Did you know that 250 million people flock to Pinterest each month for new ideas and inspiration?
No joke. In fact, Pinterest is one of the top search engines in the world and the most popular image search engine? It competes only with Google, YouTube, and Bing for the average number of monthly searches.
With 93% of account-holders using Pinterest to map out their purchases and 40% of them having a household income of over $100k per year (source), there’s no doubt that you should be utilizing this platform to your business’ advantage.
But here’s the million dollar question: how do you get your pins seen by these people?
I’ve been spending the past year researching how to do just that, and I’m here, ready to share it with you.
In this post, we’ll go over:
- Step 1: How to dial in a solid Pinterest strategy
- Step 2: How to create clickable, shareable pins
- Step 3: How to automate your strategy, while getting tons of repins
- Step 4: A growth hack that will get you tons of engaged followers
So without further ado, here are the exact four steps I used to skyrocket my Pinterest account to 5 million monthly viewers…
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So here’s how it starts:
Last August, my biggest blog (HolleewoodHair.com) was hit pretty hard by Google’s “medic update.” My monthly traffic from Google literally dropped by 60% overnight.
I decided that I could either spend all my time and energy trying to chase those lost pageviews, or I could figure out a different way to recover them. Since Pinterest was my next highest source of traffic, I figured I’d start there.
I was actually surprised by how easy it was to get those numbers up. I mean, don’t get me wrong: it takes time, especially with a brand new account. I’m not promising you overnight success with minimal effort.
However, I do believe that Pinterest is much, much easier to crack than Google or any other platform for that matter.
So here’s what you do…
Step 1: Adopt a Strategy That Works
If you think that you’ll be able to grow your traffic on a personal Pinterest account with a million different boards, you’ll be sadly mistaken.
Since Pinterest is a search engine, you need to treat it like a search engine. Therefore, you need to optimize your account for Pinterest SEO (search engine optimization).
But what does it all mean?
Well, Pinterest has no idea what your pin is about unless you specify the topic (after all, it’s just a computer). If Pinterest doesn’t know what your pin is about, your pin will sink into the ocean of other random pins.
On the other hand, if Pinterest understands your pin, it will show it to people who are searching for that particular topic. It will also show it in the “related pins” section of similar pins. All this equates to getting eyes on your pins and possible click-throughs to your site.
So how do you tell Pinterest what your pins are about?
Let’s back things up a bit.
You need first to convert your account to a business account and enable “rich pins,” which shows the user (and Pinterest) extra information about your pin.
Next, you need to find specific keywords people are looking for and optimize your pins for those keywords. You’ll need to sprinkle the keywords in the pin description, on the pin itself, in the post (and title of the post) that the pin links to and even the boards you pin it to.
You should also utilize hashtags in your pin description, in a way that helps Pinterest understand what your pin is about (#ThisIsMyFavoriteDressEVER won’t be nearly as good as #SpringDress).
Once you have your keywords dialed in, you need to learn how to create fresh content (Pinterest considers new pins for old blog posts to be fresh content and will prioritize it). You’ll need to find the best times to pin your content and how to strategically pin to group boards.
All of this is part of a big-picture strategy that you need to develop.
Are you still confused?
All the details of a perfect Pinterest strategy would be way too much to list in a single blog post. Just know that fine-tuning your pin descriptions, boards, board descriptions, and everything else about your account is non-negotiable if you want to get your pins in front of the right people.
Since there is much more that goes into it, and I know you’re on a tight budget, I want to recommend the PERFECT resource for you: Pinterest With Ell.
This is one of the best investments you can make as a blogger, whether you’re new to the game or a bit more seasoned. I bought this course after blogging for over five years, and I learned a TON from it.
It has literally been the game-changer for my Pinterest strategy.
Ever since I started implementing the techniques I learned from the course, my traffic has been skyrocketing. These days, Pinterest is my #1 source of traffic, and I get thousands of page views each day (with that number continuing to grow).
The best thing about this course is that it’s insanely affordable. I’ve spent anywhere from $300 to $1,200 on other blogging courses, which is ironic since this one has probably helped me the most (for a small fraction of those other prices).
As this course continues to grow in popularity, Ell has been slowly increasing the price. The good news is that if you purchase it at the current rate, you’ll have lifetime access to the course with all future updates.
Step 2: Create Clickable, Shareable Pins
Pinterest does this thing where it judges how good your pin is by how much engagement it gets at the beginning of its life.
This is a good thing. If Pinterest deems your pin valuable, it will make sure your pin shows up in more searches, and higher up in those search results. This all equates to more eyes on your pin and more visitors to your blog.
BUT it also means that you need to create really good pins that will entice people to click through and repin them if you want to succeed.
Some tips to make people share your pins:
- Create infographics. People love sharing infographics, but you probably won’t get a lot of clicks on them. Nevertheless, getting repins will help increase the reach of your other pins. You can make free infographics on Canva by using premade templates.
- Like infographics, vague lists tend to get shared a lot. I also get a lot of click-throughs on lists because people want more information about what you just told them. Here’s one of my list pins that gets a lot of engagement each month.
- Things that inspire your readers will get tons of saves. Lifestyle portrayals of products, pictures of hairstyles, and pretty photos of finished recipes are all things that people like to repin.
- Don’t use faces on your pins. They say that “Pinterest is for dreamers,” meaning that people are looking for inspiration. By not adding a face, it helps the reader imagine whatever your pin is about fitting into their own life.
(FYI, repin, share and save all mean the same thing in this context)
Some tips to get click-throughs on your pins:
- Don’t give everything away on your infographic or list. Ask the reader to continue reading the article on your blog.
- Add a call-to-action. Phrases like “find out how you can do this too” or “see how this can help your business” make the reader want to click.
- Use an enticing title with power words. Would you rather click through something like 10 Things to Do After You Install WordPress or 10 Crucial Steps to Take When Setting Up Your WordPress Blog? Provoking emotion makes the reader want to know more.
- Let the reader know that they’ll receive value by clicking. If you have a freebie to give them, let them know about it. Tell them what value they’ll get by reading the article. They want to know what’s in it for them.
The last thing I want to note is that most blogs I follow and trust are because I was in love with their pins. If I see beautiful pins over and over from a well-branded blog, I’ll eventually have to click it and see what that blog is about.
Use high-quality fonts and graphics that will make you stand out (you can find some amazing deals on Creative Market). You can also check out my post about gorgeous font pairings that help you brand your blog.
If you’re still struggling to create pretty pins, have no fear. I have some premade Canva templates that I’ve even used on my own blogs to create viral pins (like this one and this one). There’s no shame in getting a little help when needed.
Step 3: Automate & Get Lots of Repins
I don’t really want to make this another post about how amazing Tailwind is since Pinterest is packed to the brim with those. However, because I don’t think I could function without it, I have to mention it as part of my strategy.
Tailwind is crucial to your success because:
- It allows you to schedule your pin to several relevant boards with the click of a button (Ell’s Pinterest course teaches you how to set this up).
- It schedules your content to optimal timeslots, which are specially formulated for your account. This maximizes engagement, which maximizes your reach (like we talked about in the last section).
- It makes it easy to schedule loads of relevant pins (from other people) to your boards, which helps Pinterest understand what your boards are about. This also gives your followers more value.
- It saves you tons of time, which is your most valuable asset as a blogger.
- It gives you access to Tailwind Tribes. Let’s talk about that a little bit more…
Tailwind Tribes
Tribes are basically groups that you can join where everyone shares their pins and repins other people’s content from the Tribe. Tribe rules usually state that you must save one pin for every pin you share.
I’ve found that you can get the most engagement from niche-specific tribes. For instance, HolleewoodHair pins do better in Tribes about beauty and fashion than “share all your pins” type Tribes.
I’ll just come out and say that you should splurge for Tribe power-ups if you’re able to afford it. This allows you to post more content to your Tribes each month, which gets your content in front of more people, which drives more traffic to your blog.
Here’s How I Use Tailwind:
Every 1-2 days, I create a new pin for a popular article or an article that’s good but doesn’t get a lot of traffic. I make it clickable and/or shareable and schedule it to a relevant board.
Next, I schedule it to all other relevant boards and group boards (within one day of each other) and submit it to all relevant tribes.
On the weekends, I repin enough content from my tribes and group boards to fill up the rest of my queue for the week.
I actually get a lot of traffic directly from Tailwind Tribes, but more importantly, I get a lot of repins and shares. All of this maximizes my reach, which makes my account do better overall.
I’m guessing you already use Tailwind if you’re using Pinterest for business. But if not, I really suggest you try it for free with my link. It’s an investment that will make all the difference for your business.
Step 4: Target Followers that Will Click Your Pins
The last thing I want to share with you is a quick growth hack to help you get more targeted, engaged followers.
Like we talked about already, Pinterest judges the value of your pin based on how much engagement it gets in the beginning of it’s life. But how does it do this?
It shows it to your followers and measures how many close-ups, click-throughs and saves they give it.
In other words, it’s SUPER important to have followers that actually like your content and engage with it. Buying followers online or participating in “follow for follow” threads can actually hurt your account because of this reason.
So then how do you get followers that actually want to engage with your pins?
Here are a few ways I’ve found to help:
- Be consistent. Pin high-quality content from similar bloggers in your niche and remember to do it consistently.
- Share pretty pins to Tailwind Tribes. Like I previously mentioned, some of the blogs I follow came from me seeing their beautiful pins in Tailwind Tribes.
- Find niche-specific “follow for follow” groups. As long as the followers engage in your content, it’s all good.
- Ask your followers from other platforms and your e-mail subscribers to follow you on Pinterest. Sometimes, that’s all it takes.
- Use MiloTree. Let’s talk about that.
MiloTree is a super cool, really easy-to-use popup that asks people on your site to follow you on Pinterest (or Instagram and Facebook). This is the absolute best way to get engaged followers since they come directly from your website.
It’s free for the first 30 days, but only costs $9 per month after that, making it super easy to work into your budget.
Check out these other benefits of using MiloTree.
Final Thoughts
If you aren’t leveraging Pinterest for your business, you’re leaving money on the table.
This powerful platform can drive thousands of new people to your website each month which can convert to more sales and ad revenue. It’s much easier to crack than other social media websites or Google, which makes it a perfect starting point for any blog.
Follow these four steps, and I’d be willing to be that you’ll grow your own Pinterest account to monumental heights as I did.
RELATED:
- 7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Sabotaging Your Pinterest Strategy
- Skyrocket Your Pinterest Traffic with Vertical Video Pins for Free!
- 25 Gorgeous Font Pairings to Instantly Transform Your Brand
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YOUR TURN: Do you have any other Pinterest growth hacks you’d like to add? What are your monthly viewers at Pinterest at? Drop your comments below! 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼