Quick Steps to Start Using Pinterest for Your Business and Blog | ProductiveandFree

With over 250 million users and 175 billion Pins and counting, Pinterest proves to be a unique and powerful tool to market your business and blog.

Speaking from experience, majority of my website traffic comes from Pinterest so I couldn’t say enough good things about this platform.

Update: Organic search now accounts for majority of my website traffic (45%) but Pinterest still serves up a big portion (30%).

Not only is it a social media platform and a search engine, but it also emphasizes visuals and imagery to help people discover ideas and inspiration to do what they love.

I do, however, remember how overwhelming everything was for me in the beginning—like do I really need a business account? What are Rich Pins? And how do I create Pins that get shared or clicked on?!—which is why I’m sharing these 10 quick steps to start using Pinterest for your business and blog.

Step 1: Set your Pinterest goals

There are multiple reasons people use Pinterest. Are yours any of the following?

Do you want to drive traffic to the products or services you sell?
Do you want to drive traffic to your blog and website?
Do you want to increase your email list sign ups?
Do you partake in affiliate marketing?
Do you want to find influencers in your industry or network with others?
Do you simply want to discover and share ideas?

Before anything, identifying your purpose for using the platform will help you focus on the right strategies and be more intentional with the time you spend.

Remember, this is yet another activity that will eat up your precious time so it’s best to make sure that it will indeed help you reap rewards that actually matter to you.

For a quick guide on what Pinterest is all about and how it actually works, check out this post.

Step 2: Sign up for a Pinterest business profile

As a business owner and/or blogger, having a Pinterest business profile makes you look more professional and it gives you access to more features like Pinterest Analytics and Pinterest advertising and best of all, it’s free! Click here for the how-to.

Step 3: Complete your profile

Similar to any other social media platform, your Pinterest account is an extension of your brand so your profile should represent your business in the best way.

Make sure you have the following:

A professional profile photo (at least 165 x 165 px) that isn’t a dark and blurry selfie (your logo is okay too)
A business name that’s straightforward and includes keywords you’re targeting (because your profile can also show up in Pinterest search)
A username that matches your business or blog name and is consistent with your other social media account usernames
An engaging description that quickly tells visitors what you’re all about and what sets you apart (click here for a how-to on creating your 1-sentence business statement)
A chosen profile cover aka the top section on display behind your profile photo (click here for how to do it)
Your website link (click here for how to claim your website)
Other accounts claimed (Youtube, Instagram, and Etsy) so Pins from there can be attributed to you (click here for how to do it)
A few featured boards that are curated to best introduce your business and your ideas to visitors (click here for how to do it; more information about boards in step 6)

Step 4: Apply for Rich Pins

Rich Pins are four specific kinds of Pins that provide more information to the viewer which gives them a better experience and encourages them to engage more (a win-win for you and your audience).

You can have Rich Pins that are Recipe Pins, Product Pins, App Pins, or Article Pins and here’s how to apply for it step-by-step.

Step 5: Add Pinterest buttons and widgets to your website

You can make it easy for your visitors to know you’re on Pinterest, follow you on Pinterest, and engage with your Pins and boards by adding buttons and widgets to your website.

You can add a site-wide Pinterest “save” button or a “follow” button and you can embed your Pins, boards, and profile to your website using a Pin, board, or profile widget. Click here for how to do it.

Step 6: Create and optimize boards

Since all Pins live within boards, this is your opportunity to showcase topics that you want associated with your brand and business.

Remember the goals you set in step 1? Consider them now as you create and organize boards for your Pinterest profile to drive traffic to your sales pages, get more leads, increase your affiliate income, or whatever you want.

It’s important to put yourself in the shoes of your followers and curate a collection of boards that they are likely to search for or would appeal to them to get them to follow you, share your Pins, and engage with your business.

For example, if you’re a graphic designer looking to attract potential clients, a couple of your boards might be Graphic Design Tips, Branding Tips, and Design Inspiration.

If you’re a wedding photographer trying to reach future brides and wedding planners, a couple of boards that might be interesting are Wedding Planning Tips, Wedding Theme Ideas, Wedding Photography Ideas, etc.

I suggest having eight public boards at least in the beginning so that visitors looking to follow you have a variety of options they too might be interested in.

If you want to save Pins that you want to keep hidden or aren’t related to your brand, you could also create secret boards.

Pro tip: You can create your own boards or join group boards to collaborate with others and tap into each other’s audiences.

Take this one step further and create sections within a board (if applicable) to help your followers browse more niche topics they’re interested in.

For example, you could have a board named “Fitness Clothing for Women” and sections called “Winter Fitness Clothing for Women,” “Summer Fitness Clothing for Women,” and so on.

Pro tip: Give your boards a specific and straightforward name and description so that it can show up when people search for topics you’re targeting (ex. “Mid Century Modern Interior Design” instead of “My Amazing Future House”).

Step 7: Create and share optimized Pins

At the very heart of Pinterest are the Pins that are being shared and with over 175 billion Pins now circulating the platform, there’s even a greater need for you to create and share Pins that are optimized.

I have a full blog post on branding your Pins but the gist is to incorporate your signature branding elements (like your logo, colors, and graphics), use high quality images, use readable fonts, and use vertical layouts (2:3 aspect ratio recommended).

Next, since Pinterest is not just a social media platform, it’s also a search engine, it’s best to develop the habit of writing strategic, keyword-rich titles, descriptions, and hashtags every single time you post images on your website.

This way, when you or others Pin directly from your site, you’re sure that each Pin gives accurate information and describes your business well.

Pro tip: Make sure that all your Pins are linking to the intended page the Pin refers to and are directing people to working pages (no one likes landing on error pages!).

The goal here is to have branded Pins that not only stand out and look amazing, but also provide incredible value and information as well.

Find more information about Pinterest’s creative best practices here.

Want to skip creating all your Pinterest Pins from scratch?

Use our Pinterest-optimized templates to help save you time and increase your saves & click-throughs!

GET THE TEMPLATES →

Step 8: Get to Know Pinterest Analytics

Once you’ve created a business account and claimed your website, you have access to Pinterest Analytics where you can see data on your profile, website, Pins, boards, and your audience. You’ll find out how many impressions, clicks, saves, and views you’ve gotten and determine your top performing Pins and boards.

Now the trick here is to record your starting numbers and monitor your progress at least every month. From all the data you gather, you can then make smarter choices about your marketing strategies in the future (more on this in step 10).

Step 9: Engage with others

Never forget that Pinterest is still a social media platform. This means that you’re part of the 250 million people using the platform so it’s best to engage with them too.

You can share other people’s Pins, follow other users, comment and reply to comments, join group boards, or even create a group board of your own and invite others to collaborate with you.

Step 10: Share Pins consistently

As with any other marketing strategy, the key to Pinterest is consistency.

Try to pin daily so that your followers always get fresh ideas in their newsfeed. I recommend pinning five Pins a day (spread throughout the day) at least in the beginning. You can later increase this to as much as 40 times a day but I wouldn’t recommend going above 50.

In case you’re worried about running out of Pins, remember that you can (and should!) share other people’s Pins too so that can make up for the rest.

Pro tip: You can use a social media scheduling tool like Tailwind to help you Pin consistently without actually being on the platform 24/7.

After the first few weeks, you will then have enough data to figure out what’s working for you and what isn’t. You’ll know what times are the best times to pin, what kind of Pins perform better based on your audience, what topics your followers most interested in, and basically what your conversion rates are which can help you later on if you want to start advertising on the platform.

Bonus Step: Stay up to date with Pinterest changes

Similar to other social media platforms, you can expect many changes in Pinterest’s future.

Just recently they launched Video Pins, Promoted Video, a carousel feature, Shop the Look Pins, and a dedicated following tab, and I’m sure there’ll be a lot more updates in the months and years to come.

If you’re looking to take full advantage of this amazing platform to market your blog and business, then you’ll definitely have to keep up with those changes.

Again, always consider your goals (step #1) so you can determine which features can work well for your brand and which you can ignore so that you’re more productive.

Conclusion

Pinterest is one of the most powerful platforms you can use to market your business and blog. Not only can you use it to increase brand awareness and drive traffic to your website, but you can also expect stellar conversions if you use it strategically. For this reason, try out these 10 quick steps to immediately give you a leg up as you start using Pinterest for your business and blog.

Share in the comments below: Have you been using Pinterest to market your business or blog? What strategies have been working well for you so far? Which tips from this article are you excited to implement?