5 ways to use Pinterest to Help Your Blog!

So, I want to share with you how I have increased traffic to my blog in the last couple of months.  Just a couple of days ago, I had an all time high of 7,000 hits to my blog in one day!  This is a big deal for a small time blogger like myself.  In the same week, I had over 20,000 hits total.  My secret really isn't a secret at all, it's Pinterest.  Pinterest and I are BFF's lately.  I can't get enough of him, and pinterest is so generously bringing more traffic to my blog then any other source.

Feel free to pin this, it might be helpful to other bloggers :)

I'm not a fancy big blogger, that has a tone of readers and knows all the ins and outs of blog design.  I'm just a simple, self-taught blogger, learning by trial and error.  So, I want to try to help you out and share what's working for me.

1. Take "pin" worthy photographs.  This is easier said then done.  I spend A LOT of time on my photographs and have played with a camera for about 15 years, and mine are far from perfect.  But, the better the picture, the more likely it will be pinned.  I find that images that are simple and have uncluttered backgrounds work best.  The image is clear and therefore the pin is as well.

I photographed my painted wooden spoons with a blank backdrop.

2. Place text descriptions on at least one of your images.    I recently started teaching myself how to use photoshop (this is not easy), but placing text on images does encourage more pinning.  Pinners love this, they always pin images with text over other images in a post.

These recipes for Hobo Meals and Orange Cinnamon Rolls  have brought lots of traffic my way.  And without the text descriptions, I think they would be overlooked pin images.

3.  Be active on pinterest yourself.  This is the fun part.  If you are pinning great stuff, folks will want to follow your pins and will most likely check out your blog as a result.  Make sure your blog address is clearly stated on your pin profile.  I even made my pin profile name Oleander and Palm, it just gets my blog name out more.

4.  Talk about pinterest in your posts.  This is easy if you are making sure to credit all those great pinterest ideas out there.  When you mention pinterest, make sure to link your pinterest profile. (P.S. you can follow Oleander and Palm's pins here.)  This gives readers an opportunity to follow your pins and gets pinning on the brain for them.  They might even think to pin something from your blog while they're there.

For example, if I mention my favorite shade of green, I might link my Jadite Pin Board in the post as well.

5.  Put a pinterest button in a visible place on your blog.  I have mine in the right bar with my facebook, twitter, and etsy shop buttons.

I also appreciate all my great pinners out there.  Thanks to all my friends that have taken the time and interest to pin my ideas.

I hope you find this helpful.  Please leave me a comment if you do.  And add any other pinterest pointers that you might have.  We would all love to know how pinterest is helping you.