How Visual Marketing Using Pinterest Can Increase Traffic and Revenue

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When you hear about yet another social network it's possible that somewhere inside your head you will hear a screaming sound. Don't be alarmed. This time it's Pinterest and everything is going to be ok.

Why? Because you will 'get' Pinterest very quickly. In fact, the site just hit 11.7 million unique monthly U.S. visitors and they're still in beta. What does this tell us? It confirms what we know about the brain. The brain makes sense of the world through visual processing-- no great thought required, so we love pictures!

But what does this mean for your marketing -- a lot. Pinterest ties up all the things you like about social networking, the sharing, the display of your interests, the ability to find like-minded people, but without all the technical hassles.

Here are some things to consider when you think about marketing on Pinterest:

1. It's very easy to set up: No heavy lifting here. Set yourself up and create some boards ripe for pinning. Give them interesting names so people will seek them out.

2. It let's you link to something: The graphic you pin has a link along with it. If it's someone else's link it is automatically created. If it's from your site, you can put the URL you want. That's marketing 101-send them to content rich areas. Think about it, just like Twitter or Facebook, they can go to YOUR link. (Hint: This is where the traffic angle comes in.)

3. It shows your stuff off via your best graphics: If you have good looking products, this is a no-brainer.

4. You can put prices on things: If you put a dollar sign ($) in the description, a price banner will appear in the left corner of your graphic. It will then go into the "Gifts" section and be searchable by price.

5. People can get to know what you're about: This is the fun part. Just display what you love.

Try it! You'll find me on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/diamondsf

If you need an invitation, put a comment below and I'll send you one.