Pinterest newbie - what to do first on pinterest?

Aug 11

Are you a Pinterest newbie and don't know what to do with that photo filled visual platform?

You have joined Pinterest but you do not have an idea what to do with it - at least how to use it for your business purposes.

Don't worry! This is the first part of my Pinterest Basics series where I will guide you through the Basics of Pinterest so that you can start with a fully optimized, beautiful and interesting Pinterest account.

STEP 1: CHANGE YOUR ACCOUNT TO BUSINESS ACCOUNT

Yes, I know...you're worried about changing your account to business one as you don't really have a business yet. Or you're scared what will happen after that change. I can tell you that nothing bad will happen - only positive things, like you will be able to check your Pinterest analytics, have rich pins validated and start using promoted pins (not applicable to all locations yet!).

And if you already have a business but you have not changed your account to business one yet, you should do it asap as that's what Pinterest requests if you use Pinterest for driving traffic to your money making blog or website or building your brand awareness. Check out Pinterest's Business Terms of Service for more info.

And... just few calming words if you're still not sure... Your current pins, boards, followers or other things won't disappear anywhere after the change. Pinterest will convert everything and your account will look the same as before the account change except you will have few additional things, like Pinterest analytics.

Let's get started!

FOR TOTAL PINTEREST NEWBIES:

CREATE A NEW PINTEREST BUSINESS ACCOUNT

Go to Pinterest for Business and click "Join as a business" box (see photo below).
Add your business details and click "Create account".

FOR PEOPLE WITH PERSONAL PINTEREST ACCOUNTS:

CHANGE YOUR PERSONAL ACCOUNT TO PINTEREST BUSINESS ACCOUNT

Log in to your personal Pinterest account
Go to Pinterest for Business and click "Join as business"
Click "Switch" and fill out your info + click "Convert" box (see photo below).

STEP 2: FILL OUT YOUR BASIC INFO AND OPTIMIZE IT FOR PINTEREST SEARCHES

After you have changed your account to business one, check all the info that you had filled out under your Pinterest Settings, and make them keyword rich so that your account can be found on Pinterest searches.

1. UPLOAD YOUR PHOTO

Use a photo which is centered as Pinterest profile photo is cropped to a circle.
Use either a professional headshot of you or a logo to attract your target audience.
When you upload your photo to Pinterest, name your image file with your business name and your best keyword(s), for example if your business name is Wedding Paper Suites, your photo file name could be "wedding-paper-suites-invitation-sets.jpg"

2. CHOOSE YOUR PINTEREST USERNAME, I.E. YOUR PINTEREST URL

You can brand your Pinterest URL with your most important keyword(s) for high organic Pinterest search results!
The example below shows that I've chosen a Pinterest username "Nellainofinland", and my Pinterest URL will be www.pinterest.com/nellainofinland.

3. OPTIMIZE YOUR BUSINESS NAME

If you are for example an interior designer and your business name is "Magnolia Homes", your Pinterest business name could be: "Magnolia Homes - Interior Designer - Interior Design - Beautiful Homes for urban people"
You should include keywords that are relevant to YOUR business
The keywords that you're using on Pinterest should be ones that people are also searching on Pinterest.

4. ADD YOUR BUSINESS LOCATION

Add your location to your profile it will help you to have local collaborations and audience, too.

5. VERIFY YOUR WEBSITE

Go to your "Settings" (i.e. click "Edit" button on your Pinterest profile), and add your website address (URL) to the relevant place. Then click "Confirm" (see the photo below)
Next there will be a "Confirm your website" pop-up with a code.
The next step can be a bit tricky if you are not familiar with how your website works. You should add the code into the <head> of your website.
You'll find better explanations and also alternative ways to do it:

How to verify your website for Pinterest

How to verify Wordpress website

After you have added the code click "Finish", and you should get a message that your website has been verified.

That is all for this time.

It should take around 30 minutes to take these steps, and fill your Pinterest account info with relevant keywords. It might take a bit longer if you don't know your Pinterest keywords yet.