BLOG DIY: Pinterest for bloggers

This week's Blog DIY is about one of the fastest growing social media channels - Pinterest. It's easy to say that Pinterest is an inspirational and motivational tool, for both bloggers and the rest of the world. It's also easy to believe that Pinterest is the new Google. What you sometimes can't see though is that Pinterest is a tool which 'makes people feel empowered yet incompetent, inspired yet overwhelmed, and just plain hungry all the same time'. It's an easy one to get a hang of, but it's also an easy one to lose control over. This Pinterest for bloggers guide is not a full-blown everything-you'll-ever-know-about-Pinterest sort of thing. It's just a few points which will hopefully help you aim in the right direction.

About you
I know, I know, you really want to start pinning those lovely pictures of Scandinavian interior design & salmon baked in a brown paper topped with extra green greens. Hold your horses there - before you start pinning, you should think about yourself. Have you filled in the 'about me' section (don't forget that this is SEO relevant therefore you want to include some keywords describing you and your blog)? Have you linked your Facebook, Twitter, Google and whatnot accounts to it? Have you linked your blog & verified it? Have you uploaded a relevant profile picture? And obviously - is your name relevant? You don't necessarily need to choose your blog name, however if you want this account to serve as a source of click throughs and potential readers, then it would be a good idea.

Boards & organization
Now onto the pinning itself. Pinterest works like a big pinboard sort of place so treat it like one too. Have your boards organized - the board names should be relevant to their content and don't forget to choose a category for them! That way you'll make it easier for others to find you!

How to pin images?
There are about a million ways how to pin images. You can re-pin images you've searched for, you can re-pin images of people you're following (and which therefore pop up in your feed), you can upload images from your computer (right top corner PLUS button), you can pin images from a website (hint hint - maybe your blog?; the same right top corner PLUS button), or you can add a pin button to your browser (Pinterest tells you how to do this here). Apart from keeping it relevant to your board themes, the rule number two of pinning is pin images which are worth it - that means only pretty large, clear images which you enjoy to look at. Thumbnails just drive me nuts. No, no, no thumbnails, please.

How to add a Pinterest hover button your blog?
The question everyone's been waiting for. As a person who learns everything re blogging myself, it took me a decent amount of time to find a code I'd be happy with. One that I can customize easily and one that doesn't mess up my template (it's quite interactive on the home page so hover buttons tend to make it go bonkers!). This code below is super easy to use and even easier to customize.

For Blogger users, go into your Template > edit HTML > search (Ctrl F) fortag. Once you've found it, copy & paste the below code above it. Save. Done!

//
// // This Pinterest Hover Button is brought to you by hififun.net. // Visit http://www.hififun.net/2014/02/how-to-add-pinterest-hover-pin-it-button-to-blog.html for details. // Feel free to use and share, but please keep this notice intact otherwise this will not work. //
(Source)
To customize this (the basic one comes with the traditional red Pinterest hover button), you need to replace this - http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y3xzTGiGzH0/UK4XOaUpdaI/AAAAAAAADw8/Z1MH4Jr4Efo/s1600/pinterestx1_72.png - part with your own code. The easiest way is to go into a new blog post, upload your desired pin (you can google 'free pinterest hover buttons' or just create your own) and right-click 'copy link location'. Now insert it instead of the original hover button link. Voila!

To customize position of your hover button, you replace the word 'centre' with either 'topleft', 'topright', 'bottomleft' or 'bottomright', depending on where you would like the button to be.

Super easy, isn't it? Now everyone can click on your images and share them!

Obviously don't forget to 'advertise' your Pinterest on your blog, usually it's the easiest to place it with the rest of social media icons such as Bloglovin, Twitter etc. You can also set up an app on Facebook which will link to your pinterest - see how to do it here.


Image descriptions & SEO
Now don't forget to write relevant keyword-rich descriptions to images you pin - when people search for something, the description is what Pinterest looks through. Hashtags are just a little add on - they accumulate pools of the same hashtags for easier browsing. Also don't forget to link to the original source of the image and pin it onto a relevant board


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Are you a bit lost on the Facebook front? Check out the Facebook for bloggers guide I put together!

Hope this has been helpful & check this blog in 2 week's time for another nifty blogger guide!
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