Why Pinterest and How You Can Attract over 70% Blog Traffic with It, Even if You are New to It!

(This article on WHY PINTEREST was first published on Aug 6th 2017, a Lot has Changed since and we keep updating you monthly on what and what it means for your business)

Have you ever stumbled across a website and you literally got sucked in and before you know it you have spent a couple of hours on there simply browsing, saving, pinning, snooping… At the time, I wasn’t even looking at this website as a business tool. That was me circa 2015 and the website in question was Pinterest.com.

For about 6 months all I did on there was check out gorgeous homes, destinations, DIY stuff, picked up dinner ideas and makeup tutorials!

Then one day I came across a discussion among bloggers on a Facebook Group…They were all saying how they don’t have a traffic problem as they get a ton from Pinterest…WHAT? I stopped scrolling and paid attention and the rest is history!

But…I jump ahead of myself.

What is Pinterest?

It is a platform that was launched online to a select few, by invitation only. Pinterest was launched in 2012 by co-founders Ben Silbermann, Evan Sharp and Paul Sciarra. And if you wish to learn a whole lot more and why its a huge mistake not utilizing Pinterest  for your business, then read on.

Thank goodness, today anyone can use pinterest!

In addition to being intensely visual, Pinterest taps into a very fundamental human behavior! We humans have an overwhelming desire to collect things. Including stuff with no apparent value! Do you love shoes, I do, I have some still boxed and I mean for years!

I collect shiny stones from beaches I visit, I also was a stamp collector as a kid, the collection is in my loft…! Don’t judge lol.

And guess what I can do? I can digitally feed my desire to collect & hoard more shoes, handbags, info, courses, and any paraphernalia via Pinterest. My shoe addiction is kinda under control now that I work from home thanks to Pinterest. Doesn’t matter that I may never look at it again. Pinterest is a Collector and hoarder’s digital paradise.

I can search, collect, organise, share and even comment all in one visual cuisine. That this is all kept in one place for me to find is bliss. This sums up Pinterest’s success model as an online social platform!

Click Here to Learn More

So, what is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a Visual Social Search Engine…A mouthful huh! But that’s exactly what it is. Lots of people kinda dont know that It IS a search engine, the easiest to use and rank your content on. Period! 

The long vertical images you see on Pinterest are called Pins and we users call ourselves pinners. In the old days, we used to PIN images and linked content. More recently we “Save” the images.

The pinners, find and curate content based on their niche, interests or topic/subject of interest. It can be tips and ideas on:

• Social media and Digital marketing
• Home décor,
• Inspirational quotes,
• Travel and holiday destinations,
• Training, marketing, how to…
• Design, events,
• Wedding and gift ideas,
• Recipes i.e. food and drink,
• DIY crafts,
• Gardening,
• Fashion, hair and beauty,
• Health and fitness, pets, and much more

With over 150 million monthly users as per Pinterest Stats Sept 2016, surely your share of the market is waiting for you on pinterest.

Way back in 2012 this is what Amy Porterfield said of Pinterest:

“Would you love to tap into the power of a social media site that can send you more referral traffic than Twitter? Bring you more leads than LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube combined? Convert more fans into paying customers who will easily share your content with their friends?”

What are the Other Numbers – Why Consider Pinterest?

See what Pinterest Says about the numbers, brief in image below.

Let’s break it down: If your target market are women and usually they are. Then you have over 60% on Pinterest and a high number of these being millennials. Guess who are big spenders? Yup, millennials. They earn in excess of $50k per year with 10% Pinterest users earning in excess of $125k per year!

Well, these big spenders are projected to spend over $1 trillion in less than 4 years via Pinterest! Did I hear a wow, you betcha!

Yes, you may have heard that the majority of pinners are women. Well, men are catching up pretty fast at 40%.

Did you also notice that over 87% pinners have purchased something inspired by Pinterest?

Guess what, I am one of those prolific buyers…!

I search and pin: birthday gifts, wedding gifts, personal makeup and fashion ideas, DIY stuff, Online marketing and social media stuff, Pinterest related content. And I never have a dull day in the kitchen with Pinterest – almost! ? My sister-in-law, based in Uganda is a big pinterest spender as well!

This therefore, begs the question;

Who Should Be on Pinterest?

Apart from using it for personal pleasure you mean, right?

If you market any kind of product, service, own a business on or offline, are an internet marketer i.e. network, affiliate marketer, home-based business owner, MLMer, entrepreneur, writer, author, savvy corporate, blogger, content marketer. Then you should be on Pinterest!

I’m sure you are thinking, so what? That’s not enough reason for me to get my gear on Pinterest, is it?

Well, check this out…over 70% pinterest content is business driven. Meaning you too have an opportunity to get your gear on there. And being relatively new, you are in with a chance to build your business with pinterest traffic faster than any other platform online. Period.

[bctt tweet=”Check this out; over 70% pinterest content is business driven, Get on it Now! #WhyPinterest #Pinterestforbusiness” username=”Juleskalpauli”]

Once you start sharing your goodies on Pinterest and other people share it too, you will start to see traffic to your offers. Did I hear MORE Brand exposure? Exactly.

And you can even check which content is getting the most traffic shares with this link https://www.pinterest.com/source/yourwebsiteurl.com/

Once you done that, guess what? Whichever pins are doing well, definitely repin them already. This brings them back up to the top of your boards and hopefully the Pinterest Smart-feed too. And can be seen by your new followers too. Getting new traffic to your content. More Traffic = More leads = More sales.

 You can check out our cross-pinning strategy so you can get even more exposure for your content = more traffic baby!

But Syl, I have no clue how to get started…Oops Hang on!

You need to create your business account first. Go do that Here. Or turn your personal account into a business one. ITS FREE, so get on with it will ya!

Okay, here is some help mate…

Below are 3 essential things you must implement in order to set up your pinterest for business account for success:

• Make sure you use a clear professional front facing image of YOU. Not a generic image or a product image. This is your Pinterest business account not a company product page! Use a quality recognizable photo of your face. You are the brand right! Check out the New profile layout below

• Ensure your profile description has Your Keyword/s and of course showcase that you are there to help other people succeed.

• Also ensure your Boards descriptions also have your Keyword/s because Google indexes these. i.e. people can find your pinterest business page and offers via search engines.

Tune in for more ninja tips here

Is Pinterest Hard to Use?

On Pinterest, ease is the order of the day! My sister-in-law is not fussed about technology and if Pinterest was hard to use, she wouldn’t bother. Most chefs and fashionistas, even bloggers are not that technical either. So, Pinterest’s ease of use is the magnet!  

Pinterest is image focused, which images lead to content or not depending on the pinner. So, it is pretty easy to get started on and build up. Therefore, you must be wondering…

[bctt tweet=”Pinterest is all about being Easy like a Sunday morning. Learn how to Use it Today #Pinterestforbusiness #WhyPinterest” username=”Juleskalpauli”]

How Long do I have to Spend on Pinterest?

Well it depends on what you are looking for, innit!   I could stay on there for hours lol. But as an entrepreneur with a life, a family, clients, a team and stuff to do, I say take a course and have a roadmap.

Set your systems up in a professional manner and then you need only spend 10-15 minutes on Pinterest. Literally those minutes are spent on scheduling your content and also checking your efforts aka analytics/tracking. Absolutely automate your efforts with this resource and watch your traffic numbers explode.

Make sure to check Pinterest Best Practice so you don’t land in trouble and get your account shut down. It is very hard to get it back, not saying this to scare you!  

So, the best way to get your pinterest in ship shape is get some training under your belt. I have a Free Resource I created that you can DOWNLOAD immediately here or use banner below. Then you can be set up to start attracting traffic today.

Be sure to visit Pinterest at peak traffic times for your time zone. Usually between 10am -6pm. Serve your audience where they are!

Why Is It a Mistake avoiding Pinterest?

Did you know that people behave different on Pinterest as opposed to other social platforms? The thing is one doesn’t have to spend hours posting to be successful on Pinterest. I look at pinterest like a major player in our brand success. WHY?

Because people go to Pinterest to be inspired and plan their life, events, days, etc. Other experts say people go to pinterest to plan their future. Powerful! They often times use it to search for stuff they end up buying. There is NO OTHER Social Media Platform be it Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc with this same effect.

It has been proven statistically that; Pinterest is the best place to search products to buy, as opposed to Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

[bctt tweet=”Other experts say people go to Pinterest to plan their future! Powerful! #whypinterest #pinterestforbusiness” username=”Juleskalpauli”]

So….

If you aren’t on pinterest or using it properly to Build your business…

• You are leaving money on the table, losing out on a ton of traffic and also letting your competition run away with the prize.

• Also, you have no clue what the market is about, a market that is Buying via a social platform. Yes purlease!

• You are missing out on Sales. People go to pinterest to buy. It’s a search engine.

All you have to do is look on the type of content you have and how it can be served on Pinterest. Market intelligence is key and you want to get that very easily for FREE with Pinterest. On other platforms, you gotta pay to get that kind of information e.g. on Twitter or Facebook.

I get valuable data via my Pinterest analytics that I can never get anywhere else for free!

And can you spit at 3000 Page Views Per DAY to your sites or offers?

WELL News Flash that was Aug 2017. And I wouldn’t spit at that either.

Today, our Pinterest Statistics are way higher, even though they have dropped a wee bit from 190,000 monthly impressions to 139K ...(See Below)

That’s why in the New year,  I will be talking about why the Impressions are Not useful UNLESS….

So, while you wait for google and search engine traffic, or Facebook clicks, I keep our sites busy with Pinterest traffic.

And here is the kicker, none of our Pinterest assets have more than 10K followers. Because it is not so much about followers on Pinterest. It’s about optimizing your Profile, Boards, Pins and linked content.

In 2015, we were lucky to average 900 daily views, and this number is way higher than most blogger still.

 So, are you still on the fence about Pinterest? Let me ask you a question. 

Are You a Blogger or Content Marketer?

You are missing out on Free Traffic if you aren’t on Pinterest. People will continue to share your content on pinterest months, even years after you published it. I see many of my pins getting repined via pinterest. That’s valuable traffic to your older content!

Your content has a search and engagement shelf life, unless you optimize it to hit the search engines page #1. Yet on Pinterest your content will continue to work for you, delivering traffic for months and even years to come. Not so for a tweet or Facebook post once gone they are gone!

So, why not end your traffic problem today and start leveraging Pinterest?

You can cut your journey to half by following a clear map, strategy and daily To-Do plan!

Use this Link or Image Below

A single pin lasts approximately 1,680 times longer than Facebook Post! And get this 72% of Pinners use Pinterest to decide what to buy offline (Source: omnicoreagency)…So what are YOU blogging about and are you Pinning it?

Pinterest is the 2^nd largest Traffic driver to online offers and assets, next only to Facebook. And we know Facebook is a giant, because everyone is on there.

The difference is on Pinterest, consumers tell you directly what they love through their pinned wish-list. You can’t go wrong with this platform. You have to use Facebook Ads to get this kind of Information! I know which I chose. 

Pinterest as a Search Engine and Traffic Source

Did you know that more than 46% of people use Pinterest rather than google for search?

That told me that we needed to be on there asap. I knew some of our audience is definitely on there, searching for what we offer. So is yours.

Did I say, Pinterest is so different from other social media platforms? In fact, it prefers to be considered and used as a search engine. This is because it works in exactly the same way as Google, yet it is way easier to rank your content via Pinterest.

“The behavior is a little different in that People are on Pinterest planning for tomorrow. They are actively Searching for Inspiration. Yet on other media, people are usually there to be entertained, socialise, check out what you are up to, gossip a wee bit or just while away the time.”

Very rarely are they actively searching for something and if they did, chances of finding it are not very high.

So, to rank in search, determine or figure out which keywords you want to rank for in search. Then drive traffic to your content via pinterest. It takes time of course, like everything worth doing and having! But it’s so worth the time.

Create keyword rich content and make sure its monster pieces 3-5k words strong. Make sure you use the keywords consistently. Include them in your social shares and also create boards on Pinterest with your Keywords. Pick an important Keyword for your business or brand. E.g. mine is Pinterest Strategist!

Pinterest Boards are Indexed by Google, something no other social platform boasts.  Pinterest users pin/save images centred on their dreams, desires, future plans and immediate needs. I have used Pinterest SEO to rank our Pinterest Category see below and many non-pinterest related posts too. Investing in Pinterest pays off long time.

[bctt tweet=”More than 46% of people use Pinterest rather than Google for search! #WhyPinterest #BestPinteresttips” username=”Juleskalpauli”]

And the clincher, this is what a digital marketing expert Neil Patel has to say about Pinterest Traffic...You gotta listen to the big dawgs right! 🙂 

Here is an article I wrote about Pinterest for your SEO and I dive deeper in the course. 

What NOT To Do on Pinterest

Okay I couldn’t go on waxing lyrical about pinterest and not tell you what not to do on there. Now that you know to optimize your profile and pinterest assets, you are pinning away and growing your follower base. The fact is you want Traffic, Leads and Sales so, we gotta get you that. And I show you Ninja steps to get this done in my course. 

In order to get that valued traffic and avoid the Pinterest slammer. Here is what not to do!

#1. Don’t be a Selfish Pinner: What do I mean by this?

Well you are looking for traffic and sales. So, go GIVE others exposure too. Don’t just Pin your own content all the time. There is a sweet spot for beginners with little content. You pin 4 pins from your sites, and 6 pins from other related content. In other words, a ratio of 4:6 making it an average of 10 pins per day. 40%:60% ratio.

As you grow your content, ABSOLUTELY switch the ratio to 65% your content and 35% other people’s content, since you now have more content to pin. And you are looking to Attract Traffic to your sites and offers!  

Lead with value in your own content and Lead with Helping others get exposure and you too will get MORE exposure.

There is a school of thought that you need a blog to succeed on Pinterest. I say if you have a Facebook Page, Group, and you share great content over there, linked to your product, service or brand, you are good to go. And a later date you can always start a blog.

#2. Don’t Ignore What’s Trending:

Every day Pinterest kindly shows you what’s trending (see image below). All you have to do is Take the hint and either create content related thereof, or Create a Board for that kind of content and pin away…Or Pin such content to your related Boards! Either way this points back to giving and receiving.

Note that some topics are more popular on Pinterest than others and in my course I share with you what these topics are so you can have an Unfair advantage! There are lots more you need to avoid here, so go make sure you are covered. 

To Hashtag or Not to #Hashtag

Do hashtags hurt more than they help you? This is a debate that rages within the Pinterest newbies and glitterati alike…Some say Yay most say Nay. I err on the side of the Nays!

Well, before 2018, Pinterest powers frowned on them, I suspect they felt, they didn’t want to look like IG copycats! 

I too, BEFORE the Tailwind/Pinterest Power webclass, I used to say dont bother with hashtags. Today, whether I am running a promoted pin campaign or doing a short-term promotion I add at least 2-3 hashtags.

Using Keyword or Branded Unique hashtags on Pinterest today means your  content can be found Faster! Before that they were taking the focus away from your content and brand to others. Others whose ethos may not necessarily compliment your own. Granted, many others are using similar hashtags.

That’s why I suggest you create your own branded hashtags. Use them as one of your 2-3 tags on your pins. 

I use #YourPowerEchoes branded to our brand and podcast as well so it is more than likely if you use that hashtag you will be linked to our brand. That’s not such a bad thing is it though? 

In my book “The Art of Pinterest Profits”, you can get your copy on Amazon I recommended use of 2-3 Hashtags and I said the jury was out on their use. Well…

I believe the jury is in: I recommend you follow the advice in my book on hashtags on Pinterest.

They used to negatively impact your SEO. NOT ANYMORE!  I still suggest that you do Put more effort on keyword optimization for your Pins and Board descriptions. You can see, I use keywords for our Pin descriptions as shown below!

What about Privacy?

Why Pinterest is a beauty for the privacy conscious human is simple. You’re not sharing any personal information when you’re searching for pins or surfing the search engine that is Pinterest. So, you kinda get to share so much and build a huge network of fans who visit your content via your pins. You also get to see so much more as you aren’t worrying about privacy! It’s also the reason why it’s addictive, you can easily get lost in other people’s world. 

How do You Make Money with Pinterest then?

I got you covered with a full demonstration on how exactly we make money and you too can! Can you imagine, the affiliate marketing opportunity on Pinterest?

Expert Tip: We set up a board for our affiliate products, pinned a shed load of related content with high re-pin numbers. Learn how to use Affiliate links on pinterest.

Then I stopped doing the above when the board hit 80 pin images. I then started to pin only our affiliate products on this board. We effectively created a potentially lucrative, automated revenue stream. And so can You…Watch the video below and learn more.

Why Pinterest & How To make Money with it

Why Pinterest? The Jury is In!

So, Pinterest for me is a must have, whether you use it for pleasure or for business you want to use it in a way that serves you.

It is super easy to navigate. So powerfully visual, I don’t have to read anything as I browse the awesome imagery. Guess what, my Pinterest and Beyoncé’s all have the same look. And I can attract the same traffic she does, that’s equality bar no other social platform!

If you put out content regularly, and you need traffic to it, you need the Pinterest traffic gravy! You also want to cut your journey shorter and follow a proven plan.

I created a course, an 8 Module, video experience to help you along the way. To Free your time so you can focus on Money Making activities that do need your physical presence.

Did you know, Pinterest can run on autopilot in the background and you get the benefits pretty dang fast? It doesn’t matter whether you are technologically challenged or not! So, for that entrepreneur ready to Free your time while doubling your traffic and results I recommend you check out The Ultimate Pinterest Roadmap. 

Designed to walk you Step-by-Step thru building Pinterest Assets that pay you. You will have a checklist and various downloadable resources to get you going fast. And you can learn and implement at your own pace as the whole course is online. So, nothing that gobbles up valuable server space on your PC or phone.

You can ask any questions, we have email support for you as well. If you don’t have the time to take a course and have a budget, we can Do your heavy lifting via our Pinterest Management Services!

Are you ready to Turbo charge your traffic, optins and sales via Pinterest? Get Instant Access Here!

Are you super excited yet?

I am and I know this was a massive cuisine to take in.

I believe you now understand Why Pinterest is a Must have Business Traffic resource. And if you too love it, share below your biggest take away. Pin this Post and Share on Social Media…

As always You deserve More

Live. Learn. Love

Julie Syl Kalungi

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