How to Design Pin-Worthy Images
Visual marketing is hot, as evidenced by the popularity of Pinterest and Instagram. People are drawn to certain kinds of images on each platform.
Today we’re going to focus on Pinterest. If you want people to repin your pins, and even better to click through to your site, then you have to make your images stand out in the Pinterest feed. Use these tips to design a pin-worthy image that will capture the attention of viewers.
Optimal size of a pin-worthy image
Vertical pins stand out better in the Pinterest feed. The optimal size is 735 pixels wide by 1102 pixels high. This is a 2:3 ratio, which is pleasing to the eye.
Edit your photos to make them pop
If you use photos that you have taken yourself, be sure to adjust brightness, contrast, etc. to make the photo pop.
If you are not a great photographer, don’t be afraid to use stock images. There are a lot of great stock image sites. A few good sites for finding free stock photos are Pexels, Stocksnap.io, and Unsplash.com. Sites with stock photos for sale at affordable prices include 123rf, Shutterstock, and BigStockPhoto.
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For tips on how to keep all your stock photos organized, check out my blog post here!
Whether you take your own photos or use stock images, but especially if you use stock images, crop your photo to create a more interesting and unique composition. After you’ve looked at a few stock image sites, you will start to notice the same images used on a lot of blogs. In the last few days, I’ve noticed stock photos that I have used on three different blogs.
Here’s an example of an original photo downloaded from Pexels and a cropped version. Notice that the cropped version is zoomed in and moved to the side of the image, which creates a different composition. Someone else could crop the same photo a different way and you wouldn’t necessarily know it was from the same original.
Use text in your image to grab attention
While Instagram is all about the image itself, on Pinterest you want to use text to grab viewer’s attention. Add your blog headline as a big title. If you have a sub-title or more information to clarify your topic, you can add that as well. Include your brand or website URL on the pin.
Free Workbook!
Grab your free Pin-Worthy Images workbook.
Add a description to your pin
Pins with descriptions are more noticeable in the Pinterest feed, so you will want to add descriptions to all your pins. Not only should you add descriptions to things that you are pinning, but also you want to add descriptions to the pin-worthy images on your blog. This way, when a reader pins directly from your blog, a description will automatically be added to the pin. This makes it easier for pinners – they don’t have to craft a description because you have done the work for them.
Include a call-to-action in your pin description. What do you want viewers to do? Options that you could consider include:
- Pin for later
- Grab this free download!
- Check out our guide to. . .
- Click to read more about. . .
- Click through to read the full post!
The description text goes in the Alt Image field. Here is a screenshot from WordPress, showing the field. You can access this information from the media library or by clicking on the image after it is inserted into your post.
Enable rich pins
Rich pins include extra information on the pin that is pulled straight from your blog. This includes the title of your post and the meta description. The title will be bold, so it shows up very well in the Pinterest feed. Your blog title will also appear at the top of the pin description. Here are two examples from my Pinterest feed: one is a rich pin and the other is not.
Create a template of your standard pin design
Having a pin template will save time. It’s faster and easier to create a new pin from a template than it is to start from scratch every time. Having a template also creates consistency among your pins. People will start to recognize your pins in their feed and know that they come from you. This helps to solidify your brand.
Examples of pin-worthy images
Here are few examples of pins that incorporate the above tips.
This pin from Wonderlass is tall, the photo is cropped, it includes the full post title and sub-title, and it’s a rich pin. As you can imagine, this pin stands out in the Pinterest feed.
Here are three pins from by Regina. You can immediately tell that these pins are all from the same blog. Even though they aren’t exactly the same, they all have a similar look and feel.
Lastly, here’s an example of a blogger, Krista Rae, who doesn’t even use photos in her pins. Her pins are spot-on with her branding and they practically jump out of the feed.
Don’t miss out on the visual marketing trend because your images don’t attract attention. Use the tips in this post and you will be designing pin-worthy images that get pinned and re-pinned.
Take Action
Download the Pin-Worthy Images Workbook below and start capturing the attention of pinners.
Free Workbook!
Grab your free Pin-Worthy Images workbook.
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