Pinterest…So What’s it All About?

Posted on May 10, 2012

So what's 'Pinterest' all about then?

Basically, Pinterest is a site full of images, just like you would find in a catalogue. You can create as many categories as you like and you can share the pins of other users in what is called a 'repin', or pin off the Internet from sites that have been wise enough to add a 'pin it' button to their site. The person who is sharing is referred to as the 'pinner'.

Why would you make the effort to start using Pinterest?

Well, put it this way, Pinterest is by far the fastest growing social media site in the world at this moment in time!

It's actually got well over 11.7 million unique users, making it the fastest site in history to break through the 10 million unique visitor mark.

So that makes Pinterest the third most popular social network at the moment, behind Facebook and Twitter.

Now that we've established how popular and fast growing Pinterest is, let's see how we can use it, and more importantly how it can help make our lives easier.

The first thing you need to do is to request an invitation to join, you can do that here for free.

Once you have your account you can then start pinning, it's really simple to work out, there's nothing hard about it, first edit your profile and then create your 'boards' (categories) for your pinned images.

A simple way to pin 'any' image you see is to install a Pinterest addon for your web browser, I use the Pinterest Right Click addon for Firefox, you can get it here if you need it.

However, it's also simple to 'repin' images that other users have already pinned, by simply browsing the images in Pinterest and clicking the 'repin' icon in the top left of the image, this will then pin that image to your chosen board.

There's also some really simple tools inside Pinterest that you can use to add 'Pin It' and 'Follow' buttons onto your websites, just like this one:

Another really cool thing about Pinterest that I personally love is the mobile phone app, if you pin an image from there, you can also set it up to post the image on Facebook and Twitter, you can also take an image from your phone and pin it at the same time.

Maybe now more people will start to add more high quality images relating to their products and services! Oh, if you ever need any images then you can't beat GFX-1 for quality and cost.

There's obviously a lot more about Pinterest than I would want to bore you with here, so I've got a complete eBook about the subject for you totally free, you can download it here.
Feel free to share/sell this eBook, as long as you don't change the content, if you need any PLR material for yourself, then look no further than our PLR Monthly site.

Enjoy!

Regards,

Dave.

Oh, don't forget to share your love with the social sharing below, and please let me know your comments on Pinterest, good or bad

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Comments (30) Trackbacks (0) ( subscribe to comments on this post )

Eamon
May 10th, 2012 - 18:04

Hi Dave,

Brilliant heads up on Pinterest.

I’ve sent off a request and will look into it more over the coming weeks, I was always intending to get a closer look into it…so maybe this is just the push I need.

I was trying to hold off for a while as you know the amount of time it takes to get through all the other social networking sites as it is. Facebook’s still my main priority at the moment – but I also know there’s so many joining pinterest on a daily basis.

Well at least I’ll get a look around anyway and see what I think of it, you just never know – it could be a fantastic platform for driving a load more traffic.

All the best,

Eamon.
Eamon recently posted..Facebook Timeline And What It Can Do For Your Business.

( REPLY )
- Dave Nicholson
  May 10th, 2012 - 18:47
  
  Hey Eamon,
  
  Cheers man, I’m pleased you liked it
  Yeah, I know it’s hard to fit everything in, but mark my words this is gonna be BIG soon!
  
  Regards,
  
  Dave.
  
  ( REPLY )
Mandy@LearnToBlog
May 10th, 2012 - 19:35

Hi Dave, I did join Pinterest a few weeks ago but haven’t had time to explore it fully. I think that’s the difficulty with anything new, there are so many other things to keep up with that the ‘learning’ of new stuff gets lost in the haze somehow. Must take a good look at your freebie then, mustn’t I!

Enjoy the journey.

Mandy
Mandy@LearnToBlog recently posted..It’s All Personal

( REPLY )
- Dave Nicholson
  May 10th, 2012 - 21:02
  
  Hey Mandy,
  
  I totally agree with you, it’s too easy to get caught up in everything.
  However, with the Pinterest app for my iPhone I think this could work to my benefit, posting pics to Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter at the same time can only save time!
  
  Regards,
  
  Dave.
  
  ( REPLY )
Chris and Lisa
May 10th, 2012 - 19:43

Hey Dave,

You’re absolutely right that this is going to be huge considering it’s still technically in beta and by invite only but the referral traffic potential for marketers is something not to be ignored.

That said, you really have to be a bit careful in your pinning activities not to upset the people that are there purely because they love to pin. If you’re seen as a self-serving marketer spamming up the place with links back to your own sites or to affiliate products, you’ll get reported by the users and Pinterest has been actively restricting or suspending accounts recently.

There aren’t any hard and fast rules but the consensus is generally not to pin more than 1 in 8 of self-serving pins and you should be OK. The temptation when you first get on is to make a whole board, fill it full of affiliate pins and wait for the money to roll in as your pins go viral….WRONG! It ain’t gonna happen!

Pinterest is all about displaying beautiful images and although the engagement with other pinners is nothing like as intense as it is on Facebook or Twitter, you’re still kind of expected to join in with the community spirit by appreciating other people’s boards, repinning their stuff, liking their stuff and adding the odd comment.

As it’s growth has been so tremendous this year, it’s adapting and changing as it does so and no doubt we’ll see further changes before it finally opens its’ doors to the public but we would advise getting in now for sure.

Chris Shaw and Lisa Hernandez

( REPLY )
- Dave Nicholson
  May 10th, 2012 - 21:00
  
  Hey guys,
  
  Yeah, you’re dead right there, don’t get started spamming it with affiliate links as they are already clamping down on that.
  Lets’ use it as a great source of traffic to legitimate sources and a place to share high quality images!
  Same as anything really, if you don’t abuse it then you’ll benefit a lot more!
  
  Regards,
  
  Dave.
  
  ( REPLY )
Terry Conti
May 10th, 2012 - 20:12

Hi Dave,

It’s good to know about Pinterest these days. We are all starting to see it talked about on the web. More and more we are starting to see Pinterest buttons. It’s obvious this site is growing.

Good post Dave giving us a heads up on this info. It’s much needed because even though it’s growing there are many people who do not know what it is yet.

Looks like this is yet another stream to get your self out there and known to who you are and what you do. Thanks for sharing Dave,

Terry Conti
Terry Conti recently posted..Your Own Custom Opt-in Box and Aweber

( REPLY )
- Dave Nicholson
  May 10th, 2012 - 20:50
  
  Hey Terry,
  
  Yeah, I’ve been watching this for a while now and it’s about to explode, just like twitter did a few years ago!
  
  Regards,
  
  Dave.
  
  ( REPLY )
Dan Sumner
May 10th, 2012 - 20:29

I signed up a while ago and kind of got lost in it all Dave. There is so much to look at and so little to get done lol.

Some great tips there buddy.

I especially like the link to PLR Monthly. Obviously the best PLR site in the world

Cheers Dave,

Dan
Dan Sumner recently posted..The 1 Page Promotion – Google Loves Your Blog

( REPLY )
- Dave Nicholson
  May 10th, 2012 - 20:49
  
  Hey Dan,
  
  Cheers mate, yeah, I know there’s always loads to get done!
  Of course, PLR is a major foundation of any IM business
  
  Regards,
  
  Dave.
  
  ( REPLY )
zora
May 11th, 2012 - 00:24

Hey Dave,

Thanks for this post it explains a lot of what it’s all about. I was wondering what they were doing over there.
zora recently posted..Welcome to part 3 of ’7 Reasons Why You’re Failing to get Traffic’.

( REPLY )
- Dave Nicholson
  May 11th, 2012 - 11:24
  
  Hey Zora,
  
  Happy to help, thanks for your comments.
  
  Regards,
  
  Dave.
  
  ( REPLY )
Craig Pullman
May 11th, 2012 - 02:55

Hi Dave,
haven’t had a chance to join Pinterest yet. Its interesting to note that now we have 6 major Social Media sites. Makes it a bit easier to engage with our customers. It puts a different spin on traffic generation. It certainly has changed a lot over the past 15 years. Makes the days of the old blog comment backlinking look like the horse and cart! Thanks for the informative post.

Regards,

Craig
Craig Pullman recently posted..Getting Started Online – Do You Need A Mentor?

( REPLY )
- Dave Nicholson
  May 11th, 2012 - 11:23
  
  Hey Craig,
  
  Yeah, things are moving very quick in social media
  
  Thanks for your comments.
  
  Dave.
  
  ( REPLY )
Barry Wells
May 11th, 2012 - 10:50

Hi Dave,

I started using Pinterest a couple of months ago for the Video Blog Challenge I held, so as to generate some extra backlinks for everyone taking part.

I’ve since gone on and created more boards that I add to as I make my way around blogs.

I like the simplicity of Pinterest but like others have said I do find it very time consuming so I tend to be a bit of a hit and run merchant.

One thing I have noticed a lot of, and this really makes me wonder, is that some people seem to have created loads of boards that’re keyword rich but don’t have any images in them. Then some of the people fly around following others and have had people follow them….. When they still don’t have any images

Thanks for sharing your views on this Dave, you now have one more follower there

Barry
Barry Wells recently posted..A Solution To Your Plugin Nightmares and Slow Loading Blogs

( REPLY )
- Dave Nicholson
  May 11th, 2012 - 11:22
  
  Hey Barry,
  
  Yeah, I’m the same, a bit of a ‘hit and run’ guy
  I’m also not quite sure why people are doing that, but it’s got to be some dodgey way of gaining traffic, they will get put in their place by Pinterest, trust me!
  Cheers for your comments.
  
  Dave.
  
  ( REPLY )
  - Chris and Lisa
    May 11th, 2012 - 12:09
    
    Yep, you’re right Dave. That’s the spammers at work again for sure. I got another two followers today and when I went to their boards to see if there’s anything relevant to follow back, I found three boards, all completely empty of pins and they had just 3 followers and were following 2,546 people. Very similar for the other follower I got; no profile picture or anything.
    
    Like Twitter was back in the day, that’s completely unnatural. The reason they don’t put any pins on their boards I suspect is so that you can’t report them easily. It’s difficult getting support tickets answered by Pinterest staff but it’s simple to report a pin by clicking the button.
    
    Like you, I’m not sure what the angle is here as traffic is generated from pins and repins but maybe they’re just using SEO in their profile description to get backlinks?
    
    For sure, Pinterest will catch up to accounts like this that clearly were created using some kind of automated bot. They’re out there and not cheap. PinPal is $250, Ninja PInner is $67 with no refunds allowed. You’d be mad to risk your money on these to game the system as you could wake up tomorrow and find they don’t work anymore coz Pinterest is onto these.
    
    Chris and Lisa
    Chris and Lisa recently posted..Ноw tо Usе Pinterest tо Promote Yоur Business
    
    ( REPLY )
    - Dave Nicholson
      May 11th, 2012 - 12:22
      
      Some excellent points there guys, and I totally agree with all of them!
      Keep everything you do as honest and ethical as you possibly can and you’ll never have any problems!
      Yeah, I also noticed the auto pinners, but I’d stay well clear of them too, who knows what kind of crap you’ll get associated with!
      Cheers for your comments, much appreciated!
      
      Dave.
      
      ( REPLY )
Peter@Affiliate Marketing
May 11th, 2012 - 12:32

Hi Dave, Thanks for the post I’ve downloaded your e book and will have a good read and try to understand it all.
Thanks for the info.

Peter
Peter@Affiliate Marketing recently posted..Affiliate Directory Submission – Use Instant Affiliate Submitter to recruit affiliates for your affiliate programs

( REPLY )
- Dave Nicholson
  May 11th, 2012 - 12:35
  
  You’re very welcome Peter, enjoy!
  
  ( REPLY )
Danny Howard
May 12th, 2012 - 00:45

Hey Dave

How’s it going

I’ve not started using Pinterest yet, will sign up now and have a dig about with it.

Cheers

Danny

( REPLY )
- Dave Nicholson
  May 12th, 2012 - 10:27
  
  Go for it Danny
  
  ( REPLY )
Stefan Dyke
May 18th, 2012 - 00:48

Hi Dave,

Another helpful post as always.

I’ve only really scratched the surface with Pinterest but I must say I do like the format of using imagery or videos to engage with people rather than just a tiny blurb or a bunch of text links, there’s something about ‘seeing’ what people are talking about that really helps get my attention.

Like all of these sites the trick seems to be learning the right way to use it without getting oneself into trouble by overdoing the affiliate links or self-promotion, so plenty to learn from my point of view.

I’ve hopped on over and followed you so I’ll be keeping an eye on how you utilise it for your business and hopefully I’ll pick up a few tricks

Cheers,

Stefan
Stefan Dyke recently posted..Are You Looking For A URL Shortener? Look no further…

( REPLY )
Steve
May 29th, 2012 - 18:57

Hi Dave,

First off, thanks for your follow on Pinterest; I love Pinterest and I’m getting some traffic already, not lots but I’ve only just started.

Your Ebook on the subject was great, thanks for that too.

keep up the good work Dave.

Best Regards,

Steve.
Steve recently posted..Chris Farrell is Number 1 for Affiliate Marketing.

( REPLY )
Steven Archard
May 29th, 2012 - 21:06

Hey there Dave,
Great post on Pinterest. Amazing how fast an idea can move into the ‘viral’ phase. I took advantage of your Firefox add-on myself. Thanks for the insight and direction.

All the best,
Steve
Steven Archard recently posted..Password Protection :: What You Need to Know

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Tim Bonner
June 1st, 2012 - 07:43

Hi Dave

I just requested an invite to join Ptinterest yesterday, so I’ve downloaded your eBook and I’ll have a read over it. Many thanks for that!

If Ptinterest is growing that quickly I need to get on board

Cheers

Tim
Tim Bonner recently posted..Blog Traffic – Do You Need Help to Increase It?

( REPLY )
Kathy Bell
June 14th, 2012 - 15:59

Hi Dave,

Thanks for a very informative post! I really didn’t know much about Pinterest before, so I found the info you presented most helpful.

Kathy
Kathy Bell recently posted..Building a Responsive List

( REPLY )
James Hughes
July 6th, 2012 - 13:34

Hi Dave

Great post on Pinterest.

I’m going to take a look at it in between my product creation!

Cheers

James
James Hughes recently posted..Hughesy’s ebook giveaway

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Julie
July 7th, 2012 - 06:37

Dave:
Thank you for such a well written post. I’ve read other posts about Pinterest but yours is by far the best – informative and easy to read.
I’m looking forward to reading your ebook.

( REPLY )
Tina Lindgren
July 17th, 2012 - 09:42

Hi Dave
thanks for sharing a bit about Pinterest. After seeing your stats I will definitey take a good look at Pinterest.
Cheers
Tina

( REPLY )