March 19, 2013

Guide to Pinterest Analytics for Bloggers

Last week Pinterest rolled out a new analytics tool.  If you’re a blogger, you’ll definitely want to check it out.  After using it for a few days, I put together this guide to Pinterest Analytics to share what it is, how to sign up for it, and how to use the analytics features.

Pinterest Analytics Guide For Bloggers - DIY Newlyweds

What is Pinterest Analytics?
Pinterest analytics allows you to see things like the number of pins, pinners, repins, clicks, and visits you got.  Essentially, this tells you how many people are pinning from your blog and seeing your pins.  I know this is something I had been wishing to see.

Pinterest Web Analytics

Even better, there is a view where you can actually see the pins from your blog that were most recently pinned or are the most popular or most clicked on during a selected time period.  It’s awesome to visually see the pins that are getting the most traction!

How to see pins from your blog

I love seeing what’s being pinned from my blog.  It’s a good way to gain some insight into what your readers like to see and perhaps give you some ideas for future posts.  I found a few surprises in my results, several of my Christmas and Thanksgiving projects were most recently pinned.  I was surprised those pins were popular this time of year.

How to Get Pinterest Analytics - Signing up for Pinterest for Business

Now that you’re intrigued about Pinterest Analytics, here’s how you can access it for your blog.  In order to see Pinterest Analytics, you must sign up for Pinterest for Business.  Don’t worry, it’s free and you can use your existing Pinterest account to do so.  You can access the signup page by going to this Pinterest for Business link.

Once you’re on the Pinterest for Business page, you’ll want to click on “Join as a Business.”  You can also find Pinterest overviews, tips for using Pinterest, and read case studies about how businesses are successfully using Pinterest from this main page.

Pinterest for Business

Once you click to join, you’ll be taken to a new page with a form to fill out.  However, if you already have a Pinterest account you’ll want to click the link at the top-right that says “Already have an account? Convert”


Signing up for Pinterest for Business


Then, you’ll be taken to a new form that will probably have some of your profile information already pre-populated.  Here you’ll need to select a Business Type.  If you are a blogger, you’ll probably want to select “Professional.”  Make sure your website address is also entered on this screen.


Sign up for Pinterest Business Account


After your business account has been created, you need to verify your website.  This is to ensure that the website you are trying to get analytics for actually belongs to you and that you’re not some wacko trying to spy on the analytics for someone else’s site.

Using Pinterest for Business Account

After clicking the “Verify Website” button, you’ll be given two choices to verify your site.  You can either upload an HTML file to your domain or add a meta tag to your site’s code.  My blog is hosted on Blogger so the meta tag option was easier for me to do.  Basically, Pinterest gives you a line of code and you have to add it to the HTML of your site.  If you’re not familiar with HTML this may sound complicated, but it’s actually pretty easy. 

For those of you on Blogger, here’s a quick look at how to add a Meta Tag.  Once you login to your Blogger account, click on “Edit Template” in the left sidebar.  Then click on “Edit HTML” as shown below.

How to add a Meta Tag in Blogger

A new window will pop-up with the HTML for your site.  To make this process really easy, just copy the line of verification code Pinterest gives you and paste it right under where it says <head>.  This will always be towards the top of your HTML.  Once you’re done, click “Save Template.”

Adding a Meta Tag to Blogger Blog

That’s it!  Then just go back to Pinterest and click the verification button.  You should be verified now and have access to Pinterest analytics!

How to Use Pinterest Analytics
Once you’ve verified your blog, you can start using Pinterest Analytics!  To get into the Analytics portion of your account, you need to switch over to the new Pinterest look.  This isn’t available for everyone yet, but it will be rolling out to everyone soon.  Once you have access to the new look, you can access Pinterest Analytics it by going to Analytics from the new drop down menu.

Access Pinterest Analytics

Then start having fun!  Well, fun if nerdy analytics stuff is your jam, like it is mine.  Pinterest put together this nifty video explaining all of the analytics features, so I will it speak for itself.



Have you checked out Pinterest Analytics yet?  Are you an analytics nerd like me?  Yay line graphs!

This post is shared on Tatertots & Jello.

1 comment:

Kelley said...

Thanks for this introduction! I didn't even know Pinterest Analytics existed, and you made the switch a breeze!