Since I have switched over to wordpress I have installed the google analytics plugin as well as Jetpack. I can pretty much track every single page click in and out of my site. I can see which bloggers and sites refer the most. About half my traffic comes from Pinterest. Not Facebook or twitter but Pinterest. Out of all my traffic from Pinterest I have numerous blog posts that have been repined the most. I started to investigate these top pins to see what the success behind them was and to hopefully share this knowledge with you. How to increase your blog traffic with Pinterest.
#1 Pin How to Travel to Chicago on a Budget
Original post here and pin here.
#2 Pin How to Look Good in Pictures
Here is the original post and pin here.
#3 Pin Makeup comparison
Here is the original post. I can’t find the original traffic feed pin but recent here.
#4 Trader Joe’s shopping guide
Here is the original post and pin here.
Top Reasons Why These Are Pinned the Most
Travel
People love to get information about cities and destinations they are traveling to. If you have been there, especially if you have gone multiple times, then you are the expert. Treat yourself like that. People want your expertise on the matter. Plus this pin was about affordable travel because who doesn’t like to save some bucks. If you live in a city that a lot of people frequent, then play tourist in your own city and write your expert/insiders opinion about it! That is guaranteed to spark some interest.
How To Pins
I remember this post took me an entire day to write but in the end it was worth it. Once again be the expert. I can’t tell you how many people have told me this was such an eye opening read. I even had one of my fabulous barre instructors said she read it before our professional photo sessions at the studio. Plus it has lots of visuals. People like examples
Comparison Posts
Save vs Splurge. This brand vs this brand. People want to know. This post was just as eye opening for me to write as it was to read. I wanted to compare two similar brands and see who came out on top. I still have daily traffic from google and pinterest from this pin/post.
Name Drop
Everyone loves Trader Joes. I wrote the post because every single time I read a Trader Joes post about their best products I could never find them in the store. I wanted to be as specific as possible……find these chips in the freezer section on the shelf with the dry goods above the frozen chicken burgers. Ahhhhh yahtzee there they are! Now tell me why blue chips are in the freezer section??? This one has been pinned a lot. When in doubt go for that brand recognition.
Make Them Pretty
Everyone loves eye catching pins. I find the brighter the colors or the more standout picture captions are the ones that get uploaded the most. I’m not even talking about the fashion pics which are a top contender…..even those recipes! If you’re going to take the time to upload your step by step recipes, you might as well add a pretty title on one so it’s more readily pinned! My recipe posts like this latest one about roasted siracha chickpeas is climbing steadily on pinterest.
The other takeaway points are to make sure you have eye catching initial pictures that are taller than they are wider. I have been using Canva to make professional looking pictures and recently stumbled on befunky for collages and editing. Both are on heavy rotations! I hope you liked this post and will check out my other blogging essentials like how to make money blogging and how to grow your blog!
What drives the most traffic into your site? Do you use online tools for making eye catching pin worthy pics? Also making sure your pictures can all be easily pinned is helpful! You can pin directly each picture from my blog or at the bottom of every post there is a pin link.
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xoxoxo
These are great tips!! The majority of my traffic comes from pinterest as well. Even though I haven’t pinned anything great in a bit. I still get views on things I’ve linked to my blog in the past. I have so many ideas for fun posts. It has just been difficult lately to find the time! xo
This is an awesome post!! I’m trying to use Pinterest more and more and I can’t wait to put these tips to action!!! xo, Biana – BlovedBoston
Oooooooooooooo! I have a huge Tarte foundation brush!! LOVE IT!!!!!
My comment seriously has nothing to do with your post… hey look! A butterfly……
Did you see what I did there? L O L!!
Love this! Really great tips! I especially like the travel one. I think I’ll have to write a post about brunching in Boston soon :)
Also, I haven’t been here since you switched to wordpress (I’ve been really slacking on the reading). It looks great!!!!
Ha! Just two days ago, Jaelan and I were texting about this exact topic! I’ve recently really tried to focus on Pinterest since I know if can be such a driver for blog traffic. Currently, it’s in my top 10 referring sites, but it’s low on that list and I want to “up” it! Great points about topics, captions and images.
I love Pinterest! We get quite a bit of traffic from there as well and have actually started to put more of our efforts into Pinterest rather than Instagram! These are great tips, I can def see why those are popular pins for you!
Brooke
pumps and push-ups
pinterest is the best! i agree on the travel and tips posts – and how-to’s! isn’t wordpress + jetpack great for seeing all the traffic! i just love it :)
cheshirekatblog.com
Great post! Pinterest is often an afterthought for me but I know I’m way underutilizing so these are some fantastic tips! Thanks for sharing!
Love this, great tips! I am trying to utilize Pinterest more, whenever I feel like my posts are “Pin worthy”! I know I definitely refer to that TJ post of yours a lot when I’m about to make a trip there! :)
Great pointers! Since I’ve been working on my Pinterest strategy, I’ve seen a huge boost in Pinterest traffic, too! And these are many pointers I used. :)
Love this! Thanks for the advice! Have a great day!
Traci
waltzmetoheaven.com
Such a helpful post! I just recently started using Canva, and it’s seriously such a resourceful tool!
So many great tips! Totally agree on making eye catching images… it makes a world of difference!
This is a great tip, I know what I’m going to start doing!
LOL that Trader Joe’s comment had me literally laughing out loud. Yahtzee! I seriously can never find what I’m looking for in Trader Joe’s! Great post girl, I need to pay more attention to my analytics, I hardly ever look at it.
<3, Pamela
Sequins & Sea Breezes
This is awesome, thanks for sharing these tips. I know I need to be better about posting my blog stuff to Pinterest, somehow that always falls to the side!
Super fun and informative post, as usual. I haven’t used pinterest for my site yet, but am intrigued to start. I did have one random pin two years ago that brought MASSIVE traffic to my blog for a month. It was just a friday funny but everyone loved it.
Great post! Thank you for sharing all of this. I just want to make the blog and my Pinterest page prettier.. Hehe. I hope that you are having a great day so far too! :-)
awesome post!! it really is cool to track how your blog grows and what works for pinterest. definitely a huge tool for my blog!
If I am doing a non fashion post, I need to make sure to include a picture that how words over to explain what the post is about! Great tips!
http://www.amemoryofus.com
I have to say – I suck at Pinterest. Facebook is my forte (which is a shame because they show my posts to so few people).
Pinterest has taken blogging to a whole new level honestly. Most of my traffic comes from there and Stumbleupon actually. Great tips my dear!
great tips!! my travel posts are always my most pinned posts… makes me want to book another trip :) xo jillian
I find a lot of these same things to be true for my pins and most popular posts! Although I do have one random, not-so-pretty pin that still drives a lot of traffic to my blog. It was one of my first posts and the photo was an old whiskey bottle that I decanted my husband’s mouthwash into for his bathroom. You never know when you’ll get a random pin that people love.. Haha!
I just checked my analytics the other day & saw a lot of my traffic is coming from Pinterest… & I don’t really pin a lot to Pinterest. It makes me really want to pick it up on that end.
Great tips gurlie! Now I’m missing Chicago and totally wanting to go to Trader Joes after work :)
Awesome pointers! I don’t use Pinterest nearly as much as I should – I need to change that!
Such a great post Amanda! Have you studied what time of day your readers are most active? I always find that interesting!
xo, Jen
http://www.comfortably-chic.com
Love this! I have been really trying to use Pinterest more as well so these tips are great!
<3 Shannon
Upbeat Soles
These are such great tips! I agree that Pinterest is very vital to blog traffic. Now if you excuse me, I have a blog post about Trader Joe’s to read ! Tee hee!
xo, Whitney and Blaire
Peaches In A Pod
Great tips!! I always try to remember to pin my posts more and almost always forget so this is perfect!
These are great tips! I get more than half of my traffic from Pinterest. Using vertical images makes it way more likely to get pinned. And having great photos makes a difference, too. Once I started working on taking better pictures, I started getting way more traffic from my pins.
WordPress is the jam exactly for reasons like this! Pinterest is a huge driver for me too and I really need to get better about pinning my images more!
This reminds me that I need to stop being a slacker and get a pin button for my blog. I have had it on the to do list forever now! I signed up for Canva last month and I still always end up using Picmonkey. I need to sit down and dive in this weekend! Awesome tips :)
such an informative post girl!! i totally agree – i use pinterest the most for all of these things (comparing, travel, etc) so i expect those posts to do the best out of mine – if that makes sense. i also love to look at packing posts and they are some of my most popular and most repinned :) travel are my favourite to find on pinterest though! you are so right about that!
I was at a local blog conference today, and one of the things they talked about was how much Pinterest can drive traffic to your blog. Great tips, love!
Great tips! I’ve definitely been trying to use Pinterest more recently, so I’ll definitely be using this as a reference guide. xo
I’ve never used those programs so I’ll have to be sure to check them out. Picmonkey is one I turn to a lot. A huge game changer for me was pinning to group boards and also using Viralwoot to schedule my pins. Thanks for sharing your tips!