For almost every niche, the right Pinterest strategy for bloggers can play a vital role in driving traffic to your blog. Compared to other social media platforms, it’s also one of the easiest platforms to manage, if you’re using the right strategy.
This fail-proof Pinterest growth strategy for bloggers will help you master your Pinterest account, and help put your blog on the radar.
The best part? It works no matter how new your blog is, and even if you are brand new to Pinterest.
Getting Started
First things first, you need to have a Pinterest business account to put this plan in motion. It’s totally free, so if you don’t have a Pinterest business account for your blog yet, click here to set it up.
1. Pimp Out Your Profile
Once you’ve set up your business account, you’ll want to brand your profile so that your target audience knows exactly how your content will help them.
Related Post: How To Use Keywords On Pinterest
In order to maximize the potential of your Pinterest profile, go to your Settings and review each section.
Here are a few of the features you definitely want to update.
Username
Be sure to change your username to something that represents your blog’s brand.
You only have 15 character to work with, but if you can make your username the same as your blog’s name, your content is more likely to be found by your readers.
About Me
The About Me section of your profile settings is your opportunity to tell others about your expertise.
You’re limited to 200 characters, so be specific and to the point, throwing in relevant keywords if you can.
This is also a great place to include a CTA (call-to-action) for your best freebie.
This will encourage profile visitors to check out your website and help grow your email list.
Remember, speak to your target audience!
You don’t need traffic from people that aren’t interested in your blog’s niche.
Website
This is where you will enter your blog’s URL, and most importantly, confirm your website with Pinterest.
Don’t skip this part! Confirming your website only take a minute.
By doing so, everything that gets pinned from your website will automatically have your profile picture and website URL attached to it. Pretty cool, huh?
2. Optimize Your Images For Pinterest
The first thing you need to before you start pinning your own content is to optimize your images for Pinterest.
For every blog post, you should include at least one Pinterest-optimized image so that readers are more likely pin your content.
So what exactly does that mean?
Vertical Images
Pinterest prefers vertical images over square or rectangular images.
In fact, the recommended image size according to Pinterest is 735 x 1105px.
Try to stick to that size and you won’t go wrong.
Bright & Clear Images
Your pin should include vivid colors and clear images. Blurry photos won’t do, so stock images work well.
Make sure your images are relevant to the content your pin links to.
Branded Text Overlay
Since Pinterest is a visual platform, your pin needs to let others know why they should click.
Include a text overlay with the blog title or a catchy title that grabs attention.
Don’t forget to add your website URL and/or logo. This helps build brand awareness and authority.
Keyword-Rich Description
Your pin description is a very important element for getting your content found on Pinterest.
Using popular long-tail keyword phrases that are relevant to your content will help your pins rank higher in Pinterest’s algorithm, too.
I wrote a whole post about finding and using keywords on Pinterest.
If you’re not sure how to find the right keywords to use for your pins, I highly recommend that you check it out here.
Related Post: Create The Perfect Pinterest Image In 5 Easy Steps
3. Pin From Your Website
Although Pinterest gives you the option of uploading an image directly to your profile, you should always pin your content from your website.
This helps increase your domain authority with Pinterest.
Encourage readers to pin your content as well by asking for a pin somewhere in your post.
For example, could you take a moment and pin THIS post? (Really, will you click the image below and pin this post now please? Thanks!!)
The more direct pins you get, the more popular your post will be on Pinterest.
4. Pin From Your Home Feed
Your home feed includes popular content on Pinterest and is shown to you based on your chosen interests and the type of content you pin most often.
These pins are already popular on Pinterest. Since they’re already getting tons of attention, it’s to your benefit to repin to your own boards.
Most of your followers will probably appreciate the great content that your sharing on your boards.
That means those pins will probably get repinned by your followers, which means an increase in your engagement stats!
So, make sure you pin plenty of other people’s content, using your home feed as much as possible.
5. Pin, Pin, and Pin Some More
Pinterest loves you using their platform to find new ideas, so pin new content often.
What Is Considered New Content On Pinterest?
According to the latest update, new content is a new image with a new description that hasn’t been added to your Pinterest boards yet.
That means you can create multiple Pinterest images for one blog post and each of them is considered new content! That’s great for those of you that don’t have a lot of blog posts on your blog yet. Even better for those of us with plenty of content.
Although it is time-consuming to create pins, it’s well worth the effort. Pinterest can literally make your blog traffic if you use it correctly.
Try to pin a few times throughout the day, if possible.
When I say Pin often, I mean often.
Of course, you don’t want to pin everything at once, so visit Pinterest a few times a day. Gone are the days of pinning 30 – 50 pins a day, since most of those pins were actually repins. According to Pinterest, you can now get results on Pinterest with just 2-3 pins a week.
Now that Pinterest offers its own scheduling tool, you can spend an hour once a week to create your content for the entire week or even an entire month.
If you’re looking for more ideas that aren’t present on your home feed, check out the feeds of the people you’re following.
Pinterest has added a tab that shows you the best content from the people you follow.
Not only will you find even more great content to pin, but you’ll be spreading the love.
When those bloggers see you engaging with their pins in their notifications, they’ll more than likely check you out and follow back!
Use Tailwind To Schedule Pins
As I mentioned, Pinterest likes you to pin often and it’s best to spread out the content throughout the day.
That’s not always practical. That’s where Tailwind comes to the rescue!
Tailwind makes it easy to schedule content for Pinterest in advance. You can choose when you want your pins to drip throughout the day, keeping you active on Pinterest.
Tailwind is super user-friendly and extremely affordable.
I’ve tried several other scheduling tools and Tailwind is the ONLY tool I recommend for pin scheduling.
Try Tailwind for free now plus a $15 credit!
Tailwind doesn’t replace manual pinning, but should be used in combination with manual pinning for maximum effectiveness.
6. Join Group Boards
Joining group boards on Pinterest can expand your audience reach significantly.
What are group boards, you ask?
Group boards allow several people to share pins to the same board.
For example, if you have a recipes board, you could invite other Pinterest users to become collaborators, meaning they will be able to pin content to your board.
Once someone accepts your invite, that board is considered a group board.
All of the content pinned to your group board will now be seen by the collaborator’s followers, too – not just your own followers.
The more people that collaborate, the more eyes could potentially see your pins on that board.
Finding Group Boards
Not all group boards are worth joining, though. If they don’t have many followers or have a low repin rate, don’t waste your time.
You want to find boards that have high engagement.
One way to find group boards is to check out popular bloggers in your niche and see which group boards they belong to.
Use PinSprout
Another way to find relevant boards to join is by using PinSprout.
PinSprout is a group board directory that allows you to search for boards by topic. PinSprout tracks board stats too, so you can see right away whether you want to join the board or not.
You’ll also find Engagement Pods on PinSprout, which you can join to increase pin engagement.
PinSprout is new on the scene but I have a strong feeling that it’s going to take off like wildfire. Get in now – it’s free!
Join My Group Boards
As you know, I’m a blogger coach and work with bloggers in many different niches.
I have several group boards open for collaboration and would love for you to join and share your pins! Here are the categories of boards that you can join (with more to come!):
- Family Life
- Recipes
- Travel
- Time Management
- WordPress Tips
- Social Media Tips
- Blogging Tips
- Blogger Resources
Use Tailwind Tribes
You know that awesome pin scheduling tool I was just praising?
Well, their free Tailwind Tribes feature works like Pinterest group boards. You can use Tribes for free, even if you don’t subscribe to a paid Tailwind plan!
Join Tailwind Tribes in your niche and pin your relevant content. You’ll expand your reach by thousands (even millions!).
I’ve also noticed that the repin rates in Tailwind Tribes seems to be higher than many group boards. Follow the rules and watch your Pinterest account and blog traffic stats soar.
If you write about blogging or social media, I’d love for you to join my Tailwind Tribe, “Blog & Social Media Babes”.
Plus, when you join, you’ll receive a $15 Tailwind credit!
7. Share Quality Content
This should go without saying, but since it is THE most important factor for your growth, write and share quality content.
When you share someone else’s pins, it’s always a good idea to check the content it links to. Make sure links aren’t broken and that the content is worth sharing with your readers.
Remember, if they find it on your Pinterest boards, they’re assuming that you recommend the idea represented by the pin.
As far as your own content is concerned, don’t cut corners!
Blogging is time-consuming and a lot of hard work but if you don’t feel a sense of accomplishment every time you hit “Publish”, it may not be for you.
Don’t churn out garbage posts.
Your content should be packed with information that your readers and followers will find valuable.
If that means you can only publish one post a month, so be it. The quality of your work speaks far more about you and your brand than the quantity.
Take your time, do your research and write an in-depth blog post every single time.
Related Post: How To Write An Epic Blog Post Every Single Time
What’s Next
Whew! That was a lot of information, right?
So let’s sum it up! If you skimmed through this post, here are some key takeaways:
- Set up or convert to a Pinterest for Business account
- Pimp out your profile with the free Pinterest Profile Guide For Bloggers
- Optimize your images
- Use relevant keywords and hashtags in the pin description
- Pin content directly from your website and ask readers to do the same
- Pin content from your Pinterest home feed to relevant boards
- Join Group Boards and Tailwind Tribes to expand your audience reach
- Pin consistently, several times a day
- Join Tailwind to schedule content so you have more time and stay engaged on Pinterest
- Only write quality content for your blog – quality over quantity
With the right Pinterest strategy in place, your followers and pin engagement will increase which means more traffic to your blog!
Do you think I missed anything in this post? Do you have tips for Pinterest that have helped you grow?
I love to learn new strategies and value your feedback, so please leave a comment below.
If you’re looking for more Pinterest tips, here’s a few posts that I know you’ll love:
- Everything You Need To Know About Using Keywords On Pinterest
- How To Use Tailwind Tribes To Explode Your Blog’s Growth
- Create The Perfect Pinterest Image In 5 Easy Steps
For more great Pinterest and Blogging tips, be sure to follow me on Pinterest.
Until next time..
Happy Blogging!! 😘✌
Spread The Love & Pin This Post
Very useful post! I especially like the section on Group Boards and Pinsprout.
I agree, using Tailwind in combination with manual pinning is important to remember! Great tips.
This is awesome advice. I just switched my account to a business one. Thank you so much for these tips. I’ll be putting them into action.
Thanks for all the useful info. Will definitely go through article again to make more of all your suggestions !
Loving this. Just sat down at my computer to get started on Pinterest for the first time and came across this. Saving this for reference. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing! I’ve been blogging for around 3 months now and I’ve been getting more into Pinterest. I’ll be looking into getting Tailwind soon 🙂
I also pinned 😉
This is a fantastic post. I’m a new blogger but have been using Pinterest for personal use for years. It’s great to see that I only need to do a few things to help my growth. Thank you!
Very informative! I’m going to check out PinSprout!
This was so full of amazing content! I’ve never ventured in to Pinterest, but have always wanted to know how to start. This was great foundation.
Wow very informative thank you.
Super helpful post! thank you!!