Let Find How to use Pinterest for blogging and Increase the number of visitors to your blog
You may have come across the rumors: Pinterest is a revolutionary platform for bloggers. Based on our own personal experience, we can confirm that these rumors are indeed accurate. If you are starting a new blog, it would be unwise to overlook the potential of Pinterest.
Similar to Google, Pinterest is also a search engine with a significant user base of up to 465 million users per month. It is worth noting that 45% of Pinners in the United States have an income surpassing $100,000, and 80% of weekly Pinners have found new brands or products on the platform.
Whether you have an eCommerce blog, a personal blog, or any other type of blog, utilizing Pinterest can be a valuable tool for promoting your content and generating income through blogging. Below are detailed instructions on how to effectively achieve this, along with insights gained from our own experience.
But first, Lets have look at Pinterest lingo
Before we delve into the realm of Pinterest, it is essential to acquaint yourself with the following terminologies.
Pin – Any image, video, or other type of content that you upload or store on Pinterest
Board – A variety of pins are available for you to create and arrange as boards. You have the flexibility to choose whether your boards are public, private, or shared with a specific group.
Repin – When you save someone else’s pin to one of your own boards.
Like – An action that demonstrates your appreciation for a pin without actually repinning it; any pins that you have liked are stored in the “Your Likes” section.
Pinner – A Pinterest user
Follower – A user who follows your boards and pins, and views your content in their feed.
Rich Pins – A pin variant that incorporates supplementary details such as recipe ingredients, product prices, or map locations.
Promoted Pins – Promoted pins that businesses can use to reach a wider audience on Pinterest.
Buyable Pins – Pins featuring a convenient “Buy It” button enable users to seamlessly make purchases directly from the pin itself, eliminating the need to navigate away from Pinterest.
Idea Pins – Multi-page Pins are a versatile format that allows you to include images, videos, and text. This type of Pin is particularly suitable for blogging directly on Pinterest instead of linking to a blog post on your website.
Feed – The home screen displays a continuous stream of pins from the users and boards that you follow.
Home feed – When you log into Pinterest, the default view will display a combination of pins from accounts and boards that you follow.
How to use Pinterest for blogging
01. Creating a Pinterest Business Account
In order to promote your blog on Pinterest, it is necessary to create a Pinterest Business Account. By having a business account, you can take advantage of various features that are specifically designed to support blogging for business. These features include the Pinterest Business Hub and Pinterest Analytics, which enable you to monitor the performance of your Pins and track audience interactions. Additionally, a business account grants you access to Pinterest ads and rich Pins, including article rich Pins that allow you to synchronize information from your blog with Pinterest.
You have the option to either create a new business account at no cost or convert your existing personal account into a business one. It’s worth noting that you can always switch back to a personal account if needed, or connect up to four business accounts to your personal one.
02. Improve the effectiveness of your Pinterest business profile
To begin, ensure that your business profile is comprehensive and consistent with your brand. By enhancing your Pinterest business profile with accurate information, you not only assist Pinterest users in discovering you but also improve visibility on Google (since Pinterest receives approximately 40% of its traffic from Google’s organic search results, optimizing for one means optimizing for both).
Incorporate relevant keywords in your bio while effectively conveying the essence of your brand and content. Utilize your logo or any other appropriate, professional, and recognizable image as your profile picture to represent your brand.
03. Design boards that are in sync with your blog
Similar to constructing a website from the ground up, starting your Pinterest boards from scratch provides ample room for flexibility and creative expression. A great way to begin is by establishing a board that bears the name of your blog. As an illustration, Wix’s Pinterest account features a board named “Wix Blog,” enabling Pinners to effortlessly stumble upon our articles, whether they are searching on Pinterest or using Google with the query “Wix Blog pinterest.”
In addition, it is recommended to create additional boards that correspond to your blog categories or the interests of your audience. Each board can serve as a new entry point for your content. Similar to how site visitors use the main menu to navigate through a website, Pinners can use your boards to discover content that is most relevant to them.
04. Generate Pins using your blog posts
There are two primary methods for generating pins from your blogs:
- You can easily upload images or videos from the Pinterest mobile app or website.
- Use an RSS feed
The former option provides you with the highest level of control and also allows you to generate multiple pins from a single post. For example, let’s say you publish a blog about puppy training. Some readers might be particularly interested in crate training their puppies, while others might be focused on potty training. With this one post, you have the ability to create several headlines that cater specifically to these two types of readers.
- Headline 1: Loose Leash training tips for new dog owners
- Headline 2: Walk your dog Withouth leash in just 7 days
In addition to testing multiple headlines, you have the option to choose from multiple images in your blog or create new images using the text-to-image creator in Wix. This means that your puppy training post could have two different headline variations and up to five image options, resulting in as many as 10 unique Pins.
When experimenting with various combinations, it is important to approach it in a systematic manner. Take note of the images and headlines that generate the highest level of engagement. Above all, ensure that any variations in headlines or images are still pertinent to your article. The last thing you want is for someone to click on your Pin and feel let down by the blog post they are directed to because it does not meet their expectations.
05. Improve the performance of your Pins
Just like any other distribution channel or search engine, there are various factors that can affect the performance of your Pins. Your Pins have the potential to appear in multiple locations, including users’ home feeds, Pinterest search results, “Related Pins” sections, and Shopping features.
Pinterest itself declares that a successful organic Pin is:
- It is important to note that when using Pinterest, the majority of users access the platform through their mobile devices. Therefore, it is crucial to create inspiring and visually appealing content that will capture their attention.
- To increase your visibility on Pinterest, it is essential to have your posts saved or followed by others. The more engagement your posts receive, the higher the likelihood of being seen by a wider audience.
- When creating Pins, ensure that they are well-written and include a strong and relevant description, title, thumbnail, and link. Incorporating compelling blog titles can also encourage people to click on your Pins.
- To stay relevant on Pinterest, it is recommended to publish fresh content on a weekly basis. Additionally, offering something unique in your Pins will help attract more attention from users.
“Consistency in posting is crucial,” advises Rebecca Tomasis, an SEO expert at Wix. “It is important to focus on your visuals, particularly your cover image and headline. Based on our observations, these elements have the greatest influence on click-through rates on Pinterest.”
Make sure to monitor Pinterest Trends, which is a complimentary tool that displays the most popular keyword trends within a specific time period and region. To support your research, utilize the Pinterest search bar by entering a keyword to generate a list of commonly searched phrases. When crafting your Pin title, Pin description, and alternative text, consider incorporating these keywords for optimal results.
Tomasis suggests that if you are already optimizing your blogs for SEO, it is important to ensure that your efforts are also reflected on Pinterest. Instead of reinventing the wheel each time, you can apply the same logic used for optimizing blogs on your website to your posts on Pinterest. This means that even if you make adjustments to a headline for Pinterest, it should still include your primary keyword.
Furthermore, allocate some time to explore Pins in the categories you aim to focus on and make a note of the most popular ones. It is possible that specific audience segments have a preference for certain types of content over others.
06. Make the most of the various business features offered by Pinterest.
As mentioned previously, having a Pinterest business account grants you access to exclusive Pin formats and advertising tools.
Rich Pins are designed to provide support for various types of websites. They encompass:
- Product rich Pins: Enable you to incorporate pricing, product details, and availability directly on your Pin.
- Recipe rich Pins: Allow you to include the title, serving size, cook times, ratings, diet preferences, and ingredient lists in your Pin.
- Article rich Pins: Enable you to add headlines, descriptions, and author names to your Pins.
Rich Pins are a convenient tool that syncs information from your website, making it easier to create content and enhance the usefulness of your Pins. It’s important to note that if you have a business account, you have the option to schedule pins in advance. From iOS and Android devices, you can schedule pins up to 30 days ahead, while from the desktop interface, you can schedule up to 14 days in advance. Pinterest allows business users to schedule up to 100 pins ahead of time.
In addition, Pinterest provides a variety of ad formats that can enhance your organic strategy. You have the ability to fine-tune your targeting based on various criteria such as keywords, interests, location, and more. Additionally, you can retarget previous website visitors or individuals who have interacted with your Pins before.
07. Drive traffic to your Pins in a proactive manner
If you approach Pinterest strategically, it has the potential to consistently drive traffic to your blog. However, it’s important to note that building momentum on this platform can be a gradual process, especially if you’re new to using Pinterest for marketing purposes.
To maximize your chances of gaining traffic, it is recommended that you proactively take steps to drive traffic yourself. In order to do so, consider implementing the following strategies:
- Engage with your followers and other Pinners: Just like any other social media platform, engagement is a two-way street. If you want others to follow and repin your content on Pinterest, it’s important to reciprocate and build genuine relationships.
- Leverage your team: Encourage your team members to contribute to the activity on your Pinterest boards using their personal profiles. You might even consider featuring your employees on your business account, showcasing the human side of your brand.
- Develop your personal brand: While you have a dedicated business account for hosting content, it’s beneficial to invest some time in growing your own presence on Pinterest. Build a following and community of your own, using this platform as an additional space to share and amplify the content related to your business.
- Promote Your Pinterest profile: Utilize other social media accounts or even incorporate Save to Pinterest buttons into blog posts or website pages. This will help generate attention around your Pinterest profile and make it easy for readers or visitors to engage with and follow along with what you’re sharing.
As your articles gain more traffic, shares, and pins, you can anticipate an increase in the overall visibility of your content.
08. Improve performance and enhance optimization
Pinterest Analytics is a robust tool that allows you to gain insights into the effectiveness of your pinning activities. Let’s take a closer look at the main metrics it tracks and how you can extract valuable information from them.
- Impressions refer to the number of times your Pins were displayed on a user’s screen. A high impression rate indicates that people are viewing your content, and it can also suggest that a Pin is trending on the platform or aligns well with Pinterest’s algorithm.
- Total audience represents the count of unique users who saw your Pin within a specific time period (e.g., day, week, month). If impressions exceed the total audience count, it means that some individuals viewed your Pin multiple times.
- Saves indicate how many times your Pin was saved to a user’s board. A high save rate suggests that your content is popular since people are taking the time to add it to one of their Boards.
- Engagements are counted when a Pinterest user clicks on or saves your Pin.
- Pin clicks represent the overall number of clicks on your Pin, including those leading to content both within and outside of Pinterest.
- Outbound clicks measure the total number of clicks directed towards the destination URL in your Pin.
- Video views represent the count of video views lasting longer than two seconds.
Analyzing metrics such as impressions, saves, and engagements can provide valuable insights into your top-performing content. These are the Pins that resonate the most with your audience. Additionally, this analysis can also shed light on low-performing content that may need improvement or adjustments.
Tomasis emphasizes the significance of dedicating time to analyzing your data. After accumulating a sufficient amount of data on Pinterest, examine the pins that users save and the pages they click through to. Based on this analysis, aim to share similar content. Additionally, metrics such as affinity, conversion insights, and demographics can offer insights into audience preferences and provide further context for the engagement you observe.
9. Generate boards that are interconnected or have a common theme.
We have briefly discussed board creation, but in this section, we will delve deeper into it. When you create various boards, you have the option to categorize them based on blog post categories. Additionally, you can also create different boards that align with the interests of your audience.
When you conducted market research, what were the findings regarding the interests of your audience? In addition, consider the preferences and topics that would capture the attention of your buyer persona, and create boards accordingly.
To demonstrate, if you manage a blog focused on health and fitness, you have the option to establish boards related to various exercise techniques such as cardio, which aligns with the “Cardio” category on your blog. Additionally, you can create an “Accessories” board featuring pins of your preferred workout tools or a board dedicated to healthy eating, inspired by the health and fitness account Blogilates.
If you’re feeling uninspired about what content to share on Pinterest, try looking back at your blog posts and selecting intriguing quotes. Afterwards, design a visually appealing graphic featuring the quote to add variety to your board while maintaining consistency with your brand. This approach will capture the attention of pinners and engage them emotionally.
10. Create a blog that is easily pinnable
If you use Pinterest, it is crucial to ensure that your blog is pinnable. You may have come across these buttons with Pinterest’s logo on various blogs before. These buttons enable users to easily pin a blog post from your website onto their own Pinterest account.
This is significant because it allows website visitors to discover and save posts they are interested in reading later, providing them with convenient access through their Pinterest account. As a result, this strategy can help drive more traffic to both your blog and your presence on Pinterest.
To enable pinning on your blog, navigate to the Widget Builder section located in the left sidebar of Pinterest Business. From there, select the desired button to be included on your site. Enter your URL, upload the image file, and incorporate it into your website’s code.
12. Post on schedule.
When posting on Pinterest, it is important to maintain a schedule. While it doesn’t have to be as consistent as other social channels, research shows that more than half of Pinterest’s users visit the site less than once a week. However, it is still necessary to be repetitive in your posting. According to a HubSpot post, the best time for Pinterest posts to gain traction is between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. EST.
Since you don’t need to pin as often, you can dedicate more time to ensuring that the pins you do share are of the utmost quality. It is important for your Pinterest account to prioritize quality rather than quantity, so don’t let frequency goals overwhelm you.
How do you plan on utilizing Pinterest for your blog? Will it serve as a platform to showcase your latest blog posts or act as a connection between ecommerce and blogging? Whichever direction you decide to take, it’s undeniable that Pinterest is a highly effective distribution channel for your content, and one that should not be overlooked.
