Pinterest & Blogging 101: Tips and Tricks

I decided to create a little mini-series on how to maximize your blog through Pinterest for all you fellow bloggers out there, particularly new bloggers. I never really realized how great Pinterest could be for my blog until I took a chance and decided to pin some of my recipes. I've been blogging for a year now, and let's look at my top 3 posts of all time, according to pageviews:

1. Crockpot Cocktail Weenies
2. Crescent Sausage Breakfast Casserole
3. 3 Ingredient Crockpot Pulled Pork Sliders

Each one of these posts has over 2000+ pageviews and counting, all because I decided to pin them to Pinterest. That may not be many pageviews for some bloggers, but it's pretty high for me! Pinterest can do a lot for your blog, especially if you like to post recipes, DIY ideas, cleaning and organization tips, etc. First I talked about how to verify your website on Pinterest. Last week, I taught you how to create the "Pin It" button. Today, let's wrap up this miniseries with a few tips and tricks I've learned along the way.

1. When you pin your content on Pinterest, upload a photo that is relevant to your blog post and highlights your offering. When browsing Pinterest, the image is what catches your eye, not the description. If you pin a blog post with no pictures, you will be forced to pin it under an image on your blog template, like your header. Nobody is going to click on your famous spaghetti recipe if it's a picture of your blog header, so make sure you have a picture of that fabulous spaghetti so people will get to pinning.

2. When you pin your content, use searchable, descriptive terms in the description box. This will help your content show up in search engines as well as searches within Pinterest. For example, if I were pinning my favorite pumpkin bread, I wouldn't describe it as "Parker's favorite meal ever" because that has no meaning to anyone but me. Instead, I would say "Pumpkin bread- delicious and easy".

3. Create multiple pin boards for different content. This will allow you to separate your content into categories so your pins will show up in those categories on Pinterest. For example, I have a separate pin board for diy and recipes, and I have another board where I have pinned all of my wedding posts. All pins are coming from the same website (my blog), but separating them into categories makes it easier for others to find and pin your content.

4. Repin old content when it is relevant. Sometimes, you will pin something only to have it get lost in a sea of other pins. It may get repinned once or twice, but that's it. This may happen, but there is no rule saying you can't repin it. I am not suggesting you repin your content every day or even very often at all (let's face it, that would be annoying), but repin it when it is relevant. For example, I might repin my DIY wedding invitation Christmas ornament again next December. It was a popular pin this Christmas season, and I think I can reintroduce it next Christmas as well. 

5. Pin your content during peak Pinterest times. Believe it or not, this is a real thing folks. According to a recent study, Pinterest has the most activity between 2-4 PM and 8:30PM-1AM. However, Saturday morning is by far the best time for pinning. If you can't pin during peak times, you can use an app called Pinwoot that allows you to pin content in bulk and schedule the pins in advance. Fancy, huh?

I hope this helps some of you fellow bloggers out there! Pinterest can be an amazing tool for your blog, so jump right in! I've enjoyed creating this miniseries and hope some of you have gotten something out of it. If you ever have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Dont' forget to follow me on Pinterest!

Pinterest & Blogging 101: Creating a Pin It Button

I decided to create a little mini-series on how to maximize your blog through Pinterest for all you fellow bloggers out there, particularly new bloggers. I never really realized how great Pinterest could be for my blog until I took a chance and decided to pin some of my recipes. I've been blogging for a year now, and let's look at my top 3 posts of all time, according to pageviews:

1. 3 Ingredient Crockpot Pulled Pork Sliders
2. Crockpot Cocktail Weenies
3. Crescent Sausage Breakfast Casserole

Each one of these posts has over 2000+ pageviews and counting, all because I decided to pin them to Pinterest. That may not be many pageviews for some bloggers, but it's pretty high for me! Pinterest can do a lot for your blog, especially if you like to post recipes, DIY ideas, cleaning and organization tips, etc. Last week I talked about how to verify your website on Pinterest. Today, let's talk about the "Pin It" button.

This is something I just recently did to my blog, but it was such a simple change that can help you bloggers out a lot. Installing a hovering "Pin It" button will allow readers to pin your content on the spot. People like convenience, and people, this is convenient. I like the hovering option so the button isn't so in your face and blatantly slapped across every picture. It's cleaner and less invasive.

How To Create & Install a Customized Hovering "Pin It" Button 

Step 1: Save this image to your computer

If you are happy with this image and want to use it for your hovering "Pin It" button, skip to step 6. To change the color, proceed to step 2.

Step 2: Upload a blank swatch of the color you want to use to www.picmonkey.com. You can Google the color or the HTML color code if you know it. The grey I use on my blog is #636363.

Step 3: Once you upload your color swatch, crop it into a perfect square. Next, select "Frames" and "Rounded Corners". Slide the "Corner Radius" button all the way to the right and select "Transparent Corners". You should now have a perfect circle.

Step 4: Go to "Basic Edits" and click "Resize". Make sure you select "Keep Proportions" and change the dimensions to 75x75. 

Step 5: Go to "Overlays" and select "Your Own". Upload the "P" that you saved in step 1. Use the color picker to choose what you want your "P" to look like. Move and resize your "P" to your satisfaction, and then save the image to your computer. 

Note: I opted for the words "PIN IT" instead of the "P" symbol. If you want to do this too, just insert the text into your cropped, circular color swatch. This is what mine looks like: 

Step 6: Once you've saved your button, upload it to the photo sharing site you use (I use photobucket). Copy the direct link. Next, copy the code from the scrolling text box, and place the direct link of your image in the yellow highlighted portion of the code below.

<script> //<![CDATA[ var bs_pinButtonURL = "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaMezy3dzZAbSwT9BzwjEcV4-4LPenXXt6Mq7lDXPccnKeCoWxFlK7PWcda3IO9IRXIIfOwDhYO2BHT7y8xpegOpffzy9heMe-b1eGU_Jr5SCfiVTfbFa0yeklnBJ20NRmFYj8ngtHpAkt/s1600/pinterestx1_72.png"; var bs_pinButtonPos = "center"; //]]> </script> <script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.2/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'/> <script src='http://lordhtml.opendrive.com/files/MV81OTY2MjE0X01Rcmg5/pin.js' type='text/javascript'/> <!-- please do not alter or remove the following code --> <div id='bs_pinOnHover'> <a href='http://www.bloggersentral.com/2012/11/pinterest-pin-it-button-on-image-hover.html'>Pin It button on image hover</a></div>

It will look like this:

<script>
//<![CDATA[
var  bs_pinButtonURL = "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaMezy3dzZAbSwT9BzwjEcV4-4LPenXXt6Mq7lDXPccnKeCoWxFlK7PWcda3IO9IRXIIfOwDhYO2BHT7y8xpegOpffzy9heMe-b1eGU_Jr5SCfiVTfbFa0yeklnBJ20NRmFYj8ngtHpAkt/s1600/pinterestx1_72.png";
var bs_pinButtonPos = "center";
//]]>
</script>
<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.2/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script src='http://lordhtml.opendrive.com/files/MV81OTY2MjE0X01Rcmg5/pin.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<!-- please do not alter or remove the following code -->
<div id='bs_pinOnHover'>
<a href='http://www.bloggersentral.com/2012/11/pinterest-pin-it-button-on-image-hover.html'>Pin It button on image hover</a></div>

Step 7: Go to your blogger dashboard and click "Template". Select "Edit HTML". Control F or Command F to find <body> near the end of your template. Paste the code above <body>.

Note: Before making any HTML changes, I recommend backing up your blog template, just in case. 

Step 8: Click "Save Template" and go look at your blog!

If for some reason it doesn't work, try pasting the code from either this webpage or this webpage. The codes are almost identical on each site, but sometimes depending on where you copy and paste the code from can make the button work or not work. I'm not going to pretend to know why, but try the other websites if the above code doesn't work!

Step 9 (optional): The "Pin It" image will by default appear in the center of your image. If you prefer that it appears in a corner instead (I chose the bottom right corner), find this line of code that you pasted:
var bs_pinButtonPos = "center"; 
and replace "center" with one of these options: topleft, topright, bottomleft, or bottomright.

I hope this helps! Having a hovering "Pin It" image can do wonders for your blog! Stay tuned as I wrap up this mini-series next week with my favorite Pinterest tips and tricks!

Pinterest & Blogging 101: Getting Verified on Pinterest

I decided to create a little mini-series on how to maximize your blog through Pinterest for all you fellow bloggers out there, particularly new bloggers. I never really realized how great Pinterest could be for my blog until I took a chance and decided to pin some of my recipes. I've been blogging for a year now, and let's look at my top 3 posts of all time, according to pageviews:

1. 3 Ingredient Crockpot Pulled Pork Sliders
2. Crockpot Cocktail Weenies
3. Crescent Sausage Breakfast Casserole

Each one of these posts has over 2000+ pageviews and counting, all because I decided to pin them to Pinterest. That may not be many pageviews for some bloggers, but it's pretty high for me! Pinterest can do a lot for your blog, especially if you like to post recipes, DIY ideas, cleaning and organization tips, etc.

The first thing you need to do is get verified on Pinterest. How in the world do you do that, and why should you? Let's break it down:

So why verify? In a nutshell, verifying your blog on Pinterest will help increase credibility and traffic as well as allow your content to show up in results from search engines. It takes about 5 minutes, and I've created a step by step tutorial below.

Get Verified!

Step 1: Log into your Pinterest accounts and go to "Settings".

2. Click "Edit Profile", scroll down to "Verify Website", and click the button.

Step 3: On the next page, you will have the option to verify with an HTML file or to verify with an HTML meta tag. Click the option to verify with the meta tag, and you will see the following:

Select and copy your meta tag (the code in the gray box).

Step 4: Log into Blogger, go to "Template" and click "Edit HTML"

You may see a warning message. If you do, just click "Proceed".

Step 5: Click CNTRL F (COMMAND F if using a MAC), and search for the word "head". You should find 2, the opening head tag: <head> and the closing head tag: <head>. Your Pinterest generated code that you copied needs to go somewhere in between these 2 tags.

Test your changes to make sure you didn't mess up your blog. To do this, click "Preview" and make sure it loads properly. Then click "Save Template".

Step 6: Head back over to your Pinterest account and click the "Click Here" button for Pinterest to verify your site. That's it! Assuming it worked, you are verified! Head back to your home page on Pinterest to check it out!

I hope this helps! If you have any questions, feel free to let me know in the comments below! I will post parts 2 and 3 of "Pinterest & Blogging 101" in the coming weeks!

Pinterest Fail

We all love Pinterest, right? Great recipes, DIY ideas, and another way to waste countless hours in front of the computer. I like trying new projects just as much as the next person, and I use Pinterest for new recipes weekly. I would love to say I am that person who replicates the beautiful food on Pinterest every time she tries, but that would be a bold-faced lie. Normally the dish comes out just fine, but there have definitely been times when I labor in the kitchen, take a look at my masterpiece, and say "Pinterest FAIL".

A few examples...

Baked Mozzarella Cheese Balls

Sweet & Sour Chicken

Banana Pudding

These aren't the only three recipes I have ever messed up...just the three I chose to document ;). I love to cook, but it's so frustrating to spend so much time on something only to have completely ruined it by the time I'm done. After looking at the final product on each of these recipes, all we could do was laugh. This kind of stuff is supposed to happen in young marriages, right? Thank goodness for the Taco Bell right down the street.