About this book

Pinterest is a (hidden) champion for traffic

generation for bloggers and business owners.
While some marketers seem to underestimate the
power of Pinterest for marketing, some bloggers
have found the key to building a blog business
based solely on Pinterest and traffic from Pinterest.
We tried a ton of different Pinterest tips until we
figured it all out – here are the steps you need to
drive massive traffic from Pinterest to your blog.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 What’s in it

In this guide you will learn:

• Why Pinterest is not simply a social network
• Why keywords and SEO play an important role
on Pinterest
• Why it is not the number of your followers that
decides on how much traffic you can get from
Pinterest
• How you have to put it all together to a
consistent and scalable Pinterest traffic
generation strategy

Become a Pinterest traffic
generation expert!

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Before you start

Before you jump right into Pinterest activity you

have to be clear about some basics:
ALL your activity on Pinterest needs to be targeted
– if you love to browse Pinterest for your hobbies or
recipes – don’t do it with your business account.
If you want to mark pins for later reading that are
not related to your businss or blogging niche – pin
them to secret boards – but make sure that ALL
your boards are active – even secret boards.
Be clear that you will need to create images for
Pinterest. Pinterest success will not be yours if you
do not create pinnable images for your posts. You
will need to create MANY images.
Beware – Pinterest can suck you in with all the
awesome and interesting content in your feed. If
you want to use Pinterest for blog distribution and
traffic generation, you have to stick to your strategy
– or you will spend far too much time on Pinterest
without ever achieving anything.

Happy Pinning!

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Setting Up Your Account
1. Set up your Pinterest Account
Choose a Pinterest name that is recognizable
and related to your blog or business.
Upload an avatar which stands out. For
instance, the background color of a portrait
can be bolt so that people will connect your
pins with you.
Make sure you use keywords – even in your
Pinterest name. See for example:
Set Up

2. Fill Out Your Bio

Use the most important keywords for what
you are pinning in your bio.
Make sure that visitors to your profile instantly
see what topics and niche they can expect
from you.
Your bio is one of many places where the right
Set Up

description, keywords, and phrases will make

sure that Pinterest and pinners know what
your pins are about.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Setting Up Your Account
3. Get a Business Account
The features for a personal or a business
Pinterest account are similar. But in addition,
the business account gives you access to
Pinterest Analytics.
You can easily convert a personal account into
a business account here:
Set Up

business.pinterest.com
Select „convert your existing account“ and
choose a business type.

4. Confirm your website

Confirming your website will give you some
additional analytics and allow you to use a
couple of other features.
You will need to add a meta tag to your
website.
Here, you can find the exact steps you need to
Set Up

take to confirm your website:

https://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/claim-your-
website

5. Get Rich Pins

Rich pins show more information below the
pin. This information will automatically be
added for each pin from your website.
Set Up

There are various types of rich pins: product

pins, article pins, app install pins, recipe pins

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 On Your Blog
6. Provide Images
Pinterest is a visual network, without images
no one is going to share your content on
Pinterest.
Each and every piece of content that you want
to distribute via Pinterest needs at least one
Basics

Pinterest ready image.

Header images or screenshots in your content
are not enough!

7. Provide Share Buttons

Pinning content from your website needs to be
easy. That means share buttons that allow to
pin images from your website with a couple of
clicks are a must.
A tool that allows you to integrate share
Basics

buttons on your website is Sumo:

www.sumo.com

8. Use Alt Tags

You want to provide a keyword rich pin
description that will automatically be added to
every pin from your website.
The place to provide this is the alt tag of the
Pinterest image.
Basics

Make sure you use the right keywords in the

description.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Your Pinterest Boards
9. Your Blog Board
Content on Pinterest profiles is sorted into
boards. You can create up to 500 boards – but
you should rather start with a handful.
The first board you should create is a board
for alll and only the content from your blog or
Boards

website.
This is the starting point for all your Pinterest
activity. Pin every new blog post to this board.

10. Topic Boards

In addition to your blog board, you need
boards for the main topics you are covering on
your blog.
Think of boards as a way to sort your content
into categories.
Boards

Make sure you choose keyword rich board

names. Pinners should instantly be able to see
what a board is about.

11. Group Boards

You can also collaborate with other pinners on
boards. These boards are called group boards.
You can join group boards by asking the
owner of the group board to add you – either
by email to the address provided in the
Boards

description or via Pinterest direct message.

Group boards provide an additional audience
for you: The followers of the Group board.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Group Boards
12. How to find group boards
You can search for group boards via the
Pinterest search. Choose a keyword. You can
combine the keyword with „group board“ –
since many group boards include the phrase
group board in their board name.
Choose „boards“ in the search category.
Visit the profile of other pinners from your
niche, check their boards. Group boards show
multiple pinners:
Boards
Group

13. Which Group Boards to join?

Make sure that you join group boards related
to your niche and topics. You are looking for a
targeted and interested audience.
Choose group boards with a fair number of
followers – and a couple of pinners.
Make sure the group board is active – if you
are the only active pinner the group board will
Boards
Group

usually not have the highest rating.

Make sure that the pins in the group board are
on topic – spammy boards are not the best.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Group Boards
14. How to use group boards
Group boards are great, because they give
you access to a targeted audience even if your
Pinterest account only has very few followers.
Make sure you follow the rules of the group
board. These rules are usually stated in the
description of the group board.
Only pin content that is on topic. Don’t spam
the group – this won’t help your pins.
Pin content from the group board to some of
your other boards. That helps the group board
to gain visibility on Pinterest.
You can also create your own group board and
invite pinners to join you on the board.
Your own group boards can build your
credibility and visibility on Pinterest since your
group boards will show on all the pinner’s
Pinterest profiles.
However, building a group board and getting
pinners to join your board is a little tricky and
time consuming. Especially when you only
have a few followers you will have a hard time
convincing others to join your group board.
When you are starting out it is easier to use
already existing group boards.
Boards
Group

If you already have an email list of

subscribers, you may be able to use them to
grow a group board – simply invite them to it.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 What should you pin?
15. Your blog posts are perfect
You don’t have to be a fashion or travel
blogger who has a ton of photos. You can
easily create your own pinnable images for
every post on your blog.
A photo with some text overlay is perfect. Still,
some pins will work better than others, you
will have to learn what your audience likes.
Activity

Especially when you are a new blogger you

Your

should create more than one image for each

blog post. Use a different text and background
image for each pin.

16. Mix it up
Pin your own pins to your blog board. Pin
these pins to other boards with matching
topics. Spread the pinning of your own pins,
don’t pin the same image multiple times in a
row without pinning something else, too.
Other people’s content can help you build your
Pinterest presence – always stay on topic.
You can easily fill up your topic boards with
pins you find on Pinterest on exactly this topic.
This will help to make your board more
interesting to other pinners – and help to
manifest what the board is about.
Activity

Infographics are also great to pin, they already

Your

show the information without the need to click

and usually get a large number of repins.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Your Audience
17. Your Followers
Unlike other networks, the number of friends
or followers on Pinterest is not so important.
Even small Pinterest accounts with very few
followers have the power to let a pin go viral.
But a number of followers will give you
credibility and earn at least some visibility.
To earn followers you should engage on
Pinterest: repin content from people you want
to follow you. You should also follow some
Audience

people from your niche.

If you combine repinning and following the
Your

same account, the number of people who will

notice and follow you back will be higher.

18. Your Audience

The decision, which content is showing in a
person’s Pinterest feed is much less based on
followers. Rather, the topic, related pins and
how well your pins are received is more
important.
Pinterest likes to show you pins, related to
the pins you usually save.
Thus your audience are people who like the
Audience

topics and types of pins you pin.

You have to show Pinterest what type of pins
Your

are similar to yours – your activity plays an

important role for that.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 The Pinterest Algorithm: Smart Feed
19. The Pinterest Smart Feed
Targeting on Pinterest is not so much about
finding people from your niche. Rather you
have to „show“ Pinterest for whom your
content may be of interest.
Unlike Twitter the Pinterest feed does not
show all pins from people you follow in
chronological order.
Apart from who is following who, the Pinterest
Smart Feed takes into account many factors
like
• Keywords used in pin descriptions and
image names
• Keywords in board names and board
descriptions of boards this pin is pinned
to
• Other pins on these boards and the
descriptions of these pins
• Pins that people pin who pinned this pin
From these factors Pinterest deducts who
might be interested in a pin.
How many people are going to see your pins
then also depends on how many people will
repin your pins.
Targeting

Targeting and visibility of pins largely depends

on making clear what the pin is about!

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 The Pinterest Algorithm
20. The Follower Feed
The follower feed is a specialized feed that
only shows pins from people you follow.
You can get to the follower feed by clicking
the „following“ symbol on your Pinterest
account right beside the search bar.

The follower feed does not show ALL pins from

the people you follow.
More of your pins will show in the follower
Targeting

feed of people who follow you, if you provide

pins that your followers like to click and repin.
No „Recommended for you“ pins will show in
the follower feed.

21. The Pinterest Search

Pinterest is not only a social network, it is also
a search engine.
If your pins show up in the search results for
your main keywords, you will get more traffic
and repins.
Targeting

To appear in the search you have to make

absolutely sure that you use the most
important keywords in your pin descriptions.
Plus you have to keep pinning your pins.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 The Pinterest Algorithm
22. The Hashtag Feed
The hashtag „feed“ is fairly new to Pinterest.
Since October 2017 hashtags have a purpose
on Pinterest.
Up to four hashtags will appear in the pin
description underneath the pin when it shows
in the feed. But you can add more hashtags to
your pin – don’t go overboard with your
hashtags, Pinteret is not Instagram and will
not reward multiple hashtags.
People can search for hashtags – or click on a
hashtag. This will open the hashtag feed.
The hashtag feed shows pins with the hashtag
in chronological order. Unlike the other feeds
on Pinterest the hashtag feed is not sorted
with an algorithm.
To appear in the hashtag feed, your pin needs
to be fresh. That means you have to keep
pinning it.
Targeting

Currently the hashtag feed is not highly

frequented, but it can be expected that
hashtags and their relevance will grow on
Pinterest in the future.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Targeting on Pinterest
23. Targeting with keywords
One of the easiest ways to show Pinterest
what your pin is about, is to use keywords.
You should use a couple of keywords that
Targeting

relate to your niche and the pins you pin:

• Your bio
• Your board desriptions
• Your pin descriptions

24. Targeting with related content

To make it clear what your pin is about, you
should also pin content from others to the
boards where you pin your images.
Pin pins that are already successful on
Pinterest. You can find trending pins when
Targeting

you click on the little compass beside the

search bar:

25. Targeting with boards

Don’t pin everything to all boards. Create on-
topic boards and only pin the pins to the
boards that match the topic of the board.
Targeting

When you are using group boards, make sure

you join group boards that have related
topics that fit your pins.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Optimization
26. Your Images
Don’t just pin beautiful images. Create images
that already tell what to expect when people
click.
That can be images with text overlay – for
instance the headline of your blog post may
be a great text for your pin.
Name your pins with keywords.
Use Pinterest friendly image dimensions.
Horizontal images do not get the same
amount of attention as vertical images.
You can create more than one image per blog
post. Try different texts on the different
images.
Image Optimization

Make sure the text on your Pinterest images

is easily readable:
• Choose a larger font.
• Choose an easy to read fond.
• Make sure there is enough contrast between
the text color and the background.
You can get better click rates by offering a
freebie or content upgrade right on your pin.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Optimization
27. Keywords in Boards
Don’t choose fancy board names where no
one instantly understands what the board is
about.
Choose keywords or keyphrases in your board
names.
Use keywords and keyphrases in the board
Optimization

description. This has two purposes:

• Pinners instantly see what the board is about
and can decide if they want to follow.
• It will become much easier for Pinterest to
decide who might be interested in the pins from
this board and to whom to show the pins.

28. Keywords in Pin Descriptions

You have to make it clear what your pin is
about – not only to pinners but also to the
Pinterest smart feed algorithm.
Optimization

Keywords are important for that. You need to

use the most important keywords for your pin
and the related content in the pin description.
You are allowed to use 500 characters in your
pin description, that is quite a lot of room for
a couple of keywords.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Optimization
29. How to find the best Keywords
There are several useful ways to get ideas for
keywords related to the keyword that initially
comes to your mind:
• You can use Google search and the related
searches at the bottom of the results page
Optimization

• You can use the Pinterest search and check the

words that are use on Pinterest in relation to
your keyword
• You can use a tool like Serpstat to search for
related keywords. This will also give you an
idea how many people search for this keyword.

30. Hashtags on Pinterest

In the past, hashtags did not play such an
important role on Pinterest. There have been
a number of Pinterest influencers who claimed
since Pinterest is a search engine and not a
social network, hashtags should not be used
at all.
That changed.
Since October 2017, Pinterest officially not
Optimization

only allows hashtags, but also uses them to

decide whether they show a pin or not.
When you pin a pin, you should add some
hastags to the description. Up to 4 hashtags
will show in the description below the pin in
the feed.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Optimization
31. More Pins
You have to pin a lot! And you have to stay
active – not just pin hundreds of pins at a
time and then go silent for weeks.
You have to keep your account active.
Between 30 and 100 pins per day have
Optimization

proven to be a great number for Pinners to

drive traffic.
Even if you pin a lot, make sure that you pin
on topic – no pinning of unrelated content.
Do not go overboard. Too many pins per day
can well be regarded as spam.

32. Automation
Sinc you have to pin a lot and keep your
account active throughout the day and week,
automation looks like a great choice.
There are several tools, which allow you to
automate a lot of your pinning.
You can either set up a schedule and fill up
your pin queue in advance. The tool will then
Optimization

send your pins at the set times (Tailwind).

Or you can choose any number of pins and
put them in a loop. The tool (Tailwind) will
then take one pin at a scheduled time from
this „loop“ and pin to the specified board.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Optimize your Activity
33. Automation vs. Manual Pinning
Some pinning is hard to automate. While
some tools try to automate the pinning of pins
that are not your own, but still related to your
topics, this will never assure the same quality
of pins that manual pinning can achieve.
Also, Pinterest is not stupid. If you go fully
automated on your Pinterst profile, Pinterest
is going to notice and rate your account
accordingly.
Optimization

Manual pinning is rewarded. Automated

pinning gives you back your time for other
blogging tasks.
A combination of automated and manual
pinning is often the best way to go.

34. Quality of pins

Never pin spammy pins.
Make sure that the pins you pin do still link to
the content they were created for – some
spammy pinners hijack good pins and reset th
link to their own page. That is spam.
Optimization

Never pin pins with broken links.

Rather pin pins with readable text and nice
images that link to awesome content you
trust.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Optimize your Activity
35. Stolen Pins
A stolen pin is a pin that you created but
someone else relocated the link from the pin
to their own website.
These pins will no longer provide you with
traffic.
Stolen pins are content theft. They violate
Pinterest’s terms of service.
You can and should report these pins and
have Pinterest take them down.

You can identify stolen pins by hovering with

your mouse over a pin. You will see the
connected link at the bottom of the pin.
Your pins should show your blog or website
URL.
To make your claim of pin ownership easier
you should brand your pins with a logo, URL
or your name.
Optimization

Make sure that you do not repin any of your

pins that are no longer linking to your own
website.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 36. Your Daily Pinterest Routine
Create Pins
Whenever you have a new post: create a pin
for it.
If you have the feeling that one of your
articles does not get the attention from
Pinterest it deserves, create a new pin, try a
new text and image.

Use Keywords
Research and use the most importatn
keywords in your pin descriptions and the
board descriptions
Use some relevant hashtags for each pin

Pin
Set up a daily pinning routine, either with a
tool or manually.
Make sure that you
- pin to each of your boards
- pin a variety of pins but keep pinning the
pins that run well on Pinterest
- check your feed and pin your pins that
show up there
Your Process

- check your follower feed and pin

interesting pin from there
- check your notifications – repin some of
your pins that others have pinned
Keep pinning.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Watch your analytics
37. Pinterest Analytics
Pinterest Analytics shows you what happens
with your pins ON Pinterest.
You can see how many people see the pins,
how many save them and how many click on
the links.
Analytics

If you connect your website to Pinterest, you

can also see how pins from your website
perform on Pinterest – not only on your own
account.

38. Google Analytics

Check the traffic from Pinterest – you want to
see it grow.
Find out which of your blog posts get the most
Analytics

traffic from Pinterest.

You can also find out which exact pin drives
traffic to your blog.
analytics.google.com

39. Analytics of your Scheduling Tool

Most scheduling tools give your their own
analytics, for instance:
• The pins with the most repins and clicks
Analytics

• The performance of your Pinterest boards: how

many repins per pin do they get
• How many new followers does your account get

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Useful Tools
40. Tailwind
www.tailwind.com
Tailwind is a Pinterest scheduling tool that
comes with a lot of analytics and some
additional features.
You can set a schedule and pre-fill the
Tools

schedule with pins. Tailwind will send the pins

to your boards according to your schedule.

41. TrafficWonker
www.trafficwonker.com
A Pinterest automation tool that will not only
schedule your pins but also read the statistics
to figure out which pins get repins and clicks
from Pinterest.
TrafficWonker will automatically adjust the
Tools

schedule and choose the best performing pins

to keep pinning them.

42. PinPinterest
www.pinpinterest.com
PinPinterest is much more than a scheduler.
It can help you follow and unfollow Pinterest
accounts from your niche, invite people to
Tools

your group boards – and pin for you.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Useful Tools
43. Canva
www.Canva.com
Canva is one of the easiest tools to create
beautiful pinnable images.
You can upload photos and add elements and
text according to your needs.
Tools

Canva allows you to create images in almost

any possible dimension.

44. Spark
spark.adobe.com
Spark is another insanely easy to use tool to
create images that you can use on Pinterest.
Tools

45. Serpstat
www.serpstat.com
Serpstat can help you with your keyword
resarch.
If you already have a keyword idea, you can
use Serpstat to find related keywords.
Serpstat will also provide you with numbers on
Tools

how often this keyword is used and how

competitive the keyword is.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest
 Useful Tools
46. PinGroupie
www.pingroupie.com
PinGroupie is a tools that will help you to find
the best Pinteret group boards for a given
topic.
You will get numbers like followers, repins per
Tools

pin and activity to help you choose group

boards that are active and will give you
results.

Step-by-Step Guide
To Pinterest


Pinterest has immense power to

drive highly targeted traffic to
your blog or website.

But Pinterest marketing is not one-

size-fits-all.
You have a ton of options and
variables, and in the end you have to
simply try them out and put together
the perfect Pinterst strategy for your
blog and content.

By The Social Ms
Jonathan Gebauer + Susanna Gebauer