Not long ago, you could solve your traffic problems simply by churning out content and investing in PPC ads.
If you have a lot of money to invest, this approach may still work.
But even if you do that, this method of attracting traffic has lost its magic. Fewer people are clicking on your ads. Instead, they are opening and following social networks.
While many marketers and businesses have realized this and are turning their attention to social networks as a means of driving referral traffic to their websites, many still make the mistake of focusing the majority of their attention on Facebook and Twitter. As a result, they are missing out on a ton of traffic that could be theirs.
I’m talking about Pinterest , an often overlooked source of social media referral traffic.
Here's why you should care: Pew Research found that Pinterest is rising in popularity, even surpassing Twitter. Pinterest used to be targeted at women, but the social network's fastest-growing user base is among men.
Even more interesting than the Pin platform’s growing popularity is that Pinterest drives more than 3 times the traffic of Google Plus, YouTube, Twitter, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, and Reddit combined.
However, these statistics are not the only reason to consider Pinterest. Internet users are naturally attracted to attractive, high-quality visuals. They process information quickly when it is presented in the form of images and are more willing to interact with such content. What does this mean for your business? On social media, the general rule is that the more interaction you have with your visitors, the more referral traffic your website will receive.
2 Reasons Why Pinterest Is an Amazing Source of Traffic
Pinterest’s unique features make it a great choice for businesses that have failed at social media marketing in the past.
Specifically, you need to understand the two main reasons to use Pinterest to determine if it's right for you.
Reason 1 – Pinshave a long lifespan
One problem with most social networks is that the content you post is visible only for a short period of time: from an hour to a few days at most.
So even if you’re constantly creating content on the web, you won’t benefit from it after the initial posting.
Seems like a waste, doesn't it?
But Pinterest is different.
You can create a "pin" (shared image) that will continue to gain views and shares over time.
It may not have the same level of consistency that comes with good search engine rankings, but it comes closer to achieving that kind of influence than any other social network.
If you stay active on Pinterest for a long time, your traffic will really grow.
Reason 2 — Pinterest is designed for sharing
One of the reasons that Pins has lasted so long is that users are always looking for more things to share.
This is what a typical Pinterest dashboard looks like when a user is logged in:
If a user likes a pin, they either “like” it or “repin” (share) it.
A good picture can get hundreds or even thousands of shares.
Unlike other social networks, Pinterest is not designed for posting status updates about what happened that day, but rather for sharing and consuming images, and the content that the images link to.
Get started with Pinterest
Sign up for Pinterest using your email, Twitter or Facebook profile . Use your business name as your username and fill in the rest of the details - company logo, description and website URL.
For the profile name, you can use your business name + a keyword. So if you're a coffee shop and your business name is "Breco," use "Breco Coffee shop" as your profile name. Follow the same rules for the "About" section of your page; you can also add a call to action like "Visit our website for more information." Verify your account so that it appears in search engine results.
Next, you can create sections for the content published on your website. If your website content is published in different categories, you can create a section for each category. Naming the sections after the categories makes it easy for your followers to filter the content based on their interests. In the section description, you can mention keywords and call to action.
ThinkGeek is a great example of how to name and categorize Pinterest boards.
Create sections that resonate with your content category and overall business.
Actionable Ways to Attract Referral Traffic from Pinterest
So how can you make the most of your presence on Pinterest and increase referral traffic to your website? Here are some practical tips to help you drive more traffic:
Here are 13 ways to use Pinterest to drive more organic traffic to your website.
1. Display the official "Pin It" button on your website
The Pin It button lets your website visitors add content from your page to their Pinterest accounts. When they do this, their followers may also view your website's content. You can get a Pin It button from Pinterest by filling out your information . You can choose from different Pin It images or even create a custom image.
After generating the widget’s code, add it to your website. Here’s how the “Pin It” button will appear on Geekalerts .
The Pin It button will act as a visual reminder and allow visitors to easily pin the image from your website, thereby driving referral traffic from their accounts.
WordPress users can also use jQuery Pin It Button to process images. Popular websites such as SocialMediaExaminer use this plugin.
2. Optimize visual effects
Since Pinterest is all about images, you need to come up with great visuals to attract people on the network. Here are ways you can optimize your visuals to increase your chances of getting reposted:
- Pin videos directly on Pinterest
- Use watermarks on visuals
- Use an image aspect ratio of 2:3 (height is greater than width)
- Convert multiple images into infographics, as long images get the most shares and traffic.
- Try not to use real faces. Images without faces receive 23% more shares
- Artfully combine pictures, text overlays, and step-by-step instructions to create shareable images. These images may also be called "how-to" images or "tips" images
- Use dominant colors in your image
- Optimizing visual templates with PicMonkey
[](https://www.pinterest.com/jonloomer/business/)Facebook senior marketing expert Jon Loomer shares long images on his Pinterest account .
Below is an example of a primary color image from Paula Deen’s account. This image has been shared 307,000 times.
Use these tips to create the most shareable images.
3. Add a link to your website in the Pin and its description
One of the best features of Pinterest is that it gives you the option to repost images back to your website. To repost an image, you need to edit the pin and modify its source. Pinterest gives you the option to change the source of any pin you upload.
Retail giant Target also uses this technique for the images it uploads to Pinterest. When users on Pinterest click on the image, they are redirected to Target’s webpage. Below is an example of such an image redirecting to a Target store.
Likewise, putting your website’s URL in the pin’s description can drive more traffic to your site. This will help attract first-time Pinterest visitors who might not click on the pin twice to visit your site (two clicks are required: the first to enlarge the pin, the second to take the visitor to the site).
4. Create Pins that point to valuable resources
In early 2016, Pinterest made an algorithm change that impacted how users see Pins on the homepage. From what I’ve seen, Pinterest now seems to be more focused on showing Pins that lead users to blog posts and valuable resources.
Great images will be less visible if they don't link to a useful resource. This often includes sites like Flickr or uploaded images that don't link to any site.
5. Focus on increasing followers and influence
Having a large number of followers is important, but surprisingly, it's not as important as you think. I've worked on forums with less than 10,000 followers, but found that the site generated just as much traffic and reposts as a forum with 100,000 followers.
The trick is to not just think about increasing followers, but also create Pins that reach non-followers on Pinterest.
To do this, you need to post relevant Pins that appeal to your core audience. As you start to provide more relevant Pins, Pinterest will start showing your Pins more often in the "Picked for You" section of people's homepages, giving you the potential to reach millions of people.
Pinterest also places a heavy emphasis on getting people to follow interests rather than specific users or boards.
To see how many people follow a particular interest, you can type in: http://www.pinterest.com/explore/(your-words)
In order to do this, you need to include the right keywords in your board title and pin description.
6. Use relevant keywords in your board name
The best way to increase the chances of your pins appearing in Picked for You and the Pinterest interest feed is to make sure your boards have relevant titles. If you’re trying to reach people who want to travel, then naming your board “ Travel” or “Travel Tips” will let Pinterest know about the topic. If you try to be clever and name your board “Willy Wonka’s Adventures,” your chances of appearing will decrease.
7. Use multiple keywords in your Pin description
Pinterest doesn't like to call itself a social network. It's more of a discovery tool for finding inspiration and information. Pinterest acts as a visual search engine, with millions of people searching to help them plan their weddings, find gifts to buy for the holidays, and ideas on how to make their lives easier.
That’s why, in addition to increasing followers, it’s important to think of Pinterst as a visual Google. Just like a good blog post, every Pin that redirects to your website should have 2-3 keywords in its description.
Make sure you use the same keyword in 5-10 different Pin descriptions as well, because you never know which one will get more engagement and rank higher in Pinterest’s search results.
8. Use Guided Search
To understand what types of terms people are searching for on Pinterest, use Guided Search to help you.
When you enter a word in the main search bar, you'll notice there are tiled words beneath it.
Look for relevant words in these tiles that you can put in your pin description.
9. Increase Retweets and Engagement
If you want to rank first on Pinterest for certain keywords, then the number of reposts you receive in a specific time period is an important factor in search ranking within Pinterest.
A Pin that receives 100 retweets in 2 days is more likely to outperform a Pin that receives 100 retweets in 10 days.
Other factors that influence your search results on Pinterest include who reposted it and how many clicks your Pin gets. If your reposters are active users on Pinterest, you are more likely to rank higher in searches than inactive users.
Another interesting observation is that the more engaged a pin is, the more likely it is to appear in multiple interest feeds. Let’s say you named your board “ Travel Tips ” and a pin gets 200 shares in a short period of time. This pin might appear in the interest feeds for Travel Tips, Backpacking in Europe (if the pin is related to Europe), or Cultural Travel.
10. Join a subcommittee
In the past, joining a group committee was a more effective way to drive more traffic to your Pins, but if you’re just starting out and want your Pins to be seen by as many people as possible, joining a group committee is still a good place to start.
A group board is a board with multiple contributors. Each contributor can add their own pins, and each board can have its own guides and moderators.
When you first start using Pinterest, finding the right group board is a great way to get your pins in front of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people.
To see a full list of group bulletin boards, you can visit PinGroupie.com.
11. Apply for Rich Pins
To provide a more technical explanation, here is a photo from Pinterest about Rich Pins for Pinterest.
There are three types of Rich Pins:
- Recipe Featured Pins
- Product Rich Pin
- Article Rich Media Pin
Recipe Featured Pins
Make your recipe Pin a Recipe Rich Pin to boost its popularity!
With Pinterest’s Recipe Rich Pins, your Pin can feature ingredients, cooking time, title, serving size, and more . They’re a lot like the recipe rich snippets on Google!
At a glance, everything a DingTalk user needs to know! A must-have for food bloggers.
Product Rich Pin
Does your product Pin include product information such as price, ratings, and availability ?
If so, then you’ve got a product rich Pin for Pinterest!
See how the pillowcase Pin below instantly displays the price and rating? That’s where Product Rich Pins come in!
They’re great for quickly viewing everything a buyer might want to know about your product. Plus, they make it easy for people to find and buy your products.
Article Rich Media Pin
Article Rich Media Pins are perfect for bloggers and content creators (that’s you!). These Pins highlight the author, title, and description of the article .
This way, you’ll get a general idea of what the article is about and where it came from. Contentful article pins will show all the additional details that will entice readers to click!
Why Should You Bother Using Pinterest Rich Pins?
Why should you bother using Pinterest Rich Pins? Because they can effectively improve your Pinterest strategy!
They’re so attractive and filled with useful information that you can’t help but click on them. Just look at that cute little price tag to know this fall sweater is a Pin product!
Here’s a brief breakdown of its benefits:
- Stand out: Rich Pins are eye-catching and make your content stand out among Pinterest’s popular feeds.
- More information, more clicks: Pinners can see the best details without leaving Pinterest. This makes them more likely to visit your website.
- Boost SEO: Rich Pins help Pinterest (and other search engines) better understand your content. This can improve your rankings and bring in more traffic from Pinterest.
How to Get Pinterest Rich Pins
Ok, now that I’ve covered what they are and why they’re important, I’m going to explain how to get Rich Pins on Pinterest.
One thing has changed: you no longer have to apply for Rich Pins.
There are a few steps to enabling Rich Pins. Let’s dive in!
- Convert to or create a Pinterest business account.
- Connect your WordPress site to Pinterest.
- Add the right meta tags: You have to add Open Graph metadata tags to your website. This part is a bit technical. Therefore, I recommend using a WordPress schema plugin. Tasty Recipes, AIOSEO, and Yoast SEO plugins are great for this job.
- Pin your article or blog post!
Oh, and before I forget! You no longer have to validate your Rich Media Pins for Pinterest. Pinterest doesn’t even have a Rich Media Pin validator anymore.
12. Keep Pinning
What I like about Pinterest is that clicks on pins generally have a very long half-life compared to Facebook, especially if you offer evergreen content. But to drive traffic to your site, you need to pin consistently, which means pinning every day.
I recommend pinning at least 10 different pins per day. These pins should be a mix of pins that point to your site and pins that are resources that are useful to your audience.
Pinterest does reward people who consistently post Pins, ensuring their Pins are seen by more followers and more people over time.
13. Be patient
Generally speaking, as a social network matures, it becomes more difficult to gain more followers, but like most social networks, Pinterest can be very rewarding if you’re willing to invest the time and keep paying attention.
Over the years of working with Pinterest clients, I’ve noticed that those who provide valuable resources and create great pins will get more traffic if they stick around for at least a year.
But don’t expect to get great traffic results just from Pins. If you want results fast, you’ll most likely need to pay for Promoted Pins .
Starbucks has done a great job of increasing engagement on Pinterest by posting images related to their coffee products and community. On a board called “Coffee Moments ,” they post photos of customers enjoying their coffee and creative coffee images.
You can also engage your community by creating sub-boards. These boards can house staff, contributors, and followers, and can remain open for anyone to join. Contributors to sub-boards can become brand ambassadors, promoting your site's content on your behalf. Finally, you can occasionally contribute to other boards where you post pins with links to your site.
5. Host a competition
Contests are a convenient way to drive more engagement, traffic, and followers directly to your Pinterest boards, and indirectly attract more followers to your website.
One way to drive Pinterest traffic to your website is to have visitors participate in a contest you’re hosting on your website. This simply requires you to pin the contest to your Pinterest board. But let’s talk about how to run a contest directly on Pinterest.
For example, you could create a contest board named after your business and ask participants to submit their favorite item directly from your website (so include the URL) and include a comment on the board with why they like the item. The individual or individuals with the best comments could be declared the winner.
Other Tips
- Create buzz by promoting your contest to your email list, other social networks, and website visitors
- Offer a great prize. If your budget is limited, you can give away discount coupons or merchandise.
- Mention the date the winners will be announced
A good example of a contest is the HP SpectreXT laptop contest on Pinterest. Pinterest users participated in the contest where they were asked to create boards based on a weekly theme to win a $500 Amazon gift card or the laptop itself. HP posted a theme on its dedicated webpage and asked participants to create boards based on the theme, as well as pins featuring the laptop. Users also needed to create a login, submit the URL to the board through the site's page, and the winner was determined weekly through public voting.
The conclusion? HP incorporated the contest strategy into its website’s landing page, which was enough to drive traffic to its website. Participants visited the landing page to learn about the contest rules, and others also visited the website to submit their votes.
You can use apps like Wishpond or Gleam.io to organize your contest and promote it on other digital properties you own.
6. Take advantage of rich pins
Pinterest has introduced rich pins, enabling certain businesses to include more detailed information about their pins and integrating a Pin It button with the mobile app. The categories of pins that will display more information include: recipes, movies and products.
The difference between regular pins and rich pins is that the latter show the price and link directly to the product page on your website. Regular pins require you to enter the price manually, and people can only see the link when they hover over the product image.
Business owners who sell items on eBay or Etsy can also use Rich Pins. Pinterest has a detailed page on how businesses can apply for Rich Pins. The benefits include improved discoverability, higher click-through rates, and increased referral traffic to product pages.
Another standout feature of Rich Pins is the email notification when there is a price drop. This is called the “Live Pricing feature” of Rich Product Pins. So if someone Pins a product from your product page, and a week later you drop the price, that user will receive an email notification of the price change. This means that even if someone is not on your email list, Rich Pins will bring the Pin user back to your website.
Some online retailers use rich pins to drive traffic back to their websites. Here’s an example from OverStock’s Pinterest page .
Over to you
I hope these tips give you some ideas for how to increase referral traffic from Pinterest. As you implement these tips, measure the metrics in your Pinterest analytics to determine which method works best for you.
How do you use Pinterest to drive referral traffic? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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