The Ultimate Guide on How to Use Pinterest for Your Blog

Is Pinterest just a lame platform with a few recipes, inspiring quotes, and fashion tips?

Absolutely not! Pinterest is the ultimate genius way to drive traffic to your blog.

In fact, Pinterest drives more referral traffic than Google+, YouTube, and LinkedIn combined! And with 200 million monthly users, 1 out of 2 people make purchases after seeing a promoted pin.

Pinterest is one of the biggest search engines!

You may think if you don’t have cooking, fashion, parenting or fitness/health blog that Pinterest is not for you.

Think again! Pinterest can drive traffic to websites in many niches such as internet marketing, e-commerce, educational websites, do it yourself and many more.

It’s clear to see that getting Pinterest traffic on your website is well worth the effort. But if you’re wondering how to use Pinterest for your blog, you’ve got to read the following guide.

How to Use Pinterest For Blogging

First and most importantly don’t be fooled into believing the popular misconceptions:

• Pinterest is only for women
• People only pin food or fashion images
• Your audience isn’t on Pinterest
• Pinterest is another social platform and you haven’t the time

Produce the right visual content and you can drive traffic to your blog.

From doing your research to getting the hang of SEO tactics, here is our ultimate guide to Pinterest success.

Time for an Upgrade

To get things really going and drive traffic with Pinterest, sign up for a business account. You can make a new profile for your business or convert your current personal profile.

You will need to fill in the business account basics. In the profile for your business, use keywords relevant to your website or posts in your:

• Profile name
• Profile description
• Board titles
• Board descriptions

The benefits of having a business account include having access to Pinterest analytics. This will show you important information about what’s going on with your pin. Pinterest also offers guides and marketing tips to assist you with your pinning strategy.

On top of that, upgrading means you can have access to “rich pins” which are like a pin upgrade. They include a lot more information than a regular pin and incorporate real-time pricing of your products and a direct link to your website or blog. They also have various other tools to help you create click-worthy pins.

And the best perk of all – it’s free!

Find out how to set up “rich pins” here!

Some Pinterest Terminology

If you’re new to Pinterest here are a few basic terms you will come across:

1. Pins – are images saved from the internet. Each pin links back to the website it was saved from.
2. Re-pin – adding an image you find while browsing Pinterest to one of your own boards or group boards you are a member of. Re-pins always link back to the original source website.
3. Boards – Pins are saved to boards. The different boards help to keep your pins organized and easy to find. You can name your boards whatever you like, for example, I have boards named Search Engine Optimization, Build an Online Business, Blogging Tips or WordPress the Best Blogging Platform.
4. Board Sections – these break down your boards into smaller sections to make your pins even easier to find.
5. Secret boards – are the same as boards except they are secret. No one but you or someone you have invited to pin can see the pins saved on these boards. You can make a board secret at any time or vice versa.
6. Group Boards – are similar to ordinary boards except that the board creator and other people can pin to the board. You must be added by the board owner before you can contribute. You can distinguish a group board from an ordinary board on someone’s boards page by the group icon that appears in the board image.

Do Your Homework

Before you start on your Pinterest journey, you need to do your research.

Take a look at similar websites to yours. You can get an idea of what users are actually looking for and what kind of images people are most likely to pin.

Check the Categories page to find relevant content, similar to your website. Other ways to research include searching keywords related to your website or going directly to your competitor’s site.

Once you’ve done your homework, you should have a basic understanding of what the customer wants and be able to create the content you need.

A Way With Words

To maximize the potential of your pin, you need to focus on the description and make it epic!

A great pin description should be epic, as we mentioned, but also helpful, and detailed. The text should be more than just text, it should be gripping and cause the reader to want more. It should also include your keywords.

Additionally, it needs to call the user to action so that it inspires them to re-pin, follow you or visit your website. Some “call to action” examples include “Sign up now!” or “Pin this for later” or “Click here for the full story”. Or in our case, we might say, “For more SEO tips, read our ultimate guide.”

Hashtags are also key to successful pinning. Just like any other social media platform, clicking on a hashtag can open up several doors of relevant information and connections. For example, you can connect with others who are interested in the same topic, keep up with the latest trends, update live events, or even create a social media competition.

Remember to incorporate niche specific keywords into your description to really market your content. Include these SEO friendly keywords into your title, description, link text, image caption and throughout the page you’re linking too. But make sure to keep it flowing naturally, try not to over-stuff keywords.

Pin-Worthy Images

Yes, the text is important, but the reason Pinterest causes you to become addicted to scrolling is due to the pin-tastic photos.

The best images on a Pinterest blog are high quality and inspiring. Sometimes it’s a quote, step by step instructions or statistics that catch your eye, but many times it’s the actual image itself. High-resolution photos with vibrant colors, simple backdrops, and the main focus are key elements.

When text is added to the image it can draw more attention. It can cause the user to click on your pin because they know exactly what it’s about.

Photos that are too dark, have too much text or have distasteful branding are generally unsuccessful. The key is to keep it simple and professional, yet inspiring.

The image must be the correct size for Pinterest viewing. Pinterest tells us that 80% use their phones to browse through the feed, so vertical images that are tall, not wide, are best.

Make It Easy To Pin Your Blog Posts

Make sure each post has a pinnable image, the ideal size is 600×900 pixels.

If you feel the tall images don’t match your blog design or maybe you create several pinnable images for each post there are ways to hide your images until someone wants to save a pin.

The easiest way to hide your pinnable image(s) is to use <div style=”display: none;”><img src=”Your Image Name Here” alt=”Your Alt Text Here” </div>.

Here’s how to do it step by step:

1. When you’re editing your post with the visual editor, add your image to the post in the way you normally do.
2. Then switch to the text editor and find the image you want to hide.
3. Add the code  <div style =”display:none;”> before the image and </div> after the image closing tag.
4. Check the image doesn’t appear when you return to the visual editor.

There are also a couple of plugins I am aware of that will enable you to hide your pinnable images. These are the Social Warfare and Tasty Pins plugins. There is a small cost of $29 to use these plugins but they do offer other useful features for your pins.

Timing is Key

Before you pin, you need to figure out when your target audience will be online. Try to pin when users are actually engaged with Pinterest. The worst time to pin is obviously when everyone is at work or asleep!

If you’re wondering why you’re not getting many pins re-pinned, it might just be due to bad timing. You can find out your audience demographics from your Pinterest analytics.

You also need to continue doing your homework. Check where your customers come from, and how their time is spent on apps like Pinterest. After analyzing your research, you can paint a better picture as to what is the perfect time to post.

The Tailwind scheduler can help you to create a pinning calendar with recommended times based on your audience. More about this scheduler below.

Schedule Your Pins

Using a Pinterest scheduler can save you a lot of time. There are 2 well known Pinterest schedulers BoardBooster and Tailwind.

Until very recently it was recommended to use either. But Pinterest has now said that BoardBooster is not an approved partner and might not be compliant with their terms of service.

So if you want to save time using a scheduler for both Pinterest and Instagram and get additional analytics, Tailwind is the way to go. They offer a free trial to get started.

Keep it Fresh

Instead of settling for one pin per blog post, add multiple pins to various Pinterest boards. Use different images, hashtags, and descriptions to keep the content fresh.

Unlike most social media platforms, Pinterest is great for long-term traffic because it shows your pins in a few different ways. For example related pins, which are a feed of relevant pins to the one you’ve chosen.

And always remember, Pinterest likes fresh content, so newer pins will always be at the top!

Audience Participation

Hardcore Pinterest users will have a “pin it” button and be pinning religiously. But not all Pinterest users are so dedicated, so that means you may need to give them a helping hand in pinning your images.

Through a variety of plugins, you can easily add Pinterest buttons to your website. The button will either appear on the page allowing the user to pin a specific image, or it can appear on an image when the visitor hovers over it. Try to use both kinds to make sure the visitor gets the point – pin it!

You can even specify the image URL and the description, so when it is pinned by a user it can still include all your carefully chosen keywords and relevant hashtags. This will help you immensely in the long run as other users will be able to find your content easier.

Get Social

You may have, so far, focused on social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other platforms. Make sure all your dedicated followers know about your Pinterest account and don’t be afraid to do some promotion.

On Instagram and Twitter, just ask them if they’ll follow you, and regularly remind them. You can also add a tab specifically for Pinterest on your Facebook page. You could even use these platforms to announce any milestones, like a new board, a new pin or celebrating a certain amount of followers.

Don’t forget to follow up with anyone who repins your pins. Thank them publicly and privately. You can build up an online friendship and share new pins and boards with them. This will direct them to your website and build up your Pinterest traffic.

Part of the Community

A Pinterest group board is a community board where other pinners can pin. It’s a really easy way to get you more exposure and make your follower base grow. If you regularly post to a popular community board, others who follow will see your pins and might follow you or click through to your webpage.

Check the instructions on how to join, as each group board differs depending on the creator. You may just have to send an email or leave a response on one of their pins. Or another group member may be able to invite you.

Another way is to create a bond with the board’s creator. You can do that by pinning their content and even visiting their blog and commenting. After you have built up this online trust, you can ask to join their board on Pinterest.

If you want to start up your own group board just create a new board, or use an existing board, and attach other contributors by adding their Pinterest name or email address.

Drive Traffic With Pinterest

So, how to use Pinterest for blogging? Get social, know your SEO requirements, keep your content fresh and your images eye-catching. It’s not that hard to drive traffic with Pinterest when you know what you’re doing.

For more insightful tips and hacks on the world of SEO and affiliate marketing, you’ve got to check out our blog. It’ll give you all the information you need to blog your way to success.