Is Tailwind really worth the money? It’s a really good question, isn’t it? One I’ve seen posted on all of the Facebook groups I’m a part of multiple times. Most bloggers have heard of Tailwind, but what they really want to know is if it’s worth the up-front cost.
If you’re not familiar, Tailwind is a tool for bloggers (and other businesses) to let you schedule pins ahead of time on Pinterest. It lets you have a lot of activity on your account without actually having to pin 50 pins a day yourself, because who has that kinda time every day?!
The more activity on your page, the more your page stays relevant to your followers and they see what you’re pinning. This is super important because it means they’re much more likely to see your latest blog post you shared than if you can only go on once or twice a week and pin a bunch of pins as opposed to scheduling them out over a few days. Read more about Tailwind and how it works here.
I will start off by saying that this post is 100% honest and not sponsored, and includes my own real stats. I want to let you guys know the real deal about Tailwind because I know as a new blogger, justifying that $115 price tag is painful (they have a monthly option, too, but paying up front is cheaper). Especially if you can’t guarantee you’ll get the results you’re hoping for.
But think about this: if you started a new hobby, let’s say you want to get into rock climbing (that’s one of my hobbies and how I met my husband so I’m a little partial to it ?). If you really want to get into a new hobby and you take it seriously, you invest a little in it up front. For rock climbing, it’s best to invest in your own shoes and a harness. Those are things you will use over and over again and they’ll make you feel safe and comfortable.
Even if your blog is just a hobby at this point, it might not be down the road. And if you already view your blog as a business, which you should if you ever really want it to go somewhere, then investing in a tool to help your business is an easy yes.
So to answer the question “Is Tailwind worth the money?”, the short answer is YES. And I’ll explain why.
When I first started blogging, I barely used my Pinterest at all. I would pin one pin from my posts one time on one board and that was it. Obviously that did literally nothing to drive traffic to my site. I look back now wanting to laugh at myself for wondering why I wasn’t getting any views.
Fast forward a few months to me learning about Tailwind and what all it did, I decided to take advantage of the free trial they offer. The trial is for 100 pins, however long that takes you to use. I set it up to pin 20 pins a day for 5 days. Initially, not much happened. But by day 5, I noticed I started getting traffic from Pinterest, which was new.
Excited by this new change, I decided to start out with the monthly plan. Two weeks into that, I saw an even bigger increase in traffic from Pinterest and decided to jump in with both feet and purchase the year plan.
Not gonna lie, it’s probably the best investment I’ve made in my blog to date.
Currently, I’m averaging over 3 million (sometimes over 4 million) monthly Pinterest views. My Pinterest following started at around 94 followers and about 98% of those people were friends. I’m now over 1400 with no effort on my part other than scheduling my pins.
Because I’m constantly pinning with Tailwind, my account is basically growing itself on autopilot, and growing my blog along with it.
“Ok, so you have 3 million Pinterest views, what does that translate to for your blog?”
Great question. Initially, about 3 weeks in, it started off as about a hundred views a week total, then about 3-4 weeks later it was a few hundred every 2-4 days. Now that I’ve been using it for over 6 months, I’m consistently getting in the upper thousands of views per post per month just from Pinterest.
You see the part beside my monthly views where it says “80.9K Monthly engaged”? THAT is the important part. That means over 80,000 people a month are seeing my pins, saving them, and most importantly — CLICKING them!! That is how Pinterest drives my traffic. And the reason is because I am consistent, thanks to Tailwind.
I also have group boards to thank, as they help a ton. I have a fashion group board and one for general blogging you can join to help grow your own traffic! Send me an email with your Pinterest email and which board you want to join (you can do both!) and I’ll add you.
My blog traffic is about 90% from Pinterest, and it’s consistent and easy to predict. When I publish new content it does take a few weeks to cycle through and for those to become popular, but because my account is regularly active and constantly growing, it’s much easier for people to see my new content.
In the above screenshot, you can see my analytics for the 3 days prior to this post. You’ll notice a decline because the weekends are the most active time on Pinterest (makes sense, right?). It’s totally normal in the blogging world to have ups and downs, and I wanted to show you that because you can’t ALWAYS be increasing. Business ebbs and flows and that’s all there is. But consistency creates results, which is how I keep these numbers so high on average.
So how have I grown my traffic so much in a relatively short time? I schedule over 100 pins a day. Yes, you read that right. Over 100 pins every single day. And it only takes me about 40 minutes of work a WEEK to do that. I also pin manually to add to them if I see things I like when I’m on my phone.
You absolutely do NOT need to pin so much a day. Some people tell me it’s overkill. But it’s what’s worked for me, so I keep doing it. The average they say is necessary is between 40-60, so 50 on average a day. Tailwind will take into account what type of things you’re pinning and make a schedule based on YOUR account, so that your pins are shared at the best possible time for them to be seen by your audience.
This post discusses Tailwind in more detail (how it works) and shares 5 tips for growing your traffic, if you want to know more. If you want to take advantage of the free Tailwind trial, click here. They also offer Instagram scheduling as well, with a super handy hashtag finder.
I also offer a free 3-day email e-course to help you make your Pinterest more professional and cohesive so that when people do visit your page (which they will), they’ll want to follow you because everything looks put together. We are all drawn to visual organization!
What has your experience with Tailwind been like? Good, bad, haven’t tried it yet? Feel free to leave any questions in the comments!
Have an awesome week!
Xo,
Dani
