55 Pinterest Mistakes That Will Seriously Hurt Your Traffic

Many bloggers and entrepreneurs are making all sorts of Pinterest mistakes. I’ll admit – I did some of them too. Some were terrible, and some were more innocent, but they still didn’t help me grow my business.

If you have been putting in the work for months now, but you’re still not getting the results you want and deserve, then you could be making these mistakes too. But don’t worry, after you read my blog post, you will take action, change your Pinterest Marketing Strategy and you’ll start seeing results.

This post includes affiliate links to products I love and recommend, meaning I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I will use the earnings to maintain my blog and business so that I can deliver more value and knowledge to you.

Get my free Pinterest mini-course that will show you how I get 10,000 – 15,000 people per month to my business.

1.) Using a Logo instead of your own profile photo:

People want to do business with people, not their logos. If you’re using your logo (or any other photo that is not of you) – it seems like you are hiding something.

Your audience will trust you more if you use a photo of yourself. Don’t forget to smile because you will look more inviting.

2.) Another one of the big Pinterest Mistakes is if you’re not using keywords in your business name:

Many entrepreneurs and bloggers are not using keywords in their business names. Don’t be one of them! When you use keywords, that means your targeted audience will be able to find you faster.

3.) Not having a Pinterest Business Profile:

If you don’t have a business account, you don’t have all the features like Pinterest analytics. Plus you don’t look professional to your audience.

You are running a business, so treat it as a business!

4.) Not using Keywords in the Profile Description:

As you can see, KEYWORDS are essential on Pinterest. Without them, you won’t reach a lot of people which means your traffic will be low. But you know that traffic is an important key to your success.

Do your research and include long-tail keywords that you want to be found for. And always remember this:

NO TRAFFIC = NO BUSINESS

5.) Another one of the huge Pinterest Mistakes is not using Keywords in board titles & descriptions:

Again with keywords 😉 Yes, because they are super important to get your boards ranked higher on Pinterest. So when people are searching for specific boards, they will see yours and follow it.

Without the proper keywords, you won’t get many eyeballs on your Pinterest boards. That is not good when you’re growing your business.

6.) Not using Keywords in pin title & description:

Here we go again 🙂 I hope you see how important keywords are if you’re doing Pinterest Marketing. No, I’m not kidding – they really are important. With them, you can rank your pin on top and get in front of your targeted audience.

7.) Not having your website/blog URL verified:

This is another one of those BIG, HUGE Pinterest mistakes. You need to verify your blog URL so that people can click on it. It’s another way you will get traffic to your blog.

CLICK HERE and learn how to claim your website.

8.) Not having a good Pinterest Strategy is one of the BIGGEST Pinterest mistakes:

Without a good Pinterest strategy, you won’t get far. It’s really important to learn how to use Pinterest to drive massive amounts of traffic to your blog or website.

When I started with Pinterest I only knew the basics. But that wasn’t enough. I got 500+ monthly readers and that was it. Then I invested in an amazing course and my traffic tripled the next month!

However, my traffic stopped going up because I’d been using someone else’s strategy. When I finally learned how to create my own strategy, everything changed.

Now I’m consistently getting between 10,000 to 15,000 people from Pinterest monthly.

If you want to learn how Pinterest works and how you can create your strategy, then grab my Ultimate PinProfits course here.

9.) One of the HUGE Pinterest mistakes is pinning too much:

If you are guilty of this, STOP right away. You shouldn’t go over 20 pins per day (yours and other people’s pins together). And you don’t even have to create so many.

I’ve been pinning 2 pins per day and it’s working great! You don’t have to burn out to get a lot of traffic.

If you’re a beginner in Pinterest marketing, then I suggest you share 2-3 other people’s pins and only 1-2 of your pins. After a month or two, start pinning 1-2 of your pins daily and that’s it.

10.) Not pinning enough or at all is one of the huge Pinterest mistakes:

You need to be consistent – that means pinning every single day! There is no “OH but it’s the weekend… I will take a break.” 😉 You have to pin daily.

But you are probably really busy. So there is a great solution for you and it’s called Pinterest scheduler. Batch create your pins, and schedule them.

11.) Pinning mostly other people’s pins:

You can see where the problem is. If you want to get traffic from this amazing platform, you have to link back to your content. It’s not true that you have to pin other people’s pins. I’ve been pinning only mine and didn’t get punished for that.

12.) Pinning only other people’s pins:

This is similar to the mistake above, however, it’s even worse because you’re promoting only other people’s content.

So it doesn’t make any sense to only share pins from others. You are running a business, so take it seriously and have a healthy balance between other people’s pins and yours. Or just decide to link back to your content.

13.) Treating Pinterest as a Social Media platform:

Pinterest is NOT a Social Media platform. It is more like Google – a search engine. Also, it’s a VISUAL platform, so you need to make sure your pin images look professional and attractive.

14.) Another one of the big Pinterest mistakes is – not creating any pin images for blog posts:

That’s a huge mistake because you are getting the audience from Pinterest. And guess where they will share your content to check it out later – YUP, you guessed it – on PINTEREST.

If you don’t have any pin images in your blog posts, then you are missing out on more potential traffic.

15.) Creating only one pin image per blog post is another one of the big Pinterest mistakes:

I see a lot of bloggers that create one pin image per blog post. And that’s not good because some of your readers don’t like that image and that’s why they won’t share it.

Create at least 3 images and put them in the blog post. This way your readers will have more choices and they will share pin images that they love most.

16.) Having unrelated boards on Pinterest:

I heard that was a good strategy in the past, but not anymore. For example, if you are in the make-money niche, then you shouldn’t have a board for weight loss. It just doesn’t make any sense, do you agree?

Your audience is there to learn about a specific niche, not all of the niches that exist on this planet. Plus, the Pinterest algorithm gets confused about what your account is about.

After you read this blog post, go to your Pinterest account and delete (or hide) all the unrelated boards.

17.) Sharing pins to unrelated boards:

This is another one of those big Pinterest mistakes. Have you ever seen a pin about Email Marketing and growing your email list on a board called Social Media?

Pinterest will get confused and that’s why your pins and boards won’t reach more people. So if you don’t want that, start pinning to the right boards.

18.) Joining Pinterest group boards that have a bad score:

How do you know which group board is bad? Well, look at the description of it. Does it say they accept people from different niches? If yes, DON’T join!

Every board has to be SEO-optimized for a specific topic. So if anyone can join and pin anything they want, Pinterest won’t know what that board is about. And it won’t show any of the pins to people.

So look at the group boards you’re in. If you find any that are not SEO-optimized, leave them! They are hurting your Pinterest reach.

19.) Not analyzing your Pinterest results:

Another one of those BIG Pinterest mistakes is not checking your analytics. If you’re scared of Pinterest analytics – don’t be. Learn slowly, step by step and each day check the analytics so you get used to the data.

Focus more on the outbound clicks and engagement. See which of your pins are doing the best, and create more content on a similar topic.

20.) Not having your best performing boards at the top:

These boards have the best-performing pins in them. So you want your new followers to see them. These pins will get even more re-pins and that means more traffic for you.

21.) Engaging too much on pins:

If you’re commenting on other people’s pins too fast or too much, Pinterest will flag your account. The same will happen if you’re leaving the same comment over and over again.

22.) Another one of the big Pinterest mistakes is not using the Pinterest scheduler:

If you’re using other schedulers, well chances are, you’re limiting your reach. I used to use Tailwind, but I’ve noticed my traffic started declining.

After I stopped and started using the Pinterest scheduler, my traffic went up. The problem with Tailwind is the loop feature. People still use it to re-pin their older pins. However, Pinterest said, they want fresh pins.

So what does that mean? You need to create new designs and pin them ONCE. Don’t re-pin them. Yes, other people can still do that, but you shouldn’t re-pin your pins.

If you’re still doing that – STOP! Many people got their accounts flagged because of that.

23.) Not learning about Pinterest Marketing is one of the BIGGEST Pinterest mistakes:

If you’re not learning about it, you are wasting your time. You need to invest in courses to learn how Pinterest works. It can take you many years if you will try to figure it out yourself.

But in business we want fast results, right? So the fastest way to success is investing in yourself. You can grab my Pinterest course here.

24.) Not creating professional and attractive pins:

Pinterest is a visual search engine. If you are not using tall (vertical) pins, you won’t get many clicks. Besides that, if you’re not using beautiful professional photos and your pins look like you didn’t put much thought into them – people will just ignore them.

Here is what you should include in a pin:

• Beautiful, professional photos (Ivory Mix has 550+ beautiful & FREE photos – CLICK HERE to check it out)
• An eye-catching headline that’s easy to read
• CTA (call to action)
• Your logo or URL
• Or you can create an infographic

To learn more, read my blog post: How To Create Killer Pinterest Images That People Click

25.) Creating wrong size pin images is another one of the big Pinterest mistakes:

You have to create tall vertical pins. These kinds of pins stand out, others get lost in the crowd. Pinterest says that the optimal size is 1000 × 1500 pixels (or 2:3 aspect ratio)

26.) One of the big Pinterest mistakes is – sharing pins with no text (just the picture):

You probably saw some of the pins that are actually just an image. There is no text on it. Now be honest – did you click on it? Probably not, right?

If you don’t put interesting text on your pin (eye-catching title), then you won’t see great results. Not a lot of people will click because they don’t know what they’ll get on the other side.

27.) Creating boring pins:

Boring pins don’t stand out. And if they don’t, you know what that means – people won’t click on them. You have to create beautiful pins that stand out.

So start testing out different colors, and make sure the text is easy to read. Also, check your analytics to see what people are attracted to most. Just don’t re-use the same template – or if you do, change it up so it doesn’t look the same.

28.) Re-pinning the same pin to all your boards is another one of those BIG Pinterest mistakes:

That is not good at all because your Pinterest account will look like spam. By now you already know that re-pinning shouldn’t be your strategy. When you create a new pin, pin it to the most relevant board and that’s it.

29.) Not trying to create new pins for content that isn’t performing the best:

This is why you need to check your analytics. You will see what works and what doesn’t. So if a pin didn’t do well, recreate a new one that doesn’t look similar. Test out a different design, a better headline, a different call to action, and new keywords.

30.) Sharing pins that don’t lead to where they should:

This is a huge Pinterest mistake. Your audience can actually report you and you can lose your account. If the title on the pin says ‘The Ultimate Blogging Guide’, then you can’t put a link to a meatball recipe. I know, weird example, but hey I’m hungry 😜

Always make sure you are sending people to the right place. This goes for other people’s pins too. When you are re-pinning from others, check where they are sending people.

31.) Using many different fonts on pins:

Fonts are a part of your brand. It’s ok to test different ones here and there to see which are performing better. But if you keep changing everything, it will look weird and unprofessional on your account.

32.) Not using your branded colors on pins:

This is the same as fonts. You have to brand yourself with the same colors. People will notice you faster and when they will see similar colors, they will think of you.

But remember, if you test out different colors here and there, it’s okay. I have some pins that don’t have any of my brand colors, and they’re still driving me traffic.

33.) Not using your logo on your pins:

Having a logo is necessary! Without it, you can’t brand yourself as a professional in your field. And guess who people follow first – professionals! You can create your own logo or pay someone to do it for you. Then make sure you include it in every pin!

The reason is, that many lazy people on Pinterest will steal your pins and use them as their own. And the only way you can prove they are yours is by having a logo on them.

34.) Not using your blog URL on your pins:

Sometimes you just can’t squeeze your logo on a pin or it just doesn’t look that good. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t brand yourself. Put your blog or website URL (in text form) on your pin.

35.) Using Tailwind Loop Feature:

You shouldn’t be using the Tailwind loop feature because you are re-pinning your old pins. As I mentioned before, Pinterest wants us to create new graphics. Yes, I understand it’s more work for us, but we should follow their rules.

36.) Putting too much work into creating attractive board cover graphics:

Yes, your boards might look better but don’t waste your time on something that won’t get you more traffic. Rather focus on killer Pinterest images and optimize them with keywords.

37.) Sharing spammy content:

If you are always selling something and not offering any value, then this won’t look good. Just think about the last desperate salesperson you talked to. If they were trying to hardcore sell you something, you probably wanted to run away.

38.) Pinning boring or not helpful content:

No one is going to follow you if they don’t get much value from your content. Before you start earning money, you will have to help solve some of your audience’s problems.

39.) Not promoting your Pinterest account on your blog:

If you want to grow your following on Pinterest, then you have to promote your account on your blog or website.

A little shameless plug here – if we are not connected on Pinterest, I would appreciate it if you would Follow Me – just CLICK HERE 😉 Thanks!

40.) Not sharing your Pinterest account with your email list:

Every blogger and business owner should have an email list so I’m guessing you have it too. Why don’t you send your subscribers an email letting them know you have a Pinterest account and you would love to be connected with them there?

41.) Not including a pin on the landing pages of your courses or products:

If one of your customers is really happy with what they bought, they could share it. That’s why it’s essential to connect with your audience and make them happy. They will return the favor for sure by sharing your products.

42.) Not including a pin on the landing pages of your freebies:

I’ll be completely honest with you – I’m totally guilty of this. I didn’t include any pins on my landing pages mostly because I forgot. So don’t be like me – create pins and add them to your page.

43.) Not getting Pinterest traffic to your email list:

If you are a blogger or business owner, and you’re not growing your email list – I have some BAD news for you. Most of your audience will come to your blog or website once – and then never again.

So if you want to connect with them, you need an email marketing strategy. Grow your list fast, build a great relationship and you will be able to sell more of your products.

Wanna learn more? Then read my blog post: How To Building an Email List With Pinterest

44.) Not sharing your Pinterest account on other Social Media platforms:

Yes, that is one of the Pinterest mistakes that many bloggers and business owners make. You never know which of your Facebook friends has a Pinterest account too.

Maybe you’re thinking that it’s enough if people follow you on only one platform. But that’s not true. If they follow you on multiple platforms, they are more likely to see your content.

45.) Participating in the re-pin threads:

Are you in any Facebook group where you can participate in a re-pin thread? Well, don’t do it. The problem with those threads is that people are in different niches, so their audience might not be interested in your pin.

Also, most of those people re-pin to non-SEO-optimized boards, or even to the wrong boards. So stop wasting your time on those threads and focus on creating outstanding keyword-rich pins.

Here’s an example of a re-pin thread:

46.) Not sending your pin links to your email subscribers:

Yes, you can actually invite your email subscribers to check out your pin and share it. If you’re not doing this, you could be missing out.

47.) Using Pinterest follow threads:

It’s the same as the re-pin threads – a big no-no. You don’t want random people who aren’t interested in your business following you. They’ll probably unfollow you soon, or not ever check your pins.

48.) Not treating Pinterest as a visual place is another one of the HUGE Pinterest Mistakes:

If you’re using Pinterest, you know it is a visual place. That means you have to create really beautiful and attractive pins that will get clicked on. You have to stand out of the crowd and it’s not enough to just include a great headline.

Photos, colors, and fonts are really important. So make sure you test some designs out and see which works best.

49.) Not using Pinterest ads:

Pinterest ads are great because there is not a lot of competition. Most big companies use Facebook & Instagram ads. That means Pinterest ads are way cheaper.

50.) Giving up on your Pinterest marketing too fast is one of those BIG Pinterest mistakes too:

Any strategy takes time and only those who never quite, see results. And remember this – every time you quit, you start from scratch. You don’t want to keep repeating this mistake and not see any results.

This is what I did in the past. I started with Pinterest and I quit because I didn’t know what I was doing. Instead of learning and implementing the strategies, I simply quit.

Now I took it seriously, invested in a Pinterest course, learned, and took action. After 3 months and a half, I started earning money from my blog.

But that was back in 2019. Pinterest changed and now it takes longer to see results. However, it’s still worth it! Why? Because pins have a life span of days, weeks, months, or even years! I have many pins that I created years ago and are still driving me traffic.

Here are my results after 10 months of doing the Pinterest marketing:

51.) Focusing too much on growing your followers:

I’m not going to say that followers are not important, but you can still reach a ton of people with only a couple hundred followers. When you do your Pinterest strategy right, your pins will get in front of a lot of people – those who are not following you.

So instead of focusing just on growing your following, focus on creating great pins with the right keywords in the title & description. This is going to help you rank your pins on top.

52.) This is another one of the big Pinterest mistakes – Creating boring pin titles:

No one loves boring stuff, so make sure your titles are amazing. They have to capture people’s attention. As we said before – Pinterest is a visual search engine. People won’t click on your pins if the titles are uninteresting.

53.) Using photos that are not related to your topic or niche:

I think we are all guilty of this, but we should be careful. If you’re talking about making money online, then you can’t include a photo of food. It just wouldn’t make any sense to your audience.

Also, Pinterest scans your pin and if the image doesn’t connect to the text, it will only confuse the algorithm.

54.) Focusing on the quantity, not the quality of the pins:

This is another one of the Pinterest mistakes you should avoid. It’s better to pin 2 great quality pins that are going to bring your traffic to your blog than to pin 15 poor quality pins that won’t do anything.

You are doing Pinterest marketing to get results, so focus on the money-making activities. You know that Pinterest is a visual search engine, so create EYE-CATCHING pins.

55.) One of the biggest Pinterest mistakes you can make is – not checking Pinterest analytics weekly:

Every week, sit down and check which boards and pins are performing best. This way you’ll know what pins to create and which content to link back to. Failing at this step is going to make you try and wing it with Pinterest.

And as a business owner or blogger, you know that everything you do needs a strategy.

If you want to learn more about Pinterest Marketing for your business, then check another one of my popular blog posts – How to use Pinterest for Business.

Did you get some value from this blog post on BIG Pinterest Mistakes? I hope you did because I put my whole heart into giving you the most amazing tips and strategies that will help you succeed in your business. 

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Petra Šranc (CEO of Big Income Paradise) is passionate about teaching female entrepreneurs how to do Social Media Marketing to grow their business online. She also focuses on teaching Social Media content tactics to skyrocket traffic, leads, and sales.