Are you using Pinterest?

I’m a big Pinterest fan, and tout it as a platform that all travel bloggers and authors need to have a presence on. Many authors and bloggers are confused about how to use Pinterest because they treat is like another social media network. Actually, Pinterest has more in common with a search engine — and look how much time we invest in making sure our websites are optimised for search engines! We need to invest the same level of effort into our images, and make sure they’re optimised for Pinterest, so that travellers and our audience can find our images and Pin them to their boards.

I’ve found a Pinterest kindred spiring in today’s Guest Blogger Louise Cottrell from Travel Pinners. She helps travel and tourism brands use Pinterest to grow their following and website traffic. Today she’s sharing her insights and expertise to help travel bloggers just like you, to master the basics of using Pinterest to increase the visibility of your blogger brand.

Guest Post by Louise Cottrell from Travel Pinners

It can be difficult to keep up with all the necessary social media platforms to promote your travel blog content and grow your following. I get it – your attention is divided enough already between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat – and a seemingly new must-have platform that appears on the scene every other month!

This may why you may have neglected Pinterest until now, but there’s something you have to understand: you are missing out on the best platform to share your travel blog content.

There are a few reasons for this.

• Pinterest isn’t technically a social media platform; it should be considered as a social bookmarking site and ‘discovery’ search engine akin to a user-generated Google Image search.
• What you share on Pinterest today has longevity – pins can circulate for months on end by getting ‘repinned’ over and over again by people who find your pins.
• Above all, more and more travelers and holidaymakers planning their vacations are using Pinterest to dream and research their upcoming trips. They are searching for information on Pinterest to find articles and posts about the topics you’re already writing about!

Facebook and Twitter and more for socializing and connecting whereas Pinterest is all about curating boards to save ideas and come back to them later (while at the same time showing the world what you’re saving when they follow you and your boards).

If you’ve used Pinterest to collect recipes or other ideas, you probably know already how create boards and pin images to them. Here are a few more things to consider when you decide to optimize your Pinterest profile for sharing:

1. Get a business account (or convert your personal account)

Convert your personal account to a business account, but if you’ve been saving recipes, cat photos and nail art, you should  set those boards to ‘secret’ and start creating travel-related boards (you can use the categories on your blog for board ideas).

Once you’ve converted your account, confirm your website using the instructions on Pinterest’s website, and then you’ll want to set up Rich Pins. Rich pins stand out and get more impressions and clicks.

2. Optimize your profile with your niche keywords

Don’t go crazy with keyword stuffing, but do try to incorporate your site’s keywords all over your new home on Pinterest. This includes:

• your profile name (you can use a * or | symbol to separate your brand name from some keywords; see
• my profile for an example);
• your profile description;
• your board names and descriptions;
• your pin descriptions;
• your file names before you upload them (didn’t think of that one, did you?).

3. Create cool graphics for your blog posts using free software

Use a free tool like Canva or PicMonkey to create graphics with text overlay so that people can see quickly and easily what blog post the pin links to.

Get inspiration from other active pinners and remember to use only your best high-resolution images in combination with great font pairings and well-matched colors. If you’re a design novice, you can learn all about effective graphic design on Canva’s blog.

4. Pin consistently (with the help of a scheduler)

Pinterest’s Smart Feed has it’s own algorithm and Pinterest strategists and account managers are constantly in debate about how it truly works. What we’ve seen over time though is that consistency plays a huge role in getting your pins seen. Post quality content from yourself and others several times on a daily basis, and you’ll get more impressions (i.e. you’ll show up on your followers’ Smart Feeds more) and that will convert to more repins, likes and clickthroughs.

My favorite scheduler is Tailwind (<– Lousie’s affiliate link will give you $15 off the yearly plan) for its analytics power and ease of use, but Board Booster is popular as well and has some features that Tailwind doesn’t have. Both are worth looking into and pricing is similar. Also, if you already pay for a Buffer subscription for your social media management, a Pinterest scheduler is included in your plan there.

5. Make your website “Pinterest friendly” and promote your profile there and elsewhere!

Get the Pinterest Hover Button WordPress plugin and remind readers to follow you on Pinterest with a link on your sidebar. Promote your hot new (or revitalized) profile on your other social channels with weekly reminder posts. Include your pin images at the bottom or middle of your post with a call-to-action, asking readers to share.

Pinterest shows more pins linking to sites that get a lot of “user-generated” content so make sure not to hide your Pinterest presence and let your site visitors know that they can and should pin your content if they like it or want to save it for later.

It can take longer to get traction on Pinterest compared to other platforms but don’t be discouraged. Once your Pinterest-driven traffic starts to pick up, keep on implementing these steps and it will only continue to grow! Make sure your profile is optimized for traffic and conversions with our thorough Pinterest Checklist for Travel Brands, and for the latest news and updates, follow Travel Pinners on Facebook!

Here’s a Pin that summaries these points to pin to your Pinterest Board

Louise Cottrell is a Pinterest expert helping travel and tourism brands to grow their traffic and following with Pinterest. She works with clients to boost traffic and monetize the content they worked so hard to create. She offers consulting, account management and setup packages at TravelPinners.com.

Connect on Twitter: @travelpinners

Connect on Facebook: facebook.com/travelpinners/

Connect on Pinterest: pinterest.com/travelpinners/

Visit Louise’s Travel Pinner website to GET YOUR FREE PINTEREST CHECKLIST!

Jay’s Pinterest For Authors Article on The Self-Publishing Advice Centre