How Pinterest Helps Your Blog

If you are a blogger and haven't heard of Pinterest you should really give it a look and sign up for an account. Why? Pinterest is a pretty hot site right now...not to mention it has been my number one referral site to my blog! I have made a collection of great tutorials if you are just getting started and some tips & tricks to use to get more traffic to your blog through Pinterest. 

 See that? #1 on the referral list via Google Analytics.

Pull up a seat, grab a cup of coffee and dive in!

Just getting started on Pinterest? Here are some helpful tutorials to explain it all:

• What is Pinterest? A Tutorial {details on all the basics of Pinterest}

• Pinterest: A Beginner's Guide {details on how to navigate around Pinterest}

Adding Pins & Repinning:

• How to Use Pinterest {details on adding pins and repinning}

• If you want to be able to pin things you see while surfing the web without being on the actual Pinterest site you can add a Pin It button to your bookmark bar on Firefox! {makes pinning a heck of a lot easier}

 

 When you are on the Pinterest homepage click on About to pull down the menu. Select Pin It Button, then go to Goodies {if you aren't there already at this point}. Follow the instructions. When you come across something on a web page you want to pin simply hit the Pin It button on the bookmark bar. It will take you to a page to choose the image you would like to pin and let you choose the board to pin it to. Then it takes you right back to the site you were on in the first place. Easy Peasy!

• When you are on a website and ready to pin using the Pin It bookmark button you can highlight the title or words you would like as the pin description and when you click the Pin It button whatever you highlighted will be in the pin description! No typing required. :)

Highlight text & click Pin It bookmark button.

Select the image you want to show for the pin.

Your highlighted text will be in the pin description section. Choose the board to pin it to and pin!

Blogging & Pinterest:

• Adding the Follow Me On Pinterest button to your blog. This will direct people who visit your blog to your Pinterest page so they can follow your boards.

You can hop on over here to get the code. 

 Add it as an HTML- Copy this code and sign into blogger & go to your dashboard. Follow these photo instructions. {any questions just shoot me a comment}
 

{You can drag this to where you want it to be placed.}

•  Adding a Pin It button to the bottom of all your blog posts. This makes it easy for people to pin a specific post. Easy makes people happy and more likely to pin. Here's the tutorial on how to add it.

•  Create a board for your blog or pin your blog posts onto relevant boards. This will update the folks following you on what's going on over on your blog.

• How to see if anything from your blog has been pinned. Type this URL into the web address bar, only with your info:

http://pinterest.com/source/yourblogURLhere

i.e.- mine would be http://pinterest.com/source/tutusandteaparties.blogspot.com

Pin Etiquette:

• Please, pretty please, do not write out the instruction to a project, the full tip or anything that would make it unnecessary to visit the original site. Keep it simple and let people know what they will find on the site you pinned. {i.e. "turn your tee into a scarf" "great tip for carpet stain removal" "art with shaving cream"} Us bloggers work hard to give you tips, ideas, and tutorials. You can at least let us get the credit for it.
• Use a title to describe what the pin is. Label your pin with a title of what you will find that way when people use the search on Pinterest they can find what they are looking for. When you label things "this is cool" it will not come up on a search for, lets say "science experiments for kids".
• Be nice when pinning. Everyone is different. We all have our own opinions. Just keep in mind the whole "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all" state of mind. No one wants to look at something from their blog/website that has been pinned, get all excited about it, and have to read the description of "I want to make this, only way better". Just kindly say "I want to make this, but use different fabric/different color/using different materials."
  

Alright, I think that's all I have for now. If you have any questions, need an invite or just want to share your Pinterest page feel free to comment. 

You can also find me on pinterest here. 

Come join my weekly Pinteresting Party.

Link up your blog posts and pin others {and get pinned in return}. This party gets everyone pinning different posts which can get your blog/post spread around the pinterest world. Yay!

Happy Pinning!