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Using Pinterest for your blog is a fantastic way to drive traffic to your site!
Pretty much every single Pinterest pin you see on the platform is leading you to someone’s blog, YouTube channel, or product.
Getting traffic to a brand-new blog, or even an established blog can be a difficult thing to do!
And that’s where Pinterest comes in!
A majority of my traffic comes from Pinterest, and even if I don’t consistently post on my blog or pin, my traffic doesn’t suffer thanks to all the pins I’ve put out already!
So, if you run a blog- you need to be using Pinterest.
Especially if your demographic is women- almost 80% of Pinterest users are women! So make sure to get on there ASAP!
| Rather watch a video on the topic? Check out this one: ZERO to 200,000- *BLOW UP* your Pinterest Account! |
Before we start, let’s get one thing right about the platform.
Pinterest is a search engine, not a social media site. Meaning, that people don’t (usually) just go to Pinterest to scroll aimlessly through the feed.
They use the search bar to look for a solution to their problem.
Which is exactly why using Pinterest for your blog traffic really is a no-brainer!
We write blog posts to solve problems, and people go to Pinterest looking for the answers (our blog posts) to those problems.
I’ll even bet you likely found this post right here through Pinterest!
This is going to be a complete guide to helping you set up your account and explode your traffic with Pinterest- even if you’re a complete beginner!
Setting up your Pinterest account
First things first, we need to start with setting up your Pinterest account. This is going to be the easy part.
Starting with your profile name and bio.
Later on, we’re going to be doing keyword research for the account, so it’s likely that what you put here may change.
Here is an example of what my account looks like:
Choosing a profile name
Having keywords in your profile name is important because you can show up in searches!
You want to make your account as discoverable as possible, so having your account show up in search is pretty crucial!
Profile bio
Your profile bio can be used for a few things.
You can either add in more keywords or tell people a little bit more about you and your account!
In my profile bio, I have kept it simple- telling people what my account is about and linking my course, Pinterest Simplicity.
I had to keep my profile a bit shorter than I’d like just so the link would show up and people wouldn’t have to click “see more” in order to see it.
In your profile, you can have a bit more information!
It really should just be what your account is about, and what keywords you want to rank for. If you have any important links, you can include them as I did.
READ NEXT: The Top 8 Pinterest Questions I get from New Bloggers!
Setting up Pinterest boards
We’ll really get more in-depth when it comes to setting up your Pinterest boards later, but let’s start with the basics.
I recommend that you have 10-15 boards surrounding your topic to start out with. This will help your account look established and not brand new!
When we do keyword research, we’ll be able to come up with better board names and good descriptions.
By doing this, you can get your boards to rank in search and help you get found!
What’s more likely to happen though is that it will help individual pins rank in search! (Which is more important anyway!)
Pinterest uses the keywords you have in your board description to find out more about the pins that you’ve posted there.
So, if you have a board about “10 kid-friendly dinner recipes” you want to add keywords that people are searching for in the board description.
And, you only want to pin relevant pins to that board in order to not confuse Pinterest.
If you need more help, I have a super beginner Pinterest course called Pinterest simplicity! In there, I go way more in-depth on this entire topic- and beyond!
Doing keyword research for Pinterest
With that in mind and your account pretty much set up, we can start to refine it by adding keywords!
I’m sure you’ve done the research for your blog and the topics you talk about before, so this shouldn’t be too hard.
We pretty much just need to tailor the keywords to what people are searching up on Pinterest, instead of Google like you normally would!
Where to find keywords on Pinterest
The first, and easiest, place to find keywords is by using the Pinterest search bar.
When you search something up on Pinterest, it will try to finish your sentence, similar to the way Google does.
These are all the most popular searches for whatever term you are looking for. You’ll notice the accounts showing up too, but you can just ignore them.
You won’t get many keywords this way, but it is a start!
The next best way is if you just do the same thing, but hit enter and search for the term.
You’ll see what I call “Keyword bubbles” up at the top to help you refine your search.
This is the results I got for “kid-friendly dinners”
You can click on each of these “bubbles” to refine your search and sometimes when you do that, you’ll still see more!
Once you don’t see anymore, or if there never were any in the first place, that means you’ve narrowed down that keyword as far as it will go.
Once people got to that keyword, they didn’t need to do any more refining. That keyword had everything they were looking for!
It could also mean though, that the keywords you’re looking for aren’t very popular.
Unfortunately, there really is no way that you can see the search volume on Pinterest keywords.
The closest we can get to that is by using the Pinterest trends tool, but even that really isn’t super helpful!
Using the Pinterest Trends tool
This is another place you can find keywords for Pinterest.
When you’re using this tool, you can search up terms, but not everything you look up will be available, so you may have to do some trial and error.
If you do manage to find a keyword, a graph will show you how much that term is searched up at different parts of the year.
It doesn’t really give you a “volume” of keywords, it just ranks them out of 100.
So it’s still not the most useful thing out there, but it is something! This tool is mostly perfect for figuring out when you should post-holiday content.
It does however give you a “Related trends” section at the bottom of other keywords people are searching.
Those would be good keywords to take note of!
Adding keywords to your Pinterest account
Once you find all the keywords for your account, we can start placing them in your account.
Here’s where I recommend putting them.
Account name and bio
Many people add keywords to their account names. For example, mine is “Sarah Marie | Start a Blog | Lifestyle | Mindset”
I used those keywords because it’s what I want to rank for, and generally what my account is about.
The same can be done in your account bio, although I recommend using full sentences there!
These keywords should be very broad and encompass everything you’ll be pinning on your account.
Board titles
These keywords can be a little more specific because you’ll have more than one board.
But, one board should equal one topic and it should still be a bit broad.
For example- “Fall fashion for women” “Summer clothes for men” ect…
Make it broad enough that it can fit more than one pin, but still specific to keywords people are searching.
Board description
Now you can narrow down a bit more, especially since you can fit more than one keyword in your board description.
You have to be careful here though, you don’t want to just pile on the keywords one after the other. Pinterest considers that to be keyword stuffing.
Make the description feel natural, use sentences and explain what you’ll be pinning on the board with popular keywords.
Pin descriptions and titles
Now we can get really specific here.
In your pin description/title, you should have the EXACT keyword(s) you want that one specific pin to rank for, and it should be pinned to the board that best fits it.
If you’re using Pinterest for your blog, done right, you can explode your blog traffic!
The goal here is to get you ranked in search and seen by the most people, and bring clicks back to your blog for people to read your work!
READ NEXT: 7 Rookie Pinterest Mistakes you Could Be Making!
Branding your Pinterest account
Once we’re done with that, we can get to the more fun part of the process- branding your account!
Let’s talk about board covers next. However, you should know, this is more about making your account looks professional and cohesive.
Adding board cover alone will not skyrocket your account into fame. However, I still like to make them.
This is what my account looks like:
I think this gives a much more professional look and a better feel than not having board covers.
I treat my account a little bit like an Instagram feed. It’s cohesive, looks professional, and most importantly matches my brand.
Board covers may not help me rank in search but, this is an account I am proud to have associated with my brand.
| If you want a little help creating board covers, check out this video: How to EASILY Create a Board Cover on Pinterest |
Creating pin designs
The last thing we need to talk about is the pins themselves.
If you don’t have a nice-looking, click-worthy Pinterest pin, this platform will not work out for you!
I have a bunch of videos up on my youtube channel about creating click-worthy Pinterest pins, but let’s go over a few of the basics here.
Do you need to use your brand colors?
The answer may surprise you but… No, not really.
You used to want all of your pins to look similar so that your followers could pick out your pins in the feed easier. But, that is less important now.
So, don’t be afraid to experiment with your Pinterest pins!
I tend to still stay on brand in terms of colors and fonts when it comes to my pins, but there is always room to make the designs look different, or to be able to switch up different aspects on your pin.
One thing that should not change about your pins is the fact that your website link or logo should be on every single pin.
It doesn’t matter where, as long as it is on there.
This prevents anyone from claiming their pins as yours (yes, it does happen) and it just brands the pin as yours in general!
Writing click-worthy pin titles
One thing you really need to master is the art of a click-worthy title.
You need to make people want to click on your pin and catch their eye.
The good thing is, that your pin title does not need to be the same as your blog post title.
You can, and should, switch them up every so often in order to keep the content fresh.
As long as you aren’t completely changing the meaning of the blog post and not click-baiting the reader, then feel free to change up the title!
Creating beautiful pin graphics
If the part you’re stuck on most is creating a beautiful pin graphic that will make people want to click, there are solutions to that problem!
- Use Canva designs
You can try using some of the pin templates available on Canva.
There are so many to choose from, and you can switch them up to match your style!
If you are using Canva though, I recommend upgrading to the Pro version in order to get access to a lot more features like the social media content scheduling tool.
- Buy Pinterest template packs from bloggers
Or the other option, which I find to be a lot better, is buying Pinterest Template packs from other bloggers!
I recently bought this pack of 100 Pin templates from Etsy and I am in love with how easy creating new pins is!
Or, if you’d like to check out some of my designs, I have a pack of 36 Pinterest templates here!
If you want any more help on Pinterest, I highly recommend checking out my Pinterest course called Pinterest Simplicity! Or, head over to my YouTube channel where I talk all about Pinterest Marketing!
Check out more from me here:
BLOG POSTS:
- 7 Rookie Pinterest Mistakes you Could Be Making!
- The Top 9 Pinterest Questions I get from New Bloggers!
VIDEOS:
- 6 HUGE Reasons You’re NOT GROWING ON PINTEREST & How Long it Actually Takes
- HOW OFTEN TO PIN TO PINTEREST?! A Complete Guide to Posting onto Pinterest
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