Grow Your Pinterest Following

Are you ready to transform your Pinterest presence? This comprehensive guide reveals the exact strategies I used to organically double my Pinterest followers, growing from 22,000 to over 100,000 in just two years. More than just a follower count, this method also dramatically boosted my blog’s page views, leading to a substantial increase in ad revenue. If you’re looking for a sustainable, effective way to harness Pinterest’s power for your blog, you’ve come to the right place.

My journey to understanding how to get followers on Pinterest faster has been an intense, two-year dedication. It involved countless hours listening to expert podcasts, briefly experimenting with external management (a story for another time!), attending various blogging conferences, and ultimately, developing a unique, organic method that yielded incredible results. This isn’t about quick fixes or paid promotions; it’s about building a robust, engaged audience through consistent, smart effort.

This article outlines my proven approach to growing on Pinterest at a rate of more than double each year. By focusing on these actionable strategies, you can significantly increase your Pinterest followers organically, directly translating into more page views for your blog and, consequently, a boost in your income.

For those aspiring to turn their passion into profit, understanding the fundamentals of blogging is key. If you’re curious about how to start a blog and make money, that’s where your journey truly begins.

Before diving into the specifics, let me establish a few foundational points about my blogging journey and this Pinterest strategy:

• I am a full-time blogger, meaning my work week often exceeds 40 hours, including some weekend dedication. This commitment stems from a genuine love for what I do, driving me to continuously learn and optimize.
• Blogging provides a full-time income, and I am the primary financial contributor to my family. This highlights the significant earning potential when blogging is approached as a serious business.
• I initially started blogging six years ago as a casual hobby, completely unaware it could evolve into a legitimate and profitable career path.

• Four years ago, I transitioned from treating blogging as a hobby to operating it as a dedicated business, which was a pivotal moment in my growth trajectory.
• Achieving growth of this magnitude – doubling both traffic and followers – demands significant time, effort, and unwavering dedication. It’s not an overnight success story, nor can it be outsourced entirely.
• Crucially, I have never purchased Pinterest followers or spent any money on promoted Pins. This strategy is entirely focused on organic, sustainable growth, a practice I strongly advocate for all bloggers.
• Within the last two years, I successfully grew my Pinterest account from 22,000 to over 100,000 followers using these exact methods.
• While these techniques proved incredibly effective for me, it’s important to remember that every blogger’s journey is unique. Adapt these principles to fit your niche and audience.
• With the right mindset and readiness for the challenge, YOU can also achieve remarkable growth and significantly increase your income. Doubling your page views, as I did, can lead to a substantial, if not double, increase in your ad revenue.

Laying the Foundation: Essential Tools for Pinterest Growth

Before implementing the growth strategies, ensure you have the necessary groundwork in place. These fundamental tools and setups are crucial for maximizing your Pinterest potential:

1. A Pinterest Business Account: While seemingly obvious, it’s vital to ensure your Pinterest profile is set up as a business account, not a personal one. A business account unlocks critical analytics, allowing you to track pin performance, audience demographics, and traffic sources – data essential for informed strategic decisions.
2. A Connected Website: Your blog or website is the destination for the traffic Pinterest drives. Ensure your website is properly claimed and connected to your Pinterest business account. This verification builds trust and allows Pinterest to provide rich analytics about your content.
3. Tailwind Account: For any serious blogger leveraging Pinterest, Tailwind is an indispensable scheduling tool. If you’re new to blogging, start a Tailwind account here. It automates your pinning schedule, optimizes posting times, and helps distribute your content efficiently, saving countless hours.
4. A Smartphone: This might seem minor, but having a smartphone is incredibly helpful for consistent Pinterest engagement. I’ll elaborate on how it facilitates efficient “live pinning” later in this guide.
5. An Ad Network Partnership: If your ultimate goal is to increase revenue through page views, joining a reputable ad network is a must. As your traffic grows, ad impressions will multiply, directly impacting your income. I highly recommend Mediavine for their excellent ad optimization and blogger support.

The Direct Link: From Pinterest Followers to Blog Revenue

Why is relentlessly growing your Pinterest followers so crucial if your aim is to increase your blogging income? The connection is direct and powerful:

• Increased Reach Leads to More Page Views: A larger, engaged Pinterest following means your pins are seen by more people. When you consistently share high-quality content that resonates with your audience, these followers are more likely to click through to your blog posts. This directly translates into a significant increase in page views.
• More Page Views Equal Higher Ad Impressions: Every time a user visits your blog and views a page, it generates ad impressions. The more page views you accumulate, the more opportunities your ad network has to display ads, leading directly to higher ad revenue.
• Simple Economics: The more eyeballs on your content, the more money you make through advertising. Pinterest acts as a potent traffic funnel, making it an invaluable tool for bloggers focused on monetization.

Want to see concrete evidence that my Pinterest traffic indeed grew drastically over the past two years? The data speaks for itself. You can observe a significant shift in January 2017 when I ramped up my Pinterest efforts, followed by an even more dramatic surge in January 2018.

Now, let’s examine the corresponding increase in page views that mirrored this dramatic rise in Pinterest followers:

Here’s a 30-day view from 2016, which serves as my baseline before implementing these intensive strategies:

Now, compare that to the same 30-day period in 2017, after the first year of dedicated Pinterest optimization:

And finally, here are the page views for the identical 30-day period in 2018, showcasing the compounding effect of sustained effort:

As these graphs clearly illustrate, the most dramatic increase in page views occurred after the first year of intently focusing on boosting my Pinterest followers. However, it’s crucial to understand that this growth was not solely due to Pinterest; I also significantly elevated my content game during this period. I more than doubled my page views from the initial baseline to the first full year of this strategy, then nearly doubled them again from the first year to the second. This demonstrates a powerful synergy between an optimized Pinterest strategy and a robust content creation schedule.

• It’s imperative to note that this Pinterest strategy will not work in isolation. You absolutely CANNOT let your blog content stagnate. To truly maximize and sustain this growth, you MUST consistently add new, high-quality content to your blog and actively pin that fresh content to Pinterest. This continuous cycle of creation and promotion is the engine that drives follower growth and page view increases.

The Winning Formula: Detailed Steps to Grow Pinterest Followers and Traffic

Here’s the step-by-step breakdown of how my Pinterest account skyrocketed from 22,000 followers to 100,000 in just two years:

1. Consistent, High-Quality Blog Content: This is the bedrock of any successful Pinterest strategy.
   1. I published at least 3 new blog posts each week, increasing this to 5 new posts per week during the last six months of the second year. The key here is not just quantity, but consistent delivery of truly valuable content.
   2. Defining “Great Quality Content”:
      1. Audience-Centric Topics: Write about subjects or recipes your audience actively seeks and responds to. Dive into your Google Analytics to identify your top-performing posts and create more content around those successful themes, exploring various angles and formats.
      2. Substantial Word Count: Each blog post should be 600 words or more. In today’s competitive landscape, shorter articles (e.g., 300 words) rarely rank well or provide enough value for Pinterest users to save and share. Longer, more comprehensive content signals authority and often performs better on search engines.
      3. Strategic Interlinking: Seamlessly link to other related and strong content within your new blog posts. This not only keeps readers on your site longer but also boosts your SEO by creating a robust internal link structure. (For an example, observe how I link to “other holiday recipes” at the bottom of a specific post, like this cranberry sauce recipe).
2. Create Multiple Pinnable Images for Each Post: Visuals are paramount on Pinterest.
   1. Clear, Vertical Photos: Always prioritize vertical images, as they perform best on Pinterest. Ensure they are high-resolution and visually appealing.
   2. Compelling Text Overlays: Add clear, benefit-driven text to at least half of your vertical images. This text should tell the viewer exactly what value they will gain or what problem you will solve if they click through to your post. Think of it as a mini-headline for your pin.
   3. Generous Pin Options: Provide plenty of choices. On this post, for instance, you can see I’ve included SEVEN vertical pinnable images. Additionally, I hide one extra-long pin within my Social Warfare settings, which appears when users click the Pinterest share button. More options increase the likelihood of a pin going viral.
   4. Optimize Existing Popular Content: Go back to your most popular older posts and add new vertical, pinnable images to them. Then, actively pin these new images! This breathes new life into evergreen content.
      1. Do NOT Delete Old Images: Instead of deleting less-optimized old images (which could negatively impact your SEO), hide them. This preserves any SEO value they might have.
         1. To hide an image, wrap its HTML code with `
            (your image code will be here)

            `.

         2. After switching back to the visual editor, the image will be invisible to the eye but will still exist for SEO purposes, allowing you to maintain old links and rankings.
3. Strategic Hashtag Usage: Maximize discoverability by adding relevant hashtags.
   1. Include up to 10 relevant hashtags in the Pinterest description section for each image. These should be placed in the alt-text or title attribute when uploading, ensuring they transfer with the pin.
   2. Focus solely on hashtags that are genuinely relevant to your content and that people would actively search for. For example, for a recipe, use tags like #crockpotrecipes, #beefrecipes, #macaroniandcheese – specific and searchable terms.
4. Initial Manual Pinning to Your Own Board: Establish authority and relevance.
   1. Always pin every new image directly from your blog post to your most relevant personal Pinterest board first. For example, I would go to my Instant Pot recipes page, click the Pinterest share button, and pin the long image to “The Typical Mom Pinterest board” (my primary, high-authority board).
   2. By pinning your best, most relevant content to your own strong boards first, you reinforce the board’s niche and authority, signaling to Pinterest that this content is valuable.
   3. You can pin all 3-7 vertical images from a new post to your own board at once or spread them out throughout the day. The key is to ensure they are manually pinned directly from your site.
5. Efficient Scheduling with Tailwind: Automate and expand your reach.
   1. Use the Desktop Extension: Install the Tailwind browser extension. When you’re on a new blog post, simply click the extension button in your browser, and all pinnable images from that page will pop up.
   2. Batch Scheduling: Hold your command key (on Apple desktops) or Ctrl key (on Windows) and click on all the vertical images you want to schedule through Tailwind. This allows you to select multiple pins efficiently.
   3. Verify Descriptions: Before scheduling, double-check that each chosen image still has its descriptive text and relevant hashtags. Sometimes, you may need to re-copy and paste this information.
   4. Leverage Board Lists: If you haven’t already, create board lists in Tailwind. These are groups of related boards (both your own and relevant group boards). Select the appropriate board list to schedule your image to. This is a massive time-saver.
   5. Optimal Time Intervals: Set intelligent time intervals between pins (e.g., 1 day apart per board) so your content isn’t published all at once. Tailwind’s SmartSchedule automatically suggests optimal times based on audience engagement.
6. Maintain a Full Tailwind Schedule: Consistency is key.
   1. Strategic Pin Volume: The total number of pins you schedule each day is subjective, but aim for consistency. I personally have approximately 50 of my own pins going out daily.
   2. Repurpose Top Performers: Don’t just schedule new content. Go to your “Pin Inspector” in Tailwind and click “Re-Schedule this Pin” for at least your first page of top-performing pins. These pins have already proven their popularity, so push them out again into your schedule! This ensures your best content continually circulates.
   3. Weekly Schedule Check: Set a weekly reminder to review your Tailwind schedule. Ensure it remains consistently full with a mix of new and evergreen content to maintain a steady flow of traffic.

The “Live Pinning” Advantage: Accelerating Follower Growth

Beyond content creation and scheduling, consistent daily engagement on Pinterest itself is critical. This “live pinning” technique is what truly propelled my follower growth and is necessary if you want to reach a larger audience.

Here’s how to effectively repin your best content and curated pins using Tailwind’s analytics:

• You MUST engage in “live pinning” Every. Single. Day. This isn’t optional for accelerated growth.
• Not just once a day, but I committed to live pinning three times a day.
  • This might sound like a significant time commitment, but it literally takes me only 5 minutes per session, totaling just 15 minutes a day. Fifteen minutes is a small investment for the potential reward of a significantly larger audience, more page views, and ultimately, increased blog revenue.

Mastering the Art of Live Pinning on Pinterest

Here’s the breakdown of my efficient live pinning routine:

• Leverage Your Smartphone:
  • Your mobile device allows you to pin from anywhere, making it incredibly easy to maintain consistency with your three daily live pinning sessions.
  • On mobile, you can quickly scroll through your feed and see the total pin count for each pin with ease (note: sometimes Pinterest updates its interface, so you might need to click on a pin to see its full stats. Adapt as the platform evolves!). This speed is why I find my phone more efficient than a desktop for this task.
  • While you can perform these actions on a desktop, the mobile experience is often quicker and more convenient, especially if you’re always on the go.
• Navigate to Your Pinterest “Activity Tab”:
  • The Activity tab is accessible on both mobile and desktop (see the desktop screenshot below).
  • Scroll through this tab, which showcases content that your followers are engaging with, as well as your own recent activity. Look for pins (both yours and others’) that have accumulated a large number of saves (re-pins).
  • Identify High-Performing Pins:
    • The pink arrow in the graphic below points to the key number you’re looking for – the save count. Aim for pins with 50 saves or more. If you don’t immediately see many in that range, re-pin the highest-performing ones you find; their numbers will grow over time.
    • You can also visit your own boards directly to find your best-performing pins to re-pin. I typically combine both methods in my daily sessions to ensure a diverse selection of high-quality content.
    • If you’re ever struggling to find strong pins, going directly to your own boards and scrolling down through your archive will almost always reveal some hidden gems.
    • Pin approximately 10 of these high-performing pins (a mix of your own and others’ related content) to relevant boards.
• Engage with the Main Pinterest Feed:
  • After curating from your Activity tab, switch to your main Pinterest feed. From here, pin another 10 pins that are NOT your own, but are highly relevant to your niche and would appeal to your audience. This shows Pinterest you are an active and helpful curator, not just a self-promoter.
• Complete Your Pinning Session:
  • You’ve now completed one of your three daily pinning sessions.
  • Commit to this method 7 days a week without skipping a day. While minor breaks (like during a vacation) are understandable, consistent daily engagement is paramount for maintaining momentum. Remember, it’s only 15 minutes of active effort each day for significant results.

Let’s quickly recap the core steps for growing your Pinterest following and increasing your blog traffic:

• Create New, Exceptional Content: Publish 3-5 high-quality, long-form blog posts each week, optimized for your audience and SEO.
• Design Multiple Pinnable Images: For every new blog post, create several vertical, text-overlay pins.
  • Manually pin them to your primary, most relevant personal board first to establish authority.
  • Schedule these pins strategically using your Tailwind account to reach a broader audience over time.
  • Ensure your Tailwind schedule remains consistently full with a balanced mix of new and evergreen content.
• Engage with “Live Pinning”: Dedicate 15 minutes a day (three 5-minute sessions) to active pinning.
  • Re-pin approximately 10 of your own best-performing pins from your Pinterest Activity tab or personal boards.
  • Re-pin another 10 relevant, high-quality pins from other bloggers directly from your main Pinterest feed.
• Repeat Consistently: This entire cycle, from content creation to daily pinning, must be repeated consistently, day in and day out, for sustained organic growth.

Embrace this strategic, consistent approach, and watch your Pinterest followers, blog page views, and ultimately, your income, soar. Your dedication will be rewarded with organic growth that truly lasts.