Optimize Your Pinterest Profile for More Blog Traffic
Biz Mavens

Optimize Your Pinterest Profile for More Blog Traffic

Pinterest Tips: Optimize your profile for more blog trafficPinterest is the most powerful tool out there for drawing fresh faces to your blog.  But dominating Pinterest doesn’t happen by accident.

Let’s say you’re pinning your favorite bits of the web consistently, with your readers in mind.  And you’re following the most influential pinners, so you have the inside scoop on what’s hot right now.  And you have a steadily growing number of people following your pin boards.

But how many of your Pinterest followers are making the connection to start following your blog?

I’ll give you a hint: it starts with your profile.

If your Pinterest profile isn’t working for you to direct more people toward your blog, then you’re missing out on a FREE portal for introducing people who already like your style (they’re repinning your pins, aren’t they?) to your blogging home on the web.

4 Tips for Generating Traffic from Your Pinterest Profile

#1 – Your Profile Photo

If you don’t have a good photo, get one.  Your profile picture should convey something about you.  Are you the pleasant, grandmotherly type?  A cute, quirky crafter?  A decorator with style emanating from your pores?

A friend and I were talking about blogging last week, and we concluded that as people spend more and more time surfing Pinterest, they’ll probably spend less time perusing their favorite blogs.  After all – why follow just a handful of blogs, when you can follow the best of everything on the internet, via Pinterest?

No, if your blog is going to grow with Pinterest in high gear, you have to keep it personal.  Use your real picture.  Use your real name.  Unless you’re churning out four tutorials a week, you’ll need to have a “safe” and personal space where your readers can make a connection with you.  Running a successful blog is about developing a community, and it’s time to get real.

So don’t use a picture of your dog, or your kids, or even your logo.  Use a picture of you.

#2 – Craft a good “About” paragraph

Your “About” page is the second-most visited page on your blog, right after the home page.  And with Pinterest, you can have your About section front and center!

Now, granted, you’re limited to a single paragraph, but that’s 200 characters that can give your potential readers insight into what makes you unique.  Give them just enough information to be curious.  Make them want to find out more about you by visiting your blog – and don’t forget to include your blog’s URL in the About paragraph.  It won’t hyperlink, but it will point the way for your Pinterest followers to find out more.

(You can check out my Pinterest profile to see what this looks like in action.)

#3 – Don’t forget your blog URL!

Under “Settings,” don’t forget to add your blog’s URL.  On your profile, this will translate to that little image of a globe, and it’s hyperlinked to your blog.  This will give your Pinterest followers easy, one-button access to visit your blog.

[box style=”check”]TIP: Rather than just giving your root URL here (like www.yourblogsname.com), consider creating a landing page for people who are visiting from Pinterest! You could create a special page (like yourblogsname.com/pinterest) and have a message for your visitors from Pinterest with visual links to all your best posts! Now that’s capitalizing on traffic. [/box]

#4 – Connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts

Optimize your Pinterest ProfileDon’t leave out your Facebook friends!  If they’re following you (either personally, or via your blog’s Facebook page), they’ll probably be interested to see what you’re looking at!  Pinterest has a feature (under “Settings”) where you can toggle on “Publish activity to Facebook Timeline.”

(And do I need to say this?  Don’t forget to hit “Save Profile” before you leave the Settings page!)

Getting Ready for Blog Traffic

We’ve set up your Pinterest profile to start directing traffic to your blog, and now there’s a little housekeeping you need to do around your blog to welcome new readers.  And after that?  Tips for creating content that will attract Pinterest users.  Great things to come!

[box]This post is part of the series Growing Your Blog with Pinterest: the Ultimate Guide.  Read the rest of the series here.[/box]
Kelly Holmes

Go from burned-out blogger to Smart CEO.

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Leave a Comment:

24 comments
Melissa @ Home Ec with Mel says

Do you know of a way to connect my pinterest to my blog’s facebook page instead of my personal facebook?

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    jeni says

    As far as I know, they don’t have that feature yet…but the folks at Pinterest are always busy; I imagine there will be a way soon. When I find out, I’ll let you know!

    Reply
Allison @ House of Hepworths says

I think this is a great post! I found your blog via pinterest and have been reading for an hour! Tons of useful info. I’m definitely a new subscriber. Thanks!

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    jeni says

    I was up designing the other night when your comment came through, and I was wondering, “who on earth is reading my blog in the middle of the night?!” 🙂 Thanks for commenting – I’m glad you’re enjoying it.

    Reply
Andrea Anderson says

Do you recommend having a separate Pinterest account for you blog, or using your personal account? I know I’d end up pinning some things twice (once to each account) but I don’t think everything I pin on my personal account is appropriate for a blog accounts, such as my wishlists. Plus, I believe that a Blog Pinterest account could be optimized for my readers by dividing my boards much differently than I would in my personal account e.g. “I’ve been Featured,” “You’ve been Featured/Reader Feature,” “My Sponsors,” “My Favorite Blogs,” or “Contests.” Can a blog dedicated Pinterest feel personal without being TOO personal, or would it just end up feeling fake? It LOOKS like your Pinterest account is linked to your blog rather than being personal, but you might just be awesome like that.

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    jeni says

    Ha! No, I have only one Pinterest account that I use for everything. I have everything from Homeschooling + Kid Activities, to Makeables (DIY), to Blogging and Design Tutorials. If people are only interested in my blogging board, they just subscribe to that one. I initially tried out having two separate accounts, but that crashed and burned…because it was lame to have to sign out and then sign back in whenever I wanted to pin something for the other account. Too much management time. Really, I wouldn’t worry too much about your followers seeing things (like your wish list) that they aren’t interested in – it’s their responsibility to follow whichever boards they want to follow. You’ll find that there will be lots of people who only subscribe to a single one of your boards, and that’s fine. For myself, I have a tiny amount of time to dedicate to “extras” like Pinterest, so I have to keep it as simple as possible. Hope this helps!

    Reply
Tehila says

Jeni, I found this post really very helpful! As one who is only beginning Pinterest (years behind, I know!), you shared invaluable information, which I truly appreciate!

Keep up the excellent work!

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Karen @ The Food Charlatan says

Hey Jeni! I’ve enjoyed your Growing your Blog through Pinterest posts. Very helpful! I have a quick question. You recommend connecting through Facebook, so that people can click on that little “F” on your profile and go to your facebook page. That’s great, but I have no interest in Pinterest users heading to my personal account, which they can’t see much of because it’s of course private. Do you know how to change this so that the F link goes to my Facebook page for my blog? (https://www.facebook.com/TheFoodCharlatan) I notice that the F link on your Pinterest profile links to your personal page too. Is there any way around this? Thanks for any help!

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Karen @ The Food Charlatan says

Oh my. How embarrassing. I see that this topic has already been addressed, in the very first comment no less. And much more succinctly. Haha, fail! Feel free to dump these comments, I will not be offended at all! Thanks again for all the great tips Jeni!

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Debi Stangeland says

Thanks for this article. I enjoyed it, but was wondering, can you tell me when this was written? 2013? 2012? I didn’t see a date anywhere. Thanks so much. Love your blog.

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    jeni says

    Hi Debi, I think I probably wrote it in early 2013 – just before the Pinterest redesign. Glad you’re enjoying my blog!

    Reply
ROSA says

I have not taken my eyes off your site for the last, maybe 8 hours since I find your site! All the information you provide is, as many others have already said, invaluable! Thank you for providing it. You have a loyal follower with me. I’m new to the blogging world and already feel very upbeat and encouraged by many of the topics you have addressed. For starters, I’m so glad to get rid of all the media buttons I had. I did put just a three at the footer, though… I’m hoping to build my audience, sooner, rather than later. If you should, for some wild reason, have the time to visit my page, your critique about it would be most appreciated. Thanks again! -Rosa

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    jeni says

    Hi Rosa, thanks for your note! You have a lovely blog – I’d just like to see your photo somewhere in the sidebar so readers can connect with you from every post. 🙂 Glad you’re finding my site helpful!

    Reply
PolishedWays says

This was the most helpful article. I was trying to decide if I should use my Pinterest account for both personal and my blog, or if I should just set up one for only my Blog. I wasn’t sure what to do, because I’d really like my readers to know the personal me and not the just the blogger. You helped me decide to just keep it how it is. Thank you so much!

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Energy Physics says

Thank you for your suggestions. I did’nt know how to use pinterest effectively. According to me search engine optimization plays a vital role in driving traffic to blogs,especially organic traffic.

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Ulises says

Thank You so much, this is a total eye opener, what a great and concise article for the one who like me just started a Pinterest profile.
Keep the gook work Jeni!

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Kathy says

Thanks for these tips! Just followed them all and followed you on Pinterest as well. I have used Pinterest personally for years but am just now digging through how to connect it to my blog and making it beneficial for women & moms who want a better work+life balance in their freelancing business. I’m looking forward to learning more from you! Thanks for sharing!

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    Jeni Elliott says

    Thanks for your comment, Kathy. I love that you’re being intentional about using Pinterest to enrich your readers’ lives. +1000! 🙂

    Reply
Kaaren says

Ready to launch my blog and want to be sure I understand #3 Tip. By placing the /pinterest on the page, does that take readers to a page you have designed just for Pinterest traffic? What a great idea with links to special/best post. Girl, you are brillant. Am I getting this right?
I have two pinterest sites. pinterest.com/kaaren (3800 pins, personal) and .com/whereblogcreate (new, for my upcoming blog, with about 1000 pins.

Have totally enjoyed your post. Lots of great info. Thanks

Reply
    Jeni Elliott says

    Hi Karen!

    You can create a separate page just for Pinterest visitors – one that would have your most popular pins or posts, and perhaps a special welcome message…but that’s entirely optional. If you’re just launching your blog, you won’t have any “most popular” posts yet, so it’s fine to stick with using the root URL of your site. That would be a more advanced technique for bloggers who have been around awhile.

    Wishing you luck with your new blog launch! I’ll be cheering you on. 🙂

    Reply
Esther says

Great post Jeni. I am just learning how to use Pinterest and connecting it will facebook will be new adventure for us.

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Arkitalker says

Thanks very helpful post!! Started to follow your advice!! 😉

Arkitalker | https://arkitalker.wordpress.com/
— A blog of architecture, art and culture and a travel diary —

Reply
Rebecca says

Super helpful, thank you! I had no idea how to integrate pinterest with my website, but now I’ve done it and it works. 😀

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