Have you ever wanted to create images with text for Pinterest or your own personal blog/website but had no idea where to start or what software to use?

Don’t worry, you don’t need the latest version of Photoshop and you certainly don’t need to learn how to use the fancy web based image editing software either. All you need is a basic understanding of PowerPoint and any image resizing tool (windows live photo gallery works well).

I am going to break it down as simply as possible so that in a few minutes you will be able to add text to your own images and have the freedom to express your creativity in any way you like.

Step 1: Inserting an image

Open a blank presentation in PowerPoint (file>new>blank presentation) and insert your image (insert>image>select your file from your computer). If you don’t have Microsoft PowerPoint, you can use a free PowerPoint clone, Open Office to do this as well.

Try to keep the image large to start out with as it will be easy to resize the image later if you need a smaller size.

Here’s what we have so far:

Step 2: Adding text

Now, decide what text you want and where you want it. Insert a text box (insert>text box) and enter your text, don’t worry about font and format right now.

Making Progress

Step 3: Format and style your text

Now that you have your image and the text you want,  it is time to give your image some flair. There are countless options available to you when it comes to choosing font type/color/size/etc. It is important not to get overwhelmed; sometimes keeping it simple can be the most effective technique when it comes to formatting your text. Additionally there are many different free fonts available to you online. My fav font spot is DaFont and my Doodles Pinterest Board. (follow me while you are over there!!) You can also Google Free Fonts and see what strikes your fancy.

This little guy has the font “Bauhaus 93” and a font size of 54

Step 4: Getting Fancy

Now that you have your image and formatted text, it’s time to make the image as appealing as possible. You can do this in countless ways that are only limited by your imagination. One quick technique is to start by selecting the textbox you created earlier and right clicking to reach the format options (right click text box>format shape>fill>solid fill). Now choose your desired background color and transparency, if you want the background to cover the image set transparency to 0, otherwise drag the slider until you reach the desired effect. For the image below I chose “black, text 1, lighter 50%” for the background color and set the transparency to 55%. Feel free to experiment with these variables in any way you like.

Here’s what we have so far, looking good!

Step 5: Saving as an image and Re-sizing

Now that you have your image just the way you want it it’s time to save it and get it uploaded to the internet. Select all of the elements of your image by pressing ctrl-A, then right click and select save as picture. Now you have your own image saved as an image file ready to upload to the masses, but there’s one last step before you can proceed. Sometimes when saving images from PowerPoint you may run into a bit of white or dark space around the edges. This is where your image resizing tool comes in, simply crop out the areas you don’t want and voila you’re finished!

Step 6: Upload!

This is the fun part, once you have saved and resized your image you are ready to upload it to Pinterest or your blog/website.

I hope this tutorial was helpful and effective in teaching you this great skill! Let me know in the comments below!!

Happy Pinning!!

Lisa~

P.S. this is one way to add text to your images, the easiest way I have found is with The Logo Creator. Much easier and more fun!!

Well it’s been an amazing time for the highly visual image-based social media site Pinterest. They’ve got another $200 million worth of investors that means they are now a $2.5 billion dollar company!

How freaking cool is that?

Ka-CHING!!

Especially if you are using Pinterest to build your brand and to boost your expert status…

At least we know that Pinterest is definitely here to stay!

So, since it’s gonna be around for a while….let’s use it for all it’s worth and get your images noticed on Pinterest!

If you are a shopping site, a blogging site or building your brand, Pinterest is a great tool to help you reach your goals. Heck, even eBay has pin it buttons all over the place!

But just being on Pinterest doesn’t mean that you will grab guru status with just a few random pins. You need to engage, pin, repin, comment, and make sure the images from your own site are great repinnable images!

There are a few really easy things that you can do to help your images get repinned, shared and liked.

First thing you can do is use great titles for your images as well as relevant filenames. Because when someone repins from your site, the description is automatically generated for that particular image. Great title = great description! So this image file above is not named:

image-1.jpg

Oh, no…it’s creating-images-that-get-repinned-2.jpg and it’s also titled just what it says Creating Great Images That Get Repinned.  Hover your mouse and see. How easy is that?

Another thing to do is add the title or short description of what you’re pinning superimposed right on top of the image. For instance, if you have a blog post on “Best Green Smoothie Ever”, then you should add the text to that picture “Best Green Smoothie Ever”.

Use a graphics tool like The Logo Creator, SnagIt, Photoshop Elements or even the awesome and free Photoshop clone… GIMP.

Whatever image editor you use, add the title to the top of the pin so folks will know what your pin/post is all about without having to read a really looong description.

Speaking of descriptions, make sure that you keep your description’s short and to the point. Pinners don’t want to read a bunch of text. Pinterest is an image based site… not a text based site, so if you can make your images stand out and add a bit of text right on top of the picture, you’ve got a winner.

And definitely make sure you have pin it buttons on your blog or website so folks won’t be worried about repinning your images you could even say “feel free to pin this”

I hope y’all are engaging in your Pinterest activities.

Let me know in the comments below. And find me pinning away on Pinterest!!

Talk to you soon…

Lisa~

Get on the Fast track to Pinterest Success!!
NonStoPinterest 2.0

Hello Everybody!

I hope your 2013 is a amazing! I know it has been for me and it’s only gonna get better…

I have uploaded the short little video for ya… First of all, to show you how you can pin images from your site to Pinterest, but also to show you a tidbit of information we are learning over at The Pinner Circle! Are you wondering what the Pinner Circle is? It is a very exclusive monthly membership site for my wonderful customers of NonstoPinterest 2.0 and right now the only way to get in is to be a wonderful customer! Yay!

NonstoPinterest 2.0 launched last month and it has been truly awesome to get to know our pinning customers, chatting it up in the Facebook group and it’s been really cool to be able to help folks who are new to Pinterest be able to get set up, pinning, and on their way to become a Pinterest success!

I hope you enjoy this video ’cause if you were a booger… I pick you first!!

Enjoy! And then Pin it!!

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Resources talked about in this video: The Logo Creator by Marc Sylvester and Laughingbird Software