How to grow your traffic with Pinterest
In 2017, we saw lots of changes and new features to Pinterest.
Pinterest brought back hashtags, added a feature to set up different sections in your boards as well as the removal of the Like button and repin counts. There were also a few changes to the way we see our pins by moving the pin description to the right side of the pin and a really fun thing where you can upload an image of a recipe that you tried to the original recipe pin { see example below }.
Most of us are still trying to work through the loss of repin numbers and feeling slightly annoyed that they took away the Like button { Or is that just me who’s just a bit annoyed? I miss having a way to save a pin without actually pinning it to a specific board. } to even think about how all this will affect our pinning strategy.
And if you’re anything like me, you’re also wondering what’s going to happen in 2018? What new changes are heading our way where we’ll wake up one morning and find that all the things that we’ve been doing to get loads of traffic are no longer in place?
Seriously, we can’t control what Pinterest decides to do, remove or add to their program. Other than having a mini freak-out moment, what can you do?
Take your Pinterest marketing strategy back to the basics.
Stop relying on schedulers, tribes and hoping that your next pin is going to go viral. All of those things that you have no control over. And start making changes to YOUR Pinterest marketing plans that you can control.
How do I use Pinterest to grow my website’s traffic?
That’s one of the first questions I hear when someone finally gets the true reason for Pinterest’s popularity with bloggers and small business owners. And then it’s usually followed up by this one, “I use Pinterest all the time personally but how do I use this site for my business { or blog }?”
Before I jump in and give you a list of things to do on Pinterest, let me share with you my response to this question:
“If you’ve been spending any time on Pinterest then you know this site has become so much more than just posting an engaging image. Pinterest wants us to search for things on Pinterest, not just drop in an image and leave.
They want us to spend time clicking on pins in our Pinterest feed. They want us to do research for things we want to buy in their search bar at the top. They want us to use Pinterest for the reason that they created the site – to discover what interests us and to save those ideas to help us dream, plan and take action.”
To start seeing site traffic for your business or blog on Pinterest, you need to understand one big thing about what happens you click on that red circle P in your apps:
For many of us, it’s the first site we go to when we need to do some research. It’s the first place we click on when we’re looking for something to buy for our home or a blog post to help us learn how to use Facebook ads.
Our online behavior is changing and now many of us { over 175 million active users! } use Pinterest as our go-to search engine. And that stat isn’t really all that surprising when you think about the fact that most people are visual learners.
We connect faster with images because it’s easier to scan visual search results over a list of text links in a Google search.
(1) Pinterest Strategy: Use optimized keywords
Let’s break it down like this … if you want to get more traffic back to your website, you would follow all the SEO { search engine optimization } steps to get your content to show up in a Google search, right?
So if Pinterest is a visual search engine then you basically need to do the same type of steps. And no matter how many features they add or take away from Pinterest, at it’s heart, it’ll still be a visual search engine so you need an SEO-based marketing strategy to connect your content visually with people who are looking for your posts or products.
There are three main places where you can add in searchable keywords to help your Pinterest account get found by more Pinners:
Your Profile Name:
Did you know that you have a lot of room for more characters where you edit your name? Most people don’t and that’s why you see the majority of Pinterest accounts with just the Pinners name.
In the section labeled Business Name, you can type in your name as well as the name of your business or blog AND targeted keywords that you use to describe how you help and what you do.
Pinterest’s search allows us to search not just for pins or boards but for Pinners too. Think about how you can use these targeted words you add to help people who are looking for someone who does what you do on Pinterest.
Your Board Titles:
Naming your boards isn’t the place to get all creative and crafty with your board titles.
It’s always best to go general and broad with your names. If you’re creating a board for how to use Pinterest for your blog, naming your board ‘The Pinterest Muse’ just isn’t going to cut it. No one is going to be looking for the word ‘muse’ when they want help with Pinterest.
Keep it simple and descriptive like ‘Pinterest Marketing for Your Blog’ – you want to use targeted keywords that Pinners will use to run a search for the content that you pinned to that board.
Your Pin Descriptions:
Most people are looking for specific pins so think about how you can use your keywords to help your images show up in more searches.
Create the description like you’re explaining this to a friend. Pinners tend to respond and pin it when the copy feels like you’re talking to them and not at them.
If you get stuck on what to use, try running a quick search in the Guided Search at the top of the site. Pinterest will type out suggestions for you to use that Pinners are actively searching for already on Pinterest.
And here’s a cool little thing to try – use your top key words at the beginning of the pin description. Here’s an example:
Social Media Marketing: How to make more sales using a social media marketing plan
(2) Pinterest Strategy: The Content of Your Content
Maybe you’ve heard all that SEO-keyword stuff before. And you’re asking yourself, “Is that all that I can do to keep control over growing my site’s traffic with Pinterest? Just keep optimizing my stuff on the site?”
Let me first say, that you should always be thinking of how to use your keywords with everything that you do on Pinterest but is that all? No my friend … there is more you can do to grow your site’s traffic. So much more.
The next Pinterest strategy that we’ll talk about is focusing on creating high-traffic content to pin on your boards and group boards. It’s about sharing content that will get clicked on and send more Pinners to your website.
When you start planning out what content to create, ask yourself these questions:
- Who is this post written for? It’s always best to have a clear picture in your head of who the reader is and how they can relate to the content of your pin.
- What problem does this content solve?
- Have you tried out these tips, the apps or whatever else you’re telling people to try/do/download? What were your results?
- Is this a topic that your customers are already talking about? Think about how you can add your spin on the topic and how your take can set your post apart from the others who writing about this information.
(3) Pinterest Strategy: Keep Your Calendar Filled
Make sure you set aside time to continually brainstorm your content ideas. This is one of those parts of the process that lots of folks forget to do.
Every week, most people will find themselves in this place questioning what to post in their blogs. They try to complicate the whole thing, eventually claiming that “I’m just unorganized” so I’ll just wing it. And then they wonder why no one is clicking on their pins.
Winging It is not a Pinterest strategy.
In the Guide to Getting Things Done, I detailed how I do my brainstorming process and I included some of my FREE printables that I use every month.
Before you download those worksheets and work through the process, think about how to keep your calendar focused on writing content that will bring more traffic back to your website:
- Keep a running a list of word prompts so when you start looking for content to create, you already have a few ideas of where to start your search.
- Brainstorm for 60 days out. You can usually knock out a 60 day brainstorm session in about 30 minutes. The time it takes to work through 2 months of ideas, will save you hours of time searching every week.
Creating your content strategy is more than just sharing what’s hot and trending.
It’s about writing { or vlogging } about something that will make your customers say, “Wow, that’s cool” or “Man, I didn’t know that.” That’s the content you want to share.
That’s the content that will help you get more Pinners to click on your pins and bring you more website traffic.
Want more tips like this to grow your Pinterest followers?
This post is a sample of what you’ll learn with my Pinterest strategy ebook. Click here to grab your FREE copy of ‘How I Grew My Pinterest Account to over 10,000 Followers‘.
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