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Have you wondered if it’s possible for you to start a successful blog? I did! In my last post, I shared the good and bad of over a month of blogging. After getting some questions, I wanted to write more about exactly what I did to increase my pinterest traffic. If you’re thinking of starting your own blog, hopefully you can learn something.

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working pinterest

I used to think Pinterest was all recipes and DIY tiny-houses made from popsicle sticks. I didn’t realize how much great information and potential there was! When I started in early January, I had about eleven followers and no engagement. My boards were called “bikes” and “best doggies.” So yeah, I knew nothing.

The last few weeks I’ve been following more in my niche, joining more group boards, and trying to consistently pin and share from tribes.

And it worked! My traffic went nuts…from 124 – 171,xxx viewers in just over a month!

And I’m going to share exactly what I did, so you can do it too!

but first, a recap:

At the beginning of January, I decided to try something new. In short, I wanted to blog for traffic. I’ve had a website for a long time, but it mostly served as a personal journal-slash-portfolio for freelance writing. Occasionally, I added race reports, or more recently, twin baby reports. The audience for these posts has typically been friends and family only. You can see how the first few weeks went here.

I had no idea that Pinterest was everything until I started the course Ready, Set, Blog for traffic. Shortly after, I went deep into a rabbit hole of all things Pinterest research.

then i tried all the things

**disclaimer: I’m not saying anything I did was the right method. I’ve only been doing this one month! But…maybe something I share can help those who are also just getting started***

Here’s what I did and some of the challenges I faced along the way.

15 tips I used to go from 4 – 4084 engaged and 124 – 171,817 viewers in just over a month.

1. Get a course – I’m sure there are a ton of good courses out there, but I chose Elna Cain’s Ready, Set, Blog for Traffic. I’d read tons of her articles and what she said made sense to me. Plus, she’s a fellow twin mom and freelance writer. Overall, I would definitely recommend this course!
2. Upgrade to business account
3. Enable rich pins – Because I used to associate Pinterest with dessert, “rich pins” makes me imagine a decadent chocolate cake. Anyone else?
4. Verify website
5. Do something with your profile – Use a real photo [versus a logo] and keywords.
6. Keyword Tool – use a tool to add Pinterest keywords to your alt text and description. I grabbed Ike Paz’s keyword finder.
7. Make pretty pins – Duh, right? Seriously though, even if you aren’t a visual person, there’s no reason in the age of Canva you can’t make a decent looking pin When in doubt, use a template and don’t stray too far. Check out all these options.
8. Write about pain points – This is another “duh” but easy to get wrong. Back when I used to blog, it was for myself and not anyone else. That’s all well and good, but one can only read so many of my triathlon race reports before the eyes glaze. Going forward I’m trying to find a better balance of personal stories, using only those that support helpful content.
9. Join group boards – I’m still working on this one. Each week, I request a dozen or so boards. [Have any good parenting, baby, fitness, or WAH boards open? Would love to connect!]
10. Join Tailwind and get active in tribes- This definitely increased my pin circulation and visibility. [Don’t know what all that is? Here’s a great primer to get started.] When I look at my traffic so much comes from Smartloop, Tribes, and pins and saves while I’m sleeping!
11. Join facebook groups – There are a ton of groups out there for support. Start by researching some of your favorite pinners in your niche.
12. Pin whenever you can- I like to scroll while waiting in line or trying to go to sleep after middle-of-the-night baby feedings.
13. Make multiple images for each pin – This was a great tip from Ready, Set, Blog for Traffic. Right now I only have two or so images from my more popular posts, but I’m planning to make more. As a best practice, when I add the image I give the post a perusal to add detail and fix any mistakes I see.
14. Submit lots of content – Content is why we’re here. Don’t wait for it to be perfect. Shoot for good enough and move onto the next one.

I hope these tips help you get started Pinning! Have any others I should try for this month? Please comment and let me know!

other month 1 stats:

pageviews in month one:

I met my first goal! I was beyond excited to hit 5k pageviews. I’m hoping to double that in the next few months.

affiliate income in month one:

I met my second goal as well! Right now I’m only dabbling in the Amazon Associates program–since I talk about and recommend products all day long from there anyway, it makes sense!

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Here’s what my stats looked like after three weeks:

And now, they look like this:

Dang! Exactly 100k more. I swear I didn’t plan that. I know monthly views are basically a vanity metric, but it’s still cool to see the growth.

tracking popular posts.

My popular posts have fallen under the mom category–but interestingly enough, my most popular pins have been out of the writing and fitness categories. Maybe the mom stuff is helpful and the writing/running stuff is more what you want to have on your boards? I’m not sure. All I know is my most popular pin was a breast pump comparison, yet it has, like, no saves. While my other pins I’d categorize as more “motivational” have lots of saves yet hardly any reads. 🙂

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updating old content

In Ready, Set, Blog for Traffic–a great course I’m taking from Elna Cain–and Blog Millionaire, an awesome podcast. there is a lot of talk about the importance of repurposing old content. So I’ve still been updating some old posts. Now I’m focusing on the Courage to Tri stories posts.

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organized facebook groups

My facebook group situation was a hot mess. I finally went through, organized them all, and pinned only the most active ones in which I plan to participate weekly.

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signing up as an affiliate

I’d blindly signed up as an Amazon associate during my book launch and hadn’t touched the account since. Thankfully it was still going, and as of today, I’ve made just under $30 in comission in the past thirty days. Woohoo!

I’m not sure what other affiliate programs fit my niche. I joined a few others, such as Target and Shareasale. Not sure if or when I’ll become active on those.

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increased subscribers

I’ve gotten about thirty new subscribers the past month, which I’m really excited about! I need to through and clean up my convertkit tags and lists, then thinking about sending out that very first email. I know, I know…should have done that already. Any ideas on what to include?

closing thoughts

All in all, I’ve learned a ton the past month, and I’d consider the blogging a success. I plan to post about my results every two weeks or so. Onward and upward! My next big milestone is 10 – 15k pageviews a month and $100 + in affiliate income.

how to get started yourself

It was much easier to get started than I thought, but I have a lot of experience with small business, wordpress, and other tech stuff. If you were starting from absolute zero, I can see how it would be a lot tougher.

If you’re semi-proficient online, I’d definitely recommend picking up a course like Ready, Set, Blog for Traffic. I’ve learned a lot about the differences between, say, blogging for my neighbor and family to read versus writing so that others can discover.

My best piece of advice is just to go for it. There will never be a better time than now to start blogging.

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Like this idea? Pin it!

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