Do you love using Pinterest to find things? Many people do. And many bloggers don’t tap into this wonderful resource to drive traffic to their blog.
Just about everything we try to do around the house starts with using Pinterest to get ideas and visuals.
Pinterest is a pretty Google. It’s an eye-candy search engine.
Pinterest is king when it comes to getting traffic to your site from using visual graphics to get people to notice you.
Much has changed with Pinterest since this was written. It is no longer the extreme traffic powerhouse that it used to be. To see what has changed with Pinterest check out our new post: Pinterest Traffic for Bloggers: What Has Changed
When you are just starting out as a new blogger it can be hard to get traffic to your blog.
Usually, it is best to only concentrate on one or two social media platforms as a way to get traffic for your blog.
I recommend Twitter and Pinterest as the two best to use when first starting out with your blog and social media promotion.
Facebook is also another good one. If you want to up your social media to three that is the other best one to go with.
Instagram is usually last, unless you are a fashion or beauty blogger. But even then Instagram requires a bit more attention to grow your audience on.
For a Money Making Blog You Need Pinterest for help with Blog Traffic
If you are blogging for a reason beyond a hobby, then Pinterest is a great place to get traffic for your blog.
Pinterest can put a jump start on driving traffic to your blog long before Google will.
If you are not planning to monetize your blog and not take it beyond a hobby status, dedicating time to optimize your Pinterest account and potential pins is probably not a needed time sink.
Get the Necessities
Yoast SEO Plugin
Yoast not only helps with SEO for your blog, but it also makes adding meta tags for Pinterest to your blog a breeze.
Install Yoast for WordPress
Sometimes WordPress installations will have Yoast already installed in the plugins.
But if not just log into your WordPress Admin then on the left-hand side go to Plugins -> Add New Plugin and search for Yoast. Press install and then activate.
Pinterest Business Account
To maximize your Pinterest traffic for your blog it is best to sign up for a free Pinterest business account.
If you already have a Pinterest account, you can convert your existing account to a business account.
Claim your Site with Pinterest and Get Rich Pins
Once you have your business Pinterest account it’s time to claim your website.
Add Pinterest Meta Info Through Yoast
After you get the meta tag from Pinterest to claim you can easily add this to your WordPress blog through the Yoast Plugin.
From you WordPress Admin Dashboard go to the Yoast SEO Plugin on the left hand side menu and select Social. Once on that page select the “Pinterest” tab and you can add your Pinterest meta tag there. Once you have it entered hit the Save Changes button.
Pinterest can take a bit to verify the site sometimes. I had one site take a full day to get verified, and another just take a few minutes. So YMMV.
After you are verified then you need to apply for rich pins.
When you have Rich Pins, you have more information shown on your pins.
Make Good Images to Pin
Tools to Make Images That Will Drive Traffic to Your Blog
Pinterest is 100% visual.
Having visually appealing graphics is a must if you want to use Pinterest for blog traffic.
Canva
Canva is wonderful. They have a great free option as well as a subscription that gets you more perks and customization for graphics.
Canva has tons of templates to choose from for Pinterest vertical images.
PicMonkey
PicMonkey is another tool that is used by many for making Pinterest images.
They also offer templates to help you with ideas for your pins.
Some people prefer Canva and others prefer PicMonkey. Personally, I also prefer Canva, but you can try out both to see which one suits you better.
Visme
Visme is a tool that is like Canva but specializes in infographics. You can see how they set themselves apart from Canva here.
Make It Easy For Your Readers
Don’t Make it Hard
So many times I end up on blogs where people want their content shared and there are no share buttons.
Your readers don’t want to have to go through creating a social media post just to share your content.
Don’t make sharing your blog’s content difficult.
You can use the plugin Grow Social by Mediavine that can make it easy for readers to share your content across multiple social media platforms including Pinterest.
Take All the Help You Can Get to Get Pinterest Traffic
Tailwind
If there is one thing that I would not give up for use with Pinterest, beyond Canva for my images, it’s Tailwind.
Tailwind isn’t as essential as it once was when it comes to pinning on Pinterest.
It used to be that you needed 30 to 40 pins per day being put up on your account in order to keep up with what Pinterest favored in order to get good traffic. With the changes that they have made however that is no longer necessary.
But Tailwind can still be useful, especially if you own multiple niche sites or blogs.
While Pinterest has an in-house scheduler, it always takes up more time for me to use that than to use Tailwind. And freeing up my time allows me to get more content up on my websites so it is well worth the subscription cost due to the ROI on my time.
You can get a free Tailwind account here. Their free account level will give you access to Tailwind Tribes and 20 pins a month through the scheduler. This can help you free up several weeks of pinning just using the free option.
Facebook Blogging Groups
Facebook has some great blogging groups you can join that have daily follow threads for various social platforms, and also blog comments.
With these groups just make sure you read the rules of the posts. Usually each post has requirements of a certain number of interactions.
Some of the best ones I’ve found so far are:
- Blogging for New Bloggers
- Blogger Gal Collective
- Bloggers Supporting Bloggers
- Becoming a Blogger
- Blogging Babes
Just like the Facebook Blogging Groups, Twitter has some great accounts you can follow who do Pinterest threads.
Just like the Facebook groups, pay attention and follow the rules laid out in each promo thread.
Go Out There and Get that Blog Traffic
This should get you started on your way to getting traffic from Pinterest for your blog.
Are there any Pinterest tools that we didn’t list that you like to use? If so let us know below!
I personally have been able to create a money making blog without utilizing Pinterest. I do use it but I definitely need to look into how to utilize it properly for views.
Jenny
http://www.jennyinneverland.com
It’s a good blog post. I use tailwind and Pinterest but I’m not good at it yet. It’s useful to read that kind of blog posts x
A must read guide for pinterest newbies.
Very well written.