This ultimate Pinterest beginner’s guide will take you from step one to Pinterest marketing superhero! They are the very strategies that I use to set up accounts and to drive 235K visitors from Pinterest last year. Keep reading to get your superpowers too!
Note: Pin scheduler Traffic Wonker has sadly gone out of business, but owner and CEO Andy Fling has given me permission to share his useful Pinterest research and other information on my site. I jumped at the chance as Andy is the smartest guy I know when it comes to Pinterest!
Wondering if Pinterest is worth doing? Here are a few facts:
FACT: Pinterest generates 90% of all social media shares on the web.
FACT: 30% of Pinterest users prefer browsing Pinterest over watching TV.
FACT: 41% of Pinterest users have a household income of $50k+.
FACT: 69% of Pinterest users have a clear intention of purchasing products when they visit the site.
FACT: Pinterest visitors spend 60% more than Facebook visitors, making Pinterest the most valuable social media site for web retailers.
With stats like these, it’s easy to see why so many businesses are interested in connecting with Pinterest visitors.
PART 1: Pinterest Basics
The first thing you will need to do is to set up a Pinterest business account.
If you already have a personal account that you’ve been using for your business, you can convert it or just start fresh. My recommendation is to start fresh so you don’t have to delete any of your super groovy pins that don’t really fit your new business goals.
Business accounts include some awesome features, like:
1) Pinterest Analytics
2) Rich Pins
3) Verified Website
4) Promoted Pins
Step 1: Setting Up Your Pinterest Business Account
If you’ve decided to set up a brand new business account here are the steps you’ll need to take:
1) Log out of your personal account
2) Visit Pinterest for Business
3) Select “Join as a Business”
4) Provide details about you and your business
5) Click “Create Account”
If you’ve decided to convert your personal account to a business account here are the steps to take:
1) Sign into your personal account
2) Visit Pinterest for Business
3) Click “Convert Now”
4) Provide details about you and your business
5) Click “Create Account”
All your boards and pins will be exactly the same. You’ll just have a few new features.
Step 2: Setting Up Your Business Account
If you’ve decided to set up a brand new business account here are the steps you’ll need to take:
There are a few things you’ll need to do so people can find you when they search Pinterest. Let’s start by editing your profile.
1) Add a Headshot or Logo – If you choose a headshot, use a professional photo. If you use your logo, make it a high-resolution image.
2) Define Your Business – Most companies make the mistake of only adding their business name. Adding a keyword phrase after your business name will help Pinterest visitors find your profile with Pinterest people search and help to define what’s unique your business.
Example: TrafficWonker.com – Auto-Pilot Pinterest Pin Scheduler
3) Add Your Bio – Your profile bio provides you with one more chance to include important keywords and brand your business.
Check out the Corner Bakery Cafe bio below. “Bakery” is in the name so it’s a no-brainer to include that keyword, and their bio is powerful stuff – making me feel like it’s a place I’d like to go.
On a corner, that’s where it started. Today, we’re still the place for a warm welcome and craveable food in your corner of the world.
4) Add Your Location – If your business serves a local community make sure to add your location.
5) Add Link to Your Website
Step 3: Verify Your Website
If you’ve decided to set up a brand new business account here are the steps you’ll need to take:
Verifying your website lets Pinterest know that you own your website. Doing so provides you with three benefits:
1) Your profile picture gets added to every pin that came from your site.
2) You’ll get access to Pinterest Analytics.
3) Your Pinterest account looks more professional.
To verify your site you’ll need to be able to edit your website’s HTML code or have your developer edit it for you.
To add verification code:
1) Click your logo in the Pinterest navigation menu.
2) Click Settings.
3) In the website field, click Confirm Website.
4) Copy the meta tag.
5) Add meta tag to the <head> section of the index.html file.
After you’ve completed these steps go back to Pinterest and click “Finish.”
Step 4: Rich Pins
Rich Pins allow you to place extra information right on your pin to make it stand out and rank higher in Pinterest search.
Do you own a local business?
If your business only serves people in your community, you’ll benefit by being able to place your exact location on your pin.
Are you a blogger?
Article pins allow you to place your headline, description, and author name right on the pin. That saves room in the description box for sharing important things about your product and including a call to action.
Do you have a product to sell?
Product pins allow you to add the price right on the pin. If you update the price, the Pinterest pin will update automatically.
Are you a baker?
Recipe pins get bakers excited because they show ingredients, cooking times, and serving sizes. You might consider not showing ingredient measurements so Pinterest visitors must visit your site for the recipe.
To get started with Rich Pins you’ll need to:
1) Prep Your Website/Blog – Prep your site with Open Graph meta tags or an oEmbed endpoint. It’s a bit trickier than verifying your site so you might need to loop your website developer into this project.
Pro Tip: If you are a blogger the Yoast SEO Plugin will make set up easy.
2) Test Your Rich Pin – Test your code with the Rich Pin Validator. If everything checks out you’ll be ready to add the code throughout your site.
a) Go to Rich Pins validation page
b) Paste your page URL it into the Rich Pin Validator
c) Click “Validate”
3) Apply for Rich Pins – Click “Apply Now” when you get the message that your pin has been validated. Keep the page open. You should be approved within 15-20 minutes.
PART 2: Pinterest Pins, Boards, and More
With your profile, and all that super technical stuff squared away, you can start thinking about building boards.
Step 1: Intro to Pinterest Terminology
If you’ve been pinning for awhile the language of Pinterest is something you already understand. If not, the following list of terms will get you started.
1) Public Boards
A public board is a digital bulletin board with images that everyone can see. The one you have hanging on your wall is a catch-all of everything that’s important. On Pinterest you’ll have many boards and it’s best that they all have a theme. If you’re a baker, you would have boards for “Cookie Recipes”, Brownie Recipes”, and “Cake Frosting.”
2) Secret Boards
Secret boards are not visible to the public. They can be used for a variety of things including collecting pins that will be useful to you, but not your customer.
3) Collaborative (Group) Boards
A collaborative board is the same as public board, except it will have many contributors and it will appear on the accounts of everyone that can adds pins. Collaborative boards give you the ability to reach a large audience even if you only have a few followers.
4) Pin
A pin is an image that you add to your board that includes a description of the article, product, or recipe, and a link to the web page.
5) Save (Repin)
A repin is a copy of the original pin with its own URL. The repin count that appears on each pin shows the number times that the pin is copied to other boards.
Step 2: Creating Pinterest Boards
Here’s where things start to get more fun and way more creative.
When you start building boards you might feel overwhelmed. Don’t worry. You don’t have to do it all today. Start by building 20 boards. Then gradually work your way toward 50-60 boards, with your most important boards having 100+ pins.
1) Naming Your Boards – Board names should be 2-4 words in length and keyword rich.
Your board names should include words that pinners will search for so the Pinterest search suggestion drop-down and the Guided Search feature will help a bunch. You can also use the Google AdWords Keyword Tool to find keywords. If you’re just getting started with a new blog and a new Pinterest account you’ll want to find high volume (lots of searchers) and low competition keywords. This will give you the best chance of being found right now. When you have thousands of Pinterest followers you can go for those high volume/high competition keywords that will bring crazy amounts of traffic.
Step 3: Board Descriptions and Categories
You’re boards will also need descriptions and categories to let your visitors and Pinterest know what your board is all about. You can edit these by first clicking on the board, and then clicking on the “edit” icon.
Step 4: Adding Pins
Now that you have a few boards built its time to start filling them with pins. The pins that you add should be:
1) High quality pins that appear at the top of the Pinterest search results
2) Pins that match the theme of the board
Pinterest will be evaluating the relevancy of your pins and assigning a score to your board. This score will, in-part, determine your board ranking in search.
Step 5: Adding Collaborative (Group) Boards
Collaborative boards are the best way for new pinners to find an audience. Consider searching PinGroupie.com for 10-12 collaborative boards to join and then email the owners. You might not be invited to participate on all of them, but with your profile and account looking great you’ll have a good chance of being invited to a few.
Step 6: Building Followers
If you want people to see your account you’ll need followers. You don’t need thousands of followers to make Pinterest worthwhile. A whole lot can be accomplished with 200 people that really care about what you do.
To build followers:
1) Manually follow the accounts or boards of pinners with similar interests.
2) Auto-follow other pinners with Ninja Pinner. We used this tool a lot when we first set up our account, and attracted 7K pinners in our first year.
3) Add Your Pinterest account URL to your email signature.
4) Add a Pinterest share button to your blog with AddThis.com or ShareThis.com.
5) Add a “Pin It” button to your site.
6) Check out Milotree to grow your email list, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube followers from one pop-up.
Step 7: Get Active. Get Rewarded.
With your boards set up and your followers growing it’s time to start getting active in the Pinterest community.
This can mean:
a) Adding “Fresh Pins” (Not previously on Pinterest)
b) Commenting on Pins
c) Saving Pins to Your Account That You Discover on Pinterest
d) Scheduling Pins
Pinterest experts don’t know everything about how Pinterest works, but we certainly know what they tell us, and that is pinners that are active are pinners that get rewarded. Pinterest reward active pinners by ranking their pins and boards higher in search – where many more people will find them.
Every pin scheduler can help you post pins at intervals perfectly spaced throughout the day. If you keep your queue filled your Pinterest account will stay active and you will be rewarded. Unfortunately, most small business owners have a million things to do and they don’t keep there queue filled. These are my BEST Pinterest Marketing Superhero tips. I hope this helps you!
by Andy Fling
Founder and CEO of TrafficWonker.com
Here are some other pins from Andy that you may enjoy:
How to Expand Your Pinterest Reach – Steal My Secrets
How to Make Pinterest Pins Go Viral – 7 Proven Techniques
How Many Pinterest Boards is Too Many?
Very helpful post. Thanks for this.
Thanks for visiting. I hope it helped you.
Super valuable tips! This is so helpful to new bloggers like me!
I’m so glad it helped. Pinterest is going crazy for food bloggers right now.