Many bloggers will agree that the majority of their traffic (or at least half) comes from Pinterest alone. Of course, the goal is to get most of your traffic from search engines, but that takes much more time to accomplish. In order to get floods of traffic, you will need to know the best methods to creating pins that get clicks.
Among the most common Pinterest mistakes bloggers make is not putting enough attention into their pin creation. Without an eye-catching pin, you can’t expect many users to click on your post.
When it comes down to creating pin images, there are many best practices that Pinterest recommends. However, these tips alone aren’t going to be enough for your pins to gain traction.
Here, I will provide a list of a handful of the best tips I have found to be successful with my own pin creation. While these tips have worked for me, keep in mind blogging works differently for everyone. Just because some tips work well for one blogger, doesn’t mean it will work for you!
Don’t let this discourage you though! Blogging is a process of trial and error, and you will find what works well for you and your blog!
Remember, stick to a Pinterest strategy for at least one month before moving to something different. Pinterest rewards consistency, so don’t change up your methods too often!
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Need help with Pinterest? The QBB Course, Perfecting Pinterest, will provide you with all the strategies you need to know to boost your Pinterest traffic! Click here, or the image below to learn more!
Use easy to read text
Using easy to read text is one of the easiest ways of creating pins that get clicks. Pinterest users will be scrolling through hundreds of different pins, so they won’t want to spend time trying to figure out what your pin says.
If your pin is difficult to read and takes more than a second or two to figure out what it is saying, don’t expect many clicks. Your information needs to be clear, concise, and specific.
This means, don’t fill you pin with too many filler words. Stay away from using long sentences and paragraphs. Think of it like a book cover– give enough information to gain the attention of your reader, but not too much so they want to continue reading.
Using bold and underlined words on your pin can be helpful. Emphasize the important words so your audience is attracted to them quicker.
In terms of font, avoid using more than 2-3 different styles. Too many font styles can look too busy and hectic. You want your font to be simple, easy to read, but also attractive.
I have found using one simple font and one “attractive” font on a single pin to be a great combination:
Here, you can see I used regular font and cursive font. From a quick glance, the words “affiliates” and “new bloggers” stand out quickly. In a second, you already know what the post is going to be about!
Now take a look at this version of the same pin. It is clear immediately that the font is much more difficult to read. While the different color text does seem to help, the two cursive fonts take longer to read. The longer it takes for Pinterest users to read your pin, the less likely they are to click on it!
make important words pop
One easy method to creating pins that get clicks is to emphasize the important words. I touched on this concept in the tip above, but I will get into more depth here!
Pinterest users need to know what your pin is about within the first second or two of reading it. What better way to do this than to emphasize the important words!
There are a few ways you can do this:
- Bold, italicize, or underline.
- Add a border around words
- Place a swipe of color under certain words
- Put an arrow pointing at the important word
- Change the font of the word
- Make the font larger
- Change the color of the word
You want the important words or the headline to stand out against the other subtitle text. Otherwise, all the words will blend together, and the key words will be hidden! Here are some examples of pins with important words that “pop”:
In this pin, you can see the headline “SEO Fixes” is much larger than the other text, and is in a different font. These words jump out immediately, giving the read an instant understanding of what the post is about.
In this pin, you can see the headline text of “WordPress plugins” is much larger than the other text, is bolded, and is a different color. Additionally, the arrow captures the readers attention, and prompts them to continue reading the subtitle. If the reader spends time reading all the pin’s text, they might be more likely to click on it!
In this example, you can see the headline text of “blog myths” has a different background color. This helps to draw the readers attention to the words! You can also use elements like paint swipes (on Canva), to add the same effect.
Experiment with different ways of emphasizing your headline text, and see which elements your Pinterest users respond to the most!
Use an overlay for text
Adding an overlay on your pins for text is another easy method to creating pins that get clicks. Adding text directly onto an image can make the text difficult to read.
Take this pin for example. While you can still read the text, it is very difficult! Especially when scrolling through hundreds of pins, this one most likely won’t capture much attention from users. Let’s see what happens when we add an overlay:
Much easier to read, right?! Sometimes the overlay will take away from the picture, but that is ok! The words are what is most important. Additionally, you can change the transparency of your overlay, so you can see the picture through it:
You can make your overlay any shape, any color, and any transparency! This gives creators much more creative liberty when making their pins both attractive and easy to read!
use catchy headlines
There are hundreds of pins titled “best cookie recipe” or “Italy travel guide”. What makes yours so special? Why should readers click on your pin out of the thousands available?
It all comes down to wording. You could have the best written post of all time, but if your pin isn’t good, no one is going to click on it.
Even if your post isn’t written that well, it can still get thousands of views, depending on the quality of your pin!
Catchy words are often referred to as “power words” in the blogging world. Think of words like:
- Jaw dropping
- Unbelievable
- Life changing
- Mind blowing
- Unforgettable
- Money making
- Lowest price
- Best selling
- Etc…
You can find a list of more power words here to use in your titles and pins!
Think about titles that you would click on for a specific search. What would capture your attention? Check out the wording of top rated pins for your topic, and see what types of wording seems to be popular among readers in that niche.
Make your pins and titles tempting, intriguing, and mysterious!
Use bright and warm colors
When creating pins, use bright and warm colors. These colors get almost twice the amount of re-pins over cool colors like blue.
When creating pins, choose colors that match the picture on your pin, and create contrast. You don’t want too much of the same colors on your pin, or they will all blend together!
I have found pinks and reds get the most attention, at least in my experience! Although, some pins with blues and coolers colors do well too. It all just depends! Experiment with it, and see what your readers are attracted to.
Bright colors work well because they help your text to stand out, especially on top of darker or busy images. Avoid using dark colors like greens, dark yellow, brown, etc. as these colors don’t stand out as much.
Depending on your niche, there might be popular color schemes. For example, in the blogging world, feminine colored pins seem to get the most attention. For sports or fitness however, the color scheme might be different!
Take a look at the popular pins within your niche, and take not of common color themes.
use quality images
Another important factor to remember when creating pins that get clicks is to use high quality images. A much less percentage of Pinterest users will click on your pin if the images are low quality or blurry.
To create pins, I always use Canva. With the pro version, you get access to thousands of high quality stock photos that you can use for pins, and on your blog posts. The free version has tons of options too if you are just getting started!
You can also take your own photos, if you have a high quality camera (or are good with your iPhone camera!). Just remember this will take much more time, but the rewards will pay off with your unique pictures!
Another part of using quality images is how you crop and adjust the photo. Make sure you crop the image so it fits well with the overall vision of your pin. Sometimes this might mean flipping or rotating the image! You can also edit your pictures right through Canva, so you can see the changes in real time.
You want to be seen like the professional that you are, so make sure your images and your pins represent you and your brand!
make your pins personal
Over your blogging career, you will be creating thousands of pins. While this (personally) isn’t my favorite part of blogging, it’s part of the job!
Try to make it more enjoyable by tapping into your own creativity. What do you think looks good? What do you like creating? Implement your creativity into your pin creations, and chances are it will become more enjoyable!
Don’t try to be someone you aren’t. If there is a popular pin layout you see all over Pinterest that you just hate- don’t make it!
It is important too that your pins fit your brand. This doesn’t mean all your pins have to look exactly the same, but they should fit together. They should all look like they belong to the same brand.
Changes are, however, you won’t have to try to make this happen. You style and creative liberty will already make your pins fit together!
In fact, I have found my pins for both my blogs to look similar, even though I tried to give them a different look!
After some time, you might see a pin and think, ‘hey, that looks like (Queen Bee Bloggers)”, and you might be right! You will start to learn different bloggers layouts and brand styles, which is kind of fun!
Don't have the time?
Creating pins is time consuming. Making new layouts, developing new headlines, changing fonts, colors, and pictures, the list goes on! Pinning is a huge part of the blogging world, and needs to be treated as such.
However, we don’t all have the time to create quality pins! Some of us have families, children, full time jobs, etc. and just cannot keep up! Or, maybe you just hate making pins, and want an easier solution.
I’m here to help. I have 200 Pinterest templates for only $14.99 (You can’t find them this cheap anywhere else!!)
Contact me!
As always, feel free to reach out to me with any blogging questions! I am more than happy to sit down with you and walk you through any questions you might have!
You can find my contact information in the menu, or leave a comment below!
You can also send me an email at QueenBeeBloggers@gmail.com with any questions, comments, or concerns! I would be happy to chat with you!
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