Monday, December 10, 2012

Social Media Monday—How to Verify Your Website for Pinterest


Pinterest is a social network that’s becoming more and more popular as a social network. If you’re not sure how to utilize this versatile platform visit my post on How to PersonalizePinterest.

But you may be missing out on part of this valuable resource if your website or blog isn’t verified. When you filled out the profile section of your Pinterest account there was a place to list your blog/site address. That’s great, but to make that a clickable link you must verify your site.

The directions to verify your site are fairly sparse, and assume you have a basic working knowledge of how to maneuver through your site’s html code. Although I’m pretty savvy when it comes to social media, I’m a total dunce with html code. Because of this it took me quite a while—using the trial and error method—to figure out the directions. So I decided to post what I finally figured out.

Verify Your Website for Pinterest
  • First go to your Pinterest Homepage and click on the small pencil icon, shown in the screenshot below.
  • Across from WEBSITE, you’ll see a blog to type in your site, followed by the words, VERIFY YOUR WEBSITE. In the screenshot below you’ll see that mine has a check mark after my URL because I’ve completed the process.


  • Click on VERIFY WEBSITE.
  • This will open a window with a three-step process. Just FYI, I never could figure out how to verify my site with this. Instead I went to the line below, which gave me the option to VERIFY WITH A META TAG. (See screenshot below.)

  • A new window will pop up instructing you to add this meta tag to the < head > file. of your index.html file (or equivalent). Copy the file that begins with
  • Go to your site and open the HTML file.
  • In Blogger, go to your dashboard and click on TEMPLATE.
  • Now click on edit HTML Click PROCEED.
  • Now find the place in your HTML with the < head > file and paste the file you copied on the line below
  • Click SAVE TEMPLATE.
  • Click CLOSE.
  • Now return to your Pinterest page and click CLICK HERE TO VERIFY THE PROCESS.
Now when you visit your Pinterest page you'll see your website show up as a clickable link, just like mine in the screenshot below.

I hope this has helped. If you have any questions be sure to include them in the comments section of this blog.

And...
Don't forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie

17 comments:

  1. Great! I hadn't verified my website on Pinterest, Edie, so this was really helpful. I was able to upload the file to my website (I use my website rather than my blog address) by linking it at a random spot in my template.

    Thanks again!

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    1. Jill, so glad this was helpful. I'm loving your one minute vacay posts on your blog! Thanks for stopping by, Blessings, E

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  2. Edie, does this work with blogs that end with blogspot.com? From what I'm reading, it doesn't, but I wanted to check with the expert.

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    1. That's what my blog is. It works using these instructions. A blog ending with .blogspot.com is a Blogger blog. If you have problems, email me directly and I'll walk you through it, but these screen shots were taken directly from a blogspot blog. Here's my email, ediegmelson@gmail.com Blessings, E

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  3. Edie, I just ran into this issue five minutes ago and had no idea what to do. I smiled when I pulled up your post. Perfect timing! Unfortunately, I've just switched to Word Press. Any idea how to change it there? Oh, Susan Stilwell, where are you???

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    1. Julia, you can still verify your site with the meta tag. Just go into your edit HTML panel and paste the meta tag below the HEAD tag. Email me if you have trouble! Blessings, E

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    2. Thanks Edie, I will look into this and let you know if I have trouble. I appreciate the offer to help. I want to maximize my use of Pinterest- it's a lot of fun!

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  4. Edie, have you written a post about the concerns of pinning on Pinterest? I used to have an account, but deleted it when members of my networking group shared articles about the liability involved in posting others' artwork/photography/etc. without their permission. Are you concerned at all about that? I'd love to sign up again ... so much good stuff on there.

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    1. Kim, the concerns are the same no matter where you're posting others' images. My Copyrighting series covers the major legal issues. The only exceptions is on sites where there is a PinIt Button included. On those sites you're pretty safe pinning images on your boards. Here's the link to the first in my copyright series: http://thewriteconversation.blogspot.com/2012/03/copyright-101the-basics-about-what-you.html

      This is a great question, and an issue we all need to be aware of!

      Blessings,
      Edie

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  5. I am so glad to have read this post. It has ended my months of frustration trying to verify my site. Thank you so much Edie!! It's after midnight and I'm wide awake now because I finally mastered this one feat. So excited! YES!!!!!

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  6. Thank you! I was able to get it done with no problems.

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