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How to Use Pinterest to Grow Your Blog
May 19, 2020
Please note that this post may contain affiliate links and any sales made through such links will reward me a small commission – at no extra cost for you.
Pinterest is the secret weapon for new bloggers. Many people associate Pinterest with DIY crafts and wedding planning. Trust me, it is so much more than that. Pinterest is actually more of a search engine than a social media platform. It operates similar to Google, in that it pulls up pins based on a specific search result. Using Pinterest is key to your blogging success. This guide will dive into how to use Pinterest to grow your blog. If you’re just starting out on your blogging journey, then you’ll want to check out my guide on how to start a travel blog.
SEO and Pinterest are the backbones of your blog’s traffic. They are both super important, however SEO takes a whole lot longer. In fact, it can take up to 3 months for your post to rank on Google using SEO. For this reason, having a good Pinterest marketing strategy is so important.
Pinterest is constantly changing their platform and algorithm, much like any other social media platform, so it is important to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and strategies.
- Create Beautiful Pins for Pinterest
- Pin Consistently
- Create Multiple Pins for Each Post
- Join Pinterest Engagement Groups on Facebook
- Pin All Images from a Blog Post
- Use Keywords in your Pin Title and Descriptions
- Create Specific Boards (including a Best Of Board)
- Include a “Pin it” Button on your Blog
Create Beautiful Pins for Pinterest
Pinterest is a super visual platform. If you want others to share your pins, or to have your pins go viral, you will need to make sure that they are aesthetically pleasing. I use a free app called Canva to create pins with text overlay for Pinterest. In order to create viral pins, you’ll want to follow a few rules.
- Create vertical pins only! I recommend a minimum size of 700px in width by 800px in height.
- Create pins with text overlays that use clear, catchy text that describes your blog post. However, note that you’ll want to post the other images from blog as well, but we’ll touch on that later in this guide.
- You can also add your blog url to the pin.
- Make sure that your image properly matches what the pin is about. If the description and the image don’t match, then the platform may be confused and not understand where to show your pin.
- Maybe bloggers like to create a distinctive style, so that Pinterest users can immediately identify who the pin belongs to. Take some time playing around and developing your own style. This includes the colors, fonts, and layout.
Pin Consistently (the best way to use Pinterest to grow your blog!)
It is super important that you show up on Pinterest every single day, pinning consistently. I recommend pinning at least 20-30 times per day. his should be a mix of your own content and other high performing pins. I saw my greatest success on Pinterest when I was pinning 50 pins per day, however it is important to make sure that you space these out. A good way to do this is by using a scheduler.
In my opinion, Tailwind is the #1 tool for Pinterest management! It allows you to schedule your Pins at your top performing times, add your Pins to Tribes for more visibility, and use SmartLoops for your top performing Pins. It also gives you access to tons of useful analytics. I have their yearly subscription, plus add-ons for Tribes and SmartLoops. You can download Tailwind and get your first 100 pins scheduled for free. Note: By using my affiliate link I do receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Create Multiple Pins for Each Post
I recommend having a minimum of 3 pins per post, but you can have as many as 20 or 30! These do not all need to be, nor should they all be, in your actual post. You can either pin directly in the Pinterest platform, adding in the blog URL, or use a plug in such as Tasty Pins to hide images.
Make sure to add in a line at the bottom that tells your reader to pin the posts for later! I always find better results when I explicitly tell my readers, you guys, to do something! Plus, it’s a great place to throw in your keyword.
As of 2020, Pinterest puts a much higher emphasis on fresh content! This means, new images, new pins, etc. One strategy for tackling this is to create 20-30 pins for each post, and then slowly roll them out over time. This ensures that you’re constantly releasing fresh pins that are pointing to your posts.
Join Pinterest Engagement Groups on Facebook
Pinterest Engagement groups are a great way to give your pins a little extra love. You’re probably wondering what an engagement group is! These are weekly, or daily, threads where you can drop your pins in exchange for pinning the others pins in the thread. You’ll find tons of great options on Facebook, but my two favorites are Mappin’ Monday and Travel Bloggers Guide to Pinterest. Both of these groups are specific to travel bloggers, but you’ll find plenty of options for other niches as well.
Pin All Images from a Blog Post
I mentioned this briefly above, but it is such a key way for you to use Pinterest to grow your blog. Of course you’ll want to go ahead and pin all of your text overlay pins. However, you should also pin any other images that are in your post. Photos on Pinterest that do not have a photo overlay can often get a ton of impressions and saves, even though they historically bring in less link clinks.
Here is an example! The below photo from Tulum got approximately 30,000 impressions and over 200 saves, and it was just a normal image. Essentially this means that the photo was already in my blog post, so I didn’t have to do any extra work other than pinning it! Just make sure that the photos that you include in your travel blogs are in the vertical orientation.
Download the WP Tasty Pins plugin
WP Tasty Pins is a great option for adding Pinterest descriptions to your non-pin images, and one of the best ways to use Pinterest to grow your blog. WP Tasty Pins is paid plugin for WordPress that allows you to adds a “Pinterest description box” to your normal media functions on WordPress. What does this means? Rather than just pulling your alt text for Pinterest descriptions, you can now fill in a Pinterest Title and description in addition to your alt text. The plugin costs $29 USD and is so so worth it. You can purchase it here.
Use Keywords in your Pin Title and Descriptions
As I mentioned above, Pinterest is a search engine, just like Google. This means that similar to how you optimize your blog posts, you will need to optimize your pin descriptions to be found by Pinterest users. However, you’ll want to make sure that your pin descriptions feel natural, rather than just keyword stuffing. If you want to add in a few additional keywords, add them in at the end. However, I wouldn’t recommend doing that on every pin. Here is a good example:
Everything you need to know about hiking Seoul’s popular Bukhansan hike in South Korea. What to expect on the Bukhansan hike, how to get there, and what you need to pack.|Guide to hiking in Seoul, South Korea|Bukhansan National Park
This description let’s a Pinterest user know what my pin is about, it includes my keyword “Bukhansan hike” more than once, and it feels natural.
You can also add hashtags to your pins, but I recommend limiting this to 2-3 specific hashtags. Similar to keyword stuffing, filling your pin descriptions with tons of unrelated hashtags is also a bad idea.
Create Specific Boards (including a Best Of Board)
You should have lots of different Pinterest boards that are specific to different parts of your niche. For example, a travel blogger I have specific boards on Banff Travel Itineraries and Guides, as well as boards on the Best Road Trips.
When you have a new pin from a blog post, you need to first pin it to the more relevant board. For example, if I have a pin from a blog post on hiking to Annapurna Base Camp, I will want to pin that to my Nepal Travel board first. From here I can then pin it to Outdoor Adventures, Top Hiking Destinations, and Asia Travel. Only save the pin to boards that are highly relevant. It is better to pin to fewer specific boards, than lots of random ones. The last personal board that you should pin it to is your “Best Of” board. This is a board that features only your own pins. This makes it easier for other bloggers or Pinterest users to find your website and posts.
Pin to Group Boards
In addition to pinning to your own boards, you should also pin to group boards. Group boards are boards with multiple collaborators, which help your pins to get additional eyeballs. However, only pin to group boards that are highly relevant to your pin. This ensures that Pinterest knows exactly what your pin is about.
Include a “Pin it” Button on your Blog
It is super important that you include a “Pin it” button on your blog, so that your pins can be easily pulled and pinned from your posts. Many themes include this, however there are also plugins available. Here is an example from my blog post on Guanajuato City. You’ll notice the “Pin it” button in the upper left hand corner of the photo.
Interested in blogging? Here is another article that you might find helpful:
Like what you read about How to Use Pinterest to Grow Your Blog? Make sure to Pin it for later!
