You might think Pinterest is a social media platform.

Spoilers: it isn't.

Or if it is, it's the only one that's been cleverly engineered to appeal entirely to introverts and avoid any kind of interaction with other people whatsoever. I guess that's why I love it so much.

But if it isn't a social media platform, WTF is it?!

Pinterest is a visual search engine.

Yep, that's right. Success on Pinterest doesn't depend on followers, like it does on Facebook. It doesn't depend on hashtags, like on Instagram. And it doesn't depend on witty quips and real-time conversations with famous people, which I'm pretty sure is what Twitter is all about (don't quote me on that).

Success on Pinterest is its own beast, and it relies on a variety of factors - things like Pinterest SEO (similar but different from Google SEO), great visuals, content that's optimized for Pinterest, and engagement on the platform itself. Nail those variables, and you'll find yourself raking in traffic from Pinterest in no time.

It took me just 6 months of hustle to regularly bring in 20,000 monthly referrals to my site from Pinterest. And then I stopped hustling, because my time is valuable. But 1.5 years later, even though I barely spend time on the platform anymore (we're taking 1 hour max per month at this point) my traffic has not only maintained the same level, but it's actually grown.

And that's the beauty of Pinterest: it's a cleverly disguised search engine masquerading as a social media platform, with HUGE potential to drive traffic back to your site.

Case Study: Practical Wanderlust

Here's a screenshot of analytics from 2 full years of blogging on Practical Wanderlust. On the top graph are sessions on my site JUST from Pinterest, and on the bottom is my overall traffic. As you can see, some months are up, some months are down, but what I want you to notice is this:

• There's a quick incline at the beginning of my blogging journey, from July 2016 to January 2016, when I hit 20k sessions for the first time ever. This was the period that I was HUSTLING my butt off and spending at least an hour on Pinterest EVERY DAY.
• After January 2016, I spent a few months figuring out how to maintain that traffic with less time spent. And after a few months of trial and error, I nailed it. From mid 2017 until today, my traffic has remained steady - and even grown. But my time investment has changed: I now spend maybe 1-2 hours per MONTH on Pinterest, instead of every day.

What's my point? The initial investment of my time - that early hustle - paid off BIG time. And it can for you, too. Put in the work early, and you can achieve a quick traffic increase which will SUSTAIN over a long period of time on Pinterest - even as you take back that hour per day to do other things, like cry over your Instagram account or eat ice cream. You know, or whatever you enjoy.

This is why Pinterest traffic is so valuable: Pinterest acts more like a search engine than a social media platform. Stop spending time on Instagram and Facebook, and your reach will plummet. Stop spending time on SEO and ... nothing happens, because all the work you did is already behind you, churning out traffic to your site.

Here's the thing: the formula I'm going to give you in this course works. I've tested it many times, on my Pinterest consultation clients and on my blogging BFF's. But it is not easy. This course will not teach you how to get Pinterest traffic without doing a bunch of work. Nuh-uh. Nope. And frankly, I side-eye anyone selling anything that sounds too easy to be true.

I want you to be prepared to dedicate the time and effort required to succeed on Pinterest. Clear out an hour of every day to spend on Pinterest - starting TODAY. Yes, you can count the time you spend working through this course as your hour! If you put in the hustle, you will see results - your traffic will grow quickly, and within several months, you may be able to double or even triple your monthly sessions from Pinterest!

But let's reel in those big dreams for a sec. That sounds great and all, but where do we even begin?

I know, it sounds like a lot. But hey: that's why you bought this course!

I'm going to lay out all of the basics that you need to get yourself up and running on Pinterest. And once you feel comfortable with the basics, we can dive into all the other in depth stuff. I've created multiple courses tailored to multiple levels of expertise in Pinterest, so as your skills grow and evolve, you can go deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole (muahaha).

But first, baby steps. Take a deep breath, and let's get started.