There are many different social networking sites on the Internet today ranging from Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Stumbleupon just to mention a few, but one that has emerged to be a tremendous source of traffic to many bloggers today is Pinterest.
I first discovered how effective it is via Traffic Generation Cafe when Ana Hofman wrote a post about it and since then, i started testing it and has so far discovered that it is really wonderful. Although i haven’t gotten too many traffic from it but the result has been encouraging and that’s why i decided to share my experience with you guys here.
However, Pinterest may have started out as a place for women to share their product images, but its rapid rise as a social network makes it a great place for businesses too. Think of it as a place to share ideas in a visual way and be creative about how you can profit from that. Pinterest users love to share and repin images from a wide range of categories. As with any social network you just need to find a balance between self-promotion, social networking, and making money.
Below are just some effective ways I’ve discovered that you can use Pinterest to promote yourself and your blog.
Create an account on Pinterest
Visit www.pinterest.com to create an account free of charge, after creating your account make sure to set up your profile very well giving an attractive description of yourself and business and add a link back to your blog, also remember to add a picture of yourself.
Promote Your Blog
If you have an image on your blog, it’s pinnable. For that reason alone, you should always add an image on each of your blog posts along with a “Pin it” button under each. Aside from that, readers are drawn to images and an interesting one encourages them to go on and read your article. You can search for a “Pin it Button” plugin on Google or on your wordpress admin.
When you or a reader pins your image to Pinterest, it creates a direct link back to your blog. This not only adds to your link-building efforts, but can bring a whole new type of traffic to your site. Create themed boards on Pinterest that are based on the categories on your website, and make sure that you always pin your own blog post images to those boards.
Engage Your Customers
Having Pinterest boards is a new way to engage your customers online. Not only can they pin their favorite images to your boards, but they can comment on them and share them with their friends and followers. When people enjoy interacting with your website, they’ll come back more often. This not only builds your relationship with website visitors, but it gives you far greater opportunities to showcase your products and services.
Prove that you’re Human
It’s always difficult to make a personal connection with people online than face-to-face. By including both business boards and personal boards in your Pinterest account, prospects and customers will see some of your own interests. They will start to see the real person behind the business. Even if you are representing a large company, remember that customers are eager to know the real people behind the corporate face. If you’re a small business or entrepreneur, this is even more critical.
Add Affiliate Links
You may not realize it, but you can also insert your own affiliate links on your pins. It’s a whole new way of doing affiliate marketing. You can create boards that are just product oriented and earn cash when people click those links and buy something. Just go into the “edit” button for a specific pin and replace the direct link to the product with your affiliate link.
While many bloggers are highly benefiting from this source, majority of other bloggers don’t know about this while others that know choose to ignore it, but no matter which category you fall in, i want to let you know that there is a huge potential in this and it’s high time you give it a trial and see how magnanimous it is.
Pinterest isn’t going anywhere any time soon and it is incredibly active. Make the most of it as a place to engage your customers and prospects. At the same time, it presents a new opportunity to earn income online from a completely different source.
Please share your comments with us below lets know how pinterest has helped you before or what you think about it.
If you like what you read, please help spread the news by sharing and tweeting it.
paschal says
Thats good. I will soon visit the site to check out.
Udeme says
Hi mr theodore, love d post. Pinterest sounds good to be used for ur online biz. I wud av love to try it but I dont av a website or a blog yet. May God grant u wisdom to continue to help us novices online. God bless u.
Nwangene Theodore says
Thanks for your good wishes Udeme, and i also pray that God should provide you with all the resources and knowledge to set up your own blog and also help others.
Thanks for coming.
Nwangene Theodore says
You’re most welcome Paschal
Marcie says
As much as I enjoy Pinterest, I don’t need another distraction. However, I will definitely keep this in mind when I get an intern.
Nwangene Theodore says
Yea, you’re right Marcie. Its better to stick to what is working for you rather than wasting your time on every social networking site out there. But it might interest you to check out Pinterest.
What other social networking site are you engaged with that is working for you?
Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again.
Shiva Chettri says
Hi Nwangene,
I have not been using Pinterest much because I really do not like the concept but still I do have a good amount of following out there all thanks to my involvement in other social media sites.
Anyways Pinterest is really developing into quite a good way of bringing in traffic so I might slowly try adapt myself to using Pinterest for leveraging its advantages.
Nwangene Theodore says
Of cause Shiva, Pinterest is really developing indeed and its good for you to see how you can benefit from it as other bloggers out there are doing.
Hope you wouldn’t mind sharing with us those other social media sites your’re involved with, maybe we could learn one or two things.
Thanks for coming here, hope to see you again.
Lets Succeed Together.
Steve says
Theodore,
Pinterest is a nice addition if used correctly there is a lot of speculation as to what that is for bloggers. I do pin my post and other things business related and think it will be a very important place for bloggers very soon. Right now it seems that retail type businesses are doing the best with the platform because of the visual nature.
Steve
Nwangene Theodore says
I agree with you Steve, i can be very profitable if properly used. Most bloggers are already gaining alot from Pinterest and i think it will be wise if the rest of us can give it a trial too.
Thanks for coming here Steve, hope you’ll visit again.
Yang Hanson says
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Mira Grohman says
for those of us just getting commenced, is there any chance of getting some on the letters mailed in the past?