My Pinterest strategy has skyrocketed my blog to new heights, allowing me to achieve my annual goals by June! Today I’m gonna teach you how to do the same.
Hi, I’m Steph, and I mastered Pinterest without paying for a course or a scheduling platform (I love doing things the cheapest way possible lol).
I taught myself by spending hours researching the best way to drive traffic to my blog via Pinterest and it’s paying off.
This post is a trial run. My usual content consists of personal development and productivity. However, I will make this a regular series if you are interested ♥.
There’s a lot that goes into Pinterest! But today I will focus on THE Pinterest strategy that will conquer your goals!
This post might contain affiliate links which means I will get a small commission if you purchase an item through them.
Understand the Lingo
You need to understand the language before we get into the good stuff.
Here’s a quick rundown:
- Fresh pin: A unique pin that has not been posted before (not a repin).
- Impressions: The number of times your pins were on a screen
- Engagements: The total number of engagements on your pins (clicks, saves, etc)
- Outbound Clicks: The number of clicks to the destination URL associated with your pins
- Click-through rate (CTR): The ratio between impressions and outbound clicks. It’s calculated by the number of outbound clicks divided by the total impressions times 100. A 1-2% is considered average for bloggers.
Take note: Followers are not a crucial contributor to your performance on Pinterest. However, it’s a great way to build trust, connections, and a community.
The Receipts
I was in the 60,000 impressions jail from January to April.
Then May swung around and I saw a 115% spike! And since then my impressions have grown by more than 100,000 every month! All because of one little change… We’ll get into that later.
July has ended with a staggering 406,850 impressions! However, I made another change so we’ll see how that goes.
I know, I know. Some people get millions of impressions. But the key to this post is that I’ve gotten these stats in a matter of months. That indicates that my Pinterest strategy is working.
August has already shown to promise more than 500,000 and if I keep this up I will be past a million by December!
The crazy part is, my goal for 2024 was 250,000 impressions.
Check out the receipts below for my stats from January to July 2024.
My Pinterest Strategy
Keyword Research
Pinterest is a search engine just like Google. The algorithm basically runs on SEO (search engine optimization).
SEO is the practice of improving your visibility and ranking in search engine results (SERPs). The goal is to attract organic (nonpaid) traffic by leveraging keywords and various other elements.
My first step is always keyword research. I structure my entire blog post or pin around it. I primarily use three sites to determine my keywords.
1. Pinterest
Type in the topic you’re interested in and take note of the suggestions bubbles before the results (see image below).
I also check the trending topics in my creator hub to determine which content will perform best at the given time.
You can also find inspiration by the keywords other creators use (but do not copy their content).
2. Incognito Google
Incognito mode is by far my favorite way to narrow down potential keywords! It is a privacy setting that allows you to browse the web without your browsing history, autofill, etc.
Here’s how I use it:
- Open Google in incognito mode by clicking the three dots in the corner on the right and selecting ‘new incognito window’.
- Search for ‘Google USA’ in the search bar and open the first link. Now the search results won’t be skewed towards your search history.
- Start typing keywords into the search bar and note the way Google wants to autofill it. This gives you an idea of what people search for regarding this topic.
- Insert an underscore in front of your keyword to see even more suggestions.
- Narrow down possibilities.
3. Semrush
Use Semrush to analyze your keywords. This is the final step towards your research phase. Take note of the following:
- Volume: The average number of monthly searches in the past 12 months.
- Keyword difficulty: It shows how hard it would be to rank in Google’s top 10 for that keyword, organically.
You want a high volume and low keyword density for optimal performance.
You should get a clear idea of the appropriate keyword if you use the above platforms, whether for Pinterest or your blog.
Creating Pins
Oh my, I just need to share this with you! The pictures below show one of my first pin designs and one of my latest. It’s jarring and cringe!
Anyway, I use Canva to design my pins. I cannot emphasize this enough: Your pin images are the thing that’s going to get you clicks! That’s the #1 thing you should take away from my Pinterest strategy. Your SEO can be on point but a bad image can ruin your traffic.
Remember, Pinterest is a visual search engine. There are a couple of things you need to keep in mind when designing a pin to drive traffic to your blog:
1. Is the design eye-catching?
Your pin needs to attract attention away from all the other pins in the search result. Use elements that make it unique and stand out.
2. What’s working for other creators?
Scroll through Pinterest and look at which type of design features the most.
Every niche might be different, however, personal development and productivity pins have one prominent feature: All the pins are light, pink, beige, and minimalistic. I rarely see bright or dark images performing.
The conclusion? Your pins should follow that aesthetic.
Let me tell you a little something, I love a dark aesthetic! However, my pins are all light and welcoming because that’s what’s working in my niche.
Be smart with your design choices.
3. Do you have a brand identity?
Most successful bloggers on Pinterest are recognizable on the home feed. Their pins follow the same aesthetic and feel.
So, how do you do that?
- Stick to a certain color palette
- Use the same fonts
- Stick to a couple of different layouts
- Always put your website URL on the pin image
5. Do you include a hook?
I don’t use hooks for all my pins but I do scatter them throughout. My hooks, primarily, come with a free resource. It usually goes like this:
- Free checklist included
- Free worksheet
- Grab your free __ here!
Another way to hook a reader is to use words like:
- The only ___ you need.
- This will change your life
- #3 is life-changing
- The most powerful ___
Extra hot tip: Create lists, how-to guides, or any kind of blog post in this format. People want to be able to skim through an article.
6. How long does it take you to design a pin?
Have templates ready. It will take you forever to design all your pins from scratch. Have a couple of design templates ready then you can only exchange the picture and wording for your next pin.
The Process
We’ve covered how to know what to pin about and how to design the pins but what is my actual Pinterest strategy? Here it is, I post 6 FRESH PINS A DAY.
Remember when I said I was stuck in 60k jail? Yeah, that was when I posted 1 fresh pin a day. So, what did I change? I bumped it up to 3 fresh pins a day.
And now I’m at 6! We’ll see what that effect will be in a couple of months.
1. The schedule
I spend a maximum of 2 hours every Monday to schedule an entire week’s pins.
How do I have that many pins? Well, I create 10 unique pins per blog post I put out. I schedule these pins over 2-3 weeks.
Okay, but that’s only 20 pins and you need 42 a week? I take my old pin designs in Canva and simply change the background picture or the font.
Easy as that! The only important thing is that your pin picture looks somewhat different – even if you only changed the font.
2. The description
Well, doesn’t it take forever to write new descriptions for every pin? No, it doesn’t because I don’t.
Every description doesn’t have to be unique, thank goodness! I copy and paste the title and description to all the pins that lead to the same URL.
I only change the board it saves to.
How do I write the perfect title and description in my Pinterest strategy:
- Put your keywords at the START of your title and description
- Utilize as many characters as you can in your TITLE
- Here is my Pinterest title for the blog post about 20 things to do in your 20s: 20 Powerful Things To Do In Your 20s To Live Regret-Free | Things To Do Before 30
- Keep your description short. I used to write long ones and honestly don’t see a difference.
- Include SEO-friendly keywords at the bottom of your description. These words are related to your keyword and niche. See it as hashtags without the hashtag.
- Add 1-3 hashtags – I am still testing it out. I have NOT noticed a difference between using and not using hashtags so far.
- Here is a Pinterest description example for the same blog post as above:
- Discover these 20 essential things to do in your twenties to build a better future and live regret-free. Your 20s are your grand entry to adulting. It might be scary but your 20s are for personal growth, figuring things out, and navigating chaos – personal growth, things to do in your 20s, things to do before 30, self improvement tips #thingstodoinmy20s
3. The tags
Does this make a difference? I don’t know.
However, here’s a couple of tags I often use:
- Personal development
- Goal settings
- Reaching goals
- Women empowerment
- Happy lifestyle
- Life Coaching
- Journal ideas
- Etc
4. The boards
I have 70+ boards on my profile and all of them are optimized.
- The title: I utilized all the characters for niche-specific keywords for example: Seasonal Bucket Lists, Seasonal Self-Care
- The board description: Utilize the description with SEO-friendly keywords and hashtags for example: Find spring, summer, fall, and winter bucket lists, checklists, bingo cards, and self-care guides here! All your seasonal needs in one place! #bucketlists #summerbucketlist #fallbucketlist
5. Does my schedule time matter?
I schedule my pins at the times my audience is most active. You can see when that is with Tailwind.
However, I schedule all my pins directly from Pinterest. I only used Tailwind to determine when to schedule my pins.
Therefore most of my pins are scheduled between 9 pm – 8 am South African time because the majority of my readers are in the USA.
6. My repinning strategy
I don’t stop by uploading fresh pins. I also repin other creators’ pins from my home feed AND my own throughout the day.
I do this manually so the amount of repins always varies depending on the time I have. You can use Tailwind, although their free plan only allows 20 pins per month.
My #1 Piece of Advice
Pinterest is a long-term game.
Don’t expect results from a pin you uploaded yesterday. My top-performing pins are older posts that recently popped off. And I expect to see the same trend from recent posts in a couple of months.
Be patient and stay consistent. You will learn as you go.
My Pinterest Strategy Going Forward
There are three things I want to change going forward:
- Repin more
- Post even more fresh pins a day
- Create aesthetic graphic pins
Conclusion
My Pinterest strategy is simple yet extensive but best of all it’s proven to work!
There is so much more that goes into Pinterest like how to build a powerful profile etc. Let me know if you want to see more Pinterest marketing and blogging tips!
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Have a great day wherever you are in the world!
Love, Steph ♥
