So you’ve started your brand new blog.

CONGRATULATIONS!

But when it comes to Traffic, you’re looking at your Google Analytics, and you’re seeing nothing.

Flatline.

You’ve been writing and posting great content, contributing to your fave social media platforms, but your traffic is non-existent.

No one is coming to read your fantastic ideas and experiences, and it’s getting you down.

You’ve heard and read from many sources that you can make good money blogging, but without that traffic, I’ve gotta tell you, it’s gonna be a tough road.

A lack of traffic can be discouraging.

Not all that long ago, I was exactly where you are. I created my first blog because of something that was going on in my life, and getting it out in writing had some cathartic benefit.

But once I discovered that I could actually make good money with a blog, my intention changed. Don’t get me wrong, I still wrote for cathartic relief, but I was also in a job that I hated, and if my little blog could create an income that would replace that, I’d have been over the moon.

That was years ago.

Since then, I’ve created other blogs, some for the sheer purpose of making money, and not having to work for someone else. I love what I do, but I’d say that the toughest part of creating a new blog is generating the traffic that it needs to survive.

The question was always, “how to grow blog traffic?”

Then along came Pinterest, and everything in my blogging world changed.

While doing research into how to grow my blog traffic, many were mentioning Pinterest as a crazy driver of traffic for their blogs. Curiosity got the better of me, and I jumped in, to find that they were right!

Pinterest was not only a traffic driver to my blog, but it’s responsible for 85% of my blog traffic!

Now, every time I create a new blog (I own 7), one of the first things I do is set up a Pinterest account for it, because Pinterest is a major part of my traffic strategy.

Scheduling your pins is key.

When I discovered how awesome Pinterest is at pushing traffic to my blogs, I also discovered that I could only ‘pin’ so much during the course of my day.

What I needed was something that I could use to schedule my pins, helping to ‘free up’ some of the time that I was spending doing that.

I started using a platform at the time called BoardBooster, which at the time was THE PLATFORM to use to accelerate your Pinterest traffic.

But BoardBooster was about to be no more. I was crushed. What on EARTH was I going to do to get traffic to my blogs???

Then along came Tailwind.

At first, I was skeptical. I mean…here I was paying BoardBooster $5 a month to generate crazy traffic to my blogs, and along comes another platform, doing the same job, for more money! (I’m cheap. Did you get that?)

The thing about Tailwind that first got me hooked was the free trial (did someone say FREE?).

I’m that person who needs a free trial (at a minimum) to be convinced. I just need a taste.

The free trial did it.

I jumped into Tailwind with both feet. I utilized that free trial like my life depended on it. And I guess to some degree, it kinda did.

When my trial period was over, I upgraded to the unlimited plan, because I found that my traffic needs warranted the bigger plan.

Tailwind has features that include ‘Tribes’ and now, Smartloop! (I’ll talk about Smartloop in another post, but it ROCKS.)

Tribes is a lot like Pinterest Group Boards, where you contribute your ‘pin’ to a ‘tribe’, and others in that tribe then distribute your pin to their own boards, and vice versa.

It’s amazing. It’s like gasoline for your blog traffic!

With the ‘bigger plan’ I got to include more tribes, which means greater pin distribution, which inevitably means MORE TRAFFIC!

It was really exciting to look at my analytics, and see actual, honest to God TRAFFIC! And you can see exactly where I started using Tailwind.

How to Grow Blog Traffic with Pinterest: The Steps

First, go to Pinterest and open an account.

You want to start a business account, because that will allow you to view your analytics, and it also lets you ‘claim’ your website/blog, which gives you something called “rich pins” to accompany pins from your account.

What are “Rich Pins”?

According to Pinterest, Rich Pins are “a type of organic Pin format that provides more context about an idea by showing additional information directly on the Pin. Rich Pins are a free product available for anyone using Pinterest”.

Once you’ve opened your account (for business remember), you’re going to create your profile.

Create Your Pinterest Profile.

It sounds simple, but creating your Pinterest profile can be a little tricky. Remember to include an SEO (search engine optimized) description, because Pinterest is a search engine, not a social media platform.

What that means is, think about what your potential reader will be searching for, if you want them to find you and your pins. If you make doll houses (for example), your profile should include the words or phrase that someone looking for dollhouses would key into the search bar.

Create “Boards” for Your Pins.

Once you’ve created your profile, take a tour around Pinterest and look at some pins from other users.

You’re going to find topics that you’re interested in, and sometimes the best way to create your Pinterest boards, is on that tour.

One of my blogs is a lifestyle blog, which includes everything from health and wellness to blogging content. I found that creating boards on Pinterest happened in the process of searching for new information.

If I found a doughnut recipe that I found interesting, I created a board to place that pin in. Same for chicken recipes, and so on.

Creating boards for my own content was much the same. A “blogging for beginners” post, ended up in a board called “Blogging for Beginners”.

Make sense?

It’s really not that hard. And it’s fun once you get going.

Grow Your Pinterest Follower Count.

I found that the best (and the fastest) way to grow my Pinterest followers, was to follow others whose content I’m interested in. Don’t ‘willy nilly’ follow every Tom, Dick and Harry, because what you’ll end up with, is a feed full of random pins that you have no interest in whatsoever.

Those will also be accounts who will very likely have no interest in re-pinning your content, so be mindful of who you follow.

Join Pinterest Group Boards.

Word on the street is that Pinterest Group Boards don’t hold as much ‘power’ now as they once did, but they’re still a great way of distributing your pins.

Joining group boards on Pinterest is an absolute MUST.

By joining and contributing to group boards, you essentially have an army of people to distribute your content, and you in turn, reciprocate by distributing theirs.

Pinterest Group Boards are ‘win win’!

To join group boards, go to Pinterest’s search bar, and key in whatever topic you’re looking for.

Once you’ve entered the type of group board you’re looking for, if you look to the right of the search bar, you’ll see a drop down menu, letting you choose what type of search you’re trying to to: for pins, product pins, people, and last but not least, for boards.

Select “boards”.

Once you select ‘boards’, you’ll see that Pinterest has entered your topic, adding the words “group boards”. It has also given you a huge selection of group boards that match the topic you entered.

Now it’s time for you to get busy!

Go to each group board, take a look around at what type of content is being distributed inside it, how many contributors it has, and how many users are following it.

Obviously, the more followers it has, the better off you’ll be, but it should be noted that the more ‘popular’ group boards are likely no longer accepting new contributors. But don’t give up.

To help with the search for group boards that you can join, try using Pingroupie.

In addition here’s a list of group boards that you can check out.

Sign Up for Your Tailwind Free Trial.

Once you’ve started on Pinterest, head over to Tailwind, and sign up for your Free Trial. Seriously. It’s a no credit card free trial (I can’t stand the ones that want my credit info first), and if memory serves me correctly, it’s a 7 day trial.

Connect your Pinterest account with Tailwind, and get to work!

Play around with the platform, because that’s the best way to learn how to use it. Take a peek at their video tutorial, as it’s quite helpful in giving you a ‘boost’ to get you started.

Believe me, the free trial is THE BEST way to get into Tailwind. Don’t miss out!

Keep an eye on your analytics, so that you can tell how well your efforts are working (or aren’t working), and you can tweak where necessary.

Peace

Debbie

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