jennifer pot pie girl what works know by Dennis Barszcz

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What Works NOW for 2019 2018 was such a fabulous learning experience for me.

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In fact, I learn new things every, single day.

Yes, even after 11+ years doing this, I still learn new things.

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Thank goodness - or else I would be super bored of this business haha!

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2018 presented me with quite a few challenges in my personal life.

Our health is fine, our marriage is fine - nothing devastating like that - it was more that life just continued to throw me ‘curve balls’. While I’m not going to go deep into ALL the stuff that has happened, I’ll give you an example… Within almost 4 months, BOTH of my cats passed away (both from old age - but quite heartbreaking for me).

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We all have life challenges like that - things that take the wind out of you for a while - and make it really hard to work and be creative. I imagine you’re nodding your head because you know exactly what I mean, right?

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As someone who insists on finding the positive in any situation, this past year has also blessed me with perspective…

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AND…

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Being about to SEE what works NOW when I can’t work, when I have NO motivation TO work, or when I have very limited time to get any work done has been a wonderful experience.

What you’ll find in this year’s What Works NOW guide is a collection of tips and tricks and strategies and tools that have worked beautifully FOR me when *I* am NOT working. And/or they have made my time more efficient,my work easier and my results better when I AM working. These tips below are in no particular order.

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In fact, they are all coming from a HUGE stack on Post-It notes where I have jotted these things down over the year.

1 - Schedule Hacks 2 - Seasonal Slants

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3 - Colors Colors Colors! 4 - Fast Blog Post Ideas

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5 - Pin Decription Trick 6 - Internal Linking Trick

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8 - Notify Them!

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7- DeBug the Right Way

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9 - Promote Those That Know THIS

11- Mock It Up!

10 - Affiliate Link Tips 12 - Slide It, Baby!

13 - Bye Bye Sharing Plugins 14 - Pinterest Pivot 15 - Power of 1000 - Simply Simple Other Random Mini Tips 4

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1 - Schedule Hacks I use Tailwind to automate my Pinterest pins.

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This past year, KNOWING my pins are still being saved on Pinterest all day, every day, without ME having to do anything, has been such a blessing.

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If you haven’t tried Tailwind to automate YOUR pins, I highly recommend you give it a try.

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=> http://www.potpiegirl.com/pinterest-automation

It is such a time-saver that ensures my Pinterest traffic to all my blogs continues to grow and thrive with very little effort on my part. Here’s a Tailwind schedule hack that I started a few months ago that has made a BIG difference in the traffic and engagement I get on my pins. Tailwind will help you easily generate a pinning schedule for times when the Tailwind app pins your pins to Pinterest. 5

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As a general rule, it starts out looking like this:

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The dark green spots are times you already have in your schedule based on times Tailwind recommends you pin.

The white with green outline times are additional pinning times that Tailwind recommends for you if you want to pin more on that day of the week. While that is very handy - here’s the problem. Almost ALL Tailwind accounts have schedules like what you see above.

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Virtually NO pins before about 3-4 pm New York time and tons of pins times between about 4pm to midnight. Yes, those are the times when more Pinterest users are online using Pinterest - but those times don’t necessarily reflect the best times for YOU to pin.

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And, if you always, and only, pin at the times Tailwind recommends, Tailwind never really “learns” YOUR Pinterest account.

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What I started doing on my multiple Tailwind accounts is to make time slots for pins to be pinning ALL throughout the day and night. The results were almost immediate for me.

Instead of competing with ALL the other Tailwind users during the same time everyday, I was now getting pins out there when there was MUCH less competition… AND Tailwind truly started to learn MY account. For example, this is one pinning schedule for one of my Tailwind accounts (the gray times are times *I* made by clicking the blue Add Time Slot button) 7

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Now, Tailwind may lead you to think those are NOT good times to pin, but they’re wrong.

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For example, this pin was pinned at 2:39 AM (New York time) a little over a month ago:

It does SO well all the time now and I truly believe it’s because there was MUCH less competition in the feed when it was first pinned and was able to gather engagement and traction very early in that pin’s “life”.

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Some of my best performing pins have been pinned at those “wrong” times:

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Give it a try - see how it works for YOUR Pins. Action Step:

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2 - Seasonal Slants

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Add more time slots to your Tailwind schedule that are NOT during the most popular and busy times.

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I have a blog in the organization niche. While organization topics and pins always do well, other than early January, it’s more of an ‘evergreen’ topic than it is seasonal.

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Thing is, Pinterest LOVES seasonal and trending topics so it’s hard to get continous traffic on my ‘evergreen’ pins when there is a trending season happening. Pinterest loves to push evergreen pins down and really bumps up the holiday or seasonal pins. So, in order to take advantage of the seasonal pin bump and NOT lose traffic, I have started “slanting” my pins to fit the season.

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More specifically, to slant the pin wording to offer a solution to a seasonal problem. For example, I have a post about cleaning tips.

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While the post is ‘evergreen’, I have made pins for it that are ‘slanted’ for the season.

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Instead of my pin words saying “Cleaning Tips for Quickly Cleaning House” (as an example), I made pins that say “Cleaning Tips for Unexpected Holiday Guests” (again, another example).

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Action Step:

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This has really helped my evergreen blog not only maintain consistent traffic, but also get nices spikes in traffic during an otherwise slow holiday season for that blog.

Look at your most popular post(s) and make a new pin that ‘slants’ for the current trending season. It’s ok if your post content does not specifically mention the season/holiday - just be sure your post content offers solutions to the general problem. 11

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3 - Colors Colors Colors! I use this WONDERFUL tool for making my pin images.

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That tool, on its own saves me SO much time! Not only is it crazy-easy to make pins, but I can also pin them directly from the screen where I make the pin.

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Out of all the things I’ve bought for my business, that tool is, and continues to be, the BEST investment ever.

Highly recommended!

=> http://www.potpiegirl.com/easy-pins Even with a great tool, I still get stuck on choosing colors. Like what colors look good together.

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Here is a wonderful resource for finding beautiful color combinations for your pins, your blog, your PDFs, your printables, etc: => https://www.canva.com/learn/100-color-combinations/

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VERY handy - be sure to bookmark it.

Action Step:

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Try a new color scheme for your next pin.

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4 - Fast Blog Post Ideas

Since this past year has been challening time-wise, when I DO have a time to work, I want to actually WORK… And NOT spend all that time brain-storming for things TO work on. This is one of my favorite little ‘hacks’ for finding quick ideas for new blog posts.

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Whenever I have a blog post that is doing well, I want to create another blog post to complement the first one. Meaning: I want another blog post on the same basic concept of that post that’s doing well to gather more traffic to my blog.

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The best part of these “complement” blog posts is that you can send traffic to the NEW post almost instantly by simply writing/publishing the post and linking TO the new post FROM the current successful post.

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I do this ALL. THE. TIME.

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I have 2 apps installed on my Chrome Browser.

The first one is one I’m sure you’ve heard me mention many times before: KeywordsEverywhere.com

Now, the other Chrome app, I don’t think I’ve mentioned, but when they are used together, they turn your Google search results into MAGIC. This is the other Chrome App (it’s called ‘Extract People Also Search Phrases in Google’) https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/extract-people-als o-searc/jepjhbfaflooeafdniebnnjfdpcdkejd?hl=en 14

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With both of those apps installed in my Chrome, I then take the post url of my currently successful blog post and search Google for that post url. Yes, the post URL - not the title or anything like that - the URL.

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Here’s how my Google search results look:

Those 2 Chrome Apps add SO many great ideas for additional posts for my blog…

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AND, if I look through those ideas, I’ll probably find a keyword phrase/post title idea that will complement my current successful post perfectly. Action Step:

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Install the 2 Chrome Apps and find keyword/post title ideas for a new post to complement a currently successful post.

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Write and publish your new post and then link TO it from your currently successful post.

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5 - Pin Decription Trick

Before I even jump into this next tip, I want to say that Pin descriptions do NOT ‘make or break’ your pin and the chances of its success - but they sure can help! For example, one of my Pinterest accounts has a specific pin that does CRAZY well all year long. It’s in the cooking niche.

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The stats on that pin always look like that over a 30-day timeframe - many times the stats are even better.

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Now, remember I said that pin has to do with COOKING, right?

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Someone changed the pin description to this:

The entire pin description is GARDENING keywords! GARDENING!!?!?

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No matter what I do, I can NOT get Pinterest to really love on any other version of that pin. Pinterest loves THAT pin. Why?

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Simple, because of the BOARD NAME the pin was saved to.

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Now, I’m not going to go all into how important board names are or how to find good names for your boards that work better because my Pin Signals training course goes into that extensively.

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Point is: Board names are SUPER important!

Your pin descriptions are important from the angle of giving your pins EVERY chance to rank well in Pinterest search. Your pin descriptions are not THE most important thing, but those descrptions definitely give your pins an edge over other pins that do NOT have good pin descriptions. AND - really good pin descriptions that include the words and phrases Pinterest users REALLY use to search and FIND pins on 18

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your topic, have a better chance of ranking in Pinterest search with much less engagement on the pin (ie, repins, clicks, etc) Having pins that consistently rank well in Pinterest search results is THE secret to long-term success with Pinterest and for getting consistent traffic FROM Pinterest.

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And yes, as a ‘fun fact’...

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that pin DOES rank in Pinterest search for gardening keywords:

{insert eyeroll here}

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My point of all this is: Take time to really work your pin descriptions.

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AND - make sure you are using words and phrases that Pinterest folks actually USE when they do a Pinterest search to find pins on your post topic.

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Not the words and phrases you THINK they’ll use to search, but the words/phrases they DO use.

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Here’s a super effective and easy trick I use to find the right keywords and phrases for my pin descriptions - and it has made a world of difference in my ‘passive’ traffic from Pinterest.

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(passive traffic = traffic from my pins even when *I* am not actively pinning them. People don’t have to SEE them in their feeds to engage with them. Instead, they FIND them via their own searches on Pinterest. Those magical pins are what I call my ‘Core Pins’ - and I talk about Core Pins in a blog post on PotPieGirl.com titled: How Many Pins Should You Pin a Day?) There are 2 different ways to do this trick - one way I use to rework pins that won’t “stick” and won’t rank well and the other way is for new pins. Let me show you how I do it... 20

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For Existing Pins that Just Won’t ‘Stick’ Ever have a pin that does well when you pin it, but after that, it just dies out and does nothing FOR you?

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Those are pins that I say “aren’t sticking” - meaning, I probably got the pin description wrong with the wrong keywords and the pin isn’t ranking and being found.

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This happens a LOT after a sudden big spike of traffic from a pin - and then it flatlines. That’s usually because Pinterest recommended the pin somewhere (either on site or via email).

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If your keywords were “right” in your pin description, that sudden spike in your pin stats (repins and clicks) SHOULD boost your pin up in the Pinterest search results - which would continue to send consistent traffic from that pin.

If it doesn’t, you need to rework that pin description! Here’s what I do to fix a badly keyworded pin.

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I go to the pin and look at the boards people have pinned that pin to. NOTE: this only works for ‘normal’ Pinterest user’s boards …. NOT for business accounts that have pinned it.

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Open the pin and click the ‘See More Stats” button:

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You may, or may not see boards on the next screen - either way, click the ‘See All’ button:

Now, hopefully, you will see boards that other “normal” Pinterest users saved your pin to. 22

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Remember, you only want to look at the boards that belong to NON Business Account users.

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I look for boards that either a) have a GREAT board name that really matches the topic of my pin and/or b) boards with very few OTHER pins on it with mine. In this case, I really love the Decluttering board at the bottom left that only has ONE pin on it (mine!).

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Now, I right click to open that board up in a new tab (this way you don’t lose your place and have to start all over if the board doesn’t ‘work’ to show you what you need).

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Then, if it IS a “normal” Pinterest users account, I will see this:

Know what THAT is? 24

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Those are other search suggestions that PINTEREST thinks you will like because those search suggestions have everything to do with the pin(s) on that board! (ie, YOUR pin) That is a GOLDMINE!

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Those are the phrases real Pinterest users are typing into Pinterest search… … where they SHOULD find YOUR pin!

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So now, if those search suggestions under that ‘Ideas You Might Love’ section ARE closely related to my pin topic, I will rewrite a new, much longer, pin description using THOSE phrases.

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Many times, I will look at multiple boards for those keyword phrases when re-working a pin.

After I’ve crafted a MUCH stronger pin description, I will set it to go out via Tailwind about 4-5 times over the next few days. Usually, in about 2 weeks, that pin starts to do MUCH better for me. It’s pretty amazing just how WELL this works!

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For NEW Pins for NEW Posts When I have a NEW post that I’m making a pin for, I do this little trick a bit differently because I don’t already HAVE pins out there.

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In this situation, I type my post topic/keyword into the Pinterest search bar and then isolate the search results to show me BOARDS.

Now, this method takes a bit longer because I have to hunt for “normal” Pinterest user boards (and we all know Business Account boards float to the top...lol!) So, I’ll scroll down a few scrolls and then start looking for boards with few pins that I think are ‘normal’ Pinterest user boards.

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Then, I’ll right click and open those boards in a new tab and take a look:

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If I don’t find enough good, tightly related keyword search phrases, I’ll look at some more boards:

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In a few clicks and checks, I will easily (and quicky) come up with phrases to use in my pin description that Pinterest users ARE searching for to find pins on my post topic.

As a bonus, I also ALWAYS come up with great keyword phrases for NEW posts! And yes, I DO update the pin description in my post. That is nothing but a good thing - it helps all future pins of that post do better in Pinterest AND it gives Google more keywords to rank your post for (and is AMAZING for increasing blog traffic from Google image search!)

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Action Tip: Rework an existing pin with a new pin description using this technique.

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6 - Internal Linking Trick

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If you’re not a big fan of Wordpress plugins, you might want to skip this tip, but this has been a BIG help for me in multiple ways.

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In a few places on my blogs, I have a list of posts.

Those lists of posts are DIFFERENT every time the page loads.

I have one of these areas in my sidebar, I have one at the end of my posts, and many times I will include a list of posts like this IN my posts. WHY?

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The first main reason is because every time GOOGLE comes to any page/post on my blog, they find those links to OTHER posts and go crawl them (and that list is different every time).

AND, they are not forgotten by ME.

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Blogs are famous for older posts getting lost and forgotten - by having this plugin, my older posts are not forgotten by Google…

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That is the surprise bonus I discovered when I started using this plugin.

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I can start on any post on my blog, pin it, then look at my random list of posts, go to one of those posts, pin that post, then pick another random posts from THAT page and go pin it, etc etc.

I can’t tell you how many times I see a post in those random lists and think, “Holy WOW, I totally forgot about that post!” Then I’ll go pin that post or improve the SEO of the post or make a new pin for it or rework the pin description for it or all of the above =)

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Because, let’s be honest, if I forgot about a post, it’s obviously not doing anything remarkable FOR me lol! Now, this plug-in works by using shortcodes in your post that tell the plugin what posts to show.

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For example, if you just want the plugin to show any 4 random posts from your blog, the shortcode would look like this:

[catlist excludeposts=this orderby=rand numberposts=4]

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The ‘excludeposts=this’ tells the plugin to NOT link to the post the shortcode on.

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The ‘orderby-rand’ part tells the plugin to just pick random posts (as opposed to listing them by date or something)

The ‘numberposts=4’ part tells the plugin to list 4 different posts each time the page reloads. Now, you can get really fancy with this plugin, too. For example: [catlist search="organizing ideas" numberposts=4 excerpt=yes excerpt_size=20 orderby=rand excludeposts=this] 32

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In that shortcode, I am telling the plugin to only list posts that are organizing ideas, to show an excerpt of that post that is 20 words long, to show 4 posts but NOT the post I am on and to show random posts.

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You can do SO much with that little plugin - you can have it list and link to posts that are all in the same category, or same tag, or by keyword phrase, etc etc ETC.

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The name of this free Wordpress plugin is:

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List Category Posts

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=> https://wordpress.org/plugins/list-category-posts/

And he has an extensive help file here that shows ALL kinds of cool things you can do with that plugin:

https://github.com/picandocodigo/List-Category-Posts/wiki

I discovered that plugin back a year or so I guess when I changed the url structure of my blog posts on PotPieGirl.com. Ever since 2007 or so when I started that blog, my post urls all the date in them - and I hated it! 33

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I finally got the nerve to change that to just the post name slug and needed Google to find all my old posts to update my urls in their index.

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So, I installed that Category Lists plugin and have a page on my blog that I call Site Map.

=> http://www.potpiegirl.com/site-map/

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If you look towards the bottom of that page on my site, you will see a section titled “Read Random Posts from PotPieGirl”.

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Everytime you refresh that page, that list of posts is different.

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That one little thing REALLY helped Google find alllllllllllllll my old posts and get the url structure updated in the Google index.

That page on my PotPieGirl site is certainly not “pretty”, but it sures serves a very important purpose… AND it helps my readers find “oldies but goodies” on my blog. There are definitely some OLDIES in there lol!

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7- DeBug the Right Way This is a little tip that makes a BIG difference.

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Perhaps you’ve changed your post title or Rich Pin info and you want to make sure your pins show your NEW stuff - so you go to the Pinterest debugger tool to get Pinterest to find, and show, your new Rich Pin info on your pins.

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The Pinterest Debugger tool is here:

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=> https://developers.pinterest.com/tools/url-debugger/

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So, you paste your post url in the box and click the blue ‘Validate’ button:

Then, the Pinterest Tool returns its results and SHOWS YOU the new changes in your Rich Pin information. So then off you go to pin that post and… 35

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The pin still shows your OLD Rich Pin information. What the heck?!?!

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Here’s what you must do get the Pinterest debugger to actually SHOW your Rich Pin changes on your pins for that post:

1 - paste your post url in and click the “Validate” button

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2 - THEN, click the gray ‘Fetch New Scrape Information’ button.

3 - Then, run your post url back through the Debugger like you did in Step 1. You need to do Step 2 (Fetch New Scrape Information) for your Rich Pin information to change instantly on Pinterest for any new pins you make from that post AND for any existing pins from that post. 36

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That Pinterest Debugger tool is helpful for more things, too. Here’s my post on it: => Pinterest Tips from PotPieGirl

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8 - Notify Them!

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http://www.potpiegirl.com/pinterest-tip-how-to-know-how-many-pins-and-repins-an-individual-blog-post-has/

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When it comes to little things that really work well FOR me, my blog notification bar has to be at the top of my list.

A ‘notification bar’ (or some call them a ‘hello bar’) is a message that sticks to the top of every page on your site.

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That screenshot above shows the notification bar that appeared on every page of my site while I was running my Black Friday Mega deal.

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Anytime I have ANYTHING that I want to direct attention and traffic to (my own OR affiliate offers), I create a notification bar to show on my pages.

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As my Black Friday sale was coming to an end, I even made the notification bar bigger AND with a countdown timer in it:

Let me tell you - this WORKS. I’m not big on showing earnings but here’s a little tiny peek at only 40 minutes of results...

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You can get really fancy and advanced with it and use a tool that lets you really customize it and add email opt-in boxes, split test, etc etc like this notification bar does.

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Or, you can do it the simple way (like I do). I use a free Wordpress plugin called…

WP Notification Bars

=> https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-notification-bars/ There are many, many tools out there that you can use - I just like to do things the simple way =) The biggest tip to get these notification bars to really get attention is to make it NOT “blend in” with your blog. 39

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Make them stand out - be VERY obvious. by the way, you can create free countdown timers for your web pages and in your emails with: http://motionmailapp.com/

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If I am running a promotion of any sort, and only have a few minutes work time to get the promotion ‘out there’ - simply emailing my lists and setting my notification bar is the best combination for me for quick results.

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If you’d like your notification bar to be prettier and just plain better than mine…. Try Hello Bar.

9 - Promote Those That Know THIS When it comes to money coming in when *I* am NOT working, the best tip I have is to be sure you are promoting others who know how to promote and market their own stuff. Obviously, Amazon is at the top of that list.

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All I really have to do is get my readers to click and end up on the Amazon site, and I know that Amazon will do an amazing job of converting that visitor to at LEAST one sale for me.

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There are also other bloggers/teachers that not only offer great training, but they also really know how to convert MY traffic that I send to them into at least one sale.

For example, this Mom Blogger is a JOY to promote.

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I know, without doubt, that she effectively works any, and all, traffic I send her way and turns them into customers and fans (and commissions for me).

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Her funnel is amazing - she has multiple training courses - and she is consistently offering value to her readers.

I get so many “surprise sales” simply by working those bloggers into my emails, trainings, blog posts, etc and dropping my affiliate cookie. Every day, multiple times a day, I get sales notifications from these bloggers from emails, blog posts, etc that I made/sent a long time ago. This is true passive income - and I LOVE it. 41

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The only thing better is RECURRING passive income.

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If you think about it: why promote something that only earns you ONE commission when, instead, you could promote something that sends you commissions EVERY MONTH from that same one sale?

Monthly membership sites are one of my favorites!

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When I find a membership site I like, I LOVE to promote it.

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For example, I’ve been a member here for 10 YEARS - and not only are the community and training and tools all excellent, but their affiliate program is wonderful, too.

I’ve been passively earning recurring commission for years and years and YEARS. Heck, I’ve even qualified to go to their private Super Affiliate conference in Las Vegas TWICE (and it was awesome!) Here’s my 10 Year Anniversary post about them: => http://www.potpiegirl.com/see/10-years/ 42

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Point is:

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Keep your eyes open (and your mind open) to quality products with BETTER affiliate programs, better incentives and better funnels - this is the money that comes in “auto-magically” FOR you… whether YOU are working or not.

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10 - Affiliate Link Tips

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We all love some Amazon, don’t we?

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I know I sure do! All things considered, Amazon is some pretty easy affiliate money.

Here’s a little something that has been working very well for me for my Amazon links. Instead of just linking to a single product, I’ve been trying more “helpful” links for some of my posts. For example, a list of links like this:

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Believe it or not, those text links get clicked a LOT.

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All I did to create them was to use the Amazon search filters to isolate the “what” I wanted, and then used the Site Stripe affiliate tool to create a link to that page.

Easy-peasy and works really well.

(note: Be sure to always use the Link Checker Tool inside your Amazon affiliate dashboard to make SURE your links are formatted correctly and credit you properly. Log in to your Amazon Associate Dashboard, then look at the top links inside your dashboard and choose “Tools” and then choose “Link Checker”) I also do affiliate link “lists” like this: 44

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Those work really well, too!

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Those links DO go straight to an individual product page on Amazon, but by ‘ranking’ the product options and putting a little note next to a few of them (ie, best value, new mom favorite, etc), those links get clicked a lot and make some nice sales for me.

11- Mock It Up! With limited time TO work, I have managed to come up with quite a few shortcuts to get the job done.

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And - being the original blogging “bootstrapper” I am, I really LOVE me some FREE tools that get the job done. One BIG need I have is to create 3-d ebook covers and product ‘mock up’ images for my training.

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For example, images like this:

Looks good, right? All I did was make the product image like a 600x900 pin image (the same easy way I make a pin images with this tool) and then upload that image to this free tool:

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=> https://diybookcovers.com/3Dmockups/ That is THE handiest free tool I have in my toolbox. It offers LOTS of options for ‘mock up’ images and… it’s FREE.

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(disclaimer: I have no control over that free tool or ANY tool or plugin I share with you - they’re not mine - I’m sorry if a tool or resource isn’t still available when you read this)

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12 - Slide It, Baby!

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This little trick works wonders for my blog posts - and I kinda tripped over the idea, played with it and then tweaked until it worked for me.

I was SHOCKED at just how well it works for my blogs. Let’s see if I can explain this… As an example, let’s say I have a post titled: 10 Tips To _____ (fill in the blank with whatever, this is just an example)

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I take each of the 10 Tips from my post content and turn each tip “title” into a 600x600 pin image (square). So, for a post that has 10 Tips, I will have 10 different images each with one of the 10 tips on them.

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So now I have 10 pin images, right?

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For the most part, these pin images are just words (not ALWAYS just words, but as a general rule. If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you KNOW I test things in ALL kinds of ways lol!)

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Then, I upload those 10 images to my blog post and turn those images into a “SlideShow”.

I set the whole thing up like this on my blog:

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That image you see is actually a slideshow of those 10 images that highlight the tips included in that post.

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To the right, I have my ads (I use Adsense ads - I’ll talk about that in a minute). Then, directly underneath that slideshow area is my email list optin form (on my blogs that offer an optin).

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This works SO well for me - readers stay on my posts longer AND interact with the links and options AROUND the images.

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It really grabs readers attention because those images automatically slide... And my goodness, people sure love to PIN those simple, text only, slideshow images!

Now, there are many ways to do a slideshow, but I’m not going to give you my specific step-by-step because I hand-code it...and I use something called <div> tags. The bigger ad networks (the ones that pay by impression) simply can NOT handle blog posts that have <div> tags in them. (from best I understand, those ad networks have you install a plugin that auto-inserts their ads on your posts - and div tags and page builders mess that all up.) 49

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In fact, I’ve had blogs approved for those “bigger ad networks”, but once they told me I had to remove all my <div> tags, I decided not to work with them. Am I “leaving money on the table”?

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I’m sure I am - but I want complete control over the placement of my ads on MY site - and I’m more than happy to sacrifice some money to retain that control.

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note: if I ever decide to SELL advertising spots on my blog posts, guess what area I’ll sell to them? {grin}

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All that said and explained, that’s why I don’t want to try and teach people how to code it exactly like I do for fear that it will mess up YOUR ad earnings, etc.

I will tell you this, I use a plugin called Royal Slider to make those slideshows. It’s not free, but it wasn’t expensive, and it works great for me and my needs.

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It was a bit tricky ‘out of the box’ to get set up, but once I got the settings the way I wanted them, it is now easy-peasy to use in my posts. There are many ways to create a slideshow on your posts, just take a stroll through the Google results.

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Also, if you have the JetPack plugin installed, you can probably make a slideshow with that for free.

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You can see that slideshow in action on one of my blogs here:

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http://declutteringyourlife.com/habits-of-organized-moms/

What is THAT?

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Now, I bet you’re wondering…

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13 - Bye Bye Sharing Plugins Early in 2018, I was using my personal Pinterest account from my iPhone (via the Pinterest app) and I realized something that really, REALLY bothered me.

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Whenever I would go to one of my blog posts from inside the Pinterest app (from clicking a pin), and I’d click one of those “Pin It” or “Save It” hover buttons over my post images, Pinterest would let me pin the image and THEN…

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Pinterest would take me OFF the blog post and bounce me right back to inside Pinterest!

Talk about a HUGE Traffic Leak!!

I immediately turned OFF my Pinterest Pin IT Hover plugin to test without it, and I’ve never turned it back on. What a DIFFERENCE! Funny thing is, when we get so much traffic from Pinterest, we’re almost AFRAID to make it “hard” for our blog readers to pin our images. 52

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That’s silly! Sure, we’d like them to pin something from our posts, but is that REALLY the END GOAL or MAIN GOAL for your blog posts?

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I sure hope not!

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I’d MUCH rather them… ….

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I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t want Pinterest users to click one of my pins, pop on my site, pin an image from my post, and then disappear!

Click an Amazon link

Click an Affiliate Link Click an ad

Read MORE blog posts

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If they’re not going to do ANY of that, sure, it would be nice if they’d at least pin something from the post before they leave, but that is the LEAST of my concerns.

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Reality is, Pinterest users tend to pin (save) pin images they want to remember TO read, but don’t pin what they HAVE read nearly as often.

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(with the exception of recipes - people DO tend to click a pin, see the recipe, and then pin it so they remember it for later)

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These are the kinds of stats I LOVE to see on MY pins:

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(I’ll talk more about Pinterest pin stats in a bit…)

Do you notice anything specific about these pin stats?

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Do you see it? All of those pins have way more CLICKS than they do SAVES.

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I have finally gotten my pin creation down to a pretty solid science for my “niche” blogs so that my pins encourage CLICKS as soon as people SEE the pins in Pinterest.

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Sure, repins (saves) are cool and all, but all I REALLY want is the clicks… the TRAFFIC…

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And I do NOT want that hard-earned pin click to LEAVE my blog and bounce right away!

I could care less if they EVER go BACK to Pinterest...lol!

So that is the back-story behind what is this:

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Instead of having any type of “pin it” or “share it” plugins on my blog that take traffic AWAY from my post after sharing, I now just hand-code my own little Pinterest “save” button so readers know they can (if they’re not coming from Pinterest).

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Now, traffic FROM Pinterest is mainly mobile and via the Pinterest app.

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Pinterest does a nice job of making it easy for readers to pin one, or MANY, images from your blog post WITHOUT taking them AWAY from your post when they’re done.

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Every blog post view from inside the Pinterest App has a handy “Save” button at the top:

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And trust me on this, if a Pinterest users really wants to pin something from your blog post, they WILL find a way...lol! This is something you’ll want to test to see if this does help your blog stats or not. And it WILL feel weird, and counter-intuitive to do it.

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Bottom line is, if your blog post end goal is just to get a single page view, then keep all those pin it buttons and share buttons… You’ll get your single view and Pinterest gets their customer bounced right back to them.

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BUT, if you have OTHER goals and hopes for your traffic from Pinterest, consider testing and trying new things.

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Here is the tool to make your custom pin it button:

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https://developers.pinterest.com/tools/widget-builder/

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On another important note:

I say this all the time (or at least it feels like I do lol!) -

Open a PERSONAL Pinterest account via the Pinterest app on your phone and have that personal account follow your blog account (or accounts). SEE how Pinterest works for “normal users”.... SEE how your pins LOOK… 59

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See what OTHER Pinterest users see and experience when they click YOUR Pins. As I write this, that new “Following” feed in the Pinterest App is magical (or at least it is for personal Pinterest accounts).

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If someone clicks a pin in that Following feed, they are taken straight to the blog post (ie, NOT to the full size view of that pin).

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Plus, I’ll bet money some, or most, of your pins are being cut off in the Following feed - and it’s hurting your pin clicks.

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Perhaps you should go look =)

If you really want to get better at Pinterest, get in there and use Pinterest like a “normal user”.

Since we’ve been looking at that example slideshow post, let’s talk about this next tip because it’s something you’ll see me doing on that post, too.

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14 - Pinterest Pivot This tip for What Works Now is, by far, one of my FAVORITE little tricks in my toolbox this year.

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Well, now I’m going to pivot on that =)

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I just jumped on my soapbox about not LOSING traffic back to Pinterest, right?

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There is a point in my blog posts when I am totally fine LOSING traffic BACK to Pinterest.

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Can you guess when that is?

Yep, when losing that traffic actually helps ME. Now, I can’t take complete credit for this tip since the idea sparked in my little brain after reading this strategy for creating blog posts. I started playing with that concept and then tweaking it to fit my own specific needs.

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And by golly, it sure works! Let’s try and explain this. When a reader comes to your blog post you have about 3-4 seconds to grab their attention.

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The majority of clicks and engagement within your post happen in the first 25% to 33% of your post.

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(that’s why I tend to have my slideshows close to the top of my posts - to grab readers attention AND draw their attention to what I want them to do)

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After a reader passes by the first third or so of your post, they are looking for “eye candy” because they’re most likely ready to click something appealing and move on.

Makes sense, right?

Little text links don’t work as well on the bottom 2/3rds of a post (in a general situation)... Heck, I’ve run tests and the bottom third of most of my posts on my niche blogs is pretty much useless for any sort of conversion. I was pretty shocked to find that out! 62

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But you know what DOES work well in that space? Embedded Pins from OTHER blog posts on your blog.

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yes, you can easily “embed” pins inside the content of your blog posts…. Go back to this post of mine and you’ll see how it looks:

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http://declutteringyourlife.com/habits-of-organized-moms/

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Since I’ve taken a lot of time and effort figuring out how to make my pins “clickable” for MY audience, my (otherwise bored and ready to leave) readers can’t help BUT to click those embedded pins.

Yes, when they click an embedded pin, they go BACK to Pinterest to THAT pin. But you know what they do NEXT? They CLICK it and go to THAT blog post =) In other words, they are BACK on MY blog…. Yay! Guess how that helps ME (or YOU, if you try it)?? 63

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Yes, first off, more traffic. Also, more engagement on my best-performing pins…

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More engagement on my pins means that user will probably start seeing more of MY pins in their feeds...

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I also increase my Pinterest followers since blog readers SEE I have boards specifically on that topic they’re interested in...

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AND

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More exposure for my most important BOARDS that I want to be super STRONG to help any future pins I pin to it.

(this little trick also helps me build momentum and engagement on my NEW pins - that’s a BIG hint!) Is there a light bulb going off over your head? =) This one little “trick” has been HUGE to help my blog AND my Pinterest account grow on auto-pilot.

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(it’s also pretty handy for Google traffic too since it helps Google find your pin urls and your board urls - that’s a nice perk!) Now you might be wondering:

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“WHY send them OFF my blog BACK to Pinterest to where they have to click ANOTHER pin to end up back on my blog?

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Those are very good questions!

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Why not just LINK to those other blog posts??”

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First answer is:

Then…

If you’re already linking them with text links to your other blog posts, how is that working?

How are your Pinterest stats? Are you getting the engagement on your pins that you want? Are your Pinterest followers increasing at a steady and strong rate? 65

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How about your best-performing pins - do you WANT more engagement on them? How about your NEW pins - do you want them to gain traction faster?

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Now, let me ask you this… …

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If roughly 80% of your Pinterest traffic bounces right back to Pinterest, what do you think the odds are that they will see ANOTHER pin of yours right away?

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Pinterest users EXPECT to bounce right back to Pinterest…. Why NOT “bounce them back” to one of YOUR pins?

Think about those things - think about your blog stats, your Pinterest stats, etc… and see if this isn’t something you’d like to test on YOUR blog. A perfect post to test this on is an already-existing post that gets steady traffic, but just doesn’t do anything for you as far as sales or opt-ins etc. Or, if you have a pin/post that is getting a sudden spike in traffic and you don’t really have any calls to action going on in 66

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the post, why not embed another pin you’d like them to engage with? To embed any Pinterest pin…

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Just click the 3 dots at the top left of a pin and click “embed”:

That will take you to the Pinterest embed tool - just choose how you want them pin to look (size, pin description or no pin description, etc) and paste the code the tool gives you into your post. Easy-peasy!

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15 - Power of 1000

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Many bloggers ask me at what point they can “relax”, work less and start to enjoy all their hard work passively working FOR them - even when they are NOT working (or can’t work).

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What I have to say next isn’t really a “trick” or a “tip” - it’s more of a guideline based on over a decade of experience, ok?

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Back in 2008, a man named Kevin Kelly wrote an article called 1,000 True Fans - and even though it was written as advice for artists (musicians, designers, authors, photographers, etc), the concept is super solid and applies to what WE do. I strongly encourage you to grab a cup of coffee and READ IT: => https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/ Ever since I read that the first time, I realized the true significance of the number 1,000 in our business. 68

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1,000 is a BIG number in our world, too.

When you’re starting out, your goals should be:

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1,000 page views a day 1,000 names on your email list $1,000 a month in income

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And you put your head down and work to hit those goals.

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When you DO hit those numbers, you SHOULD have built some sort of a “passive income machine” that CONTINUES to grow FOR you (without YOU working)...

AND you’re building more “True Fans” along the way.

You know what those “True Fans” do? They buy your stuff, they come when you publish a new post, they follow you on various social media channels, they read your emails, they share your stuff, and so on and so on. AND… best of all, they bring you MORE “True Fans” which increases your bottom line “auto-magically”. 69

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When you’re starting out, your over-all goal for EVERYTHING you do online is that 1,000 number… These days, for me, those 1,000 number goals are my goals for any NEW blog I start.

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I know, from experience, that once a new blog hits that magical 1000/1000/$1000 sweetspot, that the blog takes on a life of its own and grows without ME working it.

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To be totally transparent, I have quite a few individual blog POSTS that each exceed that 1000/1000/$1000 goal.

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I don’t say that to brag, ok?

Instead, I want to help with your perspective on what YOU do and what you’re working towards. When I started, EVERYTHING I did online was working towards my one Triple 1,000 goal. Whether it was blogging on PotPieGirl.com or writing articles to sell or participating in forums and groups or selling training, etc etc etc - it was all one BIG goal. 70

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Then, as things got rolling, each individual thing I did had its own Triple 1,000 goal. Each blog… each training… each traffic source - all of it was its own project.

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I’m the Queen of Testing New Things, but if I don’t see a Triple 1,000 in the near future from the ‘New Thing’, I stop wasting my time on it.

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Do you see me on Instagram? Uhhh no.

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Do you see me on Twitter? Perhaps now and then (I do have well over 5,000 followers there), but rarely. Do you see me on Pinterest? Oh YES!

Do you see me in Google search results? Oh YES! Are there lots of ways and incentives to opt in to my list from my blog? Oh YES! Do you get emails from me? Oh YES!

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Bottom line - really check in with yourself about what you’re spending your time on… and if it’s really working and helping you get to your Triple 1,000 goal… or wasting your time.

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If it only works when YOU work it, be sure your results are truly worth the time spent - especially if you’d like to have more PASSIVE results and earnings - while YOU work LESS, ok?

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- Simply Simple

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This is not so much a “secret” or a “trick”, but this is a BIG piece of advice from someone who has suffered the consequences.

Keep things SIMPLE.

Less moving parts = better in the long run. In years past, I have been THE Poster Child for “hacking things together so it works” - and that’s great (in my opinion) - I think being resourceful is a huge benefit in our self-made (and self-taught) business.

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I have sites where I have accumulated SO many plugins over the years that I can’t even remember what they do - or if I really need them.

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I have sites with themes that I spent hours customizing - YEARS ago - I can’t quite figure out WHAT I did to them (or HOW to UN-do it...haha!)

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And I’ve spent hours trying to FIX those things… ugh! There’s time I’ll never get back!

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So, keep things as simple as possible.

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And do NOT “skimp” on the most important parts of your business - the things that make you money, increase your knowledge and save you TIME.

Don’t skimp on your blog hosting. Don’t skimp on your most important tools. Don’t skimp on your education. {{{hugs}}} Let’s move on... 73

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Other Random Mini Tips

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Below is a list of other little “mini tips” of other random things that have helped me this year while I worked less - hopefully these tips will help you, too.

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Why I Use Tailwind

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Many bloggers ask me if they HAVE to use Tailwind for optimal Pinterest results.

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No, you do NOT.

A manual pinning strategy like this works VERY well - you do NOT have to pay for any tools. I don’t care what any other Pinterest Experts say, you do NOT need to pay for any pinning tool to have amazing success on Pinterest. There are two main reasons why I use Tailwind for all my important Pinterest accounts:

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1 - I want pins automatically pinned to my Pinterest accounts all day long when I am NOT working - or can’t work (or, to be totally honest, when I just don’t FEEL like working lol!) 2 - Since I do a lot of manual pinning like this, I use Tailwind to “dilute my feed”.

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Here’s what “dilute my feed” means to me:

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Let’s say I did some manual pinning about 5pm today (as an example). I pinned some of my best-performing pins out to Group Boards or whatever.

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Tomorrow, I want to be able to pin those same best performining pins again, but if Tailwind wasn’t consistently auto-pinning OTHER pins FOR me between those times, my Pinterest feed would just be the same ol’ pins over and over.

I personally think a consistent, well-rounded Pinterest feed that has a wide assortment of different pin images is super important. Does That Mean I Pin Other Bloggers Pins? Honestly, no, I don’t pin much at all from other bloggers. 75

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My accounts, and the blogs that go with them, all now have LOTS and LOTS of different pin images with lots of unique blog posts.

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I could pin every 10 minutes for weeks and not repeat the same exact pin image so there’s no reason for me to “have” to pin stuff from other bloggers.

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Plus, Pinterest has said that they don’t care if you pin other people’s pins or not… what they DO care about is your feed of pins becoming uhhh…. “Repetitive” (I was going to say “spammy”, but I think you got that lol!)

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Now, that said, I will admit this: My multiple Pinterest accounts DO pin from the blogs, and repin the pins, of my other Pinterest accounts - and there’s nothing wrong with that.

What’s a Good Pin CTR? I’ve been asked multiple times what I consider a good pin CTR. CTR stands for Click Thru Ratio - ie, how many clicks does a pin get vs the number of impressions (how many times the pin was seen throughout Pinterest) 76

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First off, the stats Pinterest gives us on our individual pins are NOT accurate or “real time” - in fact, those stats are not a good indicator at all. BUT, for an “eye ball glance” at my pins to see which pins are doing BETTER than others, those stats are a god-send.

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My CTR goal for any pin is 1% - meaning, 1 click for every 100 impressions.

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I know, that sounds HORRIBLY low, but I’ve found that 1% number to be a good baseline when I’m comparing performance of my pins and to easily see what’s working… and what’s NOT working.

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Our pins are seen in soooo MANY places allllll over the Pinterest site - and many of those places are not conducive to clicks. I’ve found that 1% CTR to be a great baseline for me to get a general ‘at a glance’ idea of how my pins are doing WITHOUT digging deep into other analytics. It’s also REALLY easy math...lol!

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For example, the stats on this pin:

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In a quick glance I can see 5,800 impressions.

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That means Pinterest claims that specific pin has been seen all over Pinterest 5,800 times in the last 30 days.

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1% of 5,800 is 58 - so that pin SHOULD have at least 58 clicks.

Right now, it has 54 clicks (according to Pinterest). While I’m ok with that CTR (it’s still a very new pin), I do know I could probably do better with another try down the road, But I ALSO know that when that pin is seen it is likely to be clicked instead of saved (repinned). YAY!

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(I also know, since this is a new pin, that as Pinterest aggregates all the versions of that pin, those stats will probably improve)

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Then, I see this other pin with these stats:

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1,600 impressions meaning it should have at least 16 clicks… but instead, this new-ish pin has 47 clicks!

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I can easily see that pin is doing really well and I should continue to work it as is.

Here’s another example of a new pin:

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17,300 impression means the pin should have 173 clicks… but it only has 87. I normally would think this pin isn’t doing that well, BUT… I just pinned that pin for a brand new blog post LAST NIGHT.

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That, on its own, is SUPER EXCITING to see a brand new pin for a brand new post take off like that!

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As I said, Pinterest stats on our pins are just not accurate that’s why I have my own way of tracking traffic from my pins.

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When I look in my tracking, I see this:

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Pinterest stats say that one pin had only 87 clicks - but MY stats… my REAL TRAFFIC STATS show that one pin actually sent 178 visits since it was first pinned (the last 24 hours). Needless to say, I am VERY excited about that pin!

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funny side story about that pin - When I was making that pin image, I just couldn’t seem to get it ‘right’.

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Everything I did just seemed to make it uglier.

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I remember thinking:

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In fact, to me, it’s “butt ugly” (sorry, that’s a Southern term)

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“I so do N OT love this pin image, but I’m tired - so it’s just gonna have to be good enough for now… Pin it and go to bed”

Funny how THOSE are the pins that do best, isn’t it? Haha! Why do they LOVE the ugly pins? hahahaha! It’s also an excellent example of how G ood Enough for Now, is SOOOOO much better than doing NOTHING until it’s “perfect”.

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Another Quick Pinterest Tip Did you know…

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Pins you pin to YOUR boards all start with the same few numbers?

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Whenever you look at your stats and you see a pin that has a url with the first few numbers being YOUR account’s numbers, you easily know it’s YOUR pin.

If you manually pin like this, then this is very helpful little tidbit of information that can save you some time =) Note: this does not apply if you pin your pin to a GROUP BOARD that a nother pinner owns. About Pinterest Boards:

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Perhaps earlier in this guide when I talked about embedding pins, you remember me mentioning BOARDS I want to make stronger? Here’s another little tip that I’ve done here and there to strengthen my own personal boards.

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Ever have a pin on a non-keyword named Group Board that does really well?

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If you’ve been through my P.I.M.P. training, you know about ‘Best Pins’ and how Pinterest works “under the hood” - and how those Best Pins really only credit one board, right?

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Well, what I’ve been doing in the case of any Best Pins that are being credited to a random Group Board (or a Group Board I no longer pin to) is I MOVE those pins to one of my own personal boards that DOES have a strong “Pin Signals” board name. Not re- pinning it, but MOVING it to my own board. If you click to edit that specific pin, you can move it to another board =) That way, when that pin is repinned again and again from then on out, MY board is getting the ‘credit’. 83

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Note: if you’re not a P.I.M.P. member, I’m sorry if that’s confusing - but I know my P.I.M.P. members will love it so I had to share.

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How About Some SEO Tips?

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Yep, I sure have been talking a LOT about Pinterest in this year’s What Works Now Guide.

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That’s because Pinterest IS What Works NOW =)

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And Pinterest has been a roller coaster this year, that’s for sure!

I also feel like I’ve done a LOT of SEO training and teaching this year and my best SEO tips are already out there. You can see all my best SEO tips and training here: http://www.potpiegirl.com/training-and-tutorials-from-potpiegirl/

But let me tell you this:

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The tip I gave you back at #5 (my Pin Description Trick) has been doing WONDERFUL things for my Google traffic, too. When I work, or re-work, a pin description, I make sure to add that new pin description as an alt tag in my blog post.

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Google LOVES those images and ranks them like crazy in Google image search!!!

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And so does BING, but they’re slower than Google to find and rank your posts & images - be patient, but don’t ever overlook Bing.

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Niche Blog or Everything Blog?

This past year has also taught me a LOT about the Pros and Cons of running a “Niche” blog vs running an “Everything” blog. From a blogging enjoyment perspective, my Everything blog is MUCH more fun. Why? Because I can make blog posts about anything - I’m not locked in to staying on certain topic. 85

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My biggest “issue” with true Niche blogs in the past is that I get so stinkin’ tired and BORED of blogging and writing about the same ol’ thing over and over.

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With my Everything blog, if I get an idea, trip over a keyword, or just want to TRY something, I just DO IT.

That is SO enjoyable for ME.

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I also get my best ideas FOR my niche blogs from single posts on my Everything blog.

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My Everything blog is not only my ‘playground’, but it’s also my testing ground.

One blog post on my Everything blog can give me TONS of proven keywords to use, what the readers like and click, etc etc. It’s wonderful for me to have access to an Everything blog that works so well for me. BUT - from the ‘which is EASIER to work’ standpoint - my Everything blog is a real booger. 86

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Having an Everything blog means that it has an Everything Pinterest account to go with it. Which means I have hundreds of Pinterest boards on allllll sorts of topics.

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Now, that Pinterest account does VERY VERY well - always has over 10 Million Monthly viewers on my pins (which are 99% all MY pins) - so that’s great and it’s an awesome resource to have a really strong Pinterest account where you can pin just about anything to.

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In fact, that one Everything Pinterest account now has over a MILLION repins on my pins (and again, they’re virtually ALL my pins)

But wow, keeping up with ALL those boards and group boards and which pins can go where just makes it all a little less fun and a bit more work. 87

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And my goodness, I have thousands and thousands of different pins that all lead to that Everything blog.

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The simple task of scheduling my pins for that account on Tailwind takes more brain power and thought than when I schedule for my Niche blog’s account.

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Now, my Niche Blog… it’s just plain FUN to work with.

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All my pins fit on virtually all the boards on that Niche Blog’s Pinterest account - that makes it SO much easier!

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That Niche blog Pinterest account enoys a monthly reach on Pinterest of over 4 Million viewers (and it’s growing like crazy...and will only get better when it’s ‘in season’ for that topic). That Niche blog is almost 18 months old as I write this and has about 70 posts - and TONS of pin images…. TONS. Pinterest has enabled me to find the root keywords I want to dominate in Pinterest search AND in Google search - and, as long as I don’t get bored, that blog shows unlimited growth potential. 88

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That Niche Blog has long since hit my Triple 1000 goal so I *could* leave it as I have it set to run and it would continue working FOR me… and growing.

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But, I’ve hit a good rhythm with that blog - I’ve learned what kinds of pins those interested in that topic click, I’ve learned what words attract them… what they buy… what they do NOT buy, etc etc.

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In short, I feel MUCH more in touch with my niche audience and growth is easier (as long as I avoid the boredom bug haha!)

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Final Answer on which is BETTER… a Niche Blog or an Everything Blog?

It all comes down to this:

What do YOU think you will stick with and WORK? Being able to blog about ANYTHING can be almost paralyzing when trying to decide what to write a new post about. With a Niche Blog, at least you have a general topic to start with. 89

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In all honesty, I never intended for my Everything blog to turn out like this - it started purely as a testing ground and as a teaching environment where I could SHOW my training students things I was trying.

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When I decided to do some in-depth testing with Pinterest, I used that blog… and it went BOOM - traffic came quickly and kept growing and growing.

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If I were starting all over with a new blog for the first time today, I would most likely go with a Niche blog - or at least with a niche AUDIENCE in mind - it’s so much easier!

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And here’s another Fun Fact…

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My Niche blog - with way fewer posts and pin images, that is also much younger than my Everything blog - is doing almost as well revenue-wise as my Everything blog is. Blog revenue tends to grow much more quickly with a Niche Blog that has many posts surrounding a similar theme (or that all appeal to a certain audience). I know that most reading this guide already have a blog, but I get this question SO often that I decided to pop this section in here to give my experience and thoughts on the topic =) 90

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Alrighty, let’s wrap this up and close out this year’s edition of What Works Now.

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One last little piece of advice before we part ways…

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Can I Help You With Anything Else Today? I Need To… … – Learn How To Pick Better Keywords

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– Learn How To FIX My Pinterest Results

– Learn How To SEO My Blog Posts

– Learn How To Track My Blog Posts for Better Results

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– Learn How To Earn MORE From My Blog Posts