Using Pinterest?

Interesting. Of course I had to go look up the TOS again to see if they say anything about affiliate offers, looks like they changed it. Under acceptable use policy, the only thing I see now is:

You agree not to engage in any of the following prohibited activities:

*Send any unsolicited or unauthorized spam and spam comments on posts, advertising messages, promotional materials, email, junk mail, chain letters or other form of solicitation;

So, depending on how you are popping affiliate offers in there - I guess it could work. I'd tend to shy away from a direct link to a product, and instead write up a blog post (with offers on the blog/post) - then pin the post instead. Although for Esty stores, I guess I'd rather have the direct link to the listing if I was interested in it - so just depends on what your affiliate offer would be. No clue on whether Pinterest would see a direct pin to an Etsy store listing as "solicitation" ?

Photography seems pretty hot, so nice images would surely help. One thing I hate however, is coming across a great image - clicking on the pin to see who took the shot - and it goes basically nowhere. Same goes for recipes. Don't show me a killer image of food when I'm looking for something to cook for dinner, and not pin me to the recipe!!!

Indeed. It's annoying to me too. If you're pinning an image from someone because it's cool and inspirational, at least give them credit for the image. I personally love to see where the original image came from and who created it.

Likewise, if you are using cool pictures on your blogs - put it somewhere in the blog post and the post might actually get read.

Oooo - do tell? I'm interested in knowing what the major changes are.

Thanks!
Michelle

It's great for generating traffic to a site, I'm averaging 100 UV's per pin because I picked a hot niche
The hard part is getting that traffic to convert though, I'm still working on that part.

If I could make a few suggestions.

Forget trying to push your pins and instead try telling a story. People love stories. Your goal is to make visitors want to delve deeper into the story and help them to see themselves as participants in the plot.

So let's start with your profile.

As "the introduction" into your tale this means nothing to me. And how does "bringing concierge service to the Watersports Industry" apply to me (the consumer/the daydreamer/the wannabe participant". Are you a b2b or b2c? I'm confused.

Next, Pretty up your board covers.

Take a moment or 2 to go through and center the images so they look appealing at first glance. Rearrange the boards so they flow from one topic to the next.

Recreate your board names.

These can be SEO'd but more importantly consider them "chapters of a book". Entice me to want to read each chapter with both the cover image and the board title.

Don't forget to write a short blurb about each board since it's useful for SEO.

Make each chapter relevant to the "book you're writing/story you're telling".

I have to ask "What's the deal with the vampire, and how does the dessert fit into watersports?" Help me to make the connection so I want to read those chapters.

Consider what you're pinning

Once you figure out "your story" and start building out "your chapters" be sure to continue to tell it with each pin you make. Whether you re-pin or pin direct... Take a moment to tell why the pin works within "your tale".

For instance...

your dessert page may be called something like "fuel for the big dive" and each pin could discuss the amount of calories someone would need to eat before they ______ and how a meal topped off with _______ will do the trick.

Last Set of Tips

Remember Pinterest is a lot about daydreaming. People pin things they want to remember and/or they want to do. They use Pinterest to help plan the bathroom redo, monthly meals, their wedding, a party, their next vacation, on and on.

Feed those dreams and the dreamers who have them. And if you tell your story well enough your entire profile will become a pre-sell page linking back to an authority resource on "watersports".

Find the #HashTags most often used in your category (Travel & Places, Sports, Fitness) and know which keywords would apply. Use those often in your board and pin descriptions.

Use relevant links from your ecommerce site in your pins description. Ie. you have a few images of underwater finds. If divers needed certain gear to get to the depth needed to "see it for themselves" you could mention the gear needed with a link back to your sales page.

Some people will tell you to hijack the pin by redirecting the URL. Not only is that violating Pinterest TOS (and rude) but it's not as natural as becoming part of the conversation by adding your expertise to the pin and leaving the original source URL intact.

HTH,

Rashell