Most of the world seems to be winding down heading into the holidays…

Holiday movies & matching PJs on, lights and notifications off.

We’ve even made it through some of the biggest (and most stressful) sales weeks of the year!

Give yourself a pat on the back for that one.

Lately I’ve been finding myself telling people the same thing — a boring life is a good life.

I don’t need something new or crazy or exciting going on all the time. In fact, that sounds really freaking overstimulating.

Hopefully all’s perfectly pleasantly boring on your side of the screen!

Someone — *cough cough* Pinterest *cough cough* — didn’t get the memo though.

Pinterest is wayyy leaning into the new year new me vibes and while I love that for her, it’s not quite my vibe.

Before you lay your head to rest and wait for dreams of dancing sugarplums, let’s debrief some of the changes and updates on Pinterest. →

What's New on Pinterest

First up, you may or may not have noticed that your Pinterest profile has a new look.

From the accounts I’ve been in, I think most people are seeing this view as opposed to the old profile layout.

I truly have no clue why they changed it, and I don’t like it, but for now, it’s here to stay.

A few things to note with the new layout:

• Your header image isn’t covered by your profile picture anymore on desktop, but it probably still is on mobile, so design accordingly

• The displayable space in your title is much smaller, despite the character limit remaining the same

  • Make sure the most relevant info is visible in the new layout!

This is more of a stylistic than functional change, so don’t stress too much about it!

Next, I’ve got some pretty cool & exciting insights to share from the Q3 Pinterest Investors Call —

📈 Pinterest reports more than 530 million monthly active users

This is a big jump from the traditionally quoted number of 400+ million users, and the user base is continuing to grow!

I know plenty of people have complaints about the amount of ads, AI, and other things, but despite that, people are still on Pinterest.

⏰ Pinterest is deprioritizing time spent on the platform as a measurement of success

When Pinterest initially introduced idea pins several years ago, the only logical reasoning was to increase time spent on the platform.

Okay, makes sense, most social media platforms monetize based on that.

However, in this call, the CEO pointed out that ⅔ of the time spent on Pinterest is search-based.

And if a user is spending more time searching for the relevant info or products, that’s actually a negative signal, because it means the algorithm is having a hard time surfacing what the user is looking for.

Instead, CEO Bill Ready emphasized the importance of engagement like clicks, saves, and “actionability” (shopping) as positive algorithm signals.

So what does this mean?

More than ever, Pinterest is quite definitively telling you to create content that prompts users to take an action — not just watch a video or look at something.

It signals an alignment of Pinterest’s goals as a business with your goals as a business marketing on Pinterest. HUGE WIN! 🎉

The last update isn’t necessarily something new…

Seasonal Content and Increased Ad Spend

If you’ve been seeing your Pinterest stats decreasing or traffic dropping, it’s most likely because of the time of year.

Around October, Pinterest starts changing its algorithm to prioritize holiday content.

If you don’t have holiday or seasonal content to promote, you’ll probably see lower stats through the end of the year.

The other factor at play is that a lot of companies typically increase their ad spend around this time of year.

Add that to the increased amount of ads on Pinterest, and you’re going to notice more difficulty getting your pins seen with that competition.

Neither of these things is a reason to change your Pinterest strategy. They’re a normal and expected event, and most things return to business as usual in January.

If you’re still worried about decreasing stats, check out this blog post, which has a few other potential culprits and what to do about them…

Why Are Your Pinterest Views Dropping?

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 →

Pinterest isn’t the only gal with something new going on…

Introducinggggg — The 12 Days of Christmas Deals!!

That’s right, it’s your own virtual advent calendar!

This Saturday, I’m kicking off a daily email series counting down to Christmas.

Each day will have a new discount for either something in the shop or a resource from one of my pals! 👀

I wanted to give you the heads up so that:

a) you know to keep your eyes out for it, annnd

b) if you already know you want your inbox spared from the daily emails, just clickity-click right here and Santa Sarah will fly right on over your inbox (without missing out on the normal issues of the Thursday Press!)

See you Saturday for the first day of deals!!

& in case you haven’t heard it lately, you’re doing a great job 🫶

Sarah

You’ve already gotten water, said your good nights, and turned off the light, but when you go into the bathroom to get ready for bed… disaster strikes.

There’s not enough toilet paper to do your business and you have NO clue where to find more.

There’s not one of those handy organizers or a stack on the back of the toilet, so now you’re left wondering if your see-you-once-a-year family members are the kind of people who shove a few extra rolls under the sink or if they’re the professionally organized closet TP stash kind of people.

Spoiler alert: it’s not under the sink.

Now you’re left wondering if you make the most of the 2 squares of 2 ply left or hike up your pants for an awkward “heyyyyy, Grammy?” convo outside the bedroom door.

I don’t know about you, but just imagining this situation has got me SWEATIN’. 🥵

And in fact, it had me actually sweating last week.

See, this original story appeared in Issue #28, just swap the family for friends, and the pretend situation for REAL.

This was supposed to be a hypothetical, not a real-life emergency situation.

Alas, I wrote my own fate.

And since that was one of my favorite newsletters ever and it was so long ago, it had to be revived.

(Am I giving away some of the ~magic~ by telling you this is a repeat? Maybe. But the rerun ends here, it’s time for a new episode)

While my grandmother is typically the type to Marie Kondo organize every square inch and label even the smallest of containers, there was no toilet paper in sight.

I checked under the sink.

I checked in the guest bathroom.

I checked in the linen closet.

No luck.

Where was it?

Costco-size packs of toilet paper that would’ve made 2020-me green with envy were stacked in the (also immaculately organized) garage.

I can tell you rn I would NOT have looked there.

The way I felt at 11 p.m. in my grandparents’ basement bathroom is exactly how your audience feels when they land on your website from Pinterest and don’t know where to go next.

• If you promised them a free download, where is it?

• Did you promote one thing only for the link to take them somewhere else?

• Are your services clearly linked in your navigation?

• Do you have your pricing laid out or a way to contact you?

• At the very least, do you have plenty of calls to action to tell your new digital visitor where to go and what to do next?

Don’t leave your potential clients sweating in your online bathroom, First name / dude.

Because while Pinterest can get people to your website (and lots of them), it can’t guarantee they’ll do anything after that.

What Keywords *Can't* Do For You

Over the past few weeks, I’ve talked a lot about keywords.

If we’re being honest, I’ve spent the last several years talking about keywords.

I’ve told you how to choose the right keywords, the importance of using specific keywords, and the role keywords play in Pinterest SEO.

While all of that is 100% important, there’s something else you need to know…

Keywords can’t do everything for you.

Keywords are a key factor in your brand’s visibility.

You’re not a museum exhibit; though, you’re not here just to be looked at.

Keywords can also help attract the right audience.

But it doesn’t matter how good your fishing skills are if you can’t take the fish off the hook once you’ve reeled ‘em in.

Keywords can lead your audience to your online watering hole, but it’s up to your website to make that horse take a drink.

Museums, fish, and horses… oh my! What’s next? A yellow brick road to the Emerald City?

You also can’t use keywords to mislead your audience.

You might think it’s as simple as using the most popular keywords you want to rank for on your pin, but if it doesn’t match the actual content, you’re in hot water baby.

That’s why we need to channel the kind of label-making, file-folding harmony that makes me want a walk-in closet the size of my bathroom.

What does this look like in a practical sense? Glad ya asked…

On Pinterest, you’re going to:

• Keep your keywords relevant and descriptive

• Don’t try to trick your audience

• Use simple terms your people are searching for

But the real magic comes with the experience on your website. It’s the man behind the curtain, if you will.

Far too often, I see business owners with pins leading to broken links or just a homepage.

Then, I can’t even find all of their offers or opt-ins from their website!

Those are priiiime spots we want to lead people, so don’t keep them buried in a tiny CTA in one single blog post.

Make it ridiculously easy for your people to opt-in and buy from you. Here's how:

1. Make sure all your links are accessible to all pages of your website.

I’m glad you’ve got your lead magnet linked in your IG bio, but people landing on your page from Pinterest can’t find it! Add an opt-in form to your blog posts, home page, wherever!

2. Make it easy for people to inquire to work with you.

I want you to book those high-ticket clients as much as you do! So make it crystal clear exactly how new website visitors can do that with contact forms or booking links on every page.

3. Sprinkle your website with CTAs.

The biggest missed opportunity I see is with business owners who have the best intentions in mind to provide value to their audience in their blog posts. But at the end of the blog, the readers are left wondering “What now?”

(now we’re back to the whole undesirable sweaty-bathroom sitch)

Want a checklist of exactly how to optimize your website & content for Pinterest? Good thing I've got juuuust the thing ⤵

How to Make Sure Your Content Converts from Pinterest

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 →

While I can't make your website convert for you, I can give you all the tools and resources to get as many people as possible to your website using Pinterest!

We're less than a week out from the Pinterest SEO Workshop (mark your calendar for Dec 11 if you haven't already!) and you can still grab a seat at 20% off 👀

Here are the dirty details:

• WHAT: 90-min, live hands-on workshop covering —

  • How to choose the right keywords to get your pins in front of the right audience

  • Where to use those keywords so Pinterest knows exactly how to categorize your content

  • How to write pin copy quickly without second-guessing every word

  • How to decode Pinterest's algorithm and understand how it sees your content

• WHEN: December 11th at 2 pm EST

• HOW MUCH: $97 ($77.60 if you buy today with the code THANKS20)

• WHO: You, hopefully! All Pinterest experience levels welcome!

• And of course, if you can't make it live, it'll all be recorded for you to watch at your convenience!

>> RSVP NOW! 🎟️

→ Last day to get a ticket to the Pinterest SEO workshop at $47

→ Details about the upcoming Black Friday sale

Serious question for you, First name / pal —

WHAT are we saying when someone knocks on the door of the public bathroom you’re using???

Surely there HAS to be some sort of standardized phrase we can come up with.

If you ask me, the existence of a locked door is enough, but since it’s not, I’m left with this conundrum

Do I say “Just a minute!”? What if it’s longer than a minute?

What about “Someone’s in here”? It seems logical and fine but still awkward somehow

“Yes?” is way too friendly. I’m not trying to start a conversation here.

On the other hand, “Occupied!” is far too formal, and its playful cousin “Occupado!” is too silly.

If you like to have a little bit of fun while you’re at your most vulnerable state, I suppose you could opt for “Come on in!” but that just makes everyone uncomfortable.

And what if they actually did come in?!?!

99% of the time I don’t say anything at all.

Again. Locked door is locked for a reason.

I’m genuinely looking for suggestions here, but you should also know that I’m probably going to keep saying nothing.

Another situation I apparently don’t know how to respond to? “Thank you!”

Since today is Thanksgiving in the US, there’s a lot of thanks being thrown around.

I’ve got a handful of standard pull-the-string-doll responses, but the one my grandmother takes issue with? “Of course,” of course.

“Thank you so much for coming to visit” has been a common refrain at least once per day since flying into Albany last week.

Naturally, I respond with a warm “of course!”

She’s the one housing me and feeding me and giving me presents during our early Christmas celebration, after all.

“No, not of course, I mean it! You don’t have to come, and we’re very grateful you did!”

My mom taught me to not look a gift horse in the mouth, so maybe don’t correct me right after thanking me but…

It’s giving the same energy as “I don’t know, CAN you go to the bathroom?” 🙄

The more helpful ~feedback~ I get on my responses, the less I’m inclined to give them.

Who knows, by Friday I might not be talking at all…

That’s because too much information leads to inaction, especially for us recovering perfectionist people pleasers.

THE FOOLPROOF WAY TO GET UNSTUCK ON PINTEREST

This is your oFFICIAL permission slip to FAFO with your Pinterest strategy.

If you don’t keep up with all the latest Gen Alpha slang (I don’t either), here’s the definition

FAFO (v.) — “f*ck around and find out;” the slogan of go-with-the-flow folks everywhere and your strategist-approved way to approach your Pinterest marketing

No, really.

The best way to figure out what works for you on Pinterest is by experimenting, analyzing the results, and experimenting again.

Or as the cool kids say, FAFO.

I see you over there, agonizing over which keyword to use and justifying not getting started because you want to do everything “right”.

Guess what?!

It’s really, REALLY hard to do anything *seriously* wrong on Pinterest.

So if that lack of confidence in your approach is keeping you from actually doing the thing at all, DITCH IT.

Straight into the bin with it!!!

I swear on the Burk family apple pie, 2025 better be the year we ditch the overcomplicated “strategy” that keeps people stuck in overpriced, exploitative business relationships

There’s no reason your Pinterest marketing can’t be both simple and strategic; both easy and effective.

But I know it’s a lot easier to say that than hear it, believe it, and embody it.

So if you need a little kick in the perfectionist booty, I hiiiighly suggest jumping in the Pinterest SEO workshop while it’s on sale for $47.

I’ll be teaching you everything you really need to care about and everything else you can ignore so you can get out of your own way and make Pinterest actually work for you, finally.

F*ck. Around. And. Find. Out. 🫵

Consider it an order (or a pep talk).

01. EDITOR'S PICK

Peep the New Sales Page: Pinterest SEO Workshop

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 →

Speaking of “thank you”s, I owe you a GIANT ONE. This year was a big, busy, and chaotic one, and I’m so happy you’re here.

Tomorrow (Nov 29th) is the beginning of The Newsstand’s Black Friday sale — 20% off every product in the shop!

You’ll get another email with all the deets once it’s live, but until then, let me know how you’re answering the door when Great Aunt Judith jiggles the bathroom door handle.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sarah

As a Tarheel grad, you might expect me to say basketball, because of Michael Jordan.

You might even expect me to say women's soccer, because of Mia Hamm and our legacy of USWNT players.

But the most competitive sport of all is actually something far less flashy and much more important…

Class registration.

Registering for classes was a cutthroat frenzy of trying to craft the perfect schedule out of letter scrambles like MEJO 418 and COMP 110 using ancient online infrastructure that was slow at best and unavailable at worst.

We would fill our shopping carts with potential courses, refreshing juuuuust before our scheduled, lottery-based time to pick our future.

It was like some academic version of the classic break-down-the-doors Black Friday and the Eras Tour Ticketmaster queue.

I mean, entire businesses were literally built and bought on the foundation of helping us plan our course schedule. RIP Coursicle.

As a senior balancing two majors and a hastily added advertising minor, I had pages of contingency plans ranging from best case scenario to FML 8 a.m. lectures on Mondays and Fridays.

I had put in my time, and I was damned if I was going to accept anything less than ideal.

Which is why I showed up to a class on the first day of the semester despite only being on the waitlist.

“People always end up dropping, you'll get in.”

“He always lets a few extra people in, just come to class!"

“I'll save you a seat!”

And you know what? People did not end up dropping, my friend did not save me a seat, and that professor definitely wasn't letting anyone else into the class.

In fact, at the beginning of the class, he had all of us hopeful waitlisted students self-identify, move to the back of the classroom, and then told us to just go home because “if you're not officially enrolled now, you won't be.”

OUCH.

That's how I ended up biking home in the muggy late August North Carolina heat, holding back tears of embarrassment and frustration when it happened.

I was pedaling quickly, racing to get back to the privacy of my off-campus room when the chain of my bike fell off.

And despite my best efforts, it was not going back on.

To add insult to injury, this breakdown was occurring right across the street from Frat Row — 2 minutes off campus and another 10 to get back home.

So I walked my nonfunctional bike back home, took a teary selfie to send to Caroline for sympathy, and resigned myself to whatever backup plan I had concocted.

At this moment, I couldn't tell you what the original class I was trying to get into was nor what I ended up taking instead.

But I definitely remember how it felt to pin all my hopes on one thing and have it let me down.

It was actually the first time I'd tried to weasel my way into a class. Although unfortunately — and unbeknownst to me at the time — it was not the last.

Typically, I preferred the sure thing, avoiding overly competitive courses and the stress that accompanied them.

And y'know what? I stick by that.

A little competition is fine, but you can't let your entire future ride on just one class. Or keyword…

A MANIFESTO AGAINST GENERIC KEYWORDS

I don't care how valuable your blog post is or how good your pin graphic looks… if you're starting brand new on Pinterest and trying to rank for “Brand Design” right out the gates, you're going to be disappointed.

That's like a college freshman trying to register for a senior-level anatomy lab with the only professor who doesn't actively try to fail their students…

It's too competitive.

“But that's what my content is about!”

I hear you! And I'm not telling you to ditch the brand design [or Showit website or Instagram tips or whatever else is relevant] keyword altogether.

I just want you to get more specific.

Sure, “brand design” is the overarching keyword that fits your content, but it's not the only one that fits.

• What style of designs are you creating?

• What industries are you designing for?

• Is it a logo or a color palette?

There are lots of different ways to turn that broad keyword into a more specific, long-tail keyword.

Those long-tail keywords are going to be less competitive.

Even though there might not be as many searches for a specific keyword as for a general one, you'll actually have a chance to cut through the crowd and start ranking in searches more quickly.

Annnnd, because Pinterest SEO is more comprehensive, you're not forgoing “brand design” by using “modern brand design for realtors.”

You're still including that root keyword and as you start getting more traction in the less competitive searches, your content will hold more weight and trust when it comes to those general searches.

Want proof? Here's the case study of one client that I got to 1,000 monthly outbound clicks using that exact strategy. Oh, and we're at over 2,000 clicks/month now.

01. EDITOR'S PICK

The Benefits of Specificity: Pinterest Case Study

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 →

After auditing dozens of Pinterest accounts in the past few years, I found myself consistently repeating a lot of the same advice.

9 times out of 10, it had to do with keywords.

Quite frankly, I don't think you need to book an audit to learn how to use Pinterest SEO to your own benefit.

That's why I'm sharing everything I've learned in the Pinterest SEO workshop next month!

We'll be going over strategies just like the one in this issue, along with actionable steps to work through your keyword conundrums together.

Presale is open now and you can save $50 with the code PRESALE, making the workshop just $47!

And before you ask, no, it won't be going further on sale for Black Friday / Cyber Monday.

I knowwww we're all in the “I'm going to wait and see what the sale is like” time, so here's your official heads up!!

• The workshop will be on sale for $47 until Nov 28th

• ALL products and workshops will be 20% off from Nov 29th to Dec 5th

• The workshop goes up to regular price ($97) from Dec 6th to Dec 11th

Register for the workshop!

Got Qs? Wondering if the workshop is right for you? Need a lo-fi / instrumental playlist rec to keep you focused during the busiest time of the year?

I've gotcha covered. Hit “reply” or slide into my DMs on Insta!

Later alligator!!

Sarah

P.S. It feels of ultimate importance to let you know that the song “That's Amore” has been playing on loop inside my brain while writing this. I'm passing it on in hopes to get some peace, sorry if you get the earworm too!!

So color me surprised when I heard the low Southern grumble of my deceased grandfather —

“Marilyn! ‘Dyou make this?”

“Mm. That’s good.”

Of course, if you didn’t know Papa, you don’t know exactly what this sounds like.

And of course, it wasn’t actually my grandfather speaking from the afterlife.

Instead, it was my tiny slip of a great aunt with a recording-perfect imitation of what he would have said if he were there.

Which had us all cracking up through our tears in the middle of the restaurant.

Because damn if she didn’t get it spot on.

No one else would get it.

You don’t.

The other people at the surrounding tables didn’t.

And not even my wife, who had interacted with my grandfather before, knows exactly how accurate the impression was. (But she does take my word for it, because, duh)

No one gets you like family.

No one also knows exactly how to get to you and push all the wrong buttons like family, too, but that’s not what this is about.

So many little quirks and stories have been smoothed out to quotable one-liners by the passing of time.

Out of context, you’d have no clue why “Say goodbye to the man, Nanny” is a perfect indication of the amount of sass I popped out of the womb with.

144 is just a number, Amazing Grace is just a song, and ice cream in the microwave is just a questionable (though sometimes valid) choice.

And honestly, no amount of eloquent storytelling could truly change that.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got about 5 more banked content ideas just from writing the intro to this email alone, but by the time they reach your inbox, they’ll be a little stripped down, more relatable, with just the right balance of detail and ambiguity.

It’s what has to happen for the words to be effective.

You couldn’t just throw your new therapist into the deep end of your family narrative without the backstory of why Uncle Dal isn’t really your uncle and also his name isn’t Dal.

It wouldn’t make sense.

So then why are you trying to reach new audiences by using technical language and industry jargon?

How to Make Sure Your Clients Get It

If you want to get more traffic and leads from Pinterest, you have to get your content in front of your people first

And to get your content to your people, you need to make sure they get you the way your family does.

Or, at least as close as you can get.

That’s why choosing the right keywords can make such a big difference in your Pinterest results.

One of the paradoxes of Pinterest marketing is that choosing keywords *can* be intuitive because you know your niche best…

Buuuut you also have to be able to step outside of it and know what your target audience is actually looking for on Pinterest.

Not just the content, but the actual words they use to find that content.

Even if you know the ins and outs of different Showit features, your clients might not even know they need to be using Showit as a platform, let alone the specific vocab that comes along with it.

Super technical marketing terms? Nope, they’re back on “how do I write the words that make people buy from me?” and “do I really need to be posting Reels every day?”

If the only way I described my freebie was using its name, “Pinterest Blueprint,” I’d be missing out on all the people looking for “how to set up your Pinterest account” and “how to get started on Pinterest.”

Finding your keywords on Pinterest is only half the battle.

The real challenge is choosing the ones that will actually get you results.

>> Web copy or website copy???

>> Branding or brand design???

>> Home decor or house decor???

Before you get too overwhelmed, let me introduce you to two handy metrics you can use to evaluate different Pinterest keywords:

• Search intent

• Search volume

Search intent is the reason a user completes a search on a search engine. It’s the main goal or desire behind the search.

This matters on Pinterest because even a slight change in phrasing may bring up entirely different search results.

So before you go all in on one keyword, do a quick search to make sure that your content fits in with the other content in the results.

As for search volume, there are a few different ways to get an approximate idea of a keyword’s search volume:

• Pinterest Trends

• Pinterest Ads Keyword Tool

• Pinterest Interest Pages

There's a lot that goes into not only choosing the right keywords but using them in the right way.

In fact it's the number one thing clients tell me they're unsure about

& if you ask me, it's about damn time to change that…

Pinterest Workshop: How to Get Your Pins Seen & Selling!

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 →

That's right!! The long-awaited Pinterest SEO workshop is open for presale now!

After the workshop, you'll be able to:

• Know which keywords to use

• Write good pin copy quickly

• Feel confident that you're doing Pinterest “right”

The live workshop will be on Dec 11 and presale is open through Nov 28.

You can still register for the workshop after the 28th, but then you'd miss out on one heeeeeck of a discount.

(Like you can get a ticket rn for under $50 — use code “PRESALE”) 👀

Grab Your Spot Now!

As much as we like to talk about building communities and how much we love each other (and we do!), your audience still isn't going to get you the same way your family does.

Or let's be honest, the same way that one biz bestie you rant every minute detail about business to gets you, because our families are just trying their best.

BRB, gotta go prepare my answer to “so what do you do?” before Thanksgiving.

That's okay! That's normal! No one else is inside your head!!

But it just means we have to do a little extra legwork to make sure we bridge the “get you” gap.

& the keyword workshop is going to help you build that bridge. Will I see you there???

ur pin pal,

Sarah

There isn't a manual for how to proceed when your country is in turmoil, but I'll give it my best shot.

ICYMI, the US presidential election was earlier this week.

I've always been transparent about my values, so I'll continue to be open and share with you that I'm sad, scared, and disappointed at the results.

I had a different email scheduled for today, but it didn't feel right to return to “business as usual” without acknowledging the immense emotional weight so many of us are carrying.

That's a privilege I'm lucky to have, and I don't blame anyone who has to keep doing the work, keep marketing, keep hustling to get the job done.

Capitalism is an imperfect system, yet the only solution I can imagine right now is to make the kind of money that will allow me to protect my family and take care of my community.

It's exactly why I've been so outspoken lately about being open about politics and values.

Because I believe that everyone should be able to make informed decisions about how you spend your money.

To invest with people who share your worldview and won't turn around and use that money to further interests you don't support.

It's no single person's imperative to only make values-based investments. There are only so many glass balls you can juggle without something breaking.

So I don't fault anyone for choosing their battles.

I just want us all to have the information necessary to be able to actually make the choice intentionally.

Take time if you need to. Work if you need to.

I'll be here for you on the other side.

& because I don't want to just word vomit on you and ditch, here are some of my best tips about getting work done when your brain is scrambled.

Love ya lots & hope to see ya for our regularly scheduled programming next week,

Sarah

HAPPY HALLOWEEN boo!!!

I would looooove to make this whole email spooktacularly themed —

Maybe bring in my own rendition of the “a haunted house but” trend, or tell you the scariest Pinterest mistakes to avoid, or remind you that ghosting is never a good idea.

But I have something even MORE exciting to share with you today…

I’m freaking married!!!!

That’s right, I’m a whole ass WIFE.

The government is involved in our relationship now. (And the Georgia gov’t to boot… but that’s a story for another day)

The last two weeks I turned on my OOO to have the dreamiest elopement & honeymoon.

Despite a few last-minute changed plans, running behind (as usual), and the mild concern of being two queer women in MAGA territory, Caroline and I had the perfect fall adventure!

I am positive the stories from this trip will wiggle their way into an issue of the Thursday Press soon, so for now, let me just thank you for all your love & support 🫶

Turns out a honeymoon and a 7+ hour drive make for plenty of reading time. Here are just a few of the books I enjoyed this month:

• Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date by Ashley Herring Blake

• The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor

• The Ride of Her Life by Jennifer Dugan

The Ride of Her Life is a sapphic romance about an aspiring event planner who inherits her estranged aunt’s horse farm…

..which I read during our honeymoon stay at a cabin with literal horses right outside…

Talk about a dream come true!!!

HEARTSTOPPER HEARTSTOPPER. Any time a new season of Heartstopper comes out, you know it’s gotta make it in the recap. Season 3 came out at the beginning of the month and we marathoned it in a weekend.

We’ve also been watching Yellowjackets as it finally came to Netflix, and would highly recommend!

I have been listening to every fall-themed playlist under the sun, but here are some of the top picks:

• witchy fall vibes

• quiet fall mornings

• Autumn Acoustic

• Fall lofi | chill autumn beats

This lounge set (top + pants) from Target!!! One of the softest things I’ve ever put on my body, thin enough that it’s suitable for warmer weather, and so so cute.

Related but not necessarily — this sports bra from Target! I’ve been wearing it more as just another lounge top, but again — so soft, comfy, and supportive.

I always love @katiesteckly’s content, but I’ve especially been loving her filming tips!

This one about her b-roll formula is such a helpful reminder!

‘Tis the season of the best coffee drinks, so this is a hard one to choose.

Other than a classic at-home Nespresso + pumpkin spice syrup + oat milk, I’ve been really digging a pumpkin chai!

Whether it’s a Starbucks iced pumpkin cream chai, iced chai with pumpkin syrup from my local coffee shop, or this at-home version I tried for the first time yesterday with Tazo chai latte & International Delight pumpkin pie spice cold foam, it’s literally fall in a cup.

This is so silly goofy are you kidding me?!

Did ya miss it?! I’m MARRIED!

October has always been my favorite month and now I have yet another reason to love it.

My evening will be full of marathoning the classic Halloween movies I haven’t seen yet this season while we carve pumpkins for the first time in years.

Oh, and hopefully handing out candy to the handful of trick-or-treaters we get each year.

Happy Halloween!

Sarah

It’s one of the many reasons my fiancée and I chose to elope instead of throwing a “traditional” wedding ceremony & reception

What I didn’t realize was that really only eliminates the guest list and long list of vendor coordination

It turns out that when you’re DIYing 90% of your wedding, you should… uh… really leave more time to do all of that DIYing…

Ask me how I know. 🤪

Now, I’ve been given a very important mission by my new favorite person — Olga, my alterations hero

Olga, who welcomed me into her home studio with a personality rundown of her 4 very friendly cats, said, and I quote:

“I’m telling you this so you can tell everyone else you know: 

BOOK IN WITH A SEAMSTRESS AS SOON AS YOU GET ENGAGED.”

Here I was, thinking I needed to have my dress picked out (which I also procrastinated) before I brought it to a tailor… but no! I should have been prioritizing a seamstress the way “traditional” couples prioritize venues.

It genuinely never crossed my mind, which is why I’m taking this mission to heart and telling YOU in case it can help at least one other person.

If I’ve learned one thing through this process, it’s that you should start sooner than you think.

Easier said than done, I know.

The squirrels that control my brain apparently only know how to function in dire, stressful, last-minute situations, but I’m working on it.

Narrator: She’s not working on it. 

Because damn if it isn’t true for nearly every situation in life…

Remember when I launched my new website a few months ago?

Yeah, okay, so that was in AUGUST.

My original “website in a week” project with Sarah Kleist was at the beginning of APRIL.

And I first inquired & booked in FEBRUARY.

The lesson learned here is that things almost always take longer than you expect. So even if you think you’ve left yourself enough time, you probably haven’t.

START. EARLIER.

And yes, that applies to Pinterest, too.

If you think that Pinterest might be in the cards for you in 2025, it’s time to get started earlier rather than later.

But how early? Is there a right time? A wrong time?

It might surprise you to hear coming from me, but I don’t think Pinterest should be the first thing you prioritize when you start a business.

Unlike wedding dress alterations, you actually do need a few things done before you start that process…

3 things you need to have before starting Pinterest

There’s more to Pinterest than just deciding to do it — you need to have all the other things in place to make it truly successful.

And what are those things??? So glad you asked…

1. You need to have a website

Sorry not sorry! This is a non-negotiable.

You’ll hear people say you can use Pinterest without a website, and while you can, that doesn’t mean you should.

It’s my job as a Pinterest marketer focused on sustainable, ethical, and effective marketing strategies to help you do work that actually works.

You’ll see much better results when you have a website to send users to, both in terms of performance on the platform and in actual conversions.

2. You need to be consistently publishing long-form content

I don’t care if it’s blog posts, podcast episode transcripts, or repurposed YouTube videos, but that educational, long-form content posted on your website is another Pinterest must-have!

(I mean I guess I do kinda care, because I personally think blogging consistently is the best. Here’s why.)

3. Develop a lead magnet to call in your target audience

Having an optimized email marketing strategy is an important step to convert Pinterest users to your customers and clients.

Ideally, you’ll have a lead magnet that:

• Calls in the right audience,

• At the right stage in their journey,

• And leads seamlessly into your primary offer

If you want to learn exactly how to do all that, I’d highly suggest taking Between the Lines Copy’s Email Chapter!

This evergreen email marketing course is the perfect primer to a successful lead magnet + newsletter strategy.

BTW, you can save 10% if you use the code “BURK”. Or you can pay full price if you want, but like… why?

Once you have your website, long-form content, and email marketing set up, then you’ll be ready to take full advantage of Pinterest for your business.

But naturally, nothing can be as simple as setting it and forgetting it.

That’s why I’ve included two more steps to prepare for Pinterest as well as a whole slew of resources to check out before making Pinterest your b*tch in 2025 (respectfully, of course).

01. EDITOR'S PICK

How to Prepare Your Business for Pinterest Marketing

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 →

Pinterest is one of those marketing strategies that can’t stand on its own if you want to get the most out of it.

And if you’re planning on DIYing it, I promise you it’s a lot easier to start with the foundations in place rather than trying to do it all at the same time.

If you’re not sure, feel free to hop in my DMs on Instagram!

I genuinely care that the time and effort (and money) you spend is worth it, and I’m more than happy to tell you what I think & help you get prepared.

Just consider me the Olga to your Pinterest account 😘

Chat soon,

Sarah

Or at least I think that’s what my partner is thinking as my phone buzzes 17 times in a row where I’ve left it on the couch.

You walk away for 2 minutes and of course that’s when the group chat starts blowing up.

The group chat in question is actually just 3 people, myself included, all named Sara(h)

But you give a girl a top 10 baby name in the 1990s and they’re going to yap!!!

Surprisingly, it took 3 years of working together to give Sara my phone number.

(She’ll tell you it’s because I have good boundaries, but I know it’s because I was too scared to ask to be friends lol)

3ish months later, Sara got tired of having two separate chats with her Sarahs and threw me and Sarah Kleist into a group chat that regularly interrupts my partner’s peace.

Yeah yeah, you shouldn’t give clients your personal phone number…

And normally I agree! But these clients in particular happen to be some of my closest friends, so I think an exception can be made.

The thing is, after 4 years in business (4!!! Can you believe it?!?!) I can count the number of “bad” client experiences I’ve had on one hand, and I consider myself lucky that they’re far outnumbered by the roster of beautiful wonderful talented kind people I’ve worked with.

So when I hear from other Pinterest managers and service providers who have shared their truly nightmarish, reddest-of-red-flag horror story clients, it makes me wonder — how did I get so lucky to find these dream clients?

You know the type…

The ones you immediately vibe with on the call, who check every box you could ask for, who trust you implicitly because you’re the expert.

50% of marketing talks about how to attract those people, and the other 50% talks about how to convert those people.

But 100% of that advice overlooks the most important strategy of all — being uncompromisingly yourself.

Attracting better clients just by being you?

“Being yourself” isn’t just some cliché life advice.

I know you want to roll your eyes and cringe, but stay with me here.

You can copy the most “successful” businesses in the world — imitate their business model, learn their marketing strategies, and follow their path.

It might get you part of the way there, and it might even get you pretty dang far!

But when that potential client is deciding between you and the successful person you copied, how are they going to choose? What’s the thing that differentiates you?

Spoiler alert: it’s you.

That’s why we can’t sanitize the personality out of our businesses.

Because I don’t care how unique you think your approach or method is, there’s at least one other person out there doing the exact same thing.

But there’s no one else who’s you.

This quote from Seth Godin lives rent-free in my head: “People don’t buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories, and magic.”

You might have also heard this version — “people buy from people”

As cliché as it is, it’s true.

At the end of the day, your clients are choosing you for you, so you better make sure that the “you” they’re buying into is authentic.

I want to acknowledge that it can really freaking hard to get comfortable with yourself.

It’s not easy to commit to showing up authentically, and anyone who says otherwise has forgotten what it was like at the beginning.

That being said, these are few of the strategies & tools I’ve found helpful as a human-first, personal-brand-centric business owner on the social internet:

1. Get clear on your values and boundaries

Before you can show up authentically, you need to know what that actually means to you!

2. Identify any “tells” of not being authentic

For me, I know that anytime I start overthinking or pre-scripting a future interaction, I’m probably about to act out of alignment with myself and/or my values.

3. Consider therapy

Listen, I can’t start throwing words like “values” and “boundaries” around without mentioning how incredibly valuable and helpful therapy can be if it’s accessible to you.

4. Show up imperfectly and often

The more you wait until things are perfect, the more you reinforce the idea that perfection is what people expect from you, and it’s so not.

Hint: this also means you don’t have to wait until you feel perfectly comfortable in your authenticity to practice being authentic, k? I know you!

5. Lead with stories, not sales pitches

And while yes, you can use those stories to pivot into a sales pitch or marketing tip, you don’t have to.

Sometimes a story can just be a story.

Speaking of stories, I shared mine in this blog, as well as a deeper explanation of all of these points (+ 2 more!) —

Lessons on Authenticity After 4 Years in Business

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 →

It’s scary to think that just being 100% yourself is enough.

But trust me, the right clients will see that as your biggest strength.

Anyone who doesn’t isn’t a condemnation of you or a sign of anything “wrong” with you; it’s just not the right fit.

Don’t let anyone (yourself included) convince you otherwise.

When I look back at my business journey, I can say with absolute certainty that I am the most me I’ve ever been, and the clients I have today are here because of that.

Four years in, I’m still figuring things out — I’m still learning, growing, and evolving.

But the clients who stick around? They’re here because they connect with me, not just the service I provide

(Although that’s equally a slay if you ask me…)

It will always be an intentional, sometimes effortful choice to be wholly yourself, but it’s a choice that’s always worth making.

So if you ever doubt whether being yourself is “enough” for your business to succeed, remember this: it’s not just enough, it’s essential.

Thanks for being here, whether it's been 4 days or all 4 years. 🥹

Love you lots,

Sarah

That’s exactly what I told my dietician when we were brainstorming quick and easy lunches I could make in the middle of the workday.

Because as I’m sure you’re familiar with, even if you work from home, it’s still so hard to actually take a proper lunch break.

In fact, I’d argue it’s easier to pack a lunch box for the office than remembering I need to stop working 15 minutes before the hanger sets in…

Even though those 15 minutes are an objectively consistent length, I stand by what I said — it doesn’t feel the same.

After several more iterations of basically the same phrase, we managed to figure out the real sticking points that was making lunch feel hard:

• I would rather heat up or put together than “cook”

• If it has too many components or ingredients, I won’t do it

Typically, I’ll cook two HelloFresh meals for the week, one for lunch and one for dinner (not spon obvi because I have real complaints about their subscription model lol)

But if I don’t have that, all of a sudden lunch is an open-ended minefield of choices.

Heads up to my other ADHD pals — choice is the enemy of action.

So then I end up on Pinterest or TikTok, scrolling through endless saved “easy recipes” that AREN’T ACTUALLY EASY AT ALL.

I either don’t have the ingredients, don’t want to get out all the ingredients, or it simply takes too much effort or time to make it feel worth it.

That feel is important, because while arguably, spending time and energy on making a yummy and fueling lunch has objective value, sometimes that isn’t enough to motivate the hamsters running inside my brain to actually do the GD thing.

No, Jaycee-Ann, I don’t want to hear about how easy the 10-ingredient dense bean salad with a vinaigrette that requires an immersion blender is.

THAT’S NOT EASY!!!

No offense to all the Jaycee-Anns, dense bean salad fans, and immersion blenders of the world, that’s just not my journey.

It makes me almost as mad as the IG girlbosses telling you how “simple” and “easy” making passive income is…

SPOILER ALERT — Passive income is a MYTH.

Or at least it’s quite the misnomer.

Passive income is the dream everyone loves to sell.

But if you’ve ever tried to create a passive income stream for yourself, you know it’s far from actually passive.

Creating a passive income product requires a lot of active work.

And that work doesn’t stop once the cart opens or you launch your shop.

To sell anything, you need to be marketing actively.

Very actively.

Annnnnd all of a sudden that passive income isn’t so passive anymore.

So how do we fix it?

The key to making the myth of passive income closer to reality is Pinterest.

How to Make Passive Income from Pinterest

Now that we’ve cleared up the fact that passive income isn’t, in fact, 100% passive, let’s figure out what we can make more passive — your marketing.

Whether you’re selling one course or dozens of low-ticket digital products, the only way you’re going to get sales is by actually selling.

"Ewwww gross noooooo…" I know.

JK selling isn’t icky!!! But it is a lot of work.

Trying to balance building a personal brand, “providing value,” promoting my services, growing my email list, and equally marketing every single one of my digital products is a circus act I’m wholly uninterested in.

At least one of those spinning plates is going to drop and make the whole tent go quiet.

This is where Pinterest comes in.

While it won’t make your entire business passive, it can certainly lighten the load.

If you want to use Pinterest for passive income, here’s what you should focus on:

001. Optimize for Pinterest SEO

Ensure that your pins and boards are keyword-rich and aligned with what your target audience is searching for.

📂 From the Archive: How to Use Keywords

002. Pin consistently

Regularly publish high-quality pins that direct traffic to valuable content, lead magnets, and products.

📂 From the Archive: How to Stay Consistent on Pinterest

003. Set up a conversion-optimized Pinterest funnel

Create a sales funnel that captures, nurtures, and converts your Pinterest traffic into loyal customers, making sure to optimize every part of the funnel for your Pinterest audience.

📂 From the Archive: Pinterest Conversion Guide

01. EDITOR'S PICK

The Truth About Passive Income + Pinterest

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 →

There’s no legend more captivating, no reward more enticing than the concept of making money while doing nothing.

We don’t want to admit it, but it’s true — most of us spend a decent amount of brain power dreaming up ways to make more money while doing less work.

There’s no shame in it!

The shame comes later, when we’ve followed all the roadmaps and done “all the right things” and still don’t have oodles of cash flowing in to retire our husbands or sip bellinis by the beach.

(BTW, I’m not aiming for either of those things.)

But if you're also tired of being sold a gilded girlboss dream, just know you're not alone!

Your anti-girlboss, anti-gatekeeping, anti-gaslighting bestie,

Sarah 🫶

It was an early fall night in 2012 when I watched my very first actually scary movie.

In the movie theater.

After which I had to walk home.

In the DARK.

In the bright lights of our apartment complex, I was cool as a cucumber. But once we turned out those lights to go to sleep, it was a whole different story…

All of a sudden, every shadow was a ghost.

I didn’t want to look in the mirror or out the window in case there was a face there, just waiting for me to spot it and scream.

So yeah, I did consider asking my father to get out of bed and escort me across the couple of feet of darkness separating our rooms.

(Do I remember why I left my room in the first place? No, of course not.)

Luckily this experience didn’t scar me. I still enjoy the odd spooky movie from time to time, I just have ✨rules✨ now, like we have to have the lights on and I won’t be going to the bathroom by myself

Yknow, normal things like that!

Because the truth is — when you can’t see what’s actually there, even the most innocuous thing is scary.

The distorted reflection in the window is just my cat walking in the background.

The car behind you that’s made the same 3 turns in a row is actually just following the same Waze detour as you.

And maybe, just maybe… behind every comic book villain and horror movie haunt is a misunderstood guy with a tragic backstory…

Okay, do I actually think there’s a secretly soft and nerdy Adam Brody-type hiding behind the Jason mask? No. This isn’t a “forgive mass m*rderers” manifesto.

But there is one villain who’s been made out to be scarier than it actually is — or really, there are two —

1. The Abominable Snowman from the claymation Rudolph movie

2. The Pinterest Algorithm

Pinterest: A Not-So-Scary Movie

Pinterest isn’t running around the streets of your quaint New England town with a chainsaw waiting to jump out and slash your traffic.

It’s just trying to make money out of you by serving up ads every 4 pins (which is another kind of scary altogether, but I digress)

The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can stop blaming algorithms for your lack of results and start taking action that’ll actually get you closer to your goals.

Side note: blaming the algorithm, any algorithm, is giving literal robots more power and agency than you. with love, pls stop.

So what tf is Pinterest anyway if it’s not designed to make your life harder in a marketing horror flick?

It’s several things:

• A visual search engine with social media-esque properties

• A place to curate inspiration and ideas

• A corporation trying to make money & grow its users

Once you’ve decided that the Pinterest algorithm isn’t so scary after all, you can start to understand it.

And to understand the Pinterest algorithm, you need to understand Pinterest SEO.

This could literally be an entire course on its own — in fact, it already is! — but here’s the WHAT YOU MUST KNOW RN brief:

>> Pinterest SEO is a lot more simple than Google SEO. It mostly boils down to keywords.

>> You can use the Pinterest search bar to do all of your keyword research, no extra tools required.

>> The foundation of your Pinterest SEO comes from your keyword research, profile optimization, and boards, but your Pinterest “house” is built with the individual pins you publish.

There are three primary locations to optimize your pins:

1. Pin titles

2. Pin descriptions

3. Pin images

1. In Your Pin Titles

Your pin titles should be straightforward and compelling, prioritizing a main keyword (or two) that relates to the subject of the pin.

Bonus Pinterest SEO Tip: If you have extra room in your pin title, include the board title you’ll be pinning to in the pin title! This keyword match is the stuff of Pinterest SEO dreams!

2. In Your Pin Descriptions

With 500 characters available, your pin descriptions are one of the best places to pack in as many keywords as possible!

However, you want to do this without keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing refers to just loading the description with a string of keywords without context. (And the same applies if you’re just using hashtags.)

Your pin descriptions should be descriptive (duh), relevant, and keyword-rich. Typically, I aim to include at least 5 keywords in each description, including the main keyword from the pin title, and long-tail variations of that keyword.

3. In Your Pin Images

Unless you’re just pinning an image without any text on it, you should be optimizing your pin images for Pinterest SEO, too!

Since Pinterest is a visual search engine, the algorithm will actually scan your pin image for any text it can “read”.

When designing your pin graphics, try to include a relevant keyword in the text overlay to give Pinterest even more SEO data to work with!

For the rest of the Pinterest SEO breakdown, you can read this blog post! It also has links to other free Pinterest & keyword resources.

01. EDITOR'S PICK:

Your Comprehensive Guide to Pinterest SEO

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 →

When it comes to Pinterest SEO, there are two main components:

1. Keyword research, which is what most people focus on, &

2. Actually using those keywords

It’s that second bit that I find trips up most of my clients, even the ones who feel comfortable and confident where SEO and Pinterest are concerned!

That’s why I’m hosting a workshop specifically dedicated to all things Pinterest SEO. 🙌

It’s chock-full of examples and actionable steps you can take so you finally know what to do with all those keywords!

The workshop will be in November (date TBD), but you can sign up for the waitlist here to know when it’s live and snag a sweet presale deal!

Chat next week!

Sarah

IDK Joe, I’m a normal person with normal hobbies

I like to read, hike, watch movies, hang out with friends, get coffee, bake…

But that’s not what the person on the other side of the dating app or the new maybe-friend across the coffee shop table really wants to hear

And I just canNOT.

Asking “What are your hobbies?” and expecting something other than basic human activities is wild.

That’s why I think we should get rid of the question altogether

Whiiiiich is precisely when Joe called me a red flag…

As my friend was quick to back me up in the comments, “if you’re boring, Joe, just say that”

The issue is with the question itself.

If you ask a boring question, you get a boring answer.

It’s not that I can’t name a hobby, it’s that I can’t pinpoint the unique niche answer you actually want to hear.

Thank GOD I’m not on the dating apps anymore, because I don’t think I could handle another inane small-talk exchange

They’re FULL of questions I have no interest in answering.

And while I may be able to avoid that particular dreaded “hobbies” question, there’s one question I get asked in business constantly that I dread even more…

What's the ROI of Pinterest like?

Between me and you, hearing this question on a disco call or in the DMs is enough to set those red flags asail.

My hair is raised like a black cat on Halloween and I’m ready to sprint away like I’m preparing for the LA Olympics.

And it’s a valid question, don’t get me wrong. But it’s often one that’s more complicated than it sounds.

Just like the “what are your hobbies?” question, when someone asks “What’s the ROI from Pinterest?”, I’m not usually going to be able to give them the answer they expect or want.

You want to hear that so-and-so made 4x her investment after 1 month. That they make $15k in template sales every month just from Pinterest. 

And that it can all be the same for you.

Because that’s the real magic you want to hear.

Yes, success stories and case studies are wonderful, but you want to hear it from the horse Pinterest manager’s mouth itself — these are the results we’ve gotten and what you will get, too.

Sorry, no can do, buster.

What results you see from Pinterest and how quickly you see them depend on sooo many different factors:

• Your business / industry

• Your content

• Your services

• The rest of your marketing & sales funnel

• The current social, political, and economic climate

• Your pricing

• Your branding

I could go on…

Truth is, if I took two identical businesses and marketed them the same way on Pinterest, they would get different outcomes.

Not to mention, when it comes to marketing, particularly with solopreneurs, the ROI conversation is more emotional than statistical.

>> I could tell you that the amount of brand awareness we bring in is valued at $10,000.

>> I could tell you that if you book a single client after 6 months of working together it more than pays the expense.

>> I could even tell you that we could make daily passive income guaranteed if you work with me.

(But I would never tell you that anyway.)

None of those matter if it doesn’t feel worth it to you.

What “return” on your investment would make it feel worthwhile? What feels comfy? That’s not a question I can answer for you.

If you ask me what ROI you can expect from Pinterest, I’ll tell you the average amount of time it takes to see “results”.

I’ll point you in the direction of my case studies and portfolio.

I’ll even help you make sure you’ve got the best possible foundation for Pinterest conversions on and off the platform.

But if you’re looking for some magic number to validate your decision to outsource (or not), that’s gotta come from inside.

01. EDITOR'S PICK:

What Working With a Pinterest Manager is Like (from a “What's the ROI” asker)

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 →

Fall pics are offish hitting the @dupephotos feed and I couldn't be happier.

You can follow along w me there as I relive my own past fall memories!

Ok well not literally, but shelling out $300-400 for a fancy combination of wood + cardboard to frame a fancy piece of paper as a brand new college grad staring down the barrel of student loans just isn’t the vibe.

Particularly when that fancy piece of paper would just be hanging on the wall of my home office. Dare I say, a waste?!

It’s for that reason (among other, more procrastinatory tendencies) that my college diploma has been sitting in its cardboard mailer in our closet for over 5 years now, making it through 2 moves without ever getting placed in its gilded home.

On one hand, WHERE do frames get the AUDACITY to be so expensive?

Is it supply and demand? Is museum glass really just that much higher quality?

And don’t even get me started on the crane-adjacent system needed to actually hang the monstrosity…

On the other hand, maybe we should be investing multiple hundreds of dollars in framing a glorified certificate.

After all, what gives the diploma its value? Is it the years of time spent qualifying for it? The thousands in tuition paid? The signature of the chancellor or the gold foil seal?

Or is it the frame that gives it its pompous seniority over all other framed pieces of paper on the wall?

Although you won’t find me at the Michael’s framing counter (40% coupon or not), I will admit that the frame you choose has an impact on the outcome.

If you throw your diploma into a cheap poster frame, it’s going to look cheap.

The frame you choose matters, and not just for your wall decor…

How to Reframe Your Content for Pinterest

I love how this era of IG is flipping traditional content marketing on its head…

Putting personality + personal brands first…

Emphasizing connection + stories over tips + tricks…

But Pinterest isn’t Instagram.

Educational content is a non-negotiable if you want to use Pinterest, yet everyone and their mother is telling you to do educational content differently.

• Use “I” instead of “you” language

• Ditch the how-tos and simple tips

• Don’t share Google-able concepts

Okayyyyy… but then what are we putting on Pinterest?

That’s where the ~reframe~ comes in.

You can adapt most content for Pinterest as long as you know how to frame it in a way that’s attractive to Pinterest users.

First, let’s look at what types of content typically don’t make for good Pinterest content:

• Anything super personal or specific

• Metaphors and analogies

• Seasonal-specific angles if your industry isn’t inherently seasonal

• Time-dependent or pop culture-related topics

• Case studies

I’m not saying to never create this kind of content. Whatever’s going to keep that content machine running, go for it!

We just need to know how to take “not good fit” content and reshape it for Pinterest.

I’m going to hold your hand when I say this, but the biggest culprit of content in need of reframing often follows this pattern in the title:

“What [Unrelated / Pop Culture / Personal Life Topic] Teaches You About [Industry-Specific Topic]”

You still with me? Are we still holding hands? Great. Because I, personally, love this content.

It’s just not super marketable on Pinterest.

Users aren’t searching for “marketing lessons to learn from Stanley’s popularity” — they’re either searching for “Stanley tumbler accessories” or “marketing tips for 2025” (as examples)

So what do you do with this content? You reframe it.

How? Ask yourself these questions:

• What is the actual content of the blog post?

  • Hint: There’s often a subtitle where the relevant lesson comes in that will be the more “Pinterest-worthy” headline

• Are there any actionable lessons, tips, or takeaways?

• What industry-relevant keywords might you use to promote the blog post?

• Would someone who doesn’t know me be searching for this on Pinterest?

  • This particularly applies to evergreen blog topics like “X ways to work with me” and “Which service is the right fit?”

You’re trying to find out 1) if the topic is searchable and if so, then 2) how would people be looking for it / what keywords would they be searching?

If you want more examples of how to reframe your content for Pinterest & write better Pinterest-worthy blogs, you might be interested in the Pinterest Blogging Workshop! 👇

01. EDITOR'S PICK

How to Write Better Blogs for Pinterest

It’s not that any sort of fun, personal, or story-based content can’t be pinned, it’s just about how you’re pinning it.

We want to give your content the $300 museum-glass, gold leaf, anti-shatter frame of the Pinterest world so your audience sees it in its absolute best light.

Toodles,

Sarah

SEPTEMBER 12, 2024  |  ISSUE NO. 0149

Would you say you’re a risk taker? 

I think we can both agree there are different degrees of risk.

I might not be signing up to free solo El Capitan or jump out of an airplane, but I’ll push past an expiration date or take a risk on an under-reviewed Amazon purchase or two.

Those aren’t particularly risky, I know.

The biggest risk I take has to be anything involving deadlines.

The ADHD operator controlling my brain refuses to take action unless it’s 🙃 last minute 🙃

Love her for that. Really makes life interesting. Exhibit 958…

Unfortunately, this principle has reached TRULY risky territory because the last two times we’ve needed to restock toilet paper, I’ve pushed it to Threat Level Midnight amounts of danger

Like… to the point where there is literally not a scrap of 2-ply available in the house.

And as someone with a small bladder and a brain trained by working from home to go pee anytime I want, 🚨 THE SIRENS ARE FLASHING!!! 🚨

See, we used to get our toilet paper delivered in bulk from Sam’s Club, but thennnnn they started charging for shipping on orders less than $50, so we stopped ordering. Rude.

Our whole toilet paper system collapsed, leaving me in some less than desirable situations…

(Which may or may not have included some frantic waddling to the downstairs bathroom where the last roll was)

Talking about my bathroom habits (or lack thereof) might not be very ~couth~ of me, but it’s for a good reason —

I don’t want you to fail because your systems malfunctioned!!!

How to Streamline Your Pinterest Workflow

Habit icon James Clear said, “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

While I may not agree with everything Mr. Clear has to share, he’s got this one right.

The systems you have in your business and in life are the foundation of ease and flow.

You have a system for clearing your inbox, for automatically onboarding clients, for exporting logo files… why wouldn’t you have a system — ahem, workflow — for your Pinterest marketing?

I’m going to be honest with you: effective Pinterest marketing requires an equal amount of quality and quantity content.

And I’m not going to pretend that content creation is as easy as everyone likes to make it sound.

Buuuuut it doesn’t have to involve complicated steps or tools, either.

These are the systems I swear by to make Pinterest easier, create content faster, and simplify my workflow, and they fall into three basic categories:

1. Canva Organization

2. Building a Foundation

3. Tracking Your Content

You can follow the step-by-step guide to building your Pinterest foundation here, so let’s focus on the other two categories.

How to Organize Your Canva for Pinterest

Folders, folders, and more folders! This is the key to successful Canva organization. Here’s what I specifically recommend:

• Set up your Canva brand kit

• Upload all your brand assets like logos, icons, product images, brand photos, etc.

• Curate on-brand stock photos

Insider Tip: You can add graphics and photos from Canva’s library into your Canva folders!

That means you can search for and organize on-brand stock photos all within Canva (instead of having to scour different sites, download them, and reupload them).

Once you’ve found a photo you like and want to add to your brand’s stock photo folder, this is what you’ll do:

Click the icon with the ellipsis (...) that appears when you hover over an image > Click “Add to folder” > Select the folder you want to add the image to > Click “Add to folder” to confirm the addition.

& BAM! Now you have an organized Canva with everything you need to make beautiful pin graphics in one place.

Tracking Your Pinterest Content

While I do have a passion for an organized Canva, the system that absolutely revolutionized my own Pinterest process is having one place to keep track of my clients’ content, boards, keywords, and monthly pins.

With my content tracking system, I know exactly what content we have to promote, what keywords I want to target, when we need to create new pins, and I have a reference of what we’ve done in the past.

It’s seriously my holy grail of Pinterest resources, and I’m making it available to you!

You can learn more about how I implement the tracker in this blog post, or head straight to the Newsstand to purchase a copy of the template for yourself!

01. EDITOR'S PICK

Even More Ways to Simplify Your Pinterest Workflow

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 →

I would like you to know that we just purchased a bulk pack of toilet paper from Costco the other weekend, BUT it’s not as good as Sam’s Club’s.

Fortunately for Costco’s bottom line, I don’t care enough to offset that $7.99 shipping fee.

(But I think their bottom line is just fine, judging from the totals on our receipts every time we go.)

If you are a bulk store frequenter, I need to know — what are you getting from the food court?

It’s a slice of cheese pizza for me. 🍕

xoxo,

Sarah

SEPTEMBER 5, 2024  |  ISSUE NO. 148

The Headlines:

→ Get 27% off all Pinterest resources with code “LAUNCH27”

→ How to market your course launch on Pinterest

“I don’t know if this was intentional or not, but your subject line just says ‘Subject line’...”

Well just mark that down in the long list of things you don’t want to hear when you launch 🤪

Hey, everybody makes mistakes, right?

Everybody has those days?

Forgetting a subject line in one of my lead magnet workflows wasn’t exactly on my website launch checklist

But there’s only so much proofreading and double-checking a girl can do!

And, yes, okay, I notoriously do not proof my own content but this time I really tried!!!

With a 30+ page website, 4 new lead magnets + welcome sequences, and a brand new shop, if something had to fall through the cracks, I guess I’m glad it was just a subject line and not something like forgetting to add my Google Analytics code to the new site

Oh. Wait. I did that too.

I won’t be turning this ~launch retrospective~ into a cautionary tale about dotting i’s and crossing t’s.

Just know that mistakes are verrrrry normal and 9/10 times you’re the only one who sees them.

ICYMI: I celebrated the new & improved Sarah Burk website with a sale on all of my Pinterest marketing resources (use code “LAUNCH27” for 27% off!)

Here are a few fan favorites so far:

• Keyword Bank for Digital Products

• Editorial Pin Templates

• Pinterest Content Tracker

🍁 As we head into the fall season, the temperature isn’t the only thing starting to drop…

Business owners everywhere are preparing their latest and greatest course launches and product drops

And if you’re thinking about launching, you’re probably thinking about ways to market that launch, and maybe you’re even thinking about dipping your toes in the Pinterest pool?

With its ability to drive long-term traffic and a reputation for having more purchase-motivated users, Pinterest is a powerful tool for selling online courses

However…

Pinterest works best as a long-term marketing strategy, which can be a challenge if your course isn’t available year-round.

So does that mean you can’t use Pinterest with a tight launch timeline?

Not necessarily!

How to Market Your Course Launch on Pinterest

The catch with marketing a live course launch on Pinterest comes down to time.

The nature of Pinterest is that content posted there takes time to get seen and start sending traffic back to your site

That means if you’ve got a super short launch window, by the time those pins start ranking, Pinterest users might end up clicking through a broken link or to a closed sales page.

They’re disappointed and you’ve just lost out on a potential sale. *whomp whomp*

I’m not going to tell you that you can’t promote your live course launch on Pinterest, though. You totally can!

However, I don’t want you to end up with a bunch of traffic to broken links that tank your credibility with your audience, Pinterest, and Google. 

So if you want to use Pinterest to market your course, the most important thing you can do is use redirects wisely and liberally.

Whatever URL you use for your course sales page, make sure that it either stays active and evergreen (even if the cart’s closed!), or that it redirects to a waitlist landing page for the course.

Personally, I think it’s a lot easier to just change the calls to action and buttons to link to a waitlist sign-up than design a whole other waitlist landing page, but to each their own!

The main thing we want to prevent is having any pins leading to a broken link.

Otherwise, marketing your course on Pinterest is pretty much the same as marketing any sort of digital product on the platform!

Here’s what you’re going to want to do:

1. Create content related to the topic of your course

This will help you bring in more of the RIGHT audience from Pinterest — the people who are actively interested in what your course is about

2. Do keyword research to find the most relevant phrases users are looking for on Pinterest related to that content

3. Build keyword-informed and curated boards around the topic(s) of your course

4. Publish pins consistently linking to your course sales page, lead magnet(s), and related blog posts

5. Consider creating new blog posts on similar subjects to give the Pinterest algorithm fresh content to work with

01. EDITOR'S PICK

A Complete Guide to Marketing Courses on Pinterest

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 →

Launching always sounds fun until you get into the nitty gritty of it all

But the end result is almost always worth it.

It’s just like finally dealing with my doom pile of things that need to be put back in their rightful homes was very worth it but not very fun to do

(Thank you for your applause, it was very difficult and I'm very brave.)

Hopefully this helps simplify the Pinterest of it all when it comes to your next launch

And if you have any Qs or want some personalized Pinterest launch support, that’s what I’m here for! Hit “reply” with your question or book a Pinterest Press Pass and let’s do it!!

Looks like your favorite Pinterest manager’s website is BACK and better than ever!

It was only 4 months ago that a certain ~transformation~ started to take place, and just like that, she’s here.

Don’t believe me? See for yourself…

AHHHHHH!!! I am SO excited to be kicking off August’s Lifestyle Edition with the launch of my new website!

I’ve recently decided that we’re going to have a Gossip Girl fall, hence the above intro. [The clip I’m referencing, just in case]

If you’ve tried to go to my website in the past week or so, you might have noticed a sneaky “Coming Soon” page instead.

Well that “soon” is NOW!!!

I’m still going to share all the things I’ve been loving in August (especially since it was my birthday month!), but before I do, I have one very important thing to tell you:

To celebrate the website launch and my 27th birthday, you can get 27% off of ALL the products in the new digital product shop with the code “LAUNCH27”.

Shop the Newsstand!

After months of feeling stuck in the “WTF do I say on Instagram” pit, I’ve finally started to scrape and climb my way out

One of the things that’s been helping me the most is starting my day with this mantra/rule:

Create before you consume.

I have to thank Xanthe for this one.

It’s way too easy to open up Instagram or TikTok or Threads and mindlessly consume content either to pass the time or to “look for inspiration.”

But 9 times out of 10, I end up less inspired and back in that stuck feeling.

Now, my goal every day is to create something in some form before actively consuming content from other people.

The rules on this are very lax, as they have to be if they’re going to stick in my ADHD, routine-resistant brain.

“Creating” could be as simple as sharing an Instagram story, writing morning pages, or typing out a content idea that popped up over breakfast.

Or it could be as involved as writing a new blog post or creating a new carousel graphic. Anything goes!

I think it’s easy to diagnose that overconsumption of other people’s content can stifle your own creative action.

It’s much harder to actually treat the problem.

This simple mantra gives me a good, attainable place to start every day!

Magnolia Parks, hands down. I don’t know what Jessa Hastings put in this book but it’s downright addictive.

It also totally gives me Gossip Girl vibes, which is on brand for GG-fall. Onto Daisy Haites!

House of the Dragon Season 2

The prequel series is leagues better than Game of Thrones if you ask me. I feel like that might be a controversial opinion, but I’m really not sure. I just love it so much!!

After a very brat, pop-forward summer, I can literally feel the autumn vibes ready to burst into my Spotify Recently Played. Here are a few playlists/albums that are the perfect transitional choice:

• studying in the ravenclaw common room

• August Haze

• Stick Season

• Hozier

Despite being the kind of person who wears a maximum of 3 shoes on rotation, I somehow keep buying shoes.

I’m going to blame targeted ads, because if you click on ONE shoe ad from an Instagram story, all of a sudden you’re going to get shown ads for every brand that makes that same type of shoe!

In particular, I was hunting for a pair of comfortable platform sandals for my trip to Cape Cod at the beginning of the month.

After narrowing down my choices to Reef, Crocs, and Sperry, I eventually settled on the Reef Water Vista Higher. Can confirm they are as comfy and cute as they look online!

This post from @groovysocial that (lovingly) called me out:

“COMING SOON!!!”

aka business owner speak for “next month, wait no probably more like next quarter, noooo no probably more like next year at this rate, oh wait hahaha jk NEVER!!!”

Guilty as charged ✋ But hey! I actually finished my website before September, so we’re getting better! Right?

Iced Almond Joy — iced latte with coconut, almond, and mocha. Bonus points if you order it with the best almond croissant you’ve ever had in your life.

(That’s what I did for my birthday hehehe)

Precious angels. I cry!!! 🥺

I cannot freakin’ believe the day is here and I finally get to share this website with the world!!!

It’s kinda crazy how different it feels launching this website, beautifully designed by Sarah Kleist, to launching my last DIY’d site.

For one, I didn’t pull an all-nighter to make sure it was actually done 😅

I’ve actually been sitting on the completed website since this weekend, but of course I had to wait until Thursday to share with you first!

As a reminder, use code “LAUNCH27” to get 27% off any and all of the products available in The Newsstand, including pin templates, keyword banks, workshops, trainings, and more!

The code is valid thru Sunday, Sept 8 @ 11:59 p.m.

Okay enough yapping! Go check out the site! Tell me what you think! Ahh!!!

xoxo,

Sarah

P.S. Oh, and if you want to read more about the behind-the-scenes of this rebrand, I’ve got a blog post for that 😉

^^ That was the common refrain my anxiety brain used to tell me any time I even thought about reaching out to a new friend or connection.

I don’t know what our society has against “looking desperate” but it is a super real fear for so many people!

And for what? To be cool?

Nah. I’m calling it quits on playing it cool.

Because although desperation might not be sexy, there’s no denying that it gets sexy results.

Monday was my 27th birthday.

Two weeks before that I met up with online clients turned IRL friends for the first time.

And the weekend prior I’d spent several days hanging out with one of my besties who was about to move across the country.

It's safe to say I’m feeling a little extra loved and grateful this month.

But 23-year-old Sarah could never have comprehended where I am now.

4 years ago, the idea that I would have a flourishing business and vibrant social life full of the most incredible, supportive, loving people ever seemed downright laughable.

We were smack dab in the middle of 2020, my travel ghostwriting job was drying up, and I lived over an hour away from my college friends in a town populated by equal parts young military families and retirees. In other words, not my people.

Between you and me bestie, I was desperate.

Or at least I was well on my way there.

I was desperate to take charge of my sporadic freelancing pastime and turn it into a business. Check.

2 years later, I was desperate to finally make some in-person friends and get out of the house, so I agreed to meet up with some strangers I met in an Instagram comments section. Jackpot!

If I had been content where I was, I probably wouldn’t have done either of those things.

The level of desperation and, if you’ll let me be SUPER vulnerable, loneliness I was at made me the closest thing I could be to fearless.

I was going to make this work, gosh darn it!!!

Now, granted, there were a lot of other factors both within and outside of my control that lined up to get me where I am today.

And I don’t wish that kind of desperation or loneliness on anyone. Ever.

But there’s something to be said for turning the limes life gives you into margaritas. 

So raise yours with me and let's cheers to the sexy side effects of being desperate enough to try!

And speaking of sexy… 

Let's Talk About 💦 Baby: User Intent & Desire

*Alexa, play Let's Talk About Sex by Salt-N-Peppa*

Yep, you read that right. We're talking about the birds and the bees.

More specifically, we’re talking about spontaneous vs. responsive desire and how it mirrors different user intent on Pinterest and Instagram

But I’m getting ahead of myself…

If you haven’t heard of the concept of these two different desire types before, here’s a simple breakdown:

• Spontaneous desire is fairly self-explanatory; you might think of it as the stereotypical “spark” in a relationship, where an individual experiences desire spontaneously

• Responsive desire is less frequently known, but is generally described as experiencing desire as a result of some external stimulus

Sex educator Emily Nagoski talks about the concept in this article as well as in her books.

We can chart these two different desire types to user behavior on Instagram and Pinterest pretty neatly —

The way Instagram users interact with the app is more indicative of responsive desire.

A typical Instagram user is opening the app to browse. It’s a mindless habit to tap and scroll.

You might not be in the “mood” for anything in particular, but during your scroll, you might see something that sparks your interest and causes you to take action.

On the other hand, Pinterest is more representative of spontaneous desire, although spontaneous is a bit of a confusing word in this context.

For our purposes, you could also think of it as “intrinsic desire.”

Pinterest users typically go to Pinterest with a specific intent in mind, whether that’s looking for a dinner recipe, outfit inspo for the new top they just got, or tips on how to start an online business.

Opening the app is second to the “desire”, whereas on IG, users are typically opening the app and then experiencing the desire.

So… what does this mean for the way you market on these platforms?

A LOT.

Because users are engaging with content differently, you have to have different ways of catching their attention.

On Instagram, you’re going to need a juiiiiicy hook to break the doomscroll. Often a purely educational “how to” isn’t going to cut it

Pinterest is almost completely the opposite.

Your Pinterest audience wants to know that you’re giving them the solution to whatever problem sent them to the app in the first place.

That promise of value and “how to” absolutely kills it on Pinterest, whereas that cutesy analogy or shock-value hook is going to leave you up a creek without a paddle

I’m no Instagram expert, but I do know a thing or two (or 50) about Pinterest, so let’s focus in on that…

If Pinterest users are experiencing more spontaneous or intrinsic desire — specific motivation leading them to intentionally seek a specific solution — you need to know what that desire is to adequately market to it

Not only do you need to know what content to create to respond to your audience’s desire, but you also need to know what words and phrases they’re using to look for it on Pinterest.

That’s keyword research, bb.

Knowing your Pinterest audience and having a solid understanding of Pinterest SEO are the two most important components of a successful Pinterest content strategy.

If you want to know the others, and how to apply this to your own content, it’s time to turn the page…

Creating a Pinterest Content Strategy

How to Connect With Your Pinterest Audience

Thanks for holding on through the roller coaster of cheeky analogies and maybe-too-vulnerable admissions.

As I'm plunging back into the deep end of Instagram marketing for my own business after quite a substantial break, it's got me thinking all kinds of things about the state of online business in 2024 — and what's to come in 2025!

And TBH? I'm pumped.

In case I haven't said it enough lately, I'm ridiculously grateful for you. For all the birthday wishes, support, and companionship, THANK YOU!!! 🫶

But every time I see the flash of lightning out the window and the 20-minute countdown restarts, I’m thiiiiis 🤏 much closer to jumping out the exit row just to get the hell off this plane.

Dramatic, I know.

But when you’re on hour 2 of sitting on the tarmac and hour 12 of a chaotic travel day from hell, you start considering some drastic action.

Last week, my travel drama was considerably lower stakes

Oh if only Sarah from last Thursday knew what the world had in store for her…

It turns out stuffing my arguably not-carry-on-size duffle bag was actually the BEST decision I could’ve made during my vacation to Cape Cod.

Because when American Airlines canceled my connection to Raleigh right before I took off from Hyannis, I was able to book an evening flight to nearby Greensboro without wondering or worrying where my luggage would end up.

Actually, let’s hold for a moment.

I’m gliding straight into the silver linings of this story and I would like some recognition for the absolute FUCKERY going on, okay?!

What was supposed to happen:

I’d fly out of Hyannis at 12:53, have a 2.5 hour layover in LaGuardia, and get into Raleigh at a little past 6 pm

Easy breezy covergirl.

But noOoOoOoOo… Miss Debby, the tropical storm making her way up the mid-Atlantic, had other ideas

The first shoe to drop:

Oh and guess what, there aren’t any more flights until MONDAY.

Okay, fine, let me see where I can fly in to and then drive home from.

7 pm Delta flight to Greensboro? 1 hour drive home? Hell yeah brother. Panic resolved.

…

But then the second shoe dropped:

Okay, okay, mildly panicking now, because the rental car place closes at midnight and I DEF don’t want to be stuck in the Greensboro airport at 1 am

Magically, the delay resolves and we take off just 30 minutes later than scheduled, landing with a cool two hour buffer to pick up my rental car.

I am CONFIDENT I’m making it home before midnight.

But then another shoe drops…

And I’m starting to wonder how many shoes this guy has, anyway???

We’ve landed in the middle of a slow-moving lightning storm and they can’t have the ground crew out there to bring us into the gate.

And thus begins the 2+ hour wait on a tarmac, followed by a 30-minute wait for the gate agent to show up and connect the jet bridge.

Dude, I was so close to being free I could taste it.

But me and the rest of our tiny flight were stuck, half out of our seats, unable to do anything.

(Not to mention the THREE different levels of flash flood warnings that set off the alerts on all of our phones)

When we finally deboarded and followed the signs to the rental car desks, that green light of Enterprise had never looked so sweet. 💚

They were still blissfully open. And, I found out later, they ran out of cars. So thank frick I booked one ahead!!!

This story ends with me pulling up to our house at 3 am, simultaneously tired and wired from adrenaline, and the first thing Caroline said to me the following morning?

“This is going to make a great newsletter.”

What to Do When Your Pinterest Stats are Stagnating

Of course I don’t enjoy travel calamities like this one… who does???

But I will admit I’m pretty good in a crisis.

I’m ridiculously grateful I was able to book a new flight instead of getting stuck in NYC for the weekend.

Canceled and delayed flights are things I can deal with.

I could book a new flight, I could make a plan, I could walk around the airport for hours until I found the gate with the perfect vibes, open seating, and outlets.

But being stuck in a metal tube at the mercy of the weather and safety regulations? Frustrating as all hell.

I hate plans going awry, I hate not being in control, and I especially hate not being able to do anything about it.

It’s the same in my work, too. Sometimes, Pinterest glitches. Or it suspends a client’s account out of nowhere.

There are a lot of things that happen on Pinterest that I have no control over.

And whether you’re working on your own account or a client’s, that’s super frustrating.

I’ve already shared some of the reasons your Pinterest stats might be falling, and a lot of those are, once again, outside our control.

The “advice” is largely to ride the wave and wait for things to normalize.

But what if you don’t want to sit back and wait? What if you want to take ACTION?

While I can’t promise that any of these tips are guaranteed to solve your problem, here are a few things you can try to breathe some new life and growth back into your Pinterest marketing:

>> Increase the number of pins you’re publishing

There isn’t a specific number of pins you “must” post every day, but generally the more you’re pinning, the quicker your account will grow.

If you’re only doing the bare minimum of 1 pin per day, bumping it up a bit could help you push through whatever plateau you’re on.

>> Create new boards

Sometimes things just feel a little… stale. One way to overcome that is by adding new boards to your Pinterest account.

Boards are a strong variable in the algorithm equation, so they can be super beneficial to your growth on Pinterest.

If you haven’t created new boards in a while, this is a good place to start. Add new boards for any new content topics or audience segments.

The new boards will typically pick up a bit more and help your account overall.

>> Publish new content

There’s only so many times you can pin to the same blog post or same product.

Yes, you want to keep pinning to them, but Pinterest also wants new content. Not just new pins, but new URLs, too.

If you’ve been rocking the same few URLs for a while, it’s time to publish something new.

>> Create new pins for old content

On the other side of the equation, if you have older content that has done well in the past, it might be time to create new pins for that content!

If the URL has performed well in the past on Pinterest, it’s likely to continue to perform well in the future, as long as you have fresh pins being consistently published for it.

>> Refresh your keyword strategy

Whenever Pinterest updates their algorithm, things tend to go a bit wonky.

You might not rank for a keyword that you’ve historically ranked for and your stats might start plummeting.

While my advice to ride the wave still stands, you can also look for other keywords to try and rank for to recoup some of those losses.

There are lots of different ways to search for the same thing. See if there’s a different phrase or search query your content might fit and incorporate those phrases in your pins.

BTW, I have something launching soon that might help you with that…

Once you’ve addressed those on-Pinterest “problems,” if you’re still not seeing the results you want from Pinterest, it might be time to look elsewhere.

Here are 6 more reasons you might not be getting Pinterest results + what to do about it…

Why You're Not Seeing Better Pinterest Results

Read the blog

Nothing feels worse than seeing your analytics go down and not knowing what to do about it — except maybe trying to clean up a hangnail that is somehow connected to your entire finger skin…

And while these tips will hopefully give you some good ideas to try to move past a slump or plateau in your marketing, sometimes you need an outside opinion to really diagnose the issue.

Googling symptoms is only going to get you so far before you have to call your doctor.

Hi, consider me your Pinterest doctor! And luckily for you, you don’t have to call to make an appointment.

If you’re not sure what to do next with your Pinterest marketing and you want to make sure you’re all set before the fall busy season, you can book a strategy call here!

WHAT: Pinterest Press Pass, a 1 hour video call for personalized advice, answers, and strategy for your Pinterest and content marketing

WHEN: Whenever you choose! I’ve got slots open most days so you can find a time that works best for you!

HOW MUCH: $147

Click here to schedule yours!

Whenever you need support, I’m here for you.

And in the meantime, I’ll be manning the phones requesting my refund from American Airlines!

If you guessed 1, you’d be correct.

Unfortunately, I’ve never been very good at word problems.

For the first time in probably 6 years, I’m flying with just a carry on.

And between you and me, bestie, I’m shook.

How do I have so many things? Because I’m an overpacker already and now I’m packing for the ~vibes~ and the beach… yikes.

How am I supposed to fit them all in one bag? Compression packing cubes, 50L duffel that might not fit in the overhead compartment, and sheer determination.

How do I exist as a traveler with a carry on and tote instead of backpack and belt bag? Still figuring that one out, but sheer determination is also playing a role.

Although I was sweating in my place in line behind briefcase-toting businessmen and weekender bag athleisure-clad could-be-content-creators, I won’t keep you in suspense any longer…

Because my bag slid into that overhead bin like it was MADE for it, thank the LORD.

We have yet to see if I’ll be able to pack her in as efficient a manner on the return trip, because somehow my clothes manage to expand by at least 1.25x over the course of a vacation??? TBD.

Now that I know it technically fits, though, I’m a lot less stressed.

But stuffing something to its limits is still never something I’m going to recommend.

Particularly when it comes to your Pinterest descriptions…

Keyword Stuffing on Pinterest: The Bad & The Ugly

Keyword stuffing is the practice of including keywords multiple times in a page (or post), often in an unnatural way, to try and manipulate its ranking in search results.

And for a while, it worked.

If you mentioned your target keyword enough, no matter how robotic or weird it sounded, you could see that first page Google result easy-peasy.

But as search engines have become more intelligent — and as people trying to take advantage of them for their own gains have too — the algorithms changed.

Actual helpful content, naturally written sentences, and relevant information have become much more important in the search engine ranking equation.

It’s a lot easier to conceptualize and notice in blogs, but it’s something that I still see on Pinterest every single day, and it’s not any better of a practice there than in your blogs.

Even though it might seem like a shortcut to success, the spammy behavior isn’t worth it. Here’s why…

Why Keyword Stuffing on Pinterest is Bad

>> It’s not always relevant

A common misconception is that as long as you put your keywords in the title and description, you’ll be able to rank for that search term.

NOPE.

Pinterest is smarter than that.

They want to make sure your content actually matches up to what you’re telling them it’s about.

If you stuff a pin description full of chocolate chip cookie recipe keywords and that pin leads to a blog post about paint colors, guess what — it’s not going to show up when users search for chocolate chip cookie recipes.

>> It’s a turn off for your audience

Imagine you’re browsing a bookstore and someone keeps shouting random words at you

Annoying, right?

Is it going to make you any more likely to want to pick up that book shouting “marketing tips” at you?

Probably not.

While I’ll be the first to tell you that a lot of Pinterest users don’t read pin descriptions all that thoroughly, you still don’t want to hit them with a wall of keywords.

It makes it quite obvious that you’re just trying to rank.

You’re not really telling them how you’ll solve their problem, what they can expect if they click, or why they should even click through in the first place.

What to Do Instead

>> Keep it natural

Write like a human, not an SEO-obsessed robot. 

It’s completely possible to incorporate plenty of keywords into natural-sounding sentences and phrases.

You have up to 500 characters to use in your pin description, so make use of it!

>> Be specific

Instead of cramming in every possible keyword that could relate to your business, choose what’s most relevant to that particular pin.

Think about what your audience is actually searching for use specific, long-tail keywords that match their intent.

Why keyword stuffing seems to work

If you click on any pin in the top search results on Pinterest, you’ll probably find some examples of keyword stuffing.

“They’re doing it, so why can’t I?”

Well First name / pal, if your friends all jumped off a cliff would you do it, too?

Just because someone else did it and it seems to work isn’t reason enough for you to do it.

I do get the appeal though.

Oftentimes, the keyword-stuffed pins are benefitting from other things:

• It was published a long time ago before Pinterest cracked down more on keyword stuffing

• The creator has an established brand authority so they’re not really relying on the Pinterest SEO as much

• The pin has so much engagement already that the keywords aren’t that important

So no jumping off of cliffs and no keyword stuffing, k?

If you want to know how to actually use keywords properly on Pinterest, I’ve got some good news for you…

This fall, I’m doing a workshop alllll about Pinterest SEO and how to write pin descriptions that get your pins seen, saved, and making sales.

This is by far the biggest question I get asked, and one I feel uber-qualified to answer, as my clients’ pins consistently rank in Pinterest searches (and stay ranking).

Sign up for the waitlist to be the first to know when the workshop launches (+ get access to that sweet sweet early-bird discount)

Join the waitlist!

Stuffing is only good when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner, plush pillows, and quickly hiding miscellaneous messes before someone comes over.

Otherwise, you might find yourself with a compression packing cube that’s splitting its seams and a $60 gate check fee

Fingers crossed that won’t be my journey tomorrow.

Back to soaking up the vibes,

Sarah

Hey friend, will you forgive me?

Last week was “technically” supposed to be July's roundup of what I've been learning and loving, but I just had too much to share.

And somehow it didn't even feel like the end of July?!?!

So here we are on the 1st of August and actually? Kinda perfect timing to reflect on the past month before moving into the next.

I know the year's halfway point already passed, but I'm taking August as my restart. But before I do, here's what's been going on in July…

WHAT I'M LEARNING

We're in the final push stages of finishing up my brand spankin' new website — and all the things coming along with it:

• New lead magnets

• An entire shop with updated products

• New branding + brand messaging

And while I'm SUPER DUPER STOKED, it's also been a lot of work.

No one quite prepares you for the tedium of creating and setting up product delivery, but at this point, I've got it down to a system.

✔️ Product created

✔️ Delivery method set up

✔️ Thrivecart checkout setup

✔️ Flodesk segment created

✔️ Zap from Thrivecart to Flodesk

✔️ Delivery email workflow in Flodesk

✔️ Showit product sales page + links

WHEW. Now multiply that by at least 20.

Despite the work, I do think Thrivecart and Flodesk make for a very functional and effective tech stack for online business owners.

Aaaannnddd while I was digging around in Zapier, I saw that one of the triggers for Thrivecart zaps was if a user visited the checkout page but didn't complete the sale

Did someone say abandoned cart sequence workaround???

If this is old news, sorry. Apparently I'm behind the times with a lot of things, including the ability to customize your DM reaction emojis in Instagram…

Yeah… took me wayyyyy too long to notice that, and I still haven't updated mine.

I need to revisit @torisprankel's philosophy on power emojis first…

WHAT I'M LOVING

Favorite Book: I finally read Emily Henry's Funny Story and it might take the number 2 slot on my ranking of her books. Gave me all the good warm and fuzzies and some laughs to boot, but nothing will beat Happy Place for me.

For a nonfiction rec, highly highly recommend Cultish by Amanda Montell. I'm not a big nonfic girl, but I was devouring this. Super fascinating read and I can't wait to pick up more of her stuff.

Favorite Watch: IDK about you, but movies in the theater haven't quite been scratching the same itch for me as they once did. But the new Twisters movie puts that to shame because it really is the summer blockbuster.

Whether you're going for Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, or in hopes of seeing a cow sucked into a swirling vortex of natural disaster (no spoilers!), it's worth a watch!

Favorite Desk Tunes: Teeeechnically, this would have to be a favorite watch, but my favorite thing to have on while I work lately is the Olympics!!!

It's honestly the perfect combination of action and downtime. My fav sports to watch at the moment are surfing, equestrian, and gymnastics (obvi). Tell me what you're loving so I can join in on the fun!

Favorite Purchase: Fun cups are having their moment with me right now. I can't believe I'm admitting this, but a cutesy little cup with a glass straw (important!!!) really does make a world of difference for my morning smoothie and/or coffee.

Here's the current lineup:

• This glass from Anthropologie

• These glass straws (thank u amazon)

• This blender

• These ice cube trays

Favorite Coffee Order: After going blueberry picking with some friends, I made some blueberry syrup that's been absolutely perfect for summery, slightly sweet iced lattes!

And of course, here's this month's favorite cat picture:

No one tell him the curtain is see-through, he loves to “hide” under it.

BTW — I'm flirting SO HARD with making a more permanent, ~consistent~ return to posting on IG, but I wanna be intentional with it.

I would LOVE to know who you're absolutely loving on social media rn. Hit reply and let me know!

Peace out girl scout!