Interested in using Pinterest for business to grow traffic to your website?
In this blog, we’ll cover some Pinterest basics to help get you started! You’ll learn how to create a pin, how to optimize your pins for SEO on Pinterest, and how to use Tailwind to post on Pinterest.
How to make a pin for Pinterest
Pinterest pins are your bread and butter when it comes to Pinterest management or using Pinterest to market your business. I recommend using Canva to create your pins. Let’s start off with creating a pin from scratch using free images available on Canva.
How to create a pin in Canva
Canva has lots of free templates for Pinterest pins and is used by multiple Pinterest VAs. Scroll through the templates to find one you like and tailor it to your brand and style.
If you don’t like any of the templates, here’s how to create a pin brand new pin on Canva.
Search for Pinterest Pin under the ‘Create a Design’ tab.
Alternatively, select the ‘Custom Size’ option. The current recommended size for a standard pin is 1000 x 1500px. Then click ‘Create new design’.
Let’s say we want to advertise a new blog entitled, “How To Write a Quality Blog Post”.
Search for a relevant, on-brand image. To create this demo pin, I searched the term ‘laptop flatlay’.
In an image like this that has a lot of detail, add an overlay so your text is easily readable. Keep your font clear and large. Don’t forget to brand your pin by adding your website address (I’ve added a dummy website to the top of the pin).
If you’re using an image that has lots of white space, use the space to lay out your text, like this:
You can also import your own images or images from stock photography sites such as Unsplash to Canva to use in your pins.
Enjoy playing around with the functions on offer if you enjoy creating beautiful graphics. It’s easy to add multiple pictures in a grid format, add graphic elements, videos, animate your pins and more.
Once you’re done, save your pin as a PNG (we want high quality, non-blurry images on Pinterest).
SEO on Pinterest
An important part of your Pinterest management and marketing strategy should be SEO optimization of your pins. On Pinterest this comes in the form of keywords, alt-text and file name optimization and using Pinterest best practices when creating and scheduling your pins.
Pinterest Keyword Research
As part of the initial groundwork for your Pinterest management strategy, you’ll research keywords on Pinterest to use in your pins and boards.
Decide on a number of long and short tail keywords you will be focusing on as you attempt to rank high in the Pinterest feed. These keywords should all be relevant to your industry.
Use these keywords as often as possible in your pin titles, your pin descriptions and board descriptions.
Here’s where to do your keyword research to optimize your SEO on Pinterest:
The Pinterest Search Bar
Typing in a keyword/s in the Pinterest search bar will show you a list of popular searches. Jot down relevant keywords from this list.
If we select one of the search options (in this case ‘wedding’), we will see image results as well as Pinterest guides. Pinterest guides are the different colored boxes with further (popular) search recommendations. Jot down relevant keywords from these boxes to add to your list.
A third place to find keywords is to use the Pinterest ads manager. If you have a Pinterest business account, go to the Ads tab and click on Create Ad.
Click on New Ad Group, select Targeting, and then scroll to the Keywords section. Click on Add Keywords and you’ll see a box on the left and a search tab on the right. Search for keywords relevant to your business. In the case of a wedding photographer, let’s type in ‘wedding’.
A list of search terms will appear. You can add your favorites to the box on the left and copy to your Notes or wherever you’re keeping your keyword list.
For Pinterest SEO (unlike Google), it’s a good idea to target high volume keywords.
Where should you use your Pinterest keywords?
Wherever possible! To be more specific, here are important places to include your niche Pinterest keywords:
- In your profile display name
- In your profile description
- In your board names and descriptions
- In your pin titles and descriptions
- In alt-text and image file names
Optimizing Images
Here are four ways to optimize your images and pins for Pinterest SEO:
- When saving your pin to post on Pinterest, it’s important to include keywords related to your blog and niche in the pin file name. This contributes to your Pinterest SEO efforts.
- Your Pinterest SEO strategy can spill over to your website as well. Do this by including your Pinterest keywords in the alt-text of your blog images.
- If you manually upload a pin or image from your website to Pinterest (see how to post a pin to Pinterest manually further down), ensure you optimize your alt-text on the Pinterest editor.
- Make sure your pins are the right size as according to Pinterest best practices. This will ensure the Pinterest algorithm doesn’t penalize your pins and negatively affecting your account.
How to post on Pinterest
There are three main ways to post on Pinterest:
- Directly from Pinterest
- From a website
- From a scheduling tool (like Tailwind).
Let’s go through each of them.
How to post on Pinterest from Pinterest
If you want to post an image, video or an already created pin, you can do so from your Pinterest business account. Simply click on the ‘Create’ tab, and then ‘Create a pin’.
For how to create an Idea Pin, visit this tutorial.
Here we can see the Pinterest editor.
You can save images (or videos) directly from a website and upload them onto Pinterest using the pin editor. You could also upload your Canva pin and post it from the editor. This is called manual pinning. Notice the ‘Add alt text’ button – use this well by adding your relevant keywords!
Add a title, description and a destination link. You’ll be prompted to add your pin to a relevant board and once you’re done, click ‘Publish’.
How to post to Pinterest from a website
Some websites will have an embedded Pinterest share button which you can click on to share images or blogs. This example is from Rachelngom.com
Clicking on the Pinterest button will take you to your Pinterest account where the image will have been loaded into the Pinterest editor. All you need to do is select a board and publish.
Stylemepretty.com has Pinterest share buttons embedded in all their images.
Clicking on the share button will allow you to post to Pinterest manually from the Pinterest editor.
The Pinterest share button below allows you to select a relevant board immediately and post the pin to Pinterest directly.
Note the blue flame tabs at the bottom of the pin. This provides a way to send your chosen image to Tailwind and post to Pinterest from there. We’ll get into that now!
How to use Tailwind for Pinterest
Tailwind is a scheduling tool affiliated with Pinterest that allows you to batch schedule pins to Pinterest. This is a very useful tool especially if you are a Pinterest manager or if you run a Pinterest management business.
It’s an extremely useful tool and a must-have for Pinterest managers or anyone taking their Pinterest marketing seriously.
Here’s how to post on Pinterest using Tailwind
- Log in to your Tailwind account
- Upload your pins (created in Canva) or images to Tailwind drafts.
- Add your blog URL, write a description using keywords and schedule your pin.
- The arrow shows your schedule. You can decide how many times a day you’d like to post to Pinterest, and Tailwind creates optimized time slots for each day. When you schedule your post, you’ll be asked to select which relevant boards you’d like your pin to be pinned to. You then select your preferred time interval and click ‘Add to queue’. Tailwind will schedule your pin accordingly.
Another way to post on Pinterest is to use your Tailwind Chrome extension. Download this button and then you’ll be able to pin any image online via Tailwind.
This image shows the Pin share button and the Tailwind button.
Clicking on the Tailwind schedule button will take you to this window:
You can decide if you’d like to schedule your pin now (it will be added to the next available slot in your Tailwind schedule), or to save it for later. If you save it for later, the pin will be sent to your Tailwind drafts.
If you’d like your pin to be sent out immediately, go to the ‘Scheduled’ tab, find your pin, hover over it, and click on ‘Pin Now’.
Your schedule will be bypassed and the pin will go out immediately.
Tailwind management is commonly included in a Pinterest marketing package offered by a Pinterest VA or Pinterest manager.
What are Tailwind Tribes?
Tailwind tribes (now called Tailwind Communities) are a bonus feature included in your Tailwind subscriptions.
Communities can be created by anyone using Tailwind and are searchable on the Tailwind platform. With the standard package, you get access to 5 Tailwind communities and can share 30 of your pins per month to these communities.
There’s a general rule that for every pin you contribute to a community, you should share one of their pins to your audience.
Search for relevant communities and share your content on these platforms. If users like your pins, they’ll save your pin which will then be seen by their audience.
Using Communities is another way to give your pins more exposure. Try to choose Communities that have >250 members and whose members are active. See the example below:
Using Tailwind Communities isn’t always effective for all accounts. Test out various communities, leave them and join others – experiment to see which Communities are worth your while.
Even if you see you’re getting a large number of reshares, if these are from small Pinterest accounts, they won’t give your account much of a boost.
Pinterest group boards
Pinterest group boards run on a similar concept. Group boards can be created by any Pinterest user and made private, open to access via application, or simply open to anyone wishing to contribute. Your Pinterest VA or Pinterest Manager can create a group board for your account if it’s part of your Pinterest Management Strategy.
You can join an unlimited number of group boards. Joining group boards relevant to your niche can give you added exposure as you share your pins to an audience of interested pinners.
Although for many, using group boards is part of an effective strategy, you’ll need to test it out for your account and see if it works for you. It can be difficult for new accounts to get access to quality group boards. I’ve seen group boards work mainly for larger accounts who have been part of these boards for a while already.
Conclusion
There are many small details that go into creating an optimized pin for Pinterest. Learning how to post on Pinterest is one of many skills you’ll need while learning how to market your business on Pinterest.
While there is nothing too complicated, and there are many more tutorials available to help you out, it’s generally easier for business owners to outsource Pinterest management to a Pinterest manager or Pinterest VA. If you’re considering hiring an expert to grow your Pinterest business account, get in touch with us here.
Our Pinterest managers can help!
