With these Pinterest tips for beginners, you’ll start your Pinterest off the right way.
Before I started using Pinterest for my travel and lifestyle blog, I barely got any page views. Pinterest really helped it grow more than Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. That’s why I know if you’re just starting out with blogging or starting a business online, then you’ll want Pinterest for page views (in addition to SEO).
These Pinterest tips for beginners will help you get the page views to your blog that you’re looking for!
Just follow along step-by-step to learn what Pinterest is, how it can get you the page views you want and how to get it started off the right way.
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Vocabulary to Know Before Reading These Pinterest Tips for Beginners
To get the best out of these Pinterest tips, read through the Pinterest-specific vocabulary first.
Don’t worry if you don’t get these definitions asap.
Getting an idea of them now will help you throughout the article!
- Pinterest is the name of the social media site.
- A Pin is an image in Pinterest.
- A Pinner is someone who Pins an image to Pinterest. For the purposes of these Pinterest tips for beginners, let’s say a Pinner is a blogger or business.
- A User is someone who uses Pinterest to get answers and may occasionally Pin from websites to Pinterest. For the purposes of this post, they do not have a blog, website or business. They solely use Pinterest for information.
- To Pin a Pin is to post or repost an image/content to Pinterest.
- A Board is where Pins are Pinned to. It’s like a folder on your computer or a drawer in your kitchen that stores a bunch of things in it. The Board has Pins stored in it, and most of the time, the Board has one topic such as “Recipes” where recipes are Pinned to.
- A Group Board is where multiple people can Pin to since it’s open to a whole group of people.
Again, don’t worry if you don’t have these words down. You will understand them in the context of this Pinterest guide.
What is Pinterest?
We all know Pinterest as a social media site but in actually, it’s more than that.
Pinterest is a search engine too- kind of like Google!
People go to Pinterest to find specific answers for a problem they have or for inspiration that they may want for fashion, home decor, quotes and more.
Pinterest is a social media site because anyone, not just bloggers and businesses, can Pin (aka upload) images to Pinterest. They can also Heart a Pin if they liked the information or comment on it, which is where the social aspect comes in.
It is a very unique and handy social media site to use to promote your blog or website because it can possibly bring in page views faster than from search engines.
Even better, everything you Pin to Pinterest is evergreen (unlike Facebook, Twitter and Instagram). That means a Pin you pinned five years ago can still gain traction and be searched for on Pinterest today.
Why You Need to be on Pinterest
Pinterest is great for immediate page views
There are two things I always recommend focusing on for page views: Pinterest and SEO (search engine optimization).
They are both great for ORGANIC page views, which means you do NOT have to pay for traffic.
The only difference between Pinterest and SEO is that SEO can take months for your blog posts to start ranking in Google aka the point that people are able to find your blog posts via search engines.
With Pinterest, your Pin can take off almost immediately and start giving you page views within days.
For example, for my new health and beauty blog, I started getting page views to my first blog post on the same day and I even made an affiliate sale on the first day I launched my blog.
Pinterest has an active audience base
According to Pinterest, it has:
- 335+ million users with 88 million of them being from the USA
- 71% of these users are female who tend to make the consumer purchasing decisions for their household
- More than half of Pinterest users make over $50,000/yr or more
- 89% of users use Pinterest for purchasing inspiration
This means that Pinterest users not only want to read advice, they are ready to make a purchase if need be.
How does Pinterest work?
Pinterest works a little differently for a user and a Pinner (aka a blogger or business). Let’s see how both would use Pinterest.
How a Pinterest User Gets to Your Blog from Pinterest
There are two ways that a Pinterest user would get to your blog from Pinterest.
The first is through active searching.
Sally needs to make dinner for her family but she’s not sure what to cook. Here’s what she does know:
- She’s tired of the same recipes she’s always making.
- She doesn’t want to spend a lot of time cooking.
As a result, she goes to Pinterest.com for inspiration.
In the Search box, she types in “quick and easy family dinners”.
A bunch of Pins appear that are related to her search result.
She scrolls down until she sees this Pin “24 quick and easy summer dinner ideas”, which sounds like the perfect list for her cooking inspiration.
Sally clicks on the Pin and reads the description underneath it.
It sounds like exactly what she needs so she clicks on the image or the link and finds herself reading the post 24 Kid Friendly Dinner Recipes to Make This Summer.
The second way that a Pinterest user gets to your blog is by passive exploring her home feed.
Let’s say Sally is bored so she goes on Pinterest to scroll just like other people go on Facebook or Instagram to scroll; yup, people do that on Pinterest too.
As she scrolls through her home feed, she sees the Pin “24 Kid Friendly Recipes” based on other Pins she Pinned to her Boards or based off her Boards.
She clicks on the Pin then clicks through to the blog.
How a Pinterest User Pins on Pinterest for Inspiration
Sometimes a Pinterest user doesn’t necessarily need information right away but wants to collect ideas for later. They can do this three different ways:
- Search for something in Pinterest such as “living room inspiration” and Pin all the Pins that catch their eyes to a Board called “Living Room Inspo”.
- Scroll through their Home Feed, and Pin any Pins that catch their eye to Boards they already have or might create.
- Pin a Pin directly from someone’s blog or website to save for later.
Note: Not all Pins have the purpose of going through to a blog. They may just be images for inspiration.
How a Blogger or Business Uses Pinterest
Unlike a Pinterest user, a blogger uses Pinterest for a completely different reason.
While the user’s goal is to solve a problem or get inspiration, a blogger’s goal is to get traffic and ultimately make money (either through ad revenue from increased page views, affiliate marketing or sponsorships).
Basically, every time a blogger writes a new post, they’ll market it on Pinterest by creating a Pinterest-friendly graphic for it then posting it to Pinterest at the right time.
The graphic, title and description of a Pin combined will entice your ideal user to come to your blog. ˆKeep reading to find out the steps of Pinning to Pinterest.
Businesses can simply post their products directly to Pinterest and even have shoppable Pins on Pinterest.
Setting Up Your Pinterest Account the Right Way
To get the most out of your Pinterest, you 100% want to sign up for a Pinterest Business account.
This will allow you to get powerful data to analyze whether your Pins are doing well or not, activate Rich Pins and claim your website on Pinterest.
You want to claim your website and activate Rich Pins so you can have your website on your profile and also get added information on your Pins.
For example, if you’re a food blogger, your Pins may show the ingredients of your recipes as part of your Pin before a user clicks through to your blog.
Setting up your account the right way is one of the most important Pinterest tips for beginners.
Here’s how:
1. Open up a Pinterest Business account. If you already have a personal Pinterest account, you can convert it to a Business one, but I like to start with a fresh Pinterest account if the niche of your blog does not relate to the type of Pins you’ve been Pinning to your personal account.
2. Add a profile image.
3. Add a short bio explaining why someone would want to follow your Pinterest account.
4. Go to Settings -> Claim.
- Add your website.
- Click Add HTML tag.
- Copy the long string of numbers and letters after content and between the quotes.
- Paste that into your RankMath SEO plugin in your WordPress Admin dashboard -> General Settings -> Webmaster tools under Pinterest Verification ID. Click Save Changes.
5. Back in Pinterest, click Next and Submit for Review.
This will show your blog url on your Pinterest profile as well as activate Rich Pins, which adds extra helpful information to your Pins from your blog automatically.
Let me set up your Pinterest account the right way for you.
(Keep scrolling for more tips if you’re not interested.)
This includes setting up, claiming the website, optimizing your profile bio, setting up multiple boards with targeted description, creating a custom Canva template for you to easily make graphics, creating custom graphics for blog posts you already have, filling up your first boards for traction to your profile, giving you researched hashtags and providing creative commons stock photos specific to your niche.
It even includes a strategy call where I reveal the why behind everything I do for you!
Creating Your First Board for Your Blog/Site
Let’s create your first board. This is going to specifically be for your blog posts so that all of your Pins leading out to your blog will be in one place.
Having this board specific to your blog as the first Board that someone sees when they go to your profile is a best practice for Pinterest for bloggers.
Here’s how to do it:
- Click on your Profile Picture in the top right to get to your Pinterest page.
- Click on Boards.
- Click Create Board.
- Name it “Best of Your Blog Name”.
- Ignore the option to add Pins to it.
- Click the Three Dots on the left side to Edit your Board.
- Add a Description to say what your Board is about.
Now you have a Board set up specifically for you to add Pins that will lead to your blog.
Creating Additional Boards
Even though you have one board, you’ll want additional ones to create traction to your Pinterest profile.
These additional boards with topics related to your blog will be where you’ll Pin other people’s Pins to and rePin your Pins to. To rePin means to Pin again.
For example, if you are a fashion blogger, you may want to create a second board titled “Style Inspo” to Pin images of fashion that inspire you.
Pin a few suggested Pins to it to get the Board started, and edit the description to reflect what the board is about.
Don’t have time to do this?
Let me set up your boards for you.
(Keep scrolling for more tips if you’re not interested.)
This includes setting up, claiming the website, optimizing your profile bio, setting up multiple boards with targeted description, creating a custom Canva template for you to easily make graphics, creating custom graphics for blog posts you already have, filling up your first boards for traction to your profile, giving you researched hashtags and providing creative commons stock photos specific to your niche. It even includes a strategy call where I reveal the why behind everything I do for you!
Beginner’s Pinterest Guide to Creating Pin-worthy Graphics
Now it’s time to GET THOSE PAGE VIEWS! To do that, we’ll need to create Pins on Pinterest that lead to our blog.
What to Easily Make Pins With
I personally like to use the free website, Canva, to make Pinterest graphics. It’s a quick and easy way to make graphics. You don’t need prior knowledge like you do with Adobe Photoshop or inDesign.
Once you start an account on Canva, you can easily create a Pinterest graphic aka Pin by selecting on Create a Design and choosing Pinterest template.
Tips for Designing Pins
You want your Pin to be eye-catching because this is what the Pinterest user will first see before reading the description of your Pin and clicking to your blog.
An eye-catching Pin will have:
- easy-to-read, large text
- avoid using text size, fonts and colors that are hard to read
- beautiful imagery
- use your own, find some for free in Canva or download relevant ones from Unsplash
- a catchy headline
- the headline on the image does not have to match your blog post title exactly
- maximum 2-3 colors
- keep the Pins looking clean and easy to take in
Once you design your first few Pins, you will have a template that you can use again and again to save time. You may need to adjust them every so often once you figure out which Pin designs do better on Pinterest.
Pre-Designed Pinterest Templates
Save time creating Canva templates and skip testing what type of Pin design will do well in Pinterest. Grab pre-designed templates here.
Get 10 photo Pinterest templates here for only $9
via Paypal.
Get 10 video* Pinterest templates here for $29
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*Video Pins tend to get more traction sooner than photo Pins. These video Pins can also be downloaded as regular photo Pins as well.
Pinning Your Pins to Pinterest
To Pin your Pinterest graphic to Pinterest, you can manually do it on Pinterest (full guide on how to post on Pinterest here)or use Tailwind.
To manually Pin your graphic, hit Create in the top left corner of Pinterest.
- Drag and drop in your Pinterest graphic that you made from Canva.
- Add a catchy title.
- Add an SEO description with Pinterest keywords.
- Add hashtags into your description.
- Add the link to your blog post.
- Publish it onto your blog’s specific Board.
Once it’s Pinned onto your main Board, you can rePin that Pin to other relevant personal and group boards.
To Pin your Pins more efficiently and effectively, I love Tailwind, which I’ve been using for the past four years.
Here’s why I love it and use it every time I need to Pin to Pinterest:
- I can create multiple Pins at once whereas in Pinterest, I can only do one at a time.
- To create multiple Pins in Tailwind, I copy and paste links, titles and descriptions as needed.
- The best part about Tailwind is that you can have Groups of your Pinterest Boards. Then you can select your Group to be added to all your Pins. Your Pin will be Pinned to all the Boards. This avoids the tediousness of having to rePin to all boards manually in Pinterest.
- You can also add the Board you want to Pin to one by one but choosing a Group is more efficient.
- Tailwind knows when the best time to Pin to Pinterest is. It schedules your drafts and spreads them out for days to Pin at the best time. This helps keep up the momentum of traffic to both your Pinterest profile and blog.
Try Tailwind for free today. You get 100 Pins included in the free plan!
Getting Followers on Pinterest
Notice how we went through all these Pinterest tips for beginners without talking about how to get followers on Pinterest?
Well, the best thing about starting out on Pinterest is that you don’t need to have a lot of followers for your Pins to do well and get traffic to your blog!
Pins can do well on their own if the graphic design is great and there’s a full description attached to the Pin with a little peek into what the blog post is about.
This is one of the only social media platforms (besides TikTok) where follower count does NOT matter.
If your Pins pick up, then the followers will naturally come– seriously, they will. So don’t focus on followers. Focus on quality Pins and great blog posts people want to read.
How to Get Your Pins to Rank in the Pinterest Search Engine
For your Pins to do well in Pinterest, the Pinterest algorithm has to know what they’re about.
You can do this with Pinterest SEO, which is Pinterest search engine optimization.
The main component of Pinterest SEO is by using Pinterest keywords strategically in your Pin title and description.
Learn more about how to find Pinterest keywords and where exactly to use them here.
How to Get More Eyes on Your Pins ASAP
Follower count doesn’t matter as much in getting more eyes on your Pins sooner than later but being part of Group Boards and/or Tailwind Tribes can definitely help.
Group Boards
As mentioned briefly above in the Vocabulary section, Group Boards allow multiple people to Pin to a Board (vs a regular Board only has one Pinner).
Group Boards are great for getting your Pins out because of the Group Board’s followers, which are an aggregate of all Group Board members’ followers.
For example, Pinner A has 1,000 followers, Pinner B has 2,000 followers and Pinner C has 3,000 followers. Together, they have 5,000 followers.
When Pinner A Pins to his own Board, it has the potential to be seen by his 1,000 followers and also on search results.
However, when Pinner A Pins to a Group Board that A, B and C are all a part of, his Pin has a chance to be seen by all three’s 5,000 followers (in addition to search results).
How to Join Group Boards
Each Group Board has different requirements to get in depending on the creator of the board.
They may ask you to comment on a Pin to get entry, email them, fill out a form, or best of all, have an easy ‘Request to Join’ button.
If you are a travel blogger, here are all my travel-related Group Boards you can join.
How to Find Group Boards
You can find Group Boards with a site like Pin Groupie, but my favorite way to find relevant boards are by looking at other bloggers’ Pinterest profiles.
I scroll down their boards to find their group ones, which you can identify because it has multiple user profile photos on the bottom right.
I click into those and see how I can join and what the rules of the board are.
This can be a very tedious process, which is why I choose to get my Pins reshared by others with Tailwind Tribes.
Tailwind Tribes
Tailwind Tribes is kind of like Group Boards but better.
Instead of your Pin getting put into a Group Board without knowing if your Pin will be seen by the Board’s follwoers or get rePinned by someone, your Pin can be put into a Tribe where people ACTIVELY rePin each other’s Pins.
Yes, I repeat– people who Pin to Tribes actively Pin other people’s Pins too.
Tailwind Tribes is included in Tailwind’s plan and makes it really easy to get your Pin shown to Pinterest’s many users who are interested in your niche.
When you make a Pin on Tailwind, you have the option of adding it to a Tribe as well so it’s as automatic as Pinning your own Pins to Pinterest via Tailwind.
I love that in just one of my Tribes, my Pins got 38 re-shares from the Tribe members, 4 rePins after they shared it to Pinterest and got about 446.8K impressions (the number of times my Pin was seen on Pinterest).
Amazing right?
This is why Tailwind Tribes is even better than Group Boards at this point. They are niche-based and have active members who share your Pins on their own Pinterest accounts.
Pinterest for Small Businesses
As you already know from all the tips above, the two main benefits of Pinterest for business are that you can get organic traffic to your business’s blog, and perhaps more importantly, get people to buy your products.
To do that, you’ll want to create Product Pins on Pinterest. These types of Pins have great information such as how much a product is and what materials it may be made out of.
You may also want to consider experimenting with Pinterest ads to reach your target audience faster and more effectively, but based on my experience with Pinterest, you don’t need to run ads for brand awareness and traffic.
At the very least, you can create a Shop on Pinterest so people can buy directly from you.
Let me set up your Pinterest account the right way for you.
This includes setting up, claiming the website, optimizing your profile bio, setting up multiple boards with targeted description, creating a custom Canva template for you to easily make graphics, creating custom graphics for blog posts you already have, filling up your first boards for traction to your profile, giving you researched hashtags and providing creative commons stock photos specific to your niche. It even includes a strategy call where I reveal the why behind everything I do for you!
I hope you found these Pinterest tips for beginners and businesses to be helpful. Have any questions? Comment below or ask me in my free blogging help group.
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Sarah
Wednesday 17th of August 2022
This was helpful! Thank you