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Pinterest Mistakes Bloggers Make
A note from Amy: Don’t worry, I’m still a Travel Blogger. Lately, I’ve been asked many questions about Pinterest, so I thought I’d start a blogging series. Don’t worry; there are plenty of Hawaii vacation tips still to come!
Are you a blogger who has heard that Pinterest is amazing, but you have no idea what you’re doing? Are you spending a lot of time on Pinterest and seeing little results?
You’re probably making some of these common Pinterest mistakes.
Or, maybe you know that you need to be using Pinterest for your business, but you have no idea where to start.
If you do not see much traffic or growth, here are 7 things you might be doing wrong on Pinterest.
1. Not using keywords in your name
You would think that your name would be the easiest thing to set up on Pinterest, but it’s not. I personally use my real name and then keywords after it.
You can either use your own name or the name of your blog. In my case, they are the same. If you use your blog’s name, make sure to use spaces between words because that is likely how someone would search for it.
One of the biggest mistakes that I see is not using keywords after your name. You have extra characters to let people know what your blog is about; use them!
Don’t forget that you also get a space to tell everyone what your account (or blog) is all about. Use your keywords wisely.
2. Not using keywords in your images or board descriptions
Are you sensing a trend here? Keywords are so important on Pinterest. Remember that above all else, Pinterest is a search platform, and keywords are king. 👑
A few years ago, Pinterest removed keywords from showing up below pins, but they will still show up in search. Make sure you’re paying attention to keywords in your pin descriptions and even on your pins themselves.
If you have a pin like this one, and your pin description is “Pin this, it’s cool. Good information.” That will not help you at all.
Here is a better description:
“If you’re looking for the best snorkeling in Maui, you have to check out Molokini Crater. This is a Molokini Crater snorkeling tour review, so you can find out if it’s worth it to snorkel Molokini Crater. ”
Even though the tone is still conversational, there are three keywords right there.
It would be best if you also were using keywords in your board descriptions. For board descriptions, I don’t worry as much about the conversational tone.
You don’t want board descriptions to sound spammy, but realistically most people don’t read the descriptions anyway.
So why are we using them? Keywords. When you search for a particular topic, Pinterest also recommends boards to follow on that topic.
3. Not creating high-quality pins
It’s important to create vertical pins that are visually appealing. Your images need to be attractive and give the Pinterest user a great idea of what your blog post is all about. Sometimes simpler is better.
Here is an example of a simple pin that is both visually appealing and lets the user know exactly what it’s all about. I also recommend adding your website name or logo to your pin, because unfortunately, pins do get stolen.
Adding your website won’t guarantee that it won’t be stolen, but it will still help deter someone who wants to steal images.
I recommend using your own images or purchasing stock photos from Deposit Photos or Dreamstime. Pinterest likes “original” images, so using the same free stock photos over and over isn’t a good idea.
4. Pinning off-topic pins to group and personal boards
If you are part of a group board with a theme of Hawaii travel, this probably isn’t the place to add your parenting pins (unless they’re about taking your kids to Hawaii.)
The same goes for your own boards. If you get a new dog, but you don’t have any boards about pets, don’t start randomly adding dog-related content when it isn’t relevant.
This is where secret boards come into play. If you need to make a secret “Puppy” board, go ahead and do that, but don’t make it public unless you think it relates to your other content.
Dogs are cute but not necessarily relevant if you have a food blog.
Pinning off-topic images will just hurt you in the end. You want Pinterest to think you’re an expert on whatever topic you blog/pin about, so make sure to keep it consistent.
5. Not engaging on Pinterest
When you pin popular content to your own boards, it can actually increase your own pins’ performance. Pinterest loves when you share popular content.
Your smart feed content is most likely content that Pinterest has deemed high quality, so pin it when it’s relevant! Just don’t forget about #4.
Even if it’s popular, that doesn’t mean you should pin it if it’s highly off-topic.
There are two ways to get to “trending” content. The first is located at the bottom when you click on the search bar. Scroll down a bit until you find “popular on Pinterest.”
The second is simply by pinning things out of your own feed.
6. Not repinning from your group boards
If you’re utilizing group boards, you’re off to a great start. Some bloggers will say that group boards are dead, but many of us are still using them successfully.
Here is the problem, most bloggers add their pins to group boards but don’t repin anything from the board.
This isn’t good. Pinterest wants boards to perform well, which means everyone adding to the board should be actively repinning from the board.
7. Relying only on a scheduler
One of the most common Pinterest mistakes is only using a scheduler. Using a scheduler on Pinterest isn’t necessarily bad, but relying only on a scheduler to share content is a bad idea.
Most of us are too busy to devote hours to Pinterest alone; I get it. You can use Tailwind to schedule the majority of your content.
If you do this, try to take a few minutes a few times a week to “live pin” relevant content. This content should be both your own and others. This is a great time to share content from those group boards you’re part of.
Common Pinterest Mistakes
Are you making any of these common Pinterest mistakes? The good news is, even if you’re doing things wrong on Pinterest, it’s a pretty easy fix. SEO, on the other hand, is another beast entirely.
If you’re interested in learning SEO. I highly recommend the Stupid Simple SEO course. I thought I knew SEO “pretty well” before taking it, but I have learned so much since I started.
Even if you don’t want to spend any money on SEO right now, there is a free webinar with a lot of great information!
I hope that you enjoyed this post about the common Pinterest mistakes bloggers make. If you have any questions or insight, I’d love for you to share in the comments.
Make sure to check out more of my blogging and work from home content:
If you’d like to check out some of my most popular Hawaii travel tips, you can do that here:
- Is Hawaii safe?
- 20 things you should never do in Hawaii
- The 7 Best Things to do on the Big Island
- What is the best luau in Hawaii?
- The 10 best honeymoon hotels in Maui
- 7-day Kauai Itinerary
- 10 best things to do in Waikiki
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