Making sure that you have a user-friendly website that is optimized for Pinterest users can seem so scary and overwhelming. 

But it’s so important!

In 2020, the number of Pinterest users topped 400 million. Every day, the number of people using Pinterest and visiting websites in order to dream, plan, and do is growing.

If your website holds the answer to what a user is looking for, you want to make sure that the user has a great experience when they arrive at your site. If your site is not user-friendly, the user won’t want to stick around. 

Deep-Diving Into Site Optimization

Andrew from NerdPress is on the podcast today. You may remember him from a few months ago when he joined me on the podcast to talk about how to make your website ADA compliant (that episode is a must-listen if you haven’t heard it yet). 

Each month in The Simple Pin Collective we dive deep into a specific topic, through videos, training, live coaching calls, etc. This month we’re focusing on site optimization. 

Today, Andrew is going to share some basic tips on this topic, but we will go way deeper in the Collective. If that sounds like something to focus on for your business, we’d love to have you join us in The Collective. 

Andrew is the founder and CEO of NerdPress, a company that provides WordPress support and maintenance services. They currently provide support for over 400 websites. The majority of their clients are food bloggers, and Andrew himself is a former food blogger. 

How to Create a User-Friendly Website for Pinterest Visitors

When people talk about the topic of website optimization, it can mean many different things.

We could be talking about site speed, search engine optimization, or the user interface. Think about optimization as making your website better in some way. If you are thinking about how to better serve your user, you will end up improving your site in a way that will benefit the user. 

It can be easy to get caught up in making things look great and forget about the person who is visiting and what they are coming to your website for. We love the analogy of viewing your website as your online living room — when people arrive in the space your goal is to make them feel welcome. A user-friendly website will serve that purpose.

If your site is cluttered and there are a bunch of things in the way that prevents the user from easily consuming the content they are seeking, they will bounce. This is particularly true if the user is coming from Pinterest and they do not have a previous relationship with you. 

Be Strategic About Pop-Ups

The number one thing that will cause someone to be annoyed or bounce away from your website is being greeted by a pop-up immediately after clicking over to your site — especially one that’s asking for their email address).

You aren’t likely to get loyal readers if this is their experience. The user doesn’t know you yet, so they won’t be inclined to give you their email address right out of the gate. Site owners aren’t always aware that this is happening for new users. So it’s vital to check out the new user experience by visiting your site in an incognito window on a regular basis.

Take a look at your plugin settings to edit your pop-up time frames. Andrew suggests adjusting your pop-up to appear when the user scrolls 75% down the page, or 30 seconds after a page is opened.