Last Updated on October 29, 2021 by Taylor
Website traffic can feel so dang elusive.
You may already know that Pinterest is huge for driving traffic, but you may not know exactly how to make it work for you.
Why do some people seem to get all the traffic, and others are stuck with zilch?
It’s like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Cool, 6 kids get golden tickets, but what about everyone else?
Of course, that’s not how it actually works (thank goodness!). While it can feel like that, the only person in direct control of your traffic is you.
You know you have something great to offer, but how do you get it in front of the right audience?
Pinterest can be your golden ticket out of no-man’s land. It can bring in tons of traffic to your website, but only if it’s done right.
It’s the #1 traffic generator for this blog and it helps me sell products in my online shop.
Below, I’m giving you 5 steps to build a solid Pinterest strategy for your business, so you can start raking in that Pinterest traffic!
1. Optimize Your Profile
From the beginning, you want to create a profile that gets you found.
When someone searches for keywords in your niche, you want to show up, right?
And if they click on your profile, you want to have a memorable profile picture and a call-to-action (whether it’s asking someone to click over to your website, join your email list, or something similar).
Here’s an in-depth post on 6 ways to optimize your Pinterest profile.
2. Utilize Pinterest SEO
The more you master Pinterest SEO, the more people will see your pins. It’s that simple.
There are 2 big mistakes I see people make with Pinterest SEO.
The first: not using it. Unfortunately, just pinning an image and hoping for the best won’t get you very far. At the very least, write 2 sentences (with relevant keywords) in the description for the pins from your site.
If you can add more, that’s even better. Here’s a post to help you harness the power of Pinterest SEO (plus all the places you should be adding keywords).
The second big mistake: keyword-stuffing. Pinterest actually penalizes you when your descriptions are stuffed with all keywords and no natural sentences.
So try to stick with a handful of keyword phrases, and sprinkle them into a paragraph that humans can actually read. 🙂
3. Create Click-Worthy Pins
Pinterest is, first and foremost, a visual platform.
If your images aren’t attractive, they won’t get clicked (no matter how kick-ass your keyword strategy is).
So here are some tips to make sure you’re creating pins that convert:
- Use a graphic design tool (like Canva).
- Always create vertical pins. Pinterest prefers pins to be longer than they are wide (a 2:3 aspect ratio).
- Use a mix of images and graphic elements.
- Add text overlay.
- Use attractive (not distracting) colors & fonts.
You can even use animated graphics to easily turn your static pins into video pins! Here’s a step-by-step tutorial for how to make an animated video pin in Canva.
4. Grow Your Following
Pinterest followers aren’t just a vanity number, like they can be on other platforms.
This may sound obvious, but more followers means more views on your pins (and, hopefully, more re-pins and traffic).
In the beginning, one of the most important ways to grow your following is to follow other pinners who are interested in your niche.
They’ll get a notification that you followed them, and they may choose to follow you back.
Here are 8 more strategies for growing your following on Pinterest.
Another important consideration: when you have a clear niche (as in, your boards aren’t a jumbled mess of random topics), you’ll be targeting the right audience. And that’s much more impactful than tons of followers who aren’t interested in your niche.
5. Expand Your Reach
The two best ways to expand your reach on Pinterest are joining group boards and using Tailwind.
When you pin the same pin to different group boards, Pinterest doesn’t consider that as duplicate or spam. It’s a great way to get more eyeballs on your pins and get more clicks to your site.
You can find group boards by typing in the search bar, or by looking at popular pinners in your niche and seeing which group boards they’re a part of. Then, apply to join the ones that are related to your business. The more related the board is to your niche, the better.
As for Tailwind, there are so many benefits it’s insane.
It allows you to schedule pins, so you can pin consistently at the times your followers are online (with much less effort than manually pinning).
And it puts your pins in front of power pinners, so you’re more likely to get lots of re-pins and expand your potential audience.
I wrote a super in-depth post discussing my Tailwind strategy and how to get the most out of it.
There you have it: 5 steps to skyrocket your traffic from Pinterest. Now, get out there and dominate on Pinterest! 🙂
Want to learn all my best Pinterest tips and strategies (including the Combo Pinning Method)? I’ve put it all into this handy ebook. Check it out here.
