Pinterest for Bloggers Beginner’s Guide

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So you’re a blogger who is new to Pinterest. You have your Pinterest business profile set up and your blog is connected to your account. But now what?

Good question.

This post answers basic, but essential, questions about using Pinterest for bloggers. You need to build rapport with Pinterest as a legitimate blogger with quality content who is not going to spam. “Spamming” is Pinterest’s word for posting too much content too often to the same boards, or not following their rules. (It can also be considered spammy to Pinterest when you do things like following or unfollowing too many people in rapid succession, or moving or deleting massive amounts of pins at a time.)

It’s essential for you to also know how much content you should pin each day, what the best times of day are to pin, and how much content coming from other blogs you should be sharing each day.

I answer each of these questions about Pinterest for bloggers in this post, and share some more valuable resources at the end! Leave a comment or send a message if you have more questions!

Just a heads up: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. As always, all opinions are entirely my own. Thanks for supporting me!

How many pins should you be pinning each day?

Many people say that you should be pinning between 30-50 pins each day, and that at least 20% of those should be other people’s pins. In my experience and from what I’ve heard from other bloggers, this can be different for everyone. It’s a good idea to experiment with different amounts and methods, and see what seems to bring you the best results.

How often can you repin the same pin?

One of the first things to consider is, how much content do you have, and how many group boards are you on? Generally, you should not be pinning the same pin to the same board more than once a month. Pinning the same pin to a board more often than that can be seen as spammy. So, you will need to have quite a bit of content and be on a lot of group boards before you can pin 40-50 of your own pins a day without spamming.

For example, I know one blogger who pins over a hundred pins every day, and she is extremely successful. But, she also has a huge number of different pins and is on a lot of group boards, so she’s never spamming the same boards with the same pins too close together.

Read my post to learn Exactly How to Join Pinterest Group Boards to explode the traffic you’re getting to your site!

I personally use a tool called Tailwind, which is a social media scheduling tool that allows you to schedule your own and other people’s pins to be pinned to your Pinterest account at times that you specify. I use Tailwind to help me make sure I’m not pinning pins to the same boards too often. When you’re scheduling your pins with Tailwind it will tell you the last time you pinned that pin to any given board. That way you can be sure to space them out at least a month.

What’s the best way to pin other people’s content?

The reason you need to pin at least 20% of other people’s content is so that Pinterest doesn’t feel you are spamming. If you are only ever sharing pins that link to your own content, Pinterest may not give your pins as much reach as they will if you “share the love” and pin others’ content as well as your own.

One excellent way to find quality content from other bloggers to pin to your Pinterest boards without spending way too much time is by using Tailwind Tribes.

Tailwind Tribes are groups for bloggers of similar niches where you can share your own pins and share other people’s pins in return. Usually Tribes have a rule that you have to share at least one of someone else’s pins for each one that you share of your own. It is an excellent way to grow your reach and find quality content to share.

Sign up for Tailwind and receive a free trial that allows you to schedule 100 pins for free! That way you can try it out and see if it’s a good fit for you before you have to pay a thing.

In addition to using Tailwind Tribes, I also use a secret board on Pinterest titled “Pin Later” to help me make sure at least 20% of the content I’m pinning is not my own. I only save other people’s content to it, and I try to keep it stocked up with lots of pins so that when I do my daily pinning I already have a stash of quality pins from other people to choose from. I pin from that board to my public boards during peak pinning hours each day, then delete the pins I shared publicly from the secret board.

What are the best hours to pin?

For me personally, my pins do the best when they’re shared between the hours of 6:30pm and 11:45pm EST. I have heard other bloggers say that evenings are the best times for them as well, but it will depend on your audience and what time zone they’re in.

How do you upload pins to Pinterest?

There are two main ways to share your original pins to Pinterest (pins that link to your site). The first is to include the pin image in your post, and pin it directly from there using a Pinterest browser extension or some other Pinterest sharing tool. (I use the Social Warfare Pro plugin for all the social sharing buttons on my site and highly recommend it.)

The second way to upload pins is to do it manually on the Pinterest site by going to the red circle with a plus sign in it in the upper right corner and clicking “Create Pin.” Don’t forget to include a pin description and add the URL to your site!

I usually create several pin images for each post I write, and I highly recommend you do the same. Oftentimes the pin that performs the best is not the pin I expect! Having more pin versions gives you more chances for a pin to take off.

Read my post How to Make Pins that Go Viral to learn how to write an effective pin description and how to create and test different pin versions!

I include one pin version at the end of each post, and I pin it to a secret board titled “All My Pins” after publishing the post. I then manually upload the rest of my pin versions to Pinterest and add them to the “All My Pins” board. In first saving all my pins to that secret board, I have all my pins in one place so I can always find any given pin easily.

Once I am able to see which pin version is performing the best, I save that one pin to a “Best Pins” secret board. So this board holds only the best performing pin version for each of my blog posts. That way, whenever I am added to a new group board, all I have to do is go to my “Best Pins” board to find all the relevant pins I want to schedule for pinning to that board.

Learning how to use Pinterest for bloggers successfully isn’t easy! It takes time, research, and some trial and error. Do you have questions? I’m happy to help!

Here are some more posts about using Pinterest for bloggers that might be helpful:

How to Make Pins that Go Viral

Exactly How to Join Pinterest Group Boards

How to Get Followers on Pinterest

The Pinterest Smart Feed and What It Means for Your Follower Count

Are you on Pinterest? If so, pin this post to save it for later!

Come follow my Blogging for Income Pinterest board for more Pinterest for bloggers tips!