The Beginner’s Guide to Pinterest
The Beginner’s Guide to Pinterest
Hey there! Today I want to talk about one of the best traffic referrers for bloggers, Pinterest! Pinterest isn’t just the place for you to find your next DIY project. It’s a place that can help you substantially grow your blog traffic! I’ve put together this beginner’s guide to Pinterest to help new bloggers get setup!
So, you’re thinking, “what can I really use Pinterest for? I’m not taking pretty food pictures or things like that!” That’s okay, neither am I! You don’t need food pictures, you just need pretty graphics with catchy headlines that make your audience want to click to your website and read your post! That’s where this guide comes in!
An Introduction to Pinterest
Pinterest is not really a social media platform like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. It’s a visual search engine. You search for things and the pictures/graphics are what get your attention and make you click to the website to learn about whatever the author is sharing. Then, if you like that pin and want to share it with your followers, you repin that pin to a Pinterest board.
Boards are like collections of ideas on your profile. You want each topic that you talk about to have a board on your profile, and you always want to have a board for only your blog’s posts. You also want to make sure that you’re joining relevant group boards. (We’ll get into more detail on that later.) Here’s a screenshot of some of my boards.
[ Learn How to Start a Blog]
The last thing you need to know on the introduction is that like any search engine there is an algorithm you need to keep up with. I know, one more thing you need to keep up with. However, it’s not as complex as Google’s algorithm, but it is fluid. To keep up on the algorithm, you want to make sure you’re using keywords that will help your pins rank in the search; that way they are found by potential new readers.
Getting Your Profile Setup
So you’re ready to jump on the Pinterest train, but you need to get set up right first. That means starting off on the right foot when setting up your profile. These are the key things you want to do when you set up your profile:
- Setting up with a business account
- Claiming your website on Pinterest and set up rich pins
- Creating board covers for brand cohesion
Starting Up with a Business Account
Using a business account on Pinterest is key to your success on Pinterest. A business account allows you access to Pinterest analytics, so you can see how your pins are performing. You also have access to Pinterest ads, but the main reason to get a business account is for the analytics.
If you already have a Pinterest account, you don’t have to make a new one. However, if you want to keep them separate you can. I didn’t, I just used the one I already had. All I did was change it to a business account and change the username and display name.
[Five Reasons Why You Should Use Pinterest to Grow Your Audience]
Claim Your Website on Pinterest and Set Up Rich Pins
Claiming your website on Pinterest is also very important. This allows you to use rich pins, which you definitely want to do. Claiming your site is also how Pinterest is able to get the analytics for your pins. You’re also able to claim your YouTube, Instagram, and Etsy accounts so you can get stats on pins from those accounts.
Rich pins add extra detail to your pins based on meta-date on your website. Pinterest uses rich pins for products pins, articles, and recipe pins. Here’s what Pinterest has to say about rich pins. They also share detailed instructions on how to apply for rich pins, and the meta-data you need to add to your site.
Creating Board Covers for Brand Cohesion
Now, this tip is more important for your brand and look as opposed to playing the Pinterest algorithm. Using board covers not only creates brand cohesion, but it also makes it easier for people to know what your boards are about. Sometimes, it’s easier to see the board title on the board cover image than reading the title itself. When you make your board covers, you want them to match your brand. Use your brand colors and fonts, but keep them simple. They don’t need to be overly complicated covers, just something easy and on-brand.
[Learn How to Set Up Your Pinterest Account for Success]
How to Start Growing on Pinterest
Growing on Pinterest involves pinning your content and spreading the love. To start growing on Pinterest, here’s a couple of things to keep in mind:
- Keep a good pin ratio
- Multiple pins are a must
- Using Tailwind to schedule pins
Keeping a Good Pin Ratio
Here’s how you want to use Pinterest, especially in the beginning. You want to pin about 50/50 your content vs. other content. This is especially true if you’re just starting out on your blog and don’t have that many pins. If you just keep spamming your own pins, then Pinterest will eventually start flagging your account as spam. After you’ve started to write more blog posts, you’ll eventually want to shift towards 80/20 your content vs. other content. Once you get your account really set up, you want to be driving the traffic to your pins and your site, not everyone else’s.
Create Multiple Pins
Remember how I said you don’t want to spam your own pins, you especially don’t want to pin the same pin multiple times to your boards. You want to create multiple pins for each blog post that you create. I have roughly over 20 Pinterest designs in a template that I’ll make for each blog post, yes 20 designs! You don’t have to start out with 20 different designs, but make about five different designs to use as templates and use them for each blog post.
[Learn Why You Need to Create Multiple Pins for Blog Posts]
Using Tailwind to Schedule Pins
Tailwind is the holy grail key to growing your Pinterest. Pinterest allows you to schedule your pins, join tribes to share your pins in, and has some pretty awesome analytics to help you understand your profile. The best part though is the scheduling pins part. Tailwind allows you to create your own pin schedule that Tailwind will follow when you add pins to your queue. You have to put the pins in your queue, but Tailwind does the rest. Tailwind has helped me immensely in growing my Pinterest, especially since I have a full-time job and can’t be pinning all the time and neither can you! You have a lot to work on trying to grow your blog, let Tailwind take care of Pinterest!
Sign up for Tailwind and get $15 credit when you upgrade to the Plus plan when you use my referral link!
Final Thoughts
Pinterest can easily be one of your top traffic referrers, you just need to get it set up right from the beginning. I hope this beginner’s guide to Pinterest has answered some of your questions when it comes to Pinterest. It really isn’t too complicated to get your Pinterest set up right, especially once you get rich pins set up. That’s probably the most difficult because it involves some minor coding, but remember, Pinterest has a guide to help with the code!
Remember, this is just a beginner’s guide, it’s not meant to be all-encompassing or answer all of your questions. This guide is meant to just scratch the surface and get you set up and ready for more of the advanced stuff! I really hope this guide helped you and that you use Pinterest to its full advantage. It really can help your traffic explode if you build the right foundation for it.
