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How To Get Pinterest Followers + Repins: The Ultimate Guide

  |   Business Tips, Social Media Marketing   |   202 Comments

The ultimate in Pinterest tips! How to get followers on Pinterest (and drive traffic back to your website) if you are a blogger, business owner, or entrepreneur. Learn how to get more re-pins, what makes people follow you, and get 15+ real-life examples. Read + bookmark it at http://olyvia.co/how-to-get-pinterest-followers-and-repins/. This is like an e-course on growing your Pinterest account, but totally free!

 

You might think you can’t grow your Pinterest account. You may think you’ll never know how to get more followers on Pinterest. You may think that Pinterest can’t drive traffic to your website. You may think, my friend, that Pinterest is what they call “le giant waste of time.”

 

If so, you and I…we feel each other.

I’ve been using Pinterest for years with past blogs, but when I launched Olyvia.co…I honestly wasn’t sure how well it would work for the brand.

 

I knew the platform worked like crazy pants for food recipes, DIY tutorials, quotes, and pretty product photos. But business, marketing, and blogging?

 

Let’s just say I wasn’t 100% convinced.

 

Despite my worries that Pinterest wouldn’t be a major social media platform for my business, I went ahead and made a decision from the start to create “pinnable” images (more on that in points 6 & 7 below) for each and every blog post I published.

 

I had high (read: desperate) hopes that, somehow, it would pull through for me.

 

Ten months later? Pinterest accounts for 60% of social media referrals to my blog (Twitter comes in second at 20%), and is the top referrer overall with more than 30% of my total traffic coming to me from the image-oriented platform.

 

To say I have a love affair with the platform is a vast understatement. Me and Pinterest? We’re like THAT.

 

But, I know not everyone sees the same results — and I’d like to fix that. To help you learn how to get Pinterest followers, more repins, and — ultimately — more traffic to your site, I’ve created today’s Ultimate Guide for you.

 

(Ooo, don’t you like things that sound so fancy?)

 

There is a huge amount of info packed in this post (it may or may not be over 4000 words, folks, so grab a bevvie), and in addition to all the tips I’m giving you, I’ve also included a video tutorial that will show you a simple + free way to design a highly effective Pinterest image.

 

But I’m proud to say it comes with two BIG omissions. This is what you won’t get in this Ultimate Guide:

 

1) info on running crazy, just-follow-me-to-win-200-benjamins-baby contests, and

 

2) promises about getting a zillion thousand followers in a month.

 

I prefer to skip the hype and speak to what I know.

 

If that sounds good to you, read on. Let’s get your Pinterest act together, once and for all.

 

THE BEST GUIDE ON HOW TO GET PINTEREST FOLLOWERS + MORE REPINS

 

1. UPLOAD A PROFILE PHOTO

 

When I see someone who still has a Pinterest account with the mysterious red pin as their profile photo, I get a bit… scared.

 

(Are you a hacker? A spammer? A wart-ridden government troll living in the darkest corners of the IRS?)

 

You’ll find it difficult to get anyone following you if you scare them, so let’s fix that. When on your main Pinterest account page, click “Edit Profile” in the upper right-hand corner and select the option to upload a picture.

 

(Be sure to use a photo with dimensions of at least 165 x 165 px.)

 

pinterest_profile_picture

 

 

2. ADD KEYWORDS TO YOUR PROFILE NAME

 

Tip one: If you have a blog or business that isn’t your personal name, you should either A) use that as your profile name, or B) work it into the profile name (ie: ‘Ginger @ That Redhead Blogger’). That way when people search for you, it will be easier to find you.

 

Tip two: To help your account be found for your area of expertise (ie: fitness coaching), put targeted words after your name: ‘April Smith | Fitness Coach’ or ‘April Smith (Workout Tips)’

 

You can edit your name in the same area I showed you in point #1 above. Your name will be cut off in the display if you use too many words (more than 37 characters if you want to get exact), so be concise!

 

I love how Regina decided to add keywords to her blog name:

 

 

byRegina (blogging + business) on Pinterest

 

 

 

And how Abby incorporated her real name + blog name together:

 

 

Abby @ Just a Girl and Her Blog on Pinterest

 

 

 

3. FILL OUT + VERIFY YOUR WEBSITE URL

 

Every social network you use should point to your website URL, and Pinterest is no exception.

 

Remember: your goal isn’t just to get people following along with your pins, but to love them SO much that they click over to your website (where they will naturally become enamored with all your blogging glory + follow you to the end of time).

 

It’s also essential because it will allow you to start seeing analytics about pins from your website if your account is a ‘business’ account — which I believe every serious blogger or business owner should have.

 

To get specific, step-by-step instructions on how to verify your URL — as well as why + how to convert your personal account to a free business account (or start a new one and leave your personal account alone) — I’ve pulled 18 pages from a Pinterest course I’m creating as part of The O Team to share with you for free:

 

The free Pinterest Prep guide: get the best results out of Pinterest!

 

Grab Pinterest Prep!


Subscribe to get the complete 18-page step-by-step guide to acquiring a free Pinterest business account, verifying your website, and applying for Rich Pins. Covers Wordpress, Squarespace, Shopify, and Blogger!


Powered by ConvertKit

 

4. PEN A CLEAR YET CLEVER PROFILE DESCRIPTION

 

You have 160 characters to make people think you’re the coolest person everrrr — and then hit that that “Follow” button. What will you say? How can you sound different than the other 43+ million Pinterest users out there? (Not a made up number, friends.)

 

Focus on telling people something that hints at what you do, but doesn’t sound corporate or stiff. This is Pinterest, my friends — you’re allowed to be quirky, bold, witty, or downright cray cray.

 

(That’s far better than being bo-ring.)

 

 

Christine Tremoulet has a fabulous Pinterest description!

 

 

 

5. GIVE YOUR BOARD COVERS A CONSISTENT VISUAL THEME

 

People on a whole like things that look cohesive, organized, and “pulled together.” That’s why stores and websites that are successful always. always. always! have a certain appearance that is the same throughout.
You can — and should — do this on your Pinterest account, too.

 

 

Sarah achieves it by featuring all of her (visually similar!) blog post images as the board covers:

 

 

XOSarah has eye-catching board covers on Pinterest

 

 

 

Julie does it by creating custom images that describe what kind of pins you can find within each board:

 

 

julieharrisdesign_pinterest

 

 

 

YOU can do it by choosing board cover images that are all similar in color/composition:

 

 

Sunday Suppers has a consistent design aesthetic on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

6. MAKE YOUR BLOG POST PINS TALLER THAN THEY ARE WIDE

 

If there’s one make or break deal in Pinterest, it’s the look of your images. For this point we’re going to focus on dimensions, and the thing you need to remember most? Avoid all horizontally wiiiiide rectangle images.

 

That’s because even if you have a stunning photo or use pretty fonts, it WILL get lost in Pinterest’s vertically-oriented feed. And a lost pin is a pin that 1) doesn’t get clicked as often as it should, plus 2) doesn’t get re-pinned as often as it should — which means it does wee little for you in terms of either growing your Pinterest account OR attracting people to your website.

 

That’s no good.

 

What you want are eye-catching, loooong pins that are impossible to miss. Whether you like the graphic style or not, there is a good reason you see the pins from Damn Delicious everywhere:

 

 

The blog Damn Delicous uses extra long, vertical images effectively on PInterest

 

 

They’re 10 miles long, and people can’t help but notice them! (By the way, this is also why infographic images do so well on Pinterest.)

 

If you aren’t up for creating images quite that long, fear not. The standard recommended dimensions of 735 x 1102 will do just fine. See how this pin from Peg Fitzpatrick (which is the “perfect” Pinterest size) compares to the one below it:

 

 

pegfitzpatrick_pinterest

 

 

vs.

 

badpindimensions

 

( ^ This was a pin someone made of my Facebook-optimized, wide rectangle image.)

 

 

Which one would YOU notice in your Pinterest feed?

 

 

7. MAKE ALL THE PINS FROM YOUR BLOG POSTS LOOK THE SAME

 

Remember up in point no. 5 when I told you about the importance of a consistent visual theme? Okay, perfect. Now you’re going to want to take that advice and apply it to all the images you make for your blog posts.

 

This makes for solid branding of course, but it is also smart Pinterest strategy. If someone starts seeing pins in their feed that look similar, eventually they’re going to click on them to check out the blog.

 

This is how I first discovered the brilliance that is Regina. I saw a couple pins that were clearly from the same blog over and over again, I noticed how nicely they were composed, my curiosity got the best of me — so I clicked. (And, to steal from the fairy tales, I could finally live happily ever after. 😀 )

 

Alisha has awesome pins that lend to the same experience:

 

 

alishanicole_pinterest

 

 

Chief Olyvia Tip: I use Adobe Illustrator to design my images, but you can easily make consistent, clean images via PicMonkey for free.

 

 

8. USE SPECIFIC, SEO-FRIENDLY KEYWORDS IN YOUR BOARD TITLES + DESCRIPTIONS

 

I used to love to title my Pinterest boards creative things like “Words + Bindings” (for books…get it?) or “Eloquently Said” (for inspirational quotes of course).

 

But did anyone ever find them so they could admire my cleverness? No.

 

And therein lies our problem.

 

Pinterest has been moving toward search engine capabilities for some time now. They don’t want it to be a place where you only come to stumble across pretty pictures your friends post, but a database where you can actively seek out information + products you’re looking for.

 

This means if you want your pins found, they need to be labeled with words that actual people might use when they’re looking for quotes, recipes, sewing tutorials, coding tips, or whatever else it is that they’re thinking about at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night.

 

So instead of labeling your recipe board ‘nosh’ and then putting in a description like “good food I love,” do like Kate of Cookie + Kate does below and use the precise words that describe the content of your boards.

 

(In her case it’s “vegetarian dinner recipes,” featuring “vegetarian main dishes” and “meatless dinner recipes.” Brilliant.)

 

 

Cookie + Kate has SEO-friendly board titles on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

9. ORGANIZE YOUR BOARDS SO THE MOST IMPORTANT ONES COME FIRST

 

The top row of boards on Pinterest is your Willy Wonka-ish golden ticket into the eyes + computer mouse of everyone who visits your profile.

 

They give you your BEST chance to show off your brand in the most flattering light — and, in doing so, attract followers — so you want to be sure they feature:

 

1. content that is centered around the core of your brand (your very first board should contain pins exclusive to your blog/online store, and the others should showcase the kind of content you feature regularly on your blog/in your store)

2. content that is relevant (if you’re a brand that provides seasonal content, e.g. fall wreath tutorials, move those boards to the top during the appropriate time of year)

3. content that is plentiful (boards with less than 10 pins usually don’t perform well)

4. content that is well-designed/curated (a non-negotiable!)

 

 

10. KEEP THE LOOK + FEEL OF ALL YOUR NON-BLOG PINS CONSISTENT (WHEN POSSIBLE)

 

When you choose pins that you want on your boards, think carefully before you hit ‘Pin It’:

 

Is the look consistent with your brand? Will it complement the other photos you’ve pinned? Does it look like a high quality image?

 

Your Pinterest account shouldn’t be a hodge podge of randomness, with magazine quality pictures of huge, diamond-encrusted wedding rings sprinkled in next to grainy photos of jewelry pieces that looks as if they were taken haphazardly in someone’s bathroom under ugly fluorescent lights.

 

If you have boards like that, people will take one look at them and RUN the other way. The last thing they want is to see a bunch of pins in their feed that will be great half the time…and horrendous the rest.

 

How to get Pinterest followers

 

(I have one caveat here. Curating visually consistent pins is harder to do when your focus is on pinning information posts [such as blogging or business tips], since you may want to feature helpful + smart info even if doesn’t mesh perfectly with your unique “style.” (Which, frankly, it seldom will.))

 

In this case you have some flexibility, though I’d still draw the line at pinning something that’s a hot mess. If the content is stupendous but the graphics are painful, choose to share it via Facebook or Twitter instead.

 

Kory does a fab job of pinning content that looks complementary to her brand + one another:

 

 

Kory Woodward has cohesive branding on Pinterest

 

 

 

11. WRITE LONGER, KEYWORD-RICH PIN DESCRIPTIONS

 

For the same reason you want to give clear + specific word luvvvv to your board titles and descriptions, you want to put some well-placed words in your individual pin descriptions as well.

 

What words and phrases would someone use to search for your pin? Use the space available to you and fill ‘er up with those keywords! In my experience 2-4 sentences works well.

 

 

Writing a keyword rich description can boost your pin big time!

 

 

The words + phrases I made sure to use in the above pin description were:

 

“how to”

“small business tips”

“impress your customers”

“look like a professional”

“entrepreneurs”

“freelancers”

“Etsy shop”

“creatives”

 

Chief Olyvia Tip: To automatically pull in your spectacular description when others pin an image from your blog, use it as the ‘alt tag’ for your images.

 

 

12. PIN CONSISTENTLY + FREQUENTLY

 

At the end of February I had 683 Pinterest followers and was randomly pinning about 3-4 pins per day.

 

In March I started a free trial with Tailwind (<- happy referral link), a Pin scheduling app, and set it up to pin anywhere between 8-15 pins consistently over the course of each day (with a focus on the times it determined I received the highest engagement).

 

A month and a half later, I now have 1,140 followers and nearly every week my re-pin numbers hit record highs from the week before. (Last week I received over 1,000 re-pins, up from 445 when I started.)

 

 

Scheduling pins with Tailwind

 

 

What made all the difference? FREQUENT + CONSISTENT pinning. The more you’re in the feed and keeping your boards updated + growing, the more chances people will find you and repin you.

 

Basic truth? The more you pamper your Pinterest presence, the better it will perform! (Click to Tweet)

 

 

13. SIGN UP FOR RICH PINS

 

Have you heard of rich pins? If you’ve been using Pinterest you probably have, but you might not know what they are or why should have them.

 

Let’s fix that.

 

Rich pins are pins that look a lot like a normal pin, but at the bottom they contain extra details from your website (such as recipe ingredients, article summaries, product pricing + availability, etc.) along with a small favicon and your website name.

 

 

An example of rich pins on Pinterest

 

 

The reason you want rich pins are because:

 

1. Anytime you update a post/page that is attached to a rich pin, that pin is automatically updated. Which means your pins will always be current! (It can cast a negative light on your blog/brand if you have outdated or incorrect information floating around out there.)

 

2. It makes your pins more noticeable + official. (There’s that “official” word again. Remember how much people like that? 😉 ) You want to stand out on Pinterest, and this is a great way to do it.

 

3. It’s customer-friendly and reader-friendly. The more info you can give someone where they’re at (in this case, on Pinterest), the easier it makes their life. You want to do this for people. It’s how you make people even bigger fans of what you do.

 

So how do you do this rich pin thing? First, you need that free business Pinterest account I mentioned up above. Then you need to decide what kind of Rich Pin you want to have (there are multiple types: product, article, recipe, movie, etc.), as the method you use will vary depending on the kind.

 

Article and recipe pins are the most popular among bloggers + infopreneurs, but if you have a website that’s entirely product-based, product pins are the way to go.

 

In the Pinterest Prep guide I mentioned above I cover the various Rich Pins in more depth, provide examples, and walk you through how to apply for them easily. The guide has complete tutorials for WordPress, and also shares info for Squarespace, Shopify, and Blogger!

 

The free Pinterest Prep guide: get the best results out of Pinterest!

 

Grab Pinterest Prep!


Subscribe to get the complete 18-page step-by-step guide to acquiring a free Pinterest business account, verifying your website, and applying for Rich Pins. Covers Wordpress, Squarespace, Shopify, and Blogger!


Powered by ConvertKit

 

 

14. THANK PEOPLE IN THE PIN COMMENTS

 

I think people sometimes forget that Pinterest is a SOCIAL network. That means it requires some level of interaction for it to be most effective! Sharing beautiful + helpful pins will get you far, but you can be unforgettable if you add a personal touch through the comment section.

 

The best way I’ve found to take advantage of Pinterest’s combox is to use it to thank people. Thank people for pinning images from your site, for repinning your pins, and for pinning something useful or spectacular.

 

Hardly anyone does this, so when you do it will make a BIG impression. (I’ve made a few amazing blogger + biz friends due to them commenting to me, or me commenting to them.)

 

When people experience this gratitude from you they’ll 1) remember you, 2) be more likely to follow you, and 3) be more likely to pin your stuff.

 

I love this example by Latrisha:

 

Latrisha & Co uses delightful comments on PInterest to grow her brand

 

 

 

15. @MENTION PEOPLE IN YOUR PIN DESCRIPTIONS

 

Another way to connect with people and build a following is by tagging Pinterest users in your pins.

 

When you go to pin (or repin) something from someone’s website, find out the person’s Pinterest handle first (it’s their unique URL name after the pinterest.com/) and then put it in the description with an @ in front of it.

 

(For example, mine is @OlyviaMedia.)

 

This will send the person a notification that they’ve been mentioned in a pin. This doesn’t happen a whole lot, so people generally go right on over to check it out. When they see you’ve pinned something of theirs, 96.2% of them will not only thank you, but take the time to check out your profile + boards to see if they want to follow you back and/or repin some of your stuff.

 

If you’ve done the steps above to create a dazzling account + you have the kind of content that they like to pin, they ARE going to follow one or all of your boards — or give you some repins.

 

(Quick note here: don’t be discouraged if someone repins rather than follows you. Every repin of your content is valuable and boosts your account visibility, which helps you gain other followers.)

 

 

Tagging people in your Pin descriptions helps them notice you!

 

 

 

16. JOIN GROUP BOARDS THAT HAVE A DECENT REPIN RATE

 

Pinning to a 1,000,001 group boards was once THE thing on Pinterest — and how a lot of current accounts with massive followings first got traction. With the introduction of the Smart Feed and Pinterest evolving how it shows pins to people, that’s not as key now…but it can still be a super help (especially if you’re just starting out).

 

But how do you know which boards to join and regularly pin to? The top question I ask myself when selecting a group board is this:

 

What is its average repin rate?

 

There are some giant group boards with 10k+ followers that initially look promising, but when you look at the pins posted there? They all have between 0-1 repins! This is not a board you want to join.

 

I recommend a minimum average repin rate of at least 3 repins. Some pins might have 0 or 1, but others might have 5 or 8.

 

If you can find a board where most pins regularly have 3+ repins and several of over 10+ or 15+, that’s a definite winner.

 

Here are two of my favorite boards in the blogging + business niches (click the images to see them on Pinterest):

 

 

Screenshot 2022-04-14 20.32.10   Screenshot 2022-04-14 20.35.14
 

 

And here is the link to PinGroupie, a searchable directory of many active Pinterest group boards that will help you find a board or two that works for you!

 

 

17. PARTICIPATE IN PIN PROMOTION THREADS IN FACEBOOK GROUPS

 

There are some Facebook groups that run Pinterest promotion threads (either occasionally or daily). In these threads members of the group share a link to a specific pin they would like repinned, and in return they have to help support some or all of the other members’ pins in the thread in some way. (I’ll explain more on that below.)

 

Done right this is a clever way to give one of your pin’s some noticeable traction.

 

I’ve had pins “go viral” and end up with 50, 100, or even 2,000+ repins due to just 10 or 20 people initially re-pinning it after I posted it on a Facebook thread.

 

If you choose to do this, though, please please don’t participate in any pin promotion threads that REQUIRE you to repin EVERYONE’s pins.

 

All of these promotion-focused threads will require you to support the other people who post in the thread (to be sure everyone gets a fair shake), BUT you only want to join in threads that will let you use a Pinterest comment and/or like in place of a re-pin as your means of ‘support.’

 

(Or, alternatively, the thread could say that you only need to repin 3 others out of a thread of 25+ people — and you know from looking at the pins before you join up that you can repin 3 of them in good conscience.)

 

Why do I say this? Because there could be people with pins that have nothing to do with the kind of content you pin, OR who have pins that — let’s just say it — are in no way attractive or helpful. If you were to be required to pin everything from everyone, you could do major damage to your account + reputation.

 

No amount of possible repins is worth that — trust me.

 

 

18. RUN PROMOTED PINS

 

A Promoted Pin is a pin that you pay to be shown in people’s feed when they search for certain keywords (that you specify).

 

While it isn’t intended to be a Pinterest account promotion tool (its main purpose is to get people to leave Pinterest and visit your website, so you only pay for clicks), the FREE benefit is that a lot of people end up re-pinning your Promoted Pin…and keep on re-pinning it long after the ad ends.

 

(Running a Promoted Pin can actually cause a pin to go viral later on.)

 

So not only do you get more website visitors — and, ideally, fans — you’re getting long-term exposure + visibility for your pins. NO other ad works like that on the other social networks: once you’re done paying, your ad never gets seen again!

 

This sets Pinterest apart in a gigantic way.

 

I recorded a brief tutorial on setting up a Promoted Pin in this post. After you watch it, head over to ads.pinterest.com and try it out for yourself! (You will need a free business account to access this capability.)

 

 

Promoted Pin dashboard

 

 

 

19. LINK TO YOUR PINTEREST PAGE ON YOUR BLOG

 

The last tip on how to get Pinterest followers is to make it easy for people to find your account — even if they aren’t on Pinterest.

 

When they visit your blog they should see a link to it somewhere in your header, sidebar, footer, or at the bottom of your posts. A simple text link or icon is fine, but the more noticeable you can make it, the better.

 

(When I installed the Pinterest widget in my sidebar — screenshot below — I saw a jump in people clicking + following.)

 

 

My Pinterest widget in the sidebar on Olyvia.co

 

You should also post board widgets within your posts when it makes sense, just like this one:

 

 

Follow Olyvia | Business + Blogging’s board Olyvia.co on Pinterest.
 

 

To put a widget in your sidebar or within a blog post, go to the board you want to feature and click the button with the three dots in the top right hand corner. Then click ‘Make a widget.’

 

 

How to make a board Pinterest widget

 

 

A code will automatically pop up for you to copy and paste into your sidebar text widget or blog post — easy peasy!

 

Another savvy move I recommend you try is to link an image within a post or sidebar directly to a Pin you’ve made, then place one of Pinterest’s ‘Pin It’ buttons below it (or just tell people to click to Pin). Here’s an example:

 

Click to Pin directly from Pinterest!

get_more_followers_on_Pinterest_sidebar

 

 

This will result in more people re-pinning that image for you. Smart, huh?

 

Lastly, think of other places you can place a basic Pinterest link. Your email list footer? Your business/personal email signature? Your Facebook Page? Your Twitter bio?

 

 

Now that I’ve covered my 19 proven tips to get more Pinterest followers + repins, I’d like you to chime in: What is your FAVORITE Pinterest-boosting strategy? I can’t wait to hear!

 

 

Erika Madden

(Chief Olyvia)

 

 

  • Sarah @ Sarah’s Bake Studio

    Super informational! I can’t wait to put some of these into practice. Thank you!

  • Love these tips, Erika! I found byRegina via Pinterest too because her images are sooo great visually. I agree with everything you said about creating boards that look similar and are named well. And curating great content is a must. I’m personally attracted to boards/pinners that curate beautiful and/or helpful content so I try to give that to my own followers. I’m just starting out, so I definitely have a lot to learn though. Speaking of which, how do you connect your facebook and/or twitter accounts to your Pinterest profile? I saw that you had a little Twitter icon by your blog name. Thanks again for another super helpful post. Pinned this to my blogging board! 🙂

    • Great question, Jennie! To add your FB and/or Twitter accounts, click the gear icon in the upper right hand corner of your profile (next to the Edit Profile button) and click on ‘Account Settings.’ From there you can connect accounts! (Unfortunately you can only connect personal FB accounts at this point, not Pages, but hopefully they change that in the future.)

      Thank you SO much for commenting + pinning. I really appreciate it!

      • Thanks, Erika! I was wondering about the FB accounts-I added mine and then realized it was my personal account so I took it off. :/ Can’t wait until they allow you to add pages! 🙂 Have a great day!

  • Amy

    Ahh! Thanks for all the homework!!! Just kidding! Great tips!!! I have to update this but I have to admit just doing part of these has helped a lot.

    • Hahaha, I know, right? And you’re so right — just doing a few will make significant improvements! Thanks for commenting, Amy. 🙂

  • HOLY epic, this is a monster resource of Pinterest badassery that needs to be shared far and wide. Consider me ON IT! Thanks so much for the shout out and for featuring my Entrepreneur Success group board, Erika.

    I think you managed to mention every girl crush I have on Pinterest. I love how we are all coming together and championing one another. That’s the stuff that geeks me out and pumps me up!

    ROCK ON, girl…you’re the best!!

    • Andrea you are THE BEST. I am thrilled to feature your board; it’s one of the better ones out there for sure!

  • This was such a great post erika 🙂 I cant wait to put them into practice. I hardly get any repins on my content, and I really hope your tips will help change that 🙂 Again thanks so much, this truly is the ultimate guide!

    - Chaitra | PinkPot

    • I personally love your pins, Chaitra. So pretty and clean. You have a TON of potential, and I believe you can do it!

      • Thanks so much Erika 🙂 That totally cheered me up. I ll put these into practise right away and I ll surely keep u updated about the results 🙂 Thanks so much for being so encouraging! x

        • Please do tell me about the results — I’d love to hear how your page grows. 🙂

  • This was insanely informative. I haven’t really even thought about pinterest for my business (I just like pinning pretty words and food) - but I think I’ll have to give a few of these ideas a try. Pinning the tips! Onward to 8,000! 🙂

    • Yahoooo!! hehe You’re great Nicole, thank you so much. 😉 I really get why people in our kind of niches don’t consider Pinterest. On its surface it doesn’t seem to hold a ton of potential. But wow. It does.

  • thealishanicole

    Excellent post!!! I actually took notes while reading through it use on my account. And thank you so much for including me!

    • You are welcome, Alisha — I LOVE your image branding!

  • Meredith

    I loved this post Erika! Epic and amazing! I have a decent following on pinterest yet I still learned a lot of how to optimize my pinterest even more. Thanks for this post!

  • Amy Morse

    Wow - so much great stuff. Thanks

  • This is incredible! Thank you so much. I did forget Pinterest is a social network and sending people thank you messages is definitely something I’m going to do now! (:

    • It is powerful, Amber. Try it and let me know how it goes!

  • What a great post! I loved your link to setting up rich pins. I did it immediately! Thank you for the quality content, and best wishes on meeting your goal!

    • Oh I’m so glad that the Rich Pin tip helped you! When I installed that awhile back I did see a noticeable jump in my following + repins, so it’s definitely worth doing. I hope you see the same results. 🙂 Thank you so very much for your kind comment!

  • Deana Ward

    Wowzers:) I am definitely going to revisit this article to start the process of cleaning up and revamping my random boards from the early days. Thanks Erika!

    • It’s a lot to take in at once, I know. Hahaha. 😉 You’re welcome, Deana! (By the way, loving the content you’ve posted on your blog recently!!)

      • Deana Ward

        Oh thanks:) I really appreciate that Erika. You made my day:)

  • Erika, this is one heck of an epic post! Love it and thank you for mentioning me.

    Here I was thinking that I had Pinterest down to a science, and you just showed me that I’ve barely made it out of the 101 class!

    Sitting down this evening with my notepad and see what I need to start implementing now! Thank you so much for this and the video!

  • So good! I’m honestly struggling to think of anything I could possibly add to this, because you covered pretty much EVERYTHING.

    Pinterest is definitely my biggest source of referral traffic, and despite some changes on their end over the last few months, I’m sticking with it!

    • I hear ya! I know people were upset with the Smart Feed changes, etc, but it’s still SUCH an effective platform for bloggers of all kinds!

  • Cari Nadeau

    This is AWESOME Erika! Thanks so much. I have been trying to figure something out…do you think we should put personal stuff that’s not directly brand related on a personal account? Thx!

    • Oh that is a great Q, Cari! My answer is that it depends. (Let me explain.) Ultimately your biz boards should all be geared toward your target reader/client/customer if you want to have the most effective Pinterest presence. If your personal stuff is the same kind of thing your target audience would like, then it’s OK to keep! But if it’s just a hodge podge of images that don’t interest or resonate with them, they’re going to hold you back. I would curate your boards so that they specifically attract the kind of person you want in your biz and reading your blog. Everything else should be saved for a Private Board or your personal account. 🙂

      (And yes, I totally agree with your wish to move entire boards between accounts!)

      • Cari Nadeau

        Makes sense. Ok I’ve got some work to do…Thanks for the answer, fabulous Erika!

      • Christina Mendoza

        Hi, Erika! Great article, and I’ll also be pinning it. If you ever need to move a whole board, my business Pin4Ever has a tool that can do that for you quickly and easily. Please contact me at christina@pin4ever.com if you’d like more information.

  • Erika, thank you so much for this amazing post and for always creating such amazing content full of immense value!

    I really appreciate your take on using group boards. I never thought to consider the amount of re-pins the content in the boards were generating rather than just the large numbers of followers.

    I definitely pinned this and will be sharing this one for you! Thanks again and have a wonderful night!

    • Sara I appreciate you and your comment so much. I’m happy that tip on group boards was helpful to you! Thank you for helping me get the word out, I love that! 🙂

  • Oh boy, I have a lot of work to do. Damn you and your super informative posts, Erika!

    • I like to make work for you, what can I say?! 😉

  • Really great post!Thanks a lot

  • Fantastic post, Erika! Someone posted a link to this in a Facebook group I’m in, so I popped over to check it out and giggled when I saw my own profile in the post- thanks SO much for the mention! (And for sharing your wisdom too! Great stuff! 🙂 Hope you’re having a wonderful week!

    ~Abby =)

    • Oh you are welcome, Abby! You have such an excellent Pinterest presence, I just had to include you. 🙂 Thank you so much for coming by and taking the time to comment! 🙂

  • Melissa Megginson

    Wow, Olyvia - this guide is incredible! Thank you so much for including Tailwind. I’m happy to share and help you to your 8,000 person goal 🙂

    • Melissa, you are fabulous! I adore Tailwind; it truly has helped me more than any social scheduling app I have used. It’s a joy to use! Thank you for taking the time to read and comment, I appreciate that.

  • This Pinterest tips are amazing! I’ve already started making changes!

    • Woohoo, thanks Toyin!! I’m glad they helped you. 🙂

  • debbielq

    This is so great! Thank you for all of these awesome tips. I’m so excited I’m going to go make myself some pins!

  • This is such an awesome post Olyvia! Thanks for the help, I’ve been finding Pinterest difficult to crack… I worked through as I read it, hopefully my new pin board names make a little more sense now 😉 “notes to self” is probably less searchable than “inspirational quotes” hehe, oops.

    Meg | Optical Intake

    • Hehe Yeah it took me a long time to figure that out as well, Meg! 🙂

  • What an extensive and awesome resource you’ve put together! I can’t wait to try some of these things with my pinterest account!

  • Another amazing post! Your tips and insight are always incredibly HELPFUL and detailed, which I really appreciate! It’s disappointing to read a post that just has the generic “pin great content” and “pin frequently” tips. I have been slowly learning how to really use my Pinterest account, and this post will be my new go-to resource!!!

    • Oh wow Kara, I appreciate that so much. Thank you for such an encouraging comment.

  • Such an awesome post, Erika! I loved the ideas of filling your profile/description with important keywords and engaging your audience. Pinterest is my top traffic source too, so this is super helpful! 🙂

  • Sharon Milner

    Thank you for turning me onto Tailwind. OMG where has this been all my life???? Can’t believe I lived without it.

  • Ok, question about promoted pins: Do you think it would be beneficial to pay for promoted pins for my upcoming ecourse launch? That may be a dumb question but I’ve never done it so I’m not sure how it all will work. Thoughts?

    By the way, I’m working my way through this post like a checklist. It rocks! I’ve pinned and tweeted and shared in FB groups 😉 Come on 8000!!!

    • I am SO grateful for you, Kirsten!!! Thank you!

      To answer your question, it first depends on what page you’ll want to send them to. With Pinterest unfortunately they have really buckled down on Promoted Pins that lead to squeeze pages or any kind of page where you have to provide email info to access the content. However, if it’s just your page where one can buy your e-course or a blog post about it, you’ll likely get approved. (One thing to keep in mind: you can’t display prices anywhere on the Pin or in the Pin description.)

      The second consideration is whether it’s going to send you qualified leads and potential buyers. My opinion is that it will, but it will be most effective if used to drive people to a relevant + super helpful blog post that includes an advertisement about the e-course rather than a purchase page. Not that you couldn’t try both, but generally a lot more people are searching Pinterest for HOW to do something rather than an explicit e-course to buy. And if they don’t know you or have any experience with your blog, they’ll need to start by being presented something insanely helpful for free first…then move down the sales funnel by opting in to your email list, etc.

      If you’re looking for the potential of outright buyers (esp among your current followers), or to drive new people to a free webinar/etc where you’ll then pitch your course, my advice would be to spend more of your marketing dollars on Facebook Ads.

  • Erika, just realized i never commented bc i was having issues with my phone the day I read this. But i still wanted to give you some comment love and let you know how freaking awesome I think you are for creating this epicness. I have been sharing it like crazy because the advice is awesome.

    Pinterest is my biggest source of traffic too and i wasn’t doing some of these tips you outline, so i can just imagine how much i can blow it up by following all your advice here. I am really excited to get going on it, thanks!

  • Camesha

    This is just a great and THOROUGH list! I’m going to be showing my Pinterest page some love!

  • Chloe G

    Thank you so much!!! This has helped me a lot!!! I am addicted to Pinterest xx beautyybychloe.blogspot.com

  • So glad I found this post, wow! I’ve realized Pinterest has been a great source of traffic to my blog, so I want to continue to get those repins! This is all so helpful!

  • Heaven Smiling

    What an incredible post! I was so hoping you wouldn’t be promoting an ecourse, and I was rewarded. Thank you!

  • Marina Biljak

    Best guide ever - I went to change my profile picture because I was just a red pin before. What a mistake 🙂 Marina @ http://www.parentaljourney.com

  • Gillian @ Young Yankee Lady

    Uhh, in love! Thanks for the post!

  • Erika this article was so helpful! Thanks for sharing and giving me a great “to do” list!

    • I’m really happy to hear that, Patricia. 🙂 Thank you for taking the time to read and comment.

  • Wow, this tutorial was awesome. I’ve been wondering about the “rich” pins for a while and didn’t even realize that’s what the were called. Can’t wait to get it set up! Thanks

  • Ruthie Gray

    Absolutely some of THE best Pinterest tips I’ve ever run across! Thank you so much for all of this info, pinning so I can digest all of it better later. I never knew so many of these things, and I thought I knew what I was doing on Pinterest! DUH. Thanks again!

  • There’s so much great information here that I’m going slowly and doing a thing per day.

    So, today, I made all of my covers match! http://pinterest.com/dawn_serra

    BOOM! Love this post!

  • Calder Clark

    What an incredible post- I can’t wait to get your feed! I am struggling to get Pinterest to recognize my perfectly-by-the-book-installed favicon in my article rich pins- if you happen to have any advice or a post on that. Ugh. Thanks!

    • Oh man, I’m not sure what’s going on Calder! I tried Googling but I couldn’t come up with anything helpful. Maybe try to contact Pinterest Support?

      • I’ve contacted them 3 times- worthless. Buuut- it did eventually just kinda pop up on recent ones- but of course not on older ones as promised in several Google/Pinterest forums. #sheesh #firstworldprobs. Love your blog- thanks for everything you share!!!

  • Taylor Jacobs

    Hi Erika! I just opened up an Etsy Shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/barnowlbeauties, and I found this article, and I have been trying to implement all of the tips, as a part of my social media marketing. It’s been almost a week, and I’ve got almost 100 new followers, and tons of repins and likes! So thank you, this has been such a helpful article! 🙂

    • That is SO awesome, Taylor. I’m excited for you! Thank you for sharing that with me!

  • I took so many notes and Im so excited to try these tips out on my pinterest @selfieaddictshp

  • These are great, Erika! Thank you so much for sharing these. I love it!

  • Cristina Castro Cabedo

    Dear Erika, thank you so much for this post! It is so useful and complete, I am following it step by step, some of them will take longer than others! One thing that worked so well for me was that at the end of last year I offered a printable calendar to all my suscribers and of course I made a pin of it. Then, I made a board called Printables and searched for the most beautiful and nice printables that I could find, and put them together with mine in that board. The results were awesome! Sharing nice and beautiful things from others are a great way to get your stuff shared too! Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!

  • Thank you for your wonderful article, Erika! I’m such a newbie when it comes to blogging, and I only used pinterest for leisure in the past, but that’s going to change because of this pin. Just trying not to get my head muddled from information overload, though… 😉

    • One small step at a time, Veronika! (That’s my motto.) 🙂

  • Whew! Erika, when the word “epic” comes to mind from now on, the picture in my head will be this post! This is totally amazing and will change the way I do Pinterest.

  • I never thought about adding keywords to my profile name, definitely something I need to think about! Thanks for sharing all these great tips!

    • You’re welcome, Sarah. I just glimpsed at your Pinterest profile and it is outstanding. Well done.

  • Erika, I’m working through these tips (and have already implemented a bunch!) but am feeling sort of stuck on board names. It makes me cry a little bit to think of renaming “Don’t make me pee in my pants” to “humor”. 🙁 Maybe I need to rethink my boards? I like silly, fun, edgy memes. But I guess it doesn’t really have anything to do with my homemaking niche. Do I really have to resort to just having “recipes”, “crafts” “decorating”, etc?

  • Just stumbled across your website, and it is really informational. I love this pinterest post since i am also struggling with followers. I have just one more question to you- i saw that you use ‘click to tweet’ in your posts with different colors. It looks beautiful, can you please tell how you do it?

  • Romanescu Laura Sinziana

    Hello Erika! Thanks for your great tips and advices! I am taking the detox challenge and is great and also I joined some Fb groups that you wrote about and are very useful!
    Regards,
    Sinziana Romanescu

  • Seashells Andswings

    It took me three days to get through all your tips, but I loved it. I wasn’t able to do everything on the list, but you inspired me to include a board widget directly in a post (among other things). So thanks!!

  • PLEASE HELP!! I just found your blog and I find it amazing!! As I was looking through step 3, I realized my Pinterest profile doesn’t have a red checkmark. I have the code on my site, on my Pinterest setting it shoes as ‘Site Verified’ with a gray check and I’m able to see my Analytics. How can I get the red check? I searched online for a solution with no avail. Can someone help me please? I would appreciate any help. Thanks.

    • Hey Rosalyn! I did some poking around and it looks like Pinterest just removed the red check next to most people’s info. It still appears on huge commercial accounts like Martha Stewart or HGTV, however. Odd! (And so sorry about the stress!!)

      • I contacted Pinterest with the same question and that’s what they told me, they only left it on huge commercial accounts. Everyone else won’t have it anymore. Thanks Erika!

  • shereentrvls

    Thank you so much for all these tips! I have been doing okay on Pinterest, but I can do a ton better. I hope by implementing some of these tricks I can really up my game.

  • Hey, I loved Pinterest even before using it to promote my blog… and I thought I knew quite a bit about Pinterest, but I learned a lot from your post. I will pin your post wherever I think it will catch the eye of the right people. … Also I’ve been hesitant to use Promoted Pins because I had a bad experience with another social media platform, but I’m ready to take a chance and try it. You’ve been so open about your experiences with Pinterest that I’m going to follow your advice. Thanks, Tina

    • Thank you so much, Tina. I’d be interested to hear your experience with Promoted Pins whenever you do try them. I found them to be much more useful than FB ads.

  • This was the most helpful, all-encompassing piece on Pinterest I’v EVER read!

    • Aww, thank you Daisy! That really means a lot.

  • Love the tips, but I’ve got a totally random question for you that’s not about Pinterest. What plug-in do you use to get people to enter their email address before viewing your video? Thanks!

    • Hey A.J.! That plugin is Ninja Forms with the Mailchimp add-on. You can find info on it here: https://ninjaforms.com/. The basic ninja form plugin is free, but the Mailchimp add-on (if you want to use it to grow your email list) is $29. Hope that helps you!

      • Thank you so much! You are awesome! I had heard about Ninja Forms, but couldn’t find any reviews. It’s always good when someone says they’re are using it, and it’s clearly working. Thanks again!

  • Hi there, These are all sound tips and ones I’m already using ( darn-it, I wanted some new ones!). But great post, lots of work went into this. My best tip, if you’re new to Pinterest, would be to hire a VA to get it all set up for you. Somebody like…ME! I’ve been doing it for a while now, lots of fun and so much easier than the years of learning that went into growing my own Pinterest accounts.

  • Vanessa Purdum-Smith

    Thanks for a great post providing insight into Pinterest. I am just getting started with my blog, so posts like these are so informative.

  • Hey Erika! Thanks so much for all of the amazing information (the PicMonkey tutorial was especially awesome!). I’m wondering if you recommend deleting old pins? I’ve heard that deleting pins with low re-pins can be helpful.

    • Hey Kate, I’m so sorry for not seeing this comment earlier. My opinion is yes, it is helpful. I deleted pins on my boards that had 0 or 1 repins and saw improvement. 🙂

  • Candice Carter

    Great tips I love how visual your blog is, My struggle wit Pinterest is how to set up boards to have custom images, It only lets me select images from pins.
    Again great information and have pinned this post 🙂

    • Hey Candice! I don’t know if you found a solution, but to make a custom image cover you would do a direct upload of an image from your computer (by clicking ‘Add Pin’ while you’re in the board you want) and then select that image as your board cover. Hope that helps. 🙂

  • This was very in depth! Awesome. I fixed some areas on my Pinterest page as I read along. VERY Helpful. Thanks so much! @Olivia 😉

    • You’re welcome; I’m so glad it was helpful to you!

      • Thx and as an update: Before I put these tips in action I was stuck for a few months. Now im seeing action and an increase in followers.

  • Hey Erika! Thanks for posting such detailed and helpful content. I am just getting started in small business and in the blogging world. I actually found YOU through Pinterest, and I’ve been following your stuff for about a month now. As an artist, I have typically shied away from Pinterest in the past because of the cheating/lying/stealing/copyright issues that can happen there. However, you’ve convinced me it’s a tool I need to start investing time in if I want to grow an audience. Thank you for giving me useful, real strategies to make it happen. I have read a lot of other articles about Pinterest. Some are confusing. Some are simply unhelpful. None have been able to match the quality and quantity of content that you’ve provided here. I will definitely be coming back to it in the coming days! (And I will surely continue following your stuff!)

    • Kyle, all I can say is WOW. I just spent some time looking through your site and your talent is extraordinary. Everything is soooo beautiful, professional, clean… Your main blog post images are PERFECT for Pinterest, so I’m so happy that you’re embracing it, now! I seriously believe it will benefit your brand in big ways.

      Also, thank you for your sweet words. I’m thrilled that you found this post valuable; that’s just super encouraging for me. Thank you for taking the time to come here and leave your thoughts. <3

  • Erika, this is amazing! Thank you so so much for sharing your tips! I just started my blog and to be honest, I am super nervous about how it will turn out.. as an introvert person, going public is not that easy.. Still, can’t wait to start boost my Pinterest-Game.
    Also, your blog is amazing.. Just can’t stop reading…
    Sorry for the rant 🙂
    Mona x

    • As a fellow introvert, I totally get it, Mona! It IS hard to put out our work into the public. That’s one of the great things about Pinterest, though — it’s pretty introvert-friendly. 😉 Also I looked at your blog and it is beautiful, so I know it will do well there!

      Thank you for going out of your way to say my blog is amazing. It’s my goal to be valuable to people, so to hear that is pretty special to me. No need to apologize! 🙂

      • Thank you, that truly means a lot to me. Have a great day!
        x Mona

  • Wow this was so so so informative! Thank you for such a detailed post Erika!

  • I’m new (and overwhelmed!) by Tailwind. With Tailwind, are you only to pin YOUR pins, or is it good to repin other’s pins too?

    • Hi Jackie! I think it’s really smart to pin other content as well. I use my account to pin most everything I add to my Pinterest boards (unless I happen to be using the platform and want to repin something at that very moment). It saves me a ton of time! I hope that helps. 🙂

  • Lysandra

    I just came across this post, and man, has it helped me! I recently launched a Pinterest page for my clothing line, but have been struggling with how to drive engagement. This post has been a tremendous help, and I literally went through step by step and am implementing each action item. I even created my first Pinterest appropriate image for my next blog post (not live yet as of this comment).

    • Lysandra, I (for real) LOVE this. It looks fab! This is the perfect sort of image to post on Pinterest. The ‘how to’ approach is really smart for your brand, too. I wish you much success!

  • Reanda

    Very Very awesome! Some of the best pinterest techniques out there. I do a lot of research regarding social marketing, and this is by far the best info out there.

    • Thank you, Reanda. 🙂 That’s a wonderful compliment.

  • Great, great tips! Thanks so much for sharing your info!!
    Amanda
    http://www.affordablebyamanda.com

  • Okay, SO MUCH great info here! I just started re-vamping my Pinterest strategy (from having no strategy, that is) and this is awesome!

    Since reading this, so far I’ve done 9 of the 19 items on your list, and will be working my way through the rest in the coming weeks.

    Thank you so much Erika! I have a good feeling about this 🙂

    (P.S. Just found your blog today & am loving it!)

    • Candis, I lovelovelove what you’re doing with your Pinterest boards so far. Everything looks amazing: cohesive, attractive, and organized. You’re doing great, lady! Thank you for your excellent comment — I really appreciate that.

      • Wow thanks! I’m getting nit-picky about the look (and still working on what my “brand style” is), but I’ve already seen an increase in follower & repins from implementing these strategies. So so cool!

  • Great tips but I’ve gotta say, a light bulb went on for #11! I was wondering why when I’d pin from my site the file name was the text in the description for pinterest but hadn’t really gotten off my bum to look and see why. Thanks so much!

    • That’s so cool Heather — it is my FAVORITE thing when I learn something that I’ve wanted to know forever, but just never took the time to actually investigate. 😉 I’m thrilled that even just one small portion of this post did that for you. And you’re more than welcome!

  • This is an AMAZING post! There are so many things I didn’t know, or I knew but thought would be long and complicated. I’m absolutely going to be posting rectangular pins from now on, visually it makes such a big difference!

  • AWESOME list! Thanks for sharing this! I added all these features to my Pinterest and am seeing great results!

  • Sam Pelton

    Thank you so much for this - it’s very helpful! I especially found your tutorial on PicMonkey helpful, but I’ve run into a problem. When I make my blog images Pinterest-friendly according to the tutorial, the images do not show up well when the blog post is shared on Facebook. Since the 735×1102 image is so large, on Facebook it zooms in to the center of the image, which just shows some of the text on the image and isn’t visually appealling. Is there a way to get around this?

  • I never knew that bit about making a board into a widget. Great idea! Thanks for the thorough, helpful post.

  • Lisa Canfield

    Took all day to read this as I kept bouncing back and forth to my pinterest profile, implementing many of your points. This was SO HELPFUL. Thank you so much.

  • Jannine Pampu

    Thank you so many fantastic tips. I have now finished a complete overhaul of my Pinterest account!

  • Wow this is incredibly helpful! So thorough and organized, I love it! I too have been skeptical about using Pinterest as a blogging technique, but you’ve convinced me. Thank you for the hard work and time that must have gone into this post.
    xo
    http://sarahracker.com/blog

    • You’re so welcome, Sarah. 🙂 I’m glad I convinced you — I think you’ll find it worth it!

  • Marjolein van Leeuwen

    You’re such an amazing source of inspiration, I can’t wait to put your tips and tricks to use!

  • This is amazing! I just started using tailwind a few weeks ago and love how easy it has made pinterest!

    • Seriously Chelsie, I LOVE Tailwind. It is the only scheduling app I pay for, and it is 200% worth it. It’s changed my entire Pinterest presence!

  • Catherine Mendez

    WOW! This article is Pinterest GOLD. Glad I found it & thank you for taking the time to write & post it!

    • Thanks so much, Catherine. 🙂 What a compliment!

  • HOLY MOLY!! That’s a lot of info! Thank you!! I struggle with understanding Rich Pins and how to make them. The auto updating thing would be SOOOOO helpful.

    • It IS a lot of info! I’m considering writing a book on Pinterest just because there’s so much involved — and sometimes it’s helpful to have things broken down in simple, easy to implement chapters. 😉

      • That’s a great idea Erika! Clearly you understand how it works!

  • Wow, TRULY grateful for your thorough and superstar post! There are some great tips here that I will start implementing immediately. I’ve been wanting to start Rich Pins so I’m excited to dig into the linked guide you provide, and the sidebar widget is gold! I look forward to exploring the rest of your site!

    • Oh you’ll love that Rich Pins tutorial — it makes it so easy! 🙂 Thanks for reading, Michelle!

  • These are all fantastic tips. Thanks so much.

  • Adding keywords to your user name is a great tip!

  • Colette

    Awesome tips! Ive been working on upgrading my pinterest boards all week 🙂 Pinning this now!

  • What a great resource! I have notion having good luck with Pinterest but look forward to implementing your tips!

  • Lela Geist

    Pinterest is one social media platform I haven’t quite figured out but your tips were SUPER helpful!! I’m going to start doing these things right away!

  • Holy cow!!

    This is by far one of the BEST resources I found on Pinterest!
    Thanks for creating and making this available for all!

    Pure Brilliance at its best!

  • Linda Lockman

    Oh how I needed to read this post! Thank you, thank you! Going to pin it now and reference it again step-by-step. Linda

  • Suzi Whitford

    This is such a complete post! Thank you Erika! You just reminded me to run a quick promotional pin and join one of the group boards you mentioned. Thanks for the practical advice! xox

  • Stacy Russell

    Great tips. I can’t wait to implement some of them. Of course, I pinned this post. 🙂 because I will HAVE to come back to it.

  • Katrine Brandborg

    @14 - HOW can I comment and thank people. I’ve tried, but I cannot figure it out. Please tell me 😀 Thanks!

  • This is SO helpful!! Thank you! I am going to implement these tips for my own Pinterest account and blog soon. Thanks for sharing such awesome info!

  • Corner52

    great information, thank you!

  • Great list! Some of these are too time intensive for me at this stage, but I stopped midway and made an edit to my name & bio on the profile page and love it! Thanks, pinned, tweeted, and shared.

  • Best pinterest post I have read to date! It took me about 2 hours to read to the end because I was constantly switching between this and my Pinterest page to make changes! Thank you for sharing SO MUCH information xxx

  • I think the very best way, better than absolutely anything else, is to get your material out in front of those mega- users (like you); if they re-pin in, who can even guess at how many people are going to see and re-pin? Of course, it is by no means easy to do that.

    For some reason, I never made the ‘promoted pins’ connection here until you said it, and somehow missed the ‘delete and re-pin to group boards’ tactic (I think that counts as a ‘re-pin, folks! My original pins re-pin count just keeps going up!). It is hard to find new strategies; thank you so much!

  • Lisa @ BirthEatLove

    This is a terrific post! So very informative for a newbie like me. A couple of questions, I see some people follow tons of people daily (like 100+) would you recommend this for growing followers?
    Also how do you change the featured image of a board?
    And is it kosher to repin your own pins multiple times??
    So grateful to have stumbled across you!

  • Hello olyvia. Thank you so much for letting me knowing this! I immediately designed new images, and I organized my boards. Thank you so much 🙂

  • Helen Taylor

    Thanks for sharing! Great tips Erika, have used some of your advice already!

  • Adyss Smeets

    I’m still wondering what I’m doing wrong! Sad face. In case anyone would like to check out my Pinterest, it’s http://pinterest.com/adysssmeets (if I may post it here?)

  • Cally

    Oh my, this is the most in depth overview I have seen of pinterest! Wow, you have gone above and beyond the advice I have been seeing from people. Thank you so much! I have signed up, pinned, saved, liked - everything I can. This information is so valuable to new bloggers (and probably seasoned ones)!

  • سامي الغامدي الغامدي

    add

  • I’m following every single step!! Thanks a lot, love Pinterest and I definitely want to use it to grow my Architecture + Travel Blog 😉

  • Great post! I too created a theme for my boards, alternating the custom text covers with images. I would love to have my design featured on your post one day along with those pretty ones hehe https://uk.pinterest.com/dailyfashionins/

  • jasminblogs

    Hi Erika, this was great! I learned so much and I’ve already started making some changes! I’ve never focused too much on marketing through Pinterest because Facebook and Instagram are my fortes, but now I think I’m really getting the hang of this Pinterest thing. This is seriously one of the best blog marketing tip style posts I’ve EVER read! Thanks a ton!

    - Jasmin http://www.macaronsandmascaraonline.com

  • Really helpful and informative, thank you! I’ve already made a few changes on my Pinterest!

  • Leanne

    Great ideas, especially about pingroupie!! I can’t wait to try them out.

  • This has to be the best guide to Pinterest that I’ve seen. Anywhere. Thank you for sharing. Lots of helpful info here!

  • Skully

    This was super helpful and much appreciated! As a newbie blogger, any information I can get is awesome!

  • This was super helpful and much appreciated! As a newbie blogger, any information I can get is awesome! Thank you!

  • Sylvain Leroux

    Great post Erika : very much inline with other articles I read on the same topic. But much more detailed ! Thank you for that. As a matter of fact I discovered Pinterest only recently while searching for way to promote my online courses. But I have indeed two questions:

    1. Is Pinterest suitable to promote “technical” or “advanced” content ? Most pins in the default feed of my brand new account are clearly targeted toward “lifestyle” or “casual” content. But maybe this is because it’s a new account ?

    2. It’s probably a polemic issue — but all the similar articles I read, all your examples (I think) and all comments here are authored by women. According to other sources, women count for 2/3 of the Pinterest users. Is there some reason behind that ? In fact right now I think promoting technical or scientific content on Pinterest could be a great way to reach a different audience and reduce the gender gap we see in engineering for example. Or is this completely stupid sexist bul….t 😉 ?

  • ReShop Store

    Pinterest worked for ReShop Store - https://reshopstore.com - Facebook Ads, Google AdWords only were $$$ burns. They simply did not work to drive actual paying customers.

    I’d like to invite your readers to — Go Shopping - Here is a 15% off Checkout Code: YOURCART15

  • Thank you for these tips. I am actually curious about tagging other people in pins, however. I noticed that Pinterest masks my description following the @ sign when I do this, so I’m wondering if this is really a good strategy.

  • I’m just getting started with my blog and I found this super helpful! I’m really excited to dive into all of this and learn more! Thanks for all the tips, can’t wait to start using them! 😀

  • Amelia Lively

    This post is amazing Erika! Thank you so much for sharing so many valuable information. I learned more from your post than after reading 15498895 other pinterest related posts. Now I have so much work to do. 😀

    • What an incredible compliment! I’m thrilled that my tips helped you!! 🤗 Thank you so much for reading. 🙂

  • Golf Ball Reviewer

    Great article, I am working on building a Pinterest following for my golf ball website: http://golfballreviewer.com I am going to follow your tips thanks!

  • Squidge and Boo

    This is by far the best post I’ve read about Pinterest to date and I’ve been reading a fair few lately! I’ve just rearranged all my boards, next job - add a description to each. Then onto my blog to add widgets. Brilliant tips, thank you 😀 x

  • Loved this post! Never knew about the commenting, will definitely have to start incorporating this!

  • Winston Liones

    You are the best..

  • Sean Dean

    Thanks Erika! Love the detail, especially the bits about active group boards and pin promotions in Facebook groups 🙂 thanks Sean

  • Britne

    Thanks for these helpful tips!! Although this was posted 2 years ago, it is still tremendously helpful for me, a newbie to the blog world! I can’t wait to put these tips to use!!

  • Suzette Hershberger

    At the risk of sounding too corny, I feel I have been blessed by finding you and your website. To be honest, I can’t recall how I found you. It was either through a search for Pinterest help or it was through Pinterest itself. At any rate, I just wanted to say Thank you for all this fabulous information you have provided. But even more importantly for being you. I could feel your realness and your genuine care for other people the few minutes I was on your site. I have a feeling that I will be visiting your site and following you on social media a whole lot. Thanks again Erika for How to get Pinterest followers and repins. This is exactly what I have been searching for for days and you have delivered it perfectly. I am so pumped to learn more from you 🙂

  • Thanks! I’ve already started implementing some of your tips, it’s very helpful.

  • Fantastic tips Erika! I’ve just started to get the hang of Pinterest after my blog has been live for 3 weeks now - I’m not getting a whole lot of website click-throughs but my ‘monthly views’ (which I assume are just impressions) have climbed up to 12k already! I’m definitely going to add a Pinterest widget into my sidebar and perhaps even a board-specific widget on relevant posts. Have just gone through and made branded board covers so hopefully that helps too.

    Was there any one particular tip that you had for getting more clicks through to your website? My account is ‘livingtoroam’ if you’d like to have a look. Thanks again 🙂

  • wow! Thank you so much!

  • Thank you for this awesome blog post, Erika! I’m definitely bookmarking this post for future reference since I’ve never gotten the hang of using Pinterest. Thanks again!