Using Pinterest to Build Traffic

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I get between 3,000 and 5,000 visitors to my hair site every single month thanks to Pinterest.

And the best part is, I don't spend any more than 1-2 hours PER MONTH on the site. Most of this is viral traffic that has been building over time.

Pinterest is one of the most untapped traffic sources on the web because many people just write it off as "just another social network site."

Updated: Here's a screenshot of my hair site. Notice how many times my homepage has been shared or "pinned" on Pinterest.

I'll talk about how I accomplished this later.

Even if you don't have a Pinterest account, you can STILL get traffic from this network.

The reason is Pinterest users can "pin" images from your site onto their page and every pinned image from your page links back to YOUR site!

So if they like your article on "How to [whatever]" they can use their browser or phone Pinterest app to pin the image from that article to their board, which results in a link back to your website.

Now their followers will see your image in their feeds and can also re-pin the image to their own boards.

So right away you can probably see how important it is for you to have attractive, eye-catching images on your site. That's been the secret to my success with Pinterest.

How Pinterest Works

As a Pinterest user, you create boards on topics that interest you and "pin" images to them.

So if you love shoes, you can create a board called "Awesome Shoes" and whenever you're browsing the Web and find a pair of shoes you love, you simply click the "Pin It" button on your browser toolbar (that you install) and the picture gets pinned to your board.

Once again, people can "like" your pins, follow your boards and re-pin images you post to their own boards.

How Does Pinterest Generate Traffic?

There are two ways to get traffic from this network.

1) You can add your website address to your Pinterest profile

2) When images are pinned, they link back to the website source. (This is how I get most of my traffic.)

So if someone likes an article or image from your site and decides to pin it to their board, the image links back to your site.

Don't Be Too Self Absorbed

The Pinterest community doesn't take too kindly to self promotion. So it's important that you don't overdo it when it comes to pinning your own content.

I have a board just for my hairstyles, but I also pin other people's content.

Just like any other social media site, the key to Pinterest is following other people with similar interests, commenting on their pins and sharing their content too.

My Pinterest Strategy

I mainly use Pinterest to promote my hair site. I think it's best to keep your account niche and follow people who post images related to your site's topic.

You can see my account here.

A lot of people create a ton of different boards on many different topics, follow all kinds of people but the problem with that is you never attract a targeted following.

You may get a lot of followers by creating a lot of boards and following random people, but when you post something, few people will share it because there's less of a chance they will be interested in most things you post.

The viral action happens on Pinterest when your followers share/re-pin images you post. So if that's not happening, then you won't get much out of Pinterest.

I create what I like to call tip-o-graphics in Photoshop. These are simple images that are big, colorful and provide relevant tips.

When you post an image to Pinterest, you can choose what page the image links to. So that's how I get so many "pins" or shares to my website.

Here's one image that has done very well...

I created this in Photoshop and what's cool is I have very limited Photoshop (design) experience. You can see the full image here.

I found the image of the woman from a stock photo site that I have a subscription to and I just added text, boxes and icons to jazz up the image. Took me about 45 minutes to create.

These are the kinds of "tip" images I create all the time and many of them go viral and continue to drive traffic to my site month after month after month.

Pinterest is the ONLY social media site that actually provides viral traffic for such a long period of time. I'm still getting traffic from images posted 2 years ago.

What's cool is you can get creative. I've also found that posting simple images with profound/inspirational sayings related to my niche also works well.

Learn to Create Attractive Images for Pinterest

If you want to learn how to create your own images for Pinterest and your website, I recently developed a Photoshop course that is going to make a program that most are intimidated by seem very easy to learn.

One of the videos in the course actually walks you through creating an image like the one above.... step by step.

Here's a special coupon link so you can get a big discount on the course for a limited time.

I absolutely LOVE to teach and I think you will be blown away by how quickly you can learn the basics and do a lot with the program only using minimal tools. And the good news is Photoshop is so much more affordable now. See pricing on the Adobe site.

Plus, after taking the course you will also be able to create other images for your site like banners, headers, thumbnails for your YouTube videos, images for your social media accounts, etc. You can apply the lessons to many kinds of images and save yourself money on image design fees!

People assume Photoshop is for designers. Not true at all. It's a great tool for site owners as well. You don't have to use the advanced tools.

What Images Get Shared The Most?

Here's an infographic that reveals what kinds of images get shared (repinned) the most.

No Interest in Pinterest?

Even if you could care less about another social network, you can still generate traffic to your site. As long as you have images on your website, Pinterest users can share your content.

The key is to make sure your images look amazing. The more attractive and eye-catching they are, the more your visitors who use Pinterest will share them.

People can also share YouTube videos! That means if someone pins a video you published, a thumbnail of the video shows up on their board with a link back to your video!

So even if you don't want to join in on all the pinning and sharing, always make sure you have images on your pages because it allows others to pin and share them.

Here's some help with installing Pin It buttons on your website to encourage pinning by your readers. And if you're a WordPress user, you can install a plugin to easily add the Pin It button to your site.

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