Pinterest is a social media site where users pin images to boards and other users can click on the images to be directed to related websites. As a visual medium, images are more likely to attract clicks from users than plain text links. For bloggers, having an active Pinterest account with pins related to their blog topics can help drive additional traffic to their sites by exposing their content and brand to more potential readers in a visually appealing format. Pinterest currently sees a high volume of traffic and, while it may be a fading trend, it is worth exploring as a new promotional tool for bloggers.
Pinterest for Bloggers: Drive Traffic with Visual Social Sharing
1. Pinterest for Bloggers
As a blogger, driving traffic to your site is vital if you want to rank highly with the seach engines. Social
media sites have increasingly become a very important tool for accomplishing this. Facebook, Twitter,
Google+ and other social media companies can bring a lot of people to your blog and increase your
search engine ranking.
Welcome to Pinterest {Pinterest Logo}
Pinterest is basically a social media site where you pin images on a 'wall' and have people click on it to
find out more about it. That is, thy click on the picture to get to the link. The advantage here is that a
picture is more effective than a text link.
A Picture Says a Thousand Words
Say you're interested in sports cars. You want to visit sites about sports cars and you search the internet
for links. Now, what kind of link would you rather click on: one that's a picture of a Ferrari or a text that
says "www.johndoe.com/ferraris'? I think you would click on the Ferrari first.{Ferrari}
The internet is a visual medium. People can only read text for so long but they can look at pictures for a
lot longer. Images are mre visually striking than text, obviously.
Why Pinterest?
You probably have heard of Pinterest either through friends or the news media. Currently, Pinterest is
the fifth-most visited social network site and it was the fastest ever to reach 10 million users. It also
drives more referral traffic than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined. In January 2012, it had 11.7
million unique visitors.
People Join People
Remember, people join people, not a business. If people come to your blog and get to know you, they
will have a better chance of joining your affiliate program or buying your product. That's why you
should have lots of photographs at your site, especially of you.
These photographs will also drive traffic to your site
If you have a Pinterest account with a lot of photographs, that will give people a better idea of who you
are. Saying you like music, hiking and playing golf is a lot more effective when done with pictures than
simply saying "Yeah, I like music, hiking and playing golf."
Pinterest is a Tool. {Social Media Logos}
2. You're probably saying "Gee, there's Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, blah, blah,
blah...I'm up to my yingyang in social media and now I have to join Pinterest??"
Well, you don't really have to sign up with Pinterest but it's worth thinking about if you want to drive
more traffic to your site.
Think of Pinterest as something like Twitter but with pictures instead of text. But, people will be more
likely to click a Pinterest visual link than a Twitter shortened link.
Of course, you will still use Twitter but Pinterest will add to your exposure on the internet. The internet
can be seen as an online community and any new ways to show off YOU should be explore
People are currently addicted to Pinterest. It may be a fad which burns out quickly or it may become a
giant like Facebook but it's worth a visit. You need to be invited by a friend to actually join but chances
are there are people you know who use it. Like any new tool, it's definitely worth investigating. Who
knows, you mah have a lot of fun!
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A pin is an image added to Pinterest. A pin can be added from a website using the Pin It button, or you
can upload images from your computer. Each pin added using the Pin It button links back to the site it
came from.