Personal finance writers should look to Pinterest as a powerful way to get more traffic, according to one blogger who has had phenomenal success with the platform. Pinterest, said Ruth Soukup of LivingWellSpendingLess.com, is more than a place for crafts, recipes and wedding ideas.
“Pinterest is probably the best and fastest way for bloggers in our generation to build our platform,” she said. “People are going to Pinterest to find things to read. If you are a content creator, you need to be there.”
She started an active Pinterest strategy for her content and went from 100,000 page views in February 2013 to 1 million in May 2013.
She writes about everything from money tips to DIY projects to her favorite recipes. Her “pins” about money always are the best performers, she said.
She was a guest speaker at FinCon, a financial blogger conference, which was held Sept. 17-20 in New Orleans. She offered the following advice to bloggers for Pinterest:
PINTEREST: CREATE GOOD PINS
- Your pin needs to link to good content. The content needs to be high quality. If it is, your Pinterest followers will trust you more.
- You pin needs to solve a problem and solve it now. Examples: “How to pay off your mortgage in 5 years,” “how to save 1,000 in 6 months.” Make readers want to read your content right now.
- You need an eye-catching graphic for your pin. If you don’t take amazing photos, buy a stock image. Vertical photos do better. Light and bright photos perform well.
- Overlay text on your photos. Think of the graphics like book covers. Colored flags under the text work well too. See this example.
- For your text colors, warm colors and reds do better.
- All of your pins need to have a compelling description. Be conversational. Let people know what problem you are solving. Example: “Want to save money and pay off debt but aren’t sure where to start? Don’t miss these 10 super smart ways to start building an emergency fund fast, plus a ton of awesome tips and ideas from LWSL readers!”
IMPROVE YOUR PINTEREST PRESENCE
- Spruce up your Pinterest homepage. Add a good headshot with good lighting that makes people want to be friends with you. Pinterest is a friendly place.
- Write a good bio. Let people know what you are all about and what your website is all about.
- Have at least 20 to 25 boards with at least 20 pins on each board. Make niche boards. Don’t have a “financial advice” board. Instead, segment that board into “saving for retirement,” “coupon advice,” “money-saving tips for the grocery store,” etc. Be specific because it will help you with Pinterest’s search results.
- Create a board for your content. Soukup’s has the “Best of LWSL” board.
- Pay attention to your board covers. Make sure they show what the board is about and are free of text.
- Organize your board so related topics are grouped together. It’s OK if you are a financial blogger and you want to have recipe, craft and decor boards. People want to see your personality.
- Write descriptions for each of your boards and use keywords. Pinterest does well in Google search results and that can lead to more people finding your blog. Pinterest doesn’t store any content. It directs users to content on other sites.
- When you pin items, make sure they are pinned to the correct board.
EMPLOY A STRATEGIC PINNING PLAN
- Pins scroll on Pinterest. They aren’t weighted like items on Facebook’s news feed.
- Collaborative boards help more people see your pins. Collaborative boards are group boards you join and are allowed to pin your content to.
- You only want to pin your content to collaborative boards. Your own boards can be a mix of your content and other content you find worth sharing.
- When you pin to a collaborative board, it won’t spam your followers because the pin goes to that board’s followers. Two different audiences.
- Join as many collaborative boards as possible. See if you currently have any invites by checking your account alerts on Pinterest. You can find other collaborative boards by going to Facebook and searching for “pinterest collaborative boards” and by going to PinGroupie.com.
- Pin your great content to multiple boards on a regular schedule. Soukup has a schedule she uses to rotate the pins around. But, she said, she winds up pinning top posts thousands of time. Her team now does 75 to 100 pins per day. The pinning is done three times a day, 7 days a week.
For more Pinterest advice, check out Soukup’s new project, Elite Blog Academy.
Carlie Kollath Wells is a reporter in New Orleans. Contact her at carliekollath@gmail.com.
