Pinterest is the most exciting social media network out there today, making celebrities of its power users and putting photography (and graphic design) front and center more than ever before.

But most bloggers and small business owners have lots questions when it comes to using Pinterest strategically.

So, how do you transform Pinterest from a place to find pretty things to a tool for growing your blog, business or passion project?

One of the most important pieces is making sure that the images you use are set up to be Pinterest friendly. Here are a bevy of tips for making sure your images are ready to take center stage the next time they’re pinned.

 

That’s a lot to take in, right?  Let’s boil it down to the essentials.

Three Key (Actionable!) Take Aways:

  • Pin vertical images whenever you can. Vertical, or portrait style images look better inside of Pinterest’s interface, and have much a stronger chance of catching someone’s eye than a horizontally framed image does.
  • Pin what you love – and what you create. You don’t need a separate board for your work. Don’t limit the chance that people have to engage with your work by putting it all on one board. If you’re a fashion blogger, pin your posts alongside other outfits you love. Your board will grow faster that way, which will help your creations be presented to a larger audience.
  • Images aren’t search engine friendly, your descriptions are. When you add an image to your website, make the file name descriptive. 9823462.jpg contains no useful information, but girl-in-yellow-shirt-womens-fashion.jpg gives search engines something to grab onto. Likewise, when you’re re-pinning images, a description of what the pin is about makes it more likely to appear in searches for that thing, which makes your pin more likely to be re-pinned.

Have fun, pin every day and experiment with what works for you! There’s no one formula for success online, and Pinterest is exactly the same. That gives you lots of freedom to find a way to use it that works perfectly for you.