17. Getting the most out of Pinterest

We all know that google can drive traffic to our sites but there are other ways to attract an audience as well. Pinterest can be an untapped resource for lots of people. That said, it doesn’t work for all content so take time to look at the content you have created and ask yourself would this really work on Pinterest?

What works well on Pinterest

So what type of content does work well on Pinterest? Below are some of the more obvious content types

• Recipes
• Crafts
• Room makeovers
• Garden makeovers
• Themed Party content
• How to articles
• Top tip articles
• Holiday planning articles

Other content can still do well on Pinterest, if in doubt search Pinterest to see if you can find lots of similar content.

How to get started on Pinterest

First, you must get a business account and claim your website. If you have a personal account you can convert it to a business one or you can start a new one. Once this has been done, claim your website in your settings and make sure you complete your profile as fully as possible. Pinterest users like to connect to the person so use a real photo of you in your profile picture. Don’t skip this step, a well-completed profile makes a big difference. Also, make sure your location includes your country if not your city/county and your country.

How to get pinning

Now it is time to create some boards. You should create a board for your blog which will only contain pins related to your blog. If you create content that matches a variety of the content types I listed above then you might consider have a few blog boards such as ‘blog name – family recipes’, ‘blog name – kid crafts’, ‘blog name – family travel tips’ etc. Make them boards that if someone found one post on there they might be interested in the other posts. Don’t worry about pinning anything just yet.

Create some boards that match the main topics you write about, this could be recipes, travel, Disney, crafts, or gardening. The choice is yours, you want to create a lot of boards at this point so think low double digits. The more you enjoy these topics the better. When naming your boards remember that this is how they are found on Pinterest so think about keywords and relevance. Recipes, for example, is a bit of a rubbish title, you could go for ‘Family Recipes on a budget’ or ‘Quick mid-week recipes for families’.

When Pinterest asks you to pin something to these boards then do what they say. Use some of the suggested pins that reflect that topic. Around 15 is a good start, this helps these newly created boards to really get started.

Once you have pins on your boards go back and edit them and add a description, category etc. Make sure you really think about this as it will help the boards to be found.

Create some pins

Now you need to go through your content and create some pins. I recommend using Canva as it is free and they have some great free Pinterest templates. I suggest coming up with a basic template that you would like to use that includes your site branding and URL. If using Canva, you can then save this as a project to reuse each time. Pins should be eye-catching and relevant. If you don’t have images then Unsplash is my favourite place for free stock photos but you can also get free ones on pexels and pixabay. Your pins should also include text that makes the reader want to click through to the post. This can be time-consuming but it will be worth it in the end. You could use fiverr or similar and pay someone to create pinnable images for you but be clear on your requirements and what you would like to see on the pins. Having pins that obviously belong to your blog can be a real bonus just bear that in mind if you ever go for a site redesign!

Once you have created your pin add it to your blog post. It is very important that the pin images have an alt text as this text will become the pin description on Pinterest. You can also add some hashtags for keywords. The easiest way to pin your posts is by using a Pinterest browser extension. Don’t forget you can pin a post to multiple boards so pin it to your relevant blog based board as well as any others that you created that match.

Other people pinning your content

The key to success is getting other people to pin your content. Put a call to action telling people to pin it for later and make sure you have a social sharing plugin or a Pinterest plugin that allows them to pin your post easily.

What else can you do?

Once you have some active boards, you have content pinned on Pinterest and you have finally got to grips with it then look at creating featured boards, organise your boards in a better way and create a profile header using some of your pins. Make sure you follow other bloggers’ boards and pin some of their pins to any relevant boards you have. You must keep pinning content that isn’t yours so put some time into your weekly tasks to spend some time on Pinterest adding your blog posts and other people’s content to your boards. You should also look at joining some relevant group boards, if you look at the boards your blogger friends use then you should see some that you can join just make sure you check out the rules. As an advanced step consider signing up to use rich pins to help give your pins more information.