As a blogger, we are always looking for ways to improve views to our blog posts. Pinterest is a great tool for directing traffic. I haven’t had a viral pin yet and I’m hoping that doing this exercise will help me to see what is performing well, so I can improve on it. One thing I did find is that something was messed up in my posts and my featured image is not showing up like it is supposed to. Now, I have a new action item on my “blog to do”  list.

Top Pins and Top Posts

One surprising thing to me is that a pin may perform very well, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be a top post. Top pins and top posts are different. Sometimes people pin your pins because:

• they like the look of your pin
• it fits in their niche
• you have a catchy phrase or quote that people like
• content looks intriguing and they may be pinning to view later

Shannon’s Grotto -Top Performing Pins In 2017

We will start with our #1 pin and work our way to #10. By each pin I will talk about the elements I tried to include to make my pins stand out. Here are some tips:

• alt text– so that no matter who pins it, it will have a description
• Vertical Pins– Basically they are longer than they are wide: a rectangle
• I’ve pinned them to my blog board: From Shannon’s Grotto
• I’ve pinned them to other boards where they fit in. For example this first pin: From Shannon’s Grotto, Marriage, Relationships, and Thoughts
• Pin to group boards (make sure you follow each groups rules)
• Apply for and make “rich pins”
• Use the colors yellow and red
• Without faces- for some reason people tend to not pin pins that have a face looking forward, though a profile does fairly well.

#1 Pin 2017

Marriage Rules for a Long and Happy Marriage

 

This one has a couple of elements that help it to perform well.

• It is longer than it is wide. (Vertical Pin)
• I used 2 fonts
• It is yellow; I read somewhere that pins with yellow and red tend to perform better
• overlay
• Quote

#2

12 Father’s Day Gift Ideas-for the hard to buy for dad

• Long vertical pin
• 2 fonts
• It has a face, but isn’t an actual person
• “For the hard to buy for Dad” draws people in
• List

#3

23 Things You Don’t Understand About My Auto-Immune Child

In my Pinterest analytics, this pin ranks high in clicks, saves and more!

• Even though it isn’t very long, it is still a vertical pin
• Has yellow
• 2 fonts and different font sizes
• Title and a little more info
• List

#4

Are You Making Your Marriage A Sweet Love Story?

• Vertical pin
• Nice photo with an overlay
• While there are not 2 fonts, there are different sizes of the font
• Intriguing questions
• The color red, even though it is muted with the overlay

#5

Brown Sugar Bacon and Omelets

 

• Tasty picture of the recipe
• 2 fonts
• vertical, but just barely
• contains yellow

#6

Gluten Free- Chocolate Dipped Goodies

• Multiple images of the things contained in this post
• Multiple information- recipes
• vertical pin (very long)
• Specialized “gluten free”
• the orange and pink catch your eye (variations of yellow and red)

#7

Delicious Turkey, Red Onion, and Goat Cheese Scrambled Eggs- gluten free

In my Pinterest analytics, which you get with a Pinterest business account, this pin ranks high with being shared a lot as well as: a high mix of saves and clicks!

• vertical pin (long)
• yellow and red
• what the recipe looks like
• specialized niche “gluten free”
• Info about the recipe

#8

Easy Gluten Free Pesto Chicken Served with Alfredo

• Vertical (long)
• This is the 3rd popular pin that has green in it. It’s looking like green is another standout color for pins.
• photos of the recipe
• Word choice “Easy”
• Same font but “Easy” is turned to make it a little more eye catching.
• Niche “Gluten Free”

#9

Raising Daughters- What we have learned

• Vertical pin (long)
• 2 sizes of font
• yellow
• while there is a face, it is a profile and not directly on
• overlay helps to see the words better

#10

Flavorful Gluten Free Banana Bread

• Vertical (just barely, it is a rectangle)
• picture of the finished product
• red
• overlay
• 2 fonts
• “Flavorful” is turned to be eye catching
• Word choice “Flavorful”
• Niche “Gluten Free”

Something to think about

Doing this exercise has given me a lot to think about as I create my next pins. For example:

• vertical is important (I’m going to keep doing it and size doesn’t seem to matter as long as it is a tall rectangle)
• red, yellow and green have performed well
• different fonts on 1 pin- I should do more of that!
• different sizes of fonts- I should keep doing this
• 6 of 10 of the pictures were my own and I don’t necessarily need to use someone else’s photos
• 1/2 of the top performing pins are food- recipes
• Relationship and emotional pins are performing well
• I did some trial periods for Tailwind and BoardBooster. Would these tools improve my pins performance and can I afford it right now? (Something to consider)

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