I’m continuing the Pinterest goodness today and am super (SUPER) stoked to welcome my friend Stacy from Kids Stuff World. I consider Stacy one of my first bloggy friends- we met through blogging waaaay back when Adventuroo was new. As a new person in the blogging space, she made me feel welcome (now if only we could meet in person!). Stacy is a ROCK STAR on Pinterest… growing to over 230,000 followers is no small feat. Her boards are amazing and if she re-pins something of yours, your blog bandwidth better watch out! She’s here to share some of her best tips on rocking Pinterest like a pro!
Hey there Momcommers!
Can’t tell you how excited I am to be here with you today. Melissa and I have been blogging buds since waaaay back before there even was a Momcomm. She’s not only a friend and trusted confidant, but also my go to-gal for all things blogging, marketing and social media related (you can check out the blog critique she did for me back in the day, here). That’s one of the reasons I am so stoked to be here, I finally get a chance to help her out a bit!
Today I am going to tell you some very important tips to help you, as a blogger, get the most out of Pinterest. I, personally, have been blogging for coming up on 4 years now and while I love it very much, it was never anything I was going to make a living from. Pinterest, changed all of that for me, it has opened up doors I never even imagined and quickly turned my life upside down in a very good way. I’m happy to tell you I am now a full time blogger and pinner extraordinaire! Not only do I have a large following on my own Pinterest account, but I am also doing content strategy, consulting and management for some very cool brands on Pinterest. Life is good.
I think life should be good for everyone, so I’d love to share a few practical tips to get you rocking Pinterest in no time.
Step 1. Verify for website on Pinterest
See that little red circle next to my website there in my profile? Pinterest added a new feature recently that lets you claim ownership of your web address and get a clickable link to it listed in your profile. I put mine in last week and I am already noticing a significant increase in traffic to my blog coming from my profile page. Win!
To get your site verified, follow the steps here or if you are on WordPress and not as comfortable with uploading files to your server, you can try this workaround.
Step 2. Sign up for Pin Alerts.
Pin Alerts is a handy tool, like Google Alerts, that notifies you when someone pins content from your site. If you are uber Pinterest popular, this could be overwhelming but they do have controls in place so you can choose to be notified whenever someone pins your content, or opt to receive a daily or weekly summary instead.
I like this service for two reasons, one – I like to get to know my readers, and two, gaining a glimpse at the type of content they appreciate can be a powerful tool in helping you grow your audience and define your niche.
Step 3. Schedule bulk pins using Pingraphy
Ever wish you could hang out on Pinterest all day? Yeah, me too. How about those nights when you strike gold and feel the need to pin 90 things in a row … don’t worry, we’ve all been there! This is where Pingraphy comes in handy. Now you can schedule your pins to appear at designated intervals throughout the day!
Not only will this help you reach a larger portion of your audience, but it will also keep your friends, family and coworkers from seeing how much time your spending on Pinterest. (disclosure: no I did not just tell you, you could pin at work all day and have the pins scheduled to show up during off duty hours. That would be irresponsible of me.)
Step 4. Gang Up!
A blogger’s bread and butter on Pinterest is getting your work out there and circulating, and believe me when I tell you there is power in numbers ladies (and gents)!! Take a look at a few of these boards to see how bloggers are rocking it collectively, getting their content front and center.
20 Must Follow Moms
Top 12 Websites to Follow
Kid Blogger Network
10 Creative Christian Mom Bloggers
Best of the Best Creative Bloggers
As you can see, there are plenty of these boards out there already and even better, plenty of room for more! So round up your circle of girls and get creative with a board title. Do a quick check to see who has the largest number of followers when they create a new board …. this is the key, total number of followers on Pinterest is deceiving … they could have one very large board and the rest of their boards still be rather small. You need the girl (or guy) with the largest cumulative audience.
Once you know who that is, create your board and establish your ground rules.
How often can a blogger pin?
What types of posts are acceptable? For example, will you allow giveaways to be posted there?
The key to success here is for all of the contributors to choose carefully the quality of content they post in these boards. If you have a fantastic post, but sucky photos … crank out a cute text graphic for it in PicMonkey and use that to draw readers in.
I hope you liked these tips. I have so many more for you guys … with any luck … Melissa might let me come back again sometime and share a few more with you! Until then, if you have a question post it in the comments here or find me over on the KSW Facebook page.
Stacy Teet is a professional blogger and mother of three. When she’s not writing articles for Sulia, or consulting with brands, you will find her on Pinterest. Recognized by Babble as one of the Top 50 Parents on Pinterest, she focuses on pins that really resonate with her and in turn, help a lot of moms and women. She’s up for a Red Tricycle “Totally Awesome” award for Prettiest Pinterest Boards right now (votes appreciated). In her “spare” time, she enjoys spending time with her family and pretending she’s an iPhoneographer. She writes about the little things, the big things and all the “stuff” in between at Kids Stuff World.
Momcomm gives blogging chicks practical, can-do tips for writing, blogging and using social media (and sometimes a snarky rant).
Content Brew (self-paced)
DIY Blog Critique
Summer Bucket List for Bloggers (Free Printable)
I'm a mom who loves marketing, photography and all things social media. I have two boys whose claim to fame is that they were born on the same day... three years apart.
Twitter: AlisonSWLee
says:
Stacy, I love, love, love your tips! I’m a big Pinterest fan, so this is really awesome. Thank you.
Alison recently posted..Sons And Daughters
Twitter: steet
says:
Thanks Alison! I <3 Pinterest too! I could talk about it all day long … happy to find others who share my interest
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
Your comments ROCK……now to get on top of it all!!!!!!!!!
Twitter: steet
says:
No Stacy, you ROCK! Thanks for your comment … nice name
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
I will admit to being a little overwhelmed by Pinterest at times – these tips give me some concrete things to work on – thank you!
Kim@Co-Pilot Mom recently posted..One Ping Only
Twitter: steet
says:
You are so very welcome Kim, thanks for taking the time to comment here today. Pinterest should really come natural to you … sometimes adding the blog component in can make it seem harder than it really is … the real secret … if you really want to know … is promoting the right lifestyle. As long as you are true to that vision in everything you do, you will see your audience start to align themselves with you and really get behind what you are doing.
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
Twitter: artchootwit
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This is good, juicy stuff you’ve given us! I clicked on over expecting the same old advice, but you have given us secrets! Thanks, and now I shall Pin this and tweet it and share it and follow you and then go spend the rest of the day on Pinterest.
Jeanette from Artchoo recently posted..Artist Spotlight: Joseph Cornell
Twitter: steet
says:
I like you Jeanette
Happy I could help … if we could just get in the same room together .. I could tell you all my juicy secrets! Thanks for helping me spread the word.
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
Twitter: BrittAPhoto
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I never heard of the PinAlert before, genius!!!! Thanks, LOVE Pinterest
Britt Anderson recently posted..Almost as Good as Sports Center | Lake County Engagement Photographer
Twitter: steet
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You and me both! Thanks Britt, love your profile pic.
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
So cool! I’m going to check out all the links she gave (and her Pinterest boards!)
Thank you for sharing her with us!
Kate @ Mommy Monologues recently posted..5 Things that Bring Me Comfort
Twitter: steet
says:
Hope you found something you liked! Thanks so much Kate.
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
Super useful! Thank you for these tips!
Kim Cunningham recently posted..Little Things Thursdays
Twitter: steet
says:
Thank you Kim, I hope they help.
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
Twitter: Yourdailydance
says:
Stacy, thank you for the great tips. Pinterest continues to be one of my biggest sources of traffic. I am looking forward to trying out Pin Alerts and Pingraphy, and your boards as well!
Angie recently posted..Cleaning Your Makeup Brushes
Twitter: steet
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Let me know how they work out for you Angie!
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
Twitter: SoniaBarton
says:
Wow, thank you for the work around step by step directions for WordPress. I had been wondering how those website links got there when they started showing up.
Sonia Barton recently posted..Need a new lens
Twitter: steet
says:
You are very welcome Sonia!
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
Fantastic post, Stacy! I think the scheduling of pins might change my life.
Joyce @Childhood Beckons recently posted..10 Simple Ways To Make Your Child’s Day
Twitter: steet
says:
Joyce!!! {{{HUGS}}} Thanks dear … you know, I am not using it on my own account yet … or nearly as often as I need to be … if only there were more hours in the day! I know you know what I mean.
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
Twitter: moneywisemoms
says:
I’m having trouble figuring out Pingraphy. It looks like all the pins have to come from the same webpage? I do I go ahead and Pin everything now, then go into Pingraphy and unpin them to schedule for later?
GIna recently posted..BOGO Drinks at Starbucks
Twitter: steet
says:
Hi Gina, Wondering how you are doing on Pingraphy by now? Have you installed the bookmarlet? That is the key, you will use it to pin instead of the pin it button. When it opens up the window it will have all images from the post check marked … go ahead and unselect all in the left hand corner and chose only the one image you wish to pin. After that, schedule it to appear whenever you like. Continue to do this with your other pins, you can even schedule them to go out in designated intervals. Say, 15-20 mins. Let me know if all this makes sense.
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
Thank you SO much for sharing this WONDERFUL tips! I have done them all. They are FANTASTIC!
Cassondra @ Beyond The Cover recently posted..Thank You, Lord
Twitter: steet
says:
Thank you Cassandra for being AWESOME! You get a gold star today.
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
Thank you all SOOOOO much!!! So glad you liked this post
Gina, I am out & about now but will be back this evening to help you navigate Pingraphy. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll love it!
Stacy of KSW recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
This was so excited to read and get set up. Step 4 has my mind spinning, as it seems to be the crucial step to all that you shared, but it seems to be needing a little more to the description, at least to this simple minded mommy! Would you be willing to do another post, elaborating on how to do exactly what you are explaining in step 4. The think that is SO overwhelming to me with the examples that you have given us, is that although their followers are SO LARGE their pins are very little. Mind blowing!
I would LOVE to learn more on this and appreciate your giving spirit to share with us new bloggers!
Joyfully!
Dollie @ Teachers Of Good Things recently posted..Toddler Training Thursday: Picking Up Their Toys – On Their Own!
Twitter: steet
says:
Hi Dollie. I know what you mean, if Melissa is willing for a round 2, so am I. Happy to chat with you about collaborative boards, they can really make a difference in your overall traffic. Keep in mind that while some numbers may seem low in some of these boards, they are no reflection to the amount of traffic generated by them. Some pins just don’t make great repins. That doesn’t mean people aren’t reading them. I pinned a pin the other day that only got 30 repins .. a small amount by my standards … but over 2.000 page views from just my pin. Never underestimate the power of pinning!
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
That would be great!
My actual question is not how many ‘repines’ they get but rather their boards do not have many pins at all. There are few boards and few pins in the boards. So it doesn’t seem that they are working hard on promoting things on pinterest, which amazes me!
Very intriguing!
Dollie @ Teachers Of Good Things recently posted..Homeschooling Highlight of the Week: Audio book – The Hiding Place
Great advice! Excited to try ome of your tips.
Kelly {the Centsible Life} recently posted..Earn Extra Holiday Cash: Sell on eBay
Twitter: steet
says:
I hope you do Kelly! Keep me posted on how they work out for you.
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
This was a great post! Very helpful. I had not heard of Pin Alerts. Do you know if that is more accurate than using the pinterest.com/source/yourblogurl?
Sarah @ Frugal Fun for Boys recently posted..Volunteering at the Institute for Creation Research
Twitter: steet
says:
Hi Sarah,
Yes this method is much more accurate. Have you ever noticed when you try to use the source link and all your pins have disappeared or it only show a few of them? This way makes sure you don’t miss a beat.
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
Twitter: MommieDaze
says:
Such great tips! Number 4 especially. Power in numbers, even in pinning! And thanks for linking to my tutorial about verifying your website on Pinterest.
Colleen @ MommieDaze recently posted..On Being an Only Child
Twitter: steet
says:
You betcha Colleen! Found it on … Pinterest
Thanks for writing it! I’ve been sharing it for days now with friends!
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
These are wonderful tips, and I need to put them all on my to do list! I’d like to share my own favorite tip: be sure to backup your pins, so you don’t risk losing them to hackers or accidents. I was concerned about this, so I created a company, Pin4Ever, to let you save a copy of all of your pins, boards and likes to your computer. If you go to pin4ever.com, you can backup your whole Pinterest account free right now!
Twitter: steet
says:
Interesting. Will have to check that out. Thanks Christina
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
I cannot even tell you how happy I am to have read these tips. We’re on Pinterest but haven’t really seen any blog traffic from it. We really haven’t cracked the code as to how to translate Pinterest following to blog reading like we have with FB.
I didn’t know ANYTHING about verifying…or any of these other things, frankly. I can’t wait to get started! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! –Lisa
The Dose of Reality recently posted..CAPTCHA…I Wanna Punch Ya!
Twitter: steet
says:
Aww, that is wonderful news! So glad we found our way to each other. Good Luck with the verification and let me know if you have any questions. Also, Colleen who commented above wrote the tutorial! So she is another great knowledge source for you.
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
Thank you so much, Stacy!! I did have one hiccup while trying to verify my web address! The instructions were FABULOUS and easy to follow but I have one snag. I had previously verified the address on my personal pinterest account. I did the entire process for my blog account (got the file downloaded and then uploaded to my server no problem) but then got the message that only one profile could be verified to any URL. OOPS! I then deleted the URL from my personal site and went to do the only thing left to finish the process on the blog’s profile (Click here to complete the process which is #3)….but I can’t. When I went back to my settings page the button that says “verify website” that used to be next to the URL is not there any longer. I’ve done the first two steps (the downloading of the file and then the uploading it to my server) but I don’t have any way to “click here to complete the process” Now I’m stuck and afraid to do any of the other things if I can’t even get this to work properly because I know it’s the easiest thing to do of the bunch! I’ve just got no computer mojo!!
The Dose of Reality recently posted..CAPTCHA…I Wanna Punch Ya!
Twitter: steet
says:
Hmm, that is a tricky one. Can you tell me, on your blog account have you made the switch to a Pinterest business account? Supposedly the verification process is supposed to be MUCH simpler for a business, go figure. See here: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33839/pinterest-finally-rolls-out-business-accounts-how-to-set-yours-up-today Is there anything about verifying your account on your setting page now? https://pinterest.com/settings/
stacy recently posted..21 Days of Gratitude: Thankful for our Teachers
The timing of this is perfect! I’m starting to get the hang of Twitter and now I want to move onto Pinterest. I was at a loss…until I read your post. Thanks so much!
Carli recently posted..When Obsessions Become Addictions
Twitter: wellroundedhome
says:
Wow, really great advice. All of this was new info for me. Thanks for sharing!
This was really helpful! Thank you!
Twitter: Moomettes
says:
Thanks for the helpful information! I tried to get my website verified, however the option isn’t there for me to click a verify button. Any ideas why? I searched on the Help page, but couldn’t come up with an answer.
Cindi @ Frugal New England Kitchen recently posted..Autumn Harvest Fun | Local Farm Stands | New England Foliage Season
Twitter: kidsonaplane
says:
Great tips here! And definitely some things I will try to implement in the next few months. My Pinterest account has been sadly neglected but now that I know I can schedule pins it won’t be! I used to wait until after the kids sleep to pin stuff but then other work would come up and I’d never have time to pin anything.
Thanks Stacy!
Cheryl recently posted..Disney On Ice: Worlds Of Fantasy Toronto Giveaway
Hi Stacey! Thanks for the tips about verifying your site on Pinterest. It tool less than 5 minutes to do, and I’m glad I did it!
Twitter: kimberlyamici
says:
Thanks for the tips! I just started doing Pinterest to help me in the blogosphere. The way all this works together can be a little overwhelming but fun at the same time. Posts
Ike these help out a lot!
I’m on WordPress.com. Step 1 of the workaround reads: “download the verification file from Pinterest”. Where might I find that then? I’ve had a look, but can’t see where it might be?
modflowers recently posted..pastel pretties
Found it. But the workaround won’t work for me because I don’t seem to have any text editing software that will open the verification file and allow me to see the html.
modflowers recently posted..pastel pretties
Hi there! It’s Melissa from Momcomm. Though Stacy didn’t specify it, you can only verify sites that you own. WordPress.com isn’t a self-hosted platform so you can’t access the place to put those files like you can on WordPress.org. Sorry about that!
Oh my gosh, Stacy!! You are amazing. Thank you for sharing so many fabulous tips. I’m hopping over to PinAlerts now.
Malia {Playdough to Plato} recently posted..Free Printable Magic Squares
Stacy, I read the instructions on how to verify your website on Pinterest. It seems a little complicated, what are the instructions for Go Daddy as a host? My blog is through blogger. Got any tips?
Would it help to just go into the source code and put the Google Webmaster Tools verification code in there, or is that different? Thanks
Love your article, am bookmarking it!
Mommy Needs Vodka recently posted..Funny Facebook Pages – Mommy Needs Vodka SHARES Laughter, Funniest Pages & More!
thanks so much for sharing stacy, you rock!
jaime recently posted..Snowflake Bulls Eyes
Twitter: orangercarrots
says:
such a great article on pinterest. thank you, Stacy!
Marnie recently posted..Teaching Mindfulness to Kids
As you can see, there are plenty of these boards out there already and even better, plenty of room for more! So round up your circle of girls and get creative with a board title. Do a quick check to see who has the largest number of followers when they create a new board …. this is the key, total number of followers on Pinterest is deceiving … they could have one very large board and the rest of their boards still be rather small. You need the girl (or guy) with the largest cumulative audience.
Once you know who that is, create your board and establish your ground rules.
Could you explain that a little further…Are you saying it’s good to create your own pinterest board with other mommy blogs that have high numbers. Or are you just saying to create a pinterest board with your blog information on it?
Wonderful tips, all of them! I’m quite new to Pinterest and I literally gasp when I see people with more than 1,000 followers LOL. These are all really helpful – thank you and congratulations on being such a Pinterest rockstar!
Carly @ Ecru Designs recently posted..What’s in my Camera Bag
I cannot count how many times I have shared this post – it is a great resource for people looking to understand, get started or just improve their use of Pinterest.
Jen Fischer recently posted..Ten for Tuesday: National Puzzle Day! Play, Learn + Love Puzzles
Twitter: craftingconnect
says:
Oh I’m late to this game, but had to comment! I love love Stacy and KSW – one of the sweetest people on the web, I swear! And such fabulous blogs (ok, ok enough gushing) but how did I not know about Pingraphy?! My whole world has just been changed – THANK YOU!!!
Andrea :: Crafting Connections recently posted..Thanks Chicago!!
Quality content is the important to interest the visitors
to pay a visit the web page, that’s what this site is providing.
Francesco recently posted..Francesco
I want to post/advertise on Pinterest. I don’t know how!!! Do I have to have a website? I’d live the dummies version!