Pinterest is supposed to be one of the greatest ways to get blog traffic. I’m not a Pinterest guru but I do get some traffic so I thought I’d share the ways I use Pinterest to gain views on my blog and a sneaky little trick I’ve learnt.
Pinterest Basics
I firstly wanted to cover a few basics. Once you’ve set up your Pinterest account you should change it to a business account. (Pinterest has great articles to guide you through this, it’s really easy, don’t worry!) By changing to a business account you’ll be able to access your analytics to see how well your pins are doing. You should also make sure your ‘bio’ is up to date. Include your blog link and some information about yourself. Also include a picture!
The other basic is boards. Before I started blogging I loved creating boards like ‘wedding ideas’, ‘pets’ or ‘fun crafts’ but I’m a beauty blogger, no body wants to see that. This is where ‘secret boards’ come in. You can still have all these miscellaneous boards but by making them ‘secret’ only you can see them and they won’t ruin the asthetic of your other boards that are relevant to your blog and readers.
Finally make sure your social sharing icons are turned on. Whether it’s an installable widget or just the basic WordPress or Blogger sharing buttons, make sure it’s actually easy for people to pin your posts. Mine look like this at the bottom of each blog post.
How to create a pinable graphic
The next step is pinable graphics. There’s a particular size of graphic that looks great on Pinterest and the easiest way to make all your graphics this size and look the same is to use Canva.
Canva has a specific Pinterest graphic tab. You can then make your photo the perfect size for Pinterest. You should also add eye catching font to let Pinterest users know what your post is about and make them want to click through and read your post.
Here’s an example of a Pinterest graphic I created using Canva. It’s the right size for Pinterest, I included a caption and finally I like to add my sign off so people know the post is from ‘PaleGirlRambling’.
You caption doesn’t have to be the name of your blog post, use phrases that will draw readers in. (But ofcourse be truthful, nobody likes click bait)
How to create ‘invisible’ Pinterest graphics
Now this was a game changer for me. I always stared enviously at people’s Pinterest graphics, they looked great yet when I clicked through to the blog post they weren’t actually there. You don’t actually want to see Pinterest graphics in the middle of a blog post, I personally think it ruins the asthetic. Beth Ashley kindly sent me a link to ‘icanbuildablog‘ who taught me how to create invisible Pinterest graphics using a very simple bit of HTML code. (Don’t panic, it really is simple!)
1. Create your Pinterest graphic using Canva and insert it at the bottom of the blog post.
2. Click on the HTML tab at the top and find the image code (don’t forget to change your ‘alt text’!)
3. Insert the HTML 
at the beginning of the image code.
4. Insert the HTML 
at the end of the image code.
Your image code should now look like this.
Once you’ve saved, click back to text view and your picture will have disappeared. If it’s gone then you’ve done it right!
Now when people click ‘pin’ on your post the pinable graphic will appear like this but not be visible when people are reading your post.
Pinterest Group Boards
My final tip for bloggers is to join blogging group boards. You can then repin your nice new graphics into group boards for other to repin. Pinterest isn’t all about gaining followers like other social media sites. You should put more of an emphasis on repins. The more repins a graphic gets, the greater your reach and the more likely people are going to click through and read your post! I run a blogger group board, if you’d like to join then please leave your Pinterest link in the comments and I’ll add you!
I hope these few Pinterest tips have helped give you a few ideas on how to start using Pinterest to gain views on your blog. Obviously these are just a few things and there’s hundreds more ways, these are just one’s that have helped me!
If you found this helpful don’t forget to check out my other Blogger Help posts on Bloglovin, flatlay Photography and a few other topics.
*Disclaimer- I am by no means a computer or blogging genius, I just created this post to help other bloggers like myself who don’t understand jargon and want to learn some blogging basics*
