{this post contains affiliate links, please see disclosure for details}
Are you looking to explode your blog traffic with Pinterest?
If you are a blogger then no doubt that Pinterest has you wrapped around its little pinky right now… I know the feeling as I feel the same way!
Pinterest has a lot of bloggers scratching their heads, creating pin after pin after pin after pin all in the hopes to get that traffic…
So, today I am going to go over some Pinterest pinning strategies that’ll give your Pinterest traffic a real boost!
This will help you so much, so you can use these tips to grow your Pinterest following and hopefully grow your Pinterest traffic so you can keep having a lot of traffic coming back to your blog over time.
Let’s get to it!
8 Pinterest secrets revealed to get more traffic back to your blog!
These are updated strategies that I found from the top Pinterest users…
And they are really helpful. In fact, get over 500,000 page views a month now, and I credit all of these points that I’m about to talk about below.
So, whatever blog or business that you have, you should at the VERY least be posting some kind of content to Pinterest.
And if you always remember that Pinterest is a visual search engine? Then almost anything that is visually appealing can be posted on Pinterest and will eventually be clicked.
Even the longest of blog posts about scientific reviews can go viral!
There’s no stopping Pinterest’s potential, so let’s dive in and see what they are to help you grow your audience, your blog traffic, and your pins reach and engagement!
1. Optimize your boards so they have a further reach.
You first want to make sure that you have boards that are relevant to what you are wanting to pin for.
It’s highly recommended that you have at the very least 10 to 15 boards, with all of them having the right keywords, easy to search board titles, and a little description with a few hashtags if you want to do it right.
You also want to specify what your boards are going to be about using a keyword with added long-tail keywords. The best way to do this is to use the Pinterest search bar and see what the suggested words are for the keyword that you are hoping to rank for.
Think of these keywords as an article or as a blog post on your website. You will want to have those boards optimized just the same as you would optimize a blog post with SEO so that people will be able to find your board and then repin your pins.
And since people are constantly typing into Pinterest different things and different search terms, you will have loads of keyword-rich terms to pick from that you can add to your board’s description and board title.
2. Use the right pin dimensions.
The best way to get traffic back to your blog and to make it work on Pinterest is to share your articles and blog posts using vertical dimensions instead of horizontal pins.
A quick example of this would be to look this up for yourself!
Do a quick search on Pinterest and see what vertical dimensions you should do.
My standard go-to is 564 px width and a length that never reaches over 1200.
Any longer and your pin can get cut off making it extremely unpinnable and unreadable for pin engagement.
Horizontal pictures/pins take up more internet ‘real estate’ than compared to the vertical pins on Pinterest.
interest has to keep everything vertical to help keep its search engine user-friendly. So if they say not to use horizontal pins or pictures, then don’t!
I go into these pin dimensions a bit further in the 10 best ways to use group boards here.
3. Share your pins to ONLY keyword-rich boards.
When it comes to Pinterest, and when you first start out, you kind of feel a bit scrambled as to what boards your pins are best for.
But when it comes to Pinterest, mixing it up can be a good thing!
Using selected boards that have different keywords for the different categories of your blog is what you want to aim for.
So if you look at the most popular Pinterest profiles out there, chances are that you’ll see that they all have an arrangement of boards that make up all the different categories of their blogs (usually their top 5 sub-niches).
You’ll see that their boards are targeted for each sub-niche of their blog and are not just random.
These high profile pinners are actually categorizing their blog’s niche into sub-niches (say 3 to 5 categories for each niche) and this is what you want your Pinterest account to focus on as well.
So let’s say you have a beauty article for example.
You will want to have a beauty board, but taking it a bit further, you will also want to pin that article to the sub-niches of that beauty article, like skincare advice, healthy hair, and so on.
Doing this will take your pins so much further, then if you have only broad boards that focus on one overall niche.
Take a look below for an in-depth keyword analysis of some boards that I have.
Here are some specific boards with keywords:
Category (sub-niche) boards:
Category boards that best described a specific category of your niche. For example; if you are a mommy blogger, then a great category board would be mommy business tips. That way all of your blogs’ business-related posts/pins have a designated place to go on your Pinterest profile. Simultaneously, that mommy blogger may have a category board called ‘kids crafts’ as that’s what they like to do round-up posts on. Having category boards also keeps things very organized for pinning!
Group boards:
These are boards that you become a contributor too. Just like category boards, you pin your relevant blog posts/pins to the group’s board that is likely to represent your blog pin/post the best. Group boards are becoming less popular, but I believe that they will make a comeback, so don’t lose hope with them in your Pinterest strategy just yet!
Blog boards:
This is a board that is uniquely your own, that houses all of your blog posts/pins. It’s a great way to create and save your first pin to Pinterest before you post to your different category boards and group boards, as it helps Pinterest know exactly what your profile is about and where the pin originally came from. You can even have your RSS feed linked to this specific blog board as I have with my main Pinterest board called: Everything Abode the best of here.
Personal Boards:
I always like seeing Pinterest accounts that have a personal touch, so I added this one in because it shows that you are a human and that you are not completely robotic. When you see something that resonates with you, pin it to your personal boards too. You can still have fun, make recipes, and have boards that are for you and your hobbies!
If you are a blogger posting about blogging? You are most welcome to join my group board ‘**ALL Blogging Group Board** HERE! As a kickback, I ask that you follow me and only contact me through my website’s contact page here.
4. Pin your first pins to Pinterest first.
Some pinners pin through Tailwind first to pin their content, but I prefer having my original pin being pinned to Pinterest first so that the original pin is pointing back to my Pinterest profile.
This could be superstition, but it just feels right to do it this way!
I’ll be talking about Tailwind more in-depth in steps 5 and 6, but the reason why I like to do this is that it helps me sleep better knowing that the pin I first pinned to Pinterest is linked back to my Pinterest account in case it goes viral.
That way it’s attached to my Pinterest account first for my Pinterest analytics to pick up the numbers.
Also, did you know that Pinterest is very advanced and tracks your activity?
So, let them know that you are adding pins, by adding them to your own Pinterest boards first!
This is just what I have found to be the best strategy and I feel it’s the right thing to do.
Similar: 7 Mistakes Most Bloggers Make on Pinterest and How to Avoid Them!
5. Post your content between high-quality pins throughout the day.
This could seem like a wide range of times to post, but statistics show that by consistently pinning your own content on a daily basis throughout the day, you’ll have a much better chance of getting your pins in front of potential readers, much faster and with more traffic coming back to your blog, then if you didn’t.
So to take this up a notch, I like to post my own original content mixed with my old high performing pins through smart loops. Again this a Tailwind feature. I’ll get into that for you in the next tip!
It’s just a general rule that Pinterest likes that you post often, so much so, that it rewards you by showing your pins in more viewer’s feeds when you do this. So as your follower counts sore, your active pinning will show up in your follower’s feeds. This is how Pinterest works and why it works so well.
So, why not include more of your own content? The more you pin your own original posts/pins, the more Pinterest gets to know more about you and in the process, you’ll get more traffic back to your blog posts! It’s a win, win!
Plus according to this article by Buffer, there are even more optimum amounts of time to pin on Pinterest on a daily basis, such as evenings and Saturdays!
(As you can see, some days are better than others…)
Another little tidbit is that we all know that Instagram users love posting quotes on Wednesdays right?!
Well if that’s the case, are they researching Pinterest for their next post for that day? Who knows! But if you happen to have a lot of quotes attached to your blog, maybe this is a good day to pin those. Just food for thought!
It’s just another way to show that the more you post your content the better the chances of that content gets seen and pushed up into others’ feeds.
Like Buffer says…
“You’re very unlikely to overwhelm your follower’s thanks to the Pinterest Smart Feed algorithm, and each Pin is a new chance to grow your exposure and audience”
Pro tip: Check out my simple step-by-step guide on How To Set Up a WordPress Blog in minutes. Check it out, so you can start marketing on Pinterest asap.
6. Pin other pinners’ high-quality content.
Just like friends, good quality takes the cake when it comes to growing your Pinterest profile.
You’ll see that the top pinners on Pinterest post quite a lot to Pinterest each day which is quite the contrary to what the other social media platforms want us to do.
This is because Pinterest is more like a search engine than anything else so it has to be treated as one instead of looked at as just another social media platform.
So by saying that, if you were to post on Instagram as you are advised to post with Pinterest, people would eventually get sick of you, unfollow you, and think that it’s all way too much!
The same goes for Facebook. If you were to post that much to Facebook, Facebook would likely flag you as a spammer.
So this is where Pinterest gets a bit different and why you should love it for that!
Now the big question is do you have the time to pin throughout the day, every single day of the week?
Some do, but most don’t, so if you don’t have the time to manually pin, then this is why you need a scheduling tool for that.
This is where Tailwind really comes to the rescue and I use this scheduler and I have since the very beginning.
Tailwind is by far the best scheduling tool for Pinterest because the two were literally made for each other.
Tailwind is Pinterest approved, so it’s a great investment just for that, and if you want to take a peek at Tailwind now? All you have to do is click here for their 14-day free trial.
I don’t know about you but I signed up shortly just after my trial expired. I bet you’ll do the same!
7. Delete the pins that you don’t want representing you.
Since Pinterest is a visual search platform, we all can’t hit a home run right off the bat. Especially when it comes to learning how to design and create beautiful pins.
So, don’t feel like you’ve failed if you have underperforming pins or your pins aren’t that great just yet.
You can always delete the pins you don’t like and just keep ongoing.
In fact, most top pinners delete their underperforming pins too because I still do. I delete and change out my old pins all the time.
Even though Pinterest tells us not too, our old underperforming pins STILL represent our brand.
So don’t be afraid to delete the pins that you think are cringe-worthy and that you KNOW no one is clicking on.
But if they are getting clicks throughs, then my best advice is to let it be.
You will learn what’s working and what’s not working by investigating your pins as time goes by. And this is a great way to investigate the pins that are underperforming so that you see a common theme.
You never know, it could have been the time of day that you pinned it, or it could have been an underperforming group board that you joined that made that pin fail.
At the end of the day, Pinterest is almost like gambling. I say almost because there is some strategy involved.
It’s like throwing your chips out there and hoping that you land on a red. But when it comes to pinning it’s totally okay to delete an underperforming pin and try at it again!
8. Research click-worthy titles and headlines.
Now, I saved this last Pinterest tip for last because it’s the BEST and because this is very important that you understand this!
Before I begin writing each article, I begin by knowing what I am going to write about first (obviously).
Then, that’s where I begin my research by researching eye-catching and clickable titles.
If the article doesn’t have a great flare to invigorate a click-through? Then why write it in the first place?!
I mean you can totally write form your heart but when it comes to making money online and from Pinterest…
Then it’s best advised that your new blog post is at the very least enticing enough to click on.
Also, another reason for this is when you are researching titles, you’ll know all the different angles to write a better article.
For starters, this can give you a grasp of what other people are searching for, and it can give you a sneak peek into who your competitors are, what they wrote, and if you decide to follow through and spend your valuable time on that topic?
Then you will know exactly how you are going to get lots of click-throughs from your pins with the catchy title you chose from beforehand.
Remember, each pin is trying to rank at the top of the search field for the selected keywords you chose on Pinterest, and the title that you pick can hold all of its power!
It’s amazing to see strange results that you can get by just using the right title and words.
Take this pin for example….
(This pin took off right away and received well over 125 repins in just 2 days! To be honest, I didn’t even like the design that much. It’s super old and it’s fair to say that I totally think it’s the title that took this pin as far as it did. )
It just goes to show that some pins do really great and are true winners, and some don’t get any traction at all.
So, it’s always good to have a plan a, b, c, d, and e.
Maybe that’s 5 pins… who knows!
Remember that you have to have some sort of a competitive nature when it comes to Pinterest.
Even though you may not consider yourself a competitor, you are still competing, so hopefully, these clever ways to get more traffic from Pinterest help you.
Don’t forget to take the Tailwind free trial here, if you haven’t yet!
Author: Rebecca
Hi, my name is Rebecca and I am the face behind Everything Abode! I am a lifestyle and wellness writer based out of Vancouver Island. When I’m not writing or exploring mountains and beaches with my furry rescue, I love spending time learning creative ways to manifest a healthy home. Thanks for stopping by!
Subscribe to Get the Tools That Make My Blog Successful!
When you join my newsletter, I'm going to send you insider advice and tools that I use to grow my blog! I only save the BEST for my email list so don't wait!
Hi! what exactly do you mean in #5? Should I post new content 5-30x a day? or keep posting the same content every day with different pins? should i be posting the same post to the same board over and over again?
thanks for your help!
Hi Kiersten! The 5 to 30 pins a day should be your own pins going out in a scheduler or manually pinning to a mix of your personal boards and group boards. They can be a mix of old pins too but make sure you are making new pins! As for pinning to the same board over again, you can do this, but try to make sure they are diff pins or if it’s the same pin, make sure its weeks later. Hope this helps! 🙂
Pinning, Following, Scheduling and even un-following were never so easy on Pinterest. It even takes time to grow on Pinterest but not for me; I am using PinPinterest com for my Pinterest account automation. It can work for you 24*7 with its autopilot feature. You can even use it on the go due to its cloud storage facility.
I’ll have to check that out! Thanks Anne 🙂