If you’re using Pinterest to promote your blog’s content then I am not speaking to you because you already know how valuable it is for bringing new visitors to your blog FOR FREE! No, I’m speaking to those bloggers who have put Pinterest on the back burner – Stop It!

Many of the biggest bloggers get more traffic through Pinterest than Google organic, their email list, Facebook or other links. Seriously, the traffic is that good.

To begin, remember that Pinterest is not about YOU, it’s about the viewers visiting your boards so show them what they want to see. If you sell something, show pictures of it being made, give your viewers a bit of you and how you work and where you live. As long as you can draw a line between the photo and what you do, your followers will share your content.

Tell stories. You might be selling homemade slippers. Show us the slippers but have them on some person’s feet who’s sitting in front of a crackling fire. Create boards for all your interests and those photographs will collectively tell a story about you. Big boards got that way by looking real. If you’ve made an oops, share it and followers will laugh with you. Got something incredible to show? that will get even more shares.

I’ve got a food blog so my boards are all food. I have nearly 35,000 followers and the traffic I receive from Pinterest every day is gold. You might have a blog about crafts or a fashion or lifestyle blog and Pinterest can do for you what it’s done for me. There are roughly 75 million people with Pinterest accounts. Millions of those people check Pinterest every day, so be there. Just Do It. 🙂 You’ll thank me.

My Best Pinning Stragegy

  1.  Pin More Often

The more you pin, the more viewers will see your name. I started out pinning whenever I thought about it but now I schedule my pins throughout the day and that’s getting much more engagement.

Buffer advises pinning between 5 and 30 pins per day. Unless ALL your sales come from local traffic, don’t listen to the people who say, “You must post during these times for Pinterest.” Why? The clock has 24 hours and it’s 7pm somewhere every hour of  the day.  Start pinning and watch your repins.

I began pinning afternoon time East Coast US during the week and weekend mornings and evenings. Now I pin when I have time.

People don’t like seeing 10 pins in a row from someone they follow. It often leads to unfollowing. Space your pins and keep everyone happy. Remember that there is no such thing is too many pins.

 2. Apply for Rich Pins for Your Blog or Website

Pinterest offers rich pins to offer more detail to a pin. I have rich pins and all the ingredients to my recipes are posted on each pin. Similar to Facebook’s Open Graph or Twitter cards, rich pins make the browsing experience better for viewers/pinners.

There are five rich pin types:

• Article pins include the headline, author, story description and link
• Product pins include real-time pricing, availability and where to buy
• Recipe pins include ingredients, cooking times and serving info
• Movie pins include ratings, cast members and reviews
• Place pins include an address, phone number and map

Here is one of mine:

Rich pins tell repinners and viewers that your content can be trusted. It might not be true but that’s what the average viewer thinks.

 3. Portrait Aspect Photos!

Look at this display of pins I picked off Pinterest just now. Which photos stand out for you? The ones that are taller, right? I won’t even repin landscape aspect photos because they don’t get repins.

The ratio I use is 2:3. You’ll see huge collages by other pinners but Pinterest cuts them off and they make a mess of the page. Vertically oriented is all you need to do. Make your photos at least 600 so the best size there would be 600 x 900 pixels. My photos are 700 wide for my blog and that’s just what I put on there.

I use Photoshop but Gimp or Canva will help you create good pins.

 4.  Give a Good Description to Your Pins

You have about 75 to 100 characters to entice people to click through to see your post or product. Choose wisely. You can have longer descriptions and that’s fine but Pinterest will show the first 75 to 100 characters and viewers will have to click for more.

Make your descriptions keyword rich to improve search results and make it interesting to read. The more you write, the most chance to put in more keywords and clickbait. Pinterest frowns upon ‘click here to buy’ type pins but ‘click to see the recipe on my blog’ works just fine. If you’re selling something, please put the price in with a $ or £ and it will drive traffic to  your product. It shows you are actively selling this product.

Hashtags used to be the go but Pinterest is discouraging their use because so many people were stuffing a million hashtags in their descriptions and people began complaining.

Pinterest offers a link to your image so they say don’t put the link in the description. I haven’t been but then I found my photos used by others linking to THEIR content not mine. I’m not sure they wouldn’t take out the link anyway but my new plan is to use a shortened link in the description.

 5. Create Interesting Boards

And give them good names. People search for boards all the time so if you have a board for puppies and name it “Tilly’s Place” because Tilly is your dog, nobody is going to find it.

One of my favorite accounts belongs to Marla Meredith from FamilyFreshCooking.com. Marla has 309 boards and over 630 thousand followers. She’s got boards that are her content, boards for all her interests, back to school, her dogs, outdoors, hunting, cabins and the list goes on. She’s attracting visitors from everywhere because she’s got something for everyone. She pins 9-12 times a day.

Food and Drink is still the most popular category on Pinterest but not by much. Photography, art, design, home decor, crafts and DIY and fashion are all near the top. Other popular categories are fitness, technology, funny or interesting quotes, pets and animals, holidays, humor and travel. Each board should have a minimum of 10 photos but preferably 50 to start.

 6. Repin, Like and Comment

If you want to grow your followers, put your name out there where new pinners will see your name. If  you see a photo that interests you, click the heart and like it. If it’s a strong feeling, tell the pinner how much you like it and others will click to see more information and they’ll see your comment. People want to follow people like them.

Connecting with others is a good way to grow your followers and a good way is to repin the things you really like. It does help.

 7. Photo Quality

I can’t emphasize enough that Pinterest viewers are looking for good photos so don’t post blurry, grainy photos. Good quality photos say you are a quality pinner. Don’t repin crap photos either! I’ve seen too many food photos that look like a bowl of dog food. When I see too many of those, I stop following that pinner.

It’s not difficult to take good photos of food and you can use a phone app for a softbox light. There are lots of free resources online for how to take good photos so it’s worth your while to study a bit.

Good Luck!