Boost Your Pinterest Traffic - Are Pinterest Ads Worth It?
Wednesday, August 05, 2020
Pinterest is a confusing place, especially since the recent update. I, amongst others, have been impacted by the changes they have made. My stats had dropped dramatically, so I was thinking of ways to boost my Pinterest traffic. I was sent a Pinterest offer regarding ads, so I decided to try it out. So, are Pinterest ads a good way of boosting traffic?
Running The Ads
I have seen Pinterest Ads being promoted for a while. I was curious to see how they worked, so claimed an offer that Pinterest was running. The offer I signed up for was "spend £5, receive £30 worth of ads". I thought this was reasonable, especially to start off with. I ran the ad for 5 days at £1 a day.
I used this pin to promote as it was one I liked and leads to a page that has quite a few affiliate links on, so hopefully, I can gain a sale! I posted it the night before I ran the ad to see how well it would do on its own. After 24 hours, the pin had around 270 views and 2 saves. Those stats aren't great!
After the first day, there were 2k impressions, 16 clicks and 5 saves, but still, no sales had been generated. After the second, there was 4.2k impressions, 22 clicks and 4 saves. My saves had gone down by 1, but that isn't too concerning as my clicks have gone up. On the third day, there were 5.1k impressions with 31 clicks and 9 saves. The week finished with an impressive 6.9k impressions, 52 clicks and 18 saves.
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| I tested the image out without adverts first, to see how it would do on it's own |
Why You Should Run Pinterest Ads
I decided to run a Pinterest ad because I wanted to see how it would benefit my blog and if it is worth the investment. I was also given an offer if I spend £5, so I wanted to make the most out of that. There are lots of other benefits to getting Pinterest ads:
- Increased traffic to your blog or website which could lead to sales
- Increased engagement & viewers on Pinterest
- Increased brand awareness
- Advertising is affordable compared to other sites
- It's an easy way to grow your blog and following
- It's easy to set up a Pinterest ad
How Much Should You Spend On Ads?
Working out how much you want to spend depends on what you're looking to get out of your ads. I decided to go for £5 because it was an affordable investment and I wanted to get the promotional offer. Make sure you set a budget and are happy with the amount you're paying. It also is beneficial to make sure the pin you're trying to promote is going to attract people. There is no point promoting a poorly designed pin that is for a topic not many people are interested in. Experimenting with pins, prices, and duration is the key to answering this question. Some things you need to consider when choosing how much to spend are:
- How much are you willing to spend in total? What's the most?
- Are you looking for clicks, sales or impressions?
- How long do you want your ads to run for?
- Is the pin you're trying to promote going to benefit from ads?
Are Pinterest Ads Worth It?
If you're looking for clicks, they don't seem too worth it, and none of these generated a sale. Clicks don't necessarily mean you will make money off of a product. It's hard to say if they were worth it or not. If you're looking for increased traffic, I would say they are good for a quick increase. I managed to get 52 clicks from this post, albeit I know many bloggers who get that within an hour of pinning something. It's a good tool if you're starting out and looking to get some fast traffic, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're already established unless you're willing to pay more.
I thought that for £5, I got a decent amount of stats and clicks. It wasn't overly impressive, but it is better than some of my recent pins. The Pinterest issues are affecting my stats, so this was a nice boost for my blog. It's a shame it couldn't have been better. You can easily get 1000 clicks from making a free pin and Canva and uploading in. Unless Pinterest is running a good deal like this again, I don't recommend spending your money on adverts. It's better for your bank to invest in some good Pinterest templates and build it up yourself. Plus, adverts are only temporary!
When I received my £30 credit, I was able to play with the length of each advert. I spend £10 of the credit on my next pin. I linked it to a blog post that already was successful, so I wanted to see if Pinterest traffic was similar to my organic and Twitter traffic. This pin received 13,000 impressions and around 150 clicks, which is disappointing having to spend £10 credit.
The next pin I spent £5 on, and it did better than the first one. I chose a bullet journaling pin as they seem to do well on Pinterest without the adverts. This pin received around 10,000 impressions with nearly 100 clicks. This was the same for a Halloween pin I shared around October. I was happier with this result, but it made me think about how it benefits other bloggers. If I hadn't had the free credit, I would have to spend £35 for only around 500 extra readers. While that may seem like a lot to some bloggers, it is only a fraction of the clicks that others may get.
How To Boost Your Pinterest Traffic
Pinterest is a great way to increase your blog traffic as it has so many users looking for inspiration. If you're looking for some better ways to increase your blog traffic in the long term, here are 2 ways that have worked the best for me!
Invest In Yourself
One of the best ways to increase your blog traffic is to invest in yourself. I purchased a few Pinterest courses and learnt how to make the most out of social media! Courses are a great way to learn tricks that work. They are accurate, constantly updated to suit changes and are written by real bloggers. It is important to know what works, so courses are a great way to learn! My favourite is Pinterest Perfect, but there is also Pinterest with Ell, which I also like!
Be Consistent
Pinterest is a lot of work, so you need to be consistent. Scheduling pins at peak times and creating fresh content is a great way to increase your Pinterest impressions and blog traffic. If you're going away, schedule your pins. There's no reason to not be utilising your resources! There are lots of free resources you can use to help you stay consistent. Creating pins in bulk will also be useful, especially when you have templates that get attention! I'd recommend investing in a few templates you like and changing them to suit you and your niche.
Post Throughout The Day
Even when you're asleep, there will be people awake, globally. Schedule pins for throughout the whole day. There are some peak traffic times for different locations, so it's worth looking in to those and seeing what would benefit you. Pinterest has a free built in scheduling tool, so you can have pins going through the night as well as when you're working! This was, you can read a wider range of readers and attract readers from all over the world.
There you have it! I tried Pinterest ads. Although I got extra traffic, it didn't lead to extra sales which was disappointing, but I only spend £5. It will be interesting to see how the extra £30 credit makes a difference, so watch out for an update! Have you ever tried Pinterest ads? I'd love to know how you got on with them. Let me know your opinion of them in the comments!
39 comments
I’ve always wondered about promoting pins but wasn’t sure if it was worth it.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like this worked out fairly well for you. It is just so hard to know what will or won’t work in terms of Pinterest. I love it and hate it in equal measure!
It's hard to say! It's very beneficial if you're looking for more clicks, but I know bloggers who get that many with a snap of the fingers! Pinterest is a tough cookie to crack!
DeleteEm x
I'm always skeptic whenever there will be money involved but this is a really great post. Thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteJirah Merizz | https://writingsbyjm.com/
Thank you for reading & taking the time to comment :)
DeleteEm x
I haven't paid much attention to my Pinterest account as I wasn't sure how I could go about promoting my website through there. This is a very helpful post. Thank you for sharing 😊✨
ReplyDeleteI love Pinterest, and it was interesting to see if ads were beneficial! Thank you for reading & taking the time to comment :)
DeleteEm x
This is really helpful, thank you! I too purchased an ad but didn't get my credit back yet. That was 2 weeks ago. I also didn't get as many link clicks but have only been using Pinterest for a month.
ReplyDeleteI am wondering if I need to contact them about it because I don't want to miss out! Keep at it, I am sure you'll grown quickly! Thank you for reading & taking the time to comment :)
DeleteEm x
I dont really have the time to invest much time on Pinterest and post as mnay pins as some bloggers do haha. But I will definitely try Pinterest Ad maybe soon. Thanks for these tips ♡
ReplyDeleteNor do I which is why I thought testing the ADs would be useful! Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
I've used Pinterest Ads a few times but I probably wouldn't do it again as I can get the same results from doing it myself! This is a really helpful post for anyone thinking about it x
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
I ran a few ads over the last few weeks and they are still offering the promotion even though I have spent over £5. Have you been given the offer yet because I wasn't really sure how to contact them about it!
ReplyDeleteI haven't! I really need to chase that up and see where it is. Have you? Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
I too have grown overly frustrated with pinterest lately! I've used a few different ads promoting some of my top pins and I really was able to get lots of impressions and a little more traffic to my blog. I didn't spend much on them, but it was nice to not feel like pinterest was completely worthless for a time lol
ReplyDeletePinterest is a little frustrating, but I hope that it's getting better for you! Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
I've always wondered about Pinterest ads but I've never really thought they were worth it, however, it seems to have worked out for you so I may try it! x
ReplyDeleteLucy | www.lucymary.co.uk
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
I've been considering Pinterest ads for quite some time, but had yet to try them out. Thanks for doing this test for me so I could see how they perform! I'd be interested to see if it ends up diminishing your overall reach after utilizing, the way Facebook and Instagram do. After running ads on both of those platforms, my reach plummeted and it really bummed me out. You'll have to update us and let us know if you see a change post-ad!
ReplyDeleteI think it was in interesting experiment. I haven't tried Facebook ads, but I don't use it enough to do it yet. Hopefully I get my ad credit soon! Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
I've heard mixed things about Pinterest ads, so it's pretty insightful to see what other people's experiences are like. I may have to give it a try one of these days as I'm still new to Pinterest. Thank you for sharing! x
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
I've always wondered about the pop-up I get about Pinterest ads and you're right: in the grand scheme of things £5 isn't much if it doesn't work! Thank you for this post - my Pinterest account is only a month old so I have a lot to learn!
ReplyDeleteExactly why I thought it would be a good idea to try! Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
This is interesting, I’ve always been curious to see if buying these promotions from Pinterest actually work and it seems to have done really well for you! I may have to give it a go x
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
I've thought about doing similar for a while but I've never done it but it's really helpful to have osmeones point of view before going ahead. Thank yyou
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
This is super interesting!! I've just come back to blogging after a 2 year hiatus, and one of the BIGGEST differences between blogging today and blogging two years ago is how much everyone seems to rave about pintrest?!!! I've always just used pintrest for my bujo/teaching inspo, so I'm definitely super thankful that you made this post and talked a wee bit about how us bloggers/small biz people can utilise it as a marketing tool!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you there! I stopped blogging for a while and I've come back to 20 Pinterest eBooks etc. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
This is really helpful, thanks- I think I have a way to go before I've got enough of a base to try out ads from what you've said. On a side note; do you have any opinions on Facebooks ads? I'm getting bombarded by notifications for them so wondering what you think?
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried Facebook ads yet, but I will be looking into them soon! Let me know if you're going to try them. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
I have tried Pinterest ad once and it’s definitely not worth it for me. I didn’t get sales and clicks were low for me. I decided to go organic and with consistency, my traffic increased and sales were generated. I think it all depends on the niche and pin designs. This is really helpful. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit hit and miss. Organic seems to be the better option anyway plus it's more rewarding! Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
These are some great tips. I'm not sure if I would ever use AD's but it is definitely something I'm willing to consider in the future!
ReplyDeleteLove, Amie ❤
The Curvaceous Vegan
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
I don't even have a pinterest account but this is a great nudge!I need to get on this. Thanks for the tips!
ReplyDelete--Sue
www.susanberkkoch.com/blog
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
Thank you so much for sharing! I've been debating back and forth whether or not to invest in Pinterest ads because my stats have dropped significantly. I don't sell or make money from anything yet so this may be helpful to at least get some clicks and further traffic.
ReplyDelete