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How to Use Pinterest Analytics: 6 Metrics Worth Measuring
9 Steps to Pinterest Web Traffic Success
9 Steps to Pinterest Web Traffic Success
Pinterest Business Accounts: The Definitive Guide to Getting Started
Pinterest has given businesses the ability to create business-specific accounts.
Now is the time to stop thinking about Pinterest as a personal playground for cooks and fashion lovers.
Pinterest should be an important part of your B2B or B2C social media marketing strategy.
This article will show you what you need to know to set up a Pinterest Business account.
Differences Between Personal and Business Accounts
Although the outward appearance of a business account is the same as a personal account, there are some key differences between personal and business accounts on Pinterest that you should be aware of.
New Terms of Service Agreement
The first major change since the big reveal of business accounts is the newly formatted terms of service (TOS) agreements for both personal and business account holders. The main difference between the two is that Pinterest now states that any account that wishes to use Pinterest for commercial purposes must create a business account and agree to the business-specific TOS.
The Ability to Specify Your Business Name
Instead of having to sign up as first name “Whole,” last name “Foods,” businesses can set up their account with their business name as is.
Marketing Education Geared Toward Businesses
Within its business site, Pinterest is adding educational materials specifically for businesses to learn how to market themselves. The tutorial currently covers how businesses can tell their story through their profile, build a community through collaboration, drive traffic through making products discoverable on Pinterest and learn and grow through finding out how others see your brand on Pinterest. We’ll look at these tips in depth in the Best Practices section later in the post.
Access to Upcoming Features
Pinterest is working on a whole new set of features exclusively for businesses to help them expand their reach and understand their Pinterest audience. Those who have set up a business account will be notified as soon as new features are available.
How to Set Up a Business Account
There are two ways to set up a business account on Pinterest. If you have already been using Pinterest for your business, you can easily convert your account or you can create a new one.
Converting Your Personal Account to a Business Account
To convert your personal account to a business account, log into your Pinterest account and then visit the Pinterest for Business section. There, you will see a big red button to convert your existing personal account to a business account.
Convert your personal Pinterest account to a business account.
Once you click on this button, you will be taken to the section where you can modify your current Pinterest account details. First, you will have to select your business type.
Choose your business type for your account.
Next, you will enter additional details such as your contact name and business name, plus you have the ability to edit your About information and website.
Update your public profile information for your business account.
Last but not least, you will have to agree to the new business TOS agreement and privacy policy.
Creating a New Business Account
Alternatively, if you don’t want to convert your existing personal account to a business account, you can sign up for a new business account. You will go through a similar process as conversion, except you will get the chance to choose a new username.
Convert or Create a New Account?
Not sure if you should convert your existing personal account to a business account or create a new one? Here are some things to consider.
- Does your personal account have a lot of followers? If so, you may not want to have to build them up again by creating a new account.
- Does your personal account use your business name as the username? While you may want to keep your followers, you may not want to do it if your business is ABC Company and your Pinterest username and URL is pinterest.com/joeysmith—you would want it to be pinterest.com/abccompany instead.
- Does your personal account include a lot of marketing-focused pins or personal pins? If your collection is mostly personal, you might want to leave it alone and just create a new account so you don’t have to erase all of your personal stuff. Alternatively, if your pins are mostly for your business and have a lot of likes and comments, you might not want to lose them by starting a new business account.
Getting Started
Once you’ve converted or created your new business account, you will be given four getting started options to choose from:
- Verify Your Website
Verify your website for your business account.
The first option is to verify your website with Pinterest. This will allow users to see your full website URL on your profile and in search results.
Verify your website for your Pinterest business account.
To do this, you will need to either upload an HTML file created by Pinterest to your web server or add a meta tag from Pinterest to your website. If you are using WordPress, the meta tag might be an easier option because you will just add it to your theme’s header.php file or in your theme’s settings where it allows you to add scripts in the header.
Adding the Pinterest meta tag to a WordPress theme's header scripts.
Once you have either uploaded the file or added the meta tag, you can click to complete. It will check your website for those files and confirm that your website is verified.
- Start Pinning
Start pinning to your new Pinterest business account.
If you converted from a personal account, chances are you already have some pins on your Pinterest board. If not, you can click the Add Bookmarklet to add the Pinterest “Pin It” bookmarklet to your browser’s toolbar.
Install the Pinterest Pin It button to your browser's toolbar.
Once you have installed this, you can easily pin images from across the web to your Pinterest account.
- Drive Traffic Back
Help people pin images from your website to Pinterest.
Encourage your website visitors to share your images with their Pinterest followers by adding the Pin It button to your website. You can find the Pin It button on the Buttons and Widgets page. Alternatively, you can also find the Pin It button in popular social sharing plugins such as AddThis, ShareThis, Digg Digg (WordPress only), and Sociable (WordPress only).
- Grow Your Audience
Try the new Pinterest tools to grow your audience.
Along with the Pin It button for your website, Pinterest has added new buttons and widgets to make it easier for people to see your latest Pinterest activity. These include the Pinterest Follow button to encourage people to follow you on Pinterest.
Encourage people to follow you on Pinterest.
The Profile widget, which displays your latest pins.
Display your latest 30 pins using the Profile widget.
And the Board widget, which displays your latest pins from a specific board on your Pinterest account. Using these on your website should help boost your following and engagement on Pinterest.
Pinterest Best Practices for Business
The following are suggested strategies of what works on Pinterest, as well as additional tips to help you get the best results for your business from your Pinterest experience.
Complete Your Profile
If you didn’t do it during the setup process, make sure to go back and complete your business account’s profile to have the following:
- Include a great image that represents your business and preferably matches your other social networks (Twitter, Facebook Page, etc.), so that your audience can recognize you easily.
- Include a short message about your business that states who you are and why people should learn more about you. This can be similar to the message you use for your Twitter bio or your Facebook Page’s About section.
- Include your verified website so that visitors to your Pinterest profile can easily see your domain name and click through to your website.
- Include a link to your Twitter and Facebook accounts, which you can set up by going to your account settings and connecting with Twitter and Facebook.
Keyword-Optimize Your Pinterest Profile Using the Boards
Search engine optimization doesn’t just apply to your website. Create boards on your Pinterest account that relate to keywords for which you would like to rank. For example, a photographer may want to create boards for wedding photography, family portraits, commercial photography and other types of services he offers. This isn’t just for search engines, but for your visitors as well, so they can get a quick insight into what your business has to offer.
Pin Images Based on Your Targeted Audience’s Interests
In content marketing, the goal is to create content that your target audience and potential customers will love. On Pinterest, you will want to keep this in mind when pinning images to your boards—make sure images you pin are ones that will attract your target audience, encouraging them to follow you.
Run Pinterest Contests
One great way to increase your Pinterest following is to run a Pinterest contest. Businesses that offer a prize to those who repin their images gain a lot of additional exposure for themselves through the Pinterest community.
Monitor Who Is Pinning Images From Your Website
Just like you may want to thank people who retweet you on Twitter or share content from your Facebook Page, you may also want to interact with those who have pinned images from your website. Use the following URL to see what people are pinning from your website: http://pinterest.com/source/yourdomain.com
For example, if we use the URL http://pinterest.com/source/socialmediaexaminer.com/, we would see the latest pins from this website.
See the latest pins of images from your website.
From here, you may want to comment or like pins from your website and follow people who pin your content often to show your appreciation. This can also help you determine which images and content from your website do best on the Pinterest network.
Measure Your Pinterest Traffic
If your goal is to drive traffic from Pinterest back to your website, you can use Google Analytics to see how much traffic you are receiving from Pinterest compared to other social networks.
Measure your Pinterest traffic in Google Analytics.
You can click on Pinterest in Google Analytics to see which pages on your website have drawn the most Pinterest traffic.
See what pages on your website receive the most Pinterest traffic.
If you have set up goals in Google Analytics, you can even see where Pinterest ranks in terms of social media–driven conversions for your business.
Case Studies
If you are still not sure whether Pinterest is right for your business, here are some Pinterest case studies you can review to see how other businesses and brands are using Pinterest to achieve their business goals.
Sony Electronics
Sony Electronics on Pinterest.
Learn what six things Sony did to gain over 2,500 followers in the first six months and get an 800% increase in traffic from Pinterest to the Sony store.
Petplan Pet Insurance
Petplan Pet Insurance on Pinterest.
Learn how Petplan uses Pinterest to provide pet owners with tools to care for their furry family members, attract new audiences and establish leadership in the pet health space.
Organized Interiors
Organized Interiors on Pinterest.
Learn how Organized Interiors uses Pinterest to communicate design ideas with clients, create a compelling brand presence and feature unique products.
Jetsetter Travel Community
Jetsetter on Pinterest.
Learn how Jetsetter uses Pinterest to engage brand advocates, encourage their community to share travel inspiration and obtain actionable feedback on site features.
Etsy: Handmade Marketplace
Etsy on Pinterest.
Learn how Etsy uses Pinterest to showcase their brand, increase sales for their community of sellers and gather insights to inform content sharing strategy.
What do you think? What are your thoughts on the new Pinterest accounts for businesses? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
Pinterest Marketing: What Marketers Need to Know to Succeed
Are you wondering if Pinterest can help your business?
Do you want to get more traffic from your Pinterest account?
To learn more about the power of Pinterest for marketers, I interview Beth Hayden for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast.
More About This Show
The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.
It’s designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.
The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).
In this episode, I interview Beth Hayden, author of the new book Pinfluence: The Complete Guide to Marketing Your Business on Pinterest.
Beth shares her insights into how Pinterest can drive more traffic to your website or blog.
You’ll learn tips and techniques on what images work best on Pinterest and why content behind the image matters.
Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!
Listen Now
You can also subscribe via iTunes, RSS, Zune, Stitcher or Blackberry.
Here are some of the things you’ll discover in this show:
Pinterest for Marketers
Beth talks about the demographics of Pinterest users. The latest number of Pinterest users is about 11 million.
Up to 80% of Pinterest users are women between the ages of 25 and 55. Beth says that the demographic is shifting and there are more men joining. Pinterest users are fairly affluent, with a salary of $50,000+.
80% of Pinterest users are currently female, but more men are joining so the demographic could change in the future.
Discover Beth’s theory behind the success of Pinterest and why there’s something addictive about it.
Listen to the show to find out more about Pinterest and how it draws you in.
What Pinterest offers marketers.
Beth shares how Pinterest is a great source of referral traffic for websites and blogs, even when compared to other social media sites. At present, Pinterest is driving more referral traffic than LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube combined. And the only social media site driving more traffic than Pinterest is Facebook.
You’ll learn how Pinterest can drive referral traffic back to your blog or website as Beth goes through all of the steps involved.
You’ll discover what makes Pinterest different from Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. The secret is in Pinterest’s simple model of videos and images on boards that are linked back elsewhere.
Listen to the show to understand how this visual billboard platform can work for you.
What social actions happen on Pinterest.
On Pinterest there are three action buttons: Repin, Like and Comment.
Visitors can choose to repin, like and comment on the images shared on Pinterest.
Beth explains the importance of repinning—how every time something is repinned, it’s shared with the person’s followers—and how this becomes exponential. You’ll also discover what works best on Pinterest between liking, repinning and commenting on pins and the reasons why they are different.
Beth shares why she believes that people should take more advantage of commenting on pins. It’s an opportunity for marketers to create more engagement.
Listen to the show to learn how to get more out of your Pinterest marketing.
How pinboards work.
Beth explains how pinboards are collections of images and videos. Beth describes the process as creating a collage out of images that you cut from magazines.
The pinboard is the heart of Pinterest.
Beth suggests making your boards as specific as you can. For example, instead of having a generic recipe board, you need to be more specific and maybe break it out into entrée recipes or dessert recipes. The more specific you are, the easier it is for people to see your interests.
Listen to the show to hear why the pinboard is the heart of Pinterest and what the two key pieces are.
How to build a following.
Beth believes that a following on Pinterest is as important as a following on any other social media site. Building a following on Pinterest can take more time than on other social media sites, even if you are fairly active.
You should consider quality over quantity because you want to have an engaged audience that really likes what you are sharing. The better your content is, the quicker and better you will build your audience. You need to be a content curator on Pinterest.
Listen to the show to find out how to become the “go-to” person on Pinterest.
How to grow your email list.
Beth explains how Pinterest can help build your email list. First you’ll need to make sure the traffic from Pinterest goes back to your website or blog. Then the best way to get them onto your email list is to have a prominent opt-in form on your website or blog.
Place a big opt-in form on your website or blog to make it easy for visitors to get on your email list.
In your Pinterest profile you have an opportunity to put a link to your website. Make sure it goes back to a landing page, where your visitors can get free products in exchange for their email address.
Remember, on Pinterest you can also market your webinars and conduct other list-building activities.
Listen to the show to hear why Pinterest is ideal for service businesses.
What are the best images to share?
You’ll find out what size images or video work best on Pinterest.
The maximum width you can use for images on Pinterest is 554 pixels.
And you’ll also learn why very tall images should be avoided. They tend not to work well, because once someone scrolls all the way to the bottom of the image, they are less likely to scroll all the way back up to repin it. So if you have a long infographic, make sure you have a shorter version that is more pinnable, then link the smaller version to the full infographic on your website.
Use a short screenshot of a long infographic and link back to the full version of the infographic.
Some images are more compelling than others. The type of pictures that get repinned are often gorgeous travel photos, great-looking recipes and practical “how to” content.
You’ll sometimes find that even though the picture isn’t visually pleasing, it’s the content behind that people are really interested in.
One of Beth’s favorite tricks on Pinterest is what she calls “photo badges” where you can take an image and put text on top of the image to describe content behind the link.
A great example of a photo badge that is highly pinnable! This image has driven thousands of visitors to Nester Smith's blog, thenester.com.
Although Pinterest shows you how many times your pin has been pinned or liked, it doesn’t show you which pin is sending traffic to your site. To find this out, you need to track it on your website or use Google Analytics. Google Analytics is great for finding out which individual pin is sending traffic to your website or blog.
Listen to the show to hear Beth share a story about a lady who gets an amazing amount of traffic from “photo badges.”
How to enable a website or blog for Pinterest.
It’s important to have a Pin It button on every page of your website or blog to make it easy for people to share your content on Pinterest. Once your content is on Pinterest, others will be able to repin your images. As these images are shared across Pinterest, you’ll get more links back to your website.
Beth explains the importance of making sure the images on your website are pinnable. Some visuals are not pinnable, such as Flash banners. If you want to be sure your visual images are pinnable, try to pin them to your own Pinterest account.
And if you have a Pinterest account, make sure the Pinterest icon is together with your other social media icons wherever you publish them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRwy0mOAJ7U
Listen to the show to hear more about the Goodies section on the Pinterest About page.
How #hashtags help with visibility in search.
Beth explains how hashtags and Pinterest work the same way—but they don’t work quite as well—as they do on Twitter.
You can enter a hashtag into the Pinterest search box in the top left corner of the site. This pulls up the pins with either the whole #hashtag or the words searched for. At present this seems to only pull in recent pins.
Listen to the show to find out why Pinterest hashtags aren’t great for SEO.
Beth’s Pinterest marketing tip.
You’ll find out how you can search Pinterest to find out what people are already pinning from your website or blog.
Go to the URL field in your browser and put in pinterest.com/source/yourwebsite.com. Pinterest searches of all of its images and pulls up everything from the domain that has been pinned by users. You’ll discover what others are pinning from your website, who’s pinning it and the description on it.
Go to pinterest.com/source/yourwebsite.com to discover what content people are sharing on Pinterest.
Whether you are just starting out or have been on Pinterest for a while, take a look to see what content is taking off with pinners. It’s super-valuable and you will be surprised.
Listen to the show to learn how checking out this tip can help you discover what images are working.
Discovery of the Week
If you have a blog or a website with lots of images that you think people would want to share on Pinterest, then this Pinterest plugin by Phil Derksen is the tool that you’ll want to use.
This WordPress plugin has a free version and a paid version. It allows users to select from your article an entire array of images. All of the images in your blog will show up in a cool interface from which users can then choose and pin on Pinterest. This tool can also show the number of times an images has been pinned.
The Pinterest plugin allows users to share images from your website through their pinboards.
Listen to the show to learn more and let us know how these work for you.
Other Show Mentions
Social Media Marketing World is Social Media Examiner’s latest mega-conference—taking place at the waterfront San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina in San Diego, California on April 7-9, 2013.
As you’d expect, Social Media Examiner recruited the biggest and best names in the world of social media marketing for this conference. Only the best for you! Be sure to check it out.
Key takeaways mentioned in this episode:
- Connect with Beth on her website
- Grab a copy of Beth’s new book, Pinfluence: The Complete Guide to Marketing Your Business on Pinterest
- Read Beth’s articles on Copyblogger
- Try the WordPress plugin Pin It Button by Phil Derksen
- Check out Art Camp for Women on Pinterest
- Use Google Analytics to track which pins are sending traffic to your site
- Check out Pinterest’s Goodies section
- Click on http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/love/ to tweet about this podcast
- Learn more about Social Media Marketing World
Help Us Spread the Word!
Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet.
If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please head over to iTunes, leave a rating, write a review and subscribe.
Ways to subscribe to the Social Media Marketing podcast:
- Click here to subscribe via iTunes.
- Click here to subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed).
- You can also subscribe via Zune, Stitcher and Blackberry.
What do you think? What are your thoughts on Pinterest as a marketing tool? Please leave your comments below.
4 Tips for Increasing Pinterest Traffic to Your Blog
Do you want more traffic coming to your blog?
Getting lots of pins from your blog posts can increase engagement and drive traffic.
It can also help boost your performance on search engines because pins to your post are ‘do-follow’ links.
Pinterest’s recent growth has been unstoppable. According to comScore, Pinterest has grown by 4377% since May 2011. Many blogs are using Pinterest effectively to increase traffic and build engagement.
Below you will find 4 tips to get more traffic to your blog from Pinterest.
#1: Share a Lot of Content
One of the best ways to promote your blog is to pin a lot of images onto your boards.
You need to share both your own content and content from other people.
Aim to create content-rich boards where people come searching for articles on your particular topic.
If you have good boards that are followed by people who regularly view and share your pins, you can boost your blog traffic by pinning posts from your own blog.
Make sure you pin content from your blog and other blogs together on the same board so your pins will seem more credible and clickable.
A blog with a great Pinterest brand page is The Next Web.
Their brand page has several boards onto which a lot of content is pinned. And the boards are mainly on topics like technology, social media, mobile, etc.—the subjects The Next Web publishes articles on.
Pin a lot of content from your blog and other blogs.
An example is the board Tech & Design, where as the title mentions, they pin articles on the subjects of technology and design. If you look closely, you’ll notice they mix content from their blog and content from other websites.
When people follow this board, they know what to expect.
And this works for The Next Web too. When they pin images of their posts, they can expect likes, repins and increases in traffic.
Another great board is TNW team, where they pin images of writers, staff, editors and contributors who play a big role in creating all of the wonderful content.
Pinning pictures of your writers can improve work culture and boost morale.
This works well as it brings their authors and their fans together and will help them connect as a part of The Next Web. Doing this not only helps them build a good work culture, but it also helps their regular readers get to know their favorite writers better.
#2: Create Taller Images
In a recent post, I wrote about how infographics can get you more pins and repins on Pinterest. In a recent study, Dan Zarrella shows that taller images get more pins and repins.
Study shows that taller images get more pins and repins.
So if you want the images on your blog to be shared more on Pinterest, focus on creating taller images. This doesn’t mean that you need to create more long infographics, but that you need to create taller images in general.
Think of ways in which images can be elongated, either when you combine several images or stretch images wherever possible.
An example is the image on the post Make Your Own Cake Flowers on the Wedding Chicks website.
This massive image is a combination of many images.
If you take a look at the image, you can see that this is actually a combination of images. This single long image is very pinnable and repinnable. If you want proof, look at the image below and you’ll find that it’s been pinned more than 49,000 times.
This tall image has been pinned more than 49,000 times.
Yes, that’s right. The image above has been pinned more than 49,000 times!
So before you publish that post, take a look at your images and try to figure out if it’s possible to put all of your images together and create one long image.
#3: Add Images to Every Post
A blog post can be pinned onto a board on Pinterest only if it has at least one image on it. This image should also be a minimum size of 110 x 100 pixels.
If there are no images on your blog post or if the images aren’t big enough, you won’t be able to pin the post. So try to add at least one image to every post.
A great blog with beautiful images in every post is Live Well For Less run by Sainsbury’s.
Sainsbury’s is a chain of grocery stores located all over the UK. On their blog, they post recipes of food made out of affordable ingredients. On the top of their recipes, they have an attractive and big-enough photo of the end product. This makes the recipe pinnable.
For example, take a look at the photo of their Eton Mess recipe. There’s a large and beautiful photo, which is quite prominent. If you click the Pin It button, you’re asked if you want to pin this image and you’ll want to pin it because it looks so good.
A photo of the end product of the recipe.
So make sure you add images or photos to your post so that people can pin them.
If you want to take it a step further, you could add several images to your post instead of just one.
You can learn more about the advantages of this by reading 6 Ways to Drive More Pinterest Engagement, where I wrote about how Ree Drummond of Pioneer Woman adds many images to her posts.
#4: Add Default Images to the Entire Blog
Another option would be to add default images to your blog that will be visible on every page and post.
This way if your post doesn’t have an image or if you forget to add the image, you can always be sure that one image on your posts can always be pinned. This image could be on your blog sidebar, header or footer.
The image of this blue bird can be seen on every page and every blog post of Ching Ya's blog.
You can see a default image on the header of Ching Ya’s blog Social @ Blogging Tracker where there’s a cute little blue bird on the top.
If you visit every page and every post, you’ll notice that the image of this bird is always present and you can pin it. Click the Pin It button and try it for yourself.
This image is very pinnable and fits perfectly into her blog as it resembles the Twitter bird, which is relevant to the topics they post here on social media. So even though it’s very general, her readers should relate this image to most of the posts.
Don’t just create a default image; create a relevant default image that suits your posts.
These are 4 ways to get your blog to thrive on Pinterest. Follow them all if you want to get the most out of your blog through Pinterest.
What do you think? How do you promote your blog with Pinterest? Are there any other tips you would like to share with us? Please leave your comments in the comments box below.
What CEOs Need to Know About Pinterest [Infographic]
The decision to add a new network to your social strategy is never easy — each one takes time and resources to maintain. According to the makers of this infographic, Pinterest is a good one to add to the list.
With a high concentration of viral content (80 percent of pins are repins) and referral traffic that’s outpacing Twitter and Google+, the social curation site is already a proven traffic generator. The amount of traffic generated by Pinterest grew by 116 percent between January and August 2012.
But a previous study showed that despite the company’s growth, no Fortune 500 company CEOs were using Pinterest. (They weren’t entirely right about that. If you need inspiration, check out Cisco co-founder Sandy Lerner’s Pinterest boards for her organic farm, Ayrshire Farm.)
Domo and CEO.com assembled this handy guide to Pinterest for CEOs. It’s got statistics, best practices, and success stories all in one glance.
Infographic by Domo and CEO.com.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
9 Tips: Boost Your Business With Pinterest
How to Use Pinterest to Drive More Traffic to Your Blog
Are you wondering how Pinterest could increase your blog readership?
Pinterest drives more traffic to websites than YouTube, Reddit, Google Plus and LinkedIn combined according to new research.
With this in mind, here are six easy steps for tapping the power of Pinterest to drive more traffic to your blog.
#1: Choose the Best Blog Posts to Pin
You don’t need to pin every blog post on Pinterest. You’ll get better results if you selectively pin your blog posts on subjects that already have an audience on Pinterest.
This means you need to do a little research on Pinterest to find if people are already pinning items on your blog post topics.
It’s easy to do research on Pinterest, and you don’t need an account to get started. Pinterest has a search feature that lets you find one or more keywords throughout the site.
For each search, Pinterest shows you:
- Pins that contain the search term in the description
- Boards that contain the search terms in the title or description
- People who have the search terms in their profile
Tip: Pinterest never returns a list of every possible match. You should try each search several times to see how the results change.
For each blog post you consider pinning:
- In the search box, type a word or phrase that fits the blog post topic.
Type your search term in the Search box and click the magnifying glass.
- Pinterest displays a list of pins that contain your search term in the pin description.
Pinterest displays a selection of pins that contain the search term "scone recipe."
- Review the list of pins to see how your blog post topic would fit into this list. Make a note of the words used in the pin descriptions.
Tip: Modify your search terms to see if there are different words that people are using for your topic. - Click Boards to review all boards that contain your search term in their title or description.
Pinterest collects search results for pins, boards and people each time you search.
- Pinterest displays a list of boards that contain your search term in the board name or description.
Pinterest displays some of the boards that contain pins for your search term.
- Review the pins in each of these boards.
Make a list of the search words and most common words found in the pin descriptions. You want to consider using these terms in your pin description as well.
After spending a little time using Pinterest and figuring out how it works, you’re ready to start using it to drive traffic to your blog.
Tip: As you do your research, why don’t you start following some of the people who are actively pinning on related blog post topics? It’s a great way to make a connection to people who may be interested in your blog.
#2: Select or Create Your Pin Image
Choosing the image for your blog post pin is the most important decision you make. A good image encourages people to share your post.
There is no right or wrong choice. You want an image that is eye-catching and related to your blog post content. You want to invite people to click through the pin to visit your blog. The best image should clearly identify your blog post content to Pinterest users.
Reuse Blog Post Images
You can reuse your blog post images as the pin. You chose the blog post image because it conveys the idea of your post. However, taken out of context, the image can appear meaningless.
This pin shows a blog post image as it appears in the post.
Reusing a blog post image usually doesn’t provide enough information to explain the article’s content. If someone repins it and changes the description, the image’s meaning is lost.
Instead, you may want to use the blog post image as the background and customize it with the blog post name or contents. This doubles the effectiveness of the blog post image.
This pin shows the blog post image with customization. By adding the article title to the image, the picture clearly identifies the blog post contents.
Create a New Image
You can create a new image for your blog post pin. An effective custom image uses the blog post title on a plain background.
This pin shows a customized image created using the blog post title.
Tip: Your image must be available online (have a unique web address). If you customized your blog post image or created a custom image, upload it to your blog and make note of the image’s web address. You will need it later.
#3: Write Your Pin Description
The pin description appears under the pin image and provides additional information about your blog post. You should always write a pin description. No one else can write a better blog post description.
Your description appears every time someone pins your post directly from your blog. However, each Pinterest user can delete your description and write his or her own description.
This pin explains the importance of the image to the casual viewer.
Writing your pin description is like writing your blog post summary or excerpt. In it, always tell people the benefit of reading further.
Your pin description should:
- Tell people what to expect in your blog post.
- Leave a little bit of mystery so people want to read more.
- Include all search terms appropriate for the blog post.
While you can use up to 500 characters in your pin description, shorter is always better.
You can also add a web address and hashtags in your description. Hashtags are search words that start with the hash or pound symbol (#).
For example, if you include the hashtag “#socialmedia” in your description, people can click on the hashtag to instantly search through Pinterest to find all pins with this search term.
A pin with hashtags in the description.
#4: Add the Pin It Button to Your Blog Post
The Pin It button allows blog visitors to easily pin your blog post. You provide all of the pin description information when you add the button to your site. This way, your blog visitor can click the button and pin your post quickly and easily.
Unlike other social media sharing buttons, you must add the Pin It button individually to each blog post. This is a little extra work on your part, but it only takes a couple of minutes to set up and install.
In return for this effort, you get to choose the image and set the default description for everyone who pins your post from your blog.
To add the Pin It button to your blog post:
- Log into Pinterest (if necessary).
- In the top right menu, choose About | Pin It Button.
The About menu contains the Pin It button option.
- Pinterest displays the Goodies area.
The Pinterest Goodies area.
- Scroll down to the Pin It Button for Web Sites area.
The Pin It form collects the information you need to create your Pin It button and displays the code in the boxes.
- Provide the blog post web address for “URL of the page the pin is on.”
- Provide the web address for your chosen pin image for “URL of the image to be pinned.”
- Provide the pin description.
- Choose your pin count format (horizontal, vertical or no count).
- Copy the top code box contents. Open your blog post and add this code where you want the Pin It button (top, bottom or both).
Tip: You must insert the code from steps 9 and 10 into the HTML view of your blog post. Consult the help for your blogging software if you are not sure how to do this. - Copy the bottom code box contents and paste at the bottom of your blog post.
- Save and publish your blog post. The Pin It button appears where you pasted the code in step 9.
- For WordPress users, Phil Derksen has an excellent plugin called Pinterest ‘Pin It’ Button.
#5: Pin Your Blog Post
You have created a pin for your blog post. You can be the first person to pin your blog post in Pinterest by adding it to a board in your Pinterest account. This step is not necessary if you don’t have a Pinterest account. However, at this point, your post does not yet appear in Pinterest. You have only created a pin for someone to use.
To use the new Pin It button to add a pin for your blog post on Pinterest:
- Display your blog post.
- Locate the Pin It button.
The Pin It button on your blog post before any pins.
- Click Pin It. Your blog displays the pin window.
The Pinterest pin window with the image and description you set up with the Pin It button for this blog post.
- Choose the appropriate board for your blog post pin.
- Click Pin It. Pinterest adds your pin to the board.
#6: Track Traffic to Your Blog from Pinterest
The pin for your blog post appears in your pins and in your selected board. Everyone who follows your pin has a chance to see it. Anyone who checks out your pins can also see it.
Other people see your pin, and if they find it interesting, they will click through to your blog post. They may also repin your blog post to share it with the people who follow them.
There are several ways you can track the traffic to your blog post from Pinterest. Use whatever traffic monitoring tools you have in place on your blog. For example, you might use the blog statistics in JetPack for a WordPress blog, or Google Analytics.
An example from Google Analytics showing traffic coming from Pinterest to a website.
It’s Your Turn
What do you think? Have you found an audience for your blog on Pinterest? Have you created customized images for your posts on Pinterest? What is working well for you? Share your insights and experiences in the box below.
