Traffic experience
I have found Pinterest to be an amazing source of traffic for my site. As involvement in Pinterest grows so do my numbers. The difference between this traffic and the visitors you may get from other social media tools such as Twitter or StumbleUpon is that it may be a slow increase but longer lasting.
For example, on StumbleUpon you may have a post that takes off and receives 2,000 hits in one day and then never again afterwards. On Pinterest, one of your posts may be pinned and repinned by one user at a time, day after day. This pin could ultimately land on the board of someone who has thousands of Pinterest followers and the next thing you know you are getting hundreds, sometimes thousands. of visits per day to that post.
How to choose what to pin
Choosing what to pin is a very important part of finding success on Pinterest. You do not want to pin your own posts too often and you also do not want to pin things that are not interesting to a wide group of readers. “How to” posts tend to do best. I know many pin recipes but they are not necessarily the best traffic drivers because, while they are pinned often, there is not a need to visit your site for the recipe until someone actually wants to make it. How many times have you pinned a recipe without ever actually visiting the site?
How to Pin
When you pin something, you have to give the reader a reason to visit you. For example, if you have a great way to make your own toothpaste, either pin a visual of the finished product or a text-only graphic that says something like “Easy Way to Make Your Own Toothpaste.” If you pin a graphic that includes the recipe then there is no reason for the viewer to visit your site. Make sense?
Here is an example:
My sweet friend and fellow Pinterest addict Amanda, pinned the image of a funny text message between my husband and I that was within one of my posts.
So nice of her to pin it and I did get a few visits from this. I decided to repin and add text to give readers a reason to visit my blog.
I received 68 visits within the first hour and the pin has continued to bring traffic in ever since.
Other Tips
The most important thing to do when using Pinterest is to pin selectively, only pin what you love. You will have more followers if you pin unique, interesting things rather than every picture of a cute kitten you have ever come across. I have unfollowed many a board that pins a massive amount of images. Unless it is something I truly love, those pins only clog my feed and keep me from seeing other pins that I may like.
Unlike other forms of social media it is not frowned upon to pin your own posts as long as you are pinning useful information and it is only a SMALL portion of what you pin. If you solely use Pinterest to pin your own blog posts your only follower will be you.
About Ashley
LOVE this!!! Great tips… I adore Pinterest (you can find me here: http://pinterest.com/mommaneedsabeer/ ) & I’m always looking for more ways to drive traffic to my blog. Excellent post!!
This is such an easy-to-understand post. Thank you! I have yet to get on Pinterest, mainly because I did not want to learn how to use it or add one more social media thing to worry about/think about. But, the way you’ve outlined it, it seems relatively easy and worth it. Thank you for this.
Honestly it is one of the most useful tools I’ve found. There are so many great things there, especially neat stuff to do with the kids. I don’t feel as guilty spending time there as on other forms of social media because it gives me great ideas.
OK, this may be a stupid question… but how do I pin a blog post vs. just an image. Is it that if you pin an image form a post it automatically links to that post? And I guess I should then mention in the caption that it’s from a post, right? (I so suck at self-promotion, much prefer to sit in my little corner and write). Thanks, Jessica. (Also, FYI Stacy soon-to-be-editor-in-chief at BlogHer and I were singing your praises at dinner last night.)
Yep, if you pin an image within a post you will be pinning that post. HOw funny, I just sent Stacy an email this morning, love her!
Great post, Jessica! You’ve made me look at Pinterest from a different perspective and think about things I hadn’t before. I’ll share this with my clients!
So glad Jessica. It really can drive traffic as long as you use it with strategy in mind.
Jessica, you truly are the Pinterest queen
Such great tips. It’s a site I don’t utilize enough, but I always know I can click on your boards for great things.
I want a crown
.
Ironically, the link to Jessica’s blog (which for me is showing with strike-thru characters) is incorrectly linked! You are missing the colon after the http.
Uh oh, I think she was linking you to this post: http://fourplusanangel.com/2011/10/tips-for-using-pinterest/ Thanks for reading!
Oh, Pinterest, I love you some. And I mvissaely second #1 – things linking back to Tumblr accounts is my biggest pet peeve!
GREAT tips Jessica.
I so want to use Pinterest more for my blog. Thanks for the ideas.
I’ve never used Pinterest for my own blog, but that’s not a bad idea. Of course, I don’t have any recipes or how-to’s. Yet.
You could think about adding a small craft or recipe every once in a while and then pinning. That’s how I started.
Great tips Jessica! I haven’t thought of using Pinterest for my blog, but I will now!
Definitely worth going through some of your old posts and finding some that might work for Pinterest and creating some new posts that are pinnable.
So glad you explained this concept. I have used pinterest a few times but never for promotion of my blog. Will try this and let you know!
Would love to hear how it works for you Kathy, it is a great tool as long as you use it correctly.
Great info, Jessica! I never even thought of pinning some of my own posts. I’m hit or miss with Pinterest lately, though. It seems I go in spurts with it. I could be on there for hours at a time, and then there are days I go without it.
I am the same, I don’t go there every day because when I do I can spend hours there but I do go often to get recipes or things I want to try. Love the stuff I’ve found to do with the kids.
Love this post, Jessica! I hardly Pin my own images, should consider that occasionally.
Definitely pin some of your recipes and “occasionally” is the best way to do it.
Thanks so much for the tips. I never really write how to posts so would you suggest not using pinterest? Thanks again. Take care.
Lanie, you have written some beautiful posts about grief that could be a great resource. I created a board called “Grief words and resources” and once in a while when I have something I feel is worth sharing I put it there. Are we following each other? I hope so.
Thanks so much – I will try it. Hopefully I can figure it out – or I will come back to ask you more questions. Thanks again & take care.
Ok, I really need to sit down and figure out Pinterest. I joined, but it scares me.
I’m open for phone consultations
Oh I love me some pinterest! I should start a board of useful articles because it can be for so much more than tutorials but that is what I love the very most! I think we are following each other but now I must double check!
I don’t craft and my recipes are, uh, not that great…
but maybe one day I’ll figure out how to utilize pinterest for my page…
Jessica I will get you a crown!!! I like Pinterest but it annoys me…it’s always sooooo slow or takes forever to laod . Am I doing something wrong? I go to use it and get frustrated and then saying bad words…and well…you know!
But I didn’t know you could pin a post….so I may take advantage of that now!!! Thans for the great tips..!!!! As always you are awesome.
I have a board that’s only pins from my blog, and then I have a ton of other boards that are different recipe categories. Since I have my own stuff separated, I feel like it’s less of me trying to show off, and only the people who are actually interested in my stuff follow that board.
This is so interesting! I had no idea.
Great post!– I have been on Pinterest for some time but haven’t seen the traffic benefits other bloggers mention. I’ve been doing it all wrong! Great tips here!!