Beauty through imperfection

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5 Ways to Get Noticed on Pinterest

Have you ever wonderd what it takes to get attention from Pinterest?  I’ve been working on Pinterest-marketing  for awhile now, and I’ve found 5 things that I believe every blogger needs to know about getting noticed on Pinterest.

Getting noticed on pinterest

Pinterest is such a huge tool for bloggers. All it takes is one image from your blog going viral, and you will see a huge spike in traffic! It can be hard to predict which posts will do exceptionally well on pinterest, and which will get little notice. There have been some times that I pin something, expecting my inbox to be flooded with people re-pinning it, and I’m surprised when it gets only one or two re-pins and that’s all. Then there have been other times where I half-heartedly pin something and I’m shocked when it gets re-pinned so many times that it quickly brings in thousands of pageviews.

I’ve been experimenting with pinterest for awhile now, and I’ve come up with a list of the top 5 ways to get noticed on pinterest.   I’ve been implementing all of these, and have seen a huge (and lasting) increase in views since making these simple changes.

  1. Eye-catching Images – Using great, eye-catching and descriptive images is a MUST. This should be a high quality photo or a text-image you made yourself using a photo editing software, or a combination of the two! In my side bar there is a variety of images that I’ve made using the free photo-editing tools at picmonkey.com There is so much you can do with that program to enhance photos that you have taken, or to create new (royalty free) images of your own. There are all kinds of copyright laws in regard to images found online, so I’ve gotten in the habit of only using my own images. I never want to be stuck using something illegally, so I just create my own, rather than risk doing something wrong! 
  2. Re-pin – If certain posts haven’t seen much action on pinterest in a few weeks or months, go back through and pin them again! This way your new followers will get a chance to see them, and even some of your old followers that may have missed them the first time around. Re-pinning has helped me considerably with my visability on pinterest. You don’t want to do this too much or you will be seen as a spammer, but sprinkling in a few, relevent older posts with your most recent pins is a great way to bring older posts to light. This is especially useful for seasonal posts. Did you write a great 4th of July, or Summer themed post last year? Re-pin in this year and watch what happens!
  3. Create New Image for Old Posts –  This is a big one, and it is responsible for bringing hundreds of pageviews to my site everyday. Review some of your older posts and create new images for them. I recently learned how to use picmonkey to create better images, so I’ve been going through and creating fresh images for these posts that didn’t have an image, or had a very dull photo instead of a bright image rich with descriptive text. For a few weeks I tried to create one new image, for an old post, everyday. This would take 10-20 minutes each, but it has been such a rewarding way to spend my time, as it has brought more new traffic than I ever imagined!
  4. Describe Your Pin Well – This is a tip that Becky from Your Modern Family gave me, and it has been so helpful! When you push the button to pin your own post write a stellar description for it! It can feel weird bragging on your own post, but this is the description that will be pinned and re-pinned an indefinite amount of times, so choose your words wisely! Instead of just using the name of the post in your description, expound on it and use eye-catching phrases like “fantastic!” or “must-read” and “so helpful!!!!” Whatever you can honestly say about the post that might catch some one’s attention more than just the title or repeating the words that are already on the image.
  5. Have Quality Content – This one may be a bit obvious, but it bears repeating. People may re-pin an eye-catching image, but if they go to the site and find poor content, broken links, a site that is hard to navigate or, worst of all, a post that has mis-represented itself on pinterest, they won’t be coming back and they will likely delete the pin. Make sure that you are honest with your descriptions/images and be sure that your site is clean and easy to read once they click over!

*Bonus Tip! – Use pinterest link parties like the one hosted here every saturday, for extra exposure for your best pins!!! The link up starts at midnight friday CST! Come join the fun!!!

These are my top 5 tips for getting noticed on pinterest! Each of these things has been helping me a lot, and has kept pinterest as my top traffic source for months now!

What about you? Do you use pinterest to promote your posts? 

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Paula

Young wife, mama, author, blogger, encourager, friend. Lover of hot weather. Lover of travel. Accomplished chocolate eater. Proud Hufflepuff.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Thank you so much for these helpful tips. I did not know that I can re pin the older post; and now I am going to do it, definitely. Thank you so much! Have a lovely day.

    Ellya

    Reply

  3. Hi Paula,

    Reading your post makes me aware about pinterest.You know Ive been blogging on and off. After my hiatus, I came back and here comes pinterest which is so unknown to me.Perhaps I need to go over it, create my account and start to explore it. Thanks a lot for sharing..its very interesting and I am grabbing your post.

    Reply

  4. Hey Paula,

    Thank you so much for your post. What a great share on the ins and outs of Pinterest.

    I am following you from the Nanny to Mommy Blog Hop. I will connect with you on every single social media icon I find here!

    Lisa

    Reply

  6. I really need to learn how to use Picmonkey! I find that it’s a HUGE pain to find good images for posts, and it takes SO long, and then yes, I’m sometimes concerned that I’m using them correctly. A small, but steady amount of my blog traffic comes from Pinterest, but I know it would help if I made good images. Thanks for these ideas!

    Reply

  7. Thank you for this wonderful post. Pinterest has been this elusive marketing site for me for SO long…and then I had one post get some decent traffic, and now it’s my number 2 social media referral! I’m really interested in learning how to make more posts ‘go viral’ so THANK YOU so much for these tips!

    Oh…and I think I’m going to go back and create new images for some older posts….and ‘re-pin’! Thanks again!

    Reply

  10. Great job on this, Paula! I really enjoy following you. Your stuff really does stand out. I’m surprised how often I am attracted to a pin and see that you were the one who pinned it or posted it. Keep up the great quality that you put into what you are doing. You have a real gift!

    Reply

  13. Hi Paula! Great Post! I went right over to my blog board on Pinterest and added descriptions to my posts….that was my favorite tip. Visiting from The Pin Junkie and following you via Pinterest!

    Reply

  14. I find I get lazy when it comes to describing my pins. Thanks for the motivation! I agree with everything you said here-especially the old posts/new photos. I take a new picture every time a make a recipe I know I’ve blogged before, just so I have more to work with. Pic Monkey has been a huge asset!

    Reply

  15. These are very helpful ideas, Paula! A couple of other things I try to do are pin other people’s posts more than my own and also, if I repin something right from Pinterest, I check the link first to make sure it goes to the original source. So many times I have pinned something only to go back later and realize it just goes to an image on google or something. So when we as bloggers take the time to make sure the pins we share from others are accurate and relevant, it helps our own Pinterest traffic as well as shows we are trustworthy pinners! :)

    Reply

  24. Thanks for the information. I know I don’t write much for descriptions and am not always sure what to add that I haven’t already said.

    Reply

  25. Great tips! I like the repin suggestion – I’d seen similar suggestions several months back but was wary of seeming spammy. But now that my boards have a bunch more pins under their belts I might just have to do that.

    My suggestion for going viral on Pinterest would be to get yourself invited to relevant group boards, and then pin useful on-topic content from not just your own blog but anywhere else you think the group should check out.

    Reply

  26. I haven’t even thought about growing my pinterest. At first I resisted from joining because I didn’t want more time spent on the computer. I joined just to collect things that I love or want to try. Never thought about using it for any other purpose. I rarely just go to Pinterest. Just pin as I am visiting. Love having the things I love all together. Thanks for sharing this interesting info with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

    Reply

  29. Great tips! I’ve been working on creating new pics for some of my older posts, and I occasionally repin items, too. Thanks for sharing at Submarine Sunday!

    Reply

  30. {Melinda} Number 3 is a biggie. I’ve done this repeatedly. A couple of weeks ago, I made a new image for an old post that originally got about 20 repins. To date, after posting the new image, that post has received more than 9,000 repins!

    Great post!

    Reply

  34. Thanks for the great post!! I actually wrote a similar one on Pinterest not too long ago, since I’ve been researching Pinterest. I’ve been wanting to utilize it more. I had no idea you hosted this party either. Glad I came across!

    Reply

  42. Pinterest and Facebook (I read your post on that as well) have been my two focuses lately and you have made some fabulous points. I definitely need to start repinning some of my older stuff. I guess I’ve been a little shy about it. Thanks so much for sharing your secrets :)

    Found you through SITS now following you through bloglovin and twitter.

    Reply

  45. Thank you for the tips…I always think of whether an image is eye catching enough and try to use great titles for my blog pins… I like to do the rectangle images or collages so that my pin is larger than all of the other pins

    Reply

  46. I never thought of re-doing photos for old posts! That makes a lot of sense. There are a lot of projects I’ve done that I thought would do great on Pinterest but only got a few re-pins. I never thought that the solution might be simply a better or more eye catching image. Thanks for these great tips!

    Reply

  47. I love these ideas. I really need to go through a lot of my old posts and update my pictures. Some just have terrible pictures and some of the pictures are just too small since I switched from Blogger to WordPress. Thanks for the great posts!

    Reply

  50. I have a personal Pinterest account with almost 300 followers. I just started a business account on Pinterest for my blog. Do you recommend keeping them separate? I hesitate to start over, but I want my blog to have a page. For now, I’ve been pinning to both. Any recommendations?

    Reply

    • It’s really up to you… Personally, I find it easier to keep up with just one account, so I just use my personal one for my blog as well. I just added my blog name after my name and use that one you can see here:
      http://www.pinterest.com/PaulaRollo/

      I don’t think there is a “wrong” way to do it, it’s just whatever is easiest for you.

      Reply

  52. Thanks, Paula. This was a helpful list of tips. I noticed some of my old pins from my earlier years of pinning weren’t that captivating. I’m definitely going to refresh my older pins with new photos.

    Reply

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