You could say I’m a little out of the blogging game.
Two years ago I totally knew what was up. Hell yeah, link-ups. Twitter chats? I’m all over it. SEO keyword customization and custom WordPress themes were easy. I doled out advice to other bloggers like it was candy: take it, remember it, enjoy it.
Now, here I am, all when did Pinterest get an algorithm change and people have finally given up on Google Plus?!
I’ve made myself a promise: concentrating on one social media platform at a time, I will slowly move myself out of 2013 and into the present day.
Because I recently bought an iPad and Pinterest has been my go-to time waster lately, I’ve decided to start there.
Tonight I laid on my living room floor reading a bunch of articles that spoon fed me basic advice, such as “have a profile picture” and “include your blog’s keywords in your profile description.” I moved onto some bible length articles that I quickly realized were now out of date, and finally landed on some content that I decided would actually help me, like this post.
It theoretically sounds like some crazy shit, but I read through the second article a couple of times and decided to start there.
Here’s what I’ve done so far:
- Went through and deleted old, irrelevant pins (approx 500)
- Split some larger boards up into multiples – click here for a walkthrough video
- Reorganized my boards in a way that made sense – click here for a tour video
- Updated all of my board cover photos
- Simplified each board name, ensuring it reflected the board’s content
Now I’m wishing I had the forethought to take some before and after photos.
Anyways, here’s what my profile looks like now:
I’m starting with 387 followers.
While reorganizing my boards, I made sure to put the ones most relevant to my blog at the very top.
I also want to clarify why I deleted so many pins in one go. I didn’t remove them just because they were performing poor statistically, or because they had zero repins. I deleted them because they were old, outdated, ugly, or similar.
I’ve had my Pinterest account for almost five years; there was a lot of old shit 23 year old me liked that 28 year old me doesn’t! It was an opportunity to clean house, not decimate it.
That being said, there’s still a shit-ton of work I have left to do, but I think I’m off to a good start, and have begun to form a general game plan for the remainder of what I need to do.
Here’s what I’m doing next:
- Editing each board description to include relevant keyword
- Choosing a category for each board related to its content
- Updating pin descriptions if needed
- Removing hashtags from pin descriptions
- Deleting any pins with broken or outdated links
Here’s what I’d like to do in the future:
- Concentrate on pinning original content instead of repins
- Include Pinterest specific images in my blog posts
- Write a better profile description
If all goes according to plan, I’d like to see my existing Pinterest account grow like a teeeeeny tiny plant, laying dormant in the shade for five years only to emerge with a little bit of TLC. I’m not sure if I’ll continue to make blog posts updating my progress – that’s for future me to know and everyone else to find out!
This was a great read. I’ve only recently started blogging so this was helpful for me for using Pinterest. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Sally x
Yay, thanks Sally! I’m planning my next post on this soon – I’ve done a couple things that I’ve found in other posts that have really made a difference 🙂
Hey Ashley! Thanks so much for including my post here. I’ve actually just done a full guide to Pinterest to help you to take it to the next level (it’s way better than the original post!), which you can find here 🙂 Thanks again!
I really like that shot of your Pinterest profile, it looks very clean and organized. 🙂 Thanks again for all this advice. I am new to this world so I am taking it all in. 🙂
I would love to get more followers on my pinterest, I have some now but would love more , Will have
to check this site out and do some more reading. Thanks for the information.
@tisonlyme143
No problem, Dotty! Hope you find the info helpful 🙂
This sounds like it would be a great course to take. It sounds like you are very knowledgeable with the computer. I am not so I need all the help I can get. Thank you so much for sharing
Thanks, Linda! I hope it’s helpful to you if you choose to try it out in the future 🙂
Cool project to help tidy and manage your Pinterest. I should probably do this – apart from organising recipe boards, the rest is a bit of a mess.
It definitely makes a big difference! Thanks for commenting Rebecca 🙂
This is very helpful. Thank you for posting this.
I really appreciate all of this great advice. It’s very clear and valuable.
When you said that you improved the descriptions on pins, do you write really great descriptions on every pin, or just your own pins for your website?
Hi!
I’m wondering where the link is to download the Pinterest checklist? I can’t seem to find it for whatever reason, and would love to use it!
Thank you!
Ahh, thanks for the heads up Danielle! For some reason the download form was not loading correctly. If you refresh the page, it should be there now – hope it helps and you enjoy!!
PinPinterest has been with me from the first day when I started using Pinterest. The results I got with this tool were legit, safe and most importantly automated. It increased my Pinterest account’s visibility and performance. Now, I feel like a celebrity on Pinterest, when I see my followers.