5 ways to improve your pinterest page

Anyone who uses Pinterest knows how easy it is to get sucked into the endless page of inspiration. Unfortunately, it's just as easy to fall into a pattern of pinning images that don't click through to anything, that aren't properly cited, or that are simply forgotten in a sea of other pins. The boards are an additional challenge -- how do you divide your categories so that you can find things easily without scrolling through way too many boards?

Over the weekend, I finally tackled the daunting task of editing, sourcing, and reorganizing my Pinterest page. I went from 1200+ pins to 417, in part because I've become a lot more selective with my pins, but mainly because I deleted almost every image that I couldn't trace back to an original source. Now that I've done all this editing, I kind of feel like a Pinterest pro -- so I thought I'd share some insights and tips that I picked up along the way!

1  /  Always credit the original source.

I can't tell you how frustrating it is to click on an image in Pinterest, only to find myself lost in an endless trail of Tumblr blogs -- and I can only imagine how much more frustrating it is for the person who created the image! Use Google Images or src-img to hunt around for the person who took the photo, wore the outfit, wrote the recipe, etc. It's only fair! My personal policy: no source, no pin.

2  /  Like before you pin.
A lot of the images I deleted were impulse pins -- things I saw and immediately repinned. The problem is, there's always a chance that the pin is not as great or as relevant as it initially seems, or that you might find something similar (and better) later on. I usually "like" an image (or at least open it in a new tab), then revisit it, visit the original source, and make sure it's something I love before I actually pin it.

3  /  Organize your boards.
Think about your pinning habits and assign categories (and subcategories) accordingly so you're never overwhelmed with hundreds of pins in one board. For example: I focus a lot on design-related pins, so I have boards for color palettes, branding, print layouts, web layouts, moodboards, lettering, etc. On the other hand, I don't pin a ton of style images, so I have one general style/clothing board.

4  /  Make your page pretty.
Always choose a specific cover image for each board. This small step gives you control over the overall aesthetic of your page and also provides an at-a-glance summary of your taste for any new visitors and potential followers. This point is particularly important if your Pinterest page is an extension of a business or blog -- but even if you just pin for fun, it's always nice to make things look pretty!

5  /  Review and revise regularly.
To avoid having to sort through hundreds (or even thousands) of pins like I did this time around, I definitely plan on editing my page more frequently -- right now, I'm thinking at the end of each month. It's a good way to rethink your pins (i.e. that super-complicated recipe that you're never actually go to try) and check on potentially broken links (i.e. clothing items that are no longer available).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Of course, everyone has a different approach to Pinterest, so these are just a few of my personal notes -- I hope it helps with your own Pinterest page! You can check out my newly-organized page here!