How to grow your City-Specific Blog using Pinterest

Welcome back to the City Living Network where we help you launch, manage and monetize city-specific publications like Laguna Beach Living and Lexington Living Magazine. 2023 is the year we’re taking over the tourism boards and sharing a local’s side of our favorite places. So if you love your community, have a passion for creating connections, and want to start a thriving business from home, you’ve come to the right place. 

Learn how you can get started launching your own city-specific publication in just 30 days, by booking a free consultation with our founder Lindsay. She can create a media kit for your city which will give you an idea of what your publication would look like – and answer any questions that you might have. Book your call → here. 

In today’s guide, we’re going to be helping you grow your city-specific blog with Pinterest. Pinterest is a powerful platform for bloggers looking to grow their audiences and drive traffic to their blogs. It’s one of the only platforms that actively promotes sending users off of their platform. 

With over 250 million active users each month, it’s a platform that should not be ignored – however make no mistake about how quickly you will grow on Pinterest. Similar to any blogging strategy, growth does not happen overnight, and strategies and content need to be in place for 6+ months to see consistent results.

How to grow your city-specific blog with Pinterest

Create a Business Account

Step one is to create a Pinterest business account. This type of account gives you access to analytics and advertising options. You can switch from a personal account to a business account by going to the settings tab and following the steps provided. Luckily for you, with your city-specific blog, we’ll have already set up your Pinterest business account for you! 

It’s important to make sure that you have a business account because it will give you more control over your Pinterest presence and allow you to promote your publication in a professional manner. It’ll also let you track analytics to see what’s working and what’s not working for your account – always an important key to success! 

Optimize Your Profile

So, when you work with the City Living Network, we help you set up and optimize your Pinterest account! 

But, when you’re doing Pinterest on your own, optimizing your profile helps to make it appealing to your target audience. Fill out your profile information and make sure to include a profile picture that represents your publication. Oftentimes, a good option is to use your logo. 

You’ll then use the ‘about’ space to write a few lines about your publication. You need to let people know who you are, who you serve and what they can expect from you. This can be a time to let brands know how to work with you and entice users to join your email list. (Remember to use keywords here.)

Create Boards That Reflect Your Blog Niche

Think of boards as the categories and subcategories of your content. Here at the City Living Network, we usually start with categories like Play, Shop, Stay, People, Wellness, etc. Those categories will be your boards on Pinterest as well. Make sure to go even more niche than that with categories like Restaurants in “YOUR CITY”, Hotels in “YOUR CITY” and so on and so forth. This will help you reach people in search results both on Pinterest and Google. 

Your boards should be visually appealing and you can achieve that by making sure that your branding is clear and concise across your Pinterest page and boards. You can also make sure that your boards are organized in a way that makes it easy for your followers to navigate through and find what they’re looking for. 

Pin Regularly

This step cannot be overlooked. Consistency is so important to growing on Pinterest, you have to be able to pin regularly. You can pin your own blog posts as well as content from brands, businesses, and people that you are supporting with your city-specific blog. This will help you build relationships with businesses and increase your visibility on Pinterest. 

These days, Pinterest really cares about new content. And new content can be about old blog posts. The idea is to make it ‘new to Pinterest’. That means you can use templates to create up to 10 or more pins for one blog post. Make sure to use different titles, images, and keywords to make the content unique and help your reach.

Use Keywords in Your Pins

Always remember to use keywords in your pins so that they can be easily found by Pinterest users. At the end of the day, Pinterest is a giant search engine - make sure that people can find YOU in their searches. When you create a new pin, make sure to include a pin description and add relevant keywords that describe the content of your post. This makes it easier for Pinterest to index your content and help put you in front of the users who need answers to the questions you’re answering. 

Make Your Pins Visually Appealing

As well as being a search engine, Pinterest is all about images. It’s a very visual platform – so it’s important to make sure that your pins are visually appealing. Always use high-quality images, add a text overlay that is BIG and easy to read, and make sure that your pins have a consistent look and feel.

Having high-quality pins will help you stand out and be more eye-catching when people are scrolling. It will increase the likelihood that your pins will be re-pinned and drive more traffic to your blog.

Collaborate with Other Businesses

Collaborating with other businesses is a great way to grow your blog on Pinterest. You can collaborate with businesses in your local area by sharing each other’s content – and this can be a great way to get your foot in the door to work with those businesses. These collaborations will help you reach new audiences and increase your visibility on Pinterest, plus at the end of the day, they’ll help you make more money with your blog! 

Pinterest is such a powerful platform for bloggers who are looking to grow their business, and audience and drive traffic back to their blogs. By creating a business account, optimizing your profile, and creating high-quality content, you can effectively use Pinterest to grow your blog and reach a large audience. 

Just remember, consistency is key when it comes to using Pinterest to grow your blog. You need to pin regularly and engage with your followers on a consistent basis. This will help you build a strong presence on the platform and establish you as an authority in your niche. 

It’s important to stay up to date with the latest Pinterest trends and changes to the platform. If you need help doing this, reach out to a Pinterest Marketer! We highly recommend @justynjen for all your Pinterest needs. 

Have fun with Pinterest and enjoy the process of growing your blog. Pinterest is a great platform for bloggers. We could say that all day. It’s the only platform that’s actively promoting people clicking back to your website – to your blog. Metrics from Pinterest can help you make more money with your city-specific publication and work with unique brands and businesses. 

And if you’re ready to finally launch the city-specific blog of your dreams, then you need to book a call with our founder Lindsay today! She’ll walk you through the timeline, branding, and monetization and answer any questions you have about running a city-specific publication.