Pinterest is huge and growing like crazy. If you've spent any time on there, you understand the draw. It's like the most gigantic image candy store you can imagine.
There are a bunch of tips flyin' around about Pinterest. I thought I would try to put as many as I could all down in one place.
OK, here's what we'll cover:
- Pinterest Basics
- How to Use Pinterest to Drive Traffic
- How to Add the "Pin It" Button to Posts
- Pinterest Copyright Issues
- Further Reading
Pinterest Basics
- What is Pinterest? It's a place to bookmark images and videos you love from around the web. In Pinterest terms, these bookmarks are called "pins." Your "pins" (think, pinning things to a virtual bulletin board) are visible to other Pinterest users and you can see the boards of others as well.
- How does Pinterest work? Here's the basic process: (1) Surf the internet. (2) See an image/video you like. (3) "Pin" that image/video to one of your Pinterest boards to keep track of it and to share it with others.
- How do I get on Pinterest? Go to Pinterest.com. You can request an invite by clicking the red button, or, you can ask someone that is already on Pinterest for an invite.
- Add the "Pin It" Button to your bookmarks bar. It's easy to install. Go to the goodies page on Pinterestand drag the button into your bookmarks bar (it's right at the top of the page in the blue box). Once it's installed, whenever you come across something great to pin, simply click the "Pin It" button in your bookmarks bar and you're set.
- Use the "Pin It" bookmarklet. Basically, if you see an image you want to pin, you simply click the bookmarklet in your bookmarks bar for quick posting. Like this:
- Use keywords in your descriptions. A lot of people leave inane descriptions ("Cute!") on their pins. I'm guilty too. However, keyword-rich descriptions will help get pins and boards found more easily via search. Great for all of us!
- Write your own summary description. Don't copy and paste the whole post, the whole recipe or all the instructions from the original post directly in your pin. Not only does it clutter the images with unnecessary text (see my pinterest pet peeves post), it's not good Pinterest manners. Plus, posts are copyrighted so pasting them in their entirety is copyright infringement (more on copyright below).
- Edit your pins. If you need to edit a pin, hover over it and click on the "Edit" button that appears. If you need to find the pin first, hover over your name in the top right of your screen, click on the "Pins" link in the dropdown menu. This will show you all your pins listed by the most recent. If it's an older pin, click on the "Boards" link while hovering over your name and then you can find your pin by topic.
- Pin from the individual post, not the home page. Again, this is another one of my pinterest pet peeves. When you're pinning, make sure you are pinning from the individual post, not the home page. (To get to the individual post, click on the post title. If you can see comments at the bottom, it's a sign you're on the individual post.) There's nothing more frustrating than clicking through a pin, only to realize the post with that image has long been pushed off the home page.
- Be kind and play by the rules. Know and understand the friendly guidelines Pinterest has put in place for its site. They created the site for us which we use for free. It's good to follow the rules.
- Tag people in pins. Simply add the "@" sign to your descriptions to tag someone so they know you were talkin' about them.
- Add a price tag to a pin. You can do this easily by adding a "$" or a "£" in your description. This works well, let's say, if you are pinning from an Etsy shop or something similar.
- Space out your pins instead of flooding the stream. If you're pinning a lot of stuff at once, you can overwhelm your followers. For example, if you're researching black shoes and spend an hour pinning a gazillion pairs of black shoes to your "Rockin' Black Shoes" board, anyone who follows you will just see a sea of black shoes in their stream. (I'm guilty of flooding the stream.) Instead, spread it out a bit.
- Set a timer. If you find yourself squandering your time on Pinterest (um, hello!), why not set a timer? Allow yourself a set number of minutes to browse and when the timer dings, you're off to something else. This might also help with flooding the stream (above).
- Organize your boards well. If your boards are clean and organized, you'll get more followers than if everything is hodge podge and there's no rhyme or reason to your pinning. Vague board titles aren't so helpful either.
- Take the extra time to see if a pin is a good one. Have you ever clicked through a pin only to discover that it leads nowhere? Frustrating, isn't it? So, before you repin, make sure you check it out first. We gotta work together to weed out the dud pins. Speaking of dud pins…
- Use "Like" as a pending place. This was a great tip from M on my Pet Peeves post. She says, "Sometimes when I don't have time to 'investigate' a pin to see if it is a good one, I'll just 'Like' it. Then I can go back to my likes when I have time and look into them a little further." Great idea!
- Follow individual boards to cut out the noise. One of the nice things about Pinterest is that you can follow individual boards. You don't have to follow a person and therefore, all of their boards (although you can do that too). So, maybe you want to follow my "handy tips" board but you don't want to follow my "easy peasy crafts" board. To subscribe to individual boards, simply click on the name of any Pinterest user and you'll see all their boards. If you follow the person, you'll follow all their boards. Otherwise, just pick and choose the boards you want.
- Find people and boards to follow by reverse rabbit trailing. That is, when you see a pin or a board you like, click on the person it came from. Or click on the original source. I've found a lot of good boards to follow that way.
- Hop on the "Everthing" page every once in a while. When you log into Pinterest, you'll only see the boards you're following. To find some new boards to follow, click on the Everything link at the top of your screen to find new people. Or search by category.
- Categorize your pins. This will make your pins more easily found and will potentially result in more people following you.
- Don't just be a repinner. Be a pioneer pinner. In other words, don't just repin what others have already pinned. Always be on the lookout for new pins that no one else has found. If you're like me, you see a lot of the same pins come through. I pay attention, though, when I see something fresh and new. I'm much more likely to follow that person too.
- Don't forget the iPhone app to use Pinterest on the go. Find them on the goodies page or in the app store.
- Personalize a board for your kids. You might consider making a board especially for your kids so when you're out and about and you need to kill some time, they can look at the things you've found especially for them. Supervise of course!
- Automatically populate a pin description. If you're on a site and you want to pin something, you can highlight a portion of text before clicking the "Pin It" bookmarklet. The text you highlight will automatically populate your description. I like to add quotation marks when I quote directly and only do a small snippet. You always want people to be directed back to the original site for the main content.
- Note the 500 character limit on your descriptions. Yay! That takes care of one of my pinterest pet peeves.
How to Use Pinterest to Drive Traffic
This is a sidenote to everyone here (not just computer types) and I'm talking about traffic. Online traffic, that is, not the driving kind of course.
Can I make a suggestion?
If you don't yet have your own little space online (like a blog or website), I highly encourage you to get one. Everyone. Why? Because as things become more and more digital, this will be one of the primary ways we connect. Think of it as one place that you can call "home" online from which you can organize and centralize all your other online activities.
Whether you use it for your small business (to expand your reach), your resume (much more sophisticated than paper), your portfolio (artists, photographers, designers), your website will become invaluable and I think, quite common (just like an email address has become so in the last 15 years).
Don't worry, getting a website is easier and cheaper than you think. I'm telling you, jump in now. I show you exactly how to set up your own blog or website here.
OK, on with the tips…
How does Pinterest benefit us? Assuming people use it as it's intended, your images can be pinned and anyone who clicks on them will be taken to your site.
- Pin your own stuff. There's been discussion about whether or not one should pin their own stuff, but why not? I mean, how is it any different than pinning your own stuff on Facebook or Twitter? And the Pin Etiquette indicates it's okay to do so (see #3) in moderation. Having said that…
- Don't only pin your own stuff. Pin your own stuff, yes, but pin others' stuff a lot more. Pick a ratio. Like, for every one pin of your own, pin ten that aren't.
- If you come across an image that's yours but doesn't link back to your site…Contact the Pinterest user who pinned your image and ask them kindly to edit the pin. Be friendly and offer a link to the pin to make it easier for them.
- Consider creating a board for your own stuff. If you do pin your own stuff, it might be nice to organize them on a "My Stuff" board or otherwise indicate that they are your own.
- Include your Pinterest follower counts in your media kit and business cards. Just as you would include your Facebook and Twitter follower numbers, your Pinterest numbers provide PR and advertising folks another glance at the influence you have.
- Use Pinterest for topics that don't fit into your blog niche. After blogging a while, a lot of bloggers want to branch out from their main niche. If you are someone with varying tastes, encourage your readers to follow a particular board on Pinterest for "more on that subject."
- Find out what of yours has been pinned. Type this into your browser (replacing "yourdomain.com"): http://pinterest.com/source/yourdomain.com
- Create keyword-rich board titles and board descriptions. Just as you should make your pin descriptions full of relevant keywords for better searching, do the same for your board titles and descriptions (instead of vague or cutesy). To edit your boards, simply click on your name in the top right and then click the "Edit" button underneath the board you want to change.
- Include your domain in your Profile. While it's not possible to add a clickable link in your profile (at this point anyway), you can still include your domain name for reference and association with your site like I did in mine here (follow me while you're there?).
- Link your site to your profile. You can make a clickable icon appear in your profile if you include your web address in your Settings. This will put a globe icon directly underneath your bio. Again, see what I mean here.
- Use images in your posts. I'm not a photographer (plus I'm lazy) so sometimes I post without any images. Of course Pinterest is all about images. Your posts are much more likely to get pinned if there are images in them. Obvious, right? Need images? Here's my tutorial about finding free images to use in your posts.
- Go back through your posts and add or improve images. Now's the time to go back through your old posts and add images if there aren't any already, or upgrade if they could use improvement.
- Don't use Pinterest images to make your posts look pretty. Assume all images are copyrighted. If you see an image you'd like to use on Pinterest, ask the owner for permission. They might just grant it, you'll be making a connection and you won't be violating copyright. (If you don't want to ask for permission, again, you can find images that are free to use in this tutorial.)
- Use text in your images. Back when I wrote the 6-part saga Why I Turned Down a Book Deal (And the Lessons I Learned), I had Joy create a graphic for me, specifically with Pinterest in mind. I wanted to make pinning a lot easier and I realized quickly that the images with text in them are more pin-worthy. (The Nester really broke this concept down quite a bit too.) Here's what Joy came up with and it makes the series clear right from the pin.
- Create your own images with only text. On a related note, if you don't have mad photography skills or you don't want to hire someone to do it for you, you can easily create text-based art like I did in this post (the Pinterest image above) and my posts 4 Tips for New Bloggers, Pinterest Pet Peeves and How to Take a Screenshot. (Check out my How to Make a Blog Button post for an easy way to create images like this.)
- Be particular about your images. If you're like me and don't do the image thing very well, less is more. Some bloggers can include a dozen images in a post and they are spectacular. If I did that, I'd spend about 20 days writing one post. For the rest of us, take the extra time to find really excellent images. You might even consider buying them, which I've done on occasion (at iStockphoto.com).
- Link your Pinterest account to Facebook and Twitter. You can do this in Settings. When logged in, get to "Settings" by hovering over your name in the top right corner and select "Settings" from the dropdown menu. (Dave Taylor wrote a detailed tutorial called How Can I Have Pinterest Updates Appear on Facebook?)
- Use Pinterest to get your creative juices flowing. If you need some post ideas, do a search on Pinterest with relevant key words from your niche. Note which pins have a lot of repins and/or comments. These are hot topics. Find your own unique angle and write on the topics people are already interested in.
- Capitalize on the seasons. If there's one thing people pin, it's seasonal stuff—recipes, crafts, decorating ideas, gift ideas, etc. Use an editorial calendar and plan ahead to write blog posts that coincide with the seasons. Post them early so that they can be pinned and get a little traction before the holiday passes.
- Make your site sticky! If you notice a lot of traffic coming to a particular post from Pinterest, think of ways to optimize that post for Pinterest users. Find ways to make it better and more importantly, get them to stay on your site a while. For example, if they're coming from Pinterest to your Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie recipe, add links to your Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream and Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares too. (Here's more about making your site sticky and optimizing your exit pages.)
- Ask for followers in your sidebar. Blatantly ask others to follow you on Pinterest. You can use the goodies Pinterest provides to create a button to put in your sidebar, like this (will you?):
- Add a button to your feed's footer. I wrote a post about that How to Add Pinterest Follow Buttons to Your Feed.
- Ask for followers in your posts. You can also ask for followers directly in your posts as well. Simply link to your Pinterest page with the following code:
<a href="http://pinterest.com/amylynnandrews/">Follow me on Pinterest!</a>
- Pin a coupon for your product. Got an ebook or other product? Why not pin a coupon, exclusively for Pinterest users?
- Create exclusive boards. Make some boards exclusive to Pinterest followers only, so they'll get content there that they won't get elsewhere. This is good if you are anxious to increase your Pinterest followers.
- Use Pinterest to connect with brands. You'd better believe companies are taking notice of Pinterest. Of course, we, the little people, have an advantage. That advantage? We're small enough that we can dive in and get our hands dirty quick. Big companies, on the other hand are sometimes a little slower to the punch. What about approaching a large company you don't see on there, let them know of the rage that Pinterest is and suggest ideas for the two of you to work together? Be respectful of course, but lead them by the hand and make suggestions from which you can both benefit.
- Create a "Reader Feature" board. Create a board just for your favorite readers. Or if you've done a tutorial, create a board where you highlight those who have used your tutorial and pin what they've created. Spread the love!
- Create a board with others. You can create a board and allow contributors to pin to it as well. This would be great for collaboration projects. To allow contributors Edit your board and select the "Me + Contributors" option. Here's a good example of a shared board from Oh Amanda.
- Connect with others. Don't think of Pinterest just as a fun place to whittle away your days and get lost in your own world. Comment and follow and interact just as you would Facebook or Twitter. This is part of networking too!
- Get creative. I think we're going to start seeing all kinds of creative ways people market their blogs and products via Pinterest. Brainstorm. What kind of fun things can you do with Pinterest? If your house is for sale, direct people to your Pinterest board showcasing it? Hold a contest (read the Terms first of course)? Create a scavenger hunt? Word scrambles? A board in lieu of a blogroll?
How to Add the "Pin It" Button to Posts
- Manually. You can manually add a "Pin It" button for each post by using the goodies (scroll down to the "'Pin It' Button for Websites" section) made available by Pinterest. This is a bit cumbersome, but if you only have a few posts you'd like pinned, this might work just fine. Is a bit cumbersome to add to each individual post.
- The Pin It on Pinterest plugin. This plugin adds a box below the post window in WordPress where you can create your own description (nice to be able to control that!) and select an image you want to be pinned. You can add the plugin straight from your Dashboard –> Plugins –> Add New –> Search for "Pin It on Pinterest." This plugin is my favorite so far although it has been a bit buggy. If you decide to use it, be sure to watch the video tutorial to see how to use it.
- The Pinterest "Pin It" Plugin. This plugin is very basic. It doesn't have a count, but if you just want a simple plugin to get the "Pin It" button at then end of your post, this one works. You can add this button straight in your WordPress Dashboard –> Plugins –> Add New –> Search for "Pinterest Pin It Plugin".
- On Genesis, without a plugin. It takes a bit more technical know-how but not having to use a plugin is always a good idea. Brian Gardner has instructions in How to Add a Pinterest “Pin It” Button to Your Site.
- On Sharebar. I wrote about Sharebar here (see the link which explains adding the "Pin It" button).
- For Blogger blogs. I
haven't tried any of these tutorials, but at first glance, they look like they'll do the trick. Try this one or this one. Update: I tried it. Here's a video:
Pinterest Copyright Issues
There has been a lot of talk lately about copyright and how best to use Pinterest to avoid infringing on copyright. I'm not going to go into the nitty gritty here, but here are some tips and some additional resources that touch on the subject.
- Watermark your photos. I did a tutorial, How to Watermark a Photo, using Picnik. Of course, we all know Picnik is going away, but you can use the very same technique in Pixlr Express as I showed you here. You might try a plugin like Scissors Continued to watermark your photos (I haven't used it myself but I see it has a positive rating).
- Put your full domain on your photos. Instead of just putting your blog name on your images, put your full domain name so if your image starts floating around, at least people won't have to guess what your domain is.
- Don't want people to pin your stuff to Pinterest? I recently asked on Facebook whether people prefer to be pinned or not. (You can see what they said here.) There's a simple line of code you can add to your <head>. Dave Taylor spells it out in Block Pinterest Users From "Pinning" Your Content. I also noticed a plugin to do this (but I'd go with the line of code).
- How to Report a Copyright Infringement (pinterest.com)
- Why I Don’t Mind Pinterest Hijacking My Links (blogworld.com)
- Information for Bloggers and People Who Use Pinterest and Pinterest is Changing How I Blog (livinglocurto.com)
- How Pinterest Uses Your Content Without Violating Copyright Laws (readwriteweb.com)
If you liked this post, will you share it?
Pin It
Related: I expounded on the copyright issues in Pinterest & Copyright: My Take. You also might be interested in my Pinterest Pet Peeves.
Further Reading
- How to Start Your Own Blog (or Website) – It's easier and cheaper than you think.
- How to Write an Ebook – Don't wait around for a publisher to find you. Traditional publishing as we know it is dying. I wrote an ebook and make a couple thousand dollars a month from it. This is exactly how I did it.
This post contains some affiliate links. My full disclosure policy is here.
What a great post! Tons of useful information and no histrionics or infographics!
Thanks, Diane!
can you help me? I am blocked with few features from pinterest, meaning, i cannot leave comments or answer comments anymore , because it says that i am spaming ??? is there a way to change that ?. its been already more than 3 weekst that i cannot comment anymore. Ok I read in the general condition of use that a spamer could be blocked up to 24 hours…. but not for 3 weeks or more… an idea ?
thank you
Great article! I knew a lot of these, but this gave me a few ideas I hasn't thought of. Thanks!
Love this and totally agree, I think it's great to pin your own stuff. Many of my followers want to see that, but at the same time I have over 2000 pins and just a smidge of that is my own stuff!!
Thanks so much for writing this. I signed up for pinterest over a week ago but had done nothing with my account yet cause I really didn't understand how the site worked. I just skimmed over this article and am totally looking forward to reading it in great detail in the morning when I am at the height of my productivity for the day, and can truly get the most out of it as I set up my pins.
Good stuff, Amy! Thanks for all your hard work putting this together! I learned quite a bit from your Ultimate List and will be making some changes. I've been working to organize my boards and make sure all my pins are "legit" and credited properly–I can't wait to get it finished, as I didn't realize how many pins I actually had!
I'm doing some reorganizing and optimizing myself!
I don't think I need to read another "how-to" Pinterest post after reading this. I am so excited my how many new things I just learned, especially the highlighting text while pinning piece.
Holy Moses!!! You weren't joking!!! Thanks a bunch for all of this info. I only recently signed up for Pinterest and I'm so glad I did. But now I'm not too sure what to do with it besides pin pics. This is going to be very handy.
Great post Amy! Thanks for all the information. I love Pinterest and surprisingly I discovered blogs through Pinterest. Lesley
Yes, me too!!
As always you keep me current on topics I am interested in.
Wish I "got" all this web stuff as easily as you do. I would love to leverage Pinterest in the future to get the word out about my baby brand-new blog.
I will say it again, you are my hero. : )
Thank you for this perfect post! I have just started blogging, and I am very grateful for everything I have learned from you on how to set up a blog. Everyone is talking about Pinterest, and I really had no idea what it was – until now! I look forward to diving in to something new again and learning all about it. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
This is a fantastic list. I've learned a bunch of these along the way from personal pet peeves, but even so I admit I just created a sea of related items from one board about 20 minutes ago while watching a tv show. It's hard not to do! lol.
Thanks for the reminders.
So many excellent ideas! I have had Pinterest a few weeks, but put it mostly on the backburner while trying to get a blog up and running. Started on blogger, found your site and am now knee deep in changing to wordpress and a new domain name and new direction and new everything! Since I want to set up an etsy shop in two months, I think Pintetest will be a key tool in getting the word out about my products. One debate I read elsewhere when I was researching etsy, was the amount of people that got upset when they found their carefully crafted, original creations on other people's DIY boards with words like 'so going to make this!' I can respect both sides of the argument, but try to keep that in mind as I pin now.
Amy, I'm continually and repeatedly impressed with how much information you pack into your posts! And, your post is so timely, since Pinterest has been such a hot topic lately. I wrote a post about looking at Pinterest from the perspective of a kindergartner, and at the bottom I included a link to another post that provides some great insights as well. I will definitely add a link to this post as well. Thanks!
http://twyste.com/2012/02/19/what-kindergarteners-already-know-about-pinterest/
OH MY! YOu are AMAZING! How do you find the time to write such incredible, high quality posts? WOW! Thank you. I will slowly be working my way through all these tips.
LOL, well, this did take a gazillion years to write (felt like that anyway). Basically I ditched my normal posting schedule to put it together. Life's all about tradeoffs I guess.
Well, I , for one am very happy about this tradeoff!
Just today I saw one of my recipes repinned, with the entire recipe typed in the description (not cut and pasted, so it's "technically" not copyrighted, but retyped and shortened ) AND it's linked to my home page, not the original recipe. How do you graciously ask them to correct something like that… remove the recipe, and change the url? I guess I'm not a confrontational person and I hesitate to sound pushy, but it's SO annoying!
Thank you Amy! I just joined Pinterest and this was SO helpful.
I learned some of your tips through "trial and error" and some by "reading" other articles, but I must say you did a great job putting this article together! It's very organized, easy to follow, easy to understand, very useful. It's a complete guide! I love it! Thank you so much! I been sharing this via tweet and will share it on my Facebook page too!
Thank you!
I hope someone can help me with a "Pinterest problem." I use the bookmarklet on my iPhone. When I pin from a website it is not linking back. I have reinstalled the bookmarklet several times with no luck. Any ideas? Thanks!!
I put a few of the easy tips into place as soon as I read this yesterday. I immediately saw a huge jump in traffic and followers. Thanks for all the great tips!
Best Pinterest Tips I have seen so thanks for posting as there are many great ideas in here! I have found Pinterest invaluable in helping me with some home renovation projects as there are just so many great ideas out there and really helps to see it visually. . . it is also a great site to see what is hot, which has helped me shape some of my products. Love it!!
I might have missed this but how do you make a pinterest page for just your website? I've some some sites have it for just their sites but I don't see how to do it.
Thanks! Tawra
Great article! made me want to finally dive right in. I tried to sign up and said I was on a"WAIT LIST". Did I do something wrong? Or is that how it works? that was 2 days ago?!
Great list! I pinned it.
I have only had one person post my entire content of a few posts, but I didn't do anything about it. If it happens more I may need to figure out how I will handle it.
You can try to contact them with a friendly request to edit the pin. Sometimes all it takes is to just ask and people are happy to oblige.
I loved this article. I went straight over to Pinterest to do some organizing. Great advice. I get so much from pinning great ideas. I am glad you made me think about checking the pins have links back to the source…some of mine don't…I'll avoid that in the future.
GREAT post. Thanks!
Great post! Super helpful and valuable!
Ann Marie Smith @ Innovative Connections
Wonderful post!
-Courtney
peaceloverecipes.com
optimisticmommy.com
"24. Create exclusive boards. Make some boards exclusive to Pinterest followers only, so they'll get content there that they won't get elsewhere. This is good if you are anxious to increase your Pinterest followers."
I'm not following this?? (I'm not new to interest either) can you elaborate more on what you mean? I am not aware of there being an option to only allow Pinterest followers access to some of your boards. (is that what you are saying?)
I have the same problem! I've looked everywhere, but I cannot find the option! :/
Question: can you put affiliate links in Pinterest? (I read something about that somewhere, I think). Meaning, if I link to Amazon to a book I've read, can I use my affiliate link? I think I read that if you don't use your affiliate link, Pinterest will us theirs, but now I can't remember where I read it.
Great list. I really need to reorganize my Pinterest boards to something more meaningful. I've read much debate on the pinning-your-own-stuff question, but it seems like most people think it's fine as long as that's not all you're doing. I haven't done that yet, but I think I will. Otherwise, I don't really see how having a ton of Pinterest followers would be helpful to promoting your content, right? Honestly, I follow a lot of people and I almost never pay attention to who pinned something. I like how Money Saving Mom has "Recipes I've Tried" and she pins the posts from here own blog on there.
Thanks for everything Amy!
still wondering about the whole "wait list" thing. I have tried to sign up with 2 different emails and have yet to receive an "invite" to create an account. Been several days now. Any help would be appreciated!
How about tags! They're hardly used! Just a # in front oh the word.
Great info!! Do you know how to pin something from a website using the pintrest app on the iPhone?
Thanks so much for these very helpful tips! I do my best to be a mindful when pinning. I hate to see someone not get credit for their hard work so I chase the correct source when I often find them mispinned.
Extremely informative. Thank you so much for taking the time to put together such a thorough post. I had some questions in the back of my mind about pinning and you answered them. Thanks again. This is great.
thanks for the comprehensive overview; love that the first section is not too overwhelming for beginners and the other sections have tips for "once we're comfortable." I am a pinterest NUT and found one new item from you, so I'm happy!! (descriptions on boards – didn't remember that we could do that). Thanks or taking the time to put this together. I'm sharing it on facebook for my newbie pinterest friends.
Do you know how to "unfollow" someone you've previously followed???
Amy~ Thanks for being the solution to a problem & lifting the fog! Looking forward to developing an action plan based on your content.
GREAT compilation of thoughts, Amy! Thank you!!
Amy,
Thank you for the Pinterest post. This is so needed! I am . I am stopping by to award you the Sunshine Award for all you do to shine light into this blog world of mine. You can see the full details here. Thank you for your consistent inspiration and blog tips. I have shared several of them with my readers.
Kathy
Amy I read on another board that Pinterest takes Amazon Affiliate links changing them by taking away your ID code and replacing it with their own. Have you heard about this?
Pinterest used something called SkimLinks and there was all kinds of chatter about that. (As I understand it, if there was an established affiliate link, they did not replace those, just links that were not affiliate links but could be.) However, they no longer doing that. You can read more about it here.
Just joined tonight, so this is extremely useful. Thank you!
Incredibly helpful. i have some work to do!
can i share this on my blog in its entirety, obviously crediting you and giving a link to your blog?
thanks again for this post!
Thanks for wanting share this post! Please do not share it in its entirety on your blog. When you find something you'd like to share with your own readers, it's always best to share just a few of your own thoughts about the post and/or a small snippet as a quote (1-3 sentences) and then direct people to the original post to read in its entirety. This way, you don't violate copyright and neither of our sites get dinged by the search engines for duplicate content! Thanks so much for asking!
SO timely — last night I created a collaborative board based around an image of an unfurnished SoHo loft. I am asking Pinterest members to add (pins of) furniture, rugs, lighting, accessories, etc. that they think would look great in the space. If anyone would like to be able to pin to this board let me know your pinterest handle — you can contact me at mollythewaffler@gmail.com
I always wondered how you checked what people had pinned! You rock!
Thanks for this… and for including an image so it can be pinned!
Thanks for linking to my Pinterest Contributor post!
I have a question–how can you tell how many times something has been pinned? I have a PIN IT button on a page that says it has been pinned 600+ times (woot!) but I assume that's only via that button (not the pin it button someone might have on their toolbar, etc.). I have looked at the pinterest.com/source/mysite and there are certainly not 600 pins of that post.
Can you find stats on a particular permalink? Or is the rabbit trail too convoluted?
a
Good question. I haven't figured out a good way to track it because it seems pins can come from all over the place. It seems like a central hub for info doesn't exist so as far as I know, it'd be hard to figure out. But if I find info on it, I'll let you know!
One of the best and most complete guides for Pinterest I've read so far. thanks for sharing that tip to keep track of what users are "pinning" from my website, it will be really handy to keep track of "pins" and to determine what type of content Pinterest users like best.
Is there a way to find friends by just searching for their name? I am not on facebook, but that appears to be the only way to find friends,. So far I am only able to find friends that are extensions of people I follow.
Great info! I am still confused, tho, about how this works. How do I create a board? How do I create subcategories, such as "Kitchen," "Crafts," "Sewing," etc.? Thanks so much, and create a great day!
The easiest way to create a board is to pin something. When the little window pops up, it'll ask you what board you want to add that particular pin to, but it also gives you the option to "Create a New Board" right in the window. There are no subcategories, so "Kitchen," "Crafts," "Sewing," etc. will all be separate boards.
Amy, I can't tell you enough how awesome you are! Thank you sooooo much for all the great tips. I talk about you in my blog all the time and even have your Tell Your Time button on my sidebar. I think that the more I blog, the more I realize how much I love the technical side of blogging. You do a great job of making it easy to understand.
Thanks, Lisa! So glad it's helpful. (And thanks for spreading the word about Tell Your Time!)
I have been to your blog several times and I have to say that you do not disappoint. You have a lot of great information here. I look forward to learning more from you. Keep up the good work!
Can you help me with one small problem? When I try to see who has posted from my photography site (see link below), not everything shows up? I've got 30-40 pins on pinterest, but only 5 are showing up at this link. Especially if I'm posting pins myself. It seems like the first one I do in the morning works, but after that they dont.
http://pinterest.com/source/gritsphotography.com
Thank you for posting this. You presented a lot of points that I had never thought of! And I finally made myself learn how to pin original pins. I couldn't figure it out before…I just wasn't looking in the right places. Thanks!
Hi, I must be the only one who has this problem because I don't see anyone else talking about it. I am not able to stay logged on to Pinterest. I can pin several things and then I get disconnected and I am not always able to get logged back in right away. I've had this problem from the beginning and it seems to be worse during peak usage hours. I don't think it's my computer because I have other tabs open and I can navigate the web just fine. Any hints or tips you might have would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Karen L.
Me too!!! That's how I ended up at this blog. I am looking for an answer to solve this problem. I enjoy Pinterest so much, however since I get logged out all the time I get frustrated and just leave it. I have checked my security settings and cookies and it's not them. Help!!!! Please????
Hi Amy, thank you for your post, it pretty much covers everything anyone needs to know! I do have a question, however. When you say "Make some boards exclusive to Pinterest followers" – how do you go about doing this? I have been looking through the Pinterest support forums, but nothing comes up. Thanks!
Hi Amy, there are so many great ideas in this post. I love the idea of doing your blog roll on Pinterest, and having interactive boards with your followers. Thank you for all the tips!
Hi Amy,
I've been skating by for quite a while, growing my blog, without really having a clue on any of the technical stuff. I'm finally ready to dig in and I cannot be more thrilled to have found your site to walk me through. I have been reading page after page, trying to understand everything I have just been ignoring, and, while overwhelming, you have written posts that encourage me to keep going, instead slamming my computer closed! I have been wondering about this Pinterest button for some time and I just installed it into my posts, and holy cow! It was SO amazingly reinforcing to see 15K+ and 90K+ pins on some of my popular posts. Makes the nitty gritty much more bearable! Thank you so much!
You're so welcome, Stef. I'm glad it's helpful!
Hi Amy,
I would like to repin some of my pins to a new board. Is there any way to do this without it showing up on my Pinterest page that I'm repinning them to another board?
Thanks so much!
I wondered how much description to put on new pins.. I guess I better go edit them .. thanks for the info..
Kat
"Follow individual boards to cut out the noise. One of the nice things about Pinterest is that you can follow individual boards. You don't have to follow a person and therefore, all of their boards (although you can do that too)." I like showing up in the Followers list.. So I follow the person then unfollower the boards I am not interested in.
Clever trick, Kat. Thanks for sharing that!
Thanks so much for all of the great tips.
Amy, I just had to tell you how wonderful this Pinterest tip list is! Naturally, I found it on Pinterest although you have been my go to gal for blogging advice since I began my journey through blogland nearly a year ago. I thought I was a pinning pro from reading all of the Pinterest Tips on other sites and realized how wrong I was after reading yours. After just a few days of following your tips I have gotten more followers and repins then I have in the 6 months I've been pinning! Little by little I'm "cleaning up" my boards and making them "pin and proper"….thanks to you.
Thanks Amy. Glad it was helpful!
I've made a Google Chrome browser extension that lets people repin from Pinterest to private boards on MikeLike (a feature that Pinterest doesn't support and probably won't since they've grown by making everything public).
Here's the link: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bghbfhpmfdkbjemmldfjmehcincgoecl?hl=en-US
This is one of the best posts that I have read about Pinterest so far! I'm an educational Pinner, and I set up a Linky on my blog for other educators to link to their individual pages–not the main one. I thought this would be a good resource for teachers who may decide to use Pinterest in the classroom. As you mentioned, it's nice to be able to follow individual pages. http://www.littleblogfish.blogspot.com/2012/03/linky-party-for-teacher-pinterest.html
My wish list item is to be able to add a Pin it button to each one my Blogger posts without having to go back to Pinterest and create an individual button.
Hi… I really like your floating share bar on the right of this screen. May I know where I can get it?
Absolutely. It's called Sharebar. I wrote about it here.
Amy,
Repinning sometimes gets fast and furious BUt I have found if I click the board name of the pin I like OR just right click the pin (to open in new tab) {Can't leave main screen any longer than that} I can see where that pin is from and can immediately opt out of images from google/tumbler/bing etc… and when I find several like that on a board (or from etsy without any crediting) I UNFOLLOW them ..
NOW the BIG question please .. DO I just delete any pins that dont go anywhere? OR make a note of it in the description??? And what about USER uploads?? And pins from phones dont seem to go anywhere either?
BTW this is the best of all the sites on pinning how to's. thank you
For pins that you really want to keep, I would delete the going-nowhere one and then take the time to create a brand new pin that links to the original source.
Wow, I am loving the tips AND the comments in this post! In response to Kat's comment, I also ignore pins that lead nowhere or aren't original. If I really love the image, I'll drag it out, run an image search through Google and try to find the original source. This usually works very well! Then I Pin from the original source. As one commenter said earlier, if I don't have time, I'll "like" the pin until I can go back and run the search. I think it's really important to keep Pinterest honest and clean, not cluttered with bad links and uncredited images.
I totally understand the points being made but for someone not so computer savvy this just seems like over kill. I would never take credit for anything I pin. I think pinterest is wonderful! I am new but am hooked. I am sure that how I pin things may be wrong but seriously going through to find out who's pins are who's seems a bit extreme. This is supposed to be fun and helpful. If people want to get particular on why and how we repin things people will stop loving it and then pinterest will be no more:( why does everything have to be so difficult? I hope things turn out for the best!
I hope to try & learn the right way to repin…so here goes
Great info! One question, How to do this?
Make some boards exclusive to Pinterest followers only, so they'll get content there that they won't get elsewhere. This is good if you are anxious to increase your Pinterest followers.
I'm sorry I wasn't clear on that one. What I mean is, you could blog about "check out my Pinterest board where I share _______ that I don't post here." Does that make more sense?
Yes I understand now, Thanks for the great info!!!
Great tips. Will bookmark this. Signed up at Pinterest three weeks ago. Was never able to see any images anywhere. Have asked for help from their support group. No response as yet. Very frustrating. Have a feeling they're having a lot of technical issues.
Juliana, I have no answers, but do have a similar problem on my desktop computer…no images can be seen, it's been a couple of months and it's still the same! But on my laptop everything is fine. I assumed it was my computer, as I'm looking at the same account on both…
Hi, since you have a list of "pinterest peeves" I will add one. I think it is horrible when people post their own stuff on Pinterest. Now THAT clogs up the site. I think the site should be for people who pin stuff that they find interesting. Not just another e-commerce site.
I have seen people pin all of their etsy items on a board as a way to sell their wares. I agree that the site should be for pinning interesting things, NOT used as an e-commerce site. That's what etsy and other like websites are for.
Amazing tips, I am a fan of yours for life! Thank you for this great post, I've been a pinning fool, but now I'm going to be more concise.
Just discovered your blog on pinterest. What a treasure trove of advice and inspiration here! Thank you so very much. Can't wait to explore your blog and learn more.
My brother is a writer (PC World and more) in San Fran. He finally started his own personal a blog for fun. I finally convinced him to check out Pinterest. which he did a month or so ago. His latest article about using pinterest for business http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/emarketing/a-guide-to-pinterest-for-small-business.html
I'm sending him the link to this post because he would learn so much from it. Thank you again, Amy!
Thanks for the great, informative post! I have seen people put the # sign before a word on Pinterest, like # Paleo for a paleo recipe. Do you know if there is a reason for this that helps with searching, or is it just their way of tagging?
Natalie, they are using the # (pound) sign before descriptive words to index content. Tagging their pins makes their content more search friendly, much like Twitter.
Great guide very informative,learned many things from this post.I also pinned it here http://pinterest.com/pin/93942342197258021/
Thanks so much!
Does anyone know how to view who follows your individual boards? When I click on one of mine, it tells me how many people follow that particular board, but does not let me see WHO. Their usernames and such. Help!
Thanks!
Great tips. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
But I still have one unanswered question:
Assuming you can't keep an eye on the 'Recent activity' all the time, to see when:
someone has posted a comment for you, started following one of your boards or simply even what has been repinned, that you had found.
It only shows about 15 activities.
I'm wondering if there's a page; essentially an archive of the activities.
Note: I realize there is an option to get these things emailed to you, by changing your email settings but I was under the impression that you had another option; hence the question above.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you!
I love your suggestions for using Pinterest to drive traffic, especially #14 — using blog images that are text-rich and original. I created and posted my first one today, so thank you for the tips. I will bookmark this article and use it as the answer book for any Pinterest questions I get from my blog readers.
Thanks Darla!
Thanks again. I've been trying to trace my pins back to their origins since I first skimmed through your suggestions… I read you again today and I'll be doing some housecleaning as I go along! I appreciate your time and efforts to keep us all in line. I don't blog or sell, I just create for my own pleasure and the pleasure of those I love… and Pinterest is like an endless candy store for me!!
Amy, thank you SO MUCH for posting this!! I am so glad to see someone finally putting all these ideas in print! One of my pet peeves (as you mentioned) is when someone pins from the Home page and not the individual post page. Spent much time chasing down the correct page to post.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for this list!!! I absolutely love Pinterest and I do my best to be a good pinner. You have given me so many more tools for my obsession. I will also be reading about how to start a blog site. I think it would be right up my alley, if I can figure out how to do it!! Again, thank you so much for this!
You are very welcome. I'm glad I could help with your obsession…I think?
Amy,
I think this is the 10th time I've pulled this bookmarked post up because it is so informative! I really appreciate all your tips, from the technical how-to's to the blogging … "Pin this {please}", but most of all I value your clear, concise and straight-forward style of writing. I do have two Pinterest questions that I haven't seen addressed anywhere:
1) in my blog traffic list I often see "m.pinterest." How is this different from Pinterest? If I click on that traffic source in my list I can never view the pin or information.
2) When I've pulled up some boards from interesting Pins I see sometimes, I see the pin source listed as "bit.ly" I know this is a standard for shortening a url and / or assigning an alias, but I thought the intent of Pinterest was to credit the origin / source. Should pins that have this as a source credit be avoided?
Thanks so much and enjoy the weekend.
Hi Robin,
1. m.pinterest indicates someone clicked through via the mobile version of Pinterest.
2. I don't think so, as long as it goes to the original post eventually, however, I might still repin via the original post if it's something I really want to pin.
I hope that helps!
Wow, holiday weekend and all and you still followed up and so quickly … really appreciate it
I got brave and clicked through one of the pins with "bit.ly" as the source and you can't get to the original source; it takes you to an ad with an active-html script running behind it and doing who knows what. Really a shame ;(
can you 'rename' boards??
Yes, Nancy, you can. Go to your profile by clicking on your name in the top right corner of the screen. Choose "Boards" from the dropdown menu. Once there, click "Edit" underneath the board you want to change. Replace the current name under "Title" and save your settings.
thanks you helped me a great deal, one other question. How do you move items from one board to another?
Nancy, hover over any of your pins and you'll see an "Edit" button pop up on top of it. Click that and then choose a different board for the pin.
I've also found that when I'm trying to find something I've pinned it's less distracting to go straight to the board where I know I placed the pin. I wrote about how to do that here: http://a-heart4home.blogspot.com/2012/03/saving-time-on-pinterest.html. It really saves me a lot of time if I already know what I'm looking for!
I can see how to move my boards around but I can't save them once I move them. Is there a save button or…?
Two questions:
1. How do I edit my profile? i can't figure out how to go back in and do that.
2. Also being new to Pinterest I am able to pin my own photos but can't figure out for the life of me how to pin others photos. I tried what i do for mine but it doesn't work. I know the answer is there someplace on the site but just can't find it.
Looking forward to your reply.
This is the best how-to Pinterest article I've seen. Thank you for all the great tips.
You're welcome, Camille. Thanks for stopping by!
Have you noticed a better time of day to post to Pintrest in order to get more repins, etc.?
Hi there! Great list….very helpful–wondering if you could send me an invite? I have been avoiding pinterest for a while–because I knew it would be a time-sucker–haha, but I think I'm ready to take the plunge
thebabygossip@gmail.com
Check your inbox!
Can I repin my own pins? I find that I want to resurface some of the photos of my website but I don't want them listed TWICE in my board. So do I just go back and hit repin on my own pins?
Simple but essential tips
Thanks for sharing
Hi Amy….thanks for the great tips. I have one question. There are a lot of items on pinterest that I would love to buy. If the person doesnt reference the original page, is there a way to find out where the item comes from.
Hmmm…I would take advantage of whatever info accompanies the pin and google it. I suppose you could also track down who pinned the post originally and ask them.
Hi , I am hoping aome one can help me . My account takes for ever to scroll down to the correct posting category when I add a new post, I have actually delected categories and this has not helped Does any one have a solution for this problem? thanks in advance for your help!
Hello Amy, after I read this post I created my own Pinterest boards, however, None of my pin appears in the public feeds, they only appear in the Everything feeds.
I have read the below article from Pinterest:
https://pinterest.zendesk.com/entries/21235048-why-aren-t-my-pins-appearing-in-feeds
And so I tried my best to gain credibility with original pins, but still zero visibility…I now have over 100+ pins, but I see people with about 10+ pins that have all of their pins in publish feeds…
Do you have any personal suggestion on what I can and should do to gain my visibility and access to the public feeds?
Thanks,
J.J.
Amy, would you mind if I pinned this article onto my Pinterest pages as I find it very helpful and easy to digest.
I would very much appreciate it. Thank you.
Good Morning Amy…Hope all is well.
Thank You " so …so " much for the time … energy and expertise given to make our experience even more fabulously rewarding…
Can I plz. appeal to you to advise how to resolve a ongoing problem with Pinterest
losing my pins and the repeated inability to activate the "pin it button" to save my
interests…As you know all responses to request help…always comes back
as a automated response…As well as…it is impossible to address any other
issues we may have other the small few pre-selected automated categories.
Pinterest has lost all of my pins twice in the last month …compounding the frustration
of no option for assistance with this unlisted issue…
Any advisement will be deeply appreciated…Enjoy this day!
Kind Regards Dee Kaye
How can I view the individual boards I am following? Once I "follow", I can see postings from that point forward. However, I would like to be able to return to the individual board and see all previous postings.
Very useful information your site is providing
Thankyou for so much helpful information
Is there a way of making people not follow your pins?
I always spent my half an hour to read this weblog's posts every day along with a cup of coffee.
Wonderful article! This is the kind of info that should be shared across the
internet. Disgrace on Google for now not positioning this publish higher!
Come on over and seek advice from my web site . Thank you
=)
excellent information…however to subscribe I get rejected. something wrong with that feature.
Great tips … I will bookmark this
its really good tips
Hi! Great website! I thought this information was very useful!!! I have some questions, though, and I've been trying to find answers on the web, but I haven't found any clear ones, and you're so informed on Pinterest, I thought you might know and be willing to help me… Why do my pins disappear? I've made pins in lots of categories as reminders and inspiration of projects I want to tackle or recipes I'd like to make… for instance, Fourth of July is coming up, and I have a board called "Picnics & Patriot Holidays" and I know that I pinned several sugar cookie recipes for platters of cookies shaped like a flag… now, as it's getting close to Fourth of July, I go to my "Picnics & Patriot Holidays" board (http://pinterest.com/dpkf07/picnics-patriotic-holidays/ [I'm not trying to promote myself, I just wanted you to see what I mean]) to find those inspirational photos and links to recipes… and the stuff I was most interested in making, the first pins I added to that board… those pins are gone!!! It was my understanding that Pinterest worked like a visual listing of bookmarks, so I stopped using bookmarks and started using Pinterest… now, I'm screwed, I have to go back and research all the cookies and potato salads and red, white & blue decorations ;D I wanted to do all over again, because I can't count on my personal Pinterest boards to show me all my pins. So, finally, the questions… Am I doing something wrong? Is it just a bug on the Pinterest site, something they're working on… or does this (http://support.pinterest.com/entries/21235048-why-aren-t-my-pins-appearing-in-feeds) mean that because I don't have enough followers I can't see all my pins? Is there a limit to how many pins you can have on one board? Would I be better off breaking my boards into smaller boards in the hope that with fewer pins on a board my older pins won't disappear? I hope these aren't stupid questions, I'm just so frustrated, because I've taken the time to pins these things, I expect them to be there when I go look at my boards. I hope you can answer my questions or point me in the right direction, because I really do love Pinterest… as long as it's going to be reliable. It would probably help not only me, but other people dealing with this same frustration. Thanks for any answer you might provide!
I am having the same problem! If anyone knows the answer to this please tell.
Great information!
Is it possible to add a single board where all others can add or contribute, but not on your regular boards?
Why don't you write some content based on your own personal authentic experience rather than copy other people's hard work?
You're simply rewriting other people's content and putting it together in your own list.
This really goes against the whole spirit of blogging.
I don't usually leave comments but really, this got my goat! Brad, if it really were a list of everyone else's stuff then at least give Amy credit for going and sorting through allllllll the info out there about pinterest, and taking the time to write it up nicely for YOU to read. Don't be so harsh, rather encourage others; this took time and effort and thinking and planning and who knows what else….sacrifices and sleepless nights possibly? Well done Amy, you are to be commended!!!
I am. Write unique content based on what your readers needs, challenges, frustrations and goals.
Or do it cheap and link to everyone else so you become popular for sucking up?
Linking to other people's content should be to give another angle not to base the whole post on.
Its plastic.
Brad, I have to agree with Jill that your delivery comes across a bit harsh to me, however, I can deal with it as I certainly appreciate the feedback.
After pondering your points, I have to disagree. While it's true this post is a round-up of sorts (certainly a popular posting format among bloggers, curators and aggregators everywhere), there are tips on the list that are my own as well. My goal was not to suck up, but to do exactly what you suggested–publish a post based on my readers' "needs, challenges, frustrations and goals." Incidentally, the very reason I spent the hours researching and putting this list together was in response to the questions I was hearing regarding Pinterest. Wouldn't publishing a post consisting solely of someone else's infographic be just as "plastic" though?
Constructive debate so its all good Amy.
From Matt Mullenweg: "don’t tolerate real conversation or debate" Source:http://ma.tt/2009/08/kill-your-community/
Marketers have to focus on offering unique value for objective queries.The key will be to focus on content that has original value – such as original reviews, unique data or insight. Source: Matt Cutts
Amy!
Thanks so much for all those tips. I just fine tuned my Pinterest page.
Nice tutorials on Pinterest. Thanks for sharing
Terrific post however , I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this subject?
I'd be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit further. Thank you!
I have a new Pinterest account and it has been "building feed" for about 2 hours now. How long should this take?
It shouldn't take that long. I would log out and try logging back in. It sounds like maybe it got a little stuck.
I've been looking for more "useful" pinterest tips for awhile……..this is GREAT! Thanks – more than I could have hoped for all in one place.
Glad it's helpful, Diana!
Hi, Amy -
Good post. I have a web site with the AddThis widget, which allows visitors to select Pinterest for pinning. The widget opens a box with many (not all) of the page's images offered for pinning. The problem is that some of the images offered aren't important. Navigation buttons, etc. Is there a way to control which of the images are offered up for selection? Thanks.
Do you mean with the AddThis widget? Hmmm, not sure. You might also check out plugins…I've seen some that allow you to do this.
Great post Amy, now I will have to try to put that into practice. I'm trying to figure out which is better, a re-pin or a follower as far as SEO is concerned, do you know?
Do you mean SEO for your site? The best way to boost your SEO would be to get a backlink from Pinterest to your site so I suppose a re-pin has more possibilities in that regard. As far as spreading the word, though, followers can really work for you in the long-run. Bottom line? I would go for both.
Pinterest links are nofollow.
You can't forget that. They are useless for SEO.
Thanks for posting this – it's fantastic advice! I have this linked to my Pinterest post too today, just recapping the do's and don'ts of Pinterest for us bloggers!
OMG, I just learned SO much and I still have to follow all those useful links! Thank you Amy!
You're welcome!
Amy, thank you for this. I've stumbled head first into Pinterest this week as my latest article: http://allgroanup.com/adult/21-secrets-for-your-20s/ received over 7,000 pins and counting, so am trying to figure out best practice very quickly!
One question — is it good form to search for pins for my site: http://pinterest.com/source/allgroanup.com/ and then comment, like, thank, follow the people that pinned. Is that obnoxious? Stalkerish? Or good networking? Thank you!
Paul
Hi Amy, I don't know if you can help me or not. I use the Pin It button on lots of my posts. I just did my first video (partly due to your encouragement of video in 2012), but I can't get the Pin It button to work right. On Pinterest's form, I enter the url of my blog post and then I'm not sure if I am entering in the video url or the video url at current time (options of right clicking on photo)…I am guessing it has to be a youtube url. But everything I try doesn't show the thumbnail when the pin it window pops up. It does work when I use the pin it button on my tool bar. Just hoping to encourage pins from right below the pic. Any ideas?
I forgot my password on Pinterest, and I clicked on reset, entered my email address, received the message that I would be getting an email. That was days ago. I have repeated this step; I have gone to the support page…same message…fill out the problem and an email will be sent. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I repinned some of my pins under different board names to better organize & now I can't see those boards but I could last night. HELP!!!! PLEASE!!!!!
I have a question that I wonder if anyone can answer. I have several "stalkers" that are stealing my entire boards AND the titles before I can even finish building them. Is there anyway to block them from doing this? To me the fun of Pinterest is looking through a lot of sites to find pins that work on my boards, not taking someone's entire board and their titles. It's very frustrating to have these "stalkers" taking the easy way out. Thanks for any ideas you might have.
How do you delete items from your "Like" list?
Once you pin something and it is on your board. How long will that pin appear on your board? Is there a max number allowed on one board?
Hi Amy!
I just Googled a Pinterest question and you came up as number 2! I'd say you're doing something really well!!
But…I couldn't find an answer to my question and wondered if you might have run across this…and if so, maybe you could add it to this post.
I recently created a post where I really don't want people pinning ONE image. This is rare. Have you seen where you can allow only certain images to be pinned. It seems that I have seen other bloggers deny the pinning of certain images when you click "pin it" – but I don't recall who – and I'm still searching for the how.
Thanks!!
Amy, I did find that Pinterest provides a "no pin" code for an individual image. I'm on the hunt now to track down where code gets placed.
Amy, I did find that Pinterest provides a "no pin" code for an individual image. I'm on the hunt now to track down where code gets placed. I've spent a fair amount of time looking. Lots of references to using the code…but not for placement. I put in a request at Pinterest – 12 hrs. later no answer. Again…no info there either.
Is there a way to back-up my pinterest pins? I have put a lot of time and energy into finding and pinning items in pinterest. I would hate to ever loose them. Is there a way to back all of them up on my computer? My computer is NOT a Mac.
Great article. Thank you for the Google Chrome extension. It really makes it easier to pin. I will also install one of the pinterest plugins to my blog soon.
Love me some handy Chrome extensions, that's for sure. Thanks Frank.
There's a way to prevent someone from pinning just a specific image from your site if you'd rather not make every single image unpinnable. Useful for photos of family in a "life" post rather than a "project" post, or I use it all the time when I feature people's work on my blog to try to encourage people to click back to the original blog before pinning. http://practicallyfunctional.net/2012/07/how-to-prevent-your-photos-from-being-pinned-on-pinterest/
For an easier way to stop pinning sitewide with a single command in .htaccess:
http://pinterest-out.blogspot.com/2012/06/educate-pinners-with-htaccess.html
I just helped my friend to get on pinterest. She had to click on 5 pins to get started. Now she has 50 other peoples pins showing up when she gets on pinterest, and she doesn't want to see any of those. Just mine and a couple other of her friends. I helped her "unfollow" the people, but all those pins (pics) are still showing up on her general page. How do we clear it?
i am trying to use a different font for my board names but, everytime i try it tells me that i already have a board by that name. any suggestions?
Thanks for the tips. I just discovered and started to use Pinterest – it brings some traffic to my blog ( I'm just at the start up ) – but it's quite addictive. I have a lot of fun using it.
Oh, yes, addictive is a good word.
Maybe the ancient Mayan,s calendar ending in December of this year was a foreshadowing of this thing with Multiply shutting down and nothing more … I am now looking for a new blogging home.
I have been burnt by many internet hosting sites. Multiply shutting down really hurts because the site was my main hub. Therefore, this time I am going to post all over the net using "free" sites
Thanks! you have made this Pinterest easy
Not working!! I've tried your code, codeitpretty's code and pinterest's own code. NOTHING WORKS!! Getting very frustrated. Your instructions seemed clear enough but still did not work!!!
What are you trying to do, G?
On the Pinterest board I have for "Connect with Me," I've added my other social media accounts (Twitter, LinkedIN, Goodreads, etc.). However, in every case the image Pinterest pulled from each site was a photo of me. Instead, what I'd like to have appear on Pinterest would be the icon for each of the sites, linking to my page in that particular social media. So, for instance, I'd like the Twitter icon (bird or whatever) to replace my photo. Is there a way to do this while still keeping the link to my account? An example on someone else's site of what I'm trying to do is here http://pinterest.com/tamaragsuttle/connect-with-me-here/
Thanks in advance for any help.
No website or blog. Im a senior 72yrs and LOVE pinning, FB, twitter. 9 mos. internetting and no help. Im stubborn , Im alone so much my hubby got a laptop last Xmas. QUESTION: All my pins or most go on F.B Wall. Why??? Some one asked me, I dont know about settings & how to find etc. I found you by misclicking HAHa Senior Nerd I am . Funny one that is. I never noticed my pins going all the time on Facebook Does it matter/ any wrong in it??Lol
Susan M j
Hi Susan! Thanks for stopping by. Login to Pinterest and then hover your mouse over your name in the top right corner. You should see a dropdown menu appear. Click "Settings" on that menu. Once you're on the Settings page, scroll down until you see "Facebook." I imagine the setting "Publish activity to Facebook Timeline" is turned on. Just turn it off and you should be all set!
you Amy for your help. I read a lot of the above commentys and you are incredible for such a young gal. I must le
arn to slow down & read before I bother someone with questions??? Found the answer after you commented ( #8 )
I have over 200 pins on some of my boards, why can I only see about 30 pins per board?
Hi! You have an awesome list of tips here! I am having a problem pinning pictures from my blog onto my pintrest account in my (i did it) board. I'm hoping that anyone following will repin etc. and drive more followers to my site (apparently i have none yet
I did just get started with my blog… anyhow I keep getting this message when I click on my pin it button from my menu up near the address bar : "the page at lovedbykidsandmoms.com says Sorry, can't pin from non-HTML pages. If you're trying to upload an image, please visit pinterest.com." Is there something I need to do differently so that my pictures can be pinned without people having to always use the pin it button? I don't want to put a pin it button next to every single picture on my website… Thanks for any guidance you have on this!! I appreciate it!
Here's what I'd do in that situation. I hope that helps!
Hi Amy,
Why is my pinterest showing pins that I am not "Following" when I click on the following, how are they showing up under my following when I did not add them? stop the insanity they are generally people with 100000 of pins that I don't care about
Hi Amy,
thanks for this great post. I still have a question though and I already tried to get an answer to that from the Pinterest Help stuff, but I only get an automated answer. Do you know which pins I see when clicking on the writing Pinterest? I mean are those the pins from the last 24 hours for example or are those the last 20 pins from each of the people I follow for example? Do you know what I mean? Is there a limit to the numbers of pins I get to see every day? Thanks. Denise
Hi Denise, I'm not sure I'm understanding your question, but the pins you see are likely the most recent from the people you follow. If you want to see all pins, you can click the "Everything" link at the top of the page. I hope that helps.
Lately I am seeing so many pins from people I am not following. I thought it only shows images of people I follow. What am I doing wrong?
I am trying to figure out why the count on the 'pin it' button from a post doesn't match up with looking at the number of pins from 'http://pinterest.com/source/yourdomain.com' from that same particular post? Thanks!
You mention that we should contact the pinner if they have not given proper credit for our image. I see no way within Pinterest to do so. Is there something that I am missing?
Amy,
You mentioned in this blog post that you would be adding/updating content. I have read many complaints (I share in this sentiment, too) from food bloggers that Pinterest has changed their algorythm and this has caused misappropriated spamming which has prevented many pins from appearing in their "catgories" or in a search. Would love to see you address this issue. The whole problem of "not getting found" on Pinterest seems to echo in the blog world–especially among the food bloggers. Would also love to see you mention that you cannot link a Facebook"fan" or business page to your Pinterest boards. Emailed Pinterest and they confirmed this.
Thank you for this post!
Barb
Thanks you are a lifesaver! I did not know how to add the "pin it button" to my blog posts. I get intimidated by code but it worked like a charm!
Yay!
Nice post!
I have written a blog with the technology details on how to develop a Pin It button on your own.
http://braintechie.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/anatomy-of-pin-it-button-javascript.html
Can you help me? I can not find all of my pins?? For example it says I have 71 pins on mt Christmas board but I can only seer about 20? Is this normal to only see your most recent? Where god the others go? Thnx!
Amy
Great posts. I have a question..Can you tell me how to post 2 different images on 1 pin? For example: "Before" & "After" pictures. Thanks!
Hi Kelly, you'd have to create a single image and paste both before and after pics into that one image and save it. A quick way to do that might be to create a collage. I explained how to create a collage here.
Hi Amy,
Thanks for the detailed information. I have been searching the boards on Pinterest for an answer, wondering if you knew? I was posting my own pictures on my boards, and only one is showing the rest are white spaces with type only. I went through and verified my email and changed my password, but still no image. Any thoughts?
Thank you!
WOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOO it worked!!!! Thank you for the detail walk-thru. It helped me tremendously!!
Really, really great advice Amy. I hope everyone who has an interest in Pinterest reads this, whether it's for marketing purposes or just Pinning personal interest stuff. Great Job!!!!
Thanks John. Glad you stopped by!
I enjoyed reading your blog. I was looking for a detailed blog on Pinterest tips and your blog satisfied my needs. One thing I have found using Pinterest is, it is very important which board you follow. If you start following good boards you will do well. Otherwise, your pins never gets noticed.
Your website is very helpful. I haven't started blogging yet. I wanted to read up and learn as much as I could first. I think your website is gonna' give me all the info I will ever need.
I'm not too familiar with Chrome extensions. Is the Pinterest right click Chrome extension still available? I clicked your link and it gave me an error that said deleted by author.
Thanks for all your hard work putting this together! I learned quite a bit from your Ultimate List and will be making some changes.
Hi Amy! Thanks for all the great info! I generated a pintrest account for my blog website and would like to pin my own posts. Is there a way to automatically do this so i don't have to pin each time i make a post? thank you!
Hmmm…great question. Not sure about that. I'm not aware of a way to automatically pin, but that doesn't mean it's not possible. I'd do some googling.
Super great blog post, amazing discussion thread. Thank you!
LOVE LOVE LOVE all your helpful posts! Just got my very first website up and running and I followed your advice step by step. Thanks for the great resources! Question- I am trying to add my website to my pinterest page. I am getting a "Verify Website" that says "Add this meta tag to the of your index.html file (or equivalent)" What does that mean and what do I need to do to make the link work? (FYI- it gives me an alternate option of "Download the HTML verification file… and upload to your web server" but not sure what to do with that either) Any advice?
Great question, Janelle. Here's how you do it:
If you're using Genesis, the easiest way to do it is to grab the code they give you and paste it in Dashboard –> Genesis –> Theme Settings –> Header and Footer Scripts. Save. Go back to Pinterest and verify.
If you're not using Genesis, you can do this:
1. Download the HTML file to your computer. Note where it's stored (downloads folder, desktop, etc.).
2. Now you have to upload it to your root directory. You can do this via FTP, or you can login to your cpanel (for example, if you're using Bluehost, go to yourdomain.com/cpanel). Login using the login info you received in your welcome email.
3. Click the "File Manager" icon under the "Files" section.
4. You want to upload the file in your root directory. You may be asked which file you want to open. Choose the root directory. (If you're not given an option, it's likely the first screen will be your root directory. You want to see folders like "wp-admin," "wp-content" at the top of the list.)
5. Once you're there, click the "Upload" icon at the top of the screen. Follow the prompts.
6. Go back to the Pinterest verify page and verify.
Thank you so much for the help!
I recently wrote a blog post about my own experience with Pinterest. I set my page but didn't know what to do with it. I am still learning the ropes and your post here has provided me with even more info.
Thanks so much – I look forward to getting my site up to speed and pinning away like crazy (not too crazy)
Glad it was helpful, Victoria!
I'm trying to accomplish #21 from your list. The button is not showing up, only the words "follow me on pinterest." (I use wordpress.org and am following instructions for pasting the html code into a text widget.) And when I go to the "goodies" page of pinterest, it wants me to sign up as a business. Suggestions? Are you a "person" or a "business" on Pinterest?
Nevermind, I found a plugin called Pinterest Follow Button. It solved the problem by creating a widget for me. Thanks for the great list of tips! I haven't done much with Pinterest b/c it seems like a giant time-waster, but now that I see the benefit for my blog, I'll definitely be cleaning up my boards and pinning a lot more strategically. I enjoyed checking out your boards, too!
What a thorough and informative list. Thanks so much for these tips. I'm still learning my way around Pinterest as it has so many benefits for business owners.
thanks learned a lot about pintrest
gr8 job