Social media provides a number of blogging outreach opportunities. The visually based platform differs from other major services such as Facebook and Twitter, allowing for unique interaction and traffic generating potential.
However, many bloggers avoid using Pinterest at all, squandering the opportunity to connect with additional readers.
As Pinterest differs from most other social platforms it does present some challenges for connecting and directing traffic back to the blog.
By following these different tips and tricks though, any blog has the ability to boost site traffic with the help of Pinterest.
How to Get Traffic from Pinterest
1. Article Pins
Pinterest has rolled out a number of new pin features. These are designed to help identify posts so account users know what they are selecting ahead of time.
It also makes it easier to search for specific content and get traffic from Pinterest. The Article Pin represents one of the latest pins.
For anyone who hasn’t used Pinterest or who hasn’t logged into their account for a while, this feature alone makes the social platform a viable outreach option.
When selecting a post as an “Article Pin,” Pinterest publishes more information. It includes a story summary, link to the blog, headline, author, byline and a logo.
The Article Pin allows users to turn Pinterest into a bookmarking and reading service. It has become so beneficial that blogging giant Buzzfeed now lists Pinterest (and it’s 2+ followers) as its top traffic generator.
Pinterest doesn’t allow just anyone to pin Article Pins, which helps prevent it from becoming diluted and overused.
After opening a Pinterest account, a blogger will need to apply for the Rich Pin feature. This requires a blogger to include certain meta tagging data on the site.
2. “Pin It” Button
Sharing and posting to Pinterest is a two-way street.
While a blogger needs to take full advantage of the posting and pinning opportunities the social platform provides, the writers need to also allow readers the ability to share posts through their favorite social accounts as well. This is why providing the “Pin It” button is so important.
The “Pin It” button works in a similar way to other social share buttons, such as the Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook posting buttons.
As the post is a blog and not a singular image it does take a few extra steps, but it’s well worth it for the increased traffic potential.
In order to get traffic from Pinterest to your blog and enable the “Pin It” feature, the blogger needs to log onto their Pinterest account first. Select the “Website Builder” feature, followed by “Tools” and finally “Widget Builder.”
From there they need to choose the desired “Pin It” button (Pinterest provides a few different options) and then copy and paste the URL and desired blog post image.
Pinterest will then provide a code that needs embedding on the website. Once set, the “Pin It” button becomes active on the site.
Pin It buttons have quickly become the most utilized social sharing buttons on the Internet. 59 percent of brands have a Facebook “Like” button, while 62 percent of brands have a “Pin It” button.
3. Search Engine Optimization and Demographic Pins
Search engine optimization isn’t just for search engines. Content published on social media platforms need SEO as well.
Blog posts pinned to Pinterest are indexed not only on the platform but on search engines as well. Due to this, the blog pin needs to receive appropriate SEO.
Standard search engine optimization tactics apply here, including longtail keywords and even the meta description (which search engines may use to provide the blog summary).
However, additional optimization is required on Pinterest.
This begins with making sure all posts are searchable. This is done by logging into an account, heading into the account settings and making sure the “Search Privacy” setting is set to allow public search engines to find and list the pins.
The best SEO practices to use on Pinterest are:
- use the exact same blog title on the pin
- use keywords in the image tags
- include hashtags, especially if certain keywords did not fit into the blog description.
All of this is designed to help make blog pins easier to find.
While including specific keywords, it’s a good idea to focus on specific demographics, especially when crafting secondary boards in the platform.
According to Pinterest, 68.2 percent of users are women, 50 percent of all users have at least one child, and the largest age demographic is the 25 to 34 age range.
Even if the blog itself is designed to support e-commerce product videos for younger males, it’s critical to optimize content for these larger demographics.
Pinterest does have more referral traffic than LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube combined, so it’s worth the extra time it takes to build up and optimize these boards.
4. Pinterest is Visual
While the purpose of sharing content to Pinterest is to boost readership and Web traffic on a blog, it’s crucial to use quality images on Pinterest.
The entire platform revolves around visuals, so if the blog upload lacks any attention-grabbing pictures the post itself will receive little to no interest.
A blogger shouldn’t settle on any picture though. Visual qualities and even size play a big role in what pins are shared.
The height of an image matters if you’re determined to get traffic from Pinterest to your blog.
An image height of 200 pixels may receive 500 repins on average. But an image height of 800 pixels receives nearly 1,200 repins.
The taller image takes up more space on a display board, which draws in more interest.
If the post shares keywords with other, smaller images, the taller visual will naturally receive more attention as it takes up twice as much space.
5. Create Multiple Boards
A blogger’s main purpose for creating and posting on the social media platform is to get traffic from Pinterest to the blog.
However, in order to maximize this potential, it’s necessary to post popular content within Pinterest. In order to do this, it’s necessary to create multiple boards and follow the latest trends on Pinterest.
When an account user begins following a blogger on Pinterest they become more likely to check out the other created boards.
So while account users may not initially stumble upon the blogger’s profile through shared blog posts, they are more likely to transition from the popular subjects over to the shared blogs, resulting in a boost in traffic back on the website.
According to Pinterest, the most popular category on the service, according to the percentage of followers who interact with the visual posts is home décor.
Nearly 13 percent of all users interact with home décor posts. Just over 10 percent are designed posts while slightly under 10 percent are art based posts, followed by women’s apparel and DIY.
There’s a good chance a blogger’s posts have nothing to do with any of these. However, it’s important to create boards around these topics and post accordingly.
The failure to do this is a lost opportunity for new social interacts and potential traffic boosts.
Read also: How This Mom Blogger Gained 20 Page Views to a New Blog with Pinterest
6. Remain Active
Similar to the “if a tree falls in the woods, does anyone hear it?” proverb, “if someone has a social media account but isn’t active, does it even exist?”
In other words, if a blogger opens a social media platform but never uses it, it does them no good and they can’t drive traffic from Pinterest.
It will not generate traffic, and the search engines will show posts from the accounts less and less. It’s crucial to remain active on Pinterest and to regularly engage.
This all begins with posting quality content on a regular basis.
Not all posts need to come directly from written blogs. It isn’t always possible to write a new blog post every day, yet remaining active daily helps increase exposure and keep the account active.
In order to fill the gaps and prevent your blog from failing, a blogger needs to share other valuable content on his or her Pinterest board.
However, as Pinterest allows for the creation of multiple boards within a singular account, it’s best to keep the official blog posts and other shared content separated.
Like other social platforms, it’s important to not only publish posts but to comment and interact on the boards of followers. This keeps the blogger’s profile active and in front of other account users.
Interactions with other platform user’s pins may include asking questions (which are answered on the blog), repining content and liking pins when applicable.
To get traffic from Pinterest, it is important to only repin and like content with viable interest to the blog. Other account holders can see what content has been repined and liked.
Most e-commerce marketing only works when the poster remains active. Sharing content to Pinterest is of no difference.
According to Buffer, 30 percent of those who post a few times a week see traffic growth on their website. While those who post sporadically see just a 10 percent bump in website traffic.
In Conclusion
Social platforms offer bloggers with a bevy of free marketing and outreach opportunities. It’s crucial to take advantage of these.
Pinterest often goes overlooked in the world of social media for bloggers but it not only provides a number of key benefits, but it’s also an underutilized service ripe for utilization.
By taking advantage of these different tips and tricks, it’s possible to get traffic from Pinterest and fulfill a blogger’s breakthrough advertising approach while continually building their blogger following.
About The Author
This article was written by Mike Giannulis, an entrepreneur and coach specializing in business growth and digital and direct response marketing. He runs a small coaching & consulting firm (OnlyOneMike.com) helping businesses achieve maximum profits. In 2012, he was on a weight loss TV show called Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition.
