How to Use Pinterest to Drive Massive Traffic to Your Business: The Complete Guide

Pinterest is an incredibly powerful platform for driving free traffic and sales. With over 400 million active monthly users, it’s the #3 search engine behind Google and YouTube.

This comprehensive guide reveals expert strategies to optimize your Pinterest marketing and direct hordes of targeted visitors to your site or store:

Why Pinterest is a Must for Business Marketing

Here’s why Pinterest should be a key part of your digital strategy:

• Massive search volume – Billions of searches each month by people actively looking for ideas and products. A huge opportunity.
• EvergreenDiscoverability – Pins can continue generating clicks for years if they rank well. It’s an “set it and forget it” passive traffic source.
• Highly qualified traffic – Users have intent to research and buy. Higher than average conversion rates compared to other social platforms.
• Huge audience – Over 431 million monthly active users as of 2022. Reach is still expanding quickly.

Determine if Your Niche is a Good Fit

Before investing time in Pinterest, assess if it aligns with your business:

• Search for your product/service: See if related boards and profiles with lots of followers already exist. Indicates good demand.
• Evaluate competition: Are other brands thriving? Can you differentiate? Low competition presents opportunities to become a top player.
• Review audience demographics: Pinterest skews heavily female, plus has an above-average household income. Ensure your customers align.

If signs point to high search volume and demand, move forward confidently.

Set Up a Pinterest Business Profile

Your profile establishes credibility and access to analytics.

• Create a business account – Unlocks more features vs. a personal profile.
• Add a profile/cover photo – Showcase your brand, products, or headshot.
• Write a detailed bio – Share your brand story and mission. Include a few relevant keywords.
• Link your website – Make your site easy to find and attribute traffic to Pinterest.
• Track analytics – Monitor growth and engagement over time.

Build Targeted Boards to Organize Your Pins

Boards help people discover your pins around specific topics.

• Create boards around 4-5 main keywords/product categories – Ex: “Office Decor”, “Healthy Dinner Recipes”.
• Give boards useful titles – Include your most important keywords.
• Add a relevant cover image – Visually represent the topic.
• Write robust descriptions – Include keyword-rich summaries like “Our favorite healthy weeknight dinner recipe ideas to please the whole family.”
• Populate with great content – Add 20-50 high-quality pins, even if curated from others initially, so the board has substance when people find it.
• Intermix your own pins later – After the board has gained some impressions, drop in your own pins to capture that traffic.

Design Compelling Pins That Get Noticed

Pins are small images or videos that link to content. Craft ones that stand out:

• Use eye-catching visuals – Bold colors and graphics engage viewers.
• Optimize dimensions – Adhere to 2:3 vertical aspect ratio for standard image pins. Widescreen for videos.
• Minimize text – Let the imagery tell the story. Text overlays should be short and punchy.
• Highlight your brand/product – Logos, watermarks, demonstrations, etc.
• Write click-worthy descriptions – Inform and intrigue people. Include call-to-action.

Upload Pins Consistently

Get your pins seen by actively uploading them:

• Add a strong title – Incorporate your primary keyword if natural.
• Write an engaging description – Briefly explain what visitors will find on your site. Include a few relevant keywords.
• Link to a product/landing page/blog content – This is where the magic happens! Ensure the destination is a good user experience.
• Pin to appropriate boards – Get your pins in front of on-topic followers by placing them in relevant boards.
• Post frequently – Aim for multiple posts per week, at minimum, if you can commit the time.
• Vary the content – Repinning the same pins too often can get you flagged. Create a regular cadence of fresh new pins.

Perform Keyword Research

Optimizing your boards and pins for keywords people search drives discovery. Ways to uncover good options:

• Use the Pinterest search bar – See what keyword suggestions appear as you type. Look for low competition, high relevance terms.
• Leverage “Related Searches” – Scroll down after a search to find additional keyword opportunities.
• Check Google Keyword Planner – Shows search volume data for ideas.
• Review competitor content – What terms are other top boards and pins ranking for?

Automate Your Pinterest Marketing

Manual pinning is time-consuming. Streamline it with tools like:

• Tailwind – Helps you schedule pins in advance across boards. Offers analytics.
• Later – Can auto-pull new blog posts for repinning. Plans for individuals or teams.
• Buffer – Allows queueing pins to stagger automatically. Integrates with major platforms.

Track Performance and Double Down on Winners

Use analytics to guide your Pinterest strategy.

• Evaluate board and pin metrics – Impressions, engagement rate, clicks, etc for each.
• Identify your top content – What’s resonating most? Make more of that!
• Cut underperformers – Don’t waste time re-pinning pins that haven’t gained traction.
• Set goals – Measure growth in followers, site traffic, product sales, etc.

Conclusion

By taking a strategic approach and investing time into creating a polished presence, Pinterest can drive highly qualified traffic to your business website or online store.

Focus on crafting click-worthy pins suited perfectly to your niche and target audience. The organic reach you’ll gain can significantly grow your brand and revenue over the long-term.

Let me know if you have any other Pinterest marketing questions!