Pinterest is a fabulous yet underestimated tool for online marketing. Like Twitter, it’s gotten a bad rap in the past because its original uses were a little…frivolous. However, this quickly-growing social media giant is redeeming itself as a powerful way to bring in blog traffic.
Pinterest users love blog posts, and if you’re smart you can use this to your great advantage as a blogger. Of course, you should already be pinning your blog posts on your Pinterest. That’s simple enough. But there’s a lot more left to do! Here are 6 ways to use Pinterest that will get you more blog traffic.
1. Have a “Pin it” button on your blog
This is one of the simplest ways to make sure that you’re getting more blog traffic from Pinterest because it requires so little effort from you! All you have to do is put the “Pin It” button on your site so that readers have a quick and easy way to share the post on Pinterest. Pinterest provides a widget builder that makes it easy to create the code needed for this button.
Once the code has been generated, simply copy and paste it into the code of whatever page you want the Pin It button to appear on.
2. Customize your images
Pinterest is all about images. And even though you might like to focus on the writing aspect of things, you won’t go far on Pinterest if you don’t have some great visuals to go along with the words that you write.
The key to this is to customize your images. One of the easiest ways to do this is to add text to your image that grabs attention and gives information about the post. Here’s an example graphic that our designer Davie put together for a recent blog post.
You should also make sure that the images you pin are in line with your personal or corporate brand identity. If you haven’t already, take a few minutes to plan out what this might mean. What colors, fonts, and styles best represent your brand? Much of this depends on your target demographic. A blogger whose readers are all businessmen in their mid-40s will certainly use different branding than a blogger who writes for young stay-at-home mothers. Check out some of Donna Moritz’s tips for creating fabulous on-brand images for Pinterest.
3. Make pins easily searchable
Have you ever thought about that little search bar at the top of Pinterest? If not, meet your new best friend.
This thing can drive a ton of traffic to your pins, even if you don’t have thousands of followers. Much like with Google, however, you need to optimize these pins so that they show up on the top of the heap. The two main ways to do this are through hashtags and keywords.
Using a hashtag connects your pin to a wider collection of images that use the same hashtag in their description. For example, typing #socialmedia into the search bar pulls up a large collection of posts that revolve around social media as a topic.
You should also be using keywords in these pin descriptions. A keyword is a word or phrase that people often search for—in this case, on Pinterest. For example, you might want to target the keyword phrase “chocolate chip cookie recipe.” All you have to do is include that phrase in your description—and try not to get too hungry!
4. Make boards easily searchable, too
Don’t limit your search optimization to pins only! Even your Pinterest boards can be searched for and found by other Pinterest users. Be sure to include lots of relevant keywords in your board descriptions, and you will see your efforts pay off. And you won’t just be getting traffic from the Pinterest search feature—your boards can even show up in Google search results!
Another way to make your board easier to find is by categorizing it. Every time you make a board, you have the option of choosing a readymade category on Pinterest. Pinners can view all pins in this category by clicking on the button at the top left of their Pinterest page.
Putting your board in a relevant category is a fantastic way to drive new and relevant traffic to your blog.
5. Create tutorials
You might call them DIYs, how-to posts, or tutorials, but one thing is for sure—Pinterest users love step-by-step guides. If it’s at all conceivable in your industry, you should definitely be writing tutorials and sharing them on Pinterest.
Writing a tutorial shows pinners that you are an expert on something, and it makes them more likely to want to follow you and your blog so that they can learn more from you. This works especially well for food and craft blogs, but it’s certainly not limited to those areas! Tutorials work for everyone from web designers to skateboarders.
6. Join group boards
Pinterest launched the group boards feature in 2012, and they’ve been slowly but steadily growing in popularity ever since. A group board allows you and your fellow pinners to all contribute to a single board. These boards are often centered around a certain topic, but group boards have also been used to highlight a specific “guest pinner.” For example, this board on Etsy’s profile features Amanda Brown of Brown Bear Studio.
Conclusion
Pinterest can be an invaluable tool for you as you promote your blog. Even if you’re not sure about it yet, give Pinterest a try. You might be surprised by the kind of traffic it brings in!
Do you use Pinterest to bring traffic to your blog? Let us know your best tips in the comments below.
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