Want a pretty awesome FREE (and little known) Pinterest tip right now? ⇒
UPDATE: Pinteresting Strategies is now updated and current as of March 2023!
It’s been nearly 7.5 years since I started blogging, and 6 years since I launched the popular ebook Pinteresting Strategies! Since then, it has sold nearly over 10,000 copies on WORD OF MOUTH ALONE – I STILL don’t pay to advertise it!
And, while I use Tailwind from time to time when I take a holiday, I STILL pin manually 95% of the time! Annnnnnd I STILL have great page views from Pinterest!
(THIS POST PROBABLY CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS. OUR FULL DISCLOSURE POLICY IS REALLY BORING, BUT YOU CAN FIND IT HERE.)
YES – I use Pinterest to get 100k+ page views per month to my blog – with manual pinning!
When I first started blogging and was trying to get page views, I read every single one of these “how to get Pinterest traffic” posts I could find online – for months. Looking for some secret formula that would make Pinterest work for me.
And every. single. post. was a sales pitch for Boardbooster or Tailwind.
Even the expensive courses required you to purchase Boardbooster or Tailwind.
Putting more money into my blog was a non-option, and I decided to do Pinterest without a scheduler. I was desperate to get just enough page views to qualify to apply to a bigger ad network and start making a little money.
But what happened just about knocked my socks off. (Yes – Socks. Off.)
I started pinning in May 2016 and by the end of August 2016 I was working with Adthrive – one of the premier ad networks in the country – and one with a requirement of 100k page view per month.
My pinning-without-a-scheduler method had fast tracked me to a full time blog income.
Read my blog income reports here:
August 2016 Income Report – $483.31
September 2016 Income Report – $3365.39
October 2016 Income Report – $5035.17
November 2016 Income Report – $4768.47
December 2016 Income Report – $5151.57
(As of Jan 2017 I am no longer publishing income reports publicly to the blog – for many reasons. BUT if you love reading income reports, you can get on my list to receive them here.)
So of course I wrote an ebook.
Unfortunately, it is NOT as easy as just pinning and hoping. I put in days and weeks of experimenting with what works and what doesn’t.
And I got it down to a science. Some days, I literally watch my page views climb for the day when I pin.
There is no “Pinterest Secret” (sorry!). BUT there are some crazy important things about Pinterest that you are probably missing.
Everything you could ever want to know about Pinterest is available for us to learn when when dig into it… but no one is spending time IN Pinterest learning. We’re all just scheduling and closing our eyes….
And wondering where the page views are.
So of course, I wrote an ebook, detailing my Pinterest strategy.
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE PINTERESTING STRATEGIES 2.0.
I didn’t really think anyone would buy it – ever.
But I was more than wrong.
I was wrong to the tune of over 1500 people – in the books first year. And it sells almost 100% by word of mouth. (I don’t advertise it. Except for a few a pins on Pinterest – which, ironically, do very poorly. Ha!)
Hundreds of people have read and loved this book, and I get emails almost every day from people who are having success with this strategy – and learning new things about Pinterest.
There was one problem with creating a Pinterest resource. To continue selling it, it needed frequent updating (because Pinterest changes A LOT on a frequent basis). Because of this, I eventually moved the book into a course format. I’ve had feedback that this makes the content a little easier to navigate, and it makes it WAY easier for me to update when needed.
A (hopefully refreshing) paragraph of truth that may bite me in the butt
I have no interest in “hard selling” you my course.
(As a blogger, I am sick to death of the sales pitches. Nothin’ wrong with selling your product. But raise your hand if your inbox is full of desperate sales attempts… and don’t email me twice in one day because “oops, I forgot to add…” am I right?)
So I’ve decided to sell my course the no fuss way:
If you want my strategy – it’s available. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE PINTERESTING STRATEGIES 2.0.
The strategy I use to pin gets me anywhere from 5 – 10k page views per day. (AS OF May 2017 I have had days with 20 – 30,000 page views! That is over 480$ in ad revenue in one day, just in case you’re wondering.)
This course, to my knowledge, is completely different than any other strategy you will purchase anywhere else. (Largely because you don’t need to invest monthly in a scheduler to use it.)
I go MUCH farther into the “Pinterest Algorithm” – you will NOT be just “pinning and hoping!”
Sireesha, the blogger behind crowdworknews.com was one of the first to get a copy of my course and try out the strategies, and she saw awesome results with it – she said:
“Carly’s Pinterest strategies have exploded my Pinterest traffic. I started to implement her strategies in November and by January my Pinterest reach has gone from 700k to over 1 million. This ebook has really changed my Pinterest game.”
Katie, from joyfullmesses.com wrote a post about getting her first viral pin using my tips, and in her post she said:
“Carly put together a strategy I’ve never seen (and I’ve read and devoured everything), and brought me the results I wanted. I literally got my first pin to go viral! When I woke up one day and saw I had 200 people to my site before 8:00 am, and I usually had maybe 20…I couldn’t believe it. Then, it kept going to 500, then 800…I hit a huge milestone for my blog, and I accredit everything I learned in her course. I’m very serious when I tell you its worth your time and money.”
Hilary (the curly one) from pullingcurls.com saw almost instant results:
“I bought Carly’s book after being frustrated by my own Pinning strategy. We live mostly off of our blog income, and I just saw Pinterest traffic dwindling, no matter what I changed with my schedulers. I was using Board Booster, Ahalogy and Tailwind. The day I bought the course, I deleted over 2,000 scheduled pins and started hand pinning. I have had to adjust her plan to work around the days I work 12 hour shifts as a nurse and I am slowly making it work for me. Pinterest traffic is up 30% and I’m excited to keep improving my system based off the principles she showed in the course.”
Amber, who is just starting her blogging journey over at allnaturaljoy.com messaged me and said:
Since reading, ‘Pinteresting Strategies,’ I can’t wait to log in and check my Pinterest followers every day! Before I started implementing all of your secrets, I would go weeks without gaining a follower and now I am getting 30-40 new followers every DAY!!! The best part?? Pinterest is now driving traffic to my blog and I’ve gained 40 subscribers in the last 24 hours!! I’m only half way through the course! I can’t even imagine what finishing it will bring! This is a must read for sure!
I receive emails very often like this one, from Kim @ kimgaleta.com:
“I bought (your course) at the end of May and I’ve been implementing your instructions ever since. I think the biggest takeaway apart from the strategy itself is that I learned to improve my CONTENT! Most of my pins had a couple dozen repins (using BoardBooster for about 8 weeks). Within 2 weeks of using the course, I have hundreds of repins and one even has more than 1k now. My traffic for the first two months of June equaled my entire traffic for the month of May! I can’t wait to see what the end of week brings :)”
(You can read a whole bunch more testimonials over here on the testimonials page!)
I am also going to tell you this:
Lots of people have had GREAT results from using this strategy, and a few have not.
I’m not sure if this is because they’re doing it wrong, or if it’s because they aren’t able to invest the time it takes, or because it just doesn’t work for everyone.
It is impossible to know.
It’s impossible to guarantee that this strategy will work for everyone for many reasons.
Firstly, Pinterest has an ever changing algorithm. I am constantly aware that this strategy might not even work for me forever (this terrifies me). This strategy requires a daily commitment. I spend anywhere from 15 minutes – over an hour on Pinterest per day. This strategy will NOT transform Pinterest pins and pin impressions into clicks over to your blog. YOU need to do that, with pins that scream “click me!”.
There will never be a way to guarantee that this method will work for everyone. But there is also no way to guarantee that any method will work for everyone.
There you go… fair warning. (I am not a sales person. I never have been, and I probably never will be.)
The anti-sales pitch
SO for those reasons, I have been so very hesitant to even try and sell this course.
But, because I spent the time researching it, testing it, and writing it, and because this system works for me (and many others), I’ve decided to just go ahead and put it out there.
There is no launch. There is no sales funnel. There are no guarantees. This is just me saying “This is the method that worked for me, maybe it can work for you too!”
And one last disclaimer. Like I mentioned, this strategy takes a commitment to manual pinning. It will require time every day. I put up to an hour per day into Pinterest. And I make over 2000 dollars per month in ad income on average, which comes directly from page views.
Totally. Worth. My. Time.
So if my experiment in brutal honesty hasn’t scared you away – grab this Pinterest strategy and get pinning.
(If I HAVE scared you but you’re still looking for ways to increase traffic, the Traffic Transformation Guide by Lena Gott is freaking AMAZING, and covers much more than just Pinterest. I have read this book three times… and I will read it again. Possibly my favorite blogging book EVER! She details 21 strategies she used to go from 17k page views to over 400k page views in ten months.)
Buuut if you’re not ready to buy it just yet – you can still take advantage of the FREE Traffic Bonus Guide Lena offers!
Happy Pinning!
If you want some seriously awesome totally FREE Pinterest tips… well, look no further:
Yes Carly! This blunt honestly is so refreshing! I absolutely love it!!!!
H Catherine! Thank you so much for the feedback – I don’t know if this is the worst mistake I’ve ever made or if it can actually sell LOL
so getting started to blog, how much TOTAL did you invest? I read somewhere that it is $50 to start and $7 a month. Now there is a cost for the website name too?
HI Vanessa! I am actually planning to write a post on this is the next couple weeks – the answer is complicated LOL. I PERSONALLY spent a lot more than that, but you CAN start one for about 4$ per month. the website URL comes free with some hosting packages (that’s the 4$ per month) or you CAN pay for that separately – like I accidentally did! Watch for the post on my expenses in the next couple weeks to break everything down for you!!
This totally fits in with everything I’m always saying a pinning. The tools aren’t magic. It’s all about the strategy! Scheduling tools just make it easier to batch task.
You can use a tool all you want. If you don’t have a strategy, you’re not going to have results. The only people who benefit from non-strategic scheduling are those who weren’t pinning much at all before.
That said I totally use scheduling tools because I’m all about the batch. There’s so much else to do with blogging that I’m trying to save time wherever I can while I research, research, research other things.
It’s great to see someone having success with manual pinning and I’m certainly going to mention you as a reference in my future posts about Pinterest! Like you said, everyone has praises for the tools, but I never see anything on manual pinning.
Thanks Stephanie! I think alot of the problems people are seeing with decreased pinterest reach is directly related to schedulers… I think pinterest has to constantly change the algorithm BECAUSE of them – otherwise people’s feeds would just be flooded with the same pins. I desperately would love to be able to batch and pin with in my sleep, but I just don’t see the same pv when I do, and a large chunk of my income is ad income so need to keep those pv up! lol. I’d be so excited if you’d mention this post in the future – thanks lady!
Love this post! Saying what probably everyone is thinking about sales. Just the fact that you put yourself out there so honestly makes me intrigued to get the ebook. great piece.
Hi Stacy! Thank you for reading! I appreciate the feedback because I am pretty nervous about my approach here…but I just have to be true to myself and I don’t think I can do that any other way lol. If you do get the ebook I really hope you enjoy it 🙂
Good luck with your book!
Thanks Joanne 🙂
Just started reading the E book! Such excellent actionable advice, so far. I have been working on organizing my Pinterest page, and trying to join group boards. So far, no luck. Like you, I started my Pinterest page from scratch, with no followers. How much time passed before you were accepted to at least 5 group boards?
Hi Diana! Thank you so much for the feedback so far!! Please do keep my posted on how it goes. it probably took a week or so to get on 5 boards, I would send a few requests per day. Start with smaller boards and work your way up as your account grows. Lots of bigger boards will require that you have a following of 5k (or whatever) but that will come in time 🙂
Hi! I am REALLY interested in learning another pinterest strategy. Question though – does your strategy absolutely require that you pin manually? Is that core to it or is it just something that doesn’t require automation?
Hi Rachel! As far as I have been able to tell, manual pinning is absolutely key to making it work. I have tried it through both schedulers, with mediocre (at best) results. Hope that helps!
Please work! Please please please work!
Pretty please! Pretty please with a cherry on top!
Wish me luck! Just downloaded.
O I DO hope it works wonders for you Jessica! Please let me know 🙂
Hi, I am thinking of purchasing the ebook. How much time daily is necessary to making your strategy work? I am willing to put time in I just want to make sure I have enough time right now. Thanks!
HI Leah 🙂 I spend up to an hour per day in pinterest. It is absolutely a time commitment.
An hour I can handle!! I really wanted to make sure it is doable before I purchased! Thank YOU!!
You’re very welcome!! There are days when I don’t get in a full hour (life happens LOL) but I try to prioritize it!
I can’t tell you how much your book has helped me! Your tips are so new and refreshing compared to what else is out there. I tried Tailwind and your tips worked better and cost nothing! Sure, it takes some time, but once you get into the habit and set up a daily routine minutes is all you need to obtain amazing results.
My page views have almost doubled since using your techniques, thanks!!
I am SO EXCITED TO HEAR THAT!! Thank you so much for letting me know <3 I hope they just keep going up and up!!
Hi there! I’m interested in purchasing your ebook but wanted to know, if I 100% commitment to implementing your strategies, generally speaking, what results can I expect? I am willing to put the time in and I know everyone’s results will differ but I want to know what I *can* expect before I buy. I hope my question makes sense. Thanks so much!
HI!! I WISH I could answer this question… but I just can’t with any certainty. I would like to say that you can expect page views to increase. But I don’t trust Pinterest as far as I can throw it, because it is changing constantly. I will tell you though, that for the most part, everyone I have spoken to about their results has seen increases in traffic – and I have sold over 300 copies so that’s fairly good odds.
How many pages are the ebook?
HI Brittany – it’s 80 pages currently, but there are lots of pictures and it’s not a tiny tiny font 🙂
Hey I downloaded the book today
but it is of 68 pages. Am I missing something?
Nope – that’s how many pages it has since the update
OK, your “hopefully refreshing, anti-sales pitch” won me over. 🙂 I have been trying to find a Pinterest strategy that is not based on a monthly $ commitment (i.e. scheduler – I like going on Pinterest!), and one that does not cost hundreds of dollars! Everybody is super salesy, so this post wins the day. I’ll be purchasing the e-book as soon as I find some extra $$. Thank you!
haha yay! Thank you Shelly, that made my day 🙂 I am working hard on an update so I hope the book will be even MORE relevant for you!
I bought the book about a month ago and magic has started to occur! I have already over doubled my traffic from April and we still have quite a few days left in May! All of this traffic is coming from Pinterest! Thank you for making this…wonderful product! 🙂
EEEEK Kayla I am SO EXCITED to hear that! Congrats on the traffic, and thank you for trying Pinteresting Strategies. The updated version will be available soon – I think you will enjoy it!
Your non-sales pitch totally sales pitched me. 🙂 I just released a book and started a blog, and I know that I NEED to be on Pinterest, so I have been researching the best guide to buy. Everything I see is between $200 and $400, which isn’t terrible if they provide results, but I just had this nagging feeling that there had to be something beyond Tailwind and BoardBooster.
My plan is to buy your guide (and probably PotPieGirl’s at some point, too) and report back in ~12 weeks (I figure I should give it some time, especially since my blog is new). Hopefully I will have great news to share! 🙂
H1 Jessica! LOL – look at me go with the non-sales pitch! Ha! You DO NEED TO BE ON PINTEREST! YES! The courses out there are SO expensive… I honestly can’t believe anyone charges that for them… and then tells you to INVEST IN A SCHEDULER TOO – good grief. I would love love love for you to report back! Look forward to hearing from you. 🙂
HI Carly! How time intensive is your pinning strategy? Ive been blogging four months and the main reason I have board booster is because my time is limited – I have four kids 7 and under and I homeschool. 🙂 Thoughts? THanks!
HI June!! WOW you sound like a VERY busy lady!! I Spend anywhere from 15 min – hour per day on Pinterest. That’s probably not what you wanted to hear… lol.
How long did it take you until you saw a serious spike in Pinterest followers?
It’s not so much about followers on pinterest as it is about getting clicks and page views – since pinterest doesn’t show all your pins to all your followers anyway 🙂 I explain this in the book! But I saw a slow steady growth of followers (and still do)
Hi Carly! I run a flipping homes blog on the site http://www.flippingseattle.com. I am interested in working really hard on my Pinterest account in hopes to gain traffic as we just started out and are only getting about 20 views a day haha. So! I’ve been looking for a Pinterest ebook/resource to help walk me through what exactly to do to gain exposure when starting from nothing. How would you compare your ebook to that of Create & Go, who have a $200 course and seem to go very in depth. I am very in toon with social media/website development and design so I don’t need to learn all the basics. But I really am just looking for a Pinterest resource that will walk me through exactly what to do to just get off my feet from 100 followers on Pinterest. Do you think your ebook is right for me!? Thanks you so so much!
https://www.pinterest.com/flipseattle/boards/
Thanks,
Spencer
HI Spencer!
Great question! Hard to answer of course, since I haven’t take Traffic Avalanche from create and go LOL. HOWEVER, I will say this: I emailed create and go and asked them if I could benefit from their course as an advanced Pinterest user and they emailed me back and said “If I was looking for a golden ticket this wasn’t it”. (I was super disappointed in their response to be honest – not because I was looking for a golden ticket – I don’t need one… I had 32k pagveiws from pinterest yesterday alone. But I really did want more info about their course!)
SO, without making a comparison, the best I can do is tell you that my book DOES go over the basics of account set up and beginner stuff like finding and joining group boards (as, I am confident the create and go course would) but my book teaches you (I hope) how Pinterest works as a SEARCH engine and why you don’t really NEED followers. (My book is also 170$ cheaper… so … just putting that out there ?
I don’t know if that helps A LOT but I personally think MOST people will glean at least some new information from my book – it’s got info in it you don’t see every where.
Thanks for the reply! Yes I am on board for your ebook and not thrilled about their $200 price tag!
Does you ebook cover your strategy of posting frequency, both your personal content and others? Also do you think your ebook would really help someone who literally has 0 repins ever haha
https://www.pinterest.com/flipseattle/boards/
I think I’m ready to purchase! I’m ready to take on Pinterest 🙂
Thanks!
Spencer
Carly! When is the new update coming? Just being imp5atient, sorry! 🙂 I love your book and oinning method!
I SO trying to get it out for next week~ YAY! I’m so glad you love it. The new book is like 1072 times better 😉
Has the New Updated version come out yet? Don’t want to buy the old one when a new one is ready. Also, kind of pinched for $$ any chance of having a promo code or sale for the updated release? I know $32 isn’t much but every dime counts for a poor full time blogger who’s income report isn’t even 10% of your August 2016 amount.
HI Eric! Anyone who purchases the current version gets the updated version for free of course! (The version currently available IS an update of sorts, just not the FINAL edit and design.) I don’t have any sales planned at the moment – but I understand that every dime DOES count! (I totally get the poor blogger thing… I spent well over 1000$ on my blog before it ever made me a penny!) If it helps, this pinterest strategy guide is one of the lowest priced ones I’ve seen 🙂