Grow Your Blog On Pinterest - Part 2

Here are just a few tips about using Pinterest a little differently than the average bear Pinner. Pinterest is quickly growing and will soon reach the Facebook and Twitter status, don't you think? Especially for those of us who don't particularly love social networking. I read recently that Pinterest is pulling in more pageviews than Etsy! Read that article from TechCrunch.com HERE.

BLOGGING BEAUTIFULLY = PERFECT PINTEREST

Give your potential pinners a hint of what is to come before they click on your pin. No one wants to go to your pin boards and see all the images from your blog. Create adorable buttons to give a hint of the images they'll find on your blog...let them pin YOU! (I'll be writing a new tutorial on creating buttons asap since Picnik is closing soon).

After you create a pinnable image it's a good idea to let your friends and readers know about it. If you don't want to pin it yourself, consider sending an email out to your subscription list (if you have one - a whole other post!) 

Add a WATERMARK to your own photos. There are some quick and easy apps available for iPhone and Blackberry to add a watermark to photos taken with your phone before you ever post them, upload them or pin them! (More on watermarks next time!)

Pinterest is all about sharing...think about writing a tutorial on activities/crafts that you know would inspire others...then pin a beautiful photo or button image to promote it.

Meet and Greet other pinners. If someone is following you and you like the images the pin it is a good idea to return the favor. You can always drop them a little message and let them know you love their pins! (This will encourage 'like" behavior - hopefully).

Hand in hand - a beautiful blog encourages more pinning too. Consider a little blog spring cleaning, adding delectable images and buttons to your sidebar and/or posts...possibly a new graphic header to encourage more readers.

IS PINNING MY OWN IMAGES AND/OR PHOTOS ALLOWED? 

• Read below what Pinterest says about promoting yourself. They don't say you CAN'T pin your own stuff. But they are asking us to NOT use Pinterest JUST for self-promotion. So please make sure if you are pinning your own stuff, use your boards for other purposes too (as mentioned HERE).

Here's what Pinterest says:

 

GROW IT NOW

Pin posts you're proud of. Adding a pin board about posts that you are proud of is a good way to get others to read your blog and continue to do so.

Create a board with blogs you love to read. Share with these blogs that you are pinning them and they might do the same.

Share what inspires you by pinning on a board about inspirational ideas, quotes, posts, images etc., with other pinners.

Create a niche board - only pin items to that board that work in that niche, such as tutorials, poems, stories, that pertain to your blog's theme (if you have one).

Pin items that you could receive a payment for referring someone. This could be slightly controversial, so make sure you let pinners know that your board might send them to an affiliate link.

Follow the Big Pinners. Those uber popular pinners get lots of traffic, so following them can lead to more views of your pins, too.

Don't forget to use your existing social networks to get people to your Pinterest account. Facebook and Twitter can redirect to your pins as soon as you pin them.

Come up with a cool cross-promotion between your blog and your Pinterest account. We started a Pin It and Win It promotion two months ago...if you pin our poster you will be eligible to win that poster (one winner per week). See our button in our sidebar.

FIND OUT WHICH OF YOUR PINS ARE POPULAR

The quickest and easiest way to figure out which of your pins are being repinned is to go to Pinterest and type in following URL in your browser toolbar:
 http://pinterest.com/source/enteryouraccountname.com/ and bookmark it so you can check it regularly.

You will be able see what types of images/posts get pinned most often. see what comments you get. see how people ‘name’ the pins to get an idea of how they categorize your stuff. This will give you a good solid idea of what is working for you and what is not. If one of your pins has been repinned 100 times, then figure out a way of replicating that idea.

REMINDER
Use stimulating visual imagery on your blog and your pins. Remember that Pinterest is driven by images and once they are pinned they are pretty much on there forever. You don't want to look back and see an ugly picture from a great tutorial or recipe that you pinned without thinking. Edit and embellish your images to the best of your ability.

Do you love Pinterest too? We'll be showcasing an awesome pinner every week and you could be one of them.

COMING NEXT WEEK - GROW YOUR BLOG ON PINTEREST - PART 3
Read How To Use Pinterest

Online Photo Editor Search

With Picnik closing shop I decided to run through the pages and pages of online photo editors. I will be posting my findings in the next few days. 

To hold you over, I found an article that's a few years old but has quite a few fun photo editing sites listed - try them out and see what you can come up with! Read it HERE.

Free Picnik For Everyone!

Picnik is closing in April - for good. They were acquired by Google about a year ago...hmmmm...
But the good news is that you get to use all the Premium features until they do close. So go use and enjoy for a month or two, start loving it, and then it will be ripped from your fingers. And our tutorials using it will be somewhat useless. Bummers.

Read their post HERE.

My Favourite Thing - Adobe Illustrator

Hey everyone!

I'm so excited and overwhelmed to be a new contributor for the Blog Guidebook! I thought for my first post I would rave about one of the best things I ever did. (If you're the slightest bit interested in graphic design, that is). And that's take Alma Loveland's Illustrator 101 class through Nicole's Classes. I used to just design the odd thing for myself in Photoshop, and whenever I would see something super cool someone had made, I figured they were just way better than me at Photoshop! Turns out, they were probably using Illustrator.
My favourite thing about Adobe Illustrator is by far the pen tool. I'm not even that great of a pencil and paper artist, but the pen tool fixes all of that. It's just like drawing, but on your computer screen, and the possibilities are endless. It's super fun to fill in the images with color afterwards too. Makes me feel like a kid all over again. :)
Alma's class is only four weeks long, and it's online, and it's only $125. You can't beat that! And it gives you LOADS of information. I am in love with Illustrator, and life has been peaches ever since I took that class! Now I can just sit down and make pretty much anything I want to. No more being held back by not being sure how to do something. It's wonderful!
Here's a few of my favourite (yes, I'm Canadian, so no, I didn't spell that wrong...ha ha) things I've designed since taking the class. I can't wait to take the rest of Alma's classes.
Oh, and I don't benefit a bit from this post. I just love it THAT much. :)

It's Pinterest, Not Brain Surgery - Part 1

About three years ago I think I invented Pinterest. Of course, that was in my mind...it never actually came out and became anything, but I thought of the actual idea that it would be great to save all the photos and links in one place and call it something cute. Pinterest is a great name for this fun, organizational tool - but I would have called it something else, like: PinIt, DoggyBagIt, iLikeIt, MySaves etc...

Pinterest seems to confuse some people, I think it's the name of the site and all the pretty colors everywhere. {smile} I've had friends and comments that say "I just don't get it!" Why do you think that is? Today I'll begin a short series on understanding and using Pinterest for your blog.

On the outside Pinterest is a simple concept that is easy to install and use daily. That is what we humans like best, ease of use and a reason to use it. Many of my commenters who said they didn't get it had not tried the interface yet...they had simply looked at the site, gotten flustered at the invitation at the start, and quickly let it defeat them.

Listen up! Don't let it frighten you away. Pinterest is seriously the best thing since sliced bread and extra hot grande lattes! Don't let all the amazing photos overwhelm you, they are yours for the picking pinning!

It's Pinterest, not brain surgery! All you have to do is sign up and they'll let you in and you poke around on a few people's boards and you'll get it. It is intuitive, you can edit your boards anytime, and don't forget you can use it to grow your business and/or blog.

How To Use Pinterest To Grow (business or blog)

• Start small, but start strong. Once you pin something and others start pinning it too, it's out there. You cannot get it back. So if you are going to pin your own original photos, make sure they are pin worthy. For example: edit your photos, use Picnik, Photoshop or any of the plethora of photo editing software out there.  Make sure your photos are crisp and clear, that they portray what you want them to, and that they're blog worthy.
• Pin it yourself - don't wait for your readers to pin your pretty pictures. Do it yourself and get yourself noticed.
• Use graphics too. Adorable graphic ads are popping up on Pinterest now too, not just photos. If you know how, create "ads" for your posts, like "How To Make Pickles" could have a vintage basket of cucumbers and the words "How To Make Pickles". Here are some examples:

• When you pin it yourself, you should describe underneath what it is. Most re-pinners don't want to take the time to rewrite the description, and this helps get exact information on what the pin is.

• Get Pinspired! Let your pin boards do the work for you. Source ideas for crafts, home decorating, recipes and more - much more. Gather information at your fingertips and organize it on your boards.
• Name your boards. Your boards can be labeled with your interests or into different subjects, such as color, location, rooms, styles, favorite things etc. I recently came across an amazing pinner who had so many in depth boards that were organized and pinned so beautifully I immediately got a bit jealous.
• Images that you pin will link to their original source. That's the beauty of Pinterest. This is how you will be able to find that obscure recipe, or complicated hairstyle, or the picture perfect wedding without fear. The images will take you to the post or ad that they came from in the first place. That is so much easier than having a list of URLs in your notes!

More Pinterest thoughts in Part 2
Why use Pinterest?
Read our first post about Pinterest

Maybe I'll Just Quit Blogging

Yesterday I took an internet break...I only went online briefly to see if anything of interest was happening, and it wasn't. Seems like the "blackout" did something for someone. Traffic here was super low too...did you all know I wasn't going to be watching?

Today I was thinking that maybe I didn't need to blog anymore. Maybe I'll just quit this blogging thing...it's not necessary and it uses up a lot of my free time. Plus, today I was more creative, and I fulfilled all my household obligations (ie. dishes, laundry, homeschool, cooking, and watching lots of House Hunters International). I actually felt accomplished! I am wondering to myself if blogging is worth it?

The upkeep of a blog is a lot like running a business...and if you have several blogs that means you are either torn in many directions at once, or you're a list maker and don't have any free time. Blogging can be your main business or work (ie. Pioneer Woman, Dooce, Nie Nie, etc...), but if you're an average blogger then you may be spending a lot of time and effort on something that is NOT going to give back.

With the thought of quitting sitting so eloquently in my mind, I think it will just have to stay there for the time being...I've invested too much time in this little blog about blogging, can't just give it all up now right? Well, I could. You'll just have to wait and see. And that's the truth!

Pleasea don't blog....on January 18th, 2012

On Jan 24th, Congress will vote to pass internet censorship in the Senate, even though the vast majority of Americans are opposed. We need to kill the bill - PIPA in the Senate and SOPA in the House - to protect our rights to free speech, privacy, and prosperity. January 18th, 2012 is the largest online protest in history, to stop the internet censorship bills, SOPA & PIPA. Join in by blacking out your site and urging everyone you can reach to contact Congress now. Read about the Sopa Strike here.

Read Us On Your Kindle

Did you know you can read our blog on Kindle? You can also add yours to the Amazon list (for free) and even earn a little cash in the process! We'd love it if you'd leave a comment or review on Amazon about us - HERE. The cost is about 99 cents per month to read a blog or website on your Kindle. Would you like us to write an article about how to do it? Let us know!



P.S. Apparently this is not available on Kindle Fire (where you can just browse online for free we're guessing).