3 Steps to Having a Viral Pin (From 300 to 1.2k Visitors in 1 Day)

The steps to creating a viral pin from scratch!

I’ve only been blogging for 3 months, and for one month I didn’t even blog!

So, really, I’ve only been blogging for two months since most of my time as a stay-at-home mom is spent…well, mommying.

Smart Mom Ideas is also a new concept for me and I’m still trying to figure out all this blogging thing and my goals for this blog.

But, then it happened.

Suddenly, one of my pins went semi-viral. I don’t mean millions of visitors or anything, but for a blog – that for while was slowly gaining traffic – to get a big spike like that?

My traffic had several little bumps before it went semi-viral.

When the first spike occurred – 67 visitors to 450 visitors in one day – I freaked out!

I couldn’t believe what or why that happened. But, then it happened again and then the big jump. How did that happen?

For the record, that viral post was my 4th post ever and I’m only using Pinterest to promote this post.

I’m still thinking about Twitter and Facebook, but for now, I can handle just using Pinterest. Looking back, I know why that post blew up versus my other posts before that. There was something definitely different.

Here are the three key things I did differently to generate a viral pin.

Step 1: Made a Mega Long Post

I read on other blogs that longer posts do well with social shares and traffic. I really didn’t believe it since I’m not a fan of reading long posts (well I don’t have the time to read long posts).

But, I thought, what the heck? Why not try and see? But, first I needed a topic. I’m all over Pinterest and so I do most of my searches on there and I noticed a key theme going on: pins with high repins are usually about making or saving money.

Well, I know there are other niches that have high repins like beauty and food, but in my niche (mom blogging niche) that’s what I noticed the most.

I dug a little deeper and decided to write a post on different ways to save money since, as a stay-at-home mom, I needed to halt my spending and start saving.

I needed help doing that and I thought my readers or other moms might need that help too.

With that, I just used an old notepad and started writing some lists about saving money and if I was stumped I’d do a bit of research. I was able to come up with 63 ways to save money.

The next part was coming up with a headline. I’ve been researching heavily on headlines and how to create a clickable headline and so I made two different headlines:

  • 63 Ways to Live on One Income (And Be a Stay at Home Mom For Good)
  • 63 Ways to Live Frugally (Save Money and Make Money)

I wasn’t sure at the time which headline or pin image would perform better so I used the first headline as my feature post and the second one as an alternate pin.

Step 2: Create Gorgeous Pins

I’m still pretty new to creating pin graphics, but I do get a lot of inspiration from looking on Pinterest (and I look a lot!).

I’m using Canva to design my pinnable images and am finding it easy to use. I’m also using free stock images like these ones and these ones for beautiful free photos.

Right now I’m doing two pins for each post. Why? Because I can try out different graphics and headlines to see what pinners like.

From my viral post, it seemed like pinners were attracted to the word “frugally” more than anything else.  I was thinking that the first headline about living on one income would be the one to get more repins.

But, that wasn’t the case.

Step 3: Pin A Lot

Right now I don’t have any automation tools like Board Booster or Tailwind to do all my pinning. I’m a one-mom show and for the first two months of Smart Mom Ideas, I did sporadic pinning.

One day I would pin 15 times and then three weeks later another 10 times. As soon as I had a plan to pin every day, my traffic started growing.

I also joined a lot of group boards related to my topics – budgeting, parenting, being a mom and have a toddler.

I also joined group boards about blogging or sharing your latest blog post as well. I noticed a lot of mom pinners on group boards and realized that I could also join 🙂

By joining multiple group boards, I was able to pin more often – I’d say around 30 times a day.

I would pin 10 times in the morning, 10 times in the afternoon and 10 times between 8-10 pm.

When my pins were in the group boards, I guess other pinners pinned my pin to even more group boards and it spread. Practically overnight the repin number went from 10 to 100 and then 300 and then 1k and more.

I couldn’t believe it. My other pin associated with that viral post has less than 300 repins.

What I Learned from Having a Viral Pin

I had no idea how long a viral pin lasts. Maybe weeks or months or days. Mine lasted a few days and I was surprised by that. For the next few days over 1k visitors came every day. Now that it’s towards the end of the week, traffic is going down.

For other bloggers, like the bloggers of Avocadu, their viral pin exploded their traffic (and income) and it really went viral!

I’m not sure if my traffic will hold at 1k visitors or go down to 500 (or less) visitors.

But that’s more than the 64 visitors I had in the beginning of the month!

I’m trying not to chase pageviews and waste my time looking at my analytics, but I know how important traffic is to a new blog.

It’s the life and blood for a brand new blog. But, there is balance to it all.

It’s hard to duplicate a viral pin.

I should know! If you look at my latest blog post, I am “trying” to replicate the recipe for my viral pin. While I know the steps behind it, there’s a lot of factors behind creating a viral pin.

Maybe my pin image didn’t attract the right pinners. Who knows?

******UPDATE*******

I can’t believe what just happened! I have another viral pin everyone! Yikes!

From 846 visitors to 2.5k visitors in one day! I have no idea why this post took off on Pinterst?

*******UPDATE FINISHED!*******

I feel the topic is the main reason why my pin went viral.

When I sit and think about this (because Smart Mom Ideas is now on my mind all the time), I believe it was the topic that resonated with pinners.

For Avocadu, their viral pin was how to lose weight if you weigh 200 lbs or more. This resonates with half of the population or MORE!

And if you read the post, the advice they give contradicts a lot of what you learned about losing weight, but it’s sound and probably the right advice for people who are overweight.

For my mini-viral pin, getting laid off, losing your job, getting fired or just trying to make ends meet is a huge problem for most of the population.

Can you see where I’m going with this?

Viral pins speak to a LOT of people. Now, I know there are viral pins that are more ostentatious and “weird,” but speaking about Pinterest and the quality of pins and topics there, I feel viral pins are more helpful than reactive to viral-type news.

I didn’t grow my Pinterest followers that much, but BOY did I grow my monthly views!

In the beginning of May, I really didn’t have any views on Pinterest. Once I started pinning more, I was getting around 60k monthly views.

But now? Less than a month of actively pinning on Pinterest and being present on that platform?

I’m shocked by that.  I have only 150 or so followers too! My views grow every day and that means more people are seeing my pins and possibly coming to my little ol’ blog 🙂

Right now, I’m at the end of this traffic spike. I’m hoping it sticks close to 1k visitors a day. I want to create more list type posts (as I truly feel those posts are valuable and informational for readers) and monetizing it (once I figure out the right degree of doing that).

Have you had a viral or semi-viral pin? Tell me your story!

Share this post with your friends!

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36 Comments

This is inspiring to me! I’m in my third month of blogging right now and had a post just hit 1000 shares. It’s exciting, but it’s a weird mix of hard work and luck. Hopefully, I can continue growing like you have!Reply
Tasheena how’s your blog going I would love to hear about it as a new blogger myself?Reply
Hi Tasheena, Good luck on your traffic building!Reply
I loved this story! My Pinterest knowledge is slowly growing, but I don’t have much of a strategy yet. So many people echo what you say about pinning often and a lot. My question is, do you have a strategy about what you pin? And what is the approximate ratio of pinning your own pins to pinning others’? Thanks!Reply
Thanks for a couple of things: Making it clear longer posts are okay. I’m starting a new section on my website “Inspiration” (focus and goal-setting, relationships, faith & charity)…but the posts have tended to be a bit long, even while focused on one topic. Glad to hear that’s not a deal-breaker! The idea of trying out a couple of different pin images. I think I’m going to do that and see which ones perform better.Reply
Hey Jennie! That’s awesome. I love your niche topic! Yes, long posts can work for your niche so good luck!Reply
Congratulations on your viral pins! That’s such an awesome achievement in such a short space of time. I’m soon to launch my blog so definitely taking note.Reply
Caroline! So happy for you! Congrats. Please come back and tell me about your new blog! I would love to share it.Reply
Wow that’s amazing. Congrats on the super successful pins. I’ve never had something like that happen with my pins and I’m pretty active on Pinterest. Btw is that a blue jays hat on your son? I’m from Toronto as well!Reply
Hi Nicole! Thanks so much. Yes, that’s a Blue Jays hat! My son loves them (maybe because my husband loves them!)Reply
I have been struggling with Pinterest so much. Thanks for this informative article.Reply
So glad you found some tips to help you get noticed on Pinterest.Reply
I like the idea of spacing the pinning out. I hadn’t thought of that.Reply
Hi Addison, Yeah! It’s working for me, but I missed a day or two and my traffic is going down 🙁 So I have to be more consistent. Now I know why people use scheduling tools! It’s hard to do this manually!Reply
Tha is awesome about your viral pin!!! I am a newbie and still have a lot to learn about Pinterest….Your post inspires me….Thank youReply
Hey Jennifer! Thanks so much. Congratulations for being a newbie blogger! I’m loving being a blogger but it’s sure a lot of learning. Thanks so much for your kind words.Reply
Congrats from a fellow newbie mom.blogger and I hope you do big things! Thank you for the tips, I have been focusing all my time on Facebook and Instagram and none on Pinterest! I will certainly up my Pinterest game thanks to this post!Reply
Hi Anita! Awesome! Yeah, I’m not on Instagram and just started with Facebook. I absolutely love Pinterest and how visual it is 🙂Reply
So inspired to try this. I have one pin that gives steady traffic even several years later but is not even ‘semi-viral’. I’ve seen it work small scale but had no where to start for more. Thanks for posting this!Reply
Hi! Wow! Steady traffic seems to be much better than these spikes! So different each day. I know I need to write more posts to make steady traffic, but it’s becoming harder and harder lately! Thanks so much for coming to my little ol’ blog 🙂Reply
WOW! I’m a newbie, too. My niche is education, well moving education into the 21st century. I’m definitely going to try and use your advice to get a semi-viral pin. I’m hovering at like 0 page views a day unless I post content and share it on facebook…Thank you for your guidance!Reply
Hi Brittany! That’s awesome. Your niche can really get some viral pins for sure! Try doing a big list post 😉Reply
Awesome work! justvtrying to get my blog to get momentum at the moment myself. Thanks for the inspirationReply
Hi Natalie! Yes, I know the feeling! I’m all gung-ho for two weeks and then bam! my son gets sick and my blog sits there! It’s a journey for sure.Reply
CONGRATS! That’s AMAZING. I haven’t had a viral pin but I have had a mini-viral facebook image post (around 100,000 reach…when I was getting 100 at the time)! The hardest part is maintaining the traffic afterward but it’s cool nonetheless!Reply
Thanks so much! Yes, it certainly a surprise for me! And to have two! Wow! Congrats on your mini-viral FB image post!Reply
Huge congrats to you! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and I love that you are clear that it took hard work to get there. I hope to keep reading along with your blog. Keep on going!Reply
Hi Christina, Thanks so much! I’m so excited that I got this viral pin and it’s boosting my traffic! It’s around 700 visitors a day which is much better than the 64 visitors earlier 🙂Reply
So inspiring! I hope I can write a post like this in the near future. You have some really great tips here, too. Looking forward to following you on your journey!Reply
Hi Brenda! Aww thanks so much! I’m learning so much every day it’s hard to do it all! It’s the backend or tech stuff I’m slow at, but finding I can write and type fast! Thanks so much!Reply

Elna is a mom to twins who blogs and writes for a living. She loves all things mom. While she’s not blogging, you can find Elna meal planning, organizing and helping other moms in her Facebook group, Ready Set Blog for Traffic (From Mom to Mompreneur).