Pinterest is a gem for finding ideas, tips, products, and inspiration. It’s a visual social media platform that offers its users the opportunity to build a profile and save these (re)sources in an organized fashion by creating boards and pinning these (re)sources to them. Other users can view and pin them to their Pinterest boards. Their followers can do the same. And so on!
In addition to finding these sources of inspiration, it’s a visual promotional tool that bloggers can use to promote our content and extend our reach.
When I think of Pinterest I feel energized by its use and the potential it holds for its users. Authors sharing published books, cover reveals, snippets of reviews on an eye-catching background, writers sharing snippets of their work beautifully presented, bloggers sharing blog posts crafted with care, etc.
A well-designed Pinterest pin offers solutions, inspiration, and an opportunity to showcase our work to the masses with ease.
In this post we’ll look at:
- Pinterest Profile
- Adding the Pinterest Share Option to Blog Posts
- Custom “Pin It” Button for Blog Images ~ What is it?
- Create and add a “Pin It” Button on Blog Images in WordPress
Pinterest Profile
In the image below, this is a glimpse of my Pinterest profile page. Along with a profile picture, we can include a brief introduction and our website or another URL.
We can have a personal account and/or a business account. Both accounts are free to use, but the business account offers users many useful features, such as access to analytics and promotional opportunities. I recently upgraded to a business account. I wish I did it earlier!
Below the profile description, you can see my Pinterest Boards. In this screenshot, I could only capture two, but I have twenty active. We can create as many Boards as we’d like. With every Board, I have a main image and description of what the Board is about.
If you’d like more detailed information on creating an account/profile and learning the ins and outs of this platform, Pinterest has awesome tutorials to help guide you through the entire process.
Using Pinterest for Promotion
As a writer, blogger, and designer, I discovered the power of incorporating Pinterest as an integral part of my marketing. I pin my poetry prints, design assets/products, and blog tutorials to my Pinterest profile boards. Other users can view the pins, click through to a product or tutorial, and repin them to their Pinterest profile boards.
I love pinning beautiful designs, helpful resources, and useful tips shared by others, too!
A well-designed Pin can go viral.
Having the Pinterest Share Option on our Blog
As a blogger, we can easily pin our blog posts to our Pinterest profile. I have a Board titled Blogging Resources and Tips and pin all my blog posts to that Board. I pin fellow bloggers’ posts, as well.
Hopefully, you have Pinterest included with your Social Media Share options for your blog, as displayed in the image below. If you’re not quite sure how to do this, please feel free to pop by my blog post for a step-by-step guide ~ Increase blog traffic and maximize reach by adding and customizing social media sharing options in WordPress!
I receive quite a bit of traffic from Pinterest for my How-To blog posts. Many thanks to those who have pinned it!
Bloggers, be aware! It’s fantastic when someone shares and saves our blog post to Pinterest, but unless our Featured Image is optimized as a vertical image and includes a catchy, easy-to-view title, the image, which is linked to our blog post, may get lost in the mass of images on Pinterest.
One of the many reasons why I chose my website theme is due to the styling of the featured image. This theme displays my featured image as vertical 600×900 pixels.
However, many blog themes use a horizontal style featured image which is great for Twitter and Facebook, but not necessarily ideal for Pinterest.
That’s why the customized “Pin It” feature is a game-changer for bloggers.
Custom “Pin It” Option ~ What is it?
The “Pin It” feature is quite different from the above blog-share scenario and offers much more versatility in a blogger’s favour. If your website theme displays featured images in a horizontal format, you can design an image optimized for Pinterest viewing and include it within your blog post.
When it comes to Pinterest, Visual Optimization is key. Pinterest recommends a 2:3 aspect ratio (ie. 500 x 750 pixels or 1000 x 1500 pixels) for optimal viewing. I create my images as 600 x 900 pixels.
Most recently, I started adding a “Pin It” button to my blog images. Yup, we can pin any image from our website/blog by easily adding a “Pin It” Button.
How it works ~ the “Pin It” Button will display when visitors scroll through and their mouse is positioned on the image. The image can be pinned to Pinterest and the description used is the title of the page/post. For example, every image in this post is linked to this blog post and has the description ~ How to Create a Pinterest “Pin It” Button on Images in WordPress!
With the “Pin It” Button, we and our visitors can pin individual images to our/their Pinterest boards. If our post has five images, we/they can pin each image. If we have ten images, we/they can pin all ten. I often include numerous screenshots with my How-To Blog Posts. Not all images are ideal in size for Pinterest viewing, but I’ll leave that up to my visitors to decide.
Creating a “Pin It” Button on Images in WordPress
In this post, I’d love to show you how to create and add a “Pin It” Button to your blog images in WordPress, as displayed in the image below.
I found the jQuery Pin It for Images Plugin and love how easy it was to set up and use. I tried a few others but found this one to be a keeper, and it’s free to use. You can upgrade to access additional features with further customization, but the free version works just fine for me.
You can find the Plugin here. To install, you’ll just need to click on “Install Now” and then click on “Activate.”
You’ll find it listed with your Plugins.
You can also view it via Settings, as displayed in the image below.
Let’s set it up!
Let’s set it up. With the Plugin open, you’ll see the following tabs:
- Selection
- Visual
- Advanced
- Import/Export
- Documentation
- Support
In this tutorial, we’ll look at Selection, Visual, and Documentation Settings. The remaining Settings are there for additional, advanced options.
Selection
In the Selection Settings, you’ll see the following options:
- Image Selector
- Disable Classes
- Enabled Classes
- Minimum image resolution
- On which pages the “Pin it” button should be shown
With every option, there is an explanation for its use.
Here we can choose and customize which web pages we’d like to use it. If you want the “Pin It” Button to appear on images in your blog posts only, you can easily set it up that way.
Save and you’re done. We can always edit these settings later.
Visual
Under the Visual Settings, you’ll see the following options:
- Show button ~ When the “Pin it” button should be visible
- Description source
- Transparency
- Pin image ~ Mode, Settings, and Preview
- Pin linked URL
- Scale Pin Image
- “Pin it” button position
- “Pin it” button margins
Again, every option is explained well and easy to understand.
I decided to use the Display On Hover option and selected the Post Title option for the Description Source.
TIP: To optimize your Pin’s visibility, ensure your blog title (in this scenario) is detailed and keywords and phrasing are used for Pinterest search tools. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a key piece to maximizing reach!
We can choose the look, size, and position of the “Pin It” Button.
Click save and you’re done!
Documentation
Under the Documentation Setting, there is a fantastic reference guide if you require clarification on any of the features.
How to Pin an Image
After completing the steps above, pinning an image to Pinterest is a quick, simple process.
When we hover over an image, we’ll see the “Pin It” Button appear on the image. When and how the button is displayed will vary depending on the settings you’ve chosen during setup.
When we click on the image, we’ll have the option to save it to our Pinterest Boards. For example, I’ll pin/save this image to my Blogging Resources and Tips Board. We can save it to multiple Boards.
And we’re done!
If you haven’t been using Pinterest, I hope this post encourages you to jump on board. It’s a fantastic marketing tool and one we can easily put to use!
Incorporating the “Pin It” option on blog images is a fantastic way to elevate our reach with its versatility and customizable features.
Have a tip you’d like to share? Please feel free to share in the comments below.
If you’re using Pinterest and would like to connect, please do share a link to your profile in the comments below. Let’s connect!
Until next time … happy sharing, my friends! ♥
Excellent tutorial; very helpful tips! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Cheers, Starr! Delighted to know you found it useful. It’s always a joy to share! 🙂
Great tutorial, love it! Sometimes it’s just easier to follow a well written recommendation rather than researching 50 options. Life is too short 🙂
Thank you! So delighted to know you found it helpful. Cheers and happy Pinning! 🙂