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Organic traffic… we all want it. But when we seek it out through Google, it’s a long-term game. In fact, it can often take up to a year or more before bloggers see any real results.
But the good news is that Google is not the only organic traffic source out there. In fact, it’s a lot easier to get organic traffic from Pinterest. And in this article, we’re going to show you exactly how to get traffic from Pinterest to your blog.
The Value of Pinterest & Why It’s a Great Traffic Source
Any Pinterest marketer will tell you that Pinterest is one of the best-kept online marketing secrets out there. The reason for that is that it is very different than any other marketing platform, and because of that, a lot of marketers give up on it before they see success. That can be a good thing for you if you stick with it because it means there is less competition.
Pinterest is Not a Social Media Platform
One eye-opening fact about Pinterest that most people don’t know is that it is NOT a social media platform. You could say that it is a mix between a social media network and a search engine. But, a more accurate description of Pinterest is that it is a search engine. And that is why we can get so much traffic from it.
When you think about how people are using Pinterest, you can see why it isn’t really a social media platform…
- While you can comment on pins, it’s rare that people do.
- Most content is saved to our own personal boards so that we can access the content later. We don’t save it because we want to share it with others like we do on Facebook or Instagram.
- Pinterest Followers are more important when you are just starting out because they will see your content and can repin it to their boards, but once you’ve established yourself on Pinterest, your pins will be found regardless of how many followers you have.
While our Pinterest followers can see what we pin, people aren’t using the platform in that way. They are using it to search and discover new content. Therefore, it’s really a search engine and you need to understand the algorithm if you are going to know how to get traffic from Pinterest to your blog.
Pinterest is a Visual Discovery Engine
Pinterest is not only a search engine; it’s a visual discovery engine. People use it as a place to get inspiration and find ideas. It’s called Pinterest because when you save content on Pinterest, it’s like you are pinning stuff on virtual, categorized bulletin boards.
For example, just look at all of the awesome ideas that come up when you type in “DIY” on Pinterest…
It’s extremely visual, as you can see, so the graphics you use to pin the content from your blog are extremely important.
How Traffic Gets From Pinterest to Our Blogs
As a marketer, you want to curate and create content and post it onto boards related to topics that your audience would want to consume. Then, when people find something you have pinned, they can save it onto their own boards.
For example, here you can see some of our boards, which we have named according to topics that our audience enjoys…
Each pin links to a web page, and that is how you get the traffic. You can see what we mean in this image below. This is what it looks like when you click on a pin in Pinterest, and then if you click on either the image or the link on the right, you’ll be taken to the URL that goes with that graphic.
Why It’s So Powerful
There are a multitude of reasons why Pinterest is an extremely powerful marketing platform, especially when it comes to getting traffic to your blog…
- There is so much more potential for organic reach than there is on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram since Pinterest is a search engine at its core.
- It’s much less competitive than Google, so it’s easier for your content to be found.
- It’s easy to get people to your blog (it’s a great source of traffic). Social media platforms want you to stay on their platform so they make it difficult for you to click a link that takes you out of it. Pinterest is a search engine so it is meant to get people to click over to the content on your website.
- You can have fast growth without ads.
- Your reach is much higher than on social media platforms. For example, on Facebook, you can expect only about 10% of your followers to see your organic posts (and it’s often much lower). If you use the techniques in this article, your reach on Pinterest will be much higher.
Did you know you can make money on Pinterest without a blog?
How to Get Traffic From Pinterest to Your Blog
To learn how to get traffic from Pinterest to your blog, there are five main areas you’ll need to understand and execute strategically. Let’s look at them now.
Setting Your Pinterest Account Up For Success
There are several key elements to a successful Pinterest profile that are paramount for getting traffic to your blog:
Create a Pinterest Business Account
If you are starting fresh and you don’t already have a Pinterest account, make sure to create a business account from the get go. If, on the other hand, you already have a personal account, you’ll just need to convert it to a business account by going here.
Claim Your Website
By claiming your website with Pinterest, it lets Pinterest know that you own the content you share from your website. It also is what allows you to view important analytics so you can determine how your content is performing. You can click here for instructions on how to claim your website with Pinterest, but if you are using WordPress, the easiest way is through the Yoast plugin.
Apply for Rich Pins
When you have rich pins enabled on your Pinterest account, it pulls certain info from your blog content and displays it in a “rich” way on your pins so that they stand out more. Pinterest offers instructions for setting rich pins up here, but once again, we find that the easiest way is through the Yoast plugin (if you are using WordPress).
Create Relevant Boards
Create at least 5 boards for categories that your audience would want to see. Name them with keywords that your audience would search for.
Follow Some Relevant Boards/Pinners
Follow some related boards by other pinners so that you can see what others are doing and so that you can find content to pin in addition to your own content. You can find some by searching by keyword and filtering by people.
When you find some that are of interest to you, check out the profiles. Look at all of their boards and decide if you want to follow their whole account or just certain boards.
Pin some content to your boards from the people you are now following to start building out your boards. Make sure to click through and view the content before pinning it to ensure it isn’t spam and that the pin matches the content.
Pinning Your Content For Better Engagement
The key to getting engagement on Pinterest is in creating graphics that pull people in. Use eye-catching imagery and clear fonts that are easy to read and pleasing to the eye. For example, here are some graphics that need improvement…
The graphic on the left is just an image without any text overlays, which isn’t very eye-catching. The one in the middle has a text overlay, but it is hard to read and it is in a font that reminds me of a haunted house, which is not at all indicative of what the article is about. And the graphic on the right cracks me up because it’s a graphic for an article about how to create Pinterest images that people click on but I don’t think it’s strong at all.
Now, let’s look at some graphics that are strong…
You can probably immediately see the difference when you look at these graphics. They use strong and clear text that is easy to read and that draws your attention to it. They use a combination of fonts and colors that make it pleasing to the eye and that make the right words stand out.
We love Canva for creating graphics because it is so easy to create stunning graphics. Plus, it is free (with an optional paid upgrade). Here are some tips for creating your graphics:
- Use a 2:3 aspect ratio, such as 600×900 or 1000×1500.
- Use similar fonts and colors to keep your branding consistent.
- Add your logo and website URL to the graphic.
- Create 2-5 graphics for each blog post or piece of content that you are sharing on Pinterest. This helps you avoid duplicate content when you are pinning the same blog post several times to the same board, and it also allows you to test out different graphics to see what is most effective.
Pinterest SEO For Better Rankings
It is very important to use keywords when you are posting your blog content on Pinterest. To discover the best keywords to use, type a keyword in the Pinterest search box and see what populates on the autosuggestions that come up. It will also sometimes bring up keywords in colored boxes below the search field.
Use keywords in the following places:
- Your profile name
- Your profile description
- Pin descriptions
- The file names of your graphics
- The text on your graphics
- Board titles
- Board descriptions
- Hashtags at the end of your pin descriptions
- Titles and meta details of the articles you are linking out to from Pinterest
NOTE: Don’t engage in keyword stuffing. Use keywords, but make sure they make cohesive sentences and titles. If it’s obvious that you’re just trying to get a bunch of keywords in, you went too far. It should look and sound natural.
Expand Your Reach With Tailwind
One of the fastest ways to expand your reach is to use Tailwind. If you want to know how the most successful Pinterest marketers are getting traffic from Pinterest to their blogs, this is the way. Here’s why:
- It automates the pinning process so that you don’t have to be a slave to your Pinterest account.
- It’s easy to keep track of what you’ve pinned to avoid duplicate content.
- It automatically pins your content at the times when you get most engagement.
- You can loop your evergreen pins so that they will go out every few months over and over again.
- You can set up intervals to space out your pins.
- You can view valuable analytics that are much better and reliable than Pinterest analytics.
- It gives you more engagement and reach through Tailwind Tribes. These are groups that allow you to collaborate with other pinners to share each other’s content. This is how you can get your content seen right away even when you are just starting out without any followers.
As you can see, Tailwind is well worth it, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find any successful pinners who aren’t using it. Tailwind offers a free 14-day trial, which you can access here.
Expand Your Reach With Group Boards
Group boards are similar to Tailwind Tribes, but they are through Pinterest, not Tailwind. They are boards on people’s personal Pinterest accounts that they have opened up to other pinners. When you pin on a group board, your content is seen by the followers of that board, giving you more exposure.
The easiest way to search for group boards is to just look at the boards of people you are following on Pinterest. When you see an icon that has multiple people in it, it means it is a group board and there will usually be information about how to join the board in the board description.
How to Get Approved to Join a Group Board
Getting approved to pin on a group board can be difficult simply because group board owners are inundated with requests and they simply can’t respond to all of them. So, here are some steps to help you get approved:
- Pin content to your own boards before making any requests because board owners will look at your boards to decide if they want to approve you.
- Check the performance of the group board on Tailwind to make sure it’s a board that is going to benefit you.
- Look at the content of the board and make sure it is not spam and is quality content that you want to be associated with.
- Follow the board before asking to join it.
- Contact the board owner (look for an email in the board description or look for contact info on their website or message them on Pinterest).
- Keep in mind that getting approved for group boards is a numbers game. You can expect to apply to many and only get approved for a few. But it’s still worth it!
In Summary
By understanding how Pinterest works, now you know how to get traffic from Pinterest to your blog, and you don’t have to shy away from this strategy like most marketers do.
Want to Blog Like the Big Wigs?
Now that you know how to get traffic from Pinterest to your blog, you probably also want to know how to start earning killer money from your blog. Just replicate these four $25K affiliate marketing examples!
Looking for more ways to earn money?
Check out the video below to learn how I went from $0 to $3,000,000:
