How to Increase Traffic to Your Blog with Pinterest

The forgotten tool for growing your blog…

I’ve only recently been using Pinterest to help grow my blog traffic. And I am an idiot for not starting this earlier. What was once a place where I saved hundreds of pictures of amazing room inspo for when we eventually buy (which I still do), I know as a Digital Marketer that Pinterest is essentially a massive visual search engine. So why is Pinterest essential to your blogging strategy. Essentially, if you get it right, with little effort you’ll see a continuous stream of traffic coming through.

I started implementing a Pinterest strategy to my blog just a little over a month ago. Within this time, I’ve increased my monthly unique vies to my boards from 2K to 66K. Social traffic to my blog has increased by 37%, with Pinterest being the main medium for this. This is significant growth and it continues to go up throughout the month of June.

Now, I am not going to pretend it was easy going from day one. There was a lot of effort and care that was put in at the beginning. But slowly I’ve been able to take my foot off the pedal and I don’t have to go in heavy with the effort. I can do an ebb and flow with creating pins, keyword research and everything else in between.

So if you’re ready to get started implementing Pinterest as part of your blogging strategy, here are my top tips to get you started…

ENSURE YOU HAVE A BUSINESS ACCOUNT

A business account is essential to your Pinterest plan. Not only does it give you access to analytics to see which pins are performing well (pins that are pushing traffic to your website) but you can also see your audience insight. Who is the type of people who are interacting with you and your pins? What are their likes and interest? With this information, you know exactly what content you should be pushing on the platform to drive traffic to your website.

The other great thing about a business account is you can claim your website. Not only does this allow for you to do Rich Pins, but your Pinterest profile picture is also added to pins (so people can recognise you and your platform). Finally, Your website URL is added to your platform, providing an easy link to jump to your blog and see your amazing content.

ALLOW READERS TO PIN DIRECTLY FROM YOUR WEBSITE

Make it as easy as possible for visitors to pin from your blog. A Pin-It button is the easiest way to do it. If you purchase a blog layout from companies like Pipdig, this will be included. If not on WordPress, there are some easy plugins that you can instal to get access to this. This also allows you to pin your posts to your boards. The page URL is automatically there and it’s next to nothing to get that pin onto your boards.

 

 

CREATE PIN-WORTHY PINS & GRAPHICS

Pinterest is an image-driven social network. So creating amazing pins that will attract eyes to your blog is part of the winning strategy to drive traffic. For this, I would always recommend creating pins rather than just pinning images from the post. I would do them hand in hand together. You can use Canva, however, I’ve always used Photoshop to create my own templates.

First and foremost, always ensure your pins are vertical and as big as you can. I recommend this Sprout Social blog post for up to date image sizings. These take up valuable retail space on the page, meaning they are the first where your eyes are drawn to. I would also recommend having a mixture of text and image on the pin. Your text should explain to the reader what your post is about- literally spell it out to them. Always include your blog URL on the image too. Play with different styles and layouts. I’d recommend sticking to a similar colour tone that is reflected in your blog. It ensures that readers will be able to instantly recognise that this is your work and your blog. Be prepared to stand out to the crowds and watch the traffic come in.

KEYWORD RESEARCH IS ESSENTIAL

Keyword research is part of my everyday life in my regular 9-5 job, so it’s no surprise that I do enjoy the keyword research part of setting up your pins. Your keywords should appear in your pin description as well as the board description. Remember that Pinterest is a visual search engine. A search engine’s goal is to show the most important and valuable results for what you’re searching for. So by ensuring you spell it out to Pinterest exactly what your content is about, your pins will be pushed to the top of the search.

The Pinterest search bar is the first place you should go to for exactly what people are searching for. Google AdWords Keyword Planner is also a valuable tool for finding out what people are searching. Use a mixture of both to find the essential keywords for your pin and your board and go from there.

JOIN A GROUP BOARD

Group boards are a great way of showing off your content fast. I’ve seen a large increase in growth in traffic since I joined my group board. Because everyone is constantly pinning, liking and contributing to the board, your pins, in turn, get a boost from all the activity. Join boards that are relevant to your content. I’m part of an interiors group board and the only pins I add to this board are interior themed. Once you’ve joined a group board, you should include this as part of your pinning strategy…

PIN REGULARLY

Pinning regularly is essential for pushing your own organic pins to the top of searches. Having a schedule will help ensure you see growth and traffic instantly. For good engagement to see an increase in impressions, I’d recommend pinning at least five-ten pins a day in the beginning, dropping it down to every other day once you’ve gained momentum. You might even go back up to every day when you feel more engaged with the platform. I go through peaks and falls of loving everything I see and then needing a break. Go with what feels best for you.

What I also like to do and recommend if the following strategy; pin at least five pins to the relevant board where your pin will go. Then, add your own, beautifully created pin to that board. Finally, pin five additional relevant pins to that board. That allows your pin to get momentum and combined with the rest of my tips, to perform to the best of their abilities and drive as much traffic as possible to your lovely blog.

What are your top tips for Pinterest?