Master Pinterest Like A Pro
I’ve loved Pinterest since I was trying to find ideas for my wedding on a shoestring budget 5 years ago. Now, I love it even more since I have a blog to promote! It’s an incredible tool that, if you’re a blogger or a retailer, you NEED to use, and use well!
There’s more to Pinterest than post a pin once and hope that someone with a million followers shares it for the world to see. I mean, that’s amazing if it happens! But I’d rather try something with a little less hoping and a lot more results!
When I started blogging, I had never heard about group boards or pin scheduling, or organizing pin boards! I really always thought that you just find pins that you liked pin them to your boards, and everyone saw them from there. Apparently, I had my head in the “I’m just going to get discovered and not have to work for it” clouds.
There is an actual strategy to Pinterest! I know, crazy, right?! There are things that you can do to help drive traffic to your site like nothing you’ve seen before. When I started using a Pinterest strategy, coupled with a lot more content and a lot clearer focus on what I wanted to do with my blog and brand, I didn’t just double my page views… I knocked them out of the park!
I went from 100 daily page views 2 months ago, to more than 4,000 page views a day!
My strategy is far from perfect and is constantly being tweaked and added to as my blog grows, but I want to share with you my Pinterest tips that have taken me from a baby blog to a serious growing blog with sky-high aspirations!
Join ALL the group boards!
Ok, so not ALL of them. But find some group boards in your niche and ask to be a contributor! All you have to do is follow the instructions in the description to get added. Some boards ask that you comment on the owner’s pins, some ask that you email them.
Either way, just ask! But first, to find the group board you will want to join. There are a few different ways to do this:
Pingroupie.com is an amazing source! You can search by keyword to find group board that you might want to contribute to.
Pin board groups on Facebook are great too. This is the one that I’ve joined and they’ve been really great about adding people from the group!
Check out which group boards your favorite blogger’s in your niche have joined. This has been my favorite way of finding boards. I like this because it’s already like that blogger is giving the board their seal of approval. Plus, it’s really a cool feeling to be in the same group as your favorite bloggers!
Get Board Booster
I started using Board Booster for free and I basically fell in love with it. You mean I don’t have to spend 10 hours a day pinning the same pins to the same boards over and over again? That’s exactly what I mean!
I started with just a scheduler, and that’s what I still use for a lot of my pins. But there’s also a Campaign tool that helps you pin to a lot of boards with the same pin.
Confused? I was, too. But here’s one of my favorite things about Board Booster: their customer service is stellar. I needed help with figuring out how to set up the Scheduler so that I didn’t have to individually pin the same pins to the same board every day to get them pinned to the same group boards. Long story short: I got an email back within 15 minutes. On a Friday. At 10:30pm. They’re there to help you!
For $10 a month, it’s been well worth it to buy Board Booster premium. Especially since, with the help of Board Booster, I make more than that each day in just Adsense!
Organize your Pinterest page
I never thought it mattered what Pin Boards were at the top of my page. Or what my description said. Or what my name was. That’s just not good practice!
Make your description personal and show off your personality. “Hi. I’m Jan. This is my Pinterest” is not going to make people want to follow you or want to learn more about what you have to offer them.
Offering an incentive has helped bring traffic to my site, as well! I have a link to my subscription page right there in the description of my Pinterest profile.
Put your best personal pin boards that line up with your brand at the top. Organize them however you would like from there, but put your best boards at the top (“above the fold”).
So far, these are my top tips!
It seems a little simple, but it really works! I never would have known about any of these crazy-simple tips and tricks if I hadn’t learned it from someone else who has made Pinterest her business!
If you’re looking for amazing tips from a pro, check out Brilliant Pin Promotion. It’s an amazing class that walks you through, step by step, how to become a Pinterest pro!
I’m absolutely in LOVE with this course! And it’s not just me; Crystal Paine, from Money Saving Mom, has used this course to help her Pinterest strategy and swears by it!
It’s not your typical course; there’s no guess work or wondering if you’re doing it right. Beth Anne from Brilliant Business Moms has gone into every little detail about Pinterest promotion for your business that you might ever want to know and has spelled it out just for you. She’s incredible and has helped me so much build my Pinterest marketing plan to where it is now!
The most important thing to remember about Pinterest is that, like everything with blogging, it will take time! But if you keep working (and use someone else’s knowledge so you’re not spending time trying out things that just won’t work!), you will see the work paying off!
Sussy Machoka says
Hi Caroline, I am so encouraged by your growth and looking forward to trying all these tips and tricks you’ve shared. One question I have been battling with is how do I place the Pinterest board with posts from my blog to show first? Your guidance will be highly appreciated. Congratulations once again on your growth and wishing you every possible success as you embark on product creation!
Sussy Machoka recently posted…Comment on How to Pray when you feel Deflated by Sussy Machoka
Caroline says
Hi Sussy! Thanks so much!! Do you mean on your Pinterest profile to show your “Best of” board? You can actually drag and drop the boards to organize them on Pinterest to bring your “Best of” board with all of your own posts to the top. Let me know if that’s what you meant!! 🙂
Sussy Machoka says
Hi Caroline, thanks for your response. Yes, that is what I meant. So delighted that I made it!
Lisa says
Found your blog on Pinterest – shared by someone I followed! Thanks for the course idea – I have never heard of it. I don’t know if I’d be able to afford to take the course anytime soon (sigh) but would love to take it. I just paid $99 for a Pinterest course that a lot of bloggers swear by – and I actually knew all the info in the course. 🙁
Caroline says
Oh no! Can you ask for a refund? Some bloggers will do that for courses! And yay for finding me on Pinterest!! I love hearing that! 🙂
Marianna says
Hi Caroline!!
Pinterest has definitely changed my life. I’ve grown substantially over the last 1+ year. However, it started to become stagnant a few months ago. So I was wondering how many pins you pin per day? I’m thinking I might need to step up my game and stating pinning/repinning more content.
Thanks!
Marianna (The Collective Mill)
Caroline says
Hi, Marianna!
Pinterest changed a lot of things in the past few months and it’s been tanking a lot of people’s traffic. So you’re not alone in that! I pin 150 pins each day to various group boards from BoardBooster and then I usually spend about a half hour looking for new pins to add to my other boards. If you’re looking to get an amazing Pinterest guide, my friend Rosemarie from the Busy Budgeter has a Pinterest Cheat Sheet that absolutely changed everything for me. She’s a Pinterest rock star and she really shares her secrets without holding back!
My biggest tip is to get into as many great group board in your niche as possible. And don’t forget to repin from your home board or from searches that pertain to your niche. I picked back up on repinning and my followers went up by 600 in a week (before, they’d been between 125-175/week)! 🙂
Mostafa says
Hey, thanks for the great post. It’s great to know how handy Pinterest can be.