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How To Create Pins That Drive Traffic To Your Website

Hate it or love it, Pinterest is a massive online marketer and traffic generator.

Why am I so obsessed with Pinterest? It’s not because of the lovely images that fill my feed every day or even their brilliant marketing strategy; it’s all about those fully-responsive and super-engaging pins. Oh, and did I mention the traffic is free?

I’m gonna let you in on a little secret: Once you know how to create Pinterest strategies that drive traffic to your website, you’ll never go back to banner ads and traditional media again!

Not sure what I’m talking about?

Well, let me start from the beginning.

This is you. You are the entrepreneur, the business-owner who has managed to successfully create a website that will be your online business hub. Congratulations!

Now, what? How will you get people to your site? And how do you get them to stay once they’re there? Before you even think about growing an audience and gaining new leads, you need to know why people visit your site in the first place.

What’s keeping them from buying? What will make them spend money and come back again and again? That answer is engagement and trust: People want to be convinced they should invest their time, their emotions and most importantly their MONEY into you and your company.

In order to engage and convince them to stay, you need a well-designed website that speaks their language and addresses their pain points. It shouldn’t be filled with annoying pop-ups or boring stock images. Instead, it should be easy to navigate and leave the visitor feeling as though they can relate to you and your brand.

Now, how do you gain all those benefits without any expensive ads or marketing campaigns? The answer: Pinterest!

“But how?!” You ask, “I’m just a small business-owner with no experience!” Relax – I’m hear to show you step by step how to create pins that drive traffic to your website.

Before we go any further, let’s take a look at what Pinterest is and how it works.

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a social media site where users share images, videos and other objects that are either personal or business-related.

While most people assume Pinterest is just for the ladies, this assumption couldn’t be further from the truth! The gender divide is actually very slim in the Pinterest world with almost 60% of users being female and 40% male.

What’s interesting is that more than half of Pinterest users are between the ages of 18-34, which means you can use this platform to reach a large youth audience who will most likely be future customers!

Pinterest is designed around user boards where users can create a virtual pin-board filled with images about a particular topic or item they are interested in, or have an interest in learning more about.

These boards range from the typical “food,” “fashion,” and “travel” topics to something much deeper, such as a recipe for the best carrot cake you’ve ever tasted, or a fashion outfit you would wear on your next big trip.

Users can follow these boards and create their own, either by creating one of their own or following another user’s board. They can also comment on pins and share them with friends via email and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

While Pinterest might seem like an odd platform for businesses to use, the benefits are endless.

First of all, Pinterest is a form of visual marketing – which has been proven to be one of the most effective forms of a marketing strategy.

In fact, research has shown that the human brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text! That means if you can use an image or video to communicate your message, it will be much easier for others to understand and engage with.

Secondly, Pinterest is a great lead generation tool since users are following pin boards related to topics they care about. This means you have access to a very specific target market who is most likely interested in your product or service! And the best part is that if they pin, comment on or like a pin on one of your boards – you can learn who they are and what they want.

Which means that if you’re a local business, you might find a potential lead living a few blocks away from your shop! Definitely worth pinning for.

How Pinterest Drives Traffic To Your Site

Now that you know what Pinterest is, let’s take a look at this simple formula:

Website Traffic + Engagement = Sales.

This applies whether you’re selling e-courses or physical products. The more people who visit your site, the more traffic you have to increase conversion rates and turn leads into buyers.

The secret to sparking engagement is creating pins that drive traffic to your website. Yup, it’s that simple!

Pins that drive traffic to your website = exposure for your business + free marketing channel.

So, how do you get started?

Creating posts that drive traffic to your website is easier than you think!

17 Tips to Drive Traffic Using Creative Pinterest Strategies

Let me break it down for you into easy steps.

1. Use Trending Topics To Your Advantage

If you’ve been on Pinterest for a little while, you might have noticed how many trending topics there are on any given day. This is by far the easiest way to get noticed and stand out from the crowd! All you need to do is find a trending topic, find an image that relates to it, and post it with the most eye-catching description you can think of.  

Your pin description and title are prime real estate to grab eyeballs and drive clicks to your website. Feeling short on creativity of lacking confidence in your writing? I get it – I use an artificial intelligence writing assistant for *literally everything* I write (including this blog post). You better believe I have it write all of my social media posts, too!

(Sound too good to be true? I know – but check it out for yourself. Use my link and you’ll get 10,000 words for free to test out what Jasper can do.)

2. Vary Your Pin Sizes and Types

Another way to drive traffic to your website is by using different sized pins for each image. This not only keeps things fresh – it also provides something new to look at! If you’re pinning images that are white with a pink border, try varying them by pinning the same image in black and white.

I create at least three different designs for each pin before I post it. That way I can test which versions are driving the most traffic to my site. Plus the content scheduler I use allows me to schedule up to a year in advance, so I can post the same pin (though it looks different) throughout the year!

3. Don’t Be Afraid To Get Personal

Don’t be afraid to make your pins personal. Everyone is at a different place in their lives, so post about things that are connected to what you’re going through or what you’re currently experiencing. I always get the best feedback when I share something personal that has nothing to do with my business!

4. Cross Promote Your Pins On Other Social Media Networks

Pinterest is known as one of the best lead generation sites on the Internet today, but what you might not know is that it’s also a great way to drive traffic from other social media networks! If you have a Facebook or Twitter account, share your pins with your followers.

When you use an automated scheduling program, it’s easier than ever to cross-promote your pins and products across various social media channels.

Or even better! Ask your friends and family to “re-pin” any pins that they find helpful from other users to their own boards. This is a great way to get the word out about what you have to offer.

5. Create Your Own Boards

One of the best ways to drive traffic through pinning is creating your own boards. Since each image you post only lives on your board until someone else “re-pins” it –  it’s always a good idea to create boards with pins that are related to what you do.

For example, if you’re an interior designer, create boards for decorating ideas, home renovations and the latest trends in the design world.

6. Create Useful Content People Are Interested In

You know what I love about Pinterest? How it still manages to provide users with useful content, even after all this time. I really don’t know how they do it! But what you might not know is that users are more likely to follow your boards if you post useful content on a regular basis.

If you’re trying to drive traffic through pinning, the last thing you want to do is create boards full of junk – I’m looking at you funny animals and car crashes! Instead – create boards with beautiful images that have a descriptive caption about the image.

If you manage to do this on a daily basis, your followers won’t be able to resist checking out what’s new in their feed every time they log onto Pinterest!

7. Make Sure You Use Proper Keywords

For example, when people are searching for tips on how to grow their hair or what to do about acne, the words they use in their search bar are completely different than if they were searching for tips to how to soothe a teething toddler.

If you know that your target audience is currently looking for certain keywords, make sure you post content that’s related to them. This way you’ll drive traffic through pinning and be able to better connect with your target audience.

If you are pinning your blog posts, hopefully you were using an SEO tool that helped you identify the perfect keywords for your audience and topic. If so, make sure you use those when writing your pin description and titles as well.

8. Pin Quality Images

Pinterest is a NO-NO when it comes to poor quality photos or images that are grainy or pixelated. This is a big search engine, people! So if you want to drive traffic through pinning –  make sure the images you post are of high quality.

In fact, Google has been known to penalize pages with poor quality images. You don’t want to be on the receiving end of that, do you?

I get all of my stock photography images through two subscriptions: Envato Elements and Canva Pro. For $10 a month, you have unlimited access to tens of thousands of stock photos, videos, templates and more. It’s a no brainer and an easy way to separate yourself from the millions of people using all the free photo sites.

9. Place Keywords Near Your Pin’s Title and Description

When it comes to Pinterest, keywords are everything. They help determine how far your pin will go in search results and where it will be ranked when people search things up on the search bar.

Adding keywords to your pin’s title and description can also help you rank higher in searches, so be sure to utilize this strategy! Trust me – it works wonders.

If you didn’t use an SEO tool for what you’re promoting (i.e. a blog post or website page), you can use a hashtag keyword tool (you’ll need it anyhow to identify great hashtags for your post) as this will let you know how frequently terms are being used and how competitive of a keyword it is. Two birds, one stone.

10. Start A Pinning Contest On Your Blog or Website

If you want to drive traffic through pinning, asking your readers or visitors to pin stuff on their own Pinterest accounts is another great way to go. It gives your visitors a chance to share what they love about your blog or website with their followers, and it’s another great way to broaden your reach.

11. Use Pins As Sales Tools

Pinterest is an absolute goldmine when it comes to selling, especially if you’re working on a small marketing budget.

If you have affiliate links to products that you love or believe in, don’t be afraid to post them to Pinterest! You can also include your blog posts within your pins – some users even tag their pins as “sponsored.”

12. Make Your Pins “Rich”

When you pin something on your blog, make sure to include a URL for easy and quick access. But don’t stop there!

What if you could turn those URLs into clickable links that lead to a page on your blog? Well, you can.

Using a tools like Tailwind App (which also is the scheduling tool I mentioned earlier that I use), all of your pins become what’s called a “Rich Pin” automatically. This means that when people click on the link, they’ll see a preview of your blog post right in front of them.

This can help you drive traffic through pinning and also increase engagement when people actually visit your blog!

13. Pin Uniqueness

When it comes to driving traffic from Pinterest, there’s nothing more important than being unique with your pins! The best way to be unique is by posting unique pins.

What’s unique about your blog post? What are you most proud of when it comes to that specific blog post? That’s what you should pin!

This way, people will be drawn in by what they see, and they’ll want to click right on it because it seems different from anything else they’ve seen before.

A great design goes a long ways in capturing someone’s attention. I use an AI driven designer called RelayThat which has thousands of templates for every possible shape, size and use case you can dream of for marketing your business. It automatically incorporates your brand colors, fonts and logos for a cohesive design in minutes across all marketing channels.

14. Ask For Likes And Shares In Your Pin Descriptions

You can also drive traffic to your site by asking for likes and shares within your pin descriptions. While you never want to be overly promotional, a simple “If you like this photo, please share it with a friend!” can be a great way to get people involved.

Hint: For an example of this, scroll to the bottom of this blog post to see how I do this.

15. Optimize Your Pinterest Profile

Pinterest profiles are usually seen as personal accounts, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t use them to help drive traffic to your website!

After all, this is where you’ll want to include keywords so that your content will show up through searches.

You can also link other social media accounts like Twitter and Facebook to help increase your Pinterest “Authority.” Doing this will help you rank higher in searches, so be sure to give it a try!

16. Use Relevant Hashtags In Your Pins’ Titles And Descriptions

Pinterest also uses hashtags to function as keywords for your pins. So, if you want to get noticed on Pinterest, be sure to start using relevant hashtags in your pin descriptions!

Some content schedulers, like Tailwind (this is the one I use), come with a hashtag and keyword tool included with your subscription. It makes it super easy to research and add hashtags directly in your post.

If you do not use an automated social media scheduling system or your scheduling system does not offer hashtag functionality, you can use a program like Flick.tech (I used this program for my clients when I ran my social media agency) – it’s great for identifying, organizing, tracking and copy/pasting hashtags and keywords for your social media strategy.

17. Interlink Your Own Content

If you’re serious about driving traffic to your website through Pinterest, then make sure to interlink your own blog posts within each of your pins! This will help make your blog posts easily accessible through Pinterest’s search function, which is one of the first ways that users will end up on your blog.

To interlink your blog posts, simply include links to your other blog posts within each of your pin descriptions.

Conclusion

There you have it! Seventeen new and unique ways that you can drive traffic to your website through Pinterest by sharing your blog posts.

If you’re ready to drive traffic to your website, then it’s time to get pinning!

Here’s my personal Pinterest arsenal of tools:

Photos: Envato Elements and Canva Pro subscriptions

Caption Writing + Brainstorming Ideas: Jasper(AI Writing)

Design: RelayThat (AI Design)

Scheduling + Hashtags: Tailwind

Make sure to share this blog post to help others out who are interested in driving traffic from Pinterest as well.

Happy Pinning, Friends!

Frequently Asked Questions

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This blog post was written with my AI writing assistant, Jasper.

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