How Small Businesses Can Benefit From Pinterest

Allright, so what is the big deal about Pinterest anyway?

We could go on and on about the benefits of marketing your business with Pinterest. But here are the 2 top reasons.

Top Pinterest Benefits

Pinterest provides backlinks to your website

What are backlinks? Backlinks are incoming links to a website. For example, your Google Places or Twitter account may link to your website.

Why are backlinks so important? Google takes in a number of factors when deciding which sites to display in the search results. One of these factors is the total number of websites linking back to yours.

Pinterest generates website traffic and increases online exposure

Pinterest is driven by images. When Pinterest users see an image that interests them and click on it, they are taken to a website where the image originated from. For example, a picture of a chocolate cake, when clicked on will take people to the website displaying the recipe.

By choosing images that appeal to others, you can potentially bring a ton of traffic to your website. This increases your visibility online by attracting people who may have never heard of your business.

What Types of Small Businesses Can Benefit From Pinterest?

One major misunderstanding is that only certain types of businesses can benefit from Pinterest. Some people think since Pinterest users are primarily women, if they are not in the craft or recipe business, Pinterest won’t work for them. Well it’s time to adopt a new way of thinking.

Pinterest is used for more than just recipe sharing and creative inspiration. Pinterest is actually similar to a search engine as the queries are endless.

For example, a user may search for “2013 Hair Styles”. What a nice opportunity for salons to advertise?

Or how about when people are looking for “vacation ideas”… perhaps a travel agency could take advantage of these searches?

Below are more examples of what types of businesses could benefit from Pinterest…and the examples don’t end here either. Be sure to check out some more inspiration by reading our article on How Michigan Small Business Owners Can Make Money With Pinterest

Pet Store

Pinterest users love their pets! Why not market to these pet lovers by pinning pictures of furry friends?

You may chose to pin pictures of puppies for sale, or pin cute stock images of animals. Remember your photos don’t always have to be items for sale either. You can entice people with photos that simply link to an informative article on your site.

Restaurants

People are always searching for recipes on Pinterest. Next time someone does a search for the best spaghetti recipe, what if a picture of your spaghetti appeared in the results and linked to your restaurant’s website ?

Now of course this is assuming you are willing to provide the recipe for one of your menu items. Another idea would be to provide a recipe for a dish that is not on your menu. Remember the idea here is traffic to your site and online exposure.

Construction

Any type of construction or home improvement business can easily be promoted on Pinterest. Carpenters, landscapers, tile installers, painters … the list goes on. Pinterest users search for things like bathroom remodel ideas, kitchen backsplashes , and landscaping ideas. All you have to do is show off photos from your latest projects.

Clothing stores and Boutiques

Fashion is another popular pin from Pinterest users. Users often create a pin board of all of their favorite clothing found online. Even if people are not ready to shop yet, they like to save their ideas for when they do go shopping…which could be at your boutique if you take advantage of the benefits Pinterest has to offer.

Bakeries or Candy Shops

This is an easy one. You can pin recipes, baking tips or how about wedding ideas? Pin a picture of a beautiful wedding cake or homemade chocolates placed at a wedding table.

Yoga Studio

This could be for any type of exercise studio or gym. Post pictures that explain an exercise from start to finish (you have probably seen something like this in a fitness magazine). You can even pin videos if you prefer to demonstrate an exercise in front of a camera.

Other pinning ideas could be healthy recipes or health tips in general. For example “5 tips on how to lose 5lbs weight in 2 weeks” .

Antique Shops

Antiques are a popular item on Pinterest. Pinterest users enjoy looking at beautiful and unique items. You can post pictures of individual items for sale or you may choose to post tips for antique restoration and care.

Furniture Stores

Pin pictures of the rooms set up in your showroom. People will typically search for living room arrangements, living room furniture, living room decorating ideas…etc. The same goes for all other rooms in the house.

Photographers

To get the most out of Pinterest, focus on a niche such as wedding photography or children photography.