After almost a year of learning the ins and outs of Pinterest, I am ready to share some insight. I have started to spot mistakes made by users, bloggers, and content creators alike. I have this curse where I tend to apply the skills learnt and notice how even people who claim to have cracked down the algorithm of Pinterest make. In this post, I will try to help you avoid common Pinterest newbie mistakes; I see made all the time!
To be clear, I don’t claim to have magically figured things out on my own. I did several courses and used existing knowledge from other skills I have.
It should also be noted that Pinterest is evolving day by day and it is slowly becoming a major competitor for Google, so if you are interested in growing your audience and bringing more awareness to your brand then Pinterest is the place to be. It is in your best interest to get on Pinterest and know how to use it; while avoiding some common newbie mistakes.
Here are a few questions to consider. They will for sure help you avoid some common Pinterest newbie mistakes!
#1 Is your account a Business one?
Some people already have a Pinterest account and have been using it for a while before deciding to create content and use it as a marketing tool. This means that you are now a business owner so you have to convert your Pinterest account to a business one.
Head over here to convert your existing account or create a new one. Or you can do it directly from the settings menu.
SETTINGS👉🏻ACCOUNT SETTINGS👉🏻ACCOUNT CHANGES👉🏻 CONVERT TO BUSINESS ACCOUNT
Why do I need a Business account?
There are a few reasons why having a Pinterest Business account is important.
- access to all profile analytics (overview, audience insights, trends, and more)
- track impressions, clicks, saves, etc. (each month)
- track Pins performance
- add Pin-it button to your site
- create rich Pins
- advertise on Pinterest
If this info doesn’t really mean anything to you, it is Ok. I was in your shoes once, it will make sense after you get to play around and learn how to use Pinterest.
Long story short, having access to such info and tools will help you analyze your profile, audience and best performing Pins. It is basically Pinterest SEO, as I mentioned before Pinterest is becoming a major competitor for Google. Therefore, it is getting even more important to use SEO in Pinterest as well.
#2 Have you claimed your site?
If you are using Pinterest to drive traffic or build brand awareness; you HAVE to claim your site which will allow you to create rich pins. You should find this in …..
SETTINGS 👉🏻 CLAIM👉🏻 CLAIM YOUR WEBSITE.
Please, do yourself a favor and claim any other social media accounts (Instagram, Etsy, YouTube) you may have as well.
What is a rich Pin?
These Pins would sync the info from your site and display it above and below the image. Even if you change something on the site this will be automatically updated and reflected on the Pin. Magic 😊
#3 Have you optimized your display name?
Since Pinterest is a search engine people will use keywords to look out for content. It is strategic to add some keywords in your name and description. Once you are active on Pinterest and have content related to those keywords the result will appear easily. Pinterest will start suggesting you to people who are searching for those words.
#4 Are ALL your Pins with description?
This is a huge mistake, all the time you have spent creating the Pin will be wasted. If you do not optimize or even leave the description box empty you are missing on TONS of traffic. The Pinterest algorithm is a machine, visuals don’t play a role to the algorithm, words do! DO NOT leave the description box of the Pin empty.
Here you can check some more info on rich Pins.
#5 Do you use Hashtags?
There is plenty of controversy on how many hashtags you should use. Some people suggest 3, some 10, the choice is yours, but please use some relevant hashtags to your Pin description. People looking for these words will have more chances of coming across your beautiful Pins. Win-win for both parties.
I like to research my hashtags before using them. This way I make sure I am utilizing them correctly and not just put whatever comes to mind.
#6 Are your Pins protected?
It is very easy to steal Pins on Pinterest and many people have complained. One way to avoid this is to watermark the Pin or simply have your site written somewhere on the Pin. I do this in Canva while creating my Pin. By the way If you haven’t used Canva you are missing out on numerous templates, ideas, inspiration which will make your life much easier when creating anything visual.
If you are worried on how to use Canva, don’t worry they have their own Design school where you can learn anything connected to using Canva for beginners.
#7 Did you check for Spelling mistakes before publishing?
I have stopped counting the times where spelling mistakes were so disturbing. Let’s be real if you want people to take you seriously; small details matter. Let alone spelling mistakes, come on you can do better! We all do typos, me and you included, we are all human. What works for me, is to have a second set of eyes to look at it before posting.
#8 Are your Boards branded?
This part seems silly but bare with me on this one. If you make your boards branded then the overall look of your profile is much more professional. Therefore, more people follow you and you get more exposure. I do this by creating a branded Pin and setting it as a board cover. All the boards that contain my Pins have a branded Pin. This will make Pinterest show that specific Pin first on the board.
Check out my branded boards and feel free to follow me as well.
#9 Are your Pins high quality?
This is a very common one, you have to remember that Pinterest is a visual platform like Instagram. If your Pin is not a high quality one then you have very few chances of getting any engagement.
#10 Do you implement a strategy?
As with everything out there doing things in more detail will for sure bring you more results. Having a strategy when using Pinterest as a marketing tool should be a must.
I would like to mention that no 2 strategies work the same, every niche and account is different so what works for a food blogger to bring traffic to their site, might not work the same for a small business selling handmade jewelry for example.
By all means, play around and see what brings you the most traffic. Analyze your analytics this will help you come up with a strategy. You might discover that publishing Pins at a specific time is ideal for you. Use this as a strategy!
To conclude on the common Pinterest newbie mistakes.
As I mentioned above, Pinterest is a powerful tool that is slowly become a search engine. This makes it not only worth your attention but also meant that Pinterest SEO strategies must be in place for the best result.
Just like you want to rank on Google you should want to rank on Pinterest as well. This automatically means that there are many details to take into consideration! The tips above are important for newbies but there are for sure many more details that go into Pinterest SEO. Having your account SET UP correctly and knowing how to utilize the Pins are the first steps to success.
A word of advice!
Many times I see people trust the so-called “Pinterest gurus” to the tee and many times results do not appear right away. This is logical because as I mentioned Pinterest is an algorithm which makes it very hard to predict what will work, go viral and etc. So, please do not trust anyone who tells you they can guarantee you an X # of sales or visits, no one has this power.
What will eventually bring you results is consistency, do not give up on Pinterest it will take awhile but it will be worth it in the long run.
If all this info is too confusing or you do not have the time to apply these tips yourself, why don’t you outsource it to a Pinterest Account Manager. I will be happy to help you out, feel free to explore our website here and book a FREE Consultation call.
If you are looking into online learning platforms then check this post!
Like this post? Share it on social media with your friends!
Feel free to browse around the blog!
