Pinterest: Tips for Small Business Owners

Happy Monday!  I for one am super excited to be able to be home for the majority of my week.  Lots planned, lots of great things both with SAP and personally!  I found an image of mine on Pinterest that has been re-pinned so many times…and I actually booked two sessions this summer because of that image…pretty stinking awesome.  So I’ve been reading a lot about Pinterest and how it can help build your brand and boy…can it!  So I’m sharing a few thoughts with you today!

Increase Your Blog Traffic:  For me, the more traffic to my blog, the more inquires I receive, the more clients I book.  It’s all related.  So I focus a lot of my attention to blogging and how to direct more people to my blog.  Because I have a “pin it” on my blog post pictures, everytime someone clicks on one of those from pinterest, it takes the directly to my blog.  Thus increases my blog traffic and helps with the search traffic.  Once a person “pins” one image, the likely hood of them pinning another or looking around is high.  I have dedicated readers that have found me only through pinterest.

Improve SEO (search engine optimization)  Lets face it, most of us know very little about SEO, but we do realize that it is super important to our web presence.  So by using Pinterest, you can create more links to all your web presence.  You can link back to you blog, you can link to Facebook.  Also, if you are using images, you can save your images with key words in them.  Such as “burlington nc photographer” or “holden beach wedding pictures”  these will all be picked up by the search engines.

Gain New Readers:  So one thing that Pinterest offers is the ability to share you interests without really having to incorporate them on your website.  This means you can expand your circle greatly.  What do I mean?   Well, one of the things I love is my downtown …I am passionate about Burlington becoming something great and giving it a positive awesome vibe that attracts new business.  So I created a board for downtown burlington and have invited some of my local business to pin on it as well….this just expands our circles and readers.  It is something that people who are necessarily looking for a photographer will hop on, and then maybe find me.

Follow the Big Dogs:  By following relevant big dogs in your industry, pinning their images, even blogging about it, the chances are greater that they will follow you back.

Make your Images beautiful:  Pinterest is visual, and therefor is great for the visual arts…like me…but even if you are not a photographer or a visual artist, having beautiful images will help tremendously in gaining followers.  If you struggle with imaging, think about hiring someone or even using stock photos.

Create a Pinning Party:  This is where a few of your closest friends agree to “pin” each other’s images.  It’s best if you have different business do this.  So if you are a wedding photographer, get a event planner, a florist, and designer, a venue etc…and agree that 1 time a week you will pin images from their websites.  This will help to create a “buzz” and also improve SEO and linking.

Promote Pinterest:  It’s amazing to me how few people use pinterest in the social tags…meaning you should have it in your signature on your email, link to it on FB regularly, invite your instagram followers to follow you etc.  It should be part of all your marketing materials!  It’s the easiest way for people to find you…is through the materials you are already sending out.  I use my pinterest board for a “what to wear” guide for beach sessions and for my “seniors”  It’s super easy for me to send to them.  It’s also on ALL my marketing materials.  My welcome packets, my biz cards, my links etc…they can’t find you if they don’t know you are there.

Make your boards Multimedia:  Meaning, incorporate video, screencasts and podcast.  This helps give variety to your boards but also the more multi media you have the more searchable you are.

Install a “pin” button on your website: This sounds like a no brainer to me, but I can’t tell you how many websites and blogs do NOT have this feature!  It’s so important for repining as it makes it super easy for your readers to pin.  I’m amazed at how my clients pin their images…the love to do it…and making it super easy with a “Pin this” just encourages them to do so.  If you don’t have this feature, you need it.  It’s a plug in on most sites.

Make your Boards Enticing:  This is something that I’m working on…but you want your board cover photos to be consistent and the best images you have.  I am working on cleaning my boards..but if you are just starting out, do this in the beginning.  You want when someone happens on a image or pin that you have posted…when they look at the whole board to be drawn enough to “follow” you.  This is all about appeal.

There you have it!  10 tips for you to get started on Pinterest and using it to help increase your blog and website traffic!

Now this family….oh my are they not the cutest!  Their little girl is just stinking cute and I had so much fun with their session at Ocean Isle Beach!

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Burlington, NC Newborn Photography, Chapel Hill Family photographer, Chapel Hill Senior Pictures, Greensboro Newborn Photogrpaher, Burlington Senior pictures, Holden Beach Photographer, Ocean Isle Beach Pictures, Mebane Newborn Photographer, Bald Head Island Photographer

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