How to Get Traffic to Your Blog – Have a Solid Pinterest Strategy

Do you have a solid Pinterest strategy for your blog? If not, you really need to get working on creating one! Pinterest is seriously a blogger's best friend when it comes to driving massive traffic to your blog. In order to effectively use Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog, you must have both your blog posts and your Pinterest profile optimized for success. Pinterest best practices includes having the right images on your blog posts, researching and using the right SEO for Pinterest (in addition to regular post SEO), and much more.

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Plan a Solid Pinterest Strategy for Your Blog

Over 250 million people use Pinterest each month. Many of those same people may not be on social media sharing platforms such as Facebook or Twitter but may still want to share or save your content to one of their boards to reference later. Without a solid Pinterest strategy, you are setting yourself up for failure as far as getting increased organic traffic to your site.

Pinterest is typically the number one source of traffic for most bloggers. This is especially true for new bloggers who haven't quite figured out the Google SEO stuff. It can often take you some time to really figure out how to properly SEO your posts for Google, but SEO for Pinterest is a little easier to understand. This will enable you to begin generating significant organic traffic to your blog almost immediately after publishing a post and pinning it.

See my Pinterest profile and follow me for more blogging tips & Pinterest best practices! 

Pinterest Strategy #1 – Set up a Pinterest Business Account

I'm always being asked about how to post a blog to Pinterest. The first thing you will need to do is set up a Pinterest Business Account.  If you already have a personal account, you can simply switch it to a business account.

Having a Pinterest Business Account enables you to:

• Connect your blog/website to your Pinterest account – this enables you to pin your content directly from your blog posts to a Pinterest board.
• Apply for Rich Pins – When you have Rich Pins enabled, your pins will have more information on them such as your website URL, and a snippet of the post to give pinners more information about what content the pin leads to.
• Check your Pinterest traffic stats – A major part of your Pinterest strategy is to know what pins are driving the most traffic so you can create more related content. If you have hidden pin images on your posts, you can see which designs are more popular over the others.
• Monitor other Pinterest metrics regarding your audience – A Pinterest Business Account enables you to review analytics such as the demographical data of your audience. This includes their geographic location, gender, the type of content they are saving to their boards, and so much more. This can give you ideas for content that you can create that relates to your blog niche that might resonate with them.

How to Set Up a Pinterest Business Account

Convert from a Personal Account – If you already have a personal Pinterest account that is active and has followers, you can simply convert it to a Pinterest Business Account.  This is the preferred way to go because you already have a following. You will need to go in a clean up your boards and SEO the profile, but this will give you an advantage in getting your content shared faster than creating a brand new profile.

Create a Brand New Account – If you've never used Pinterest before, you can start from scratch by creating your account as a business account from the start.  It will take a little more time to gain followers and start getting traction on your pins than if you've converted from a pre-existing personal account, but this is the option for those who've never had an account, or maybe they just want to keep their personal account separate.

How to Use Pinterest to Promote Your Blog

Now that you have your Pinterest Business Account all setup, the next step is to get your blog posts set up for Pinterest success. The most crucial part of your blog's Pinterest strategy is to ensure that you make it as easy as possible for your readers to share your content on Pinterest. The three most important factors for using Pinterest to promote your blog are to have Pinterest-worthy pinnable images, properly SEO each pin,  and to have productive and easy-t0-locate social sharing buttons. Be sure to also check out these other blogging tips for beginners. 

Pinterest Strategy #2 – Pinnable Images

In order for your Pinterest strategy to be effective, you MUST have Pinterest-worthy pinnable images on your blog posts! I can't tell you how many times I've come across a post that I totally loved and wanted to share it on Pinterest but there wasn't an appropriate image for me to share. A Pinterest-worthy image has these components:

1. Vertical image, 600 x 900 – but no longer than 1200 – The 600 x 900 size is the current “optimized” size for Pinterest. You can use a different size, but try keeping a 2:1 ration and do not make it longer than 1200 or it will get cut off in the feed.  
2. Has the blog post title on it – Images with no text are just images with no text!  It might be a beautiful image, however, without the Post Title on it, no one will know that image leads to content.  I save images of cute Dobermans to a board that I have but they are just pictures.  If you write a post on, for example, the importance of self-care, and the only image you had was of some flowers, no one would think that image led to content about self-care.  (You can see my pinnable image at the top of this post as an example.)
3. Has the right Pinterest Text in the description – Even though you enter a full description in the “description” box that comes up when you add an image to a blog post, that description doesn't actually come up with the pin is displayed on Pinterest. Some bloggers realized that they could enter their pin description in the ALT TEXT box and it would display properly. DON'T DO THAT!!  The ALT TEXT box is meant for letting blind reader software know what the image is (read the image, so to speak).  This should only be your SEO keyword phrase.  I use the Tasty Pins plugin which enables me to add the correct Pinterest Text for every single image – plus I can add additional “hidden” images that only come up when a reader clicks the Pinterest share button. You can also edit the html code for the image if you know how to do that (I always end up missing a character so was so happy when Tasty Pins came out!).

Pinterest Strategy #3 – Pinterest SEO

If you didn't know this already, Pinterest is a search engine and not a social media platform. It works similar to Google and other search engines and SEO (search engine optimization) is an important factor to consider in your overall Pinterest strategy for getting more traffic to your blog with Pinterest. You can simply do a Pinterest search to see what comes up in the dropdown for the search bar for the topic you type in.  You can also search for relevant hashtags and include those in your Pinterest description.

Pinterest SEO Locations:

• Pin Title – You should already have your SEO keyword in your blog post title (which should also be the title on your pin).
• Pin Description – Your pin description should be complete sentences that include your main SEO keyword phrase plus 1-2 additional keywords if applicable. Do NOT keyword stuff the pin description!!
• Hashtags – Include a few relevant hashtags after the pin description.
• Image File Name – When you save the image to your computer, be sure to save it as the SEO keyword/phrase. When you upload it to the post, that will automatically populate as the Pin Title (then you would copy/paste it into the ALT TEXT box).  The SEO image file name is important for your blog post SEO (not really important for Pinterest specifically but it is for your post).

In addition to the ones above that are specific to your blog post, you should also ensure that your Pinterest profile, board names and board descriptions are also optimized for SEO. Not sure how to do this? Be sure to check out my free course – Beginner's Guide to Pinterest.

Pinterest Strategy #4 – Social Sharing Buttons

In order for your readers to share your content, you need to make sure you have the right sharing buttons. I would highly recommend that you disable the sharing buttons that come with your blog and use a plugin.  

Ability to share on ALL platforms – One of the key factors in getting your content shared (on Pinterest or elsewhere), is to provide a button for readers to share on whichever platform they are on. With the WordPress social buttons, you will have to add each and every button that you want to have visible. Obviously, you don't want a mess of buttons on your blog post because that just isn't pretty. With a plugin such as Sumo, Social Warfare, or Shareaholic, you can a few of the main platforms to be visible, then add the last green button (shown below) which, when clicked, opens up a box with every single sharing platform that's out there.  

Make them Visible – The who point of social sharing buttons is for your readers to be able to share your content. You need to do your part by making it as easy as possible for them to do that!

• With the social plugins mentioned earlier,  you can add your buttons at the top and bottom of your post, as well as along the side when the page is scrolled.  
• Keep them their intended colors. As much as you'd like everything on your blog to match and fit in with your color palette, the social sharing buttons should stand out.  If you make them fit the color scheme of your blog, readers can often overlook them because they look like the rest of the stuff there.

How to Get Traffic to Your Blog with Pinterest

Ok, now we've got your Pinterest Business Account and your blog optimized for pinning. Now what? How do you use Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog?  Obviously, part of your Pinterest strategy will include writing quality content that your readers will want to read and share.  Beyond that, there are a few things you can actively do to help drive that traffic to your blog.

• Pin directly from your blog post to a relevant board – Instead of uploading your image, be sure you are pinning it directly from your post as soon as you publish it. Also, make sure you pin it to the most relevant board.  This is why having your Pinterest boards optimized for SEO is so important, as well as having a great SEO pin description.
• Schedule that pin to other related boards and group boards – If your Pinterest profile is properly optimized for your niche, you should have more than one board that a pin could go on. You should also be joining relevant, niche-specific group boards and scheduling pins to them as well.  Tailwind is a Pinterest-approved scheduling tool that enables you to automate your pinning (which saves you so much time and energy!). Pinterest gives priority to accounts that are actively pinning. Most of us can't just play around on Pinterest all day so automating it really does make a difference in your overall traffic.
• Hide Additional Pinnable Images – You can increase traffic to your blog posts with Pinterest by hiding pinnable images. You will typically place one pinnable image directly on the blog post for your readers to pin. You can (and should) also “hide” additional images which will only show up when someone uses the Pinterest share button. This enables you to be able to pin the same content to a board (and schedule out to other boards) without using the same image (which looks spammy). Hiding images is another awesome function of the Tasty Pins plugin!
• Monitor your Pinterest metrics – You can monitor your Pinterest metrics from your Pinterest Analytics, Google Analytics, and from your Tailwind Analytics. Actually, I've found that my Tailwind analytics provides much more information on how my boards are doing – which is another reason I highly recommend using it. Your Pinterest metrics will tell you things like who is pinning your content and what other types of things they are pinning. This can help you in planning future content that your audience is relating to. If you have additional (hidden) pins on your blog posts, your Pinterest metrics is a great way to see which design styles are working or not working.
• Create pins for your Resource Pages – Pinterest isn't just for your blog posts! If you have a resource page (or pages) make pins for them! This is a major Pinterest strategy that most bloggers often overlook! Just be sure you are using SEO strategy for these pages and using a great SEO-rich description that lets readers know the value of what your resource page contains.
• Create pins for optins – Pinterest is a great way to help build your email list! Create pins for each one of your optins. I would recommend creating really nice landing pages instead of just using the URL for the subscribe box. This way you can get a little more personal with them about what your blog community is all about so they'll want to join.
• Create pins for anything that has a URL from your site!

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Be sure to also read these post about Pinterest:

• Benefits of Hiding Pinterest Images in Your Blog Post (and How to Hide Them)
• How I Make $1000 each Month with Pinterest Affiliate Marketing
• Become a Profitable Pinner – Learn How to Make Money with Pinterest Affiliate Marketing
• Pinterest Affiliate Marketing – Affiliate Programs that are Perfect for Pinterest

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Pinterest for Bloggers

If you are more of a hands-on learner, you might want to check out my course Pinterest for Bloggers, which goes into every step of optimizing your Pinterest profile and everything else mentioned above. Each lesson in the course has video tutorials that show me actually doing each step discussed in the lessons.  I also go over how to read and use the information from your Pinterest metrics so you can plan your blog and Pinterest strategy better.  Read more about Pinterest for Bloggers here. 

I would love to hear how your Pinterest strategy is working and if you are doing anything different that is working for you! Please drop a comment below and tell me all about it!