I’ve been a Pinterest fanatic for quite some time. But this year I looked at Pinterest in a whole new light when my referral traffic sky rocketed past Twitter, Facebook and Stumble Upon. Most bloggers know how great Pinterest is or could be for your blog. Just visit a Pin and you’ll more than likely find yourself at someones blog. No matter what you blog about, you can get viral traffic delivered from Pinterest.
Take Awesome Pictures
The first thing you you need to focus on is taking great pictures. Make sure they aren’t too dark and have a good composition. For this example it’s best to use food as the subject.
One of the posts that I’ve had good success with is my Raspberry Frozen Yogurt recipe. I took two pictures to place into the post. Both are of the finished product but one of them has the title written on it. Pinterest is a visual search engine. People see something they like and repin or click to the site. So you want your picture to tell the viewer exactly what they are getting, because not everyone that pins your images rights a decent description so let your picture do the talking.
Fonts, Frames and Flourishes
Using fun fonts is a great way to showcase your pin. I like to add fun flourishes and frames to my images also. I found some great photoshop brushes on from Tulip Works by Pink Pueblo. They have the cutest frames and fun things to use in your photos. Here are some examples of the fun ones I got to use in my photos. They have awesome prices and great specials. Like buy 2 get the 3rd one free! Instant downloads and super easy and helpful to work with. Did I mention super cute stuff?
So find some fun ways to show your readers and visitors exactly what they need to know on your image. Whether its a Disney Travel Guide or a recipe. Compel the scrollers on Pinterest to click the image. To Repin it to try at a later date.
Stitching Images (Long images)
Even your product reviews can garner viral traffic if you have the right images. Just check out my Little Green Pouch post. My product review of this awesome Mom invented item went viral on Pinterest and no drives tons of traffic to the Little Green Pouch website. The image I used is two images stitched together and then I added text to it. You get a clear idea of what the product is just by looking at it. Stitching images together is a great way to showcase workouts, recipes and crafts on Pinterest. You can shop the steps visually and leave the text off so that the viewer clicks to your site for the “How To” portion. Workout routine, ingredients or materials list. These longer images are a huge hit on Pinterest as well. But make sure you leave something to make the reader click the image. You don’t want to give everything away and never reap the benefits of an awesome Pin that goes viral.
So to recap!
- Beautiful Pictures
- Fun Fonts (that you can clearly read!)
- Frames or flourishes to accent your text
- Stitching Images to create one long one
- Leave the viewer wanting more (thats where your traffic comes from)
Don’t forget to Follow my on Pinterest Meghan @JaMonkey
Those are excellent tips. I’m definitely sharing this with others. Thank you!
Thanks!
Oh, thanks for the helpful tips Meghan. I’m going to try out making taller images and stitching them together.
I need to remember to work on taller images.
Love the tips! I am going to pin the frozen yogurt! Yum!
I would love a how to on how to stitch images together. I have picasa and the entire adobe suite including photoshop. Please help!
These are all great tips! Pinterest has been huge for my blog too–I never did well with StumbleUpon, only Pinterest!
wow great tips. headed to look at the frames! 🙂
This is great information. Thanx for sharing!
WOw! yes these are pin worthy! thanks for sharing. Ill be sure to check this post more often!
Those are some really great tips. Thank you for sharing.
Fantastic tips … Pinterest has become my number one referrer too.
Great tips I know I have tried to change some of my photos to look better for Pinterest.
Thanks for the tutorial – I bookmarked this to help in the future.
Great tips! I’ve really been working hard on creating better Pinterest images.
Awesome tips and resources.
Such great tips! Thanks for sharing!
Well lit is soooo important.
I love Pinterest. Thanks for the helpful tips to increase visibility.
Great advice!
Great tips! I am always pinning stuff on Pinterest in hopes it will go viral!
Hi Meghan
Just found you site…ON PINTEREST!
Great and easy tips…always great to learn something new to help spread the word about the magnets we produce and sell on Etsy and wholesale to gift shops and museums around the country.
Thank you! I look forward to finding lots of other interesting information and tips on your site.
Sincerely,
Fredda
The Magnificent Magnet
Thanks for sharing this article. I need to apply those tips – NOW!
These are great ideas.
Thanks! I need to get moving on Pinterest.
I really need to work on this! Thanks for sharing!
I’m just starting to leverage pinterest – so thank you for the tips!
Wonderful tips!
Great post. Now if I could just figure out photoshop…
I need to learn to stitch!
I need to get better at it like you. I’m taking notes, Meghan!
These are fabulous tips!!! Thanks!!
Great information! What version of PhotoShop do you use? I had to stop using an old version I had for my pictures, because they were turning them grainy. Luckily, PicMonkey doesn’t do that. However, I want to find a program that doesn’t have limited options.
Totally helpful tips. I’m not very big on pinterest, but hear that bloggers get tons of hits from it.
Thanks for the great tips! I’m totally going to try stitching some recipe photos together.
Thanks for the tips. 🙂
Thanks for the tips. I am going to look into those frames and flourishes. I need to work on my photo techniques. 😀
I love these tips! Thank you! I love using frames, but I hadn’t heard of that site. I am going to bookmark it. 🙂 I agree pictures are HUGE for Pinterest!!