You decided 2021 is the year you’re going to join the hundreds of thousands of businesses on Pinterest, but you have no idea where to start. Take a deep breath because you’re about to read the ultimate beginners guide for getting started on Pinterest.
In this post, I break it down in 8 easy steps! Each step builds on the other so make sure you don’t miss one. If you jump ahead you might miss out on the meat and potatoes to your success on the platform.
Step 1: Set up a Pinterest business account
The first thing you need to do is set up a Pinterest business account. This is different from a personal account. If you are on Pinterest right now, you are most likely using a personal account. You can click here to sign up now!
If you already have a personal account, you have two choices. 1). You can switch your personal account to a business account or 2). You can start fresh with a business account.
There are many factors that go into determining which path to take such as how many followers you already have and whether the pins you are sharing are relevant to your audience. When in doubt, start a new account.
This is something we go over in both my VIP Day Intensive and my Pinterest Account Build package so if you’re looking to have this done for you go ahead and check those out now.
Step 2: Claim your website
The next thing you’re going to want to do is claim your website. This links your website to Pinterest and allows you to track your analytics which is the most important part.
If you don’t know what Pinterest is doing for your business then you won’t know what to tweak and change over time.
This article directly from Pinterest breaks it down step by step for how to claim your domain. You are simply taking HTML code and adding it to your website.
Step 3: Claim your other accounts
Your website isn’t the only thing you can claim on Pinterest. You can also claim your YouTube, Instagram, Etsy, and Shopify accounts. This is quick and easy.
Step 4: Validate your pins
After you claim your domain, you are going to want to validate your pins. Rich pins allows pinterest to sync all of the information from your website to your pins.
This adds more information about your products, blogs, and recipes to make the user experience even better.
You can validate your pins by checking out this article by Pinterest.
Step 5: Set up your display name and bio
Now that you have all of the technical stuff figured out, you can let the fun begin!
You are going to want to pick a display name that includes your name or brand name along with one keyword describing what you’re all about. For example, Suzy Smith | Baby Sleep Consultant.
After that, create a bio that describes who you are, what you do, and who you serve. Make sure you are creating a keyword rich bio that speaks directly to your ideal client.
Step 6: Keyword research
This is the most important step so make sure to spend your time creating a solid keyword list that you can refer to often. You will be using this list for board titles, board descriptions, pin titles, and pin descriptions so it is well worth your time.
I like to keep track of all of my keywords on Google Sheets. I regularly update this list so I find this to be the easiest route but if you’re a pen and paper kind of gal, by all means, go that route.
The key to keyword research is to start with what you think your ICA is looking for and go from there. Oftentimes with clients, we find that what they thought their client was looking for really is something totally different.
I always start with the Pinterest search bar then its off to Pinterest trends followed by a quick Google search.
If you’re still not sure where to begin with keywords, head over to Pinterest Keywords for Beginners: What are they and how to find them? Where I break it all down for you.
Step 7: Board titles
I recommend starting with 10-12 niche specific boards.
Make sure that you use that list of keywords you created earlier to guide your board titles.
You can have one brand board but don’t actually call it that. You can do something like Suzy’s Baby Sleep Tips instead of The Best of Suzy’s Blog. No one is searching for Suzy’s blog but people are most likely searching for baby sleep tips.
You can create a freebie board, an Instagram board, and a podcast board if these are all things that pertain to you and your business but start with those niche specific boards first.
Step 8: Board descriptions
Guess what?…Get that list of keywords back out because it’s time to write your board descriptions.
In order for the ever all might Pinterest algorithm to be able to understand what your content is all about, you have to tell it. You have to use keywords in your board descriptions.
I recommend using 5-6 keywords but do NOT keyword stuff. Write your sentences like a human being, not just a list with one word after the next. Pinterest certainly isn’t a fan of this so steer clear from trying to write descriptions this way.
That’s it! You made it through your entire Pinterest account setup! Now it’s time to dive into creating those pins and driving traffic to your site.
If you are still feeling unsure about doing this along, you don’t have to! I offer Pinterest account builds and VIP days to take the pressure off of you. Get your entire Pinterest account setup the RIGHT way in only a day!