I know I am not alone. I know there are other overwhelmed bloggers out there who have watched the Pinterest explosion, overwhelmed not only about establishing a following on yet another social media platform, but about being sucked into a tempting time warp.
However, just like I resisted skinny jeans, afraid that I wouldn’t be able to pull them off (pardon the pun,) and then wondered why it took me so long, I am finally giving in to Pinterest.
My twin sister and co-founder of 5 Minutes for Mom, Susan Carraretto, started a Pinterest account for us the past month as well — one that includes both of us as 5 Minutes for Mom. (You can follow us at http://pinterest.com/5minutesformom/) But while we both signed up several weeks ago, we are still trying to get a feel for it and are definitely not pinning experts yet.
But the other night, with a bowl of popcorn and Kelby Carr on Skype giving me a personal Pinterest tutorial, I made my first boards, did some re-pinning, and tried to move past my Pinterest hesitations.
But the question remains: DOES a Blogger Need to be on Pinterest?
Yes, I am giving into Pinterest. But should every blogger be on Pinterest? Why should a busy blogger add one more social platform to their crammed online schedule?
I asked four top bloggers who are Pinterest lovers about the benefits of Pinterest for bloggers. Does a blogger need to be on Pinterest? Here is what they told me:
Kelby Carr aka @TypeAMom
“I definitely believe bloggers benefit from being on Pinterest.
Besides being pretty, entertaining and mesmerizing, it also serves practical purposes. For one thing, it is great inspiration for blog post ideas (or even ideas for your life, from recipes and home renovation project ideas to craft DIYs and must-have gadgets).
Beyond that, it is proving to be a great traffic generator. Real Simple Magazine, for example, says it is driving more traffic to their site than Facebook, which is pretty impressive. (See this AdAge post about Real Simple Magazine’s Pinterest traffic.)
Also, at least for now, Pinterest’s links are dofollow, which means you will get Google juice (or credit for having inbound links) for any pins linking to your site. Pinterest is a PageRank 6 site, quite high for such a new site. That means those links are pretty high-impact.
In fact, your blog might already be pinned. You can find out by visiting pinterest.com/source/INSERTYOURURL.COM.”
CONTINUE READING at BABBLE’S MOMCRUNCH…
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Written by Janice Croze, co-founder of 5 Minutes for Mom.
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I just found out about pinterest a while back when I interviewed Amy Guth, a great social media manager for the Tribune company.. She said it was one of the two social networks she’s on right now and can’t live without.
I had to check it out after that, but still haven’t signed up.
Well, as a somewhat new blogger I’m just a little scared. Everything I hear about Pinterest appears to be great but some bloggers I know say they didn’t like it. I want to try it as i have tried them all seems like…lol
Is it really a Great benefit for your blogs? I guess it’s one more site i need to try…maybe it will be Pintastic for me…..lol
Thanks for posting this!
I have found more interesting blogs and websites though pininterest than I have via any other social media. I am new to this but I love it. Will start using it to boost my own site.
after seeing that traffic was coming to my blog via pinterest I decided to see what all the fuss was about…. like twitter, I’d created an account some time ago, and then never found the time to learn more about it. but wow, pinterest is neat. yes, it’s a colossal time suck, but I love that I can see a recipe on someone’s blog, pin it, try it some time down the road, then write about it and link back to that person’s blog without having to go searching for that link. so, to me, pinterest has become both a fun after-the-kids-are-down-and-i-am-avoiding-the-playroom-disaster-zone as well as a circular way for me to bookmark and recognize fellow bloggers ideas.
Yes – it is fun AND productive! 🙂
Didn’t know about the link to see if your blog was pinned already. Mine was! Very cool! Thank you!
That is a fun link isn’t it? The first time I looked I was so excited! 🙂
I think it’s like any of the social media outlets. Each blogger needs to evaluate what works for them and focus their time and energies there. Some like Twitter. Some prefer Facebook. Some have gotten the hang of and like StumbleUpon. Others feel like it’s just a time suck. I see Pinterest as the same. I think of Pinterest as a way to mark and share things I enjoy. It’s almost like tearing stuff out of a magazine to save, only without all of the paper.
yes for sure – to each her own. You have to decide what works for you.
I was the same way with Pinterest in the beginning and after dabbling here and there for a few weeks something finally clicked in a “whoa this is HUGE” kind of way. Pinterest has the potential to be a visual version of Stumble Upon…I think this site is going to do major things and bloggers should jump on board now while it’s still so early.
yes – I am sure you are right!
I agree! You don’t even need to be active to have someone pinning your things. 1 1/2 years a go someone pinned an ornament of mine and I was notified by my Google notification, so I got an invite to join and have never looked back. I pinned a friends photo tip last week and she was amazed at the traffic it gave her. I just love it for the easy ways to file ideas and recipes instead of bookmarking.
I can be found on Pinterest here http://pinterest.com/wendyshat/
following you now 🙂
I don’t neccessarily think that bloggers NEED to be on pinterest – surely getting pinned is worth more than pinning!?
The idea of Pinterest being to pin what interests YOU – ideas, inspiration, etc. Pinterest isn’t intended to be self-promotion (says so in their pin ettiquette section) thus if you are the source of inspiration then you’re more likely to be getting pinned than pinning.
Upon being pinned those that follow those that have pinned you will also see your projects, photographs, etc and may (hopefully) increase the traffic to your blog.
It’s better to be pin-worthy than pin-happy (says she who is pin-happy herself!)
Kia – I totally agree with what you have said here!
Yes Kia – so true! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. 🙂