I’m a big fan of Pinterest – a newish social site which revolves around sharing image links which are “pinned” into “boards” within your account. You can follow other pinners, thus creating a network of visually oriented people who share similar interests and aesthetics with you. At the moment, it’s still in beta format while the creators figure out a way to make money with it, so you’ll need to request an invitation to join. Not to worry, they’ll approve you quickly and you’ll be off and running in no time. I must admit, it’s pretty addictive for anyone who thinks visually.
It dawned on me a couple weeks after using the site that anyone with images of their products online could benefit from the links that are created when someone pins an image in their Pinterest account. The obvious next step is to test the the site out with Banjo Bunny, home to my funny ecards. (Yes, that was a shameless link!) Most of my content over there is visual, which makes it a good testing site for these purposes, and though the majority of my content is Flash-based I do have a blog to help flesh out the message of my site and post static images.
I know full well that any idea that revolves solely around link-building for advertising alone is difficult to sustain – if your heart’s not in it, motivations are difficult to veil. What I have going for me is an authentic passion for the content I’ll be bringing to the table, including images of vintage postcards, antique Christmas cards and charming paper ephemera from the early 1900′s. Boxes of antique postcards make up my personal collection, so yes, I’m a real, live, authentic collector of vintage photographs and antique greetings! I don’t see this little test as a burden, rather, this is an outlet for an active passion of mine which is frequently expressed through my creative ecard endeavors.
For the time being, I’ve started a “board” within my personal account titled “Advent” where I’ve begun pinning images from my annual award-winning interactive Advent Calendar. (See the image above for a detail of an image I pinned this morning.) I also started following other pinners who have an interest in antique postcards and Christmas-related images. People involved in social media frown upon those who only post or pin about themselves, so it’s imperative to pin quality images from sites other than my own – which, I must say, is very easy to do. I found myself getting lost for over an hour searching the internet for quality advent calendar links and wonderful DIY holiday treats.
Hopefully, I’m on to something, but even if it doesn’t pan out on the SEO front, I’ll have learned some beneficial information, not to mention all the new connections I’ll be making with similarly-minded visual people!
To follow my Webpoppy Pinterest feed, click here!
Susan J. Preston is a web designer residing in Taos, New Mexico and working with clients from Santa Fe to Washington DC and all the way back to California. For more information, read the About section, or take a look at the article, How to write a website RFP for help with getting your web design/redesign going.
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