Are you wondering why your pins aren’t getting the attention they deserve? Well, I might know why, and today I’m going to show you how to fix it!
I know all too well how this goes. Not so long ago I was just like you. I was frustrated. I had been pinning my blog’s content on Pinterest for a few months and I was barely getting any traffic, and no one ever repined my pins.
I heard so many bloggers talk about how Pinterest was driving hundreds of visitors to their sites every day.
So I thought, great! I’ll just pin my blog post image, sit back, wait for it to go viral, and it will start sending me butt-loads of traffic. Fan-freaking-tastic!
But wait a minute… It’s not so fantastic when your mom’s the only one that repinned your latest blog post. You think, “why can’t I figure this shit out, what am I doing wrong?”
Well, my dear, I am going to let you in on a little secret…
I finally figured it out and now Pinterest drives almost 80% of the traffic to my blog.
Before we get into anything else, I want you to realize that Pinterest is a visual search engine. Notice I said visual because this is the exact reason why you’re not getting any repins and barely any traffic from Pinterest…
Your pinnable images suck! That’s the #1 reason your pins aren’t getting noticed.
The second reason, and just as important, for traffic, is a click-worthy headline that causes curiosity and makes people want to click through and actually read your content.
So here’s the secret formula: An amazing image + a click-worthy headline = massive traffic from Pinterest
[Tweet “The secret to massive traffic from Pinterest. Amazing image + a click-worthy headline = traffic”]
You may be thinking, “that’s great, but I’m not a graphic designer!” With Canva you don’t need to be a designer. I will show you how easy it is to design great pinnable images for your blog posts with Canva.
Canva for work is the only image software I use to create ALL of the images you see on my blog and my pins. This is because Canva is super easy to use and like I said before, you don’t even need to be a graphic designer to get amazing results.
There are a few simple steps I will walk you through and some tips that can help you design a better image for Pinterest that will help drive tons of traffic to your blog.
1 // Design Your Template
You need to create a branded vertical image for your pins so they all look similar and stand out. Plus it will save you a ton of time. Just swap out the text and image in Canva and you’re done. Super easy, right?
If your pins aren’t bringing you traffic then it also makes sense to test some different designs. Sometimes you just never know until you throw it out there, see what sticks, get rid of what isn’t working, and do more of what is.
Until you find what’s working for your audience on Pinterest I suggest that you design and test 2-3 different pins for the same blog post and just hide the other pinnable images in your code, then when someone hits the pin it button all the images pop-up for them to choose the one they like the best.
*My free Better Pins Challenge is a 5-day course that will show you the pin design hacks that will take your pins from blah to ah-mazing! Click here to enroll in the course for free.
In order to figure out what designs you like, you could browse all that eye candy on Pinterest (and not just in your industry or niche) for images and designs that catch your eye. Save them to a secret board (on your Pinterest account) where all the pins you love can live for later reference.
2 // Branding Your Pins
Now for the fun part, I want to show you some of my favorite branded images on Pinterest, so you can see some examples of a branded pin. These are just a few of the amazing #girlbosses who are crushing it on Pinterest.
XO Sarah has a great new branded pin style of yellow and pink with click-worthy bold text headlines and a lot of CTA’s (calls to action).
3 // Create New Pins
Let’s create a pin in Canva. If you go into Canva you will see an image size for Pinterest. Click that template and Canva will then show you a ton of ready-made designs in the layout tab. Some are free and some are just $1.
Go through the designs in the layout tab and see which ones you like. Experiment by creating a few different designs. After you have created your pinnable images just let them sit for a few days. Come back and see them with a fresh pair of eyes so you can check to make sure they meet all the criteria outlined in this post.
Here are some tips for testing your pins
- Find the designs you like and start creating some new images for your most popular posts.
- Find your most popular posts by going into your google analytics and see what the top 5 posts are for the last 90 days.
- Create 2-3 new pins for each post, and then update your post’s featured image and hide the other one inside your post. When a visitor clicks on the Pin It button all the images will pop up and they can choose the one they like best.
- You can also experiment with different text layouts and catchy headlines to find out which one performs the best.
4 // Track Your Pins Performance
If you have decided to start making multiple pins for your blog posts, you will definitely want to find out which ones are performing the best.
So, here’s how you do it… You should give your pins at least 2-3 weeks before analyzing the repin numbers to see what’s really resonating with your audience. Pinterest has pretty good analytics built right into your business account. You can easily see which of your site’s pins are performing the best. Better yet is Board Booster and Tailwind’s analytics if you want to go even deeper.
Now, of course, I realize that there are a few other things you should do in order to get your pins repinned and start sending you traffic, but a great pin is the foundation. Without it, all the other stuff is just a waste of time.
Okay, so once you have your amazing pinnable images you need to make sure you optimize them with keyword descriptions so they can get found in the search. #superimportant
Then you want to get them in front of as many Pinners as you can. I will tell you from tons of trial and error on Pinterest that if you want to get traction with your pins, group boards are the only way to go. Go join some today!
Related Post: The Ultimate List of Pinterest Group Boards for Bloggers and Creatives.
#ProTip You really need to have some patience and just give it some time. Pinterest can take 4-6 months to see major results. The average half-life of a pin is a whopping 3.5 months. Isn’t that amazing? You basically get 7 months out of a pin, but I actually had a pin over a year old, go viral. It has 37k pins right now.
That’s why I love this platform so much, it’s evergreen, and your content lives forever. And it can go viral when you least expect it.
It would make me so happy if you pinned this to Pinterest! I’d love to know in a comment if you gained some serious knowledge from this post. Thank you and happy pinning!
*Don’t forget to enroll in the Better Pins challenge and learn how to create pins that send massive traffic to your site! Enroll for FREE below…
Kyla!
Thanks so much for mentioning my pins! I sometimes feel my pins aren’t the best out there but I do my best! I’m dabbling with making alternative images as I feel everyone has seen my pins and are like, uh, seen it…ha.. Thanks for this awesome post!
Elna | TwinsMommy recently posted…How I Managed to Gain 4.8k Pinterest Followers With Little Effort
You’re very welcome Elna! You are a great example of how others can strategically use Pinterest to build their blog traffic and create a massive following. I assure you, with 100 million pinners, not everyone has seen your pins. LOL Multiple images for the same post is always a good idea. Keep up the great work!
Thank you for some great advice. I will be going back and playing with a new template.
I realized my images weren’t the greatest so I improved my graphic, and my traffic started to pick up. And now it’s dropped again and I can’t understand why. Pinterest brings the most traffic now to my blog too but now I’m back to the double digits again. :/ maybe it’s time to revamp again.
Shaina McGregor recently posted…10 Ways To Save During The Holidays
Sounds like you need to tweak your strategy a bit. Yes, try different images and you can also experiment with posting more pins daily, finding more group boards to join and contribute too, and making sure all of your pins and board descriptions have strong keywords in them.
Great blog post. Your tips on pintrest were really eye opening. Your advice was awesome. It has made me think that if I change my blog photos and also my pintrest photos it might result in more clicks.
Brittany Quinn recently posted…Bloggers do you need to know how to install Wp page navi and wp smart pagination
I have just realized how important pintrest is! It is a lot to figure out. As you say the important things is the pictures, there is so many things to think about! I loved this post! I will soon be better at capturing the whole platform with pinning, being on boards and so one. My first pins are actually doing really good for my traffic at the website. That´s cool to see that is actually works.
Pauline recently posted…7 Essential Beach Items you must have!
That’s awesome that Pinterest is already sending you traffic! There is always more to learn with Pinterest.
Thanks so much for your tips and straight forward delivery Kyla. Your insight was exactly what I needed today. I just started a Fair Trade goods website and have been struggling with visibility and traffic. I’m going to immediately try some of your advice and see how it goes.
Your welcome, Erica. Definitely let me know if you get some great results ?
Kyla, I’m drollin over your Pinterest tips. I especially love that I should let my new designed pin sit for a while and come back to check it with fresh eyes.
I’d design and pin an image onto my board as soon as it was completed but now I think your tip will make me work well before posting time too. Thanks so much.
Yay, Hena! I’m so glad you’re loving my Pinterest tips. This tip was one that I noticed by accident. I’m such an impatient person and I would always upload a new design immediately after I finished. Then I would find a design flaw I missed or something I wanted to change and bam it lives on Pinterest forever. Letting it sit for a day or two really helps me, I’m so glad it will help you too.
Thanks for all the great tips Kyla! I’m still working on getting my branding and niches pinned down (pin somewhat intended) ? through some trial and error pinning. I got my first viral pin last week and am aiming to learn to replicate that! Thanks for your great tips. How do you personally find is the best way to hide the other pins in the post? Thanks again!
Thank you for this quick guide. I’ve always struggled to get traffic from Pinterest in the “blogging/make money online” niche.
I’m going to implement some of your tips.
I know some niches are working very good with Pinterest (recipes, fashion, weight loss, fitness, home improvement, etc.), but I never got enough traffic to my niche.
Pinterest can be a gold mine if you manage to get a few pins viral. A friend of mine is getting on average 600-700 unique visitors per day from Pinterest.
Kyla,
Thank you for these awesome tips! And making note about how long it takes for a pin to really get good an analysis! I’ve been looking at pins only a days old saying what is the problem but now I know to just breathe and give it a minute before freaking out lol thank you
Thank you so much 🙂
Great post! A lot of great tips on here and I appreciate you sharing them!
I’ve been slacking with pinnable images in content lately. This is a nice reminder as to why my content doesn’t get a lot of Pinterest traffic at the moment.
Kristi Hines recently posted…Trending Topics to Write About: How to Find Blog Ideas
I love these tips, Pinterest is really a visual place. Even if you suck at Design you can learn from the good ones.
Can I just say what a relief to discover somebody that really knows what they are talking about over the internet. You actually realize how to bring an issue to light and make it important. A lot more people must check this out and understand this side of the story. It’s surprising you aren’t more popular given that you definitely have the gift.
https://discutonsplesk.com
Thank you for your post. I am struggling to get traffic to my website (bitesizehostess.com) I have been consistently posting PINS but only for 1mth. feel a little despondent at times.
Great post, thank you for sharing this useful tips