The truth is you don’t necessarily have to create Pinterest board covers for your profile or account. Some people will tell you it’s a waste of time and that it doesn’t help you with bringing any traffic back to your blog or website.

Some, on the other hand, will tell you that it is a good idea to create Pinterest board covers because it makes you look more professional and helps you raise your brand awareness.

Overall, it doesn’t hurt to make Pinterest board covers. I personally make them for all my Pinterest accounts because it’s quick and easy to do!

If you ask me, I’d say creating these Pinterest board covers in your Pinterest account makes your profile more appealing and organized for Pinners and your followers.

Again, the good news is it doesn’t take long to make them. So, why not spend the next 10 to 30 minutes to make your profile look more appealing and organized?

The beauty is you only make them once and never have to touch them again!

How To Make Pinterest Board Covers

Here is an example of my Pinterest board covers for this blog, Blog Savvy Panda.

If you haven’t yet, don’t forget to follow my brand new account on Pinterest here for more Pinterest and blogging tips!

I also created blog covers many years ago for my personal finance blog, Finsavvy Panda, here. You’ll notice this looks much simpler and these ones literally took me less than 10 minutes to make!

In this tutorial, I’m going to teach you how to make simple, yet beautiful board covers for your Pinterest profile using this style. This style is really fast and easy to create in just minutes:

You can always use what you learned in this tutorial and make tweaks to add your own personal touch and style.

By the way, I also have an archive here with a collection of Pinterest tips for new bloggers, so you can check that out too.

Create and sign up for a Canva account first!

If you haven’t created a Canva account yet, I highly recommend you to because it’s what we’ll be using to make your pretty Pinterest board covers. What I love about Canva is you don’t have to be a design pro or have experience in design to create something beautiful.

I am personally using the Canva Pro version because it gives you unlimited access to better tools and premium stock photos. You also get 100GB of cloud storage space, whereas the free version is only 5GB, which you’ll use up really fast.

I used to use the free version of Canva, but later I found that my free account wasn’t worth my time anymore because it was very challenging and hard to look for beautiful and professional images for my designs. On top of that, it didn’t give me the option to create folders to organize my work – the Pro version instantly solves this problem!

It’s definitely worth the investment, and I am very confident that you’re going to love the Pro version as much as I do! The great thing is it’s affordable at a low monthly rate, or you can pay on an annual plan and save more money!

You can create your Canva Pro account here and get a FREE trial. If you don’t like it, you can simply cancel it!

Okay, assuming that you now have a Canva account, let’s get started with creating your board covers for Pinterest!

I am super excited to go through this tutorial with you!

Step 1: Log in to your Canva account

Click on the purple button, “Create a design.”

Next, click on “Custom size” at the bottom.

Step 2: Decide on your Pinterest board cover size

Enter the size of your board cover and click on the “Create new design” button.

I generally prefer 1000 x 1000 PX, but you can do 600 x 600 PX.

Step 3: Start designing your Pinterest board cover

Once you see a blank page, click on the “Elements” tab on the left-hand side where I boxed it using a red square.

Step 4: Select the standard grid on Canva

Select the square grid under the “Grids” category. Later, you will realize that this allows you to drag pictures and images in and out of the grid.

Step 5: Use shapes in Canva to design board covers for Pinterest

Under “Shapes,” select the square shape and adjust that into a rectangle. Play around with the size, and once you’re satisfied, position it in the middle.

Step 6: Play with colors on Canva

You can click on the “Color” tab at the top left-hand (see the red box). This function allows you to change the color of your shape.

I chose white for simplicity in this case.

Step 7: Input keywords or phrases for your Pinterest board cover

Next, click on “Text” on the left-hand menu.

Then click on the “Add a heading” selection. This function allows you to type words and phrases into the text box.

Depending on what you blog about, you can choose a variety of keywords and phrases that describe what you’ll be saving in that particular board on Pinterest.

In this example, I used a very general keyword, “Lifestyle.”

Step 8: Adjust your phrase or Pinterest board cover title

You can center your text by using your mouse. Click, hold, and position it by moving it around.

The dotted purple lines will indicate whether or not your text falls within the middle.

Step 9: Add a border in Canva

To add a pop, you can choose to add a border outline.

You can do this by going to the “Elements” tab and selecting the square-shaped outline as indicated in the screenshot below.

You can adjust the size and shape by using your mouse and dragging it.

Step 10: Add images

Now comes the fun part! We are going to add beautiful images to your Pinterest board covers now!

In the “Photos” tab, you can search for images by typing in phrases or keywords that describe what you are looking for.

For example, if you are looking for a pair of shoes you can type in words or phrases such as casual shoes, high heels, running shoes, etc.

FYI: Generally speaking, the more general your keywords and phrases are, the better your results when searching for images on Canva.

If you are using the free version of Canva, you will notice that you have very limited access to good photos.

This is another reason why I prefer using the Pro version of Canva. It gives you A LOT more function and tools to use in addition to unlimited access to higher quality photos compared to the free version.

You’ll save so much time and hassle with the Canva Pro! Plus, investing in the Pro is very affordable and worth every penny for your blog!

Here is an example of a high-quality photo I am using for the Lifestyle board.

When you hover over an image in Canva, you will see which images are free and which ones are not at the bottom right-hand corner of each photo. When it says “FREE” it means you do not have to pay for the image.

On the other hand, “Pro” with a crown icon means you’ll have to pay for the image to use it if you are still on the free version of Canva.

The great thing about paying for a Canva Pro subscription is you’ll have unlimited access to all the beautiful images in the library for free.

Step 11: Try switching photos to see which one you like best

Here is an example of a free image you can use if you are not using the Pro version of Canva.

Step 12: Make duplicate copies of your Pinterest board covers

Congratulations! You are now done with creating your first Pinterest board cover! Yay!

Now, you can create multiple board covers without having to go through steps 1 to 10 again.

Just simply hit the “Duplicate page” function as shown in the screenshot below.

This will just make a copy of the same board cover.

Step 13: Create your next board cover image for another Pinterest board

It’s time to create your 2nd Pinterest board cover.

You can remove the image, and adjust the text to a different board category for the duplicated copy

Step 14: Play around with images and their sizes

Let’s use fashion as an example for your second Pinterest board cover.

I am going to use this image of a woman dressed in pink.

One thing you can do is blow up the image, adjust its size or cut certain areas out. You can do this by dragging the image into the grid, double-clicking on the image, and using your mouse to drag the corners and moving the cursor around.

Here is the final result of my second Pinterest board cover. Now, you can do this to all your other board covers, which will be super fast to create!

Step 15: Download and save your Pinterest board covers

Once you’ve finished creating your Pinterest board covers on Canva, don’t forget to download and save them to your computer folders.

Simply click on the “Download” button at the top right-hand corner of Canva and download them. You can choose PNG or JPG, but when it comes to uploading images onto Pinterest, I use PNG for higher quality.

In the download options, you can choose to download them all at once in a ZIP file or one-by-one individually.

How To Upload Your Pinterest Board Covers on Pinterest

Once you’re done creating your Pinterest board covers, and you’ve downloaded them onto your computer. you can upload them on Pinterest and set them as your board cover for each board.

Step 1: Go into your Pinterest business account

Log into your Pinterest business account and click on “Create Pin” under the “Create tab on the top left-hand corner.

Step 2: Select the image you want to be your Pinterest board cover

Choose your board cover you want to upload from your computer directory.

Step 3: Fill in the fields just like any regular Pinterest Pin

Fill in the fields and treat it like you’re uploading any regular Pinterest Pin.

Add your title – you can input anything that describes what the board is about.

Tell everyone what your Pin is about – again, you can just simply describe what the board is about and use general keywords appropriate for that board to help your audience find you.

Add a destination link – generally speaking, you can leave this blank since it’s a board cover, but I like to input a link to one of my blog posts or pages that is related to what my board is about. It’s better to have a link than to not because you’ll never know who’ll click and actually visit your page!

Make sure it’s set on “publish immediately” because you want to Pin it in real-time.

Last, on the top right-hand corner, click the drop-down menu and select the board you want this board cover to be.

In my case, I would select my “Pinterest Traffic Tips” board because I plan to use this cover for that board.

Step 4: Go back to your main Pinterest profile (under the “Saved” tab)

Go back to the main home page of your Pinterest profile where you can see all your Pinterest boards.

Hover over the board you just Pinned your Pinterest board cover to and click on the “pencil icon” so you can make edits.

Step 5: Select your board cover image for that Pinterest board

This is where you can edit your board and choose your board cover image. Click on the “+” sign and you’ll be able to select the Pin or image you wish to make your Pinterest board cover.

Remember to click on the “Done” button.

Step 6: Your Pinterest board cover is uploaded!

Click done and you are good to go!

Now, the image you just created on Canva is your Pinterest board cover!

There you go, my friend!

You see, wasn’t it easy to make your Pinterest board covers?

I hope you found this tutorial on how to make Pinterest board covers on Canva helpful and easy to follow!

Don’t forget to follow me, Blog Savvy Panda, on Pinterest here for my latest blogging and Pinterest tips for your blog!

The post How To Make Pinterest Board Covers appeared first on Blog Savvy Panda.

So, in today’s article, I am going to teach you how to Pin images on Pinterest the right and proper way.

When I was a new Pinterest user a few years ago, I had no clue what I was doing when I was saving images to my boards.

I had Pinned my favorite home décor and DIY crafts to my boards, but I didn’t know I was supposed to properly name and categorize those boards.

For example, I saved everything into a board called “things for me to do” or “new projects to try.”

It wasn’t until I learned that I could make money online by using Pinterest that lead me to learn how to use the platform properly.

I had absolutely no idea that you could make money online using Pinterest by starting a blog and creating content so you can Pin to your boards.

You can even check out how I am making over $20,000 per month with a small blog today all because I decided to start my blog and learned how to save Pins on Pinterest the right way.

The thought of making money with Pinterest NEVER crossed my mind because I was just a normal Pinterest user looking for something beautiful, relevant, helpful, and inspiring to Pin into my boards.

Where else would I have come across the idea of learning how to flip furniture and make money with a fun hobby like this?

Before makeover

After makeover

Whether you’re looking for a delicious chicken recipe to make or some DIY furniture ideas for you to tackle over the weekend, there is a proper way of saving and Pinning images on Pinterest. This is especially important if you are a content creator and using Pinterest for your business.

In the remaining article, I am going to show you how to Pin on Pinterest!

If you’re new to using Pinterest for your blog or business, you’ll also want to check out this tutorial on how to make board covers for your Pinterest business profile.

How To Pin On Pinterest

As you may already know, Pinterest wants users to save, collect, and organize their Pins into related boards and categories.

By pinning Pins into relevant boards, which will be discussed in the section, “Pinning Pins To Relevant Boards,” Pinterest is able to learn and recognize what your boards and Pins are about.

For example, if a blog post is about “10 Meatless Dinner Recipes,” Pinterest will expect users to save this Pin into boards that are about “Family Dinner Recipes,” “Meal Planning For Vegetarians,” “Healthy Eating & Living,” etc.

There are a ton of board titles that this Pin can be saved to. The more related the board name is, the better it is for your content because Pinterest will recognize this Pin is about food or recipes.

NOTE: You don’t want to confuse Pinterest by saving your content about “10 Meatless Dinner Recipes” to boards like “My Travel Plans” or “Makeup Tutorials”

Now that you understand why Pinterest wants us to save Pins to relevant boards, I’m going to show you various ways to Pin on the platform.

1. Pin On Pinterest Using The Pinterest Search Bar

Step 1: Search for a keyword or phrase that you named your board. Let’s suppose you are in the beauty niche and you named your board title “Contouring For Beginners.” Using Pinterest search is one of the best ways to save pins to your boards because Pinterest already recognizes these pins as the proper categories.

Step 2: Save 1-2 pins to your board called “Contouring For Beginners” by hovering over the pin. Use the drop-down box to select the board you want to pin to.

REMINDER: Before saving any Pin into your board, always make sure this Pin is legitimate, and NOT a spam. I will teach you how to avoid saving spam Pins at the end of this article.

2. Pin On Pinterest By Saving Pins From “More like this” Section

Step 1: Suppose you clicked into the Pin from method 1 when you were searching for “Contouring For Beginners.” Anytime you click into any Pin and you scroll to the bottom, you’ll see a section called “More like this.”

Step 2: Save your Pin into an appropriate board. As you can see, Pinterest shows you results that are related or similar to the search, “Contouring for Beginners” and these pins are good to save into any board that is about contouring, makeup, or beauty.

3. How To Pin On Pinterest By Pinning From Your Home Feed

The moment you log onto Pinterest, either through mobile or phone, you’ll be on your homefeed. This activity feed recommends Pins based on your overall search and what you generally look for. When you’re scrolling through your Pinterest home feed, you can also directly save the Pin you like into your relevant boards.

General Pinning Tips For Beginners

As a beginner, I recommend consistently Pinning 5 to 10 pins a day.

If you haven’t started your blog yet nor have content to Pin or to share on Pinterest, you can go ahead and save 10 Pins from other content creators.

PRO TIP: Pinterest does not recommend pinning more than 25 to 30 pins a day. Pinning more than this suggested amount may increase the chances of your account being flagged as a spam.

For those of you who have your own Pins, you can mix it up with other bloggers’ Pins.

If you have only 10 blog posts, you can start off by Pinning 1 different blog post per day to different boards, and 5 to 8 of other people’s Pins. For now, we just want you to get started and make your Pinterest account active as you spend time creating more content and building your blog.

According to Pinterest’s best practices for success on Pinterest:

It’s a good idea to save Pins regularly—consistent, daily activity is better than a once-a-week flurry. Be patient and stick with it. Unlike social networks where all of your audience reach typically happens in the first 24 hours, the reach of your content on Pinterest will continue to grow over time as Pinners discover and save your Pins. Publishing consistently over consecutive months is the best way to build a dedicated audience.

To stay safe, you can follow these Pinterest guidelines here.

Again, make sure the Pins you save into your boards are relevant and align with what your board is about. I explain more details about how to save Pins to a relevant board in the next section.

Pinning or Saving Pins To Relevant Boards

When you’re saving Pins into your personal boards and/or Pinterest group boards, ALWAYS make sure you are Pinning Pins that are RELEVANT to that board.

For example, let’s say your pin leads to a blog post about “Easy Hairstyles for Women With Short Hair” or “How To Curl Short Hair For Women” that looks something like this:

Be sure to save that pin to boards that are related to this topic. Board names or titles like these are okay for you to save the pin into:

• Hairdos
• Hairstyle for women
• Hairstyle for party
• Beauty tips
• Beauty hacks

The more focused and narrow the board is (e.g. in this case, “hairdos”, “Hairstyle for women” or “hairstyle for party”) the better it is. However, it doesn’t mean you can’t and shouldn’t pin to other more general boards like “beauty tips” or “beauty hacks” because it’s still relevant. You still want to save that Pin and reach an audience who may be interested in general beauty and hairstyling tips.

However, NEVER save a Pin about hairstyle to a board that’s about chicken recipes, exercise routine, or winter coats!

By saving Pins to relevant boards, you are telling Pinterest what that Pin or content is about. You don’t want to confuse Pinterest thinking it’s about losing weight, healthy living, or a ground beef recipe.

Here’s one more example to help you make sound judgment when pinning your content going forward.

Let’s say your blog post is “Quick Dinners To Make On Busy Weeknights” and your Pins look something like this:

You can save this Pin into food or recipe related boards like:

• Dinner Recipes
• Family Dinners
• Budget Meals
• Chicken Dinners
• Cheap Dinners for Broke People

You could also save this to boards like:

• Saving Money
• Budgeting Tips
• Frugal Tips

That’s because your post about family dinners includes budget-friendly recipes that will help your readers save money on food. There is an audience in personal finance who is looking for ways to save money on their meals.

However, I HIGHLY recommend saving a Pin like this to boards like “Dinner Recipes” or “Family Dinners” FIRST (this is a priority) before you resave it to another board called “Frugal Tips.” You want Pinterest to recognize it MORE as “Family Dinner Meals” rather than “Frugal Tips.”

Avoid Saving Spam Pins on Pinterest!

Now that you know how to Pin (or save) Pins on Pinterest into your personal boards and group boards, I’m going to teach you how to avoid saving spam pins.

You need to be aware that there are a lot of spammers on Pinterest who steal legitimate bloggers’ Pins by directing them to spammy websites, so be careful when you are Pinning or saving images into your boards.

PRO TIP: It’s always a good practice to click into the Pin first and make sure the URL or website it brings you to is NOT a spam site. Turn this “check” into a habit to save yourself and other legitimate content creators from getting into trouble with the Pinterest police!

The moment you land on a blogger’s page, you should be able to tell whether the site looks spammy or if the person is legitimate (use your own judgment). If it’s a legitimate blogger, proceed to save the Pin into your relevant board.

Usually, a spam website would be cluttered with ads and/or contain irrelevant or shady content. Some have a little bit of content but the things they write on the page don’t make any grammatical sense nor does it tie back to the title of the original pin. I see SO many bloggers who make the mistake of saving spammy Pins without realizing it. This also includes those who are experienced with Pinterest!

I am just warning you that there are many people who steal bloggers’ Pins and redirect them to their spammy URL. Some people even redirect it to their normal website, but it “appears” to look legitimate – yes, it’s sad but true.

Overall, just be careful and make sure you are saving legitimate Pins/content.

As you become an experienced user on Pinterest, another quick way to check is to hover your mouse over the Pin. You’ll see the website URL appear at the bottom-left of the Pin. If it looks suspicious or untrusty worthy, don’t save it!

Final Word on How To Pin On Pinterest

As you have learned, Pinterest is a place where users and Pinners can collect and gather the things they love.

Pinterest is a place for inspiration and tips!

When you save on Pin on Pinterest, be sure to save them to boards that are relevant and related to what the Pin is about. For example, if a Pin is about acrylic nails, don’t save that to a board that is about chicken recipes. Pinterest will get confused.

There are three different ways to save Pins on Pinterest and they include:

• Finding and saving them from the Pinterest search
• Browsing through the “More like this” section when you click into a Pin you like or inspired by
• Pinning them directly from your home feed when you log onto Pinterest

A final word of caution is to double-check and make sure the Pin you save is not a spam Pin. In other words, the Pin image should tie back to what the content is about on the blogger’s website. On top of that, the link to the website shouldn’t look suspicious.  If your gut feeling tells you that the Pin is not created by the original blogger, you should avoid saving that Pin.

That’s it for today, folks!

I hope you found this tutorial on how to Pin on Pinterest helpful!

The post How To Pin On Pinterest appeared first on Blog Savvy Panda.

Those questions include:

• What are Pinterest group boards and how does it work?
• Will I get traffic for joining group boards on Pinterest?
• How do I join group boards on Pinterest?
• How do I find group boards on Pinterest to join?

In today’s post, I am going to answer these questions and what to know when it comes to joining group boards on Pinterest.

I will go through who will benefit the most by joining group boards along with a better alternative to Pinterest group boards.

If you’re new to Pinterest and don’t have an account yet, you can check out this post to learn how to create a Pinterest business account for your blog or website. I also have an easy tutorial on how to Pin or save Pins on Pinterest properly for beginners here.

Since you’re likely someone who is new to Pinterest, let’s get started by explaining what a Pinterest group board is and how it works.

What Are Pinterest Group Boards?

Pinterest Group Boards allow you to share and collaborate ideas with other bloggers.

Think of this as your personal Pinterest boards except you invite other contributors to share their Pins on your board and vice versa.

This is what a group board looks like on Pinterest:

The name of this group board is called “Best of Personal Finance” and the majority of contributors in this board are personal finance bloggers.

It will show more than one profile image – the owner of the board and at least one contributor on the board.

You’ll see that the board owner is “WiseBread” and he/she can add whoever requests to join this board. The only type of Pins allowed to be saved in this group board is related to personal finance or frugal living.

Pinterest Group Boards VS. Personal Boards

On the other hand, personal boards are the variety of boards that you create on your account.

For example, the boards circled in pink are my personal boards for my personal finance blog, Finsavvy Panda. They are my own boards and there are no contributors or members on them.

You’ll see that the boards circled in green are group boards – again, they show the profile pictures of the owner and other contributors.

Do you see the difference between a Pinterest group board and a personal board?

The “Best of Personal Finance” group board (from the previous section) has more than 1 contributor and you can see many members in the list.

However, in my “Financial Planning” personal board, it’s only me with no contributors.

Related article: How To Make Pinterest Board Covers For Your Business Profile

Joining Pinterest Group Boards For Traffic

Many bloggers in the past have been using Pinterest group boards to get traffic from Pinterest by leveraging off each other’s followers, but this trend has been rapidly going downhill and I will explain more in the next section. Just hold this thought for now.

For example, let’s say an established blogger has over 10K followers and another blogger (a brand-new blogger) has less than 100 followers. The new blogger would send a request to the blogger with 10K followers and ask if they can become a member and contribute to the board by sharing their own Pins.

By Pinning Pins into the more established bloggers’ group board, the new blogger is leveraging off the established bloggers’ 10K+ followers. That means, your Pin could potentially be exposed to 10K+ people, which is more than your 100 followers.

It’s not easy to get into an established blogger’s group boards. However, it’s not impossible either – as long as you put in the time and effort in building a genuine relationship. Mind you, it may be challenging to get their attention or invitation.

Established bloggers are concerned that newcomers will end up spamming their group boards or saving non-related or poor Pins (which is detrimental to their boards) because brand new bloggers aren’t as experienced.

It is much easier to send a request to new bloggers who are just starting off too. That way, you can all collaborate, learn, and grow with the bloggers who started around the same time as you.

Alternatively, you can create your own group board on Pinterest and invite your new blogger friends to collaborate with you. You can simply do this by clicking on the “+” button on your personal board and that will convert into a group board.

Going back to my personal board example, Financial Planning, I can easily change this into a group board when I click on the “+” and invite other bloggers by entering their e-mail. Once they accept your invitation, your personal board will turn into a group board.

Can I Get A Lot Of Traffic By Joining Pinterest Group Boards?

Now that you have an idea of what a group board is and how it works, I am going to tell you that this feature has been becoming less and less effective over the years.

Pinterest has said that they are looking to remove the group board feature. They feel that contributors are only trying to leverage off each other’s followers to increase their own pageviews instead of genuinely collaborating with others to share content that is helpful for Pinterest users.

However, I personally find that group boards can still be helpful especially for brand new bloggers who have 0 followers!

A new blogger with 1.2K followers could still be more helpful compared to someone newer with only 10 followers.

PRO TIP: If the Pinterest Group Board feature is still around, I recommend trying to get into 5 to 8 group boards that have NO MORE than 15 contributors.

The more contributors, the more I would avoid that group board! That’s because the more contributors there are in a group board, the higher the chances of someone spamming in that board. Plus, Pinterest does not like group boards with a high number of contributors.

Joining group boards on Pinterest could also be a great way for you to reach out to new bloggers (or bloggers who are a little more experienced than you) and build a relationship with them. As I mentioned, it’s easier to get the attention of a brand-new blogger than a well-established blogger.

But overall, DO NOT spend too much time trying to join group boards because Pinning to YOUR own personal boards are more relevant and effective than group boards.

How to Find and Join Group Boards On Pinterest

Now that you have an idea of whether or not joining group boards on Pinterest is worth your time, I am going to walk you through how to join these group boards on Pinterest if you do decide to.

The most common and quickest way to find a group board on Pinterest is to look for bloggers within your niche.

You can browse around their Pinterest profile to see if they have their own group boards and if they are a part of other content creators’ group boards.

You’ll easily identify which boards are group boards based on what I said earlier. Remember, group boards will show the owner’s profile image along with many other contributors.

When you click on the board, you’ll see who owns the board.

Contact that owner by finding their e-mail address on their blog’s contact page, or in the Pin description of the group board. Sometimes they leave their e-mails in the board description inviting you to contact them to join their boards for collaboration.

Once you have their contact, simply shoot them an e-mail asking them if you can join.

Email Template For Joining A Pinterest Group Board

Here is a template I created when I was a brand-new blogger that got me into many relevant group boards within my niche. You’re free to use it, but PLEASE change it up. Most importantly, never lie! You can adjust the template to your own personal style.

I recommend browsing around your niche and getting to know the bloggers by visiting their pages and reading their “About Me” page. This will give you a good sense of which ones you want to connect with.

I am warning you again that it isn’t easy to get into group boards, and it’s especially not easy to get an established bloggers’ attention. But what I can say is that nothing will happen if you don’t try at all.

Hi [INSERT PERSON’S FIRST NAME]!

I’ve been following your blog and I really enjoy reading your stories. I especially liked… [Elaborate more here. Take the time to browse around their blog to read one personal story, so they know you’re not just here to join their Pinterest group boards. Make it about THEM and NOT YOU. No one likes it when you just reach out to ask for favors without warming up or getting to know them. They won’t answer back or help].

I also created a new Pinterest account and would love to join your group board so I can collaborate with you:

[Copy and paste the exact title of the owner’s group board(s) you want to join here.]

I just Pinned a couple of your Pins into my boards [If you did not save any of their Pins, don’t lie about this because they will know. Trust me, they will check!]. I promise that I won’t be Pinning a lot of my own Pins on your boards, so you don’t need to worry about that! Most of the content I’ll be sharing are [list what type of content you’ll be sharing and make sure it’s within their niche. They won’t invite you if your account does not look like you’re not within the same or related niche].

My Pinterest URL is: [input URL of your Pinterest business profile]

Email: [input the email you used to sign up for your Pinterest business account]

I really looking forward to hearing back from you, [insert their name so it sounds more personable].

Thanks,
[insert your name]

Once you’ve sent your e-mail, give it about a week to see if they respond. If not, it doesn’t hurt to follow up with them. You may have to think of something more compelling in your subject line to grab their attention!

Again, always think about how you can make it about them (e.g. how you will benefit them) and not yourself. No one will respond to people who are takers and ingenuine.

Alternative To Joining Pinterest Group Boards

An alternative (or complement) to using Pinterest group boards is by sharing your Pins on Tailwind Communities.

If you want to be able to upload your Pins and have others share your content, I recommend signing up for a free Tailwind account here.

Tailwind is known for its Tailwind Scheduler and it is a Pinterest scheduler that allows you to schedule your Pins in advance, so you don’t have to manually sit there Pinning Pins one by one – this will save you a lot of time!

Once you’ve signed up for a free trial of Tailwind, you’ll also have access to Tailwind Communities. This is similar to group boards on Pinterest. The free plan of Tailwind Communities gives you access to 5 communities where you can share up to 30 of your own Pins or content per month.

I pay for the Tailwind Communities upgraded version to allow 200 Pin uploads per month and unlimited access to communities.

Using Tailwind Communities is a MORE popular and effective way for bloggers to share each other’s’ Pins and content compared to joining Pinterest group boards.

Along with that, you can check your stats in Tailwind to see which group boards are performing well for you. If the Pins you saved in those group boards are bringing you traffic then you can continue to use them.

Today, many content creators join Tailwind Communities instead of relying on group boards on Pinterest to increase their brand awareness and traffic.

You can sign up here and try it for free. Plus, you’ll get a $15 Tailwind credit as a gift when you sign up through this link!

Summary On How To Find And Join Pinterest Group Boards:

If you’re brand new to Pinterest with a new business account and don’t have a lot of followers yet, it doesn’t hurt to get onto a few high-quality niched group boards and collaborate with other content creators.

You’ll often hear many bloggers say that group boards are not effective in getting traffic, but I think it can still be beneficial for bloggers who just started using Pinterest with less than 100 followers.

From my own personal experience, new Pinterest accounts may not get as much traction yet, so you can try leveraging off a few to several group boards to see what result you’ll get. Again, I only recommend this to new bloggers with new accounts.

While you are trying to get onto a few high-quality group boards on Pinterest, I highly recommend focusing on creating your own personal boards that are relevant to the topics you write about on your blog so you can Pin or save them to those boards. Pinterest has prioritized personal boards over group boards.

As for Tailwind Communities, this may help increase your traffic if people in those communities share your Pin, so make sure your Pin design is nice and catchy.

Another tip is to check your Pinterest analytics to see which boards (both group and personal boards) along with Pins give you the most impressions and/or click-through rates. You can adjust your strategies based on your analysis.

That is it for today.

I hope you found this article helpful!

The post How To Join Group Boards on Pinterest appeared first on Blog Savvy Panda.

As soon as you’ve created your Pinterest business account, this is the first thing you’ll want to do. By verifying your website, you’ll gain access to valuable business features on the platform as a business user.

But don’t worry, it’s going to be very simple that does not require any coding or technical steps! In this easy tutorial, we are going to show you how to claim your website on Pinterest step by step.

First of all, let’s quickly talk about why it’s important to verify your website or blog.

Why Claim My Website on Pinterest?

Here are the reasons why we recommend claiming or verifying your website or blog:

• This will optimize your Pinterest profile and help you bring traffic back to your site
• You’ll get access to your Pinterest Analytics where you can analyze and see your stats on your Pins’ performance allowing you to know your top-performing posts or pages
• It will show your profile picture on all the Pins that come from your site along with a “Follow” button next to it, which promotes your brand to users and Pinners
• A small globe icon will appear next to your website’s URL on your profile, which makes you look more authentic

As you can see, there is no reason to not claim or verify your website on Pinterest! Taking the extra step to do this will provide you with many benefits as a business user.

How To Claim Your Website On Pinterest

So, yes, it is important to claim your website because not only will this allow you to start promoting your content on Pinterest for free, but you’ll also get access to your website analytics, which is crucial to growing your blog or business.

Step 1: Go to the “Claim” page

If you’re not already on this page, you can go to the top-right corner of your Pinterest account and click on the drop-down arrow. Select “Settings” from there.

Step 2: Select Claim

Select “Claim” (it will have a globe icon next to it) from the left panel.

Now, input your website/blog URL into the “Claim your website” field.

Step 3: Claim Your Website Using Headers and Footers Option

There are a few ways to claim your website on Pinterest, but I’m going to cover one of the easiest methods that most people use, which is using the “Insert Headers and Footers” plugin.

If you don’t have the “Insert Headers and Footers” plugin, I recommend installing it. You can check out this quick and simple tutorial on how to install a plugin in WordPress for beginners. I promise this will take less than 3 minutes to do.

Once you’ve installed the plugin, you can proceed from here on.

When you click on the “Claim” button, Pinterest will ask you which method you want to use to claim your website.

You’ll also notice that Pinterest gives you a code (AKA HTML tag) that looks something like:

<meta name=”p:domain verify” content=”7x6x2f3XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX”/>

Step 4: Go into your WordPress dashboard in a separate window browser

Assuming you already have the “Headers and Footers” plugin installed onto WordPress, go to  “Settings” >> “Insert Headers and Footers” from your WordPress dashboard.

Copy and paste the code (AKA HTML tag) that Pinterest gave you. It should look something like this:

Remember to hit the “Save” button after you paste the code into the “Scripts in Header” box.

Step 5: Go back to the Pinterest window browser

Now you can go back to the Pinterest window and click on the “Next” button in the popup. You’ll be asked for a confirmation to send your website for review.

Step 6: Wait for an e-mail confirmation from Pinterest

Once you get an e-mail confirmation from Pinterest within 24 hours, go to the “Claim” section in your Pinterest account to verify that it’s been confirmed.

Make sure you see a green checkmark next to your domain name. It should look like this:

Once you receive an email confirmation from Pinterest and you see a globe icon with a checkmark next to your website URL on your Pinterest profile, then you are officially done!

I hope you found this tutorial helpful in claiming your website on Pinterest using the Headers and Footers plugin option!

The post How To Claim Your Website On Pinterest appeared first on Blog Savvy Panda.

One traffic source I recommend new bloggers to learn and use is Pinterest.

One question I often get asked is “Is a Pinterest business account free?”

A short and simple answer.

Yes, it is absolutely free to create a Pinterest business account to drive FREE traffic back to your blog or website!

So, in this lesson, we are going to help you set up your Pinterest business account!

By signing up for a Pinterest business account, you’ll be able to promote your blog, content, products, and services and drive traffic back to your website!

Switch From Pinterest Personal Account To Business Account

Before we get started, I want to address another question that my readers often ask me.

“Should I sign up for a new Pinterest business account or should I switch my personal account to a business one?”

Here’s my answer.

Suppose you have a personal account and you mostly pin images that are related to what you’re going to blog about.

For example, if you pin a lot of fashion or makeup images and you plan to create a blog in one of those niches, then you can switch from a personal to a Pinterest business account.

Plus, if you’ve already gained some followers who are interested in those topics, this may be helpful when you are pinning your content related to fashion or makeup.

However, if you don’t want to mix your personal interests with your blog, then it’s best to create a brand-new business account from scratch.

I always recommend starting from scratch, but it is ultimately your decision and what you want.

Now, I am excited for you because we are going to help you register and set up a Pinterest business account for your blog!

Don’t forget to save this blog post here on Pinterest so you can refer back to this guide and learn how to set up your Pinterest business account the right way!

1. Create Your Pinterest Business Account

The first step to setting up a Pinterest business account is creating one!

You can follow these simple step by step instructions to create your account.

Step 1: Click here to create your Pinterest business account.

Once you’ve opened the link into a new winder browser, proceed to step 2.

Step 2: Set up your Pinterest Profile.

You can input your business name using your blog name. For example, mine would be Finsavvy Panda. Next, check off “Yes” and input your website. I am assuming you already have a blog/website.

Next, select your “Country/Region” and “Language.”

Step 3: Describe your brand by choosing one of the categories given to you below.

If you can’t find your category, you can select “Other” for now. For example, I couldn’t find personal finance or make money, so I selected “Other.”

Step 4: Continue to describe your brand.

The page will ask you to describe your brand by selecting 1 out of the 9 options:

• I’m not sure
• Blogger
• Consumer Good, Product or Service
• Contract or Service Provider
• Influencer, Public Figure, or Celebrity
• Local Retail Store or Local Service
• Online Retail Store or Marketplace
• Publisher or Media
• Other

I personally selected the “Blogger” option.

Step 5: Answer the question, “Would you ever be interested in running ads on Pinterest?”

This is just simply letting them know if you’d be interested in paying for promoted ads in the future.

Pinterest offers something called “Promoted Ads” and you have the option to pay for ads. The “Promoted Ads” feature on Pinterest can be useful for you once you have more experienced with using Pinterest and converting high affiliate offers or selling your own products in the future.

Even though you are interested in driving free organic traffic from Pinterest in your beginning blogging journey, you can still say “Yes, I’m interested in advertising.” It’s up to you!

Step 6: Pinterest will ask you “Where would you like to start?”

I recommend clicking on “Build your profile” under “Showcase your brand.” That way you can immediately fill out your Pinterest profile, which is quick and easy!

Step 7: Edit your profile

Edit your profile by filling in the fields. You can also click on the “Change” button to upload your logo or profile image.

I highly recommend paying special attention to the “About your profile” field. The best practice is to optimize your profile, in no more than 25 words, by including some keywords or phrases that will increase the chances of people searching for your profile once you have more authority on Pinterest.

Don’t try to be “unique” or “cute” by using words or phrases that people don’t usually search for. For example, don’t use phrases like “dolla dolla bill$” or “shop ’til you drop” because no one will ever search for those words or phrases.

I’ll explain in more detail how you can create and optimize your Pinterest business profile after you claim your website in the next section.

Congratulations! You’ve now created your Pinterest business account!

Now, it’s time to learn how to set up your account.

2. Claim Your Website or Blog on Pinterest

The first thing we’re going to do now is to help you claim your website on Pinterest.

It’s important to claim your blog or website because not only will this optimize your profile and help you bring traffic back to your site, but it will also allow you to access your Pinterest Analytics.

Similar to why you should set up a Google Analytics account, being able to see your stats on Pinterest through their analytics tool will allow you to analyze and see which of your Pins are getting impressions and pageviews. That means you can see your top performers that drive traffic back to your posts or pages.

Your profile picture will also appear on all the Pins that come from your site along with a “Follow” button for your Pinterest account.

Follow instructions here to learn how to claim your website or blog on Pinterest.

3. Create Your Pinterest Business Profile

Now that you’ve registered for a Pinterest business account and verified your website, I am going to go through three simple steps to help you create your Pinterest Business Profile.

Step 1: Optimize Your Pinterest Display Name

By inputting a few relevant keywords in your display name, Pinterest users and Pinners can find you more easily when they are searching for certain keywords or phrases in the Pinterest search bar.

Using my Finsavvy Panda personal finance blog as an example, I input my blog name (in case someone is looking for my name) along with some keywords that I blog about.

As you can see, my display name is “Finsavvy Panda | Save Money, Make Money Online, Personal Finance.”

Depending on your niche, you are going to find keywords or phrases that match and align with the topics you blog about.

There are many different keywords that you can use and take advantage of. However, you are limited in characters given the small field, so keep it short and concise.

Step 2: Fill out the “About your profile” field

It is important to fill out the “About your profile” field when you are editing your Pinterest profile.

Similar to optimizing your display name from step 1, your “about me” profile gives Pinterest users and your followers a quick description of what you blog or write about. As of the time writing this article, the description field only allows you to write up to 25 words so use this space wisely.

Using my personal finance blog, Finsavvy Panda, as a quick example, I typed this into the “About your profile” field, “Save money & make money! Grab your FREE budget printables to help you gain financial freedom. bit.ly/2Mcccer”

As you can see, I want to target quick and basic keywords like save money, make money, budget printables, and financial freedom.

Here are some quick examples and ideas for different blog niches.

If you’re in the healthy living niche, you can use keywords like:

• Clean eating
• Healthy recipes for dinner
• Breakfast recipes
• Quick and easy meal planning
• Healthy lifestyle

If you’re in the beauty niche, you can use keywords like:

• How to look pretty
• Skin care tips
• Korean skincare tips
• Makeup tutorials
• Beauty tips
• Makeup looks

If you’re in the self-development or self-care niche, you can use keywords like:

• Self-development
• Positive mindset
• Self-care
• Healthy habits
• How to become happier

These are just quick and easy examples to show you how to optimize your Pinterest profile with keywords that Pinterest users or Pinners search for. At the same time, these keywords also describe what your blog and niche is about. You can set up keyword targeting to discover keywords or phrases.

Step 3: Include Your Logo or Profile Picture

You should always include a profile image on your Pinterest Profile. This could be a headshot of yourself or your logo.

By including a profile image, you’ll increase brand awareness of you and your blog as time goes by. On top of that, users who see a profile image, especially if it’s a picture of yourself, will see you as more inviting.

I personally don’t use my own image, but I use an image of a panda which has worked out well for me. I am a shy and very introverted person, but I will probably include a picture of myself in the future once I feel more comfortable!

This is entirely up to you and there is no right or wrong approach to uploading a profile pic. Do what makes the most sense for you and your brand.

Now that you’ve optimized your display name, the description about your blog or website, and included a profile image, it’s time to create your Pinterest boards.

3. Create Your Pinterest Boards

Pinterest boards are where you save, collect, and organize your Pins. Think of these boards as folders or categories to help you keep your Pins, inspirations, and ideas organized. For example, I have many variations of boards to separate my categories for:

• General Personal Finance
• Making Money Ideas
• Saving Money Ideas
• Budgeting Tips
• Investing For Beginners
• Meal Planning On A Budget

Depending on your niche and what you blog about, you are going to create boards that are relevant to YOU and YOUR audience. It’s best to create boards based on your content ideas and what you will be writing about most often.

For example, if you’re in the mommy niche, you can create boards like:

• Baby Shower Ideas
• Baby On A Budget
• Motherhood
• Parenting
• Raising Baby
• Postpartum Recovery

Here’s another example of boards you can create if you are in the self-development niche:

• Personal Growth & Self Development
• How To Be Happy
• Self Love and Self Care
• Positive Mindset Tips
• Healthy Habits

You can use the Pinterest search bar to name your boards according to relevant keywords that get searched for. When naming your boards, or giving your boards a title, always make sure it’s short, concise, and to the point!

You’ll also want to check out how to create pretty Pinterest board covers here for your personal boards. It’s really quick and easy to do! This will make your profile look more professional and organized. I was able to create mine in literally 10 minutes!

In addition to creating your own personal boards, you can also join Pinterest group boards. By joining group boards on Pinterest, you can also save and share your Pins on other bloggers’ boards. Learn how to join group boards on Pinterest and determine whether this is a good strategy to drive traffic back to your blog.

5. Save or “Pin” Pins Into Your Pinterest Boards

The term, “Pinning” is the same as saving or bookmarking.

According to Pinterest’s definition:

Pins are bookmarks that people use to save ideas they love on Pinterest. Pins can be images, videos or products. If you click through the Pin, you can visit the website to learn how to make it or where to buy it.

I’m sure you’re excited to add and promote your own Pins to your boards, but assuming you are a new Pinterest Business user, I am going to teach you how to save or Pin other people’s Pins into your boards first. I also have a great and informative tutorial on how to Pin on Pinterest here.

You may be wondering what is the purpose of saving or Pinning to boards.

To answer that question, Pinterest wants users to save, collect, and organize their Pins into related boards and categories.

By Pinning into relevant boards (which I will talk about more in the next section), Pinterest is able to learn and recognize what your boards and Pins are about.

For example, if your blog post is about “10 Vegetarian Dinner Recipes,” Pinterest will expect users to save this pin into boards that are about “Family Dinner Recipes,” “Meal Planning For Vegetarians,” “Healthy Eating & Living,” etc.

There are a ton of board titles that this pin can be saved to. The more related the board name is, the better it is for your content because Pinterest will recognize this pin is about food or recipes.

DON’T DO THIS: You don’t want to confuse Pinterest by saving your content about “10 Meatless Dinner Recipes” to boards like “DIY Home Décor” or “Budgeting Ideas” because they do not relate to each other at all.

5. Save Pins To Relevant Boards

When saving or Pinning into any boards, always make sure you are saving Pins that are relevant or related to that board.

Let’s use these Pins I created for a beauty blogger with the online Canva tool as an example.

Say your pin leads to a blog post about “How To Get Rid Of Oily Skin” or “How To Get Rid Of Pimples” that looks something like this:

Be sure to save that pin to boards that are related to this topic. Board names or titles like these are okay for you to save the pin into:

• Skincare tips
• Skincare
• Skincare routine
• Beauty tips
• Beauty hacks
• How to look pretty
• Beauty bloggers
• Teenager lifestyle

The more focused and narrow the board is (e.g. in this case, “skincare tips”, “skincare” or “skincare routine”) the better it is.

However, it doesn’t mean you can’t and shouldn’t pin to other more general boards like “beauty tips” or “beauty bloggers” because it’s still relevant.

You still want to save that Pin and reach an audience who may be interested in general beauty tips to get rid of oily skin. Just NEVER save a Pin about skincare to a board that’s about losing weight, making money online or parenting!

By saving Pins to relevant boards, you are telling Pinterest what that Pin or content is about. You don’t want to confuse Pinterest thinking it’s about losing weight, making money online, or a chicken recipe.

I also created these Pins for a travel blog to help you make sound judgment when Pinning your content.

Let’s say your blog post is “Travelling New York City On A Budget” and your Pins look something like this:

You can save this pin to travel-related boards like:

• New York City
• Travel & Eats
• Travelling New York
• Destinations To Visit
• Things To Do In New York City

You could also save this to boards like:

• Saving Money
• Budgeting
• Frugal Travels
• Frugal Tips

That’s because your post about traveling to New York City includes content that teaches your readers how to stay within a budget or travel on the cheap while visiting New York City. There is an audience in personal finance who is looking for ways to save money while traveling.

However, I highly recommend saving a Pin like this to boards like “New York City” or “Travelling New York” FIRST (this is a priority) before you save that same pin into another board called “Saving Money.”

You want Pinterest to recognize this as “Travelling New York City” rather than “Saving Money Tips.”

Next Steps to Creating a Pinterest Business Account

Congratulations, you’ve officially created your Pinterest business account!

If you are a beginner who just started using Pinterest, I highly recommend you familiarize yourself with the platform before learning traffic strategies. I also recommend learning how to create your own Pinterest Pins by using a handy tool called Canva here.

There is a free version, but I am using the Canva Pro version because it gives you access to over 75 million premium stock photos and it allows you to create folders and organize your work, which is worth the investment! With the free version, you will be limited to free stock photos and you won’t be able to create folders or subfolders to organize your designs.

Canva is very easy to use especially for beginners who have no experience with graphics or design. I have absolutely NO graphic design skills nor experience, but I’m still able to create great Pins that drive traffic back to my blogs, so I do recommend creating a Canva account here!

Once you have a basic understanding of how to create boards and save some Pins, along with creating your Pins to promote your blog posts, your next step is to learn how to get traffic with the platform.

If you have any questions about Pinterest, just send me an e-mail and I’ll be happy to help!

The post How To Set Up A Pinterest Business Account For Your Blog appeared first on Blog Savvy Panda.