Is Your Website Ready for Pinterest?

Whether you’re blogging or building a business, chances are you’ve heard about Pinterest. Are you already using the up-and-coming social bookmarking site? A lot of people are, and early adopters are proving the site can be a powerful tool for businesses that want to build their brand online.

Even if you’re not sure that your business needs a Pinterest profile, it’s a smart idea to make sure that your website is ready for Pinterest. After all, Pinterest users are busy pinning favorites all over the web! The easier you make it to pin your site, the more likely you are to get pinned.

So, how do you get your website ready for Pinterest? Follow these steps to make your site easy to pin.

How to Get People to Pin Your Site

In order to encourage people to pin your site you need to first understand how Pinterest works and what its users are looking for. Pinterest is primarily a bookmarking site where people can save and share things that they like.

Grab Their Attention With Graphics

The thing that makes Pinterest different from other bookmarking sites, such as Delicious or Reddit, is that the site has a very visual layout with a focus on high-quality graphics. If your website features interesting photos, unique products or inspiring images, then you’re already half-way to getting pinned. This is another reason to make sure that your blog posts have photos!

If your blog or business doesn’t have a lot of eye-candy, then it’s time to start getting graphic. As you plan your content strategy, it’s helpful to know that photos aren’t the only thing getting attention on Pinterest. Users can pin a variety of things online, but it mostly comes down to these three: photos, videos, and infographics.

Make it Easy to Pin Your Site

If your site has pin-worthy content, the next step to getting users to Pin you is to make it easy for them to do so. There are a couple of ways to do this including: adding a Pinterest button, coding your content to display well on Pinterest and promoting recent pins on your website. The easiest method, and therefore the place to start, is with a “Pin This” button.

Add a Pinterest Button

It’s relatively easy to add a Pinterest button on your website. If you have an ecommerce site, you should add the Pin This icon to every product page. Bloggers want to make sure they have a Pin This button on every post and photo gallery. Don’t go crazy! No one is going to be pinning your About Page. The goal is to make pinning your website simple, not add visual clutter.

In addition to making it easy to pin your page, the Pin This button serves another purpose. That little red and white icon provides a subtle reminder to Pinterest users and encourages them to take action.

To get started adding the Pinterest button on your site visit http://pinterest.com/about/goodies/. You can grab a “follow” button for you business if you have a business profile or get the code to add the Pinterest icon. If you have a WordPress site, there are also plugins available that make adding Pinterest buttons even easier.

Pinterest-Friendly Code for Your Website

The next step for getting people to pin your site is a bit more advanced. Though not difficult, it does take some thought to make sure that the content on your site is “Pin-friendly.” Here is what you need to know to get your photos and videos ready:

1. Pins are separate files. To get the most benefit from Pinterest, make sure that each photo and video is saved as an individual file.

2. Add captions and descriptions to pinnable content. Some people want to write their own description, others will use the default description. Make it easy by writing good descriptions with keywords that will make other Pinterest users want to click through to your website.