When it comes to generating traffic to your blog every day, it’s extremely important to know how to use all the tools that are out there. That’s why today we share with you this Pinterest Guide, that will help you Skyrocket your blog to success.
So you started your own blog and you’re on your way to success. You’ve got your 20 articles (at least) up and running, and you are excited to get your message out there. Now what?
Now, it’s time to share all your hard work with the world, grow your audience, and find your tribe of followers.
But before you get overwhelmed by all the social media madness ( and trust us, it can get hard to keep track of things), the first thing you need to do is: Breathe, damn it!
We know you’re excited, anxious, and want it all, and you want it now! ( Freddie Mercury singing in the background) but, you need to chill…
We’re sure you’ve heard this before, but here it is: Don’t try to do it all at once. You will end up getting frustrated and stuck.
We don’t want you to get overwhelmed, and tired, and feel all beaten down.
That’s exactly why we wanted to break our traffic strategy down for you.
Step 1: Focus on ONE, and only ONE social platform at a time. Today’s case: Pinterest.
Step 2: Learn everything you can about it. And when we say everything, we mean everything that can help you and your business grow.
Step 3: Rock it! use what you’ve learned to your advantage.
Then, and only then, you can move on to the next social platform.
Today’s lesson: Pinterest
The obsession I have for Pinterest started a few years ago, I believe in 2013-2014. It was my way of learning new stuff every day. From DIY projects, recipes, self-improvement, finding my fashion style. You name it. It’s there.
After years and years of pinning, and trying out what works and why I found blogging. And not just blogging, for profit.
Related: How to Start a Money Making Blog from your bed in 7 Steps
As any normal person who wants to upgrade their financial and lifestyle situation, I started my research. And man, I found stuff… A LOT of stuff.
The info I found eventually made me want to give it a try.
But I couldn’t do this without my babe, my one and only, Andy. So, the businessman in him said: “If we do this, let’s do this right“. And we started gathering the info, making lists, brainstorming.
And after 6 months of learning, our blog Dreaming of Butterflies was born. Pinterest made us start, and Pinterest helps us and our blog grow.
That’s why we felt the need to share how we do it and help all the newbie bloggers grow as well.
But enough chit-chatting, let’s get to it!
The Ultimate Pinterest Guide to help you Skyrocket your Blog
What you need to know about Pinterest
Okay, okay, we know. Pinterest is not seen as a “social platform” by many, but more of a visual Google. The thing is, it’s a little bit of both if you ask us.
Yes, it’s all about the visuals with it, but, if you want to grow, you still need to go social. You need to interact. But we’ll get to that in a sec.
Pinterest is the best platform to be on as an entrepreneur, no matter your market or type of business. You can find anything you need on there, from recipe ideas, all kinds of life hacks, to how to DIY even your whole wedding.
And guess from where do these ideas come from? From people like you. From blogs like yours. According to the awesome people at Pinterest, over 75% of the info out there on the platform, come from bloggers.
And the best part of Pinterest? It’s totally FREE.
That’s why it’s so important for you to get on Pinterest, ASAP.But, don’t be fooled, as simple as it is, there are a few little details that can change the outcome of your game.
1. Pinterest Basics
Pinterest is created to be a visual platform for the best ideas of the world. They are displayed as pictures, called pins, organized by every person on the platform into boards.
It’s like, you have a foam board on the wall of your bedroom, and you keep pinning photos, recipes, ideas on to it.It’s exactly that, but the digital version.
The most important thing you need to know about Pinterest is that for your business you need to create a business account, not a personal one.
Why? Well, it’s kind of simple. To be able to link your blog to your Pinterest account, and have access to the Analytics section. Trust us when we say that it is important.
Here’s where you get some other details like what other things does your audience pin, and is interested in, what’s your best performing pin & board, how many views does Pinterest generate for your blog, etc.
But what are pins?
Well, since you asked… Pins are basically the way you display your blog posts to the world of Pinterest.
How to add one?
It’s a simple 2 step process.
Tip #1. Be sure to add the link to your blog post! And verify it after.
Tip #2. Be sure to add a description of your pin before pinning it to any board. Some big bloggers use text like: “Look at this awesome tip I found today…” and similar to that, because it draws people in.
Personal note: The best-performing pins, are the ones in a vertical format and filled with color, bright.
Tip. Create your personal image, your “recognizable look”. You can do that by adding frames to your posts, by using a specific font, etc.
The best free and easy program to use for creating pins and other images you may need for your blog and social media is hands down Canva.
The best part? You don’t have to be a tech-savvy, you don’t need to know about dimensioning the photos, editing and all that.
That makes it perfect for everyone. Oh, and did we mention that it is FREE?
About pinning other people’s pins, it’s so simple, that the actual explanation is longer. You just click on a pin you like, and click on the “Save” button, then choose the board you want to save them on.
But where do you put these pins?
On boards, of course! Think of boards as specific folders for every interest. For example, if you’re a lifestyle blogger like us, create one for every topic you are interested in and actually talk about on your blog.
Some of the big bloggers recommend using the same name for your boards on Pinterest, as you have them categorized on your blog.
At first, we didn’t believe this was true, but it actually helps you a lot.
People get accustomed to your blog and your boards, and having other names than on your blog may be strange and confusing for most of them.
Tip. Keep yourself from creating boards that are unrelated to your blog or to the direction in which your blog will go in the future. Save those for your personal Pinterest board. (yes, it’s helpful to have one of those too!)
The way to grow on Pinterest is to share other people’s content similar to yours, mixed with yours. Some big bloggers say that the perfect number is 1 original pin (aka yours), to every 5 to 10, of others.
In other words, every 6th pin on every board should be one of yours. This increases the chances of your content to be seen by many people.
Oh, and on your boards, you make the rules, so you can repin as much as you want, but still, spamming is a big no-no, so we advise you not to do it.
Tip #1. For starters, create at least 10 boards related to your business, and put at least 10 pins in every one of them.
Tip #2. The description of your boards is very, VERY important as well. Big bloggers often recommend that you use keywords as description, instead of a longer, more personal approach.
Tip #3. Have a board specially made for your blog, something like “Best of – <and the name of your blog>“.
Personal experience: At first, we described the boards with a longer text, it was okay, but after changing it to only specific keywords for those boards, we gained more exposure, and our followings increased like crazy.
2. Interests
Now that you know how to pin and where to pin, make sure to follow people that do what you do, similar bloggers, and interests related to your blog.
Tip. Pay attention to what interests your audience has, some of them may inspire you to expand in that direction.
3. Pimp your Pinterest profile
This part is all about making your Pinterest profile as good looking as possible.
Pinterest actually gives you a big hand in helping you do that, by letting you create a slider of your most important boards, and by allowing you to have a nice description and a link to your blog, up front.
Tip. Make sure to have your description a super short idea of what your blog is about, and use keywords here as well.
4. Group Boards
Now that you know everything that you need to get started on Pinterest like a pro, it’s time to get to the long-awaited social part of this Pinterest Guide. And that is through group boards.
Group boards are like the boards you made for your profile, but the difference is you invite other people to contribute to them as well, with pins according to the name of the board.
For example, you have a board named “Money Tips”, and you want to make it a group board, you just invite people. Then, they will post only money related pins.
Group boards are very important for you to gain exposure, that’s why you need to get on the best you can find for your niche, as fast as possible.
For weeks, my “day job” (seriously) was to find and ask to be a contributor to as many as I could find out there. So that’s what you need to do now.
The best site to get you started on that path is PinGroupie. It’s this awesome site, created just for this. You can sort them out and find the ones you need, by selecting what you need on the menu bar.
Tip #1. Look for groups with a high number of Repins. It’s better to be in a smaller group with a big repin rate, than a huge one with 0 repins. Yes, you want a big audience, but Repins are the way to go.
Tip #2. To know who is in charge of the group, all you need to do is look up at the description, and the first bubble you’ll see on the right is the owner of the group.
Tip #3. Before you apply be sure to READ the description. Here you will find all the info about how to join, what the board is about, and if it’s right for you or not.
Why are Group Boards so important?
Think of it this way. When you pin something on a group board, your pin is viewable by your audience and the audience of that group. When someone repins your pin, it will be visible to their audience as well.
So, even though you only have 30 people following you right now, when you pin to a group of 1000, your audience is the total amount 1030! If a person with an audience of 10 000 people repins your pin, those people can see your pin too!
That’s how you grow.
But… We can’t just let you go like this. Before you get accustomed to using PinGroupie, and that might take a little while, at simple as it is, you need help getting started.
That’s why we put together this list of 25 group boards you can join and a bonus!
Tip #1. If you want to increase your chances of getting accepted, it’s good to have a nice message, not too long, not too short. Introduce yourself, and your blog, with a link, of course.
Ask nicely to be invited, and it’s always good to let the person in charge of accepting you know that you are willing to help them with anything if needed.
Tip #2. Always leave a link to your Pinterest profile, and don’t forget to include your email address of your Pinterest as well.
And now, the List.
25+ Pinterest Group Boards to join Today:
All topics are accepted on these boards, so it’s the perfect place to start:
1. ***Bloggers ‘Post it’ Board***
5. The Best of Lifestyle & Blogging
7. POST YOUR BLOG! Bloggers promote here
10. Sunny Days Blog Group Board
11. Bloggers Unite
13. THIS WORKS BLOGGING GROUP BOARD
14. Pins Catastrophe – Olivia’s Catastrophe
15. Girl Boss Group
17. Female Bloggers Free for All
18. Blog-Woo Babes Group Board
20. ALL THE BLOGS
22. Bloggers Group Board: Share Your Blogs here!
23. Blog + Biz Babes
25. Great Bloggers
And of course, your BONUS, for sticking ’till the end, our own Group Board, “Bloggers Unite – Let’s help each other“.
We hope this Ultimate Pinterest Guide was helpful! Now, what are you waiting for? Let’s get busy! Let’s Skyrocket your blog!
Our question for you is: What other things would you like to know about Pinterest?
Hi Maya and Andy,
I’ve been wanting to learn how to improve my Pinterest marketing strategy. Your article came at the right time.
I’ve been using Pinterest for about 6 months. I am now starting to see some traction on Pinterest, but I know that I still have a lot to learn to improve my traffic and blog growth.
I’m going to take the time to check out some of these Group Boards that you’ve shared. Thanks for putting that list together for us, I truly appreciate it.
Have a great day 🙂
Susan
Hello, Susan! Thank you so much for your kind words. We are happy we helped you! We love to share our findings with the world, so if you discovered anything helpful here, our job is done 🙂 Keep on pinning! Have an awesome day!
Hey,
Great article! I´ve been tweaking my Pinterest already! I´ve checked out boards for Fashion on PinGroupie and it gives the choice for ascending or descending the information but doesn´t actually say how many repins the board has had so that´s what my query is.I found a group board but no way of messaging the owner(I guess they head hunt Pinners!lol)
I’ve noticed PinGroupie updated their site, so that’s cool. Just be sure to select when you filter at the “order by” section – “Repins”. As for the group board owners, you can contact the owner of the group by simply giving them a private message on Pinterest. Some may respond, so give that a try. But don’t jump into the big ones from the start. Go slow, start small. And breathe, be patient, even if that sounds impossible now!