How do you make images pin-worthy on your blog? Pin-worthy… you know, an image that makes you intrigued to learn more about the image, brings tears to your eyes, makes you salivate at the mouth… I think you get the picture. haha No pun intended! There are so many ways to make images stand out and absolutely pinnable. Let’s go through these easy steps to make your Pinterest images pin-worthy.

I’m a HUGE fan of Pinterest because I know the power of pins. The longevity of a pin’s shelf life is incredibly longer than any of the social media posts from other platforms. Some of my pins that have been pinned years ago are still getting repinned without me having to repin them. It’s amazing!

[tweet_box inject=”What makes a pin so special? It’s all about the image. @tigerlilyva11″]What makes a pin so special? It’s all about the image.[/tweet_box]

The size, the image, and description have everything to do with the pin’s success. First, let me remind you of what to do when you encounter a bad pin or what to look out for in making sure the pin you’re about to pin is pin-worthy with this post.

Let’s Talk About the Size of the Pin to Make Sure it’s Pin-Worthy

My blogging friend, Louise Myers, Visual Social Media, updates her social media cheat sheet all the time. Take a look:

 

Size does matter in social media! For Pinterest, a pin’s height can be 1.5 to 2.8 times the width, which measures 736 pixels wide x 1104 to 2,061 pixels tall. If sizes seem to be a bit hard to remember, you can always use Canva‘s sized Pinterest design, see below:

I use Canva’s Pinterest graphic size all of the time, it’s such a time saver, however there are times when having it a bit longer could help capture a recipe or products in action, and the extra space can really make the pin better. If you would like to make a pin longer, then click on the ‘Use Custom dimensions’ button in Canva and you can size it up to 2,061 px in height.

Take a look at where you can change the dimensions on an existing image in Canva.

Now I don’t suggest combining a bunch of random images into a pin, it would have to be strategically done to create a beautiful image.

Creating A Pinterest Image To Make It Pin-Worthy

“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder” – Plato

It would be easy enough for me to say, “Make it beautiful!”. However something may be beautiful to me and be hideous to the next person so that’s not going to cut it. To make a pin ‘pin-worthy’, is to create an image that directly reflects your brand and the type of clients you’re looking for. Your branding needs to be set in order to create an image. If you don’t have your branding set, then you can run into trouble like getting leads from people who you don’t typically like to work with or work well with or people can get confused with the type of images you’re using. It all plays into the emotional level and how you want people to feel when they see your image. I know it sounds almost like a whole lot of Woo Woo but seriously it’s true. When I have my images out in the social media streams, I want them to feel creativity buzzing through them and I want them to feel like ‘Hey, I can go to her when I need help’ or ‘Hey, this is exactly what I need to learn how to do it on my own!’. I want them to feel that I’m approachable and easy to chat with like old friends would be and give them tools to use on their own.

Again if you’re not sure about your branding, then get started now! Every entrepreneur and blogger should have that as a priority or you’ll just get mixed up in how you want your voice to be heard and who your clientele base will be. For guidelines on branding, I highly suggest Julie Harris Design’s Brand Style Guide under her free resources. It’s awesome!

Once you have your branding in place then it becomes easy to create pin-worthy images. Think about 2 things at this point – color background or photo background. Sometimes choosing a color background will be easier because you won’t have to worry about looking for photos, taking photos, or using photos that you’re not suppose to. I get into detail on CC0 public domain photos in this post and here’s a post from Amy Lynn Andrews on tips for using images on your blog correctly.

Here’s an example of the use of photo backgrounds and creating it to suit your brand:

Erika Madden at Olyvia.co creates her images with a soft and whimsical feel with photo backgrounds with pastel overlays. When she doesn’t use a photo background, she uses a color that matches her brand.

If you choose a color background be sure it’s part of your brand colors. Include design elements that give the image a unique look like fonts and shapes. Here’s an example below:

Marianne from Design Your Own Blog does a wonderful job in capturing the fun creative brand look for her blog. She uses plain color backgrounds along with small doses of decorative elements on the top of the image, which all match her brand colors.

Both examples show distinct looks and are recognizable on Pinterest. When you notice and have pinned images to blogs that you start to like and trust then pinning is much easier. You can pin it with confidence knowing there’s value  with each pin.

Another way to enhance an image to make it pin-worthy is to sign up for Rich Pins. Enabling Rich Pins will give the image more details according to your website. If it’s a recipe, article, product, or place that’s pinned then the image will show different details that can be more attractive. Take a look below:

For an article pin, the detail that’s included is the website avatar with the name of the blog. For recipe pins, ingredients are listed, which is great because there are recipes that make you wonder if you have all the ingredients and you don’t have to click on it to check. It’s more of a convenience for the pinner because maybe it’s not a good recipe for you. For product pins, it lists the price of the product which is also a wonderful way to get people to click. Some people may see an image and think it’s over their budget but once they see the price they realize it’s affordable thus making them click over.

As you can see Rich Pins, go a little deeper into the pin detail according to how the website is set up. To enable them for your website go here. All it takes is a bit of code to add the website and trust me it’s not that hard. More people will be willing to click on your pin if you have a Rich Pin because the of the details and taking those steps to enable them will definitely be a benefit.

Note: Let’s not forget to create your own branded pin it button to give people a call to action on the images on your blog! You can find some tips here.

How to Add a Description to Pins that Make Them Pin-Worthy

Oh how I dread seeing a pin with absolutely no description! You definitely wouldn’t pin it as-is would you? A fabulous image is great but if there’s no description it won’t go very far. Believe me, just adding the title of a blog post and your website isn’t going to hack it. There’s room for up to 500 characters in the description space however 75-100 characters are shown in the feed. Use the first 100 characters to talk about what the pin is about and why they should pin it. Of course, you don’t want to be salesy. Use the space to engage in a conversation like you’re speaking to a friend. Tell them what the pin is about and how it can help. Use keywords that will help the pin get found.

People use Pinterest as a search engine and using a well thought out description will help people find that specific pin. Believe me, there many times where I have the title of the pin and website listed on the description but it doesn’t get much traction unless I give it a detailed description of keywords. It doesn’t mean you have to use the entire space provided just use great copy and you’ll be in good shape.

Take a look at the pin descriptions below for comparison:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see the one on the right, the description is simple but the copy is to the point. I didn’t have to add my website or hashtags or website name, and this pin has the most activity (clicks, repins, and likes).

If you do see a great looking pin and when clicked it does have value (great article, useful recipe, etc.) but NO description, then save the pin and edit the description that would best fit the pin. If it was useful to you then share with others by providing a great description. If you don’t want to create a description then you’re better off not saving the pin.

Let’s Review The Three Elements To Make An Image Pin-Worthy

Okay so first we talked about size and size does matter on Pinterest, right? Right! Then the REALLY important element is the image. Why is the image so special? Because it should match your branding and relate to your business. It doesn’t have to fancy however consistency is key. Rich Pins would be great too! The third element to pin-worthiness (it’s okay, I make words up all the time ;)) is the description. As you can see in my mini case study earlier, it doesn’t matter if you use all the character count in the space provided to describe the pin however keeping it to the point in your copy will be the best way for people to find it. No hashtags, no website name or URL is needed. Keeping simple will do.

I hope this was helpful! Let me know what your results have been on Pinterest. I’d love to see your most pin-worthy image! Leave the pin link below so we can check it out.

Take care,