How I TRIPLED my views: Pinterest Strategies for Bloggers

**As of January 28th, 2019 These tips have gotten me to 1.5 Million views on Pinterest!

Pinterest is an essential tool for bloggers these days! Anyone can be successful with it, as long as you use the right Pinterest Strategy. These are the pinterest strategies for bloggers that are proven to be successful. Just like many other bloggers, Pinterest has become my number 1 source of traffic to my site.I went from 43K on March 1st to 139K by April 30th! Most of the growth happened in April where I went from about 65K Pageviews to the 139K by the end of the month. I was glad that some of that transferred over to my blog. (My blog views are nowhere near these numbers just yet, but I’m claiming it that they will be! :)) When I started blogging I kept reading that same line over and over from So many different bloggers. “Pinterest is my number one source of traffic.”

I honestly just didn’t even realize how that was possible for Pinterest to bring in that much traffic. In college, I used Pinterest all the time, but mostly just for simple things like clothing ideas or wish lists. As a new blogger, I failed to realize that Pinterest is a search engine! Just like Google–people use Pinterest to find information annnd to buy things! There are 175 million* active Pinterest users. Which is insane! What’s really crazy is that *Millennials use Pinterest just as much as Instagram! Basically, If you’re in any kind of social media or blogging you’d be foolish not to utilize it! You can see my results below over the past couple of months for how I grew my pageviews by using these Pinterest strategies for bloggers.

1.Make your profile a business profile

A Business profile has many perks! Just to name a few: You look like an experienced blogger or business professional, You can claim your site, you can activate Rich Pins, and most importantly you can view your Pinterest analytics.  You can check out my profile here. And while you’re there, you might as well follow along 🙂 Once you have your business profile activated, make sure it looks professional with a nice clear picture, consistent board covers, and detailed descriptions. *Pro tip: use the ‘feature board’ tool to have a few of your boards highlighted so they stand out when people visit your page.

2.Check your stats

Checking your analytics is essential if you want to continue to grow. Stats are good way to support your Pinterest strategy. You need to know why people come to your Pinterest, to begin with. Who are these people and what do they like? And once you have those answers, you can figure out how to keep engaged with your content. There are other stats that are useful (like optimal pinning times) but I get those stats from Tailwind, and I’ll mention them more below.

3. SEO the heck out of your profile (which includes your Name, Bio and Board Descriptions)

Again, as I mentioned before, Pinterest is a search engine. So you need to use words that people are attracted to and are searching for. An easy tip for doing this is to use the search bar yourself and see what additional keywords come up. Here is an example of what happens when you type in “blogging:”

 When you find the appropriate words to attract the audience you want, USE THEM EVERYWHERE. I really do believe this helped to change my visibility. Make sure people know what kind of content to expect to see in their feed by letting people know who you are in your bio and what you share in your board descriptions. It will increase the chance of your content coming up when others are searching. *Pro tip: Use hashtags in your descriptions as well!

4.Make multiple pins (2-3) for each post

This is the fun and creative part! Your pins are also a critical part of your Pinterest strategy. This is a common  tip whenever somone talks about Pinterest strategies for bloggers. I like trying out different layouts, colors, and titles to see which post will perform the best. Only one of these pins in my actual blog post but I have all of the variations of Pins in my “Boss Lady Brand” board. You can see a few examples below *Bonus tip–Make sure you have a board dedicated to your site! For the most effective pins they should be 2:3 ration or around 600X900. Canva is my favorite resource to create new pins because it is free and they have an easy Pinterest template!

5.Utilize group boards in your Niche (Anyone will tell you this is important for your list of pinterest strategies for bloggers)

As long as you can actually find open boards to get on, this can be a really great opportunity to get more exposure to your pins and have others share them. Group boards usually have a requirement that if you share to the board, you have to share pins from the board as well. And if a ton of people are following the board that increases your exposure substantially. It also makes it easier for you to find quality content to repin. When you’re saving to either your personal boards or group boards, always save to the most relevant board first!

6.Utilize facebook groups

Similar to group boards this is just another opportunity to get your content out there. Many Facebook groups have daily participation threads that you can benefit from by submitting your pins and sharing others as well. Two of my favorite are: Grow Your Blog and New Bloggers Support Group.

7.Schedule your pins ahead of time

I was honestly skeptical about how much tailwind would really help me so I was glad when I was able to make the most of the free trial that you can get for a full month! If ya’ll don’t know yet I’m a pretty frugal person so I don’t like to spend my money unless I know it’s going towards something quality. And now I pay for this service since my trial has gone up. I really do think this has been a major factor in my traffic more than tripling because I’ve had the opportunity to automate my pins for the most active times and I can take advantage of tailwind tribes. With tailwind tribes it makes it easier for others to share your pins with others, they’re very similar to group boards.

One of the major benefits of tailwind (other than automating your pinning to save a ton of time) is their in-depth stats you have access too! You can see the optimal times to pin, virality scores on pins to see whats popular, overall profile performance, in-depth board insights and more. If you want to test it out and get your full month of a free trial you can sign up here!

*Some links used are affiliate links, meaning should you choose to use them I earn a percentage of the sales, so thank you in advance if you decide to make your purchase through them! Please view my Privacy and Disclosure pages for more information

8.Mix manual pinning with automated pinning

It has been useful to manually pin my own pins to group boards because it’s just easier for me to keep up with. I also manually pin from my facebook groups and from the group boards.  It really is important to be consistent on Pinterest whether you use a mix of manual + automated or just one of either. Pinterest likes an engaged user so make sure you utilize this in your Pinterest Strategy!

9.Repin from the Trending page

This little secret I started implementing and I think it has also helped to attract people. I’m pinning the things that people are already searching for! When I set aside time to schedule my automated pins for the week, I first go over to the popular page and click on the categories that I have boards for and pull pins from there. If you’re re-pinning content that is already popular, Pinterest knows that your profile puts out good content.

10.Prioritize your first 5 pins of the day

Now, this is a tip that I started implementing more recently into my Pinterest Strategy, but I read on the business Pinterest site here that this is a new practice they are using.

The first 5 Pins you save each day will be prioritized for distribution.

This tip has helped the pins I created to have more visibility. Every little trick helps! The new day is considered 12 am UTC (7 pm central, 8 pm EST and 5 pm PST).  If you’re new to blogging you might find my List of Useful Apps for a Blogger helpful! Or if you want to know How to Start a Blog I have you covered as well!

These are just the tips that have helped me personally continue to grow my traffic. Do you all have any other useful tips and tricks? Let me know what your top Pinterest strategies for bloggers would be!

*Pinterest stats: https://www.omnicoreagency.com/pinterest-statistics/