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ProBlogger: How My Old Blog Post Got Half a Million Pinterest Views [Case Study]

How My Old Blog Post Got Half a Million Pinterest Views [Case Study]

Posted: 06 Mar 2013 05:07 AM PST

There's a lot of information on the web, including ProBlogger, on how to maximize Pinterest to get traffic to your site. Between tutorials on how to optimize Pinterest as part of your social media marketing strategy, Darren's own experiment on Pinterest, how to create Pinterest-worthy graphics, and how to run a Pinterest contest, there are some great tips out there.

But I wanted to share my own personal experience on how an old post on ecokaren received almost half a million pageviews—50% of all-time page views on the post—just from Pinterest. Along the way, I’ll share some tips (and some of my biggest pet peeves) that you can use for better a Pinterest experience.

Image by unknown photographer, licensed under Creative Commons

Ecokaren on Pinterest

Now this wildly pinned post from ecokaren—which received over 490,000 pageviews and was pinned more than 129,000 times—is about … how to wash a washing machine.

Woah, did you read that right? 129,000 pins and 490,000 pageviews?

Yup. You read that correctly.

And the post is about washing a washing machine?

Yup. Again, you read that correctly.

I was shocked too when this old post started receiving crazy traffic without my trying, never mind that it was from a newly un-shrinkwrapped social media site called Pinterest. One person's pin of the post was repinned over 1400 times and has more than 300 likes. I should buy her a drink! Or maybe send her my homemade laundry detergent.

Now, the post was not your typical pin-worthy post. It had no huggable furry animals, no wise quotes, no cute babies nor scrumptious gourmet food. Nor did it have trendy ensemble suggestions for a fashionista or bare-chested Ryan Gosling wannabe.

Instead, it had a few small, individual photos of moldy interior of a washing machine and how it looked after it was washed. Not pretty at all, as you can see here.

So how did a boring, three-year old post get pinned so many times, to the point that it now continuously brings traffic from Pinterest? How did I make pinning sexy? (No, sex has nothing to do with it.)

My top Pinterest tips

Here are my unwritten (now written!) rules on pinning and driving traffic to your site.

1. Be active on Pinterest every day

It’s a no-brainer, right? But it's true. I pin or repin almost every day, even if it's just one pin. It's always better to pin original posts than just repin what others are pinning but either way, I'm active on Pinterest daily.

And when do I pin? The prime time for pinning is between 4 to 11pm US EST. I pin while waiting at the bus stop in the afternoon, waiting for my daughter. But I also pin early in the morning, while my coffee percolates. It’s a perfect way to spend time in the morning.

2. Don't just pin your own stuff

The unspoken rule of pinning is similar to StumbledUpon. It's better to high-five others than yourself. (Did you try high-fiving yourself? Yeah. Doesn't work well.)

You don't want to be bragging about your post or product all the time. If you compliment others by pinning and repining, pretty soon, others will do the same for you. Sure, you can pin your stuff once in a while but it's always better to pin that of others.

My general rule of thumb of ratio is 1:6 in pinning my post to those of others. Again, this is not written in stone, but it's my own unspoken rule. And remember, don’t ever violate Pinterest's copyright rules when pinning. Just don't go there.

3. Install a Pinterest button with a counter

It's obvious that you need a Pin it button on your posts. I use the Pin it extension or widget from my bookmark bar. But it'd be easy to have a Pin it button somewhere on your post too. Don't make readers have to search for it. Make it easy for them.

To take it one step further, I like icons with counters. I was f-l-o-o-r-e-d when I saw "108k" on my Pin It icon on that washing machine post when its pinning frenzy started. That number will be over 127k by the time you read this. Your posts’ readers will see that number too, and they will be more inclined to pin it, seeing that it's a wildly popular post.

Why? Readers feel validated when their views are in line with the popular majority. They want to share that feeling with their followers, and that makes them want to pin.

4. Engage your pinners and interact

Add nicely and thoughtfully constructed personal comments to pins. Not one word comments like "nice" or "

They don't allow interactions. A real sentence or two will.

Also, reply to comments on your posts that have been pinned. I always check the comments people are leaving on posts of mine that have been pinned or repinned. I thank the original pinner and leave replies to other commenters too. Some people are shocked that "ecokaren" is “that personal” and actually came to comment. That always cracks me up. I feel like a total celebrity when I read comments like that.

5. Upload your blog logo

Load a generic blog badge or logo on your landing page, so that even if there is no image attached to your post, at least your logo or badge for your blog will be pulled up on Pinterest for people to use.

I loaded my logo into the sidebar so if there is some reason an image doesn't load up for visitors to pin, at least they can use the blog's logo. I see my badge on Pinterest once in a while, alongside comments like "Awesome site!"—and that makes me grin.

6. Teach people something

My all time record-breaking pinned/repinned post is about washing your front loading washing machine. Yes: a very sexy topic indeed!

But apparently, people had so much trouble with moldy-smelling front-loading, high-efficiency washing machines that they were pinning and sharing my post for "solving their problem."

So even though the post was written three years ago and images are ugly, it finally got the attention it deserves—albeit late—and all because of Pinterest. All because the post taught readers something. It solved a problem.

How do I know that? I receive emails from housewives weekly, (I don't mean to stereotype housewives but let's face it folks, who does the laundry the most often in your house?) thanking me for the post.

I also created a Welcome page for email subscribers and about 75% of the signees are from the post. And in the comment section, they describe how I solved their front-loading washing machine mystery. I feel their warm hugs daily.

Optimizing your post for Pinterest

Here are some clean stats for the post (as of January 21, 2013):

Publish date: June 2009
Total pageviews: 965,085
Pageviews from Pinterest: 489,014
Average time: 1:27
Bounce rate: 57.21%
Approx. number of pins: 127,000

And the post is getting more views as you read this.

So, it's great that this little star of a post is getting oodles of eye balls. But what did I do optimize it?

As soon as I noticed the traffic, I made a few key changes to the post:

I added related links into the body of the post to other posts readers might be interested in, like how to make dryer balls out of orphaned socks, how to make homemade laundry detergent, how to clean your dishwasher, and more. And now, those posts are getting traction on Pinterst. I can tell you are fascinated by these topics too!
I added affiliate links to relevant products on my Amazon affiliate account. I'm not a millionaire yet, but it's paying the bills.
I cleaned up the images. Okay, so the images are still not Darren's quality but I cleaned up the images that were dingy and blurry looking. A moldy washing gasket is never that pretty but the older images were dark and less desirable for pinning.
I added text to the images to make them more pinnable and gain attention right away.
I added watermarks to images so that even if someone pins (or “steals”) the images, anyone who sees them will know where they came from.

If you want to get more exposure on Pinterest, some of these ideas might work for you, too.

Pinterest peeves

Finally, I wanted to highlight my biggest pet peeves about Pinterest. These are things I always avoid—as does any good citizen of Pinterest!

I abhor when people don’t give credit where credit is due on Pinterest. In other words, they steal your image and don’t link to your post. So I started watermarking all my images. And I check on Pinterest to make sure the images are linking back to my site occasionally. So far, I haven't discovered my image being hijacked, but I have seen plenty of other pins that do not link to its original post. I think that is wrong!
I wish there was an easier way on Pinterest to see all the pins that others pinned from ecokaren. Currently, there is no way for me to search my URL or name on the site to see all the images or posts that are pinned. I still have to use Google Analytics for the stat. Not cool. I’m hoping that Pinterest will improve pinning visibility for blog owners before long.
There isn't a fool-proof method of searching for Pinterest users. I tried to search for pinners and more often than not, they don’t appear in the search results. Again, I have better luck using Google. Something is wrong with that picture.
I wish there was an easier way to conduct contests. A Pinterest contest is one of the best social media campaigns you can do for your business or your blog. At Green Sisterhood (http://greensisterhood.com), we manage Pinterest contests for our clients and they require a lot of maintenance. A tool that finds boards and pins that have been repinned the most would be ideal. Again, let’s hope Pinterest adds functionality for this kind of thing soon.

Are you listening Pinterest? If you can make these four things happen, I'd love you even more!

Pinterest lessons

Solve people's problems!

On Monday, Jamie highlighted the fact that attractive, inspirational content does well on Pinterest, and that’s true. You can put up pretty images or cute animals pictures and even life changing quotes with awesome graphics on the network.

But nothing—and I mean nothing—gets people's attention like solving problems that they have been struggling with.

Ask yourself, "What would I want to pin and repin?" That's the post that will get pinned the most.

Do you have a personal success story on Pinterest? What was the post about? Tell us about it in the comments.

Contributing author Karen Lee is a co-founder and managing partner of Green Sisterhood, a network of green women bloggers with aggregated monthly page views of over 2.5 million pageviews. We help companies to increase online branding awareness with content and social media marketing strategies, like Pinterest contests. Karen is also a founder and publisher of ecokaren where she writes about importance of washing your washing machine and on greening your life.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

How My Old Blog Post Got Half a Million Pinterest Views [Case Study]

Shoemoney - Skills To Pay The Bills

Link to ShoeMoney Internet Marketing Blog

New Rules for Success

Posted: 06 Mar 2013 05:00 AM PST

Plan, plot, strategize.

-Tupac Shakur.

If you understand and anticipate the changes that are coming you can ride the waves like a surfer.

If you fail to understand that you’re in an ocean you’ll just get wiped out.

The rules have changed, again.

Don’t worry, they’ll change again before long, but now is a great time to take advantage of this plateau of normalcy if you will. You have time if you act now and take action by snatching your success from the cold dead hands of failure.

Here are the new rules for success:

Resonance is the new relevance.

Content is King? No, content is GOLD.

-Don’t forget the golden rule. He who holds the gold makes all the rules.

Internet users want more than what’s relevant, they want what resonates with them on a personal and intimate level.

It’s no longer about the mathematical approach of highly sophisticated keyword optimization schemes.

It’s all about alchemy. That is creating GOLD.

As a freelance writer, blogger, internet marketer or whatever you call yourself you have to understand that today gold is worth approximately $1700/ounce.

How many ounces of gold could you buy with the money your content generated in 2012? 1, 2, 3, 5+, 10+, 100+?

Remember, YOUR content is just like gold:

It’s a fundamental “element” of the internet.
It’s value increases as you remove impurities and fillers from it.
It can be reused recycled and re-purposed over and over again.

SEO now stands for Sexy Entertaining Outrageous.

Did you hear the story of the new Linux powered machine gun?

Seriously.

I don’t care what side of the gun rights debate you’re on you have to admit this sounds cool. Who wouldn’t want to read more about this new open-sourced-software machine gun technology?

Google understands this and I predict they will continue to send their dangerous SEO animals like Panda and Penguin to scare off the BLAND in favor of high quality content that’s packed with FLAVOR.

How to make your content more sexy, entertaining, and outrageous?

Get off the sidelines when it’s controversial ie GAME time. I wish I could tell you how stupid your updates on twitter look when there’s an amazingly huge international story trending. Here you are posting “5 ways to build back links.” Who do you think want’s to read that BS, now?
Have fun with celebrities and politicians. No, I’m not talking about trying to be the next Alex Jones. I’m talking about being smart about it and exploiting opportunities. This is both an art and a science. Let your conscious be your guide and your personality show off your style. Remember, risk nothing gain, NOTHING. Getting a check is the new politically correct.

Successful online entrepreneurs are the new “Gangsters”.

Ask 50Cent if you think I’m joking.

What was one of the most successful business that Curtis Jackson aka 50Cent owned in 2012? Oh yeah it was his blog.

Ask yourself this, why would a multi-platinum rapper want to be a blogger?

Because making money online is a scam? No.

Complacency is the new enemy.

Terrorists living in caves or trailer parks are the least of your worries. In order to be successful you have to declare WAR ON COMPLACENCY.

This is when you accomplish something and then rest on your laurels. You take a “break” and let your momentum die down. BIG MISTAKE.

How to overcome complacency?

> Strike the iron while it’s HOT.

When you finally get a successful response to an email campaign or a blog post. Don’t leave it at that. Keep your buzz going by complimenting the original content with new updates, sequels, and fresh spins. Connect with trending topics, current events, and personality for best results.

> Fail forward.

Accept the fact that you will get TEN no’s for every ONE yes. Focus on the ONE yes. The NINE no’s are like cars you drive by in rush hour traffic, keep moving. Remember, it’s a numbers game getting emotional is lame. Don’t be a jerk just do the work.

Collaborators are the new friends.

Friends are considered extremely precious valuable resources to people but in the end they actually return very little. You may find yourself at a difficult crossroads where the momentum of your success is moving you east and your friends are headed west.

No doubt about it Al Cowlings should be in the hall of fame for #1 best friend of all time.

Your friends don’t have to take it to this extreme level but, if all you can get them to do is watch sports or go out and get drunk you probably need to “de-friend them”.

How to optimize your friendships?

> Challenge your friends to join you as “co-conspirators” in your secret plans for success.

If they opt out demote them to associate status instantly. What value does your “best friend” have if you can’t even count on them to re-tweet a freaking blog post?

> The Adam Sandler / Rob Schneider strategy.

This is what I call friendship. Adam made tons of big movies and every single one his buddy Rob get’s a role. No matter how small the part is Rob is always there to not only help his friend but he KILLS it. Eventually, Rob got his own featured movies. Ask your friend to play that “role” in order to add a new dimension of value for your audience. Use them for case studies, product evaluations, experiments, on site reports, goofy cameos, or whatever you feel will resonate with your audience.

Planning is the new dreaming.

Shout out to Penelope Trunk for bringing this up. Be careful about “dreams” they can turn into nightmares.

Remember, dreams are what pimps like Iceberg Slim sell to prostitutes. Entrepreneurs like to talk about marketing psychology but they need to understand basic GAME THEORY.

Don’t be a sucker. Realize that most people will never do anything except talk about everything. This includes YOU.

How to optimize planing?

Get a plan.
NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER let a day go by without completing the most important tasks on your plan.

Procrastinating is the new hating.

Doing nothing is the most effective poison to your dreams of success. It’s even more powerful than the “Spike 80DF” that some Alabama fan used to kill the ancient oak trees on Auburn University’s campus.

When you procrastinate:

You don’t feel like your making any mistakes so you just sit there.
You don’t feel like you’re causing any harm so you just sit there.

Just like a blogger frog sitting in water not realizing the temperature is slowly increasing until it’s past the boiling point. You won’t know you’re a failure until life has passed you by.

Some people claim they have haters but the real question is, ARE YOU ONE? WHO is making YOU do NOTHING?

PS:

Don’t worry about trying to be the KING focus on the gold.

The King is the paranoid idiot trying to implement censorship laws like SOPA and PIPA. Let him worry about Guy Fawkes.