Boost Your Blog // How to Create Pinterest Friendly Blog Images

I struggled a lot with the title of this post.  Because it's not about how to add a pin it button to you blog but rather how to encourage others to pin from your blog.  What am I talking about?  I'm talking about those images on Pinterest that sum up the entire pin in a single image.  There are multiple ways to achieve this & multiple reasons to choose any of those ways.  Sometimes you want to highlight one item & sometimes you want to highlight a process or a collection.  But how do you continue to think about that when you're taking blog photos without over thinking it - I tend to do this.  You want to make sure these images are summaries of the posts, if that makes sense.  Here's what I do:

Highlight a Collection by Including it all in One Photo

From the What's in My Purse post here

From the Home Coffee Bar post here

This works best when the post is about a process or a collection - think a about posts that include a lot of things.  This photo needs to sum up everything in the post.  That will be the easiest to pin & explain the post that is linked easily.  For example in my recent what's in my purse post I used a the top image as an overview of everything & when I pinned the post to promote it, that is the image I used.  It sums up the post in a single image.  If I'd just pinned my purse it might have seemed like the post was all about that purse.  So focus on getting the entire body of the post in the image not just one part.  This technique is great for posts that require multiple parts to make the whole.

Highlight a Single Item by Simplifying the Background

From this Salmon Recipe post here

From this Gift Idea post here

Sometimes there are posts where you're focusing on one item & you have multiple pictures of that one item.  So that others will know exactly what the link is to when they see the picture on Pinterest, simplify the background.  Move out the clutter, play with your depth of field (make the background of the image blurred while the foreground is focused - you can achieve this in a simple manner by moving the object closer to the camera).  Think about product images - there's no background to distract you.  Make the item you are blogging about the center focus of the image.  A crisp & clean background will put that item in focus.

Add a 'Beauty Shot' at the Top of Your Post

From this DIY post here

When I am a part of sponsored posts here on the blog, usually one requirement is to create a beauty shot & put it at the top of the post.  This is a styled image where the project or product is the sole focus but it's also in an environment that gives it purpose.  If you've made a craft that needs to live in certain environment - maybe it's a home decor piece - creating this beauty shot will put the item in it's place & show others how to use it.

Add text over your 'Beauty Shot'

From this Boost Your Blog post here

from this post

Along the same lines as the tip above, adding text on top of your beauty shot will let pinners know exactly what they are clicking on.  Describe your post or even add the title of the post to the image.  These are great pinnable images because you know exactly where you are going & which board to pin to.  I think these images encourage the most pinning because you don't have to write a caption to know why you pinned it.  Also this is a chance to add a watermark to your photo in a non-obvious way.  (See tip below)

Include a Watermark just in case

Learn how to do this here

I hardly (read - never) include a watermark in my blog photos...so in this case, do as I say & not as I do.  A watermark will ensure that if your link gets lost somewhere another pinner can google your blog name, find you blog, & maybe find the original source of the pin.  If you want an easy way to add watermarks to your photos, check out this tutorial here.  (Don't forget, if you click this link you can use Picmonkey Royale feature for free for one day!)

So these are the things I keep in mind when working on photos for the blog.  Giving the most info possible in a single image is the goal here.  You want others to know exactly what's going on with a single image.  A picture is worth 1000 words!

How do you create pinnable images?  Do you like others pinning from your blog?

xoxo, Moe

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