HOW TO DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE FROM PINTEREST
So many people say they want to increase their traffic with Pinterest. I know that some of you even wonder if it’s actually possible! Well, you’re in luck because today I’m going to teach you exactly how to drive traffic to your website from Pinterest.
HOW TO DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE FROM PINTEREST
I’m going to take you through two key strategies you can use to get more traffic from Pinterest:
Grow your visibility on the platform
Design effective pins
Now let’s break them down into smaller steps.
GROW YOUR VISIBILITY ON THE PLATFORM
Your aim is to grow a Pinterest following of genuine followers. Growing your following for the sake of it won’t work. And just like any other social media platform out there, you want to grow a following of real people who are interested in you, what you talk about, and what you have to offer.
Now I know I say that numbers don’t matter as much as engagement. But your Pinterest following is a little different, because every new follower means one more person who will see your pins in their feed. The more people that see your pins, the more likely they are to click on them, and that, my friend, is how to drive traffic to your website.
The way the Pinterest algorithm is set up means not all of your followers will see every pin you share. So you’ve got to pin those bad boys frequently. I use Tailwind to automate all of this for me and it’s one of my favourite tools ever.
So let’s break down this strategy into four steps to help you grow your visibility.
#1 | FOLLOW YOUR PERFECT READER AND COMPETITION
Here’s a quick exercise for you to do:
Find and follow other bloggers in your niche on Pinterest
Find and follow people who fit the profile of your perfect reader
Do this once a week, 5 minutes for each one.
You don’t have to do this continuously - see how you get on for a month in the first instance.
And the best thing is, you don’t need to search anywhere other than Pinterest, because of their Smart Search tool (the search bar at the top). All you need to do is type in a word or phrase related to your industry, click on “People” and you’ll see people who have included that word or phrase in their bio.
If you’re a fitness blogger, you might search for “fitness blogger” when looking to follow people in your competition. Then when looking for your perfect reader, you could search “quick workouts”, “fitness tips” etc.
#2 | SHARE THE LOVE
You know on Twitter when someone shares your content and you say thanks? You can do this on Pinterest too to transform a share into a follower.
So how do you find the pins that have recently been shared from your website?
Type the following into your URL bar and hit enter: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/source/yourdomain
So I would go to: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/source/abranchofholly.com/
This brings you up a chronological list of pins that have been pinned from your website, with the newest at the top. Your exercise would be to click into these pins and leave a comment on it, such as: “thanks so much for sharing my blog post, I’m so glad you found it useful!” Always try to tag the pinner too, like you would on Twitter and Instagram. You can do this exercise once a week.
It’s so simple but just think how good it’ll make the pinner feel. They’ll like you more, share your content again and head over to your profile to hit that follow button.
#3 | CREATE AN EFFECTIVE MIX OF BOARDS
You know how they say first impressions count? Well, that’s definitely true when it comes to Pinterest.
Your boards are the first impression someone has of you - at that moment they make a decision whether to hit the follow button or not. So your boards need to be effective and intentional.
You need between 10-15 Pinterest boards and each board should be directly related to your niche and what your perfect reader is interested in. For instance, I have loads of food boards on my profile. But they’re hidden because I know they don’t fit in with my overall message (unless I did something like work-from-home lunch inspiration!)
Basically, don’t publicise boards based around your own interests. Keep those private or have another personal Pinterest account.
Your aim is to create boards that your perfect reader will be interested in. For instance:
What they want to learn more about
What they need help with
What other interests they have
It’s super important to include lots of boards that are related to your niche, combined with a few fun ones thrown in.
You should also create descriptions for your boards and use keywords for these.
If you don’t know where to start with this, download the free guide below for my hacks on how to find keywords for Pinterest and where to put them!
#4 | FILL OUT YOUR BIO AND ADD A PROFILE PICTURE
You know by now what makes a good profile picture. The more similar it is to the other photos of yourself in your social profiles, the better. That way, people will know that they’ve found you.
Remember this video about a creating a brand statement? Go do that exercise, because THAT’S what you put in your Pinterest bio.
For example:
"I design wedding websites for all engaged couples to help them share their wedding planning journey online with their friends and family. You can choose from templates or bespoke designs."
It’s immediately obvious who this person is targeting and what they can help them with. If someone came across this profile and saw 10-15 boards related to the wedding industry, they’d definitely become a new follower.
DESIGN EFFECTIVE PINS
You can use any tool to create your pin graphics, but my personal favourite is Canva.
Your pin graphics always have two main goals:
Grab attention
Make people click
If your graphics achieve both of these things, that’s how to drive traffic to your website. Let’s go through each of these in a bit more detail.
#1 | GRAB ATTENTION
What do you usually notice about a pin when you see it in your feed? What makes it stand out? This is what you need to focus on. If people don’t notice your pins, they won’t re-pin them, let alone click on them!
Here are some pointers I like to follow when designing pin graphics:
Use your brand colours (the bolder and brighter the better!)
Use a mixture of colours, not just one
Add large, bold text right in the centre of the pin
#2 | MAKE PEOPLE CLICK
The first step is grabbing attention. The second step is making them click to go through to your website. Here are some other strategies you can try:
INCLUDE A CALL TO ACTION ON THE PIN
You could either write something like “click here to learn more”, or if you’ve got a freebie with your blog post, definitely use that as your CTA.
USE A CTA IN THE PIN DESCRIPTION
Pin descriptions aren’t always visible, but they still need to be optimised if you want to learn how to drive traffic to your website.
PICK A GOOD TOPIC
The topic of your blog post needs to be so useful that your perfect reader can’t help but click on your pin. Solve that thing they’re struggling with and provide value!
Related: How to come up with amazing web content ideas
WRITE AMAZING HEADLINES
This applies to both your blog post headline and the headline on your pin (yep, they can be different!)
If you need more help on creating amazing clickable headlines, check out my full tutorial here.
You wanted to learn how to drive traffic to your website from Pinterest and now you’ve got the strategies to do it. Remember, your two main goals are to:
Grow your visibility on the platform
Design effective pins
Before you go, don’t forget to download your cheat sheet on how to find and use keywords on Pinterest!
What was your favourite tip in this post? Let me know in the comments!