Pinterest Growth Strategy for Bloggers
In this article:
You will love this article if you blog and have been affected by some of the Google changes this year. Bloggers love using platforms that can help drive evergreen traffic to their various blogs such as Pinterest. I may be biased, but I have seen firsthand what Pinterest can do for business owners and bloggers alike.
Understanding the foundations of Pinterest and taking the time to create a good experience for anyone who finds your content on the platform goes a long way. I know I say this all the time, but it's so important.
Pinterest is also a long-term game, and it's important to set proper expectations for yourself so you don't feel discouraged. With that being said, let's get started and review the steps to a Pinterest marketing strategy for bloggers.
Pinterest Growth Strategy for Bloggers
Pinterest currently has 518 Million Monthly Active users! These are monthly users ready to discover your content and read the amazing blog content you put together. Yes, even new bloggers can be discovered on Pinterest.
The beauty of Pinterest is that the age of your blog doesn't matter, what matters is creating a Pinterest marketing strategy that's effective.
Here are a few more reasons why I wanted to write this blog to cover a Pinterest growth strategy for bloggers.
96% of top searches are unbranded. This figure has remained unchanged, between 96 and 97 percent. This means that people are searching for solutions and products using various keywords vs. using known brand names. According to Pinterest, this also means that Pinners are open to new ideas.
70% of the global audience is women and 30% men. There is an audience for everyone on Pinterest.
When optimized, content on Pinterest has a much longer shelf life; as a blogger, you know how important it is for your content to drive traffic on an evergreen basis. It's not uncommon for me to pull reports for my clients and find Pinterest Pins that were created in 2016 or earlier still driving traffic to their blogs.
Pinterest gives you the tools you need to succeed. Between all the tools to help you do Pinterest keyword research and Pinterest trends, you have everything you need to create content that your audience wants and needs.
Questions you should answer before creating a strategy.
What top-of-funnel content do you have aside from blog posts? Do you have freebies & lead magnets or low-ticket courses? Pinterest is incredibly effective for growing your email list and selling courses.
Do you already include freebies and lead magnets within your blog posts?
Do you already have blog content for your courses? If yes, are you promoting your courses within those blog posts?
If you are going to manage your own Pinterest account, be realistic about the time you can commit to creating content. P.S. A scheduler tool or using the Pinterest scheduler is a must!
Is your Pinterest tag installed? Data is everything, so don't skip this step.
Now, let's dive into growth strategy.
The first thing you need is to ensure that your account is optimized for search. This means leveraging keywords in your name, about section, board titles, and board descriptions, and all the content you create should also be optimized for search.
Next, you want to do in-depth Pinterest keyword research using the various tools Pinterest makes available to you. If you want to learn about Pinterest keyword research, you can take my free masterclass by clicking on the image below.
Based on your keyword research, you want to create anywhere between 5 to 10 boards to start. Again, ensure that the boards are optimized with keywords in the board names and descriptions. You should never stuff keywords; the description should represent exactly what users will find when browsing the Pinterest pins in that board. You should also plan to create 1-2 new boards each month on new relevant keywords
.
You will need to ensure that your pin graphics or videos have at least one keyword as text overlay and also trigger words.
Your pin description should also include a keyword or two and a relevant call to action.
Should you add hashtags? I would always focus on keywords first, but you can also add 1 or 2 relevant hashtags. In fact, if you create a pin on mobile, you will notice a note about hashtags in the description section. This has been a grey area in the Pinterest world for a long time. Hashtags were once more relevant and popular on the platform. I always test this out for my clients, and I think you should, too. As a golden rule, as long as it's within the Pinterest community guide, you should test things out to see what works best.
Your pinning frequency as a blogger will depend on how many blogs you have. You want to create multiple variations of each blog title with a new keyword while ensuring the meaning remains the same. This is different for everyone. I have clients where we publish 1 to 2 Pinterest pins per day, and I have others where we publish 5 to 10 times per day.
The Importance of a Good Profile Banner
Think of your Pinterest profile banner as your second chance to help a potential reader or buyers understand that they are exactly where they should be. Why is it a second chance?
In most cases, on Pinterest, you will get discovered after someone does a search on Pinterest with a keyword and they see your pin. Potentially, after seeing or saving your pin, they will want to learn more about your blog or brand, and they will visit your profile.
Your Pinterest profile banner should make it clear what your blog or business is about. It's one of the most frequent missed opportunities I see.
Here are a few examples.
Apartment Therapy is a go-to account for everything from home organizing, decorating, cleaning, and home projects. Their banner is a clear indication of what they are known for as an account.
Image Source: Profile of Apartment Therapy on Pinterest.
@thecurlysunshine has an incredible travel blog where and inspires women to travel solo. The banner is brilliant and tells people exactly what to expect.
Image Source: Profile of The Curly Sunshine on Pinterest.
The profile banner is an important part of your Pinterest growth strategy for bloggers because we want to create as many opportunities as possible for anyone who finds us on Pinterest to learn more about what we offer.
Blog Link Optimization
The quality of your links (URLs) matters on Pinterest. You want to ensure that your URL represents your blog topic and includes a relevant keyword.
Here's an example:
https://www.debbieroy.com/socialmediablogs/using-an-undated-digital-planner
The website keyword for this blog post is using an undated digital planner, the best related keyword I found on Pinterest is undated digital planner.
Some website solutions sometimes generate blog links for you; this is why it's important to customize your own link, make it as simple as possible, and ensure it contains a relevant keyword.
The Keywords You Need on Pinterest
This blog wouldn't be a complete Pinterest marketing strategy for bloggers without talking about keywords. I am often asked about keywords and what type of keywords should be used on the platform.
The truth is that while medium and long-tailed keywords tend to work best for reaching your specific niche, you can also use some shorter keywords in the mix. In addition, you should be using some question keywords. Example “How to XYZ.”
Here's an example of a keyword that means almost the same but in all formats. All of these keywords are relevant to capsule wardrobes.
Short-tailed keyword keyword:
Capsule wardrobe
Medium-tailed keyword:
Capsule wardrobe 2024 spring
Capsule wardrobe summer
Capsule wardrobe checklist
Long-tailed keyword :
How to create a capsule wardrobe for men
As a platform, Pinterest is incredible for researching long-tailed keywords, and using the search bar is a really effective way of doing so.
Your Pin Designs
When you are getting started with Pinterest, you will want to create various pin designs. It's generally easy for bloggers to do this because, generally speaking, you have a lot of content to work with. You should also be testing out video pins, and yes, even if you don't want to be on video, you need to use video pins.
You can do this by animating text on your Pinterest graphics or even using stock videos from Canva. In this blog post, I share a list of useful stock photo and video websites to help you create more content.
Your text should always be big enough so that it can be read on mobile, and there can be some flexibility here if you are creating pins such as quotes and, affirmations, etc. Always think about design accessibility on Pinterest.
An effective Pinterest growth strategy for bloggers takes into account accessibility on both Pinterest and your website. Color contrasts matter, as do ALT-Text, font sizes, etc.
If you are already using Pinterest for your blog or business but are not getting the results you were hoping for, a content mentorship call is exactly for you. During our time together, we'll go over your goals, your content, your blog, and what you have been doing on Pinterest.
I'll give you clear action steps on what to do to improve your Pinterest results, as well as tailored tips and strategies specific to your niches and goals. If you are a brand looking for done-for-you social media or Pinterest management, book a FREE discovery call here.
Until next time...