Pinterest for Writers Tutorial - Part 4: Add Pinterest to Your Blog and Website

Welcome to the PRAIRIE ROSE PUBLICATIONS blog for the fourth Pinterest Tutorial for Writers: Add Pinterest to Your Blog and Website

If you missed the first three Pinterest tutorials for writers, you may find them at the following links by clicking on the name of the tutorial:

1.  Part 1: Set Up Your Accounts, Boardsand Start Pinning (Prairie Rose Publications blog)

2.  Part 2: ManageYour Writer’s Boards and Pins (Prairie Rose Publications blog)

3.  Part 3:Enhance Your Novel Release Party Using Pinterest (Fire Star Press blog)

Pinterest may become even more important to you as a writer due to the availability of the Pinterest widget. The title of this tutorial probably should be amended to show that you can use the Pinterest widgets to not only pin your Pinterest accounts and boards to your blog or website, but you can also pin images from blog posts and internet articles to your boards.

PIN IMAGES FROM BLOGS AND INTERNET SITES TO YOUR BOARDS

Figure 1

 In your internet browser, bring up both your Pinterest account and the blog or internet site containing images and information you want to pin to one of your Pinterest boards. (See Figure 1)

Figure 2

Log in to your Pinterest account.

Bring up the window with the blog or internet site that has the image you wish to pin to one of your boards. hover over the image until the Pin it button appears. (See Figure 2) If one does not appear, you may add a widget to your browser toolbar that will help facilitate pinning. More on that later in the tutorial. Click on the Pin it button.

Figure 3

If you forgot to log into your Pinterest account, a sign up/log in window will pop up to allow you to do that. (See Figure 3)

Once you are logged into your Pinterest account, a Pick a board window will pop up showing a thumbnail of the image and a brief description of blog name and title. (See Figure 4) There is also a drop-down menu that will allow you to select the board on which you wish the image pinned.

You may also add additional comments about your book in the description box.

When completed, click on the red Pin it button on the lower right-hand corner of the window.

Figure 4

Figure 5

 Now the image with the link to the blog post or internet site it pinned to your board. (See Figure 5)

Figure 6

At a later time, if you wish to access the blog post or internet site from  which  your pin came, you may do so by opening the  board on which your pin is stored. (See Figure 6) Notice that in this instance, I have two pins of the same image. One came from my author blog, ZINA ABBOTT BOOKS, and one came from my publisher's blog, PRAIRIE ROSE PUBLICATIONS. In this instance, I choose to access  the PRAIRIE ROSE PUBLICATIONS blog. To do so, I double-click on the image.

Figure 7

That will bring up the individual pin screen showing the image, the board to which it is pinned and the source from which it came. (See Figure 7)To see the full blog post, click on the Visit site button in the top menu bar.

That will take me back to the original blog post from which the image was pinned. (See Figure 8)

Figure 8

This is a good alternative for storing internet articles such as contest or promotional details or research information that you wish to save for future reference as opposed to copying and pasting the same data into a word document and saving it in your My Documents file on your computer. It allows for a "cloud" storage system which could prove valuable in case  your computer hard drive crashes and you don't have all your files backed up.


ADD YOUR PINTEREST ACCOUNT OR INDIVIDUAL BOARDS TO YOUR BLOG OR WEBSITE.

You can enhance your writer blog and/or website by using Pinterest widgets to connect them to your entire Pinterest collection of boards or individual book boards. There are instructions in the Pinterest help section on how to do this with many of the popular blog sites. The following is how I added my novel boards to my ZINA ABBOTT BOOKS blog which is hosted on Blogger. Probably most of the blog hosting sites will follow similar procedures.

Figure 9

First, in your browser, bring up both Pinterest and your blog. Log in to Pinterest and sign in to your blog. (See Figure 9)

Figure 10

To add your Pinterest account to your blog, go to the window with your Pinterest account. Click on the gear button to access the drop-down menu. On that menu, click on Make a widget. (See Figure 10)

Figure 11

The Add a Pinterest widget to your site! box will pop up. Follow the instructions to Copy the code below by highlighting the code with your cursor and either doing a right-click and then copy with your mouse or touchpad, or by pressing the <CTRL + C> keys on your keyboard. (See Figure 11)

Figure 12

Next, move to the browser window that has your blog account. Open it to the section that allows you to format the  layout of your blog and add features. In this instance, click on Add a Gadget in the location where you would like it to appear on the blog. (See Figure 12)

Figure 13

The available gadgets, or features you can add to the blog will pop up. From the list, choose HTML/JavaScript in order to connect the two site through the internet. (See Figure 13)


A box will come up in which you can then paste the widget code you copied from Pinterest by either doing a right-click and then paste with your mouse or touchpad, or by pressing the <CTRL + V> keys on your keyboard. (See Figure 14)

Figure 14

Keep in mind that putting the code in the Content box will only put onto your blog an image of your Pinterest account or board as it was at the time you formed the code. To make it interactive so that the gadget updates as you make changes to your account or board and so your blog visitor can access your account or board, you must complete another step.

Figure 15

To connect the two so your Pinterest account or board is interactive, go back to the browser window for your Pinterest account and copy the URL, or web address, for your account. (See Figure 15)


Go back over to the browser window with the blogger gadget box and click on the tool for linking to the internet. (See Figure 16) In the Enter URL pop-up box, paste the URL for your Pinterest account and click OK. Then click Save on the Configure HTML/JavaScript box.

Figure 16

Figure 17

Figure 18

You can do the same thing with individual boards instead of  your entire collection of boards. Open up the board you wish to add to your blog, locate the gear button with the drop-down menu, click on Make a widget (See Figure 17), and then follow the same steps as detailed above.

This was the option I chose for my ZINA ABBOTT BOOKS blog. I have individual novel Pinterest boards for both of my latest books on the sidebar of my blog. (See Figure 18).



WHERE TO FIND HELP FOR  YOUR BLOG OR WEBSITE

Figure 19

 This tutorial is designed to give you an idea of some things you can do with Pinterest. For additional help for your individual blog or website, go to the Pinterest help center for additional information. You can access it by clicking on the question mark that stays at the lower right-hand side of  your Pinterest site.  (See Figure 19) 


From there you will see a screen that looks like this. (See Figure 20) Click on Browse help topics.

It will take you to the next screen with a menu of help topics dealing with Businesses and Websites. (See Figure 21) There are a number of help topics, including the one on Website widgets and Pin it buttons.

Figure 20

Figure 21

Figure 22

 Under that topic you will find helps for building a widget and how to use them on several of the more popular blog and website hosts. (See Figure 22)

This concludes my series of tutorials on how to use Pinterest to help you as a writer. If you have found other ways that Pinterest has helped you as a writer, please leave your comments below.

Those tutorials that are past are linked below. Here is the schedule:

1.  Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - Prairie Rose Publications blog

     Part 1: Set Up Your Accounts, Boards and Start Pinning

2.  Monday, October 20, 2014 - Prairie Rose Publications blog

     Part 2: ManageYour Writer’s Boards and Pins

3.  Friday, November 7, 2014 - Fire Star Press blog

     Part 3: EnhanceYour Novel Release Party Using Pinterest

4.  Monday, November 17, 2014 - Prairie Rose Publications blog

     Part 4: Add Pinterest to Your Blog and Website

Robyn Echols writes using the pen name, Zina Abbott. Her novel, FAMILY SECRETS, has been published by Fire Star Press and is now available. Her short historical western romance, A CHRISTMAS PROMISE, was recently published by Prairie Rose Publications.

Pinterest board for FAMILY SECRETS by Zina Abbott

Pinterest board for A CHRISTMAS PROMISE by Zina Abbott