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Get your brand spanking new blog a boost of traffic by doing these tips.
You spent hours perfecting your brand new blog and now you are ready for traffic. You excitedly and patiently wait for those clicks.
And then nothing.
Crickets.
Getting traffic to a brand new blog does not happen automatically, you have to put the work.
So today, you will learn how to get traffic to a new blog.
How To Get Traffic To A New Blog
Even though you perfectly SEO-optimized your article, it still will not rank overnight.
This is because it will take time for your blog to get out of Google’s “sandbox”.
Once it is out of the “sandbox”, which can take 6 mos or more, only then can your article start showing on search results.
But how about the first few months?
You need traffic in the first few months because traffic will motivate you to keep working on your blog.
You need the traffic to start making money to justify your blogging expenses and keep your blog afloat.
This is where social media can help you. Increase your social media presence, be it Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
But most importantly, use Pinterest.
Let me show you how you can leverage Pinterest to get traffic to a brand new blog.
What Is Pinterest
Pinterest is a platform where users search, discover and save new ideas, inspiration, and solutions to their problems which are called “pins”.
These “pins” are then saved to organized folders called “boards”.
So, what’s in it for you?
Basically, Pinterest is a search engine where people are looking for things to make, use, try, and buy.
So, your job here is to create pins for your blog posts that provide value and pin them on Pinterest.
When people find your pin interesting, they will click on your pins and go to your site.
Now, you just got blog traffic from Pinterest!
Unlike Google, Pinterest does not have a “sandbox”. Therefore you can have the chance to show up right away on search results.
That is if you do Pinterest the right way.
How To Get Traffic To A New Blog Using Pinterest
Create A Business Account
If your goal is to leverage Pinterest for your business, you need to have a Pinterest Business account.
A Business account gives you access to important analytics on how your pins are performing. It allows you to enable “rich pins”(we’ll talk about it below) and to connect your website directly to your Pinterest account.
You can join as a new business or switch your personal account if you already have one here.
Click either ‘Join as a business’ or ‘Convert existing account.’
Claim Your Website
Once you have a business Pinterest account, you can verify your website. This is important in order to enable rich pins.
Claiming your website will give you those important analytics about pins that are saved from your site.
It lets you know what kind of content your audience is saving from your blog, which is very helpful when figuring out what to write.
How To Claim Website
Once you set up your business account, claiming your website will be a breeze.
Go to your account settings and scroll to the ‘claim’ area. Enter your website URL and click the ‘Confirm website.’
A window will pop up with some code, called ‘metadata.’ You will need to add this code to your website.
There are a few different ways to add the code to the website but I’m going to share with you the easiest one.
On your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins>>Add New>>Search Yoast SEO>>Activate.
Once activated, go to Yoast SEO>>Social>>Facebook>>Enable Open Graph Metadata>>Pinterest
You will then copy the metadata code from Pinterest then paste it into the Pinterest Confirmation box, then press “Save”.
Sometimes, you will get “403 Forbidden”, you will just click the box to whitelist the request. Then hit refresh or back button to try again.
Once you have added the metadata, go back to your account settings on Pinterest and click ‘Next” and then “Submit”
It will then take 24 hours for Pinterest to review and approve your application.
Enable Rich Pins
Once you have claimed your website, you can apply for Rich Pins.
But what are rich pins?
According to Pinterest,
“Rich Pins show metadata right on the Pin itself, giving Pinners a richer experience and increasing engagement. Information in a Rich Pin is independent of the Pin description, ensuring that important information is always tied to the Pin. There are 4 types of Rich Pins: app, article, product and recipe Pins”
Rich Pins are important because they give your reader extra information that will help them decide if they should save your pin.
For an article pin, it shows the title, the snippet, and the author’s name.
Here is an example:
Not A Rich Pin
Rich Pin
The primary goal of rich Pins should be to make pinners care about your page and earn their click.
How to Set Up Rich Pins with Yoast Plugin
After claiming your website using the Yoast plugin, you are now ready to enable rich pins.
First, you’ll go to Pinterest’s Rich Pin Validator to validate your site.
Below the instructions, you’ll see a URL box and a blue button that says Validate.
Just copy the URL from any of your website blog posts, paste it into this box, and hit the Validate button.
Once you click validate, a page will pop up with a button that says “Apply.” Hit that button, and you’re all set!
Your pins will become Rich pins within 24 hours of completing this process.
Create A Perfect Pinterest Profile
An optimized profile will help people find you and your stuff. Remember, Pinterest is a search engine.
Optimize your Pinterest profile by putting niche-specific keywords to your profile bio and even your username.
Let people know why they should follow you on Pinterest and how you can help them. Give them a reason to come back to your site. You can consider creating valuable freebies that you can give to your Pinterest followers.
Create Viral Pins
Since Pinterest is a visual search engine, your pins should stand out and catch your reader’s attention. They should be interesting enough to stop the reader from scrolling.
Qualities Of A Viral Pin
- 2:3 Image Size
- Warm colors that match your brand
- SEO-optimized pin descriptions
- Keywords in alt tags
- Easy To Read Text Overlay
Canva has awesome templates that can help you get started in creating viral pins.
Optimize Boards
Your Pinterest boards are essentially the organized folders where you can save pins. When you optimize your boards, you are being helpful to the Pinterest algorithm when it’s trying to get relevant content in front of other pinners.
To optimize your boards, put niche-specific keywords in the board name as well as the board description.
And only add relevant pin contents to that board.
Create and Pin Fresh High-Quality Pins Consistently
Do not pin your pins over and over again. Instead, create and pin fresh high-quality pins for your old and new blog posts.
Pinterest recently changed their algorithm and is now favoring fresh content. So if you want to increase your chances of showing up on search results, create and pin fresh content consistently.
Use Tailwind
With Pinterest, you need to not only pin consistently but also to pin during the best times so that you can reach your audience.
So if your readers are all over the world, that means you’ll be pinning 24/7!
But who’s got time for that?
It is then most efficient for you to schedule these posts with management tools like Tailwind. Tailwind helps you boost your followers and get more repins.
With Tailwind, you can batch schedule your posts for days and times that your readers are most active.
And with Tailwind’s newest feature, SmartGuide, you will be confident that you are adhering to Pinterest’s best practices.
SmartGuide takes away the guesswork of when to post and how often you should post.
Here’s $15 to get you started with Tailwind.
Join Facebook Groups
Participating in Facebook groups can help boost your pins. Share your pins on the daily thread and make sure to reciprocate.
Here are some of the best helpful Facebook groups.
Join Pinterest Group Boards
Joining group boards that relate to your niche helps increase your reach.
You can find group boards by clicking on someone’s Pinterest profile, viewing the boards they are in, and any that have multiple images as members of the board is a group board.
Join Tailwind Tribes
When you have Tailwind, you will have access to Tailwind Tribes. Tailwind tribes are a great way to increase your reach and traffic.
Again, join tribes that are relevant to your niche and if you share your pins to tribes, you also need to reciprocate.
If you are in the personal final niche, you can join my Tailwind tribe here.
Repin Other’s Pins
As of February 2020, Pinterest has made it clear that you can and should pin MOSTLY your own fresh content, as long as it’s useful and relevant to your audience.
However, if you are just starting out and not have a lot of content yet, it is still okay to pin other people’s content as long as they are relevant to your audience.
There you have it!
Getting traffic to a brand new blog can be challenging but if you follow all of the above tips, you can drive traffic to your brand new blog.
Are you going to try this tip on how to get traffic to a new blog using Pinterest? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to know.
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