8 Pinterest Pin Design Mistakes To Avoid

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Creating click-worthy pins is one of the most important things about using Pinterest marketing to get traffic.

Of course, keywords and Pinterest SEO are very important but, at the end of the day, it all comes down to your pins and how they look.

Doing proper Pinterest SEO (enroll in my free Pinterest course to learn about SEO) will help get your pins in front of the right people but your pin design will get them to click.

If you want people to notice your pins and click on them, you need to create good pins.

If your pins are getting seen but nobody is clicking on them, your pins are, most likely, bad (sorry). And you’re probably making one (or all) of these 8 mistakes.

But don’t worry!

I’m here to help you acknowledge those mistakes and correct them so you can start creating pins that people will love.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Please see my full disclosure for further information.

Pinterest pin design mistakes you must avoid

There are so many different mistakes that I’ve seen people make (and there are many I made in the past myself) but I decided to keep this post (somewhat) short and sweet.

We’re gonna be talking about 8 of the worst pin design mistakes.

I’ll tell you why these things are mistakes (as you might not even realise they are “wrong”) and give you some tips on what to do instead.

#1 Wrong image size

The first thing I want to talk about is your image size.

You see, the size of the images you post on Pinterest matters. A lot.

Pinterest has a preference for vertical images (aka they want to see people share vertical pins). And they recommend using a 2:3 ratio (for example 600×900 or 1000×1500).

Using anything shorter than that is a big mistake.

What can you do about this Pinterest mistake?

It’s very simple.

Just make sure that all the pins you create are at least 2:3 ratio (if you use Canva to make your pins, you can just pick the “Pinterest” size).

#2 Boring titles

Next, let’s talk about your titles.

When I say “titles” I’m talking about the text that is on your pin image not the actual title.

Titles are VERY important as they tell people what your pin is about. The tittle tells people what they can expect to find once they click through to the post.

If your title is boring, nobody will click on in.

That’s why it’s so important to write good titles that will catch someone’s attention and make them want to click through.

Some tips for writing pin titles:

make it clear so people know exactly what they will get once they click
make it short and simple
use power words to catch their attention (e.g. best, worst, free, fast, etc.)
don’t make it clickbaity

#3 Small text

Another HUGE mistake I keep seeing over and over is text (aka the title) that is so tiny you can barely read it.

You need to make your text as big as you can. Most people go on Pinterest from their phones so the title needs to be big and easy to read from a small screen.

You want people to be able to read your pin the second they see it.

If they see your pin with a small text, they won’t bother stopping to read it, they will just keep scrolling.

How can you fix this mistake?

Just make the damn text bigger!

Don’t be afraid of stretching your text and filling in the whole width of the pin.

The bigger your text is, the more noticeable it is and more people will notice it.

#4 Using fonts that are too hard to read

Now let’s talk about fonts!

There are some many gorgeous script fonts out there. It can be so tempting to use them on your pins (I’m speaking from experience over here…)

There have been so many times I had to stop myself from using a pretty script font I found because it was just so hard to read.

That’s a big problem with using script fonts. Most of them are hard to read and it’s hard to figure out what it’s actually written.

Script fonts are great for some things but Pinterest isn’t one of them.

When it comes to Pinterest you need something that is simple and easy to read.

Most of the time I use Sans Serif fonts for my Pinterest pins and I go for the “bold” or “black” font-weight as those stand out more.

Some of my favourite fonts are:

Josefin Sans
Alegreya Sans
Anton
Code Pro

I use Sans Serif fonts for the most important words (the ones I want to bring attention to and want to make sure people can read them). And then use some fun fonts (e.g. script fonts) to make the pin interesting.

You can use script fonts for some small words (e.g. the, and) that aren’t as important.

Below is an example of one of my pins.

The things I wanted to bring attention to are “$2,047.32” and “home” so I made them bigger than the rest (as well as added an underlay). And I wrote “working from” in a script font as that’s not as important as the other two.

#5 Using too many different fonts

We talked about the script fonts but that is not the only font mistake you could be making.

Another one is using too many different fonts.

Yes, there is such thing as using too many fonts on a pin.

By now you probably understand that more simple things work better on Pinterest.

Yes, those pretty pins are awesome and great to look at but they aren’t the ones that will lead to many clicks (for most people but there are, obviously, exceptions). People prefer simple pins that tell them exactly what they need.

So…what is considered “too many” fonts?

A general “rule” would be to use 1-3 different fonts. So using more than 3 would be too many.

Obviously these are just my tips and suggestions. If you know how to pair different fonts together and make them look good, then go for it. Who am I to stop you?

These are just some tips for those of you who are struggling to make good pins and need a bit of help.

#6 Not enough contrast on the pin

Now let’s talk about the contrast on your pins.

You want to create a contrast between your background and the text so that the text pops. You want the text to be as easy to read as possible (as I’ve mentioned several times now).

Just using a bold font isn’t enough. If there isn’t enough contrast your text won’t stand out.

Let me show you how big of a difference contrast makes.

These two pins are the same. The only thing that is different is the background colour. And look how much of a difference that makes!

Because the text is black it stands out a lot more on white background than on grey.

#7 Using free images

Now let’s talk about images.

One of the biggest image mistakes I see a lot is using free stock photos.

Free stock photos might seem like a great thing (I mean, who doesn’t like free things?!) but that is exactly the problem here. They are free which means that they are available to EVERYONE.

Free stock photos are overused. They were used for SO MANY different pins in many different niches.

If you want your pins to stand out and look different, you need to stop using free stock photos and invest in paid ones (or take your own photos).

These are the stock photos I use and highly recommend. They have many different categories like workspace, beauty, fashion, and motherhood.

You can even get 21 stock photos for FREE when you subscribe to their newsletter (as well as new ones every month) to try them out before buying.

#8 Not putting text on your pins

And lastly, not putting any text on your pins.

You’re probably confused about this one so let me explain why.

There are so many pins on Pinterest that are just photos. No text, no nothing.

Those pins are great and there is nothing wrong with them. BUT if your goal is to get traffic from Pinterest then those pins aren’t for you.

People save those pins because of the information on the image NOT to click on it. They save them for later for inspiration.

Examples of those kind of pins would be would be outfits and makeup looks..

How many times have you clicked on one of those pins? Not many probably.

You saved them because you really liked an outfit or because you’d like to recreate that makeup look. Not because of the websites they lead to.

And that is why not putting text on your pins is a “mistake”.

You don’t want people to just save your photo, you want them to click through and visit your website.

Final words on pin design mistakes

As you can see, there is a lot that goes into making Pinterest pins that get clicks. There are so many things to think about and do (or in this case NOT do).

I know it can all seem like a lot and very complicated. That’s why I created a set of pin templates for you.

Making click worthy pins doesn’t have to be hard and stressful. It can actually be fun!

That’s my goal with these templates. To make creating pins fun and easy for you.

For only $15 you can get a set of 40 Pinterest pin templates (plus a FREE mini-ebook with some pin design tips) that are easy to customize and edit to match your style. The templates are made in Canva, all you need is a free Canva account to use them.

>> Get your Pinterest templates here! <<

Here is a little sneak peek of what you’ll get: