Why is Pinterest Worth Your Time?

Is Pinterest worth your time for growing your blog or business?

Well, it really depends who you ask.

I asked some pro bloggers for their take on Pinterest. It appears bloggers have a LOVE – MEH relationship with Pinterest.

But don’t stop reading now, you’ll definitely want to read what these bloggers have to say about Pinterest. Their perspectives may seriously help you decide whether Pinterest is worth your time.

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Should Pinterest Be Part of Your Content Marketing Strategy

Depending on your blogging niche or business, you might discover that Pinterest should definitely be part of your content marketing strategy. You might also discover that Pinterest is not worth your time.

Some bloggers and businesses discover that Pinterest is an influencer and marketing dream. Others, view Pinterest as a major headache.

And still others discover that Pinterest deserves some of your attention, but not all of it.

How Committed Are You To Creating Fresh Pins

There’s little doubt. Growing your presence on Pinterest, the hybrid visual search engine and social media tool, requires effort. For some, Pinterest is like having another job or another child.

Pinterest success requires consistency, dedication, and commitment to creating Fresh Pins. Fresh pins are a big deal now, and bloggers and businesses have to consistently make fresh pins to make the Pinterest Algorithm happy.

LEARN HOW To Leverage Pinterest to Grow Your Blog Business with this Guide : How to Leverage Pinterest to Grow Your Blog.

LEARN ABOUT Fresh Pinterest Pins in What Are Fresh Pinterest Pins Anyway?

My Pinterest Commitment – It’s Worth It

This year, I decided to throw love and patience toward Pinterest. As an experiment.

I wanted to find out for myself, first hand, whether Pinterest is worth the hype. You can see how my experiment is going over on Pinterest — and follow me over there if you want to keep tabs on how it’s going.

There are so many YouTube videos on Growing Your Pinterest, podcasts, and Pinterest courses online that claim that Pinterest works as a content marketing strategy. Many say if you use Pinterest, you’ll get huge traffic flow from it. However, I admit, I was a little skeptical of all the claims that Pinterest could drive traffic to my blog.

So, I upped my Pinterest game. I set up a Business Pinterest Account. And I began my Pinterest Experiment.

Why The Business Pinterest Account Can Increase Your Blog Traffic

In my experiment so far, I’ve had awesome success (or maybe it’s good ol’ pure luck) with Pinterest.

I’ve discovered that having a business account on Pinterest has allowed me to really understand the statistics, trends, and power behind Pins and Pinned Content. And that pinning, particularly pinning fresh pins, can really drive traffic to your blog or business.

When you link your business account and “claim” your blog or business website on Pinterest, you get access to Pinterest Analytics. The Pinterest Analytics dashboard helps you see what Pins work and get traffic funneled to your website. You can also get an idea of your audience and who is saving your pins or checking out your content.

Pinterest is Better Than Instagram

For me, Pinterest is better than Instagram, which was my go-to before Pinterest. Sort of like Twitter, when you post a Fresh Pin that links to your blog or business content, it can get shared over and over again.

Pinterest allows your content to gain momentum and traction over time, unlike say Instagram where you’re content is fresh and usually only gets eyes on it for the first few hours to 24 hours.

Pinterest also allows for people to search Pinterest for things they are really interested in finding. This means a higher conversion rate from Pin click to your website. Instagram is more mindless scrolling–and hope or luck that people will stumble on your content.

I can honestly say that so far in my Pinterest marketing experiment, I am sooo much happier with the results of using Pinterest to grow my blog traffic and engagement compared to Instagram. Sure, for some, Instagram is magic, but for me, not so much. And as long as I’m having luck on Pinterest where my content lives longer Pinterest, I’m definitely okay with that.

Why Bloggers Like Pinterest for Blog Growth

I asked some pro bloggers to share their thoughts on Pinterest for blog growth. Here’s what they had to say about using Pinterest for driving traffic to their blog–and whether Pinterest is worth their time.

1. “Pinterest brings me almost as much traffic as search engines.”

Liberty from the blog, B4 and Afters, likes using Pinterest as part of her blog strategy.

She says, “Pinterest brings me almost as much traffic as Search engines–so I like it! I was using and loving Pinterest for years before I started my blog, so it gave me a bit of a headstart by converting it to a business account.”

2. “I feel [Pinterest] is worth it.”

Sarah from the blog, I Heart Frugal, considers Pinterest worth her time for blog promotion.

She explains, “I love Pinterest for blog promotion because it brings me the most traffic. Yet, it is not easy and forever changing so keeping up with the latest best promotional methods is essential. I love making pins and put a lot of time into Pinterest, but I feel it is worth it.”

3. “It’s more than possible to get traffic to your blog using Pinterest.

Trinity from the blog, The Pay at Home Parent, learned the hard way that Pinterest works.

She explains, I like Pinterest now, but I had to learn the hard way that graphic design isn’t my forte (and that’s ok!). After I hired a pin designer, my account finally started showing growth. Whether you hire a designer, invest in a graphic design course, or buy premade templates, it’s more than possible to get traffic to your blog using Pinterest.

4. “I do feel [Pinterest] is worth my time, just not ALL of my time!”

Jennifer from the blog, Organize Envy, has seen steady growth of blog traffic thanks to her investment in Pinterest.

She notes, “Pinterest requires patience and perseverance, but after a year of using it to promote my blog (and lots of trial and error) I’m seeing steady growth of traffic. I do feel it’s worth my time, just not ALL of my time! Focusing on writing great content and SEO is my top priority.”

5. “You can see so many results!”

Raquel from the blog, Meals and Mile Markers, loves Pinterest because it’s possible to see real results.

She explains, “I love Pinterest because with a little bit of hard work, you can see so many results! Even when you put it on the back burner, it often brings traffic to the website as long as you’ve got attractive pins with good descriptions. I will occasionally create several pins at one time so that I can spend a few minutes on Pinterest a day and still see results!”

6. “Take thoughtful well-styled photos [and] you are almost guaranteed to do well!”

Krystle from the blog, Baking Beauty gives Pinterest high marks for blog promotion, particularly if you are into visuals.

She explains, “I love Pinterest because it is so visual, no writing skills required. As long as you take thoughtful well-styled photos you are almost guaranteed to do well!”

7. “I like Pinterest.”

Jacqueline from the the blog, Mom Money Map, gives Pinterest the thumbs-up for blog growth.

She notes, “I like Pinterest and have invested in both pin templates and a Pinterest manager. I think both investments have been worth the money not just for the growth and time savings, but also the learnings. With Pinterest constantly changing, it’s important to connect with people whose main business is Pinterest so you’re always staying up to date with what Pinterest wants. With Pinterest going public and the algorithm seeming to increasingly favor ads, it’s hard to say how worth it Pinterest will be in the future.”

8. “It does take time and consistency to see results.”

Gennifer from the blog, Gennifer Rose, is a huge fan of Pinterest for blog traffic.

She notes, “Pinterest has been the only social channel where I’ve been able to grow organically and it’s also a great source of site traffic for my blog. In 2018 I had about 100K monthly views and now I have over 2.4 million monthly views. A lot of new readers discover my blog through Pinterest, especially our travel guides. It does take time and consistency to see results, so patience and perseverance is required.”

Why Bloggers Are MEH About Pinterest

1. “I prefer to spend my (limited!) time working at building organic traffic instead.”

Anna from the blog, Logical Dollar, explains that her limited blogging time is better spent on building SEO optimized content than on pouring the energy into Pinterest.

She explains, “as someone who’s managing her blog on the side of her ‘main’ job, I only have so many hours each week to work on my site. This is why I like to focus on tasks that will ultimately drive traffic passively, like producing SEO-optimized content. Unfortunately, this means that while I enjoy Pinterest as a user, I’ve found that it takes far too much active, ongoing work to maintain for my site, which is why I prefer to spend my (limited!) time working at building organic traffic instead.”

2. “I want to like [Pinterest]. I really do.”

Adriane, from the blog, Put on Your Party Pants, wants Pinterest to work for her blog, but changing Pinterest algorithms have dampened her spirits.

She explains, “In the last few months in particular, Pinterest has been a giant headache. I want to like it. I really do. However, its constantly changing algorithms and unpredictability make it difficult to justify the time it takes to create new pins. Pinterest is not as much of a priority for me as SEO.”

3. “It’s not always worth the effort to make pins.”

Daphna from the family travel blog, A Tiny Trip, views traffic results from Pinterest as mixed.

She notes, “Pinterest is complicated in that not all niches perform equally well. Since I focus on travel with kids, I find that parenting content tends to do better whereas travel really depends on the country and style. It’s not always worth the effort to make pins.”

4. “I know bloggers who get great results doing the same thing for years; I’m not one of them.”

Rachel from the blog, Inside of Happiness, says that Pinterest brings out mixed-feelings, but has definitely produced results.

She explains, “For the last four years, Pinterest has been a mixed-feelings experience, but I still can’t ignore it. Every month it sends almost 300K people to my two blogs, and I still see a huge potential in using it. The main secret I’ve found out about Pinterest is that you need to be there online and constantly tweak what you do. I know bloggers who get great results doing the same thing for years; I’m not one of them. But every time I open my revenue page, my anger with Pinterest is replaced with gratitude as it genuinely pays off the time I spend on it.”

5. “Pinterest has become a huge drain without corresponding benefit.”

Erica from the blog, Raspberries & Kohlrabi, prefers SEO investment to Pinterest use.

She explains, “Pinterest feels like an always hungry but extremely picky toddler. Pinterest’s likes and dislikes are constantly changing. With its recent preferences for only new content, Pinterest has become a huge time drain without corresponding benefit. My main focus is now SEO which has always brought me more consistent and valuable traffic.”

6. Pinterest is “currently meh.”

Kerry from the blog, Mrs. Lady Wordsmith, would happily use Pinterest if it were a successful traffic source.

She notes, “I get the most website traffic from SEO. That’s where I focus and try to improve. For years, I’ve loved Pinterest as a user but have found it to be a big time suck as far as my business goes. So I increasingly spend less and less time using it for that purpose. I would absolutely love to use it again if Pinterest were a successful traffic source for me, but it’s currently meh.”

Share the LOVE – Pin this Post

If you liked reading this post, please consider sharing the love! Pin it. Tweet it. Share it with your followers or friends.

Or drop a comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts on Pinterest and whether it’s worth it for you.