Does Pinterest Work for New Bloggers?

Pinterest is the #1 traffic source for many bloggers (look around, everyone’s praising it). Why wouldn’t you want a slice of that awesome? Being able to drive traffic from Pinterest is

While Pinterest is great for everyone, I want to speak to the complete beginners now. Those of you with brand new blogs and no following. Maybe you’ve seen other stats with huge, impressive numbers, but I don’t want to show you that.

These people getting crazy results with Pinterest are already established and want to show their results at their best to be impressive, of course. Who wouldn’t?

Note for subscribers: I know I promised a Flipboard post this week as well, but with stuff that’s been going on outside of my blogging stuff, looks like it won’t be done this week and I’m posting this instead. Kind of works out since everything else this week is Pinterest related anyway. Expect the Flipboard post on Tuesday!

But What About Beginners?

You know you’ll get there someday but what can you really expect as a beginner? That’s what I want to show you! I don’t want you to get discouraged because you see people getting thousands of hits a day and you’re lucky to get 50. So let me tell you about my results after 1 month of strategic pinning.

So far, I’ve seen awesome results. Especially compared to sharing on other social platforms. I have people signing up for my free offers, traffic is finally coming in, and I feel great about my accomplishments so far. Wouldn’t it be awesome to finally feel like people are reading your blog?

That’s what Pinterest can do for you.

Why You Need a Pinterest Strategy

Now, notice how I said “strategic pinning” earlier. It doesn’t matter how you pin, either with a scheduler or by hand, but if you don’t approach Pinterest with a plan in mind, you’re not going to do well. Or at least not as well as you COULD.

Let’s use me as an example.

I’d been using a Pinterest account specifically for this blog before I even launched it. I used BoardBooster to make sure I was pinning everyday. I had the right boards but I didn’t have descriptions for all of them and many had very few pins.

I ran my account like this for almost 4 months while I created and launched Blogging Butterfly but I saw little growth and no traffic (I launched December 1st).

It was time for a change…

I knew there had to be something else I should be doing with Pinterest. I’ve seen the results people have and I want to make sure my content and pinning is up to par so I can achieve the same.

In January, I decided to finally join more group boards. The right kind of boards for my niche. By mid-January, I was setting up BoardBooster to pin to these group boards I found.

All of a sudden, I was finally seeing it! I was actually getting followers and people were clicking, saving, and liking my pins.

It was slow at first, of course, but the results were exponential. Over 30 days I went from an average of 3 clicks per day from Pinterest to 60 clicks. Over the last week, I’ve been watching it slowly creep up to 70 and 80 (not shown since these pics are from when I originally wrote this post on Feb 15th).

On my best day, I hit 98! Woohoo! All thanks to a pin making it into the top 10 for a few search keywords. This is why keywords are so important.

It’s a Small Win, but Still a Win

Maybe some people might not consider this a really great “accomplishment” but for those just starting out, it’s hope. It’s validation. It’s just the boost we need to keep going.

Seeing these numbers rising is telling me that I’m doing something right. I just need to keep going and in a few months, I’ll have hundreds of visitors every day. Just last month I was struggling to see 5-10 visits in one day.

My reason for showing this is to connect with those of you just starting out. For those who have seen more established bloggers but couldn’t relate because you’re totally new. I’ve been there too, so I know how you feel. I hope this shows that you really can do it if you work at it.

List Building with Pinterest

Pinterest is also amazing for list building! Even for beginners. You know you need an email list, but how do you get people on it when you have little to no traffic?

Get your irresistible offer ready and advertise it on Pinterest! With pins I mean, not ads. Write up a blog post and talk about how useful it is. Pin that and pin the landing page for your offer. (Look, you’re learning something and we haven’t even started yet!)

Check out my results with just 1 free course:

Just in February alone, I’ve gained 45 new students. Before January 16th, I only had 8.

I originally wrote this post on February 15. Now, it’s a week later. Want to see what my course sign ups look like now?

That’s 28 new sign ups in just a week! Thanks to Pinterest, I’m doing 247.6% better than in January.

Your Turn!

So now that you’ve seen how Pinterest can help you, I’m sure you’re anxious to get started. I won’t keep blabbing on for much longer.

Just remember that while Pinterest is super great for traffic, it shouldn’t be your ONLY source. You should still work on building up other traffic sources. But if you’re struggling and you need some reassurance, Pinterest is a great way to get started.

Also remember that it’ll take some experimenting to see what works best for you. Refer to my Pinterest for Bloggers post if you need help developing your own Pinterest strategy. There’s also a nifty workbook of checklists for your to download. Don’t forget to let me know how it goes for you!

Good luck, and happy pinning!