I’m going to let you in on a little secret…stuff you pin from your site to Pinterest is a link back to your site! Yeah.

Unlike videos on YouTube, tweets, or Facebook posts, pins are direct links to your site.

Because we know Pinterest is the bride’s natural habitat, this is particularly good for those of us in the wedding industry.

Here is my personal strategy on getting free clicks from Pinterest…which turned it into my #2 source of traffic in 30 days!

STEP #1 – I created “pins” of my blog posts.

The best way to grab a bride’s attention so she clicks on your pins is to create a “pin” based on the content of your post.

It should be:

•    Branded (your colors, your fonts, uniform with other pins you’ll create)

•    Rectangular shaped (tall, not wide)

•    Contain a call to action like, “Click here to keep reading”

•    Not too prominently display your company name or logo (small in the bottom corner)

STEP #2 – I studied my Pinterest analytics.

In your business’ Pinterest account, you can see which of your pins are generating the most traffic to your website.

Go to Analytics > Overview > Activity from your site > Clicks.

Create more content that is similar to these pins so you can boost Pinterest traffic even more.

If your goal is simply to improve your Google rank and SEO, then more visitors from Pinterest will help, and you can pin any type of topics you like.

If your goal is to get local leads (if you are photographer, it should be leads), then focus your blog post pins on local topics: venue tips, real weddings from local venues, etc. A mix of local and non-local topics is good too.

By studying my analytics, I learned that posts I created of specific playlists were very successful, compared to my posts about local venue tips or real weddings. Since there are fewer men (i.e. my DJ comrades) on Pinterest, this makes sense, right?

So I responded by creating more wedding-related playlists.

STEP #3 – I used local keywords.

Create boards on Pinterest like, “San Diego Wedding Venue Tips” then post all of your local venue blog posts here.

So few posts, boards and pinners on Pinterest use local keywords that it is easy to stand out when any bride is searching weddings in your area…even if your primary goal is just to boost traffic.

STEP #4 – I networked with local vendors and venues.

Remember that every time you follow a board or a pinner on Pinterest, they get an email notification that you have done so. It might as well be saying, “Knock, knock. Who’s there? An awesome florist in our area that you’ve never met!”

That’s a pretty nice “free” introduction for simply clicking the “follow” button.

Plus, Pinterest shows this person a bunch of your boards and pins in that email notification. Cha-ching!

And let me just give a shout out to Katie from LaJollaMom.com who everyday will follow one of my boards. Rather than just hitting the “follow all” button when she first came across my profile, she systematically follows one board a day.

I see her shining face in my inbox day in and day out. She has almost 32,000 followers, so it must be working…I obviously remembered her well enough to include it in this article!

BONUS TIP – Get the Pin Button Attraction Plug-in.

For those of you on WordPress, there is an awesome premium plug-in called “Pin Button Attraction.“

With this plug-in, visitors get the option to not just like or re-pin your image but also to follow you. Additionally, the Pin button in the top corner of your images is always visible (not just when someone hovers over an image).

The plug-in is very competitively priced at under $20. It sadly was not compatible with my theme, but I highly recommend it.

Implementing these easy tips made Pinterest my website’s #2 source of traffic within a month’s time…and all for free!

Try out my strategy and let me know how it’s working for you in the comments below.