Last updated on August 2nd, 2018 at 06:05 am
How to use Pinterest for your blog. As a blogger, it’s extremely important to learn how to use Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog. From my experience, it’s one of the traffic methods that actually work faster than any other traffic strategy.
If you’re a blogger, there are a few things that you need to know about Pinterest traffic. First and foremost, you have to make sure that you’re blog is Pinterest ready.
It may sound confusing, but the truth is that if you’re using a self-hosted WordPress blog, getting your blog ready for Pinterest is not hard. I’m going to walk you through on how to get your blog ready.
Then I am going to give you some Pinterest tips that will set you up to start driving traffic from Pinterest. But before we get into this, I want you to know that you shouldn’t expect to see overnight results.
It takes time to really learn how to use the platform. In fact, you’ll probably wonder is it worth using Pinterest for blog traffic? There’s just to much work involved.
Well, the truth is that yes, it’s worth it. Yes some niches do better on Pinterest than others. But the platform can help you improve your SEO traffic.
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Setting Up Your Pinterest Account
First things first, if you don’t have a Pinterest account, then you’ll need to make sure you create one. When I started this blog, I had no clue what Pinterest was.
It wasn’t until I started reading so many blogs that I realized that I needed to jump on Pinterest. Instead of spending months trying to figure things out on my own, I invested in the Pinning Perfect course, which taught me all the basics and foundational setup for my Pinterest account.
If you’re planning on using Pinterest for business, you will need to make sure that you set up a business account. Here’s a great tutorial that will help you create your account.
3 Steps to Get Your Blog Pinterest Ready
Once you’ve created your Pinterest business account, it’s time to get your blog ready for Pinterest. It won’t take long and once you do these steps once, you won’t have to worry about them again.
#1 Verify Your Blog On Pinterest
You’ll want to verify your blog on Pinterest in order to access the Analytics and rich pins features on Pinterest. I suggest using the Yoast SEO plugin because it will make it so easy to do. You won’t even have to access your server via FTP.
Here’s a great tutorial I wrote on how to confirm your WordPress on Pinterest with Yoast SEO. It even has screenshots so you can see how easy it is.
#2 Choose a Social Sharing Plugin
After your blog is set up on Pinterest and you’re ready to start pinning, you will want to choose the right social sharing plugin. I personally use and love the Social Warfare Plugin.
I’ve even written some great tutorials that will help you make the most of the plugin.
Related posts on the Social Warfare Plugin:
- Is Social Warfare the Right Plugin for You?
- My Social Warfare Plugin Experience
- How I Customized the Click to Tweet on Social Warfare
- I Share My Pinterest Image Creation System for Social Warfare
- How to Setup the Free Social Warfare Plugin
Regardless of which plugin you use, the most important thing to remember is to choose a plugin that makes it easy for others to share your content.
#3 Create Your Pins for Your Blog Posts
The final step to get your blog ready is to start creating the pins for your blog posts. I always make it a point to create pins for all my new blog posts. I personally use Photoshop for my pins, but you can use PicMonkey or Canva to create your pins.
It really doesn’t matter which graphic tool you use to create pins. Find the one that is easiest for you to learn and start using it. You’ll get better the more often you continue using it.
How to Use Pinterest for Your Blog
Now that you have the basics set up, it’s time to start learning how to use Pinterest for your blog. I personally use both Board Booster and Tailwind to help me out. However, I am now implementing some manual pinning alongside of my automated schedulers.
Find Your Pinning Strategy
When I first started using Pinterest, I was pinning 70 plus pins per day. I am still constantly testing the number of pins that help me get traffic. The truth is that you’re going to have to find what actually works for you.
You’re going to read so many bloggers say that you should be pinning 100 pins per day. Then you’re going to read some that say you should be pinning less.
Unfortunately, everyone’s pinning strategy is different. The best way to find out what works for you is to just keep testing it out and see what actually works for your blog.
I know that’s such a vague answer. But the truth is that everyone’s pinning strategy is different. You’re going to have to spend time finding out what your magic number is.
Related: How to Use Pinterest for Business Trying A New Strategy
Join Group Boards
It took me forever to start joining group boards because I was lazy. It takes time to go out and find group boards that you can join. Plus I really didn’t have an organizational system in place that made it easy for me to keep track of which group boards I had reached out to and which ones I hadn’t yet reached out to.
At one point, my Pinterest outreach was a huge mess. It wasn’t until I sat down and created a Pinterest blogger outreach template that helped me stay organized.
Today, I am a member of around 20 group boards. I actually owe it to the group boards for helping me grow my blog traffic.
When I first started pinning, I was just pinning my content to my own boards. I never noticed any repins or traffic to my blog. It wasn’t until I started joining Pinterest boards that I finally started seeing my blog grow.
Re-pin Your Best Pins
One of the biggest mistakes that I made when I first started pinning on Pinterest is I would only pin my pins once. Then I read so many articles that you should pin your pins more than once.
So I started pinning all my pins more than once. Nothing seemed to work until I realized that you should be pinning your popular pins more often.
Make sure that you find out which pins of yours are driving the most traffic to your blog. Then make sure that you’re pinning those pins as often as possible.
Keep getting your popular pins out on Pinterest. They’ve already been proven to work and you want to make sure that you keep repinning them.
You want to make sure that you’re repinning the pins that are getting re-pinned. If you created a pin and it doesn’t get any re-pins then move on to another pin.
You can try creating another pin for that blog post. That’s actually one of the reasons that I started creating multiple pins for my blog posts. Unfortunately, you never know which pins are going to get re-pinned.
Sometimes I’ll create a pin that I think will drive tons of traffic to my blog. You know what happens? Nothing, nada, that pin never takes off, so I have to go back to the drawing board.
You will eventually learn which types of pins get the most repins. While I still create some pins that suck, I’ve learned a lot after spending time on Pinterest and deleting pins from my boards.
It takes time to learn how to develop eye-catching pins. I still think that mine are not as good as others, but that’s okay, I am still getting some re-pins and constantly working on improving my pins.
Even if your first few pins suck that’s okay. I think everyone goes through the learning curve of creating awesome shareable pins.
Delete Pins With No Repins
I started deleting pins from my Pinterest boards that didn’t have any re-pins a few weeks ago. It’s a lot of work, I mean who really wants to go back to their Pinterest boards and delete pins?
That’s what I thought as well. But after reading several articles online about deleting pins, I finally decided that I’d give it a try. You can read about my experience here.
What I’ve learned is that you want to put your best foot forward on Pinterest. Pinterest is kind of like Facebook.
The more people comment and engage with your Facebook posts, the more engagement you get. Well, the same goes with Pinterest.
If you can curate the best of the best content that gets tons of engagement, well Pinterest starts to give you some love as well. They start sending you more traffic by sharing your content more.
You’ll even get featured in the popular categories of Pinterest. It still surprises me when I see my pins there.
If you still haven’t taken the time to delete your pins that don’t have any engagement, then now is the time to do so. Go through your boards, starting with your most popular boards and start deleting pins that 1-3 repins.
From this point forward, you should only be pinning quality pins on your boards. Don’t just pin anything to your boards. Make sure that pin actually leads to some quality content that will help your followers.
Bigger is Better
I’ve read that the bigger your pin is the better and more re-pins you will get. While I still haven’t tested out this theory, except on one pin. I have found that the pin that I tested it out on, did get more repins than the regular sized pins that I create.
Of course, I need to test this out on a few other pins to see if it’s actually true. Right now, all my pins are 735 x 1102 pixels. However, I am planning on creating more pins in the range of 735 x 1700 pixels as that is the size that I tested out and seem to be getting more re-pins.
Try Tailwind Tribes
When I first started this blog, Tailwind Tribes were free to use. Today, I believe that you have to pay to use this feature. The great thing is that they have several different levels that you can join.
If you’re completely new and don’t know how to use them, then I recommend starting off with the cheapest plan. Once you determine whether or not Tailwind Tribes are worth your investment, you can then upgrade.
I actually upgraded to the Unlimited plan because I love the Tailwind Tribes feature. Plus I got grandfathered in and they gave me a great price when they switched to a paid plan.
Since I know how important it is to invest in the right tools, I went ahead and upgraded my plan.
Be Careful When Joining Tribes
Once you start joining tribes, you’re going to be tempted to add all your content at once. Make sure that you take the time to read the rules. Most Tribes have a set limit to the number of pins you can add per day.
Plus you’ll need to make sure that you are sharing other people’s content and not just dumping your pins and running. Tailwind Tribes are pretty awesome and you will want to make sure that you join a few that are closely related to your niche.
As soon as you start adding your pins, you’ll be able to which ones are actually worth staying in. If you’re not getting people to re-pin and share your content, don’t be afraid to leave.
Remember, you don’t want to be in Tribes where you’re sharing everyone’s content and no one is sharing yours. So pay attention if you’re getting re-pins and shares.
Those are the Tribes that you want to join. I’ve narrowed my Tribes down to the ones that are actually very active. I make it a point to add my pins there and jump in there and share my Tribemates content.
It’s a win-win situation for all of us.
Checking Your Tailwind Traffic Via Google Analytics
I know that you’re thinking, how do I see if I am actually getting traffic from Tailwind Tribes. Well, that’s easy. Open up your Google Analytics and go to Acquisition >> Campaigns >> All Campaigns
Here you’ll see all the traffic that is coming to your blog via Tailwind Tribes. This will help you decide whether or not it’s worth Powering up your Tailwind Tribes plan.
Create Multiple Pins
At first, I was only creating one pin per blog post. That was until a friend told me that I should try creating more than one pin per blog post. I don’t always do that, but I have been spending the time creating more pins.
This is why you should be creating more than one pin. You’ll see that one pin will always get more shares than another pin. Thank goodness I now have several templates on Photoshop that make the process of creating pins a breeze.
It usually doesn’t take me more than a few minutes to create more than one image for each blog post. Although, I have to admit that I don’t always do that.
I stay so busy with my freelancing business and other personal stuff off of my blog. Sometimes life just gets in the way.
Use Automated Schedulers
As you know, I’ve been spending more time pinning manually. However, this doesn’t mean that I am NOT using automated schedulers. Both Board Booster and Tailwind make my life so much easier so I can focus on other things in my business and away from my business.
While I try to manually pin 7-10 pins per day. The truth is that doesn’t always happen. Which is okay, because the automated schedulers are set up to help me pin daily to Pinterest.
If you do use the automated schedulers, don’t make the mistake of relying on them 100%. I did that for my first year and I didn’t get great results.
- Sign up to get 100 free pins from Board Booster
- Sign up to get 30 days free trial with Tailwind
Check Your Pinterest Analytics
The only way that you’re going to know if what you’re doing is working or not is to pay attention to your Analytics. You don’t need to check your stats every day.
However, every 30 days, go into your Analytics and see if your Pinterest traffic is growing. As long as you see a continual upward growth then that’s awesome.
It means that what you’re doing is working. If you’re not seeing growth, then go back to the drawing board. Download the Kindle App and read anything and everything that you can about Pinterest.
I don’t believe there is a secret to growing your traffic on Pinterest. It just takes time and experimentation to see what actually works for you.
Google Analytics
I actually use Google Analytics to track my blog traffic and growth. If you’ve installed this software on your blog, then you can easily see if you’re getting traffic from Google. If you still haven’t installed Google Analytics on your blog, here’s a tutorial to help you out.
Visits from Pinterest will show as “pinteret.com / referral” or if you have a UTM tracking on your link, it will show up as that medium instead of the referral.
If you use Google Analytics, you’ll be able to tell how Pinterest users or any other user is interacting with your blog. Which blog posts did they enter your blog from? Did they click on another blog post? Did they just enter your blog and leave without reading any other posts?
What links did they click on after they entered your blog? Just by knowing this, you can work on those posts and make sure that they are optimized to the fullest.
You can also use this information to help you create new blog posts. You can also revise these blog posts to steer your visitors where you want them to go.
Give It Time
One of the things that I have learned from really using Pinterest for the last 2 months is that it takes time. It’s so easy to believe that if you pin a pin today, it’ll go viral tomorrow.
Yes, that’s possible. I’ve actually had a mini-viral experience and let me tell you it’s exciting. But it doesn’t last and the truth is that you shouldn’t shoot for the viral pins.
Instead, you should shoot for longevity. This means that you create pins that are eye-catching with amazing content. Share those pins and pay attention to your popular pins.
Keep getting those pins out on Pinterest and you will see growth. Just don’t expect to skyrocket your blog traffic overnight. Learning how to drive traffic from Pinterest to your blog takes time.
Just like anything else in blogging persistence and consistency is the key.
Once you have a strategy in place you have to stick with it. You need to give it time to work. Pinning stuff today doesn’t mean it’s going to be popular tomorrow.
Your pins have to take time to sit and age for a while Pinterest has to decide what your pin is about and what to do with it before you actually start seeing traction on it.
Pinterest is About Longevity
Unlike a Tweet, your pins on Pinterest can drive traffic to your blog forever. Since Pinterest is a search engine your pins could be seen months or years after your original pin. When people come to Pinterest in search of information, if your pin pops up in the feed, you open the doors for new visitors to repin it.
So it’s your job to get on the search feeds of Pinterest so you can get traffic to your blog. Just like learning about Google SEO, it does take time to learn and it won’t happen overnight.
But with the persistence and dedication of learning as much as you can about Pinterest, I have no doubt that you will start to see some success.
Using Pinterest to Get More Blog Traffic to Your Blog
Man, that was a long blog post. Hopefully, these Pinterest marketing tips help you realize that there is no secret to Pinterest. I’ve covered a lot in this post, so let me break it down into easily digestible steps that you need to use Pinterest for blog traffic.
- Use a business account
- Get your WordPress blog ready
- Verify your Pinterest account to enable rich pins and analytics
- Add a social sharing Plugin
- Find a pinning strategy that works for you
- Use Group Boards and Tailwind Tribes to help you grow
- Pin other people’s content as well as your own
- Pin your own content more than once
- Keep trying to improve your pin graphics
- Create multiple pins for your blog posts
- Use Analytics to help you grow and improve your Pinterest strategy
Final Take Away
While you don’t want all your traffic coming from Pinterest. The truth is that it’s one of the traffic methods that give you the best bang for your time and effort.
I’m not saying that you’ll see results in a few months. What I am saying is that if you start pinning today, your pins will always be on Pinterest and those pins will drive traffic to your blog, no matter if you never pin again.
Just remember, that the more pins you have on Pinterest, the more breadcrumbs that you’ll have that lead back to your blog. So don’t stop creating and uploading just one pin.
If you’re still on the fence about starting your blog or just need some help with your WordPress blog. Stop by my WordPress for beginner tips and access some of the best tutorials from this blog that will help you start, grow and monetize your blog.
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Are you using Pinterest to grow your blog? If so, how long did it take you to start learning how to use Pinterest for your blog traffic? Let me know, I’d love to hear about your experience.
What an awesome blog post! I can see that if I want to use Pinterest, I had better get busy making more pins and also re-pinning them.
Hi Jeanine,
Yeah, I made the mistake when I first started on Pinterest of only pinning my pins once. If you don’t have a lot of content to share, then you definitely should consider creating more than one pin.
Good luck with your Pinterest strategy and let me know how it goes.
Have a great day 🙂
Susan