The Exact Pinterest Strategy I used to get 600k monthly views (in ONE-month case study)

Are you stuck with your Pinterest Strategy? How about finding out the exact Pinterest Strategy I used to go from 260k monthly views on Pinterest to over 600k monthly views in one month. Have a look at my current Pinterest Analytics below.

 

I am so excited to share this with you!

This is the exact Pinterest strategy that I used to go from 260k monthly views on Pinterest to over 600k monthly views in ONE month yes ONE month.

Are you wanting to extend your reach in Pinterest?

If you check out this post!

(If this post contains affiliate links please see our full disclosure policy although I have to say I tried really hard to make it interesting and even I struggled to write it so if you really must read it you can find it here)

 

Top 3 Exact Pinterest Strategy Resources I used

 

Learn About Pinterest	$47	Learn more	Best Resource
Learn About Manual Pinning	$37	Learn More	Best Resource
Learn About Setting up Pinterest & Pinning	$37	Learn More	Best Resource

 

 

How do you Create a Pinterest Strategy

Firstly Pinterest is a Search Engine so like Google you really need to have a good Strategy and one of the best things you can do is provide trending topics.

So how do you find what’s trending on Pinterest?

Pinterest very kindly sends you an occasional email mentioning what is trending every so often this is worth taking note of can you create a post and pins around a trending item?

Pinterest Newsroom is the place to check out they also have the top 100 trends on Pinterest in 2019

If you fit in the top 10 then great – if you don’t stress is there a way you can work in a trend in your post or pin?

There are lots of different other ways to find trending ideas:

1. using the search function this is a pretty new function if you click on the search bar on your homepage of Pinterest will let give you lots of ideas particularly for your account – Ideas for you but underneath this, they also give you trending topics take note of these too
2. Find topics to follow – here are instructions to find topics
3. Find categories – this gives you a list of categories on Pinterest

Under your Analytics tab check out what the top Audience insights suggest about the people looking at your Pinterest account for mine at the moment its Craft DIY with other new interests partly due to new pin topics.

Once you figure out what is trending for your account on Pinterest you can then look at what you should continue to Pin and blog about.

Here is my Pinterest Analytics when I started out before I decided on a strategy:

Pinterest Analytics

 

* note the picture above shows you what happened once I started my strategy on the 14th September I was on about 260k monthly impressions.

They had bombed again!

Was it me?

Was it Pinterest?

Why oh Why can’t it just stay on an even keel?

But that is the Pinterest rollercoaster!

Before I go any further – now the Bad news guys!

Just because you can win at Pinterest doesn’t mean you will win at increasing your blog traffic!

It can help with traffic to your site but you have to make sure you have clickthroughs!

Say what!

Yes, you heard it CLICK-THROUGHS!

It’s not just enough to have pretty pins and spread them over Pinterest you need to get folks to click on them to go back to your website.

 

It is important that your Pinterest Account is set up as a Business account and you have Rich pins enable so let me explain these two very important points before we go any further.

 

How do you create a Pinterest Business Account

You have the option of signing up for a business account when you first sign up for Pinterest make sure you do this as you want to have Pinterest Analytics and potentially promoted pins set up for analysing your account.

You should also make sure you claim your website under your Pinterest profile again a very simple procedure.

 

Applying for Rich Pins

The easiest way to set up Rich Pins is by using the Yoast SEO plugin. Under settings go to Social tab and enable Facebook under the social tab yes I did say Facebook. Once you have done this go to Rich pin validator and plugin a URL from one of your posts NOT your home page.

Rich pin validator

Best Exact Pinterest Strategy Resources

There are two resources out there that I have incorporated into my strategy to have such exponential gains.

These two resources helped me to gain more Pinterest Traffic to my website. Find out how I managed to increase my Pinterest traffic and traffic to my website using these two great resources. Best of all they are no high priced resources either. So check them out if you want to no more.

 

 

and if you want to find out more about Manual pinning then this strategy can really help you reach new heights!

 

 

Other resources to help with Pinterest:

http://blogbeautifully.com/get-more-click-through-traffic-from-pinterest/

How can you convert Pinterest Traffic to Click-throughs

 

Basically, there are TWO ways you should do this:

• Having followers that are engaged with YOU!

  Because as Pinterest has said they will judge the quality of your pins first by how engaged your followers are with them before they move them out as ideas for others to view.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Pinterest has said they will judge the quality of your pins first by how engaged your followers are with them before they move them out as ideas for others to view” quote=” Pinterest has said they will judge the quality of your pins first by how engaged your followers are with them before they move them out as ideas for others to view”]

• Making your Pins Click-worthy

Making sure you are Optimising for Pinterest, after all, it is a search engine so you should treat poor old Pinterest like one and include Keywords in your Pinterest description just like you would do for Google.

Make sure that when you get click-throughs that your content is great not just good it needs to be GREAT.

 

Amazingly Pinterest have their own not very informative (I have to say) page as well about driving traffic to your website

https://business.pinterest.com/en-gb/boost-traffic

Of course, they are trying to sell their Promoted Pins campaign.

I suggest a course if you have NO idea like Redefining moms Promoted Pins – I haven’t done this course yet but I may do at some stage because as you know I am a bit of a course junkie!

Pinterest also has a handy PDF download on great pin designs.

https://s.pinimg.com/sub/business/guides/how-to-make-great-pins-guide-en.pdf

Related Post to help with an Exact Pinterest strategy

Create Click-worthy pins

How to set up your Pinterest Account

Tailwind scheduling strategies

Pinterest Mistakes you could be Making

Make Money on Pinterest

Tailwind review

 

What does it mean to have followers that engage with you?

Basically that they will love your pins and follow you and then click on those Pins back to your Website.

So how do you achieve this?

1. Pinterest Account set up Your Profile

Your account has to say Wow!

Should you bother with Board covers for your boards?

Honestly, I am not sure – Your followers will see them but will it make them want to follow you? Did I follow folks with great board covers not really it was more what kinds of boards they had on their account more than anything else?

In this scenario, I will follow the account if the top part of the account looks great and if the board I have been looking at is curated with great looking pins.

I think might look great, don’t you?

So what am I trying to say ultimately I don’t think board covers mean much anymore look at my new boards see any board covers no!

Has it affected my account NO!

Save your time to optimize your board with KEYWORDS on the title and descriptions making it read great and not keyword stuffed!

Boards should be narrowly targeted boards- again check out my account see how many new boards I have on there and what topics I have covered.

I will tend to favour boards over sections on one board I feel it gives you more ‘ juice ‘ in Pinterest.

See some of the titles to my boards below.

2. Optimise your Pins

So they appear FIRST in your follower’s smart feed and make sure you don’t pin the same pin time and again – the point of Pinterest is to give followers fresh new content every day.

Ok don’t faint guys I make 10 Pins per post YES you read that right now I didn’t start off doing this I was making maybe 4 or 5 per post why 10 simply because I love making pins and I have found an absolutely fabulous pin making program called Adobe Spark ( not an affiliate link)

It’s FREE to try guys take a look.

I love it so much I pay for using it.

So what else have I done- I have changed my Pinterest Image sizes.

Your pin size 2:3 is the best ratio everyone has different opinions on the exact size so anything from 600 to 735 width and 900 to 1250 is optimal otherwise Pinterest will cut you off allegedly – put as I have been using my pinning strategy I have noticed extra long pins even on my mobile NOT cut off so go figure!

Pinterest is now allowing EDITS within Pinterest and they have TWO pin sizes you can use for 2:3 size which is 1000:1500 and 600:900.

If you are anything like me I definitely notice LONG pins!

Want to know what one of my BEST pins are? It’s gone viral with the size 735: 1100 a 2:3 ratio.

3. Pinterest SEO

What does this mean? Pinterest, as I said above, is like Google it’s a search engine so you need to treat it like one, you need to add in keywords to your Pin title AND description.

How do you find keywords best if I show you an example

Look at the image above I popped blog traffic into the search traffic. The tiles above are keywords that Pinterest has pulled out use them in your Pin descriptions if relevant this will help your SEO.  Don’t forget to look at the best pins on the top left using SEO. Can you use something similar for your title- do not copy!

4. Optimise your Blog title

Make sure it’s engaging try this resource its a great snapshot to help you out from twelveskip.

http://www.twelveskip.com/guide/blogging/1247/blog-post-title-templates-that-work

Also, make sure you also use Google Search Engine optimization keyword your title too!

I use the FREE version of Kwfinder to find great keywords add them to the search and see what the percentage chance of ranking for it is.

This is what happens when I put my title

My exact Strategy I used to go from 260k monthly views on Pinterest to over 600k monthly views in ONE month

In the search bar.

 

For instance, check out my Pin descriptions compared to my Blog post title

 

And my blog post title

https://smartpennies.com/tailwindapp-pinning-strategies/

5. Use high-quality images

Ok, so I don’t know if this has made any difference or I should go back and check the Pins I used paid stock photos on! So I can say for sure but with all my plans I just don’t have time other bloggers swear that using paid stock photos do make a difference in getting clickthroughs – all I can say is try it and see if it works for you.

But I did buy a few stock photos and have used them on my Pins I also still use free photos.

6. Your Pin images

There are lots of debates about the best colours for your pins.

Most of them centre around using reds/ pinks for your pin colours and avoiding dark colours.

What I would say is as long as your pin descriptions can be read over images then test out the designs using different colour combo’s. I have seen some really great pins that are not pinks or reds.

Most people feel that warm colours – reds, pinks, and purples do better than cold colours blues, greens, yellows.

Avoid adding text directly over images unless they are muted down significantly ( or add an overlay which is what I tend to do over the image ) this will ensure your text is seen.

I have seen some bad images and I don’t want to single any out particularly either so just make sure your pins are legible on desktop and mobile. You would be surprised when you look at your account on mobile.

All I would say is test and test keeping things the same over two pins and only changing one thing at a time and seeing if it makes a difference.

Yep, its a pain in the behind because let’s face it do you really have time for it!

And honestly, do I do this – not very well!

When I started this challenge I decided to make Pins that were very bright and the words were very clearly read.

 

 

Best tips for Pins to get Traffic to your Website

• Bright warm colours
• Add text overlay that you can read clearly on ALL device yep get that mobile out
• Keyword your pin descriptions and of course, the titles don’t need to be the same as your blog post title
• Test each tweak on your pin designs this may take a few weeks as you won’t see immediate results with Pinterest
• How to test – look at your pin stats are they gaining more clicks back to your site compared to saves? If they are you are on to a winner and start doing more of that! – look at your google analytics for this one.
• Long pins are still seen on Pinterest so use them!
• Make at least 3 Pins for each of your posts to test different designs and hid your pins using this nifty bit of code. Add multiple pin images to your blog posts ( different ones of course) and hide them using this code.
  image details

<div style=”display: none;”><img class=”aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2511″ src=”https://smartpennies.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/beginners-guide-7-tips-to-make-money-with-a-small-blog-9-177×300.jpg” alt=”beginners guide 7 tips to make money with a small blog . Have you started your new blog and you are not sure how you are going to make money with it? Then check out these 7 tips on how you can monetize your blog.” width=”177″ height=”300″ /></div>

and without hiding it

You will have to switch to the text editor to add in the code above to your images highlighted in bold and once you switch back you should see the image disappear.

So guys fancy putting this to the test? How about you design two new pins for your new or old post – make them compete against each other and let me know how they are doing!

Post it on the comments if you like with a link to the Pins that are taking off!

7. Check your Pinterest Analytics

To find your most popular pins

Go to Acquisition > All traffic > Referrals > Pinterest to view your top pinned posts.

This isn’t my most favourite way to circulate my best Pins it’s clunky and time-consuming!

So I take the easy option and use Tailwindapp’s Pin Inspector it’s free to try out.

Options for Scheduling your Pins

Manually Scheduling your Pins if you want a quick and easy guide for manual scheduling then Dishout Social has you covered.

This doesn’t cost any money but can be time-consuming or using an approved scheduler like Tailwind.

You can also see which pins have the most repins by going onto your Tailwind Pin Inspector:

There are two schools of thought here:

• Pinteresting Strategies course suggests you pin from using the URL from Google to move your pins around see the arrows below for the pin addresses. Using Acquisition > All traffic > Referrals > Pinterest to find your top pins.

• And the strategies in my 5 tailwind strategies post using pin Inspector specifically the Breakingtheonepercent Jeff and Ben use Pin inspector to move their best pins around.

Incidentally, with Looping for Tailwind this will make moving your top pins around even easier.

If you are wanting to start using a Scheduler then Tailwind give it a try for FREE for ONE month trial.

8. Continually Rework your content to Improve your Pinterest Strategy

Make sure you regularly check your Google Analytics to see which posts are sending you traffic from Pinterest and look at the clicks on the Pins for these posts can they be better optimized to further increase your clickthroughs?

Look at the content that isn’t doing as well is it your Pin design follow the tips above to redesign some new pins for your post and see if you can increase your clickthroughs – new pins equal new content in Pinterest’s eyes even if its an old blog post.

Look at which pins are doing particularly well add them to a secret board so you can see at a glance what you should aim for when you are making new pins.

Of course, you want to make sure that your content is also great too!

Things I haven’t done to Improve my Pinterest strategy

In no particular order guys:

• Add pins to facebook share exchanges- just to be clear I HARDLY every participate in facebook occasionally I will add a comment but it’s not very often, to be honest, it’s not my favourite social media channel.

I just can’t muster the enthusiasm for Facebook as a channel I personally hardly ever use it as it is and only to connect with friends who don’t get a mobile sign but can access free wifi to keep in touch with them. Ye,s there are places in Scotland one of my favourites called Crinan ( in Argyllshire) that only has landline phone connections with no mobile signal- it’s very refreshing to visit!

• Have my own facebook group

Same reasons as above.

• Spent all day manually pinning using an unwieldy spreadsheet

One of my few criticisms on Pinteresting Strategies is the fact that you have to use Google Analytics to figure out your best pins and 2- have a spreadsheet for every group board to be able to see when you last pinned to it! Phew, a lot of work and I found that figuring out the best way to do it way too complicated.

• Worried too much about which group boards to pin too

I pin only to my best group boards using Tailwind group board analytics to figure this out but I pin to ALL yes ALL my group boards manually – YEP don’t get shocked has it hurt my account that would be a big FAT NO! I have no idea why not specifically just that it hasn’t.

• Use tailwind tribes

Basically, I don’t have time to fanny about pinning to tribes and pinning from tribes especially when I am manually pinning anyway!

• Pinned less than 50 per day

Yep, another one has blown out the water! I schedule between 50-55 pins per day using Tailwindapp and also manually pin so we are getting on for a lot of pins guys has it affected things again a big FAT NO!

• Pinned lots of others content- well that would be a NO!

I will periodically once a month go into my group boards and pull out a few pins to schedule via Tailwind. And when I manually pin I will repin for every ONE pin I add or as the group board rules.

I try and avoid Group boards that have reciprocal repins requirements when I am scheduling in Tailwind.

Now onto My Exact Pinterest Strategy

So, my strategy has revolved around actually spending time on Pinterest!

Why I think it worked for me is anyone’s guess I don’t want to say it was only one thing I did but who really knows Pinterest.

I wasn’t manually Pinning on a day to day basis till I bought

Kyla’s Manual Pinning Simplified Ebook if you want to find out about her ebook you can buy it by following this link it is just one part of my overall strategy that has helped me increase my Monthly Pinterest Impressions ( as I am writing this its now well over 700k) You never know maybe by the time I publish this it will be over 1 million ha ha here’s hoping guys!

If you are stuck in the Pinterest doldrums I recommend getting your head around manual pinning.

If you want to go totally detailed with Pinterest and manual Pinning then I recommend

Carly’s Pinteresting Strategies although as I have said I simply couldn’t find the time or had the inclination to use her overall strategy to manual pinning. BUT she does have lots of great information in her Ebook about Pin designing, board designs and how to keyword search and this is just a taster of what you will find out about.

So once I read Manual Pinning Simplified it was like a revelation on how to manually pin simply without lots of complicated scheduling and notebooks and spreadsheets.

After I went through both these Ebook’s I finally figured out a bit more about Pinterest and what it wants with my manual pinning strategy.

I would recommend both these resources especially if you want to go in-depth then Pinteresting Strategies is the Ebook to go with but if you are looking for something simple but are happy your account is set up the way it should be then I would recommend Manual pinning simplified. It is a very simple straightforward Ebook so in some respects its the other end of the spectrum from Pinteresting Strategies.

I use a combination of both these strategies for each book to manually pin and I also schedule using Tailwind.

 

I make up 10 pins as I have said before and reserve two purely for manual pinning – I am going to split this to 3 or 4 for manual pinning and 6 or 7 for scheduling. You don’t have to make so many pins as I have said I love the designing part of making up my Pins.

My biggest tip to date would be as Pinterest says:

Pin your new pin to your most relevant board FIRST guys Pinterest tells you this I can’t tell you enough BUT do it – don’t have a relevant board then CREATE ONE.

For instance, I wouldn’t pin my Christmas DIY crafts pin to my Crafts board NO I pin it to my Christmas craft board.

So in ONE month, I went from this

I was sitting at around 260k when I started to this:

Ultimately if this is all crap you can get in touch!

What this isn’t is a GUARANTEE it will work for you most other bloggers will tell you great try it it’s fab but really I can’t tell you if this will definitely work for you-you need to try it for yourself.

Basically, this is what I have done in the last month and it been one of the only changes I have made so go FIGURE guys!

Just to be absolutely clear I started using some of the strategies from my post

BEFORE this not after the 14th August which was when I started manually pinning, I wrote the above post in July time which coincided with Boardbooster going belly up.

I was also making tonnes of pins per post before this date as well using Adobe spark.

Ok, what did you think about my Exact Pinterest Strategy?

If your curious (or in a hurry ) If you would rather not have to deal with all this Pinterest stuff I now have an option to work with me to set up or maintain your Pinterest account here.

 

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