How to Sell Digital Products on Pinterest
Every other platform wants you to post every day, perform constantly, and pray to the algorithm gods that today is your day.
Pinterest does not work like that.
Pinterest is a search engine. People go there looking for things. They type in what they want, find a pin, click through to a website, and buy something. That whole process happens whether you posted that pin yesterday or eighteen months ago. A good pin keeps working long after you've completely forgotten you made it.
For ADHD brains who post in chaotic bursts and then go quiet for three weeks, this is genuinely good news. You can batch twenty pins in an afternoon, schedule them out, and have traffic coming in while you're doing literally anything else.
And for digital product sellers specifically, Pinterest is one of the highest-converting free traffic sources available. The people using it are already in buying mode. They're planning, researching, collecting ideas. They're not mindlessly scrolling. They're looking for something. Your job is just to make sure your product shows up when they look.
Here's how to actually do that.
First: stop treating Pinterest like Instagram
This is the most common mistake. People set up a Pinterest account, post the same content they post on Instagram, get confused when nothing happens, and give up within a month.
Instagram is about connection. Pinterest is about discovery.
On Instagram you're trying to build a relationship. On Pinterest, a stranger is typing "aesthetic digital product ideas" into a search bar and you want your pin to be what they find. That changes everything about how you create content for it.
Your pins need:
- Keywords in the title and description. Not hashtags. Actual search terms. What would someone type to find this pin? Write that.
- A clear reason to click. The pin should make it obvious what they're getting if they click through. Vague and pretty does not convert. Specific and useful does.
- A destination worth landing on. Every pin should link somewhere that can either capture their email or sell them something. Your product page, your freebie landing page, or a blog post with a CTA. Not your homepage. Not your Instagram.
Stop asking "will people like this?" and start asking "will people search for this?" Those are completely different questions and they produce completely different content. Pinterest rewards searchability. Write your pin titles like you're answering a question someone is already asking.
Setting up your Pinterest account to actually convert
Switch to a business account and claim your website
A business account gives you access to Pinterest Analytics, which tells you which pins are actually driving traffic. Claiming your website (mayhemtomoney.com or your Shopify store) adds a small checkmark that builds trust and makes your pins display better. Both are free and take about ten minutes to set up. Do this before anything else.
Create boards around your product categories and customer problems
Your boards should reflect what your customers are searching for, not just what you sell. A board called "Digital Products for Beginners" will get found. A board called "My Shop" will not. Think: what problem does my customer have right before they buy my product? Build boards around that. For digital product sellers, good board ideas include: passive income ideas, digital product ideas to sell, Canva templates for Instagram, ADHD productivity, how to make money online, and content creation for beginners.
Optimise your profile with keywords in your name and bio
Pinterest uses your profile name and bio in search results. "Steph Jordan | Digital Products for ADHD Creators" will show up in searches. "Steph Jordan" will not. Put your main keywords in your display name and write a bio that tells people exactly who you help and what you help them do. Keep it plain and searchable. Not cute. Searchable.
What to pin and how often
You do not need to pin fifty times a day like the old Pinterest advice used to say. That era is over. Pinterest now rewards quality and consistency over sheer volume.
Aim for five to ten fresh pins per week. That's it. Fresh means new images or new variations, not just re-pinning the same thing. You can absolutely create multiple pins for the same product or blog post. Different image, different title, different angle. Same destination link.
For digital product sellers, here are the three types of pins that convert best:
- Product pins. A clean image of your product mockup with a clear title ("Aesthetic Canva Instagram Templates — MRR Included") and a description that explains what it is, who it's for, and where to get it. Link directly to your product page.
- Blog post pins. A bold, text-overlay image pointing to a helpful blog post. The post then has a CTA to your product or freebie. This is a longer path to a sale but builds trust and brings in search traffic from Google and Pinterest simultaneously.
- Freebie pins. Pins pointing to your opt-in page. These build your email list, and your email list is where the repeat sales happen. A freebie pin that converts subscribers is often more valuable long-term than a product pin that converts single purchases.
Open Canva. Pick three to five products or blog posts you want to promote. Make two or three pin designs for each — different image, different headline, same link. That's fifteen to twenty pins from one session. Schedule them in Pinterest's native scheduler (free) or in a tool like Tailwind to drip out over the next four to six weeks. Then go do something else. The pins will keep working without you.
The keyword research bit (it's not as hard as it sounds)
Before you make a single pin, spend fifteen minutes doing this.
Go to Pinterest. Type your product category into the search bar. Do not hit enter yet. Look at the suggested searches that drop down. Those are real searches real people are doing right now. Write them down. Those are your keywords.
Then look at the top pins that appear when you do search. What are their titles? What language are they using? What's making people click? You're not copying them. You're learning what the platform rewards for your niche.
Use those keywords in your pin titles, pin descriptions, board names, and board descriptions. You're essentially telling Pinterest's algorithm what your content is about so it knows who to show it to.
Some keyword examples for digital product sellers that perform well on Pinterest:
- digital products to sell online for beginners
- how to make passive income with digital products
- Canva templates for Instagram creators
- master resell rights products 2026
- ADHD-friendly side hustles that actually work
- how to make money online as a mum
- aesthetic stock photos for content creators
- social media templates with resell rights
Linking your Shopify store to Pinterest
If you're on Shopify, you can connect your store directly to Pinterest through the Pinterest sales channel. This creates product pins automatically that include pricing, availability, and a direct buy button. It also enables rich pins, which display more information and tend to perform better in search.
Set this up once and your products will start showing up in Pinterest shopping results without you having to do anything extra. That's traffic running in the background while you're off doing other things. Which is the whole point.
What results actually look like (realistic version)
In the first month, not much. Pinterest takes time to index your content and start showing it in search. This is where most people quit, right before it starts working.
By month two or three, you'll start seeing impressions climb. Some pins will take off. Most won't. That's normal and fine. The ones that do take off will keep sending traffic for months.
By month four to six, if you've been consistent, Pinterest can become a reliable source of daily traffic to your shop and freebie page without you actively doing anything. That is genuinely passive traffic. Not "I made $10k while I slept" passive. But "I set this up three months ago and it's still sending people to my store" passive. Which is real and useful and worth the setup.
Need images worth pinning?
You can't pin nothing. If your content library is looking a bit thin, the stock image bundles in the Mayhem to Money shop are designed for exactly this. Aesthetic, scroll-stopping, and ready to drop straight into Canva for your pin graphics. Grab a bundle that fits your niche and have a month of pin content sorted today.
Or grab the free Dopamine Drop AI resources firstFrequently asked questions
Can you sell digital products directly on Pinterest?
You can't sell directly on Pinterest the way you would on Etsy or Shopify, but you can link your pins directly to product pages where people can purchase. If you connect your Shopify store to Pinterest, your products will appear in Pinterest shopping with pricing and a direct link to buy. The sale happens on your store; Pinterest is the traffic source that gets people there.
How many pins should I post per day?
Between one and three fresh pins per day is a solid target. You don't need to post every single day as long as you're pinning consistently across the week. Batch creating and scheduling your pins is the most efficient approach, especially if your energy is inconsistent. Five to ten quality pins per week, scheduled out evenly, will outperform sporadic bursts of twenty pins followed by two weeks of nothing.
Do Pinterest pins actually drive sales?
Yes, but it's not instant. Pinterest is a long-game traffic source. Most pins take sixty to ninety days to gain traction in search. Once they do, they can drive consistent traffic for months or years. Digital products perform particularly well on Pinterest because the audience skews toward people actively looking to buy or start something. Canva templates, planners, stock images, and educational guides all convert well from Pinterest traffic.
Do I need a lot of followers on Pinterest to make sales?
No. This is one of the biggest differences between Pinterest and other platforms. Pinterest distributes content based on search relevance, not follower count. A brand-new account with zero followers can have a pin show up in search results if it's well-optimised. Followers matter less here than keyword research and consistent pinning. Focus on searchability, not follower growth.
What size should Pinterest images be?
The recommended Pinterest image size is 1000 x 1500 pixels, which is a 2:3 ratio. Vertical images take up more space in the feed and tend to perform better than square or horizontal images. In Canva, you can find Pinterest Pin templates already set to this size. Use bold text overlays, high-contrast images, and a clear headline that tells people exactly what the pin is about before they even click.
