Do you use Pinterest? If the answer is yes, do you also use it to drive traffic to your blog?
I’ve been using Pinterest for a couple of years now, and once I stumbled on it and how it could deliver my content to a new audience, I was hooked. It’s taken a lot of research and understanding to get it working for me, and I’m not a complete expert at all, but hopefully my experiences and tips will help anyone else hoping to use Pinterest in the same way.
In January 2012, I started pinning images from my blog, and started to understand the best way to do it, in order to make it as appealing as possible. Traffic started to grow slowly, but at the time it was apparent that my pins were bringing in new readers. I kept pinning, changing my strategy as the site developed, and as I found new collaborative boards.
Today I get over 50% of my traffic from Pinterest, and at the time of writing, have just under 1 million followers.
So, read on for some tips on how you can make Pinterest work for your blog.
Business Account:
If you’re going to monetize your blog at all, you need to register for a Business Account on Pinterest. It’s free and simple to convert if you are already a member. One of the great advantages is the ability to use Pinterest Analytics, which will help you identify the pins that are popular, the posts that gain Pinterest traffic and how you can maximise the number of Pinterest users that click through to your blog.
Link your Blog:
Make sure you have linked your blog to your Pinterest account, and it’s verified. It will then show at the top of your profile page.
Rich Pins:
Apply to Pinterest to gain Rich Pins, which adds extra detail to your pins to make them more useful. It also makes them stand out more, hopefully gaining more repins. It sounds complicated to sort this out, but it really isn’t, and if you run a WordPress blog with a Yoast plugin, it’s even easier.
Add Pin It to your Blog:
It’s obvious isn’t it, and most of us do it now already, but make sure you make it easy for your readers to pin your blog images to their Pinterest account. Add a Pin It button to your images, and to your social sharing buttons.
Create Pinterest Appropriate Images:
So what are they? Well you must ensure you have at least one portrait image from a blog post if you’re going to pin it up to Pinterest. For me, they work best when I add some text onto the image, showcasing the content of the blog post. Depending on your niche or area of blogging, make the image the best you can. Research what others are pinning in your niche, and see what does well. Develop your own images and find what works for you. Add a good description, either through Yoast or the Alt Tag, or when you pin it to your blog board on your profile.
Understand the Smart Feed:
Pinterest recently changed the feed we all see. Instead of seeing everything that’s pinned from those we follow, it now picks off the pins to make your feed more tailored to your interests. It even adds in related pins from those you don’t follow. It means that traffic from your pins won’t be as direct as it was, but will be more of a slow grow. It also means that search is incredibly important. You need people to find your pins via the search option, so use lots of keywords on both your pins and your boards. Don’t repin spammy pins, make sure they lead to genuine content, and resist the urge to use hashtags. They are of no value on Pinterest currently.
Collaborative Boards:
You don’t need a huge following at all to get really good traffic from Pinterest, particularly with the new Smart Feed and search options. But if you do want to grow your audience, look at joining some collaborative boards that will give you access to new pinners. Respect the rules of the board, and the board owners and use them to everyone’s advantage. It can be difficult to gain access sometimes; you’ll need to engage with the board owner, share their content or add your name to a specific pin. The rules for joining vary from board to board.
Follow Jen Stanbrook’s board Love Home Bloggers on Pinterest.
You can check out my other website, jenstanbrook.com for all my latest Pinterest news, coaching, courses and consultancy. Join the free Resource Hub for a bank of useful information. Read the blog for all the latest tips, or sign up to the free 7 Days to a Killer Pinterest Strategy course HERE.
Good luck with using Pinterest for your blog, and let me know how you get on.
Jen x
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Jen Stanbrook is an interiors writer, blogger and presenter, with an insatiable love of all things home. 
I could kiss you! Thanks Jen, now I don’t have to bug you all the time with questions! You have worked so hard at this and huge congratulations on the following – just shows that you get back what you put in, and lots more.
Haha, thanks Penny! x
Some really good hints and tips there Jen. I shall pin this post to my bloggers and pinterest board 😉
Thanks Amanda, appreciate it 😉
Hi Jen, Happy New Year! I would love to be part of your collaborative Pinterest Board if that is ok with you,
Many Thanks
Amanda
No problem Amanda, I’ve invited you to the board 🙂
Great post Jen and so useful! Will pin it 🙂
THanks so much Becky, appreciate it! x
This is all super helpful Jen thank you! I have been spending more time on Pinterest over Christmas and have seen quite the surge in traffic from that time 🙂 And the Rich Pins tip is fab, for some reasons I assumed it was a plugin and being on Squarespace that I wouldnt be able to use it so I am off to explore now!
Thanks Annie. Pinterest has been so busy since Christmas, although I’ve noticed it slowing today, which makes sense. Def get Rich Pins, it’s well worth it.
Great post Jen, can I ask what app you use to add text to images. I realise this is something I need to do.
Thanks Emma, I just use Picmonkey tbh, nothing fancy. 🙂
Some fabulous tips here – I dont do many pin-worthy sort of posts, but will be making more of an effort with those that could work!
Fantastic, thanks Sonya, you only need one or two popular pins to build new traffic 🙂 Good luck x
Some fabulous tips here Jen, thanks for this. I’ve shared with BritMums too!
Fantastic, thanks so much Susanna.
great tips Jen! I need to spend a bit more time working on Pinterest
Oh this is something I really need to work on harder (can I have a few more hours in the day please?!)
Great informative post Jen thank you, I’m bookmarking it too.
Thanks Liz, share some of those hours with me will you!
Great tips Jen. I love your boards. xx
LOVE This post and it’s perfect for my 2015 plan, thank you for writing it up
Such a useful post. I’m on Pinterest but just for fun really. I should use it to draw more blog traffic too. Will definitely use this advice- thanks x
The pinable images is where I stumble. Shall apply for rich pins. Well done on your success.
Nice post. I will certainly be using Pinterest more in 2015. I did use it in 2014 for my Christmas sites but the bounce rate was very high. Time to knuckle down with it again. 🙂
Thanks Marcel. It’s true yes, Pinterest traffic can raise the bounce rate on your site, but there are things you can do to counteract that like adding mailing lists etc to encourage further time on the site. Good luck with it!
There are some fab tips there, I love Pinterest but I am not using it properly for my blog so these are some great tips for me.
Good luck with it Steph, and thanks. Welcome to Love Home Bloggers, too 🙂
Hi Jen,
Great post about using Pinterest for your blog – I will be having a go! Thanks Claire
Great advice! I’m really trying to work at Pinterest this year, it’s my favourite social network so I’m trying to spend as much time there as possible 🙂 x
Thanks Jess. Ha, it’s not hard to end up spending lots of time over there is it? x
What a great post Jen, you have certainly made me focus on how to get the most out of my PinniNg and blog. I’ll share it x
Thanks so much Karen, really appreciate the comment and share x
Thanks Jen, you are the best! Great post, this has really helped.
ella-ro.blogspot.co.uk
Brilliant, thanks for the feedback Ella-Ro x
This could be one of the most useful blogs I have ever read. Thank you so much for your helpful tips. They sure are appreciated! Blessings. I would love to join your Love Home Blogging Board. Thanks for considering me.
Oh thank you Kerry, that’s lovely to hear. I’ve tried adding you to the board but think you need to be following me/the board first. Message me on Pinterest once you’ve done that, thanks x
i used to get no traffic at all from pinterest, but now it accounts for about 40% of my referrals, which isn’t too shabby!
Absolutely not shabby at all! x
This is such a great post and all of these tips are super useful and I will be coming back to this post time and time again, especially as you have done so well on Pinterest and are such an inspiration to me
Laura x
That’s really kind Laura, thanks so much x
Great tips Jen! Off to check rich pins now and I’d forgotten about analytics so that’ll be my bedtime reading sorted 😉 x
Thanks Lori, enjoy that research! x
This is SO SO helpful I cannot tell you – thanks Jen! H x
These are some wonderful tips to increase traffic. Thanks Jen for sharing. I think need to implement something on my blog.
Hi Jen!! I only just discovered this fantastic blog, and your post on tips and advice about using Pinterest for a business is extremely helpful! I have been trying to find more information on how to gain more followers on pinterest for months! Thank you so much for sharing with us! I will certainly pin this so others can take advantage too! Also, could I possibly become a part of your collaborative board please? If we are content suitable of course 🙂
Thanks in advance!
Aleks x
Brilliant. I just need to go and have a go at applying it all now but I will pin it first!
This is the clearest explanation I’ve yet seen regarding how to use Pinterest. Thank you so much!
Glad you found it useful Stuart.