A Beginners Guide to Pinterest

Like Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest is a social site that acts as a virtual bulletin board for users to share images and links that inspire them and interact, follow and connect with other ‘pinners’. Images known as ‘pins’ can be placed on a customised board to create collections of products you love or places to visit. Users then click on these pins and are taken directly to the site that the image belongs to.
For example, The Web Marketing Group could create boards of their latest products, users will click on a topic such as Link Building or Content Writing and can be taken to that exact page on the site.

How to Pin on Pinterest

Pinning on Pinterest is simple really. You can upload an image to pin yourself or link to a website. However, one of the simplest methods is to install the Pin It button directly from Pinterest. Once installed, this button will appear on your browser bar. Wshen you find an image online that you like, simply press the pin button and Pinterest will ask you to confirm which image you would like to select for pinning. By pinning with the button, there is no need to attribute the image as Pinterest will link it back to its original location. Simply add your new pin to the most relevant board and add a caption to ensure it is sufficiently optimised.

Why Pinterest?

People use Pinterest to find and store images of clothes they wish to buy, food they wish to cook, places they wish to visit and furniture that they would love in their homes.

• Pinterest is powerful
• Pinterest is growing
• Pinterest is unique
• Pinterest is free

Pinterest for Brands/Businesses

Pinterest is in essence the shop window of your site. Big and small businesses have cottoned on to the many benefits that Pinterest can offer including:

• Increased visibility and brand awareness
• Builds Do Follow Backlinks
• Sales
• Social Engagement
• SEO
• Traffic

Pinterest can be used to create a look book for your company, displaying your products and creating an idea of what your business is about. Success relies on creating ‘pinnable’ images that other users will want to repin. Travel, food, fashion, weddings and interior design are among the most popular niches.

Re-Pinning is the New Re-tweet

Pinterest may not be the newest social site but it is quickly taking over the old favourites and research has uncovered that Pinterest drives more traffic that Twitter. Recent research from Shareaholic revealed that Pinterest is now generating more traffic that Yahoo search.

Pinterest and SEO

You can optimise your profile as shown above.
Pinterest allows you to optimise your pins and include tags to attract users with keywords. Pinterest traffic can be tracked in Google Analytics and you can also track the number of repins from other users also.
There are a variety of ways that Pinterest can benefit your search engine optimisation strategy:

• Drive Traffic to Your Site – Pinterest is a great way to drive traffic to your site. As long as your site contains high quality, interesting images, people will want to pin them. These pins or recommendations will ensure larger numbers of people see your pins and can be directed back to your site with minimum fuss.
• Boost Your Keyword Strategy – Get found for the phrases that really matter to your business. Pinterest boards and profiles are indexed by Google which means that you can optimise your boards with specific keywords to help you appear in the search results.
• Identify Pins that Convert – Google Analytics allows you to identify which pins convert into sales. In doing so, you will get a better feel for the types of images your target market is likely to pin and the products they will be interested in purchasing.
• Encourage Natural Links – Content assets are a great way to encourage natural links to your site. However, if people do not know they are there or cannot find them through traditional search methods, it may be wise to pin things like infographics on Pinterest. This will enable your target market to find your content assets and pass them on quickly to other people, making them highly visible in a short space of time.