*This post may contain affiliate links. Please read the full disclosure here.Â
*This post contains affiliate links. Please read disclosure here.
I started this blog exactly when Pinterest was going through a massive update in February 2018.
I read on social media about bloggers being confused that their Pinterest traffic was drastically reducing, or just being stagnant. There was just so much disappointment.
Can you imagine, here I am with my brand new blog, a super cool WordPress theme, my first awesome post ready to be published and I bought Megan’s Pinterest course to learn all the ins and outs of Pinterest so that I can get all that amazing Pinterest traffic the other bloggers were getting. But instead, everyone was talking about an update and a drop in their Pinterest traffic.
I should have been devasted but I wasn’t.
I put my head down writing blog posts and carefully understanding what Pinterest “expects” from bloggers and I created my very own Pinterest marketing strategy based on the current update and this Pinterest strategy still works for 2019.
This might surprise you, but, I never had a Pinterest slump, I never had a decrease in Pinterest views – in fact, my views were growing.
If you haven’t started your own blog, you can head over here to get started, and if you have let’s get your Pinterest game started!
4 month Pinterest views since I started
Here is a look at my views on Pinterest in my first 4 months on this blog.
Started from ground zero in March and reached 760,072 views in June.
The initial boost in traffic I had was after I started using Tailwind on the 1st of April. I joined Tailwind for a free trial and when I saw it bringing in good traffic I went ahead and invested in it. Here is a detailed post on how I use tailwind to set up and schedule my pins.
My “new pins” went viral in June
Pinterest said they prefer new pins. So I created some new pins for old posts.
And here are some of those pins that had gone viral.
These are just some of the pins that brought me 300-1,400 visits from Pinterest.
I know it isn’t easy to create new pins every day – I do at least 5 new pins each week and promote them.
Follow the steps below on how I did it, and you can see the same or even better results.
Pin sizing
First thing is sizing. Pinterest said 600 x 900px or in the ratio of 2:3.
I went with 600 x 1200 for my pins. This seems like a good size for my pins. And given enough room to create text overlays.
Pin Image
It’s very important how your pin image looks.
Image 1:
Image 2:
I created this post on the 15th of February 2018.
Image 1 was first created and hardly gained any traction. Notice on the right you see only 6 clicks and 4 visits.
Painful!
But just when I was about to give up on that post I went ahead and created image 2. And it went mini-viral!
To me both my pins look great, but one picked up more traffic than the other. So don’t give up on a post just because you think your pin didn’t do well. Its hard to understand what type of pin can go viral, so try creating a second and third pin image and test them out.
How do you test it out?
Spread pinning that pin for at least 7-10 days and see how it’s doing before creating image 2. With all of my pins that went viral, it took at least a week for Pinterest to start showing it in their feed.
So don’t lose hope if you have been pinning and sharing it for a week and nothing is happening. Some of my pins gain traction after 2 weeks – give it some time to see results.
How many new pins?
Since Pinterest has come out saying they like “fresh content”, I create 3-5 new pins in total every week. Either a new pin for a new post or a new pin for an old post.
Some pins I upload straight into my Pinterest account, and some I insert into my blog post and then pin it from there. But if you are uploading it directly to Pinterest without inserting the pin image in your blog post, make sure you are saving that pin in your “Best of boards”.
I publish a post. Where do I pin first?
Say I publish a new post on Monday, I pin it straight to a relevant board. For example, if its a “garden salad pizza recipe”, I would pin it to my “pizza recipe board”. I usually first pin it to one of my own personal boards, because I know I have written a well-keyworded description. This is important because, when you first pin the image to a board, it pulls the description from that board. It helps Pinterest understand the content of that pin.
And I also share that new pin to other relevant boards, say “vegetarian recipe board”. Make sense?
The next day is when I share it to my own “best of blog” board.
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Group boards – what you should know
As a new blogger, it’s hard to get accepted into group boards. I am only a part of 25 group boards in total.
I decided to venture out and join tailwind tribes. This has contributed to a boost in my traffic, as most of my re-pins had come from big bloggers that use tribes.
Tailwind tribes are just like Pinterest group boards, you share your content and others might share yours. The only difference is that you need to sign up for
Learn how to use tailwind tribes here>>
And because I wasn’t a part of a huge number of group boards I create MORE personal boards, to be able to spread sharing my content and others. This has actually worked in my favor because now I am sharing content to “relevant boards”.
Most group boards may lack a keyworded description that shows Pinterest you are not pinning to relevant boards. I have to admit I am a part of some “share all group boards” – this is not helpful. I still am a part of those boards and continue to share my content there, but not as much as I used to. Instead, I share them on my personal boards.
If you are a new blogger and need to join group boards, try and join very specific ones. Otherwise, try and create specific niche related personal boards and start pinning to them.
Your pin images
I can’t stress how important this step is.
You are capable of creating high-quality blog posts, but if you are not able to create stunning pin graphics no one is going to stop by and click your pin.
I have in the past been the queen of poor pin creation. And then I began to work on it till my click-throughs increased.
I use Picmonkey and I don’t regret paying the $7. My pins standout in the Pinterest feed and I am able to get at least 500 visitors to my blog from each new pin I create.
It’s all trial and error when it comes to blogging. Test out different pinning techniques and pin designs, when something gets more attention. REPLICATE IT!
Get your foundation right!
With all this said none of this will work if you haven’t set up your Pinterest account right. I would highly recommend Megan Johnsons Pinterest course. Its super affordable (under $50) and is the only investment I made to learn Pinterest.
It teaches you how to get started, how to find keywords and where to place them, how to create that perfect pin so readers will click on it and visit your site, how to market your affiliate links to get more sales and lots more.
Pinterest works well if you know what you are doing with the platform. The reason I loved it so much was because it was step-by-step with easy examples and video tutorials – perfect for busy parents like me 🙂
This book has also helped me gain followers organically. I am at 1,700 followers and growing every day, after 4 months of blogging without any effort!
Update: 7 months blogging and my Pinterest has grown to over 3,600 organic followers – and I did nothing but set a sound foundation.
If you are looking for details on the latest Pinterest update I have explained it in more detail here.
And if you have any questions about Pinterest or need further help understanding how it works, send me an email or leave your questions in the comments below so I can help you out.
Thanks Saranya , I am signing up to Tailwind through your affiliate link. I actually pmed you on fb for that, I think you missed as I am not on your friend list. If I sign in for Megan’s Pinterest course will use your page, have pinned it. Thank You.
Hey Renu! I am so sorry to have missed your message on facebook. Emails are the best for me (I know I’m totally old school-ha!) Thanks for using my links, hope you see the results with your blog traffic. Let me know if you need any help 🙂
Thank you Saranya. I am a new blogger waiting to put up my first post soon. have been on pinterest for over a year now but wasn’t active just got started with it again last two weeks when I signed up for tailwind to be pinning for me while I do other things. It’s great and amazing but then I went in fot the free trial since I don’t have money to pay, but hope to. This is a great post I must say a lot of I already know and I’m glad I learned some new things too like creating new pins from new and or old post. Thank you.
Hi Wanban,
Tailwind is great as it takes care of your pinning while you can concentrate on other aspects of your business. And I’m glad to know you learned a few new things in here:)
I’ve also been focusing more on personal boards but I can’t get myself to stop pinning to group boards :-). I am thinking I would try and totally ditch group boards for a month and see what happens. Some people sweat they see huge increases only by pinning to personal boards. But then how many personal boards do we need to have…? Anyway, thanks for the great insights! Severina @LessAsMore
Severina, if your group boards are niche related I would suggest you still pin to them and not get rid of group boards altogether. Because there are new Pinterest rules that come out often, I recommend not making any permanent changes unless you really want to. There is no magic number for how many personal boards you need to have. But I think 15 is a good number. Hope this helps:)
Great tips! I think I’ll definitely check out some of these resources you mentioned!
Thanks Brittany!
Thanks for Sharing great Idea. Really it’s valuable for me
Hi Saranya, thanks for sharing these information! My Pinterest went (sort of) wild over the past 2 weeks resulting in increased page views on my blog. Your post reminded me of things I have forgotten, so thank you!
Thats awesome! Hope these page views continue to grow 🙂
Hi there, that is a great post! My question is: When you are testing your pins and you create your first pin for a post, do you pin that pin to all of your own relevant boards AND to your group boards?
Then when you create your 2nd and 3rd pins do you add those pins to all the same boards?
Thanks for the great tips!
Sam
Hi Sam, yes when you create a new pin, you pin them to BOTH your own boards and to relevant group boards. Make sure you are pinning the same pin at least 24 hours apart (so you don’t get marked as spam by Pinterest). And when you create the 2nd and 3rd pins, you do the same spreading them a day apart. What I do is I let the first pin run a cycle (to all boards) before I start pinning the 2nd and 3rd pins. Hope this answers your question:)
Hi Saranya, I’m a blogger too and I write about social media marketing and travel. I’ve been doing Pinterest marketing for a long period of time and sometimes there are newbie ways that I forgot to execute. Thanks for writing this. It is a very helpful guide for beginners too.
Valerie
Thanks Valerie!