So now you know how to be a better pinner. What about your stuff that others are pinning? Well, today we’re going to talk about protecting your work as a blogger. As I mentioned briefly, it bothers me when I click on a pin and expect to visit an informative post or article or what have you that will explain the image to me only to find that I’ve been directed to a blog or other site that simply featured the project. Usually, but not always, there is a link to the original source. It’s just an extra step… annoying, but not impossible to deal with. At least I can still get to the original content. It’s the times when there is no direct link to the source… ugh, drives me crazy. The cool photo becomes nothing more than just that.
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| Source |
Enter Pinterest. One HUGE collection of features from the ginormous universe that is the Internet. I hate the “Uploaded by User” source tag, unless the photo is explained. {That’s the only time I really will ever re-pin something with that source tag. Otherwise, it’s just a photo.} So, your photo is now on Pinterest… and guess what? It’s being repinned over and over, seen by thousands of people a day! But, it wasn’t pinned from your website. Someone did an image search and pinned your image from the results or your project was featured on another site and pinned from there, so the pin leads somewhere that isn’t your site. Feeling a little ripped off? Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do, but there are a couple of options.
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| Screenshot via Pinterest on my account |
1. You can leave a comment on the pin with the address to your original post. The original pinner may or may not fix the source of their pin. And they may delete your comment, but at least you tried. Some people don’t understand or care about giving the credit where it’s due and why that is important.
2. Watermark your images. This is even more important to do now than ever before. Claim credit for your work, even if it doesn’t lead back to your original post or image. People will at least be able to see a website address and can go find you from there.
That’s about all you can do. But, something is better than nothing right?
You can find a tutorial on watermarking your images HERE. I now watermark EVERY photo I upload to the internet, including ones I put on our family blog. I’d be awfully upset if I came across someone claiming photos of my family and kiddos as their own. I’ve seen it happen. I watermark my Etsy photos now too (I guess they won’t feature any images with watermarks on the front page?). I get far more traffic to my Etsy from Pinterest (aka, very little) than I do from Etsy’s front page (aka, none). After my photo debacle with Google+ I am having to go back to my older posts and make sure that everything has a watermark. It’s time consuming, but the traffic I receive from Pinterest makes the time worth it. I want my photos to remain mine, without having to completely remove them.
I want credit for the work I’ve done, I’m sure you do too. Watermark your photos as you put them up. This ensures two things. First, that only images with your mark on them will get pinned. And, two, you won’t have to spend hours and hours and hours watermarking things later.
I would also suggest making your watermark consistent. Use the same font or image or whatever you use as your watermark. Eventually, it will become recognized as yours, even if your site address isn’t written all over the photo. Play around with it and see what you like the best. Work toward something that you can keep the same and use on all your photos. Sites like Pinterest are only going to get bigger and bigger.
You can create watermarks in a variety of ways, from complex software {like Photoshop} to the basics {like Paint}. You can even create them online {I used to use Picnik… but not any more, since it’s gone}. You can save the image on your computer and use it over and over. You’ll want a .png image if you choose that route. You can use an image or text or a combination of the two. I know it’s annoying and time consuming, but if you want to keep the credit for your images, unfortunately it’s a necessity.
