We have already talked about social media traffic in general: 3 Traffic Generation Laws of Social Media #MyBlogGuest…
I described the process of me getting established at Pinterest at @senginepeople blog and got asked about the actual traffic that I managed to generate through Pinterest.
If you come to think of it, you cannot boast huge traffic coming from Pinterest, but then again, I consider myself a newbie here… Also, traffic is not the only thing that I really care about. I also look at various types of engagements (= good for branding) and follows (= more traffic and interactions in the long run).
I can't say more… maybe all of it: Traffic, interactions, connections, awareness …RT @ChiDPI: What do you care about more? #myblogguest
— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) June 5, 2014
So what about Pinterest? How do we really start seeing results from it?
From my own limited experience…
Again, I am not an earlier adopter or an influencer on Pinterest but I did see some results:
- If a pin picks up (goes “hot”), it will continue doing good for quite a while… Hot pins seem to have a very long life span: I saw a pin that was done 20 weeks ago and it is still receiving at least one like and re-pin on a daily basis
- That means, Pinterest traffic can be quite steady: Your pin will continue driving people to the site for a while. One of my sites is getting 15-20 clicks from Pinterest steadily on a daily basis for months now. So if anyone says, Google is the only source of steady traffic, don’t believe it.
- Don’t expect any crazy traffic even from hot people. One of my pins has 136 re-pins and 10 likes, yet it’s getting ~90 clicks a month.
- The easiest topics for me to go hot on Pinterest were food and DIY (up-cycling hacks)
Please do share your Pinterest traffic numbers as well! I am sure different people may see different results (I guess our #VCBuzz guest @cliquekaila could share some better numbers when she is here!).
I use the @TailwindApp to see what's doing well. The free version is quite satisfactory. #myblogguest
— Shannon Hutcheson (@LdyLarke) June 5, 2014
Actionable tips from others….
There’s always huge rooms for improvement and experimenting… So before we go to our to-do list for this week, let’s collect some tips from elsewhere…
Last year @Curalate shared some absolutely awesome insights into Pinterest shares and what gets most interactions on Pinterest. According to them, if you want your images to do better on Pinterest:
- Images that are reddish-orange get TWICE as much interactions than blue images (Orange color wins again!).
All my hot pins are orange 🙂 RT @niclas_marie: @GrowMap @myblogguest ..the color of the pin makes a difference #myblogguest
— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) June 5, 2014
Orange is the color of my http://t.co/wbJhXqJbdG site for a reason 😀 http://t.co/UhTZsQ3PGb #myblogguest
— Gail Gardner (@GrowMap) June 5, 2014
- Overall, the more colors, the better! Looking at my pins, that seems to be 100% true!
- Images WITHOUT faces do better than images with faces
Cats are always good 🙂 RT @SanaKnightly: Cats' selfies do not count 🙂 #myblogguest
— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) June 5, 2014
- Vertical “portrait” style images with 2.3 to 4.5 aspect ratios do better than long or wide images
- Images with 50 percent saturation are four times more likely to be repinned than images with 100 percent saturation (here’s a quick tip for #photoshop geeks)
- The less background, the more re-pins (zoom in!)
I'd say both… RT @niclas_marie: For biz owners, do you suggest a business pinterest page, or a personal page, or both? #myblogguest
— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) June 5, 2014
I do know there are Pinterest for Business accounts! To join as a business see http://t.co/VeiuY784qm #myblogguest
— Gail Gardner (@GrowMap) June 5, 2014
To-do list…
With all of that in mind, let’s compile a good (not huge!) checklist for this week (anyone is willing to take the challenge and share what they have done on Pinterest next week?)
- Try pinning reddish-orange images 🙂
- Try setting up a group board and engage some of your followers. Interacting with some of the major Pinterest boards should be effective too! Here’s a good tool for you: PinGroupie
- Try to ask / answer Pinterest questions (did you know #Pinterest is a q&a site too?)
- Of course, use ViralContentBuzz.com to promote your images on Pinterest!
Here are more tips from #Pinterest experts from our @ViralContentBuz user @madlemmingz if you are willing to expand that to-do list 🙂
Please share your Pinterest experience as well!
Below we are pleased to list tips from our friend Gail Gardner shared today during the chat (some of the many)
- One hot pin can send a site 50,000+ visitors every month indefinitely.
- There are many boards on Pinterest about How-to use Pinterest
- Pinterest can send BUYERS. Tips on the Pinterest for Business board. You can use Pinterest to find your potential buyers. Instead of pinning new stuff, use Pinterest search to repin. Getting paid to pin would not even be work! Used wisely you CAN get customers and sell products and even services.
- There is a Pinterest Bazaar group board where you can pin for sale items. You KNOW if someone pins they’re interested. Put your stuff on a relevant board, then repin THEIRS to that board! When you search, choose most compelling images, like, comment, repin to YOUR relevant board w/ YOUR products
- BLOGGERS can use the Pinterest Tips for Bloggers board for blog specific tips
Kelli @KellibMiller and Crystal @CrystalandComp have a Google HOA w/ many videos on using Pinterest http://t.co/aqxqOMNu1z #myblogguest
— Gail Gardner (@GrowMap) June 5, 2014
- Make your boards specific. Don’t do “music” do a specific band and pin best stuff: Black Sabbath If you’re doing sports, do specific teams like this Chicago Blackhawks Hockey Pinterest board
- [Useful reading!] Get More Pinterest Followers: 6 Steps to Increase Your Pinterest Following: What to Do Checklist
- [Useful reading!] 4 Clever Ways To Grow Your Pinterest Followers Using a One Week Blitz Campaign
- We should follow pinners w huge followings. Here are some: Crystal, 3 Boys and a Dog, Jo-Lynne Shane.
- Pin early on Saturday mornings to grow fast. Apparently moms with kids are online then
Don't forget Pinterest Tips Videos http://t.co/aqxqOMNu1z from @KelliBMiller @CrystalandComp #myblogguest
— Gail Gardner (@GrowMap) June 5, 2014
- One more tip: For someone to add you to their board you must be following each other or maybe that board!
Joseph
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Peter Egan
I get more referrals from Pinterest than all of the other social sites combined. Same goes for sales.
Ryan Biddulph
I’ve noted some UBER steady traffic, and old posts getting Pinterest pop. Nice share Ann, thanks!
Roz
Does it matter what kind of business you have or is pinterest good to use overall?
Ann Smarty
Some niches are easier! Pinterest is particularly great for recipes, DIY, family, travel…