If you use the internet, you probably heard of Pinterest. It is a social media website that focuses heavily on images. Recently affiliates and other types of marketers started utilizing the platform for generic Traffic, and here is what you should know about it!
What Is Pinterest?
Pinterest enables users to share and discover new interests by “pinning” (posting and reposting) images or videos on their or others’ boards. It is a platform that focuses heavily on individuality and aesthetics. Pinterest pages should show other users what you are into and what kind of style you have. Its goal is to connect people through the things they are interested in.
While popular, Pinterest is nowhere the size of Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or others. But it has carved a huge space for itself where it thrives. Recently this popularity made it a popular thing amongst marketing experts.
Pinterest is a platform that is both a social media website as well as a search engine. You might wonder how it’s a search engine. Well, there are over 2 billion searches on the platform monthly. Its vast collection of interests, pins, images, and posts create a huge search platform.
Unlike regular search engines, Pinterest uses vastly different algorithms. Unlike Google, Bing, and other search engines that use bots or crawlers to index things, Pinterest uses user inputs. This is supposed to help the search results be more organic and feel like a person made them. The exact “search ranking recipe” isn’t known, but there are some hints that marketers use to use the system to their advantage. This is the exact reason why Pinterest can be a pretty solid traffic source. By utilizing search and other organic methods of reaching new audiences, you can generate a lot of traffic for free!
Is It Good as a Traffic Source?
So far there aren’t any massive case studies or detailed exploration of this topic. But some individuals found a lot of success by using Pinterest. This isn’t true for everyone of course. A lot of people find that trying to boost their traffic through Pinterest is painfully slow and negligible. It’s all about how well you do it and how long you are willing to do it. Pinterest is full of competition. People all over are trying to push their products, pages, and blogs as best as they can. And they have a key advantage. They have been doing it for way longer than you have. So if you want to see results as they do, you will have to set aside a lot of time and patience.
What You Should Do To Get Started
The first thing you need to do to use Pinterest for your traffic is to create a business account. There are personal and business accounts on Pinterest, and for what we want to do, a Business account works the best. Creating an account is simple, and pretty much standard.
The next thing you have to do is link your Website with Pinterest and confirm it. This will allow you to see more detailed statistics and for the whole thing to work a bit smoother. You can even add a “save” button to your website. This can help with growth and better statistics on who is clicking, saving, and watching your content.
After finishing all of this, you should start optimizing your account for Pinterest search. You need to make sure that your account and posts are as easily searchable as possible. The more you optimize this part, the more success you can expect from this. The first and most important step of this optimization is setting up your keywords.
Unlike other search platforms that take probably hundreds of different variables into account for every search, Pinterest is much more simple. The biggest contributor to visibility is keywords, and this can be used, and sometimes even abused to some part. You should include your keywords pretty much everywhere. On your boards, board descriptions, pin descriptions, and even business names if you can. The more the better. Finding the best keywords for your particular business is something you should do a bit of research on. The point is to make Pinterest aware through keywords what your account is about and thus show it to people with similar interests.
Completing the previous steps leaves you with the biggest part. The content. Pinterest is all about the visuals, and you need to post and create some to get some traction. Start creating different boards for all of the interests you want to advertise to.
The Key To Success On Pinterest
Having great creatives is the key to succeeding on Pinterest. So here are a couple of tips you need to implement to have success at it.
1. Use high-quality Images
Nothing is worse than having a blurry and low res image. You should always try to have the best available quality for each of your posts. Use high-quality imagery you create yourself or that you buy from stock image websites. Google for the best Pinterest image/video sizes and try always staying on top of the game. You can also add URLs to your photos using dedicated editing software. Aspect ratio-wise, vertical photos seem to do the best on the platform, but this heavily depends on the post type itself.
2. Make your posts engaging and fun to look at
Pinterest is full of creative individuals that have their image-creating skills honed to create the best posts. You need to compete with them. Your posts should always be fun to look at and attention-grabbing. Try creating custom imagery that users won’t find anywhere except on your page. You should also develop a visual style behind your posts so that you have a consistent look across your page. This can also help users recognize your posts in the sea of similar ones.
A common mistake that beginners do on the other side is overcomplicating images. The images should be simple and engaging. Adding walls of text and graphics might be a bit too much for the users interacting with the content
3. Make your boards relevant
When creating your boards, make sure to group them by interests. You should have dedicated boards for each of the interests you want people to find you through. You should also utilize the power of group boards. With them, you can create boards that others can contribute to as well. This is a great way to increase your reach. A good thing you can do is create specific cover images for these boards.
Pinterest has a weird system on how to do it, but here is a quick rundown. When you select a cover image from your board, it will pin it as the latest image as well. This means that you will have a visually unappealing double cover look. To work around this, add a few pins after you set your cover. This will leave your boards/albums with only the cover image, and new pins.
4. Use the showcase feature
The showcase is the first thing people see when entering your Pinterest page. It is a great part of the mobile experience, and on desktop, it’s one of the most prominent UI features as well. This means that you should optimize it with your best and most creative images. Make it look good and people will like your page much more.
5. Utilize Rich Pins
As a business account, you should have access to Rich Pins. This feature is great for creating a seamless integration between your website and your Pinterest account. Rich pins are special pins that include additional information about the pin itself. As a marketer, you will have the choice between several types of rich pins. App, movie, recipe, article, product, and place.
For most affiliates, bloggers, and marketers, “article” should be the default choice. To implement them correctly, you should consider looking at a guide or leaving it to your developer to handle it. When everything is done, use the Rich Pin Validator to check if everything is working as intended.
6. Pin, Pin, Pin...
The best way to promote your page is through pinning a lot yourself. Many experts recommend that you pin regularly and do it as much as you can. Try pinning multiple times a day. Some recommend 5-10 times while others swear that pinning upwards of 30 times shows the best results.
7. Be consistent
With every social media platform, the main rule is to be consistent. The same applies to Pinterest. If you want to attract as many people as possible to your website you will have to work hard and long to do it. You will have to post consistently for weeks or even months to see the best results.
Your results might not be great at the start, as it’s hard to get to the top these days. Most of Pinterest is already covered by experts in marketing that have been using the platform for years. If you want to make some serious numbers, get ready to do the work and spend the time. There is no easy way around it.
Final Words on Pinterest as a Traffic Source
Pinterest can be a great free and simple source of traffic to your website. For it to rack in some serious numbers, you will have to work hard for it. There are millions of people visiting the website each day, and if you play your cards, a part of them might see your pins and thus visit your website.
Pinterest can be a valuable traffic source for some, but it can be a time-waster for others. All in all, you won’t know until you try! But at least you have some insight into what works and what doesn’t.
Have you used Pinterest as a traffic source? What kind of results did you get out of it?
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