
And I was able to do that for a tiny Shopify store, in a small niche.
How did I do this? The Pinterest Trap Method.
And in this case study, I’m going to give you the exact steps I used to pull off these great results so that you can too.
How the Pinterest Trap Method increased my client’s traffic by over 79%
As you can see in Google Analytics reported a huge spike in traffic to a Shopify store after the article was published:
This article increased new visitors to the site by over 104%:
We also got a handful of new backlinks pointing to our article:
You’ll also notice that this article ranks for over 100 keywords, and many of them are in the top 5 of Google:
Position #2 for “canadian interior designers”:
Position #5 for “top interior designers”:
Other top ranking keywords:
Follow these 5 steps to implement the Pinterest Trap Method Today.
The Pinterest Trap Method is made up of 5 simple steps:
- Choose your topic
- Search for blogs on Pinterest
- Organize your list of blogs
- Publish your blog post with 25-50 blogs
- Share the news about your post
Let me tell you why this technique works (and what’s in the name).
Have you ever heard that people are tribal by nature?
Yuval Harari writes about this in his best seller “Sapiens,” Seth Godin wrote an entire book titled “Tribes,” and if you need more proof just walk into a football stadium on Sunday to see how passionate people get.
What I mean is that even though we now have the internet and technology all around us, we are still highly driven by the opinion of others.
In fact, social recognition is one of the most important drivers of human behavior.
And the Pinterest Trap Method is all about luring blog owners with social recognition so they will share and promote your blog post (and your Shopify store) for you.
Neat right?
Step #1 Choose the topic for your blog post
I used The Pinterest Trap Method for a client that sells oil paintings & canvas prints.
Now, finding blogs for this niche was tough, so I expanded my topic. I did this by thinking about the people buying these paintings.
1. Brainstorm how your customer is using your product
I had a chat with my client about her customers and here are a few reasons why people buy her artwork:
- Add more color to a dull room
- Add colorful images of nature that go well with their home
- After renovating part of their home, a couple decided to add new artwork to their newly painted walls
- Upgrade their existing paintings
2. Narrow down user your needs to 2 to 3 keywords:
After you’ve identified a handful of reasons, transform those ideas into keywords.
Like this:
- Add more color to a dull room -> upgrade color ideas
- Add colorful images of nature that go well with their home -> interior decorating ideas
- After renovating part of their house a couple decided to add new artwork to their newly painted walls -> home renovation decoration
- Upgrade their existing paintings -> interior decorating
3. Choose one keyword to begin your search:
As you can see from the list above “interior decorating” was a clear topic that I could write about, so that’s what I chose as the topic for my blog post.
Step #2 Search for blogs on Pinterest
This may sound like weird advice because you naturally think of Pinterest as a place to search for images.
However, it’s also a goldmine for finding great blogs in your niche.
Here’s how:
1.Test your keyword on Pinterest
Go to Pinterest, and pop in your keyword from step #1:
2.Make sure your pins match your keyword
It’s possible that your keyword can bring up a few images that have nothing to do with your topic, and in that case just skip over them and keep on scrolling down.
However, if the majority of the images you see on Pinterest do not match your topic, then go back to step #1 and choose a different keyword.
The images I see on Pinterest for my keyword are a perfect fit:
3.Browse Pinterest topics for more ideas
You can also browse the different topic categories that appear just below the search bar on Pinterest for inspiration.
4.Use Google’s Related Searches for more ideas
If you need more ideas, type your keyword into Google, scroll to the bottom of the page and take a look at the keywords and phrases in the “searches related to..” section.
5.Ignore pins from your competitors and other retailers
Remember that you need to be strategic, and adding a link to a site like Walmart, Amazon or other retailers is not going to do you any good because they won’t be lured by your blog post.
You want to find blogs, and preferably blogs run by a single person or a small team.
Here’s how to filter the pins you find on Pinterest:
- Click on one of the pins that appears in your Pinterest search result
- Visit the website by clicking the grey button
Good sign: If you click on a pin, and you are redirected to a blog post.
Good sign: If you see a section on that blog post with a note about the author(s) of the site stating that it’s run by one or a few people
Bad sign: If you are redirected to a product page (displays a page with a product, price, and a buy now button).
Bad sign: The majority of the content on the homepage is of items for sale. Ignore that site and move on to the other pins.
Now that you are sure that your keyword is a good match move on to step #3 to begin building your blog post.
Step #3 Add the blogs you found on Pinterest to a list
1. Create your list in a Google Doc.
Cloud tools like Google Docs makes it easier to create your blog post instead of adding your list to your Shopify blog right away.
- Go to docs.google.com and create a new document by clicking the + button (Blank)
- Or download this sample Google Doc
2. Include the right information for each blog
- Image – Save a bright and colorful image from each blog post that best represents the content of that blog.Save your images in a folder on your computer and name your files to match the name of the blog. This will make it easier to add each image to the blog post later.
- Name of the blog – Example: Lushome
- URL to the blog – Example: https://lushome.com
- Description – A 200 character description
- Write a short description, up to 200 characters long. The description just needs to give your readers an idea what each blog writes about and what makes them different. If you’re having trouble creating one, visit the blog’s about page, and paraphrase what you see there for your description.
- Add between 25-50 blogs –
- You don’t want to go over 50 because your blog post would be too long and anything less than 25 is too short.
Here’s what your Google Doc should look like by now (download a sample here):
Done?
Awesome, you are more than halfway finished. Now its time to put the finishing touches on your blog post.
Step #4 Post your article on your Shopify blog
You’ve done most of the heavy lifting by now.
Next, all you need to do is transfer your hard work over to your Shopify blog and make a few edits.
Start by opening your Google Doc then follow these steps:
1. Make sure you do not use Heading 1 in your Google Doc
You should only use Heading 2 or Heading 3 when formatting your content because every blog post should just have a single Heading 1 and that is the title of your blog post.
You can have as many Header 2, Header 3, Header 4 and so on, as you like.
2. Add links to the blog names
- Select the url for each blog you’ve added to your list, then
- add that url as a link for each respective blog name
Like this:
3. Use the Bumper Technique to order your blog posts the right way
News flash, nobody is going to read your blog post from start to finish, in order.People usually skim through the first few sections, then jump to the end. If they are curious enough, they will then look through the chunky middle part.
This is why you need to:
Load your hardest hitting content at the front and the end of your blog post, like the bumpers on a truck.
Order your content in your Google Doc to make it easier for you to publish it on Shopify.
Here’s how I organized my content, the blogs at the top were the one’s I found to be the most interesting:
4. Add numbers
Hopefully, you’ve been following along and have stopped yourself from adding numbers until now.
This is pretty straightforward, so i’ll just say you are not really ranking your blog posts, what you are doing is making it easy for people to see how many you’ve curated.
5. Copy all of your text from your Google Doc
Press “ctrl + a” (PC) or “command + a” (MAC) on your keyboard to select all text, followed by “ctrl + c” or “command + c”
6. Paste your content into a Shopify blog
1. Log into Shopify and go to your Blog:
2. Create a new blog and paste the content you copied from your Google Doc
7. Add your images:
Place your cursor below the name of the blog name then click the insert image icon:
- Add a “Image alt text” that describes what’s in the image to improve your image SEO:
8. Set your links to “Open in a new page”
Select the names of each blog respectively then click the “Insert Link” icon:
Select “a new window” from the “Open this link in” drop down menu. Insert a “Link title” with a description of what you are linking to, then click the “Insert link” button:
9. Give your blog post a title
To make your title really pop make sure to include:
- A number – the number of blogs you are featuring
- Your keyword
- Why someone should checkout your list
Click “save”, and give yourself a pat on the back.
Step #5 Share the news about your post
I’m sure you’ve heard this before:
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to Instagram it, does it make a sound?
Jokes aside, you have to get real with the fact that there are a ton of new blog posts created every day (over 2 million actually). This means you have to let people know about your content, and not just hope or assume people will flock to your site.
The good thing is you have a freshly baked blog post that at least 25-50 other blog owners are interested in sharing. And that’s where you want to start.
Hit them up on twitter, or facebook or by email and send them a link to your Pinterest Trap, with a note about why you chose them, and who the other blogs are on your list.
Aaaaand you’re done.
Wrapping it all up
There you have it, a step-by-step guide on how to use Pinterest Trapping to create content that drives traffic to your Shopify store.
Creating content for your Shopify store can be intimidating, and there are a ton of techniques out there that make it complicated and may or may not bring you more traffic.
That’s why I love The Pinterest Trap Method: It’s easy to remember, easy to implement and it always brings me great results.
If you enjoyed these tips, please let me know in the comment below and share this with your friends.
I love using Pinterest for any interior, fashion, recipe and style related search. It’s a great source indeed.
Thanks for the tips!
Yes, Pinterest is awesome for finding ideas and inspirations, and as you can see a great place to find blogs you can connect with too.
Hey Marcio, this is really helpful. I never know what to write about and I usually just post stuff that doesn’t bring in much traffic.
I’m gonna give this a try.
🙂
You’re welcome Janine, glad you liked it. Please let me know how your post turns out 🙂
Thanks for this!!! I always get stuck trying to come up with ideas to blog about.
Definitely going to try this out!
🙂
You’re welcome Jeremy. Good luck with your post.
Okayyyyy I get it!! I feel like this stuff has been staring me in the face forever. Thanks for helping me understand this Marcio.
No problem!! All the best.
Woa within a short time I increase my traffic It’s a great news,if it works for me it’s a fantastic model for all.
Awesome, I’m glad you’re seeing results so quickly.