I’m sure some of you may already know this, but if you’re looking for a boost of inspiration whether it’s for content, design, layout, advertising or what to make for dinner tonight, Pinterest is where it’s at. I’m probably one of the biggest Pinterest addicts you’ll ever meet; instead of using Google to find recipes, gift ideas or infographics, I will simply look it up on Pinterest and get much better results.
Not all people use Pinterest quite as much or as thoroughly as I do, but if you haven’t tried it yet you really should. It is an all-encompassing tool that allows you to get ideas for websites, content, design and layout that you might not have thought of before. This is an especially helpful tool for someone who is a visual learner and needs to see fresh ideas before they can come up with their own.
I can’t be the only one who thinks that Pinterest is king in inspiration; as of 2013, 70 million users on the site also agree. We can all not only love Pinterest and rely on it for our inspiration and new ideas, we can also learn some lessons to use in our own sites.
Use it for web design inspiration
Pinterest recently started using sponsored pins, suggested pins and has popular pins available on certain brands like Target and Walmart’s websites. While many users, myself included, get annoyed with sponsored tweets and targeted Facebook ads, for some reason this tactic is not as irritating in the Pinterest world. To be honest, as long as the picture is appealing or informational, I don’t really care who is bringing it to me.
Pinterest is a great tool for web design inspiration or getting new content ideas because not only does it provide you with a visual to go along with new ideas, it also brings in content from the 70 million other people who are circulating fresh design and content. If you’re working on a new website, you have no idea how much your designer and content writer will appreciate it when you bring concrete ideas to a meeting. All it takes is a Pinterest board.
Use it for strengthening your brand
Not only is Pinterest great for inspiration, it’s also excellent for strengthening your brand and your online presence. Products and services, especially with great images to go along with them, engage users and get them connecting your products with their followers. According to Digital Marketing Ramblings, the average time users spent on Pinterest per month this year was 98 minutes with an average of 14.2 minutes per visit and Pinterest shoppers spent around $140-$180 (meaning they actually purchased something they found on Pinterest). Even if you’re not selling a product on your Pinterest page, compared to the amount of time users spend on businesses’ sites, these visits are astronomically longer and more interactive than we can ever dream of having.
Building up a Pinterest account for your business full of images and services and links to your portfolio, blogs or articles can bring in users who will spend more time on your Pinterest site and link back to your site if they like what they see. Like any social media or SEO campaign, building up your Pinterest strength takes time and requires putting some effort into building boards and finding followers, but luckily it’s work that’s fun to do.
Give your site the value of an image
Part of the beauty of Pinterest as a website itself is the fact that it runs purely off beautiful, informative images. Users love the fact that they can build a board full of gorgeous images that all fall into a similar category to gather inspiration or ideas for whatever they might be looking for. Using a similar layout or focusing on getting high quality, eye-catching images can bring in more users from your Pinterest business account or just from the first glimpse of your site.
Take the aspect that made Pinterest so successful and use it in your site: images. Not only will your users appreciate a prettier, more polished look within your site but they will also gain you brownie points with SEO because of their alt tags and meta descriptions. Just be wary of stealing images; we recommend either buying your high quality images from a site like iStock, taking your own photos or hiring someone to do it for you. That way you’ll own your images and you won’t have to worry about copyright down the road. I’ll be the first to admit that we all use Pinterest images in ways that are probably inappropriate or unfair to the creator without even realizing it. Your goal should be to create images that are so beautiful and useful that people want to steal them.
Use it to bring out the best in your site
Many people who are going through a website redesign are afraid of moving their design and content too far into the future for fear of scaring off their clients. The fact of the matter is popular site design and structure changes so much that your best bet is going to be picking a site that is functional but also appealing to your customers to spend some time looking through, just like Pinterest. Pinterest is also a great way to see what styles are out there and how modern web designers are doing things so you can find the happy medium in your own site. Sometimes designers and content writers have the tendency to run away with a project where they have no direction; Pinterest and all of the sites it links to can give you some insight and ideas that will create structure in your relationship with your web design team.
Whether you’re in the middle of a redesign, building a website from scratch or just stuck on what look you want to go for, Pinterest can help. Not only does it show you unique, popular images that are currently attracting viewers across web platforms, it also links you to original content to get more ideas for your own site. Pinterest isn’t just for teenage girls and crafts anymore; use it to spark your creative process and you’ll see results during your web design process.
