can be a part of.

You can see a list of popular group boards at PinGroupie.

Be Consistent

You will see better results by pinning on a consistent schedule.

Try to pin at least once a day.

If you do not have any content to pin from your art blog, repin someone else’s pin on your boards.

Just make sure that your repins complement the boards you are pinning.

You might want to consider creating a board called “Inspiration” or “Art That Inspires.”

This will allow you to pin some of your favorite artist’s artwork while creating content for your blog to pin.

Doing this is a win-win situation. Not only will you have content to pin on a regular schedule, but the artists you are repinning will take notice of you.

Most artists and bloggers will return the favor by repinning your content to their boards.

This will help you to reach a broader audience.

Be Patient

Pinterest is like blogging. It will take some time before you start to see some real results.

Remember, Pinterest is a search engine, and most Pro Pinners say that it takes about a month for pins to get recognized.

That is why pinning daily will show you great results over time.

Be patient and know what you are doing today will benefit you in a few months.

Plan Ahead

Take some time and plan out your Pinterest marketing strategy.

Know how many boards you will be creating and what content you will be pinning on them.

Your boards are like chapters in a book. All the boards put together will tell your story as an artist.

Place the boards in order of importance.

The most critical board should be first, and the least essential board should be last.

You can change the order of your boards at any time.

Schedule Pinterest Pins

To reach more people, you might want to consider scheduling pins throughout the day.

This strategy has worked well for many people.

People will visit Pinterest throughout the day.

If you can schedule pins on a consistent schedule every day, you will have a better chance of being noticed.

Here are a few tools available that will help make scheduling pins easy.

Schedule different times throughout the day and see what works best for you.

Mix the pins with product pins and content pins for the best results.

Pinning products is suitable for promoting new art, but keep in mind you must build your audience’s trust if you are interested in creating a loyal following.

This can be done by pinning engaging content between your product pins.

The Best Pinterest Scheduling tool by far is Tailwind.

Tailwind is a Pinterest and Instagram scheduling tool that shares your content at the best times and so much more.

If you do not have Tailwind yet, I highly recommend reading these posts:

Use Pinterest’s Analytics

Pinterest analytics will help you to know what is working and what is not working.

Make it a habit of viewing your analytics once a week. It will only take you a few moments to gather the information.

In the beginning, try different strategies to see what works best for your audience.

After a while, you will start to see a pattern in your analytics.

Once you find what works best for you, stick to it and go full force.

Delete anything that is not working and replace it with what does work.

How To Know What Posts Are Being Pinned

Knowing what posts people are pinning from your site will help you to grow your art business.

First, you will have a clear idea of what people are interested in.

Understanding what your audience is interested in will help you when it is time to create a new blog post or social media posts.

If they are interested in a particular topic you are covering, keep writing about it.

Second, you can reverse-engineer your post to see why it is so popular.

Maybe it is because you added more images, or you included a video.

Perhaps the flow of your content is better.

Discover why the post is being pinned so much and use that strategy in your future posts.

Ok, so here is how you will see what blog posts are being shared on Pinterest.

Type in the search bar, http://www.pinterest.com/source/YOUR WEBSITE NAME .com (do not include www. before your websites name)

Here is an example using my site, http://pinterest.com/source/nevuefineartmarketing.com

A page will display all of the posts that are being pinned from your site and who is pinning it.

What Content Is Being Pinned From Your Competition

Keeping an eye on your competition is always a good idea.

You can see what content is working well for them and reverse-engineer why it is doing so well.

Maybe they have more images or include videos.

Maybe they make their content scannable and easy to read for mobile devices.

Maybe they provide helpful information for their buyers.

Take a look and see what you can do better for your posts.

Learn From The Best

You should schedule some time every week to check out what other Pinners are doing.

Ask yourself:

What makes one pin receive more engagement over another pin?
How can I incorporate their strategy into my Pinterest marketing strategy?
How many boards do they have?
How can I make my boards better?
How can I make my pins better?

The best way to learn about promoting artwork is by studying what works for other artists. Learn what is working for them and try to make it better.

How To Sell Art On Pinterest Resource

Here are some additional posts that will help you become a Pinterest guru.

Final Thoughts On How To Start Selling Art On Pinterest

Selling art online takes a lot of hard work and patience.

You will want to get to know all of the tools available to help you get an edge over your competition.

Pinterest is a tool you will want to have in your toolbox.

We have discussed some essential tips on how to sell on Pinterest and how to promote your art. Start by optimizing your Pinterest Business Page and start Pinning on a consistent schedule.

In time you will start to see your traffic increase.

Now that you know how to sell your art on Pinterest it is time to take action. There are thousands of art collectors searching for Pinterest artwork every month. Develop a plan and revise it until traffic is going to your website.

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How To Sell Art On Pinterest