In Part 1 of How to Use Pinterest to Drive Massive Traffic to Your Blog I explained the importance of the following:
- Install the save button to the main image featured in your blog so any potential customers who find your blog can add your image to their Pinterest profile.
- Install the Pinterest board widgets within your blog post to help you get more followers.
If you haven’t done it yet, I encourage you to do that right now.
Are you still wondering if Pinterest is the best of use of your time? Well guess what? Pinterest was just Pinterest named best social media platform for small businesses: New research suggests Pinterest, the visual bookmarking tool, has helped early-stage companies achieve growth more than any other social media channel.
How to Drive Massive Traffic to Your Blog
According to Kevin Roose from New York Magazine, “Pinterest’s growth should scare the hell out of Facebook, Twitter, Google, and every other company that will have to compete with it for the marketing budgets of big companies.”
Many publishers are still unaware of why their business should use Pinterest. They don’t get how creating images and repinning (sharing) images will help them with their business. They don’t get the whole picture. And they don’t understand how all these images drive traffic to their websites to increase sales. As a result, they are allowing their competition to get ahead of them.
Tip # 1, have a bigger better presence on Pinterest than you have today and make sure you are 1) doing the right things and 2) doing them correctly.
Here is a simplified explanation of how Pinterest works:
A business takes images from their website and pins them on their Pinterest page. When people on Pinterest find those images and click on them they are taken back to the company’s website.
That is how Pinterest drives traffic to your business’s website.
So, are you ready to jump in and get more traffic to your blog from Pinterest?
Here are three proven ways to use Pinterest to drive massive traffic to your blog:
1) Install the Article Rich Pin.
The Article Rich Pin helps you stand out (as shown below where the red arrow in pointing). They include headlines, author name, and story description to help Pinners find and save stories that matter to them. More importantly they rank higher in Pinterest’s search and, because they are more visible in a user’s home feed, they have a higher click-through rate too.
If you’re not technical, you’re going to need a web developer to do it for you. Get your Article Rich Pin here.
2) Pinterest sized images are a must.
Your blogs must have an image that is at least 800 x 1200 including some text overlay as shown below. Your images must consistently feature your branding so that you stand out over and above your competition.
The challenge for many bloggers is finding a way to create attention-sucking, eye ball-grabbing images that stand out and make Pinterest users click through your image in a sea of hundreds of other images on their home feed.
Make no mistake about it, you are competing for eye balls and attention on Pinterest… are you playing to win or mailing it in?
There are many ways to create images that drive traffic to your blog. Businesses can buy images, make images, and get their followers to help them collect images too.
Every business is unique, I help brands and businesses decipher what images they should create based on their Pinterest goals and the profile of their target audience.
3) Never leave your alt-text image empty.
One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is that they fail to fill in their alt-text image. This is important to do because it gives your images SEO juice. Google loves it and so does Pinterest. Don’t be lazy. Always make time to craft a proper alt text for every image you add to a blog post. Explain what the post is about and inject it with your most important keywords.
In summary, you have learned that:
- Pinterest images have the longest shelf life compared to all the other social networks.
- Install the Article Rich Pin.
- Always include a Pinterest image.
- Always fill in your alt-text image because it will help you rank higher on Pinterest.
I challenge you to master the basics and put what you’ve learned into practice. When you employ these blog tips you will be well on your way to getting more traffic from Pinterest, beating your competition, and in turn growing your sales.
This article was first published on Integrated Marketing Association.