Minuca Elena

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Avoid These 10 Pinterest Myths To Get Traffic To Your Website

Pinterest Myths

Pinterest myths are outdated or wrong ideas about how Pinterest works, that you believe are true. Unfortunately, these myths stop you from using Pinterest to its full potential to get traffic to your website.

Pinterest myth #1. Pinterest is a social network. Think about the last time when you’ve been social on Pinterest. There is barely any interaction. If you want to chat with your friends, you go on Facebook. If you want to check up on them and see what they are doing, you go on Instagram or Twitter.

Although there is an option to send messages on Pinterest, most pinners don’t use it. The reality is that Pinterest is a search engine. Here, people search for things they are interested in, using keywords, just like they do on Google.

Also, Pinterest is a place where you can bookmark content that interests you, but you don’t have time to read it now.

Pinterest myth #2. You can’t get traffic to your website from Pinterest if don’t blog ladies’ stuff. Although niches like cooking, fashion, DYI projects are very popular among pinners, you can find any niche virtually represented on Pinterest. Surprising examples of niches that you wouldn’t imagine that are popular on Pinterest:

Men can go on Pinterest and find out new styles to arrange their beard. Students and teachers can find info about mathematics on Pinterest. You can find anything you want and need.

Pinterest myth #3. You can pin a post if it has any type image in it.

You can pin any image. However, in your posts, you should always include a vertical image that has the right size for Pinterest. The official guide from Pinterest recommends using pictures that have the aspect ratios between 2:3 and 1:3.5. To get traffic to your website, it’s essential to brand your images to improve your Pinterest marketing results.

Get traffic to your website

This an example of one of the worse branding board I have ever seen. None of the pins have images of the right size for Pinterest, they are not branded (don’t have the title and the site’s URL in the picture), the pins don’t have any descriptions, the titles below the images are nonsense like “strom-jag_cm_post_25e”.

What is that suppose to mean? I have no idea where that image links to but I don’t want to find out. 😀

Pinterest myth #4. You have to use hashtags. Hashtags are very popular on social media channels like Instagram and Twitter, but on Pinterest,  people do not use hashtags. Also, as I mentioned before, you should search for content using keywords, not hashtags.

Pinterest myth #5. Your Pin’s description should contain only keywords. To make sure your targeted audience will find your pins is crucial to add keywords in your pin’s description, but you shouldn’t include ONLY keywords.

You need to write a few lines that make the Pinterest users understand the subject of you post and triggers their curiosity to click on it. Remember to include a call to action, something like “Click to read the full post” or “Click to receive your free checklist.”

Pinterest myth #6. You don’t need to have the headline on the pin’s image if you enable rich pins. A person sees your pin among many other pins, some are from the same category, others are on topics completely unrelated to your niche. To make sure that your pins stand out you need to write the title of the post on the image itself. This way, someone that sees your pin will know imediately what it is about, even before they click on it.

Pinterest myth #7. You don’t need to add your site’s URL in the image if you have verified your website.

You should always add your site’s name on the image. It will help you make your brand more famous. If someone is searching for your niche on Pinterest and come across a few of your pins and recognize your brand, then they will be more inclined to follow you.

Pinterest Myth #8. You should never delete a pin. You should remove pins that have a poor performance. Pinterest pushes your pins higher in its search results if it sees you pin quality posts.

The smart feed algorithm  calculates the quality of a pin by the number of repins and likes you get. If you the pins that have no repins, you will fresh up your pins and improve your numbers.

Pinterest myth #9. You should show your personality on Pinterest and pin everything you like. If your goal is to get traffic to your website and build your audience then you should pin only posts that are related to your business.

You should not pin posts that don’t have anything to do with your brand because you will only confuse your followers. It should be clear what type of content you promote. If you want to save the stuff about your hobbies, you should make a new board and keep it secret.

Pinterest Myth #10. You can get traffic to your website from Pinterest only if you have visual content. There are a lot of ways to promote content based on text, like infographics, on Pinterest. So even if you can not pin images with your products (like clothes or furniture) you can still build an audience on Pinterest, in any niche.

Conclusion

Pinterest is a great place where you should be more active if you want to get traffic to your website and increase sales and your email list. Make sure you don’t rely on these Pinterest myths because that will hurt your growth. The bottom line is that if you are not on Pinterest, your competitors will be.

If you enjoyed this post and you feel you learnt something new, then share it with your friends and pin it. Remember to download your free cheat sheet and you will get twenty strategies to grow your traffic exponentially.

If you need any help regarding Pinterest or blogging then post your questions below and I will be sure to reply.

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Comments

    • I have not used Pinterest with my blog in the past but am slowly working on utilizing this platform as well. Thank you for these great tips.

  3. Nice post, Minuca

    Pinterest can be a very good source of traffic. Melyssa Griffin has a fun course on it.

    I think I need work more on this platform. But surely Pinterest is underrated.

    Thanks for the lovely post.

    Have a great day.

    Himanshu.

  4. Hi Himanshu,

    You should give Pinterest a chance. You will get great results if you pin consistently. I’ve attended to one of Melyssa’s webinars. She does a good job.

    Thanks for commenting,
    Minuca

  5. Very helpful! I’m just learning Pinterest, as a blogger and user,too! I had a friend tell me when I started the blog to only pin things that could be cooked or crafted. I’ve since learned otherwise and had to go through and pin all my old posts. Wish I would have known better sooner!

    • Hi Tina,

      If you blog about cooking and crafts your pins should be on these topics. If your blog is in another niche, then you shouldn’t pin stuff that aren’t related to it, just because they are popular on Pinterest. It’s important to attract the right kind of followers that are interested in the content you blog about.

      Minuca

  6. Hi Minuca,

    You’ve clarified some key points to using Pinterest.

    Personally, i don’t use it, but I have clients who do and this will come in handy to pass on to them.

    Thanks for some straight talk common sense for using this platform.

    -Donna

    • Hi Donna,

      You should give Pinterest a chance. Remember something: on Pinterest you have to pin 80% other people’s content and 20% your stuff. You already have images in all your posts. You just have to add one image with the right size for Pinterest and add your headline and site’s url. You can include it in the post or in the social warfare plugin.

      Pin every post you make on a board with your posts, and in the rest of the time, make 10-15 boards on related topics and pin all the posts you tweet or share on facebook. You will see results quickly if you start this way.

      Thanks for checking my post,
      Minuca

  7. Great post! I had been debating on whether or not Pinterest was worth learning. This post answered so many questions for me, thank-you for sharing 🙂

  8. Hi Minuca,
    Yet another informative piece.
    You really busted those myths!
    I have and account there but not much active these days.
    I am sure its a wonderful platforms to all bloggers as well photographers.
    Great tips here. Thanks for telling the truth. 🙂
    Keep sharing
    Best
    Phil

  9. Hi Philip,

    The same advice that I gave to Donna above, applies to you too. Hope that my posts will help you understand the great value Pinterest brings to bloggers that use it.

    Thanks for commenting,
    Minuca

    • Hi Minuca,
      Happy to be here again.
      Yes, I just checked the reply to Donna
      But, i have an account there and i post my new posts or the updated one’s url immediately after publishing or updating it via my share button. Thats all i do, no i understood the theory of 80% LOL
      Thanks for sharing this informative piece.
      Hey you have been mentioned in my latest updated post, People who honored Philipscom.
      Thanks a lot for your valuable thoughts about Philipscom
      May you have a wonderful, profitable week ahead.
      Best
      ~ Phil

  11. Hey Minuca,

    The emerging star of the visual Web is Pinterest, the photo-sharing and picture-pinning site that appeals to anyone who appreciates art and design, drawings and cartoons, or photos of fashions, interior design, travel, pets or the perfect car.

    For businesses still looking to make a splash in social media, Pinterest may be the solution which we’ve been seeking. Facebook has a billion users, but most of them are mainly interested in interacting with their friends. Eventually, thanks for sharing your worthy thought with us.

    With best wishes,

    Amar kumar

    • Hi Amar,

      As you know, with a personal Facebook profile you can have maximum 5,000 friends. So a business should have a Facebook page. Facebook’s algorithms decides to show your posts to people that interacted with your page recently (liked, commented and shared your posts). If you just liked a page and forgot about it, you will not see its posts.

      So even if you got 10k likes on your page, only about 1% of the people that liked it, 100 people, in this case, will see it in their timeline. Facebook wants people to pay for their ads, so that is why it happens.

      As I said in Pinterest myth #2, any niche can get traffic from Pinterest. As long as you have an image to which you add your post headlines, and your site’s logo or URL you are good to go.

      Even if you have content that is based purely on text, you can still make an infographic and drive tons of people to your posts.

      Thanks for sharing my post,
      Minuca

  13. Since I’m in the midst of figuring out Pinterest’s algorithms, this has so many helpful tips and I have bookmarked it to come back to! Thank you for such an informative article.

  15. Great tips, very helpful! I just started using Pinterest more for drawing traffic to my blog, so this was the right timing fir your post! Thank you

    • Happy pinning, Chrissy! Follow this blog closely because I plan to share more Pinterest tips that are going to accelerate your traffic’s growth!

      Minuca

  16. The reminder to pin any post that has an image in it is a great one. I always think that I need to have the perfect pinnable photo with text, but I should be pinning all the photos!

    • Hi Alexandra,

      If you read carefully my post, you will see that I don’t advise you to pin any image you have in a post. Read again myth #3. The best results come if your image has the aspect ratio between 2:3 and 1:3.5. The images’ size is very important and also to have the headline on it so people know what to expect from your post.

      If you are just starting out with Pinterest but you don’t have time in creating your images, you could hire someone to create the images for you.

      Thanks for commenting,
      Minuca

  17. I think people do automatically view Pinterest as a ‘women’s’ platform till they realize what’s on there! I create custom pin boards for male style clients and they love it once they become engaged with the possibilities!

    • That’s great, Rachel! Although Pinterest started more like a platform for women, it has evolved a lot. It now has over 100 millions users.

  18. Very interesting and helpful tips! I agree most of people see Pinterest as a platform for ladies but I know Pinterest like Instagram are great tool for fashion marketing so men also use this platform to discover inspiring fashion ideas!

  21. These are great tips! I really need to get my Pinterest moving and shaking! I’ll remember to include my call to action when I start pinning!

  22. This was really informative! I’ve heard lots of people refer to Pinterest as a form of social media, but really the only time I’ve ever used the messenger part of it was to share pins with friends-and that’s pretty rare!

    xoxo, SS

  23. Great tips. I’ve recently been looking into how to optimize Pinterest and man do I wish I’d known these sooner. I’m in the middle of the process of cleaning up my boards and it’s definitely taking some time to back through.

    • That is true, Carmen. Attractive images make your pins stand out to your followers, and the keywords from the pin’s description ensure that your pins will be found in the search results.

  27. Thank you for this post. I’m actually looking for a way to flush out my Pinterest images and pins. This has been a great help to me. Totally pinning it for further reference.

  28. Pinterest in huge in my niche (parenting), but it’s not my favorite. This kind of information helps me better understand how to use it to my advantage!

    • Hi Megan,

      I didn’t want to get on Pinterest for a long time, mainly because I didn’t understand how it works. Once you start seeing results, you will like it.

      Thanks for stopping by,
      Minuca

  30. Thank you for this post. Some of these “myths” I was not aware of. I might just have to start using Pinterest more!

  32. Hi Minuca,

    I have seen people saying Pinterest as a social network. You’re right. People can’t say that. The only thing people can use the visual content.

    There are many myths people are living with. Pinterest can be helpful only if the images are attractive. The rest doesn’t matter.

    Thanks for sharing with us.

    ~Ravi

  33. Hi there Minuca,

    I have used Pinterest for a long time to generate traffic, actually, I read a lot of tutorials how to gain massive traffic from it, but truth to be spoken none of them was making sense and work to me?
    Maybe it sounds familiar to you and to other bloggers right?

    This post has taught me some special elements that I didn’t know about Pinterest, once I implement them on my website, I’ll notify you without no hesitation.

  34. I only got to know about pinterest and its effectiveness on the growth of a blog. I started taking actions on the platform recently and to my greatest excitement, the stuff is paying off.

    Thanks alot for your post. It is really an eye opener to give me a better understanding as to how the platform works.

  36. Hi Minuca,

    Good debunking here! Especially the note about people thinking it’s a woman’s dominated platform. Not so. Sure many women and mommy bloggers did the network but overall, there are a gazillion boards from endless niches well represented on the platform. Thanks for sharing!

    Ryan

  37. I really like the first myth… Pinterest is a social networking platform. I have never used Pinterest for anything but searching for content and inspiration.

    And as much as Pinterest stats claim reddish orangish colors work best on the platform, it totally depends on the niche/industry you are in.

    I would also add infographics as proof that 2:3 (or portrait images) do really well on Pinterest.

  38. Hey Minuca,

    Well, thanks for the Tips.

    Personally I never had any sucess with Pinterest as for me it is one of the difficult places to get traffic as compared to Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus.

    Although, I will try it again, if I can make things write on Pinterest to get some traffic.

    BTW, Keep up the good work.

    Cheers.

  39. Hey Minuca,

    Indeed some great tips.

    Pinterest is certainly the best place to promote visual content, but without doing experiments, it is hard to get the best out of it.

    Although, you effort to clean up all these myths will surely help me make my experiments successful.

    Great work Minuca.

    Cheers
    Jenny

  40. Hi Minuca,
    Thanks for this precious information. You’re right most of the people think that Pinterest is a social network but it is right that it’s like a search engine. And your article has lift the veil from various myths about Pinterest. Awesome article posted by you Minuca.
    Great job done, keep posting such a informative article.

  41. Thanks Minuca…………………….For providing such an unique, informative and helpful article. I hope this is the first article I’ve ever read about Pinterest myths. Really you’ve done nice job. Thanks for sharing this article please keep posting such an informative article.

  42. I’m only just starting to use Pinterest regularly so this is super useful. It’s amazing the difference it can make if you get the images right. Thanks.

  43. There should more posts like this about pinterest as I find the site very confusing on how to make it work for me. If us older folks knew how manipulate the technology we would way more traffic to a site than we do now. Myth# 1 stands out the best for me and probably most other people as I think it is considered by most to be a social network because that’s what we were led to believe when it first came out.

  44. There should more posts like this about pinterest as I find the site very confusing on how to make it work for me. If us older folks knew how manipulate the technology we would have way more traffic to a site than we do now. Myth# 1 stands out the best for me and probably most other people as I think it is considered by most to be a social network because that’s what we were led to believe when it first came out.

  46. A lot of info about Pinterest I never heard before. In fact, I’m bookmarkting this article. I’ve dabbled with Pinterest off and on over the years.

    This is definitely worth a share!

    Keep up the great articles Minuca

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