Pinterest is the third biggest search engine after Google and YouTube. It is particularly interesting to us because of the close relationship between users and the intent to buy. Expert users put this as high as 75% on Pinterest, compared to only 40% intent on Google and Facebook. So although Facebook has the most targeted traffic, the results may be poor compared to pinterest because of the intent-to-buy. Pinners tend to pin collections of ideas and information on their next purchases, while they are researching products.
Using the pinterest search engine then , gives us insight into the number of searches for a topic , so is a great aid to checking there is an audience for our work.
Create Pins that Link to Great resources
Ideally you should collect all the keywords that come up in pinterest, check too in Googles keyword planner , for related search terms. Once you have the list, write a really detailed blog post that would be a resource that people would want to read and/or create a YouTube video on the subject too.
Now create Pins with links to your valuable blog post resource . Create about 10 to 20 pins to link to the post ALL Different pictures and captions. Do not pin the same pin more than once a month, Pinterest has low tolerance for repeat pinning, they call it spamming, although you can appeal, it is better to just create all new pins each time.
Within the post be sure to include as many sub keywords as possible, so for example if you were talking about industry in Europe, include sub headings for German Industry, French industry, Dutch….. etc.
Be sure to look at other websites ranking for the same search term and look at the length of their post, the relevancy , the subheadings and the detail. If you can “Skyscraper” it, ie make it longer, more relevant and more detailed, then Google and Pinterest will rank you higher and you will benefit from the higher traffic.
Aim to Grow your Followers and Reach
Followers and Non followers – On a daily basis, follow about 20 to 100 pinners. Make a note of their URLs so that when you come to check, a week later, if they have followed you back, you can UNFollow them if not. This strategy is essential if you are not to have too many non-followers on your profile, which looks bad. Note that to some extent followers is a vanity metric, worth growing , but more important is the number of Clicks through to your website – which after all is the reason you are pinning.
Rich Pins information
This is gathered automatically ( once its set up in pinterest ) the post meta description on your website and make it available on the PIN. So set it up on Pinterest in your profile, first step is to CLAIM your website, then ensure that every post on your site to which you intend to send Pinterest links , has a good description with all the keywords that you’re trying to rank for.
Advertising Agencies
What are the big Ad agencies, Google Adsense, MediaVine, Ad Thrive all looing for ?
- A community in the United States( biggest audience)
- A clearly targeted audience
- Intent to buy audience
All of these are available with Pinterest and so much more than with any other platform. So by investing in Pinterest traffic, you will be accepted into these Ad schemes so much more easily. MediaVines minimum of 25k sessions/month applies to ONE region, if you’re targeting the whole world, MV is not going to be interested.
Anatomy of a Pin and how Pinterest Understands it
Your rank and therefore how much traffic you receive from a pin depends on how Pinterest ‘understands’ the pin. Everything about the pin should be congruent so Pinterest clearly sees the pin as very relevant for the keyword, pin description, niche, board and webpage
The picture will be analysed by Pinterest and its algorithm will decide it’s a man working on a computer, which would tie in with the Text on the pin “need a side income”. Already its pretty easy to pigeon hole this pin as being about earning a side income online. The pin should be saved to a relevant board
Our board is ” how to start an online business ” there is also a board description which amplifies the link between business and side income
Here is the full board description :
Ways to create a side income or a side hustle, using Pinterest as a great traffic source and generating traffic to a website page. It is a great method and could go on to become your main full time business.
The pin title is “need a side income” which is exactly the same as the text on the pin
Our Pin description includes the phrase “make money online” which as above, has been tied to the board and the title. There are other keywords included in the description, like “drive traffic from Pinterest” and ” free Pinterest Traffic” .
Note the hashtags at the bottom of the pin description
#workfromhome #sideincome #sidehustle #generatecashfromhome
#sideincome is included, making it rock solid that pinterest is going to rank this pin correctly in the right area
Pinterest uses these hashtags to link relevant pins and for search
The webpage the pin links to is “my-computer-tuition.co.uk/best ways to make money online” so again the whole pin is congruent
lastly – make use of the Alt text, although provided mainly for people with sight impairment , using screen readers, the phrase “side income” should be included
repins and engagement
This is going to take time, find the most popular pins and engage with them.
Post fresh and original content. Bear in mind 80% of pins are repins !
Stand out from the crowd, go to town on your visual presentation
Make detailed descriptions
Name your Board thoughfully !
Join relevant Group Boards?
The relevance of joining Group-boards went down in 2018 with a change in Pinterests algorithm. Many people would just join irrelevant boards and begin posting. So Pinterests ‘Idea’ about the focus of that GB would be much less clear.
IF you can find one that has a CLEAR FOCUS OF SUBJECT or NICHE , then Group boards are still a way to increase the number of people seeing your pins. If you join a group board with 100k members , the eyeballs on your pins will rocket up. However GBs have their own rules which you must stick to and more recently tailwind tribes has become the best way to do what Gbs did. Tailwind is a paid product, so I would only recommend it once your blog and Pinterest account is generating some income.
TailWind Tribes
Tailwind is the best way to boost your Pinterest progress.
- You can maintain a daily presence on the platform, by scheduling
- Pin composition can be done within the Tw editor
- The app has access to many more important KEY analytics
- the looping feature will do repins at the recommended rates
- all the Pinterest limits will be observed ( TW is an official approved app )
- Tribes of people are groups with the same intent or niche
as with dieting and exercise , little and often, beats a once a week blitz ! The scheduler will pin at the best time, the right number of pins , to the right boards, then to other boards, all your pins, preloaded into the app. TW will allow you to compete with others operating full-time on the platform, without you actually being on Pinterest every day.
Enabling Post Pinning
There is one last step to complete your work promoting this post. With all the work you have had to do , so far – Design your PIN, create the PIN, actually pin it on Pinterest , fill in Title, Description, Link to the blog post – here is the last step – invite your visitor to Pin it (share) onto their board and invite the visitor to Follow you :
- Put a ‘follow me’ widget on your webpage
- Put a ‘Pin It’ widget on the images
So, if your web visitor arrived at the blog through another search engine, like Google, they can add the pin to their own Pinterest account and if your content is exactly what they like – they can EASILY become a follower.
Having done all the work to get a visitor, these two extras are often overlooked. All likes, shares and repins count, so do not overlook this !
How to do this: 1.Go to the pinterest Developers page, copy the script onto your webpages ( or use a “add to head” type plugin ) and simply add the script call , wherever its needed.
Alternatively: 2.Use a plugin like the excellent” Head, Footer and Post Injection” by Stefano Lissa and make the script a once only event, instead of doing it on every page. Then add the script call wherever the “Save” or “Follow” buttons are required.
OR ….. 3. Use a purpose built WP plugin like “BestWebSoft -Pinterest ” fill out the settings and use the shortcodes given wherever you need the follow or Pin It buttons.
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