Are you struggling to get the insane web traffic from Pinterest you hear everyone boast about?
Are you confused about why you aren’t getting accepted to join group boards?
If you said yes to either question, you’re in luck. I’m going to share a little secret with you and tell you why you’re struggling to make Pinterest work for you.
Before I tell you the secret, I want to first welcome you to part four of the 5-part Pinterest Boot Camp series.
In this 5-part series, you will learn how to turn Pinterest into a traffic generating machine for your business.
If you missed the first three posts in the series you can check them out here:
IIn this post, I answer the question, “Is Pinterest right for my business?” I walk you through how to determine if you should be marketing your business on Pinterest.
In this post, I share four common mistakes people make with their Pinterest account and how you can avoid them. I also show you how to set your Pinterest account up for success in four simple steps; generating traffic and leads for your business.
In this post, I teach you about optimizing your profile and your content with keywords – allowing your target audience to find you!
Ok, time to dive into part four!
In this post, I explain why Pinterest isn’t working for you and I created a handy visual to help you fix it!
Now, are you ready to learn why Pinterest isn’t working for you?
The reason you’re not getting followers, traffic, or group board invites is that…your Pinterest foundation sucks!!
That’s a bold statement, so let me explain what I mean by your Pinterest Foundation and what causes one to suck.
Check out this side-by-side visual comparison of a strong foundation with a sucky foundation. (Yes, sucky is a technical term.)
The image on the left is my Pinterest profile – this is an example of a strong foundation.
The image on the right is my husband’s Pinterest profile for his personal finance blog, shorttermpain.com.
When Trevor started the blog in 2016 I advised him to use Pinterest and left it at that.
Trevor is a tech guru and natural marketer so I assumed he would easily learn Pinterest.
However, Pinterest seems to be the one social network that continues to overwhelm and confuse the heck out of people.
Pinterest seems to be the one social network that continues to overwhelm and confuse the heck out of people.Later that year, after his blog only received a few visitors and he basically gave up on it, I checked out his Pinterest profile.
I was horrified by what I discovered, and not at all shocked that he didn’t drive any traffic from Pinterest.
Essentially, his foundation sucked!
His profile image is blurry, he doesn’t have a description of who he is or a call-to-action to visit his website, he only has a couple pins, and he’s barely following anyone.
It’s no wonder no one followed him, pinned his content, or visited his website!
The good news is, transforming your foundation is an easy problem to solve and can be fixed with an hour or two of work.
I’ve analyzed hundreds of Pinterest accounts and I’ve identified 10 elements that make a strong foundation.
To help you out, I’ve created a this helpful visual. Use it as a guide to audit your own Pinterest profile and identify which elements require your attention.
Why is a strong foundation essential?
As I discussed in Part three of the Pinterest Boot Camp series, Pinterest is a social network and a search engine.
This means you need to put your best foot forward visually and algorithmically.
Without a strong foundation, you’re limiting your ability to grow followers, drive traffic, and collaborate with other Pinterest users.
To help you understand why let’s look at each of these in more detail.
Followers
Think about your own behaviors on social media for a second.
When you decide to follow someone, do you follow them based on one good article or post?
My guess is no, you scope out their profile to make sure they can provide you with value beyond that one good piece of content.
Pinterest is no different. If your profile is lacking good content, relevant boards, or intriguing visuals, very few people will click that bright red follow button.
Website Traffic
Luckily, your follower count doesn’t matter nearly as much on Pinterest as other social networks.
That’s because Pinterest is also a search engine which makes it an amazing traffic driver for your website.
However, you’re limiting your traffic driving abilities if you don’t have the right keywords in your profile.
This is the “algorithmically” piece I was talking about.
Group Boards
In my opinion, group boards are the secret sauce of Pinterest domination.
For help with group boards check out my blog post, How to Find and Join High-Quality Pinterest Group Boards.
Group boards are an amazing way to get your content in front of tons of eyeballs.
I’m a member of 26 group boards and the content I pin to those boards consistently generate about half of the “saves” and “clicks” I receive.
However, when I first submitted requests to join group boards, I wasn’t accepted to a single one.
I decided to build my foundation stronger and try again. And you know what?
I applied for 10 group boards and was accepted to five.
I beefed up my foundation some more, applied for 10 more and was accepted to seven!
When you request to join a group board, the owner of the board is going to scope out your profile.
They’re checking out the type of content you pin and trying to determine if you can provide value to their board.
Do yourself a favor and use the 10 Elements of a Strong Pinterest Foundation image above so you can audit your profile and transform it from sucky to amazing!
Then, use the form below to download my Pinterest Marketing Checklist for 37 brilliant things you can do on Pinterest to increase your traffic.
Now that you know the importance of a solid Pinterest foundation, it’s time to get to work and transform your own Pinterest account from sucky to outstanding!
ACTION ITEMS
I’m a woman of action, so each post in this 5-part series will list specific action items you need to complete before the next post in the series.
- Use the 10 Elements of a Strong Pinterest Foundation image to audit your Pinterest account.
- Start beefing up your foundation!
- Download the Pinterest Marketing Checklist.
The final post in the Pinterest Boot Camp series is all about Pin design. In that post, I share 5 guidelines you need to follow when designing Pinnable images.
Keep Reading>> Check out the final post in this series: How to Create Pinterest Images that Convert
