5 Reasons I Had 4 Viral Pins on Pinterest in One Month
After 4 of my pins went viral in one month, I took a step back to analyze why and I came up with 5 reasons I had 4 viral pins on Pinterest. In this post, I go into detail with each pin and explain why I feel each pin did so well. I also share a few pins that didn’t do so well and why.
As you continue to grow your blog and share your blog posts you will find that certain topics do better than others. That doesn’t mean that you have to only write about those topics but you can count on them bringing in new traffic.
For example, I share blogging tips for new bloggers and when I write about making money or getting traffic to my blog those topics do better than others.
I still share other tips because you never know who is in need of that specific tip. Once I wrote a blog post on how to set up your sidebar. It received a very kind comment from a reader stating how thankful she was for that post because it helped her.
I love those comments! Even though it isn’t a super popular topic it still helped someone!
By always writing about all the tips I can share and not just sticking to the popular topics it helps me find new popular topics. That is what happened when I wrote a blog post on something I found that I thought was better than the bullet journal.
New Topic
This was a new topic for me. I haven’t written any blog posts on note taking but it is a popular topic because everyone is always looking for better ways to organize their lives. So I wrote this blog post one day just sharing how I found something that (in my opinion) is better than the bullet journal.
First, in case you don’t know what a bullet journal is, it is a journal full of empty pages and each page has dots for guides on it.
I had first heard of them through another blogger. She shared some of the ways she uses hers to organize her days and keep on task with her blog.
I ended up getting one to try for myself. There were some flaws for someone like myself. Such as I have horrible handwriting and I am not the most artistic person. Yet I am a perfectionist so each page I felt like I was constantly trying to fix it.
If you look at some of the amazing ways bullet journals can be used you can see the appeal but that only works if you have a steady hand. For me, it was more work than fun and I didn’t end up using it.
Another reason is I would always forget it or decide not to bring it because it didn’t fit in my purse and I didn’t want to carry around 50 different colored pens.
If you check out my post I share that I had just recently purchased an iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil and used the free notes app to create my own bullet journal. This improved the handwriting issue because I could easily erase any mistakes. I go more into detail about why I like it better in that blog post so I will skip all of that for now.
Hot Topic
Little did I know while writing that post that it would end up being a very hot topic. I shared the post on Pinterest and with the help of Tailwind the pin took off!
I had over 24k impressions on that pin in 24 hours. Today after being pinned a little over 30 days ago it has over 201k impressions. My blog traffic for the month of June 2019 was over 20k page views. Which let’s just say that is MUCH higher than normal.
I had no idea that it was going to be such a hot topic.
How I got so many page views
As I said it was definitely thanks to Tailwind and Pinterest for sending all of that traffic to my blog. I usually create several images for each blog post and pin them to Pinterest at different times.
With this particular blog post I originally only created one pin and that is the pin that took off. To test it out and see if it was the content (topic) of the pin or the visual look of the pin that made it go viral, I created others to put to the test.
What I found out is there are 5 main reasons this pin took off compared to my other test run pins.
Hot topic
Visually appealing pin
Enticing Title
Keywords in the pin description
Scheduled to pin to all group and personal boards and Tailwind Tribes
While I was creating the test pins I also scheduled out the first pin to all of my group boards, personal boards and added it to all my Tailwind Tribes. I knew that I needed to get this pin out there since it was doing so well from just one pin to one of my personal boards.
Then I created several other pins for my test run. A few did very well and a couple did not. I noticed there was a trend on the ones that did well and the ones that didn’t.
Test Run Results
The main difference was the enticing title. Take a look at these results to see for yourself.
Enticing Title – Pin 1
This pin has a very enticing headline. It creates curiosity and I feel like that was why this pin had the best click-through rate compared to the others.
Visually it is a pretty pin so it was easy to save but I believe the curiosity is what made this pin do so well. It had the most impressions and saves of them all. It was also the first one I pinned so that could be why because the next one did very well too.
This is the stats after a little over 30 days of being pinned.
Enticing Title – Pin 2
These two pins I did the same enticing title because my test on these was to see if it was the pin image or the content that made the first pin so popular.
This one did fairly well. It didn’t receive as many impressions or saves but it came very close and still did very well. What is interesting is this pin had fewer impressions and saves but yet had more link clicks than the first pin.
I’m not quite sure why on that. They were both pinned to all the same boards and all within the same time frame.
Here are the stats after a little over 30 days for this pin.
Enticing Title – Pin 3
However, this one didn’t do well at all. I am not sure why this one didn’t do as well as the first two because it has the same catchy title with similar colors and fonts but for some reason, this one was not a winner.
Looking back I think I forgot to schedule this pin out to all the group boards like the other two did. I just looked back through my pins and I don’t see it mixed in like the other two are. I only pinned it once and must not have scheduled it out. It will be interesting to see what happens after I add it to the schedule!
Freebie – Pin 1
These next two were to test and see if the freebie inside the blog post was popular. Once readers click through and read the blog post many of them signed up for the freebie I put into it after it started taking off.
Originally, I had the normal freebie that I always offer in the post and it always does well because it teaches readers how to start a blog. That freebie always gets sign ups but none of these readers were signing up.
This told me that the people reading were bullet journal folks and not blogger folks. I created a freebie from my other blog that I am starting up because I felt like it fit with that niche better. My other blog is going to be about planning and productivity tips. I created a freebie that was a digital bullet journal which ties into that.
Around 30-50 people a day were signing up for that freebie after I added it. Once I realized the amount of traffic going to the post and yet no email subscribers were coming out of it I knew I needed to switch freebies and it worked.
Like I said I could tell the readers were not interested in my other freebie about blogging. So, I was happy to see they wanted the free digital bullet journal. I did learn though with these two pins that it still was the curiosity the first pins had that was bringing readers in.
These pins did not do well, however, once in the blog post they did sign up for the freebie. But the freebie alone was not bringing in readers.
Freebie – Pin 2
The first freebie pin looks like the second popular pin. I made another that looked similar to the first popular pin to again see if it was the look of the pins that made them do so well.
Neither of these pins did that great. So this told me it was bullet journal folks curious about what I had found that was better than the bullet journal. Not people excited about a freebie and not people that only saved the pins based on their looks.
Safe Title – Pin 1
The other clue was the backlash I received on the two popular pins. I received about 6 comments and most of them were mean.
They were from personal accounts of people who clearly were die-hard bullet journal lovers. They did not like my opinion of the notes app as being a solution that could be better than the bullet journal.
They also did not like my idea of a digital bullet journal also being a solution. Apparently, the curiosity pins made it sound like there was some new amazing thing that was better than the bullet journal that they did not find after reading the post. I personally love the idea of going digital. It works so much better for me. I have found so many amazing fun resources too that solve all of my personal issues with a physical journal.
These were just folks that mean and grumpy and taught me a valuable lesson on how to handle mean comments. One told me my freebie was ugly. There is no reason other than being mean for that to be commented. I had to remind myself that over 300 people had signed up for that ugly freebie so one person’s opinion shouldn’t matter.
However, to make the pin less “deceiving” because I was also told I was fake advertising pretty much. I made this pin to explain a little bit more without giving away all of the info or I wouldn’t get click-throughs.
It seemed to have worked. I stopped receiving very mean and hurtful comments and still was able to have a pin that had good numbers. This is about 30 days of the pin being up. I don’t have as many click-throughs (because of the less enticing title I’m sure) but I still reached a good amount of impressions off of this pin.
Safe Title – Pin 2
I created this pin with the same theory in mind. Again, I just wanted to test out the different titles and see what was working and what wasn’t. This pin is still going so I don’t have a full 30 day stat on it but so far it is doing okay but not a crazy good as some of the others.
It doesn’t have as catchy of a title but I feel like it is less likely to make any readers feel tricked as well.
Here are the stats so far on this pin. I know that is says published May 31, 2019, but this pin was definitely not. The first pin I created (which would have the same URL) was. This one has only been on maybe 2 weeks.
What this has done for me
By continuing to write blog posts on other topics other than just my main popular ones, I have come across a great topic that ties right into my new blog that I just started. I was nervous about branching out but this helped show me there is an audience out there for my new blog.
I have heard other bloggers say this but I didn’t understand until now but they say you never know what blog post is going to just take off! That is so true! I had no idea when I first wrote it that it would bring all of this. This is what this one blog post has done for me.
Gained 378 email subscribers in 30 days thanks to this hot topic and my viral pins.
Made 6 Amazon affiliate sales and my Amazon affiliate account was officially approved! (most of my affiliate links in my blog posts are for blogging resources so I don’t have many with Amazon affiliate links so I always had to reapply since it wasn’t my target products. Thanks to the bullet journal Amazon affiliate links in this blog post I was finally approved!)
Made $30.13 with Google Adsense which is the most I have made in one month from ads.
Broke two records of blog traffic to my blog. Not only did I hit 10k page views for the first time but I broke through and had over 20k pageviews!
I was only 7,000 sessions away from being able to apply for Mediavine!
Gained over 100 Pinterest followers.
My monthly views on my Pinterest account went up from around 75k to over 400k!
I had not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 viral pins in one month!
It was definitely a crazy and amazing month for my blog and all because of one post on a completely different topic than I normally write about!
So you have a blog but it is more of a hobby than a business right? Or maybe you have a business blog but you treat it like a hobby? (Raising hand) I know exactly what you are talking about. In the summer of 2017, I started a blog and my goal was to just have it ready to launch in the fall.
On September 1, 2017, I reached my goal and launched my blog. I was so excited! I finally reached one of my long-time goals to have a blog. Well then, the holidays came in like a whirlwind and the next thing I knew it was the end of December!
Between all the holidays and all of our family’s birthdays that fall in October, November, and December, it just flew by! So, here I was with my new blog that was now four months old and hadn’t changed much in those four months.
Over the summer I had poured my heart into it but I let it go over the fall. I jumped back in at the beginning of the year in January 2018. I added a new opt-in and implemented Tailwind and Pinterest. The traffic came ROLLING in! I couldn’t believe it! It almost felt too easy! I later learned I was right. It was too easy. I couldn’t replicate it again… because I wasn’t treating my blog like a business.
Set Backs
I was offered a job at the Church Preschool and they badly needed help so I decided to take it and I worked from February to May as a Lead Teacher. It was a wonderful time, but I bet you can guess what happened to my blog.
Yep, it was pushed off and the traffic went with it.
I told myself “Okay, I am going to work on it all summer and get it back up and going”. Well, being home with my daughter over the summer was great but trying to entertain an 8-year-old who doesn’t play pretend by herself anymore was a struggle.
It was either let her sit in front of a device all day or let friends come over and then it was loud and crazy. We would go to the pool, go out on the boat, do all kinds of summer fun things, but once more my blog got pushed back.
I felt like I had to focus on her and since I was home I tried hard to keep all the housework taken care of so my husband who works long hard hours didn’t have to worry about anything when he got home. At the end of the summer, my husband and I decided that I would stay home once she started school back up and I could work full time on my blog. (I know isn’t he the best!)
I do help out some of the neighborhood parents and get their kids on and off the bus to make a little extra money. I also watch one little girl twice a week. Plus, I have all my house chores. Which since my husband is being so sweet to let me chase my dreams, I do make those a priority, so he doesn’t have to stress about a messy house after a stressful day at work.
BUT I now have technically all the time I need to work on my blog! So how can I turn my clear hobby blog into a business? And how can you? With these 4 Super Simple Steps!
1. TIME
Make it more of a priority. Make time for your blog.
If you want to turn your hobby blog into a business, then you need to treat it like a business. Like it is your job (because it is).
You may not need to work on it 8 hours a day like a real job and thank goodness for that! But you do need to make progress on it daily!
This post walks you through how to not waste time on your blog but actually make progress on your blog (aka writing blog posts not just post on social media).
I love to learn so I could spend all day every day watching videos on how to blog but then when it comes down to actually putting those steps into action I seem to always struggle to finish.
I have shiny objective syndrome or bunny hole syndrome. Maybe it’s a fear of rejection. “What if someone doesn’t like it? I know! I just won’t put it out there and then no one can hate it!” But that’s obviously a bad idea.
So, whether you want to or not, whether you feel like it or not. Make it a priority that you work on it every day. If it is only 30 minutes a day then that’s fine! At least you are working on it!
The more you put into it the more you will get out!
Maybe you aren’t like me and you don’t struggle with that part. Maybe you have a successful blog, but it just doesn’t make any money yet.
So, you want to turn your successful hobby blog into a successful business blog. Well, I can still help!
See I am knowledgeable about this all (remember I love to learn and take courses on all this) so I can help walk you through what you need to do to monetize your blog.
I think that’s the frustrating part for me. I know all this stuff I just need to do it! (me kicking myself)
That is why I am drawing a line in the sand and I am saying no more. From now on I am going to treat it like a business!
I am going to work on writing blog posts and helping my readers reach their goals!
Get out of your comfort zone
I think that’s a major part of this too. We are still in our comfort zones and we like it that way.
But staying in our comfort zones isn’t going to get us very far though is it?
We need to push ourselves and get out of our comfort zones!
For me, I don’t like making videos.
It is easy for me to think all these things to say but the second I push record my mind goes blank!
I know videos are an important part of blogging, so it is something I have to push past!
I have seen other very successful bloggers do not so great videos and it just shows that they are human just like all of us but for some reason, it is a major hurdle for me.
What are your weaknesses?
Do you struggle with…
organization?
time management?
content creation?
procrastination?
Creating images?
Promoting your posts?
Creating videos?
Find your weakness and do that one first. Focus solely on your weakness and work on it. Or maybe you have the funds and are able to outsource your weakness.
If you struggle with balancing housework and your blog, then hire someone to help you clean your house.
I am not to that point yet, but I want to be!
2. SOLVE A PROBLEM
To turn your hobby blog into a business you need to be helpful for your readers. They are looking for an answer to their problem.
Help them find a solution to their problem.
Whether that be a course you created to solve it, an affiliate product that will solve it, or maybe you just provide the answer and that traffic to your blog brings in ad revenue.
Solving their problem will also create trust between you and your readers. They will come back for more. Knowing you helped them last time they will trust you can help them again.
Also, they are more likely to share your blog with their friends that have the same problem you solved.
3. MONETIZE
There are several ways you can monetize your blog. If your blog is a hobby blog and you aren’t monetizing your blog yet, but you have consistent traffic then all you have to do is add the following to capitalize off of your traffic:
Ads
Affiliate links
Sponsored Posts
Products
Ads
Ads or advertisements can be placed on your blog and the advertiser will pay you for it. You get paid based off of the amount of traffic that sees the ad and by how many people click on that ad.
She has successfully grown her blog about life on her homestead to making over $8,000 a month!
She has updated her income several times so I have noticed that it says a different number depending on where you look on her blog but the last email she sent me she told me $8,000 and that was months ago! So it is most likely more now.
A large portion of her income comes from ads! She goes into detail in her ebook.
Affiliate Links
Adding affiliate links are links that take your reader to a product by someone else and if they purchase that product you receive compensation for that sale.
So, for example, the eBook above that I mentioned is an affiliate link. I read that book and really found it helpful, so I signed up for Victoria’s affiliate program.
Now if anyone clicks on that link and purchases her eBook through my link, she will pay me for that sale.
I have heard of other affiliate programs that pay out differently and not only on purchases but that is definitely the main way to earn an affiliate commission.
Amazon
Amazon is a great affiliate example. They were able to grow so big off of affiliate sales. Bloggers put links on their blogs to products off of Amazon and when a reader clicks on that link and makes a purchase then that blogger gets a cut of that sale.
Here is a great resource to learn some awesome tips for making money with Amazon! I had the pleasure of being a test reader for Dale for this ebook and I am so glad I had that opportunity! It seriously is packed with awesome tips and tricks to making the most of Amazon’s affiliate program.
She has some amazing insight and it is definitely worth the small investment for all of the time you will save and shortcuts she gives you to get right into making money with affiliate marketing.
I thought I knew it all and I have even purchased and taken Michelle Gardner’s Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing which is also a great course but it does come with a price tag.
Although since Michelle makes over $100,000 PER MONTH on her blog she does know what she is talking about!
But even after reading everything I have read over the years and taking many courses (course junkie remember) Dale’s ebook Amazon Affiliate Affluence was packed with new and helpful information!
Sponsored Posts
A sponsored blog post is when you receive payment for posting a blog post on your blog. Either you or the sponsor can write the post that you will then put on your blog. I personally haven’t dabbled much in the sponsored posts area so I suggest checking out McKinzie’s post on How to Make Money Blogging with Sponsored Posts.
Products
Adding your own products to your blog is another way to earn money off of your blog.
If your blog is all about baking cakes, then you could create a course or write an eBook that combines all your knowledge into one convenient place. People will pay to get the quickest answer.
Just like the affiliate ebooks I previously mentioned. I would rather pay $20-$50 bucks and get the answers right now that I know will work than search through all of their blog posts trying to piece it together myself.
Your readers could read all of your blog posts and try and put the pieces of the puzzles together on their own but if you offered an easy and convenient course or eBook that will walk them directly through it, most people would just pay the $10-$100 to get the answer now.
It depends on how in-depth you make your course or eBook as to the price you want to sell it for.
I have seen courses go for hundreds of dollars. If it is your first one, then I would suggest to not make it too big and not have it cost too much.
Just to test out your audience and see how they respond. You could even ask them what they think about some different course ideas and also how much they would be willing to pay for it.
Get some feedback and maybe offer them a discount or a free copy for their feedback!
Once you have gotten your feet wet with adding one or all of those options then you can focus on using your email list to your advantage and selling to them.
You can make sales sequences for them to go through to warm them up before trying to sell to them.
You can also create a sales funnel for them to go to. Those are all things you can focus on later once you have gotten the first step done.
Focus on adding ads, affiliate links, sponsored posts and/or products to your blog and start treating it like a job and before you know it, it will be a business bringing in an income for you!
4. Consistency
Here is what will set your blog apart from Hobby Blog to Business Blog. Just like I have said before you have to make it a priority. Part of that is staying consistent.
It is important to not only stay consistent to show Google that you are a serious blogger but it is good for you to stay in a routine with your blog.
If you take a long break in between working on your blog you will come back to it and be completely lost where you left off. You will end up spending all of your time catching back up on where you left off.
Then if you go another long break again you are once more in the same boat of trying to remember what you were going to do next.
Stay consistent. Make a schedule and stick to it! This will improve your productivity and efficiency.
Summed up
Those are the 4 super simple ways to turn your hobby blog into a business blog!
This pin has a very enticing headline. It creates curiosity and I feel like that was why this pin had the best click-through rate compared to the others.
These two pins I did the same enticing title because my test on these was to see if it was the pin image or the content that made the first pin so popular.
These next two were to test and see if the freebie inside the blog post was popular. Once readers click through and read the blog post many of them signed up for the freebie I put into it after it started taking off.
The first freebie pin looks like the second popular pin. I made another that looked similar to the first popular pin to again see if it was the look of the pins that made them do so well.
The other clue was the backlash I received on the two popular pins. I received about 6 comments and most of them were mean.
