We all love Pinterest, right? Well, I’m a fan. A lot of my website traffic comes from Pinterest. So today I’m telling you how to use Pinterest to promote your webdesign business.
My personal Pinterest account is slanted toward my bookish activities – that’s one of my favorite niches. However you could use your Pinterest account to call attention to your webdesign business efforts by creating boards that show your skills and portfolio. I’ve just created a small Pinterest account for this website – you’ll see my Klamath Design Pinterest widget below.
Here are my top ten suggestions for using Pinterest as a webdesigner.
1. You can create a separate account that has only webdesign themed boards, or you could move your webdesign boards to the top of your Pinterest profile page. The easiest way to start is by using your current profile, but if you think you’ll eventually want a separate profile with your business name on it, it could be easier to start that way. Here’s the link to create a Pinterest business account.
2. Keep in mind that a Pinterest image ideally should be at least 700px wide x 1000px high – or higher. The big image above is 700×1500. These vertical-alignment images will attract more attention and get more repins on Pinterest. Repins are what you want. You may have to make your portfolio images from closeups of unique features in your webdesigns, or you could use your graphics program to join screenshots together for a vertical image. This can be done online at Photo Joiner or Fotor’s Photo Stitching tool. I used Photo Joiner to make the screenshot stack you see to the right of this paragraph. I used old screenshots from way back when I started my business in 2003. You could also use it to join screenshots of your site so that the website appears as one long vertical image, like Xavier did.
3. Although many sites created for webdesigners don’t offer pinnable images, get the Pinterest pin-it button as an add-on for your browser. If you find a webdesign site you love, click on that browser button to see if there are any images worth sharing. You could place them in boards related to webdeisgn, such as “Webdesign How-To” or “Pimp Your Website.”
4. When creating boards related to webdesign, try for unique titles. There must be hundreds of Pinterest boards called “Webdesign.” There are also dozens for “Webdesign Trends,” Webdesign Portfolio,” and “Webdesign Inspiration.” If you want your board to be visible in Google (and Google does love Pinterest boards) you will need a unique title, preferably something people are looking for. Check with Jaaxy for good, viable keywords related to webdesign, and name your boards accordingly.
5. You can get a widget for your website from Pinterest. Just click on the gear symbol at the top-right section of your profile, click on “Make a widget,” then copy the code to your website. Mine looks like this. You can adjust the width and height of the code, to fit your space. Every time you add a new pin, the widget will change to show the most recent pins you’ve added. Your site visitors can click on any of the individual tiny-pins shown to see what you’ve been pinning.
6. When you make your business Pinterest account – you will want to spiffy up your profile page. Be sure to include a unique profile photo, a short description, and a link to your webdesign website. It doesn’t help your business to look unprofessional by failing to complete the profile page.
7. Likewise, you should edit each board you make to include a keyword-rich description and your link. The links you put into the description won’t be active, but they should be there anyhow. Anyone who wants to see your site can highlight the URL text and right-click to open the link in a new tab. When you have good descriptions in the header of your Pinterest boards you are more likely to get good search engine positioning.
8. Remember when you make pages on your site – or on you clients’ sites – every page should have a pinnable image. As explained before, a pinnable image will be vertically aligned – more height that width. That makes it more visible and attractive on Pinterest – and your goal is to get other people to repin your images. The art of making good pinnable images cannot be underestimated. A lot of website traffic comes from Pinterest these days because search engine positioning is often difficult to achieve – especially in the webdesign business.
9. If you specialize (and you should) be sure to make a Pinterest board for each of your specialties. For example, if you make websites for real estate agents, make a “Real Estate Webdesign” board, hopefully with a more innovative title. If you make websites for equestrians, create a board for “Horse Themed Webdesign Ideas.” This will help people who plan to establish sites like that find you as they search for ideas to incorporate into their websites. Place your webdesign site link in the description of every pin that comes from one of the sites you’ve designed.
10. Finally, make a Pinterest board just for you. One board should contain pins leading to all your website pages and portfolio designs. Help people find the content you offer. I’m going to be working on this, for Klamath Design. This involves reviewing every page already published to create images for them. Ideally every page should have a pinnable image (vertical) and an alternate image (horizontal) that would look good on Twitter and Facebook. Images are what people are looking for these days – and graphics development has become an integral part of webdesign, one that we should never hesitate to embrace.
