Pinterest is a search engine and not just a social media site. Using Pinterest the right way can bring a lot of traffic to your website. While Google is the largest search engine, it is safe to say that Pinterest is the largest visual search engine.
Pinterest has approximately 175 million registered users which means you can generate a large amount of traffic through it if Pinterest is used the right way.
Pinterest is used by a large number of business owners and bloggers, on the other hand around 93% of people have claimed that they use Pinterest when they intend to buy a product.
This means that by using correct SEO optimization techniques for both your blog posts and pins on Pinterest, you can drive organic traffic towards your website.
This article is going to be both on how to drive traffic to your Pinterest and how to drive traffic to your website through Pinterest. As traffic moving to your account is going to reach your website through your pins, so it makes sense in saying larger traffic to your Pinterest account will result in larger traffic to your website.
How to get started?
Pinterest is more than a social media tool. Rather, it is good to consider it as a visual search engine.
Getting traffic through any search engine is possible by using correct SEO strategies.
Like you optimize your blog posts for search engines, you have to optimize your pins as well so that your pin will be visible to the right audience on Pinterest.
Set up a business account
Start by setting up a Pinterest business account. The Pinterest business account is totally free. You could also convert your personal account into a business account.
Add your website to Pinterest account
After this, you need to add your website to Pinterest. This is important if you are going to link your pins to the website in future. Also, you will remain aware of how much traffic is coming from Pinterest.
Setting up boards
The next task would be to set up your boards and pins according to the content on your website. You need to gather some useful keywords and then add them (do not stuff) everywhere. From the word everywhere I mean, board description, Pin description, name of boards, and even in your name (business name). Doing this, Pinterest algorithm will understand what your business is all about and then make your pins and boards visible to interested audiences.
Add eye-catchy images and board covers
Make the next move by decorating your boards with beautiful images. Adding text relevant to the topic on your board images grabs the attention of more users.
This is it for making the Pinterest account and setting it up. Now you have to focus on generating traffic to your pins that will ultimately lead the traffic to your website.
I have experimented with and gathered some really useful tips that will bring traffic to your website through Pinterest.
Use the right keywords
The aim is to direct your pins to the users who are interested in what you are selling. This can be done by various methods including the use of correct hashtags and keywords in your boards and pin descriptions.
If you want to make your pins visible to the right audience, you need to do good keyword research. Right keywords on your pins’ images, names, and descriptions will help Pinterest’s algorithm in understanding what your pin is all about and then make it visible to the right audience.
Using a guided search on Pinterest is the best option to find keywords. You actually get to know what people are searching and then adding the same keywords in your pin description will give it a boost and ultimately to your website.
After you have found the keywords through guided search or simply from the search bar, you need to use them the right way. Add the keywords naturally in Pin description, Board description, Pin image, and Pin title. That’s it. This is where you will get a major boost from.
Create a click-worthy pin title and description
Make sure to create a title that will force the user to click and open the pin even if the user does not want to. Adding words like “Best”, “amazing”, and phrases like, “you do not want to miss”, will add to curiosity and force the user to open it.
Not only that, a call-to-action in your description can turn the tables. You can ask the user to simply move to your blog by writing “check out my blog for more”. You accept it or not, adding a call-to-action definitely makes a difference.
Increase your followers, repins, and engagement
Increasing your repins is one way of driving traffic to your website. Let’s just say that a particular pin receives 200 repins in 3 days and the other pin receives 200 repins in 14 days. The pin that got 200 repins in 3 days is more likely to boost, which means it will reach an ever-larger audience which in turn reaches your website. But the question here is, how to increase the repins?
This can be achieved by repinning the content of your fellow creators. Interact with your fellow creators as much as you can. Some nice people are always there to return the favor. This means having a good community on Pinterest is of your own benefit.
Increasing followers is another way of getting large traffic. But having a large number of followers does not mean success unless you are posting what people want to see. They need inspiration, a true inspiration, and things that actually work. This means creating an eye-catchy image and graphics with some valuable content is what you need to do.
While talking about gaining followers, one method is to be a part of the group board. In the group board, there are multiple contributors. Each contributor can add its pins there that will be exposed to hundreds and thousands of users. But here, finding the right group board is the key. You actually have to join a board in which some people are interested in seeing the content you create.
Another method of increasing followers is the usual following method. You need to follow creators of the same niche and people who are repinning your pins. This is where you will get the right audience for your Pinterest and thus for your website.
Delete the poor performing pins
You can see your pins analytics and can conclude easily which of your pins are not performing better. It is a good idea to delete them. This way your board will have more valuable pins and it will reach a better amount of audience.
Do this to each of your boards. It will ultimately boost your account. Not to forget, we are doing all this to bring traffic to our pins which will boost traffic on our website.
Post consistently
In order to get a good reach, you need to produce a lot of content. With a lot, I mean post around 5 to 10 pins daily if you are a beginner. This can exceed to 20 and even 30 pins daily. Those pins don’t necessarily have to be linked to your website. You can create inspirational content in general for your audience. Don’t forget to make it SEO friendly.
This way your account will get a reward from Pinterest for your activeness. The reward will be in the form of more reach and more traffic to your account.
Schedule your pins
Knowing which time your users are most active, is of great importance. Pinterest gives importance to the fresh pins. If you want your pin to be visible to a large number of people, pin it at the right time. You can know that by using different apps that are made solely for this purpose. These apps tell you which time your users are most active and then recommend you to pin at that time.
Not only that, advance scheduling of your pins will lessen your efforts. You can set up your pins to be posted and then the app will pin it at the exact time that you set up.
Be patient
At last, you will have to be patient, it is not a quick traffic increase scheme. You have to use these tips consistently. It might take three to four months or even a year in some cases for getting the amount of traffic from Pinterest that you are expecting.
Social media sites get complicated as they grow and this is where you have to start putting your efforts. Sometimes these tips may not be enough so you have to use Promoted pins to drive traffic to your account.
Conclusion
Driving traffic to the website through Pinterest is getting very common nowadays. Business owners and bloggers are particularly using this platform to generate organic traffic. It is the 40th most popular website. The aforementioned tips will definitely help you if used consistently.
It is all a matter of SEO, once you learn optimization for Pinterest (which is very simple) you can drive a large amount of traffic to your website.
Happy pinning!