Pinterest for Beginners: Turning Pins Into Steady Traffic

How Pinterest Differs From Social Feeds

On most social apps, a post gets the bulk of its attention in the first day or two. On Pinterest, pins are matched to searches and interests over a much longer period. People are often in planning mode, which means they are open to clicking through to learn more.

This changes how you should think about content. Instead of chasing trends that fade quickly, focus on evergreen topics people search for again and again, such as how to do something, ideas for a season, or lists of options.

Setting Up a Business Account

A free business account gives you analytics, the ability to claim your website and access to ad tools if you ever want them. Claiming your website links your pins to your domain and helps your content appear with your name attached.

Write a clear profile name and description that include the main topics you cover. Pinterest uses this text to understand what your account is about.

Boards That Help People and Search

Boards organize your pins and also act as signals about your topics. Give each board a specific, searchable name rather than a cute one. A board named quick weeknight dinners will be found far more often than one named yum.

• Create a handful of focused boards before you start pinning.
• Write a short description for every board using natural keywords.
• Put your most important boards at the top of your profile.
• Save relevant pins from others as well as your own to fill new boards.

Designing Pins People Click

Vertical images work best because they take up more space in the feed. Use clear, bright visuals and add a short text overlay that tells people what they will get, such as ten easy desk stretches. Keep the text large enough to read on a phone.

Create several different pin designs for the same piece of content. Different images and headlines appeal to different people, and fresh pins tend to get more distribution than repeatedly saving the same image.

Writing Titles and Descriptions

Treat your pin title like a search result headline. Describe what the content is in the words people would type. In the description, explain what someone will find when they click, and include a few related keywords in natural sentences rather than a list of tags.

Make sure the destination link matches the promise of the pin. A pin about a recipe that lands on a homepage frustrates people and leads to fewer saves over time.

Connecting Pinterest With Your Other Platforms

Pinterest pairs well with video. Idea pins and video pins can tease a tutorial and send people to the full version on YouTube or your blog. If you are building a YouTube channel, iGSub can help with early momentum by offering free YouTube subscribers, likes and comments through a credit system, without ever asking for your password.

• Pin thumbnails or key frames from your YouTube tutorials.
• Turn blog posts into several pins with different angles.
• Add your Pinterest profile link to your other bios.
• Track which pins send the most outbound clicks and make more like them.

Mistakes That Slow Beginners Down

Common mistakes include pinning in huge bursts and then going quiet, using horizontal images, writing no descriptions, and linking pins to irrelevant pages. Avoid group schemes that promise mass repins or tools that automate spammy activity, as Pinterest's rules prohibit spam and these accounts can be limited. Steady, helpful pinning is slower at first but compounds over time.

Frequently asked questions