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How Pinterest Brought Me Over 100,000 Pageviews in the Last 3 Months

Pinterest is an online visual site where you can “pin” pictures (and videos) while following other folks and re-pinning their stuff. I joined at the end of 2011 and quickly became addicted to it. I e’em wrote a blogpost in January 2012 on how I’m obsessed with Pinterest and board creating. Back then, I only had 12 boards. That number has ballooned to 30. I got issues.

Besides the fact that it’s great for ideas and inspiration and dope recipes and stuff, Pinterest is also an amazing traffic source for websites. Last year, Pinterest actually drove more traffic to sites than Twitter and Bing, according to Sprout Social. That is no small feat at all.

And for me, I’ve seen that power first-hand. In the last 3 months, Pinterest has brought me over 100,000 pageviews. My Google Analytics told me that and you can see the screenshot below:

Pinterest Referrers

WHOA! Pinterest brought me more traffic than Facebook and Twitter (which are a close 4 and 5)! I saw that number and I was a believer. Yes ma’am!

Now, I wanna tell ya how I used Pinterest to do that.

1. Created a board called AwesomelyLuvvie.com: My Blog

A board on Pinterest is a way to categorize different pictures (pins). For example, some of my boards are: Red Velvet Love, My Style, Inspiring Reminders, Places to Go, My Shoe Game. In December, I created one called AwesomelyLuvvie.com: My Blog just for me to pin pictures from my posts.

Awesomely Luvvie Pinterest Board

The great thing about Pinterest is that if you pin a picture directly from a website, when people click it, they’re taken to the site. THAT convenience makes Pinterest awesome for traffic because when people see a pic, if they find it interesting enough or want to learn more, that single click is all they need to do.

This board has been great because I have been pinning at least one picture from each of my blogposts since December on it. And if the picture is interesting enough, people will re-pin, which means it appears on THEIR boards. Which means it’s more places for others to find it and higher chance of them clicking. And oh they’ve clicked! A LOT.

Most of my posts have more than one picture, so I pick the one that I think represents what I’m talking about best. Sometimes, I’ll pin more than one picture, but make sure the caption is different.

2. Included a “Pin it” button on my posts

One thing that has made it very easy for the pictures within my posts to be pinned is the “Pin” button that appears at the top of all my blog posts. It allows anyone who reads my blog to pin any image from any post with one click of a button.

On my 50 Dumbest Tweets of 2012 (Part 1) post, you can see that pics from it have been pinned over 9,000 times. NINE THOUSAND!

Pin It Button

Make it easy for people to spread your work and definitely add share buttons to the top (and/or bottom) of your posts.

3. Created custom graphics for my posts

Pinterest is ALL visuals so you need to say a lot with the images you pin. When people realize that the picture will link to something useful, they are more likely to re-pin it and click. Beyond just using a picture, text can come in really handy too.

I started creating custom graphics for my posts, with the title of the post, and pinning those graphics to my boards. Or sometimes, I’d place the title of a post ON the picture I want to pin.

Examples:

RickRossSlippingMolly

and

Know Your Blog Rights

These images also include my URL for optimum branding.

4. Pin old posts’ pictures

Related to this, another thing that has helped Pinterest send me traffic is that I’ve been going back to some of my older posts and creating graphics OR pinning the pics there. It’s easy for our archived entries to be buried but some of our past posts are GOLD. Take the opportunity to re-introduce them to people.

I created a graphic for my Skinny Girl Problems are Real post, which was really well-received when I first wrote it two years ago. Why NOT dust it off?

Skinny Girl Problems

This was repinned 17 times and it sent me IMMEDIATE traffic! So go back to some of your old posts and pin them!

5. Verified my site

Pinterest started offering the chance for people to verify their sites so your site’s URL can show up on your profile page. If you don’t have a verified site, your website link is just a globe. Once you go the extra step, your full link shows up with a checkmark next to it.

Luvvie Pinterest

BOOM! Great for reminding folks where to find you online AND for SEO. Plus, it also comes up in search results on Pinterest.

But the biggest PRO in getting your site verified is that you start getting analytics from Pinterest itself. They have a built-in tool now that will tell you what your most repinned and most clicked links are. It’ll also show you how traffic to your site from Pinterest has changed over time. It’s the bee’s knees.

How to verify your site in Pinterest

* Click that pencil on the bottom right, under your bio in your profile. If you don’t see the pencil, then upper right hand corner, click “settings.”

* In the field that says “website” enter your site’s URL and then hit the “verify site” button.

It will give you the option of uploading an html file to your site’s root folder or including a meta tag in your header page.

Choice 1: For those of you who know what an FTP is, and have access to your site via FTP, upload the file it gives you to the root (same place where wp-admin, wp-content is).

Choice 2: Add the meta tag to your header.php file in WordPress. Go in your dashboard. Appearance —> Editor —> Header.php (on the right hand side). When you get here, paste the tag anywhere after the code that is <head> or <head profile>.

Press “save”. And go back to Pinterest and hit “verify.” Once it detects the code or the file (or tag), you’re good to go!

For those of you who are like “I don’t know what you just said” then ask someone who is more tech-savvy to do it for you. You can also check out The Blog Maven’s post on “How to Verify Your Blog on Pinterest.” And if you’re using Blogger, then A Royal Daughter gives a great “how to.”

But before you do any of this, make sure you BACK UP your site, in case something goes awry in the process.

Antywho, these 5 things definitely helped me start winning at the Pinterest game. Give it a try! And if you liked this post, please feel free to PIN the picture below so other people can see it too. Just scroll back to the top and hit that “pin” button.

Pinterest_Pageviews

OR

5PinterestTips

Catch me at Pinterest.com/luvvieig and get addicted with me!

Pinterest is a great place for retailers, folks who sell products, and bloggers to be. Fashion bloggers have a FIELD day on there because cute outfit pics get repinned like crazy. There’s space for everyone, really. I just think that a lot of these social media platforms can really be used strategically beyond the loitering. So yeah. Getchu a piece!

Are you on Pinterest? If so, have you found some success on there? Tell a homie. And if you liked this post, please put a “SHARE” on it! 😀

P.S. Next week Tuesday, I’m teaching a webinar (online class) on Social Media Marketing: Getting Blog Traffic Through Twitter and Facebook. Getchu a piece if you’re interested in learning how to build your readership using these two top social mediums.

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26 Comments

  1. May 13, 2013 at 12:19 am

    You are friggin’ awesome! Thank you for this wonderful article. I knew Pinterest was good for something…I just didn’t know what.

    • May 13, 2013 at 9:50 am

      “If you don’t know, now you know!” 😀

  2. May 13, 2013 at 12:22 am

    This is an awesome post. Thanks for the info Luvvie and I will def. start working on some of these this week.

    • May 13, 2013 at 9:50 am

      You’re welcome!

  3. May 13, 2013 at 3:00 am

    I can co~sign from a smaller scale. I took the advice of a blog friend & pinned A post last month and Pinterest immediately jumped to a top referral in 2 days. I was hooked as well.

    • May 13, 2013 at 9:50 am

      True story. Results can be pretty immediate sometimes.

  4. May 13, 2013 at 8:24 am

    Thank you Luvvie, my blog couch! I did it! I created a board for my blog and added the meta tag (scary) to my header and it seems to be working. Fingers crossed that I didn’t mess it up too much.

    • May 13, 2013 at 9:51 am

      Yayyy for verification!

  5. SanTara
    May 13, 2013 at 9:11 am

    Yes, Yes and Yes to this entire post. Pinterest marketing is so real and very profitable to all who are willing to understand and implement. Great post!!

    • May 13, 2013 at 9:51 am

      True tea, SanTara!

  6. May 13, 2013 at 10:32 am

    you’re a Goddess for posting this and I’m taking all advice immedjiantly. (yes, i said immedjiantly!)

    xoxo

    • May 13, 2013 at 11:43 am

      *curtsies*

  7. Landra
    May 13, 2013 at 10:47 am

    this is fantastic post! Quick question, what Pinterest share button do you recommend for WordPress.org users?

    • May 13, 2013 at 11:43 am

      I use a plugin called Twitter Facebook Social Share.

  8. Kisha
    May 13, 2013 at 11:12 am

    Great Article, Luvvie. I have forwarded this email to about 10 people already! I love lurking around your site. YOu are funny, insightful, and awesome. Keep up the good work.

    Oh, and may you PLEASE write a recap for LAHHA…I know you were busy and everything, but your recaps give me LIFE. THEEENKS

    • May 13, 2013 at 11:43 am

      Thanks, Kisha! And my recap for LHHATL will come tomorrow! 😀

  9. May 13, 2013 at 1:42 pm

    Thx Luvvie. I use Pinterest – A LOT!!! Hadn’t even gotten my blog verified or anything…great tips. I’m subscribed to you…follow you like a lurker on Fb…now I’m going to link up w/you on Pinterert YOu’re awesome…wait you know that!lol!

  10. May 13, 2013 at 2:21 pm

    Wow, Luvvie, This is one of the MOST useful posts I have read this year. So. so. awesome!

  11. May 13, 2013 at 10:23 pm

    My website is now verified on Pinterest! Thank you so much!!!

  12. May 15, 2013 at 9:05 am

    Off to pin some old posts. Thanks!

  13. May 16, 2013 at 11:34 am

    Thank you so much for this! I’ve been trying to figure out how to verify my site on Pinterest for months and couldn’t quite get it until I read your post.

    Pinned your image, and thanks again!

  14. Britane
    May 18, 2013 at 6:12 pm

    Your article was very helpful! I joined Pinterest, made a board for some of my articles, pinned them and the two articles I wrote this week has been getting views everyday since they were published. Thanks!

  15. November 21, 2013 at 10:45 pm

    Thank you so much for this. I have been trying to come up with a plan to use Pinterest for a while and this is perfect. Thanks again and be blessed!

  16. March 7, 2014 at 8:51 am

    Thankyou so much for such a amazing article, post….I just cant get the hang of pinterest!! but now I think I should, I really need to for that extra traffic.. Thanks again girly <3

  17. April 23, 2014 at 11:07 am

    I’m having issues! I recently moved from a WP to a website, and I’m connecting to Pinterest, but the graphics come us as the photos I have on my IG? I’m so confused! lol

  18. October 1, 2014 at 6:53 pm

    Great tips! I just verified my pinterest. I am learning that pinterest is like… the ish! I hope that I have the same success you did. Thanks for posting.