{How to} Drive traffic with Pinterest

When you write a blog you want people to find you. You want to reach as many people as you can to get your message heard. Social media is great, there are so many ways to share your content. Besides the obvious Facebook and Twitter- you can also drive traffic with Pinterest.

When I have mentioned this to some bloggers they look at me bemused. Pinterest is for finding quirky ways to make sandwiches isn’t it? Yes, there are so many random things on Pinterest from potato stamping to home decor ideas- but there is another angle that can be played!

So how can you drive traffic with Pinterest?

• First things first: set yourself up an account using your blog name. Pinterest will give you the option to change this to a business account, this will come across as more professional so accept this when it is offered.
• Link your website to your account. This will give you a tick against your name and people will be more likely to trust you as a pinner.
• Make a board for your blog. (If you are unfamiliar with Pinterest you make boards for different ideas).

Ok at this point just relax and browse around Pinterest. Every time you see something you like Pin it. Make different boards for anything that takes your fancy. Within a very short time I had loads of boards for different elements of my life- from toddler crafts to transforming your garden! Pinterest very helpfully gives you the option to follow other boards every time you pin something. Do it! Follow that board. Why? Chances are they will follow you back. So how is any of this helping my blog? 

• People will start to follow you because you pin pretty things/ interesting things.
• The more people that follow your boards the more people will potentially find your blog!!

Ok so now for the important bit:

• When you write a post, make the first image a ‘pinnable‘ one* and pin that image to your blog board! 

• When you pin your image it will appear in the feeds of the people following you. The more people following you, the more people will see it!

*A pinnable image is one that is long and skinny- see the one I used for this post? Longer images do much better than horizontal or square. You can make images using Picmonkey– I love it!

• Pin a post daily– 9am is a good time apparently and this has always worked well for me. This can be a different post or if you write one post a week then just keep pinning that same post!!

(Don’t worry about it appearing multiple times in your blog board, nobody will look in your board, the idea is just to filter into their feeds)

• Pin ‘pretty things’ to your boards daily. 10-15 things is a good minimum. That may sound a lot if you have never pinned before but actually it is nothing once you get addicted! Just pin things you like, whether that be crafts ideas for your kids or food ideas for a party!

That is it! Simple right?

• Pin lovely things
• Follow and gain followers
• Pin your posts
• Drive traffic to your blog

If you want to take a look at my Pinterest account you can see my blog board and the variety of other boards I have for pinning pretty things!