Pinterest design mistakes you need to avoid

You’ve heard time and time again (probably from other bloggers and definitely from me!) that Pinterest is amazing for getting blog traffic.

It’s actually my main source of traffic- in my post on how I doubled my traffic, you can see the majority of my traffic comes from Pinterest.

If you want to learn how to use Pinterest to get traffic to your blog too, you need to sign up for my free course Easy Pinterest with Emily.

It covers everything you need to know to become a pinning pro in 7 days, and contains info you won’t find anywhere else like:

• How to find the best group boards
• The secret to finding the best keywords for Pinterest SEO

You can read more about the course here, or just sign up below!

A massive part of Pinterest success is having gorgeous pins people actually want to share.

To help you make sure your Pinterest graphics are the best they can be, I’ve created this post all about the worst mistakes to make when designing pins.

So you can make sure your pins are as gorgeous as they can be!

PINTEREST DESIGN MISTAKES

I’ve started with this one as I think it;s the most important thing you need to know when designing pins.

And that’s the size they need to be.

 PINTEREST DESIGN MISTAKES #1: THE WRONG SIZE

You’ve probably noticed images on Pinterest are a similar size, and that’s for a reason.

You scroll through Pinterest vertically.

Therefore, long images perform better.

If your image is really short, chances are people scrolling through will miss it!

Obviously don’t make your pins obnoxiously long, but use images that are longer than they are wide.

Pinterest itself recommends at least 1000px by 1500 px:

PINTEREST DESIGN MISTAKES #2: IMAGES THAT AREN’T RELEVANT

Whenever you create a pin image, make sure the image on the pin is relevant to:

• The text on the pin
• The blog post/ page the pin leads to

Because yes, the dog in the example above is cute.

And yes, lots of people do like dogs.

BUT the dog is not relevant to the text on the pin, or the post people would read if they clicked the pin.

Not only do you need to use images that are relevant because it’ll make more sense to the pinner. 

But also, Pinterest can see your pin and the imagery on it.

And will show your pin to pinners based on what it sees in the image.

So if it sees an image of a dog?

It’s gonna show this image to people who are interested in dogs (not what we want for this particular image!).

But if it sees a picture of a girl designing?

Pinterest is going to understand this image is about design. 

And will show it to people who want to see pins about design. 

(Which is exactly who we want this pin to be shown to!).

Understanding how Pinterest works and sees our pins is something we cover in The Viral Pin Guide. 

So if you want to learn more about this, and how to best optimize your pins so Pinterest sees them and understands them, you can check out The Viral Pin Guide here! 

PINTEREST DESIGN MISTAKES #3: TEXT THAT IS TOO LIGHT

If you use a really light colour for your text, people won’t be able to read it.

And if they can’t read your title, they aren’t going to want to read your blog post.

(You can check out my post on the best titles to get more traffic here).

Make sure ALL of your text can be read easily.

You can do this by thinking about the contrast between the colours.

So for example, if I use a light background image, I make sure to use dark text so it can be easily read.

And if the background is dark, I use light text so it can be read.

PINTEREST DESIGN MISTAKES #4: SPELLING AND GRAMMAR MISTAKES

If I see a well designed Pinterest graphic, but notice spelling or grammar mistakes, I generally don’t repin it.

Just because I have followers and I don’t want to be putting an unprofessional looking pin in front of them.

I know people don’t do this on purpose.

I’m awful for excitedly writing blog posts then not checking them through.

But you can go back and update a blog post.

Once your pin is out there, it’s out there.

There’s no getting it back!

So be sure to check your grammar and spelling are good before you start pinning your image.

PINTEREST DESIGN MISTAKES #5: NOT COPYRIGHTING THEM

Pin theft is a serious problem on Pinterest!

I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve clicked on a pin to read the post, and it takes me to something completely different.

This is frustrating, because it means people want to be engaging with your content.

But someone has stolen your pin, so you’re missing on that traffic.

Now, you can report it to Pinterest.

But it happens a lot (more than I can keep up with for my own pins!).

To make sure it’s obviously yours, add something to show it’s your image before you share it.  

This can be:

• A symbol you use on your website
• Your logo
• A simplified version of your logo
• Or even your full website address.

That way, even if someone does use your image, your blog name will still be on there and people will remember it.

If you want even more Pinterest tips, don’t forget to sign up for Easy Pinterest with Emily now!

And if you found this list of Pinterest design mistakes helpful, please share it!

Otherwise check out these other Pinterest tips you might like:

• How to make $1,000+ a month on Pinterest
• How to get your first 1,000 Pinterest followers
• How I got a viral pin (88,000 impressions!)