Guest post by Carolyn Nicander Mohr

at Aha!NOW

14 Top Tips to Get Pinterest to Rock Your Blog Traffic

14 TOP TIPS TO GET

PINTEREST TO ROCK

YOUR BLOG TRAFFIC

1. CHECK OUT YOUR PINTEREST SOURCE PAGE

Go to

pinterest.com/source/yoururl

to see who has been pinning from your site.

PINTEREST SOURCE PAGE OF AHA!NOW

Aha!NOW Pinterest Source Page

2. CHECK OUT YOURPINTEREST ANALYTICS

• Go to your Pinterest profile page

• Click on the gear icon in the upper right corner

• Choose Analytics

• See who has been pinning and which images get pinned the most

Tip: Be sure to follow popular boards where your

images are being pinned!

3. JOIN GROUP BOARDS

• Pinterest can give you a large audience even if you only have a few followers.

• The key is to join Group Boards.

• Group Boards can have thousands of followers who can see your pins even if they don't follow you.

• By joining a Group Board you can get instant impressions from tens of thousands of people when you pin to that board.

4. FIND GROUP BOARDS IN YOUR NICHE AND PIN FROM THEM

• Group Boards in your niche can be a source of inspiration and information for future articles.

• Share pins from Group Boards to become active in them and follow other members of the board.

• Join Group Boards about blogging to learn the latest news, tips and tricks for bloggers.

5. ARRANGE YOUR PINTEREST BOARDS

• Make your most important pins easy to find when someone visits your profile page.

• Arrange your boards so that pins from your website are the first things that people see.

• Cluster your boards according to subject matter or arrange them alphabetically.

• Fill the top row with the boards that are bringing you the most traffic, and then arrange the others alphabetically.

Sample Pinterestboard arrangement

6. BE ACTIVE ON PINTEREST

• Start thinking of Pinterest as your "go to" site, both for sharing and for information.

• When you visit a blog, go beyond sharing on Twitter and Facebook.

• Share on Pinterest so you become an active pinner.

• Active pinners with interesting pins will have more impact than those who pin infrequently.

• You can pin images on any topic without worrying about alienating followers.

Tip: Follow the Golden Rule of social media –

80% of your pins should be from other sites,

20% from your own site.

7. USE PINTEREST AS A

SEARCH ENGINE

• Go beyond thinking of Pinterest as another social media site.

• Think of Pinterest as a visual search engine.

• Search for topics of interest, you'll find loads of pins on just about any topic.

• Create boards to pin your search results to bookmark them and keep them organized.

8. THINK BEYOND BLOGGING

• Use Pinterest for research beyond your niche.

• Planning a party? Create a Pinterest board with ideas for decorating, themes, food, and invitations.

• Redecorating your house? Make a Pinterest board with paint colors, furniture, decorating ideas and more.

• Planning a garden? Start a gardening board to save pins that give you inspiration.

• The followers you get on your non-niche boards may drive traffic to your niche boards and then to your blog.

• Someone who searches for a gardening pin may end up following you on Pinterest and visiting your blog.

9. USE SECRET BOARDS

• Create secret boards to help you save information you find on the Internet and get inspiration for future blog post topics.

• Pin articles you can use for research later or ideas for subjects you want to cover at your blog.

• Create a secret Blog Images board for featured images you think look good on Pinterest.

• If you visit a blog on any topic and find the feature image compelling, pin it to your secret Blog Images board to give you inspiration for creating your feature images.

• Look at the design, font, colors, photos, size, etc. of photos you collect on your board to learn what works best for you.

10. DESIGN COMPELLING FEATURE IMAGES

• A picture says a thousand words, so spend time creating your feature image for your blog posts.

• Think of what would look good on Pinterest when you're creating your image.

• Use your secret Blog Images board to get inspiration.

• Be sure to include text on the image that explains what your article is about to drive traffic to your blog.

Tip: You don't need to mirror the title of your article with the text on your image, but be sure that the text is as compelling as the image.

11. USE DESIGN TOOLS TO CREATE FEATURE IMAGES

• Use design tools such as PicMonkey and Canva to add text, lines, stickers, effects backgrounds and other visual enhancements.

• Make sure to enhance your photos with design features that will make your images stand out on Pinterest.

• Your beautiful landscape photo won't drive people to your blog if people don't know the pin is linked to a blog post.

12. ADD THE PIN IT BUTTONTO YOUR BLOG

• Make pinning from your blog as easy as possible for your readers.

• Use a Pin It button both on the images and in your social sharing buttons to get readers to pin your images.

• Use the Pin It button on your blog to pin your images. Check to make sure that the button works properly and generates a relevant description.

Tip: If the image description is image_0578, you won't be getting much traffic from that pin!

13. USE METADATA WISELY

• Save your images with titles that relate to the topic of your blog post.

• Use the metadata field to enter text you want included with pins from your post.

• Too many bloggers skip this step and too few readers will add their own descriptions to a pin.

14. USE RICH PINS

• Make the most of Pinterest by getting your blog verified and using Rich Pins.

• Pins from your blog will include the logo, a link, and other relevant data to make sure that your pins stand out.

• To get Rich Pins you have to apply at Pinterest to get your site verified.

• You can find out more about Rich Pins and how apply for them at the Pinterest website.

Check out this example of a Rich Pin from Aha!NOW. Notice the logo, title of the blog and additional information that has been added to the Rich Pin.

LEARN MORE AT AHA!NOW

Find out more about how Pinterest can rock your blog traffic at Aha!NOW:

14 Top Tips to Get Pinterest to Rock Your Blog Traffic