This post will teach you how to use Pinterest to grow your email list. As a business owner, you know having an email list is important. When someone allows you to have their email address, they trust you and expect value from you. They are a focused audience that you get to speak to via email. An email list is important even (especially) if you have a large social media following. If you have 50,000 Instagram followers and Instagram suddenly shuts down your account, you just lost all of those contacts. You can’t lose the email list that you own.

How to Use Pinterest to Grow Your Email List

Pinterest is an excellent tool for growing your email list. Pinterest is a search and discovery tool and is often the place someone first discovers a business. Users are on Pinterest looking for new ideas to solve their problems (problems might be “spring wedding outfit ideas” or “gift ideas for husband”). If you can present them with an irresistible offer to solve that problem, you can get them on your email list. 

Here are the steps to use Pinterest to build your email list:

1. Create a Freebie

The first step is to create a freebie so valuable the user can’t resist giving you their email address in exchange for it.

2. Create a Landing Page

Next, create a landing page for this freebie. Pinterest traffic is typically cold traffic. The user probably doesn’t know who you are or how you can help them, so make sure to give them enough information so they can’t resist the offer!

3. Create Multiple Pins Linking to Landing Page

Create multiple pins for this landing page, and link the landing URL to the pins you create on Pinterest. (Don’t pin them all at one time. See this post about scheduling your pins).

Example of How To Use Pinterest to Grow Your Email List

For example, a problem a Pinterest user can be something like, “How to paint my kitchen cabinets?” If you sell a self-study course teaching people how to paint cabinets, you can solve that problem! 

When that user is searching for how-to’s, they may not be ready to purchase a course yet….they might not even know courses for cabinet painting exist. They are in their discovery and research phase on Pinterest. If you can get in front of them with a freebie that will help them. 

So a freebie for this example could be a .PDF of “Checklist of Supplies Needed to Paint Cabinets” or a basic video outlining the basic steps they will need to take to paint cabinets, without giving it ALL away. 

You get them on your email list to nurture them, and once they get to know you more, sell them the course VIA EMAIL. 

Link to Your Blog on Pinterest

If you only have one landing page, you are going to need more URLs to link to for Pinterest so you don’t appear spammy. Create blog content related to your freebie opt-in and link your pins to your blog posts. 

For our cabinet painting example, you can create blog content such as “Top Colors to Paint Your Cabinets.” Someone interested in painting their own cabinets is probably also researching what color to paint them.

Create pins to this blog post, and within the blog post, give a call to action to sign up for your freebie with the “Checklist of Supplies Needed to Paint Cabinets” or “Top Tips for Painting Cabinets.”

Again if it is relevant and irresistible, they will sign up for it. They will be on your email list and then you can sell your main offer from your list.

The Customer Journey

With our example of the user wanting to paint their own cabinets, we walked through the customer journey with a couple of different examples.

This is a good exercise to do for your own business. Customer’s can take multiple steps to find you, and they might have to see your content many times before they take action, so it is good to walk through some scenarios. From a Pinterest perspective, here are some questions to ask yourself as you create your email opt-ins and blog content:

1. What are your customer’s problems?
2. How can you solve the problems?
3. What will they search for on Pinterest to solve the problem?
4. What action do you want them to take from your blog post? (Sign up for your freebie)
5. How will you nurture them?

Once you have them on your list, continue to provide value to them and let them get to know you, so they will be more willing to buy your larger offer.

How Your Customer Finds You on Pinterest

You might be wondering how your ideal customer will find you on Pinterest? Using keywords in all of the right places is really important for getting your content seen. You can check out these posts for how to find keywords and where to use keywords on Pinterest.

How to Grow Your Email List with Pinterest

The post How to Grow Your Email List with Pinterest appeared first on Lisa Pinder Pinterest Management.

If you’ve spent any time trying to learn Pinterest marketing, you know keywords are important, but you might not understand why. Keywords are important on Pinterest because it is a visual search engine. People use Pinterest to search for new ideas and solve problems. Pinterest knows what pins to show to those people based on what is in the image, and also keywords that are used on the pin, and throughout a creator’s profile.

You want to make sure you are using the right keywords, so your pins show up for the people that need to see them. This is called Pinterest Search Engine Optimization (SEO). In this post, I outline several ways to find keywords for Pinterest SEO.

Know Your Ideal Customer

When you begin your keyword research, start by thinking of your ideal customer. You need to think about what they search for, and what terms they use. Consider what problem you are solving with your content, and what questions your ideal customer asks when trying to solve their problem.

Where to Find Keywords on Pinterest

Once you have some terms to start with, you can get going with the research. There are several places within Pinterest to do this.

Guided Search

I like to start with the search bar. Pinterest guided search is similar to Google, where as you start typing it will predict what you are searching for based on popular search terms. 

I take note of all the terms that show as I start typing. I keep track of my keywords on a spreadsheet. So in this case of “Dresser Makeover”, I would record:

• Dresser Makeover
• Dresser Makeover DIY
• Dresser Makeover DIY Repurposing
• Dresser Makeover TV Stand
• Dresser Makeover Ideas

These are my broad keywords. Next, I’m going to get more detailed, for some long-tail keywords. I do this by clicking the next term and seeing what populates after that. So when I click Dresser Makeover DIY, I get:

• Dresser Makeover DIY Repurposing
• Dresser Makeover DIY Paint
• Dresser Makeover DIY Paint Ideas

I can keep doing this process until it stops suggesting terms. So when I keep adding to Dresser Makeover DIY Repurposing, I can drill down to these terms:

Pinterest Keyword Bubbles/Tiles

Another place to get keywords is from the colored bubbles or tiles that show at the top of the screen after you do a search. This suggests additional keywords to go with the one you originally searched for.

I actually waited to write this blog post, because there is still some inconsistency if the keyword bubbles/tiles show or not, and I was waiting to see if Pinterest completely got rid of them. So far they are still around for some search terms, but I see them less and less. 

Here is an example of them showing for the search term “Bullet Journal”. After you search for something, Pinterest will show bubbles of more detailed keywords you can search under. The process is similar to what I described above. Just keep clicking the tiles to display additional keywords until you get to the most detailed long-tail keyword for a term. Make note of the broad and long-tail keywords you find. 

I am not going to go into more detail about the bubbles at this point, because I think Pinterest will continue to phase them out, and I want you to know how to do keyword research without them.

How to Use the Pinterest Trends Tool

The Pinterest Trends Tool is a newer tool to search for keywords. You can access it by going to https://trends.pinterest.com/. 

This tool not only shows you what terms are popular and trending on Pinterest, but it also tells you WHEN it trends. This helps you get your content out at the right time. 

So if you have a Christmas product, and you type “Christmas Decor” in the trends tool, you will see that search term peaks on November 7th. You don’t want to first pin your product in November, because it takes a little time for pins to index. You want Pinterest to understand your pin, well before that peak time (at least 45 days before the peak). For Christmas, I would pin in late July or August. Pinners are planners, so a lot of people will be searching for Christmas stuff early. 

I like to use the Trends Tool in conjunction with the search terms I find in guided search. So let’s use the “Dresser Makeover” example from above.

When I put in this keyword, it will show me when it is the most popular. It also gives me additional keywords to try, along with some pins that go along with that keyword. That is a good way to check and make sure my content fits with what Pinterest considers a “Dresser Makeover.”

My next step is to click a few of the suggested terms below to see how they compare to “Dresser Makeover.” The tool uses a scale of 1-100. This doesn’t indicate how many times a term is searched, but is more of a comparative scale.

In the image below you can see how “Dresser Makeover” compares to some of the other similar terms.

To demonstrate how the 1-100 scale is comparative, here is how Dresser Makeover compares to the peak of “Christmas Decor”. The Christmas Decor peak makes Dresser Makeover look tiny. This isn’t to suggest “Dresser Makeover” isn’t a worthwhile keyword, it’s just to show how the tool works.

The Pinterest Trends Tool can also help you research future content ideas. It will show weekly top Pinterest Trends, and trends for particular categories. It’s a fun tool to play around in!

Search for Keywords in Ads Manager

Finally, a lesser-known place to search for keywords is in the Pinterest Ads Manager. To access this, click on the Ads menu at the top of the screen, then “Create Ad”. It will make you select a campaign type. It doesn’t matter what you click, because for this purpose you aren’t actually creating an ad. After you click continue, scroll down to the Keywords section. This is where you can input your keywords and get a basic idea of how often a term is being searched, along with related keywords.

Where to Use Keywords for Pinterest

Now that you have done the keyword research, you need to know all the places the keywords need to go. I discuss this in more detail in my post Where to Use Keywords on Pinterest. Make sure to check it out! If you need a place to keep track of your keywords, check out my Pinterest Planner. It has a keyword tracker and so much more!

Need Help?

Keyword research and optimizing your Pinterest profile with keywords in all the right places can take time. If you need help getting this done, I offer this as part of my Pinterest Management Packages. Contact me, and we can discuss how I can help you with your Pinterest Strategy.

How to Find Keywords for Pinterest SEO

The post How to Find Keywords for Pinterest SEO appeared first on Lisa Pinder Pinterest Management.

Are you thinking about using Pinterest for business, but you have never used Pinterest yourself? Or do you use Pinterest for your personal life, but not sure how Pinterest works for businesses? If so, this Beginner’s Guide to Pinterest is for you! I am breaking down the basics to get you started.

Pinterest is an amazing tool to get more traffic to your website or blog. Many people lump it together with other social media platforms, but it is really a Visual Search Engine. People often go onto Pinterest looking for something specific, the same way they would search Google. Keep reading to learn more about how you can use Pinterest for your business.

What is Pinterest?

According to Pinterest’s own help guide:

“Pinterest is a visual discovery engine for finding ideas like recipes, home and style inspiration, and more.”

https://help.pinterest.com/en/guide/all-about-pinterest

I was a typical Pinterest user for years before I started using Pinterest for business. I used it back when it was in beta and by invite only, so I have a good understanding of how the average user uses Pinterest.

Before Pinterest and blogs existed, I used to read magazines. I would tear out articles, recipes, and other ideas I liked and put them in a binder organized in different categories. When Pinterest came along, it replaced my binder. I could now save recipes and ideas from the Internet to my Pinterest boards, organized by category.

Pinterest can also be thought of kind of like a digital bulletin board that you pin ideas and inspiration to.

Beginner’s Guide to Pinterest – Basic Vocab

Pinner: The Pinterest user

Pin: An image or video on Pinterest linked to content outside of Pinterest. This could be a blog post, landing page for an e-mail opt-in, or sales page.

Board: A place where pins can be saved within Pinterest. A pinner has multiple boards organized by categories. Pinterest boards are a way for users to group and organize the pins they find. They might have boards for recipes, home decor, or favorite podcasts, etc. Please note, a typical user’s boards will probably look different than someone that is using Pinterest for marketing.

Save: A user can save a pin to one of their boards. This is also known as repinning.

Follow: There is a “Follow” button to be able to keep tabs on other Pinterest users that match their interests. When a user follows someone else, they will see pins from that pinner on their Following tab. They may also see that user’s pins on their home feed and in their notifications.

Rich Pins: Rich pins show meta data from a website directly on the pin. So if someone pins from your website, the meta data description will follow the pin. Rich pins need to be set up before this functionality works.

Promoted Pins: These are Pinterest Ads. Businesses pay Pinterest to show their pins to a larger, more targeted audience.

Keywords: As mentioned above, Pinterest is a search engine. So keywords are very important for Pinterest Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This linked post outlines all the places keywords should be used on Pinterest.

The easiest way to find keywords and phrases is to start typing into the Pinterest search bar to see what the suggested search terms are.

Pinterest has been playing around with related keywords a bit. They sometimes show as little colored bubbles below the search bar, but that has been phasing out. Recently for larger search terms, it will show additional categories. Here is an example when I search for “Kitchen Remodel”. It shows different styles of kitchens to narrow down my search results more. These are the words you would want to use in your Board and Pin descriptions.

You can also use the Pinterest Trends tool to search for keywords. Access the tool at: https://trends.pinterest.com/

Pinterest for Searching

The average Pinterest user visits Pinterest looking for ideas and inspiration. Often they are looking for a solution to a problem. Their problem could be something like what to cook for dinner, parenting tips for a strong-willed child, or how to start a blog. They could be looking for ideas to decorate their house or handmade gifts for their mother-in-law.

They will search for these items and see a selection of pins related to their search. If one catches their eye, they click on it to take a closer look. They can then choose to click through to the website that it is linked to and/or save the pin to one of their Pinterest boards.

Below is an example of a user searching for a term in the search bar:

When the user sees and image that catches their eye, they can click on it for a closer look. From this view, they can click the image or link to be taken to the website that is linked to the pin, or they can save the pin to one of their boards.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will earn a small commission if you make a purchase using one of the links.

Pinterest for Browsing

Not every Pinterest user gets on the platform specifically for searching every time. There are times users will just hop on Pinterest and browse. It’s a great time killer! Pinterest’s algorithm works to show users content they think the user will want to see in their home feed. Some things it takes into consideration for what it shows a user is what that user has searched for before, and what they have saved and interacted with before.

Pinterest Users

Pinterest users are often planning for a purchase that will happen some time in the future. In fact, 83% of pinners have made a purchase based on content they have seen on Pinterest! This is a huge opportunity for marketers!

Users will click on pins that interest them. If it’s a good picture or something they might want to reference in the future, they will save the pin. If they can tell from the pin image that the content will solve a problem they are searching for, they will click through to the content that the pin is linked to.

How to get started with Pinterest for Business

Now that we have covered what Pinterest is, let’s talk about getting started with Pinterest for your business.

1. Create a Pinterest Business Account

When you are using Pinterest for business, you need a business account. This will give you access to analytics, rich pins, and promoted pins. If you already have a Personal account, you can reference this post about switching to a business account. If you are brand new to Pinterest, go here to create an account.

2. Claim your website

This will help Pinterest identify pins that come from your website. The platform is favoring pins that you save from your claimed accounts, so this is an important step! 

To claim your website, go to the Pinterest Menu (3 dots in the corner), and select “Edit Settings”, then choose “Claim.” Then you will need to add a meta tag to your website.

On a self-hosted WordPress site, the easiest way to add the meta tag is to use the Yoast SEO PlugIn, where you can paste your metadata confirmation under Social > Pinterest.

For WordPress hosted (www.wordpress.com) sites, you can paste the metadata under Tools > Marketing.

Current functionality allows you to claim more than one website, along with a Shopify account. In the past you could also claim Instagram, Etsy, and YouTube accounts. As of 2022, that functionality is not available, but it can change.

3. Enable Rich Pins

When a site has Rich Pins enabled, the pins from that site will include extra information. For example, the recipe pins you see that already have the recipe below the pin are rich pins. For recipe pins, you will also need a Recipe Plugin, which will determine which information shows on the pin. Non-recipe pins will show article titles and snippets, and sometimes the author.

If you use Squarespace, your site is already set up with the proper metadata for Rich Pins.

If you use WordPress, you will want the Yoast plugin. Go to Social > Facebook > Switch “Add Open Graph Meta Data” to Enabled.

Update as of October 2023: You know longer need to use the Rich Pin Validator to enable rich pins. As long as you have the Open Graph Meta Data, you should be good to go!

The next step is to verify your Rich Pins so they will appear on Pinterest. Just go to the Rich Pin Validator and paste any blog post URL in the form. If your information is validated, you will be able to select “Apply Now” to apply for Rich Pins. It can take a little while for your blog to be approved, but your rich pins will start showing on Pinterest in a few days.

4. Add relevant boards

Create some boards related to your niche that your audience would be interested in. Start with about 10 boards. When deciding what boards to create, think about 3-4 categories related to what you do, and then you can break those down to 3-4 additional, more specific topics. You want to have multiple boards that apply to each of your pins.

Also, create one board that is just for your pins. Many people call this a “Best of Board”. This should be the first board on your profile, so if someone visits your profile, this is the first thing they see.

Then pin some high-quality pins to your boards from other pinners (at least 10-20 pins). This helps Pinterest understand what your boards are about before you start adding your pins to the boards. 

To find and save high-quality pins, use the search bar to search for a term related to the board you are starting. The first pins that show in the top left, and the ones that are ranking that you want to save.

Start slow when you first start adding pins (of others’ or your own). Pinterest sometimes flags accounts with sudden increases in pinning activity as spam. So ease into pinning for a few weeks. 

While you are doing this, you can follow other influencers in your niche and see what they are pinning.

5. Create pins

Create your own pins to save to your boards. You can use a tool like Canva to create eye-catching images. They should be in a 2:3 ratio, such as 1000×1500 pixels. So tall pins, not short pins. Use bold, easy to read fonts and colors that stand out.

Text on the image helps it to stand out. Also, since Pinterest is a search engine, it can read what is on your pin, so image text helps Pinterest to know what your pin is about.

6. Pin/Schedule pins

Now you’re ready to pin your own pins to your boards. To save pins to Pinterest, click the Create drop down, and select “Create Pin”. When the new window opens, upload the image you created. Give your pin a title using keywords, and write a description in complete sentences and natural language (rather than a long list of a bunch of keywords). 
Add a link to the content you want to take users to, then select the board you want to save it to and hit Publish. That’s it! Now when someone clicks on your pin, they will be taken to your site!

Alternatively, you can also save a pin directly from your website. This is a good practice at least for the first pin of a blog post to make sure you have pin descriptions filled in for your pin, and they flow to Pinterest correctly.

Start with standard pins first, and once you have a hang of that, you can try Video or Idea Pins.

Always pin to the most relevant board first. Pinterest is giving priority and highest visibility the first time a pin is pinned. Later you can pin the same image to another relevant board. Pinterest has stated not to pin the same pin to more than 10 boards.

There is not a magic number of days to wait before pinning to the next board, but I would wait at least 14 days. You may need to test it out, and it will depend how much other content you have to pin in between. You just don’t want to appear spammy by pinning the same image over and over.

You can use The Pinterest Scheduler to schedule your pins for later, or a paid tool such as Tailwind. Tailwind will allow you to schedule more pins at one time, and farther into the future.

Do not pin the same image to the same board more than once or twice a year. Read more about the reasoning of this and fresh images here.

What content should you pin?

When you use Pinterest strategically it is a great way to get more traffic, leads, and sales. So what kind of content can you link your pins to? You can link your pins to blog posts on your website. Your blog posts should have a call to action, opt-in, or affiliate links. These things can help you grow your email list or increase your earnings. 

You can also link directly to a landing page with an opt-in to grow your email list, or directly to a sales page to sell your product or service. These are all great ways to get more eyes on your brand.

Read more about how to optimize your website for Pinterest.

When you are planning content, remember it takes time for pins to pick up steam. Pin seasonal content about 45 days before a holiday/season. Pinners are planners, so they will start pinning Christmas and holiday pins in October, so make sure your content is out there early.

Know the right numbers

It’s really easy for Pinterest users to get caught up in their “Monthly Viewer” number on their profile. For one thing, that number is usually the biggest number, so it’s exciting to see it climb. However, that number is a vanity metric, and doesn’t really tell you much about how you’re doing on Pinterest.

Monthly viewers just means the number of people that have seen ANY of the things you have pinned on Pinterest. These could be pins from other people, not just your pins. It also means, they could have just scrolled on by, it doesn’t mean they are clicking anything. This number can fluctuate a lot. So if you see a drop of 50,000 viewers in one day, that is nothing to worry about. This is a rolling 30 day number. It could just mean at some point you pinned something that went a little viral (could be someone else’s pin), and now it is slowing down so not as many people are seeing it.

The number to care about

The number that matters is “Link Clicks” for your pins. This means someone clicked through your pin, and went to your website or landing page. This is why you are on Pinterest in the first place, to get more traffic! So this is the number you want to see increase. You can view this number in Pinterest Analytics by going to Analytics > Overview. Then on the left side, select your claimed account, and under Performance of Time, select “Link Clicks”. This will show you how many clicks you are getting. 

You can also see this number in Google Analytics, which is considered the gold standard of accuracy for website visits. However, since this is a beginners guide to Pinterest, checking your link clicks in Pinterest Analytics is a good start for beginners.

If your link clicks are decreasing over time, then it is time to do some troubleshooting. Ask yourself if your pins are easy to read, and if they are interesting enough to prompt a user to click on them. Don’t give all the information away on the pin, because then there is no reason for the user to click to your website.

Give it time

Pinterest is a long game. It can take 6 months to really start to see an increase in traffic to your website. So if you aren’t seeing results in a month, give it time. The pins you are pinning now may end up taking off in a few more months and being your biggest drivers of traffic.

It is important to stay consistent with your pinning, so don’t give up! 

If you need help with getting started or with your strategy, I do Pinterest account audits and strategy sessions to help you sort some of these things out. I also do monthly Pinterest account management if you want to hand over these tasks to someone else.

Other helpful posts about Pinterest:

• Why You Should be Using Pinterest for Business
• How to Switch to a Pinterest Business Account
• Pinterest Best Practices
• How to Schedule Pins on Pinterest without Tailwind
• How to Optimize your Website/Blog for Pinterest
• Where to Use Keywords on Pinterest
• How to Optimize Your Pinterest Profile in 5 Easy Steps

The post Beginner’s Guide to Pinterest for Business appeared first on Lisa Pinder Pinterest Management.

When you use Pinterest for your business, there is more to consider than just what you do on Pinterest. Making sure your website is optimized for Pinterest is an important step to your success with Pinterest marketing. There are a few things you want to do to prepare your website as part of your Pinterest strategy. So we are going to take a look at how to optimize your website for Pinterest.

The #1 Thing to Have on Your Website

I am going to start with the most important thing to have on your website. When someone visits your website from Pinterest, they are likely a cold audience that hasn’t been there before. They don’t know you, and they don’t know what you do. You created a pin that caught their attention and intrigued them enough to click through. So you need to guide them with what you want them to do when they arrive at your site.

You need a clear call to action, whether that’s an email opt-in that leads them to a nurturing sequence/funnel or a sales page. Make it obvious what action you want your visitor to take.

I really believe this is the #1 thing to have on your website. If you are driving people to your site using Pinterest, you want to be doing it for a purpose. Just getting clicks to your website isn’t going to do much for most blogs (There are some people that get enough visitors to make money off ads on their site alone, but most businesses should have another stream of income). 

But don’t stop there! There are some additional things you can do to get your website ready for Pinterest. Keep reading….

Optimize your Website for Pinterest

Verify Website

Part of the process of setting up a Pinterest business account is verifying your website and enabling Rich Pins. Ensure both of these tasks are done to make the most of your Pinterest efforts.

Claiming your website will help identify pins that come from your website. You’ll be able to see pins from your website in your analytics. It will also help users find your website from Pinterest. There are multiple ways claiming a website can be done.

To get started, go to the Pinterest Menu (3 dots in the corner), and select “Edit Settings”, then choose “Claim.” Then you will need to add a meta tag to your website.

On a self-hosted WordPress site, the easiest way to add the meta tag is to use the Yoast SEO PlugIn, where you can paste your metadata confirmation under Social > Pinterest.

For WordPress hosted (www.wordpress.com) sites, you can paste the metadata under Tools > Marketing. 

In the past, you would have also wanted to Enable Rich Pins as part of your set up. Pinterest has changed the set up of Rich Pins, so it is no longer a manual process to enable them. You can read more about Rich Pins here.

Pinnable Image

Every blog post should have at least one pinnable image. A pinnable image is a tall image that will catch attention. The recommended size is a 2:3 ratio, such as 1000 x 1500 pixels. Use a bold text overlay that is easy to read. Most Pinterest users are on mobile, so you want text that is easy to read on a phone. The text overlay is also important because Pinterest reads the text on your image to know what it is about. You want this Pinterest-friendly image on your blog so someone reading your post can easily pin the image. 

Hidden Pin Images

Since Pinterest wants to see fresh/new images, you should have additional pin images for each post, but they do not necessarily need to be on the post. When you have more images, it can slow your site down, which does not help with SEO. Also, since Pinterest images are tall, they can be annoying for the reader to scroll past if you have multiple large and tall images.

I like to hide additional pin images within my posts so if someone clicks the share button, they have several to choose from. There are several plugins that can do this for you. Two of the most popular are WP Tasty Pins and Grow by Mediavine. A paid version is required for both plugins. I think it’s worth the cost due to other features both plugins provide, including the ability to prevent other (non-Pinterest) images in your post from being pinned.

There is also a way to add a little code to your post to hide images for free. You just need to add this code, followed by your images: <div style=“display: none;”>

So it will look something like this:

<div style=“display: none;”><src=”https://lisapinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/How-to-Optimize-your-Website-for-Pinterest-683×1024.png”data-pin-description=”Add a Pin Description here”></div>

Pin Description

After you have a Pinterest-friendly image on your post, you want to make sure it is set with a pin description. This is so when a user saves the image from your site, the pin description you wrote will automatically fill in. This ensures it gets pinned with the description you want including the right keywords, which helps your pins get discovered. 

Currently Pinterest is using the Meta description you have on your blog post to fill in the pin description. Even though some plugins have a place to enter a pin description (as shown below), Pinterest will still use the Meta Description.

To make this process easy, you can use the plugins mentioned above. Both WP Tasty Pins and Hubbub have a field to fill in the pin description, so it goes to the right place on Pinterest.

You may have heard to fill in the alt-text for the image with your pin description, but this is bad advice. While the alt-text is what will fill in for the pin description if no other pin description is defined, it is not the purpose of alt text. Alt-text is intended to describe an image for the vision impaired. Using alt text incorrectly (too many words, and not accurately describing the image) can hurt your Google SEO.

So instead of using alt text, there is another free way to add pin descriptions to your images using code.

data-pin-description=“Input Pin Description Here”

This is what it will look like:

<img src=How-to-Optimize-your-Website-for-Pinterest-683×1024.png” alt=”Describe your image for Alt-text” data-pin-description=“This is where your pin description goes!” />

Add a Pin It/Save Button

You want to make it easy for users to save your images, so add a “Pin It” or “Save” button to your Pinterest-friendly image. There are numerous plugins that accomplish this as well, including WP Tasty Pins and Hubbub that were previously mentioned. 

If you are using Squarespace, you can add the Pin It button in your website settings.

Another option is the Pinterest Widget builder which gives you a few customization options, then generates code for you to use. This is handy if you are using a platform that doesn’t have plugins.

Social Share buttons

You can also add Social Share buttons to your post. These are the buttons that show to the side, above, or below a post that allows the post to be shared to various social media platforms, including Pinterest.  This is accomplished with a plugin or your website theme might have it as a setting.

Pinterest Follow Button

You can also add a button to your posts for users to follow you on Pinterest using a widget. This is another thing you can do to help out your users and make it easy to find you on Pinterest. This can be as unobtrusive as you want. It can be as simple a little follow button on your website or a pop up that puts it in front of your reader. MiloTree is a popular tool for a social follow pop up. 

• Follow Me on Pinterest

You can also embed one of your Pinterest boards into your post or sidebar. This makes it easy for a user to see one of your specific boards. From there they can choose to follow you or that board.

Optimize your Website for Pinterest

Making sure you have done each of the things above will help ensure your website is optimized for Pinterest, so you can make the most of those Pinterest visitors that find your little corner of the web. 

If you need any help with these steps to optimize your Pinterest account or website, these are all services I help my clients with as a Pinterest Manager. You can book a Discovery Call here.

The post How to Optimize your Website for Pinterest appeared first on Lisa Pinder Pinterest Management.

I know Pinterest gets lumped in with other social media platforms, but it is really a search and discovery tool more than a social tool. As such, you need to know your audience and use keywords that your audience is searching for. 

Using very specific and niched down keywords is important to attract the right audience to your pins. There are several ways that pins get discovered on Pinterest. Most people go to Pinterest and type in the search bar for what they are looking for. Things like “Star Wars Birthday Party Ideas” or “How to organize my kitchen”. So making sure you have keywords in all the right places is important.

If you need help finding keywords, make sure to check out my post: How to Find Keywords for Pinterest.

Here are the 6 main places you need to be using keywords on Pinterest:

1) In your business name

After you use your name, you can add a few keywords to describe what you do. Now with mine, I would love to have “Pinterest” in my business name, but Pinterest has changed it so users can’t use “Pinterest” in their business name. So I work with what I can do.

2) Business description in your profile

Your business description is another spot on your profile that can be keyworded. You get 160 characters here to briefly describe what you do, using some specific keywords for your niche.

3) Board Titles and Descriptions

After your Profile is keyworded, you can start looking at your Boards. Start with your board titles. Make sure you are using simple and niche-specific keywords. If you are a food blogger, for example, you want to use specific keywords your audience would search for such as, “Easy Keto Snacks.” Avoid cutesy titles like “Yum Yum!” for your board titles. That doesn’t do anything for Pinterest SEO. You want Pinterest to know what your boards are about.

You should also use keywords in your board descriptions to give more details about what you will be pinning to this board. Write in complete sentences, and in a conversational way. Avoid keyword stuffing (just listing keywords in the description).

This post goes into more detail about cleaning up your boards. 

4) Pin Titles and Descriptions

Every new pin you create should also have keywords in the title and description. Just like with board descriptions, your pin descriptions should be in complete sentences in a conversational tone. 

You should add the pin description to your pin images on your website, so whenever someone pins directly from your website, your carefully crafted pin description will fill into the pin. There are a few ways you can do this, but the easiest is to use a plugin. There are several out there for WordPress, but I currently use Grow by Mediavine.

You can also craft your pin titles and descriptions when you directly upload your pin to Pinterest.

5) Text overlay on the pin image

Since Pinterest is a visual search engine, it reads what is on your pin image. So including a text overlay on your pin image can also help with your SEO. Take advantage of this as another place to use keywords.

6) Image filename

This is kind of a sneaky one that not many people think about, but Pinterest can actually read the file name. At this point, it doesn’t appear Pinterest is using the file name as part of their SEO. However, I have included it in this list because that could always change, and also because it is used for Google SEO. Please don’t leave your image name something like “img3456.jpg”. This doesn’t tell Google/Pinterest anything about the pin. See the image below where the image was named with some of the keywords used on the pin.

More about why you need keywords on Pinterest

As you can see, there are a lot of places Pinterest is “reading” and “learning” to figure out what your pin is about. You want Pinterest to have a clear understanding about what your pins, your boards, and your account are about, so your pins will show to your ideal audience.

Your pins can show in search results, but there are multiple other places your pins can show when Pinterest correctly understands what they are about, including:

• The Home Feed
• The Following Feed (This had been a chronological feed of people you follow, but recently they have been throwing in pins from accounts that are similar to other’s that you follow)
• More Like This (These are the pins that show under a pin you click on)
• Visual Search Tool

Do you need a little more help with this?

Learn how to find keywords with my post: How to Find Keywords for Pinterest SEO

I also provide Pinterest account reviews, where I take a look at your entire Pinterest strategy, including keywords and provide a video review of my recommendations, along with a Trello board with personalized action steps you can do to boost your Pinterest account.

The post Where to Use Keywords on Pinterest appeared first on Lisa Pinder Pinterest Management.

Like most major online platforms, Pinterest is always changing. Recently, Pinterest made new recommendations that might change the way you have been doing things. Pinterest can still be a key part of your business marketing strategy in 2021. I am going to talk about the best practices for Pinterest that you can be using to see growth in 2021. 

One of the big changes is Pinterest’s recent push for “fresh content.” Pinterest wants to be useful and relevant to its users, so it wants more recent and relevant content on the platform.

I truly believe the #1 thing you can do to help your Pinterest presence in 2021 is to create fresh content.

So…what does fresh content mean?

• Fresh content means new images. This can be for new content on your blog, or older blog posts. You can give new life to old posts with new images. 

• New descriptions and titles on your pins do not count as a fresh pin. You need a new image for it to count as fresh.

• If you have product pins, you can have different images of the same product. Try a close-up detail shot of the product for one pin, and a lifestyle photo of the product in use for another.

• Moving the background image a few pixels or other subtle changes does not count as a new pin.

• Use your own photography if you are able, so it is different from all the free stock photos that are used on Pinterest already. Paid stock photography is another option to stand out more.

• Don’t pin the same image to a board more than every 4-6 months. To clarify this further, you can have different images that lead to the same URL on the same board, but the pin image should be different. And really, I would only repin that same image after 6 months, if it is a high performing pin or seasonal content that is relevant again.

• The image needs to relate to the content it is linked to. Make sure the image is relevant to your content. Titles and descriptions on the pins, also need to describe the content they are linked to.

Below is an example of three different pin images for the same blog post. These are considered new pins, and can each be pinned once to the same board.

Notice the first and second image are actually the same photo, but the first image is zoomed in closer to the microphone and hands. This is a big enough difference that it is a fresh pin.

New Strategy

This is a change in strategy for a lot of people that were used to repinning their old pins over and over.

With the new best practices for Pinterest, you should be spending more time creating new content and new pin images than curating old content.

With that said, you still want to focus on quality over quantity. Don’t create a bunch of pins that don’t catch attention. You want to create pins that encourage people to click on them, so make sure they are high-quality pins.

What does a high-quality pin look like?

Your pin images should be interesting and grab attention. Use text overlays to describe the pin. Choose easy to read fonts and bold colors. Pinterest recommends a 2:3 ratio for the size, such as 1000×1500 pixels. The pins should also have good titles and descriptions with keywords. SEO is still important for Pinterest success.

How to put this into practice

So what does this look like for a blogger? When you create a new blog post, create multiple pin images for that post. You can make more images later, but 2-3 is a good place to start so you don’t get overwhelmed.

Pin the first image to Pinterest with a good keyword-rich description. Pin it to the most relevant board first. I like to use Tailwind to schedule my pins, so I know they are published at the most ideal times for my audience. You can use Tailwind to schedule additional copies of that pin to other relevant boards every 7-14 days.

Using Tailwind

Tailwind has a new feature to help make sure you are keeping up with Pinterest best practices called SmartGuide. Tailwind is a Pinterest partner, so they make sure to keep up with Pinterest recommendations.

If you are following Pinterest recommendations (as far as pinning frequency), you will see an “All Clear” at the top of your pin schedule. If you are pinning the same image too frequently, you will get an alert, so you can fix your schedule and avoid being spammy.

Basically SmartGuide will make sure you are following Pinterest best practices, and monitors your queue to make sure you aren’t doing something that might hurt your Pinterest reach.

After you have scheduled the first pin, you can schedule additional pins for the blog post as well. 

Reusing Older Content

You can also go back to your old blog posts and create new pin images and pins for your older posts. If you need to update content in the post, this is a great time to do that as well, to keep it relevant. 

Video Pins

Creating video pins is a great way to have fresh content. I have seen a lot of success from creating videos for older content. Pinterest is definitely distributing video pins more. The one problem with video pins is the user actually has to click on a link to get to your site, rather than just clicking on the big image like a regular pin. Some people say video pins aren’t worth making because they don’t result in as many clicks, however I have found the return worth it. One of my clients has seen great results with video, and her three top pins for clicks to her website are all video pins! So I think it is worth giving video a try to see if they work for your audience.

Idea Pins

Idea pins are continuing to roll out around the world. Incorporating Idea pins into your content is another great way to boost your Pinterest strategy in 2021. Idea pins are similar to Instagram stories with different slides users can scroll through, but they stay on your account and don’t disappear after 24 hours. There is not a URL link associated to them, but they are great for increasing engagement on your Pinterest account. You can also repurpose your Instagram stories as Pinterest idea pins.

Batch Your Work

You can see that creating new pin images is a big priority with the current recommendations from Pinterest. This can be a time-consuming task, but if you batch your work, it can save you time. 

Have several pin templates you can use in Canva and switch out images and text. Then you can use Tailwind to schedule your pins. This way you won’t be on Pinterest all day, but you can still pin consistently. Tailwind is my absolute favorite way to save time with Pinterest marketing!

If you are new to Tailwind, they offer a free trial that gives you 100 free scheduled pins (with no time limit), so it is definitely worth giving it a try!

How many boards should I pin to?

You should only save a pin to the most relevant boards. Pinterest has given a number of no more than 10 boards per pin. Most of the time, I am not pinning to more than five boards. The days of pinning to huge lists of personal and group boards are over.

Why should I follow Pinterest Best Practices for 2021?

I get it. What you have been doing is still working. Every niche and account is different, so it may keep working. However, Pinterest has said they will increasingly favor fresh content, and users engage more with new pins. So you may not continue to see the results you have in the past doing what you have been doing. A lot of people saw major drops in traffic in the second half of 2020, and many times it was because they hadn’t adjusted their strategy.

Pinterest is prioritizing fresh content and new images, so if you are not pinning new images, your pins may not be distributed as much. The whole point of Pinterest for a business is to be seen and get traffic, so pin new content to be seen! 

Worse case, if you are pinning the same image too frequently, or pinning too much, your Pinterest account could be suspended! So don’t be spammy!

What about older pins?

Older pins, that you pinned months or years ago, can still bring you traffic. Never delete old pins! Even if the pin didn’t initially bring you traffic, it could always pick up steam later, and show in a Pinterest search.

That is one of the beauties of Pinterest. What you create for Pinterest can benefit you way down the line, unlike Facebook or Instagram where you are lucky to get 24 hours out of a post.

Also, don’t take time to update titles or descriptions of old pins. Your time is better spent creating new content and pins, since those will be favored more by Pinterest.

Need Help?

Do you need help with your Pinterest account? I offer a detailed Pinterest Review to audit your account and make sure you are following recommendations. With this service, I provide a video walk-through of my recommendations along with action steps you can take to boost your account. You also get a follow up call or Voxer support to ask any questions you may have.

I also offer full Pinterest Management Services, if you need help creating pins and scheduling them. Click the button below for more details.

The post Pinterest Best Practices for 2021 appeared first on Lisa Pinder Pinterest Management.

When you are just starting out in the world of blogging or online business, you want to cut costs as much as possible. A Pinterest scheduler is a great tool to grow your business, but how can you schedule pins on Pinterest for free?

Why use a Pinterest scheduler?

One of the biggest tips I can give regarding Pinterest marketing is to consistently pin fresh content on Pinterest. Pinterest wants you to pin on a regular basis, they don’t want you to pin 300 pins all at one time and call it good for the month. Tailwind is my preferred method for scheduling pins to Pinterest, but not everyone is ready to invest in a paid scheduler, or can spend time pinning manually. So I’m going to show you how to pin your pins to Pinterest for free!

Pinterest Native Scheduler

Pinterest actually has its own native scheduler built right into Pinterest. It is not as robust as Tailwind, and you can’t schedule as many pins as Tailwind. However, it is an excellent tool and timesaver for those just getting started on Pinterest, and aren’t quite ready to pay a monthly fee to schedule pins.

Let’s walk through how to schedule pins in Pinterest…

1. Click the plus sign to add a pin, just like you would create a pin to publish immediately.

2. Upload your pin image, select the board it will publish to, create a pin title, and keyworded pin description.

3. Instead of clicking “Publish Immediately”, select the button next to it to “Publish at a Later Date”. Then you can select the day and time you want the pin to publish.

*Note: Once you hit publish you won’t be able to edit the pin or time that it is scheduled, so make sure everything looks right.

4. Most likely you will want this pin to go to a few other boards, so before you hit publish, find the three dots in the upper left corner, and select “Duplicate”. Click Duplicate for each board you are going to save it to.

5. Once you duplicate the pin, all of the information you filled in before will be there. Just change the board that you are saving it to and the date and time.

To avoid being spammy and follow Pinterest best practices, you will want at least 10-14 days between each copy of the pin, but preferably more days.

Once you click publish on all of your pins, the screen will look like this:

You can see what pins you have scheduled under the “Pins” menu on your profile:

If you click on one of the pins, you will be able to see the specific date and time of each pin. You can delete the pins, but you will not be able to edit them.

It is a pretty basic and simple tool, but it gets the job done. There are definitely some pros and cons to using the Pinterest native scheduler. Let’s discuss….

Pros:

• Ability to batch your work, and schedule pins ahead of time. This frees up your time so you aren’t on Pinterest all day long.
• Helps you pin consistently on Pinterest
• The Duplicate feature is nice to be able to pin the pin to multiple boards. You just have to remember to click it before you publish!
• Pinterest made it, so you know you won’t get banned for using an unapproved tool.
• It’s FREE!

Cons:

• Once a pin is published/scheduled, you can’t edit or re-schedule them As of October 2023, you can now reschedule within the scheduler.
• You can only schedule pins a month out.
• You can only schedule up to 100 pins at a time
• It doesn’t give you the optimal times for you to pin, like Tailwind does
• The scheduler does not have the ability to schedule a pin to multiple boards at one time (You have to remember to use the Duplicate feature)
• It doesn’t keep track of when and where you have pinned a pin in the past. I recommend using a spreadsheet, Trello, or Airtable to keep track of your pins. I have created a Pinterest Planner that includes a Pin Tracker spreadsheet to help with this task.

Options for Scheduling Pins

I think the native Pinterest scheduler is handy for initially getting your pin out on Pinterest. Pinterest likes when you actually interact within Pinterest, as opposed to doing EVERYTHING within Tailwind. So even if you are using Tailwind, I think it’s worth giving the scheduler a try.

The Pinterest scheduler is also perfect for those starting out, and not sure they want to pay for Tailwind yet. However, Tailwind does have a free trial of 100 pins (no time limit), so it’s worth also trying Tailwind with the free trial.

For people wanting to save the time they spend on Pinterest, or those that have a ton of content to pin, I definitely recommend Tailwind. I’m sure it’s possible to get by with the native scheduler, but Tailwind gives a lot more flexibility and features to make the task easier. You also get the bonus of Tailwind Communities for extra traffic.

Whichever scheduler you use, I want to be clear about some Pinterest recommendations. 

• Pinterest wants to see recent and relevant content, so make sure you are creating new images.
• Don’t be spammy! Don’t pin the same pin image to one board multiple times (If it’s been a year, it’s okay to repeat if it’s a good pin. This is typically the case for seasonal content). Again, Pinterest wants to see new images. 
• Wait at least 10-14 days before pinning one image to a different board. Don’t pin your new image to all of your boards back to back.
• Only pin your pin to the most relevant boards. Pinterest has said 10 boards should be the max for one pin, but I think no more than 5 is better.

Need more help?

Do you need help with your Pinterest marketing? I do Pinterest intensive account reviews, and can give you specific advice about your Pinterest account. I also do complete Pinterest management, so you don’t even have to think about all of this scheduling of your pins. Click the button below if you want to learn more about how I can help you.

The post How to Schedule Pins on Pinterest for Free appeared first on Lisa Pinder Pinterest Management.

We all know how challenging it can be to rank high on Google, so why not climb to the top of Pinterest? Pinterest is where people are searching with the intent of buying. Isn’t that where you want to be?

I helped a client do just that. She had a small blog with just a few views a month. She had a large following on both Instagram and Facebook but hadn’t really jumped into using Pinterest for her business.

In just a few months’ time, she had several viral pins and had pins that were ranking for her keywords. This was multiplying her traffic to her website and growing her e-mail list!

First, let’s start with the Before…

Before I took over she had already converted her personal account to a Pinterest business account. However, she hadn’t confirmed her website with Pinterest. That was one of the first things I did for her, so the analytics would show us data for pins from her website.

She had been using Pinterest for personal use, so a few things she had re-pinned were getting viewed, but not much. She had 3 followers. Luckily, Pinterest isn’t dependant on follower count, so that didn’t matter in getting her traffic.

How to Grow your Blog using Pinterest

Profile Optimization

I started with optimizing her Pinterest profile. She is in the furniture painting and DIY business, so at the time, she had a picture of a dresser as her profile picture. We changed it to one of her branded headshots. This makes her account more personable, so if people check out her profile, they can see it’s a real person behind it.

I also did keyword research to find popular keywords for her niche to add to her Display Name and Profile Description.

You can get my Profile Optimization checklist here, for more tips to power up your Pinterest profile.

Cleaning Up Pinterest Boards

Next, I worked on cleaning up her personal Pinterest boards. Anything that wasn’t related to her niche was switched to a Secret board or Archived. She can still use the secret boards for her personal use. I also rearranged the boards, so the most relevant were at the top of her profile. This helps people that visit her account know what it is about.

I made sure the boards we kept or added had keywords in them to help with Pinterest SEO. I also created a board specifically for pins from her website. As pins were created, they were added to the most relevant board first, but then they also had a place on this branded board.

Pinning

When we started this process, this client only had a handful of blog posts and content to pin. For this reason, I was pinning mostly other peoples’ quality content to build up the boards. This helps establish the boards, and helps Pinterest know what the board is about.

The pins I created were also created with keywords and hashtags to help the pins be found. Are you getting the idea? Keywords are important!

The Results

Within that first month, she saw a huge spike in viewers of her pins! A 35,758% increase to be exact!

Pinterest has since changed the way they do their analytics, but she is now at about 210,000 impressions a month!

Now, I want to make it clear that the number of viewers is not necessarily an important number to watch. It is actually a vanity number because it doesn’t equal conversions (sales, e-mail subscribers, etc.) However, in this case, I think it helps to show the growth of the account.

The numbers get more impressive when we look at the growth of clicks she started receiving to her website. She started with 151 views on her website in September 2018, and by September 2019 she was at almost 2,500 views per month! I realize some people get more than that in a day, but this is a big success for this client. She had an increase in visitors by over 3700%! Every client is different and will have different goals that I take into account.

Most of this was also done with manual pinning! She wasn’t ready to invest in Tailwind, so we did the best we could without the benefit of scheduling and Tailwind tribes.

Now I require clients to have a Tailwind account. Tailwind helps with pinning consistently throughout the day without being on Pinterest all day. The benefit of Tailwind Tribes is also huge in getting your pins in front of other people!

These website views are mostly from Pinterest! As you can see, 1,953 of her September views came from Pinterest, and 4 from Facebook.

The beauty of Pinterest is she is still getting traffic from pins we created a year ago! With Facebook, you’re lucky to get a few days of traffic from a post.

I have no doubt this business will continue to grow, especially now that we are using Tailwind Tribes. I am looking forward to updating this case study with more growth in the future!

Conclusion

Pinterest is now a major traffic driver for this business, and an important part of their marketing strategy to get e-mail signups. She has even had new Facebook followers tell her they found her via Pinterest! Strategic and consistent pinning worked for this client.

Every business has different goals that we need to look at when creating a strategy. There is no single formula that works for all businesses or niches. Some can pin 5 times a day, some need to pin 30 times a day. Ideal size of pins can vary.

Results can also vary depending on how much content you already have to pin. These are all things I take into consideration when developing a strategy for my Pinterest clients.

Pinterest is definitely a slower growth platform, and you need patience to see results. I tell my clients that they need to give Pinterest at least 3-6 months to see results. And really, the 6-12 months range is when things can really start booming. If you are already getting large amounts of traffic from another platform, it may take more time to see the same results from Pinterest as those other platforms.

Are you ready to grow your business using Pinterest?

I would love to help you see results with Pinterest as well! You can view my Pinterest Management Packages or contact me to find out more!

The post How to Grow Your Blog Using Pinterest : Pinterest Case Study appeared first on Lisa Pinder Pinterest Management.

When switching to a Pinterest business account, or creating a new business account, it is important to consider what boards are on your profile. You want to make sure they are boards that your ideal client is interested in. This will attract the right people to you, and it also helps Pinterest understand what your account is about, so it is shown to the right people. 

How to Clean up Your Pinterest Boards in 4 Steps:

Step 1: Use Secret Boards

Scan your boards to make sure they are conveying the appropriate message to your audience. Do they relate to your business? If you have personal boards that are not related to your business, switch them to Secret.

A secret board will no longer show your pins to your followers, but you can still use your secret board for personal use. For example, if your business has nothing to do with recipes, you can still store your favorite recipes on a secret board.

Your secret boards will show at the bottom of your board list, right above any archived boards. They will be marked with a little padlock icon, as seen in the image below.

Do NOT Delete boards. If you delete a board, you will lose followers, but if you turn them to secret, you will keep followers. Deleting a board also deletes the pins that are on that board. So if you happened to have a popular pin on that board, you would no longer benefit from it. Deleting a board can not be undone. 

Another option is to Archive a board. This is a better option than Deleting a board. If you don’t use the board anymore, and it has nothing to do with your business, you can Archive it. When you Archive a board, it will move to an archived section of your profile. No one else will be able to see the board, and you won’t be able to save pins to it, but you can unarchive the board if you need to. When you Archive a board, you also won’t see pin suggestions in your Home Feed based on that board.

Remember, you want to keep boards that will attract your ideal audience. I blog about Pinterest and online business tips, but I want to attract bloggers and business owners that write about other topics. So I have kept boards that my ideal clients are more likely to see. I make sure they are boards that receive high engagement.

Step 2: Check your Board Titles and Descriptions

What you name your boards matters! Pinterest is a search engine, and it is looking for keywords. For this reason, you want to be pretty straight forward with your board names and avoid cutesy names. 

For example, instead of “Get in my belly!” use the board title “Recipes”. Even better, be specific like “Keto Dessert Recipes.” Not only does this help in Pinterest search, but Pinterest boards can show up in Google search results as well.

You will also want to make sure all of your boards have descriptions using keywords. Use sentences to describe your board with several keywords. Max out the space Pinterest gives you for the description. Avoid “keyword stuffing” or just listing a bunch of keywords. 

Read this post with more information about finding keywords for Pinterest SEO.

Step 3: Create New Boards

After you have cleaned up your existing boards, do an assessment to determine if you need new boards for your niche to broaden your keyword reach. For example, if you have a board for “Gluten Free Recipes” that is a broad keyword, and fine to use. In this case, if you are a gluten free food blogger, you will want to narrow it down more, you could have a more specific boards for “Gluten Free Breakfast Recipes” and “Gluten Free Recipes for Dinner”.

Board Sections

While you are in there editing your boards, you may notice you have the ability to create Board Sections. These are basically subcategories within your boards. The average Pinterest user may use them to organize their boards, but Pinterest has stated they do not affect keyword search for marketers. So you don’t need to spend time organizing your boards into sections.

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one of these links, I may earn a small commission after a purchase at no cost to you.

Step 4: Evaluate Group Boards

If you are in any group boards, make sure they are still relevant and active. Archive any group boards you want to leave, then you can add them again if you change your mind in the future. You can check your Group Boards in Tailwind under Insights>Board Insights to see how they are performing.

Group boards aren’t as helpful as they were several years ago, but if you can find some very specific niche group boards, they can still be beneficial.

Bonus: Arrange your boards

Pinterest has a drop-down box with several ways to organize your boards. I prefer “Custom” because I can put the boards in the order I want them. List your most popular boards first, as these should be the boards someone will see first if they click on your profile.

I consider this a Bonus step, because while Pinterest gives you the option to arrange your boards, they will display your boards to other Pinterest users in the order of the boards that were last saved to. It has been this way for over a year (not sure if it is a glitch or intentional), but things are always changing with Pinterest. So some day maybe they will show the boards in the order you want them to appear.

You’re done! If you have completed these steps, your boards should be ready for more pins! If you haven’t optimized the other parts of your profile, make sure you do that as well.

Need Help?

If these are steps you don’t want to tackle yourself, let me help you. I offer a comprehensive Pinterest audit where I will provide specific recommendations for your account, making it easy to complete the clean up. I also offer a “Done For You” Pinterest Management package.

Related Articles:

How to Find Keywords for Pinterest SEO

Where to Use Keywords on Pinterest

Beginner’s Guide to Pinterest for Business

How to Grow Your Email List with Pinterest

How to Clean Up Your Pinterest Boards

The post How to Clean Up your Pinterest Boards appeared first on Lisa Pinder Pinterest Management.

Maybe you have been on Pinterest for years, pinning recipes and home decor ideas. Or maybe Pinterest is still new to you. Either way, you know you need to start using Pinterest for your business, and I am going to walk you through how to switch your account to a business account. If you are creating a new Pinterest Account, the steps are the same after you create your account.

The main reason to use a business account instead of a Personal account is so you can see your analytics. You will be able to determine your most popular pins, and what is converting to website clicks. You will also be able to take advantage of Rich Pins that are connected to your website and give users more information on your pins. Promoted Pins are also available to Business Accounts if desired.

Start a New Account or Switch a Personal Account to Business?

If you have been using Pinterest, a common question is, “Do I need to create a new account for my business?” In most cases, I would say no, go ahead and just change your Personal account to Business. The reason is most personal accounts have some traction going for them already. You probably have some pins at least semi-related to your niche. You also probably have some followers. Both of these things can give you a head start as you begin your Pinterest Business Account.

If you don’t have many followers, or are starting at zero, no worries! Luckily, Pinterest success isn’t dependent on follower count. With good SEO, Pinterest will show your pins to people who want to see them!

The only time I would say to create a new account for your business is if the business is a completely different niche than your personal account. In that case, your pins and boards won’t be related at all to your business. Also, your business niche may not resonate with your current followers. With that said, take a good look at your personal account to see if your current content would be useful to the business.

How To Switch your Personal Account to a Business Account

The act of switching your Personal account to Business is pretty simple. From your profile select the three dots in the corner and go to Edit Settings. Now on the left side, select Account Settings, and under Account Changes, select “Convert to a Business Account” (see below). There is an option to Create a Linked Business Account to your personal account, but I find it is easier to keep your business and personal account separate (if you need two accounts). This is especially the case if you might have a VA or Pinterest Manager managing your account in the future.

Claim your Website

You will also want to claim your Website. This will help identify pins that come from your website. You’ll be able to see pins from your website in your analytics. It will also help users find your website from Pinterest (We all want more website views, right?). I have claimed websites on several different platforms, and there are multiple ways it can be done.

To get started, go to the Pinterest Menu (3 dots in the corner), and select “Edit Settings”, then choose “Claim.” Then you will need to add a meta tag to your website.

On a self-hosted WordPress site, the easiest way to add the meta tag is to use the Yoast SEO PlugIn, where you can paste your metadata confirmation under Social > Pinterest.

For WordPress hosted (www.wordpress.com) sites, you can paste the metadata under Tools > Marketing.

You can also claim accounts for Instagram, Etsy, and YouTube. It is one of those things that if Pinterest is giving you the tool, you should use it!

Enable Rich Pins

Rich pins are another tool that if Pinterest is saying to use them, you will benefit from using them. When a site has Rich Pins enabled, the pins from that site will include extra information. For example, the recipe pins you see that already have the recipe below the pin. For recipe pins, you will also need a Recipe Plugin, which will determine which information shows on the pin. Non-recipe pins will show article titles and snippets, and sometimes the author.

Below is an example of a Recipe Rich Pin. Notice the ingredients displayed in the side bar. The user still has to click through to the website to see instructions for the recipe, but they can see the ingredients right from the pin.

If you use Squarespace, your site is already set up with the proper metadata for Rich Pins.

If you use WordPress, you will want the Yoast plugin. Go to Social > Facebook > Switch “Add Open Graph Meta Data” to Enabled.

Update: As of October 2023, you no longer need to use the Rich Pin Validator to enable rich pins. As long as you have the Open Graph Meta Data, you should be good to go!

The next step is to verify your Rich Pins so they will appear on Pinterest. Just go to the Rich Pin Validator and paste any blog post URL in the form. If your information is validated, you will be able to select “Apply Now” to apply for Rich Pins. It can take a little while for your blog to be approved, but your rich pins will start showing on Pinterest in a few days.

Next Steps

Now that you have your Business Account set up, the next step is to optimize your profile for Pinterest SEO and clean up your boards. Grab my guide to learn how to optimize your Pinterest Profile in 5 Easy steps here!

If you know these are tasks that you don’t want to tackle, take a look at my Pinterest Management packages where I can take care of all of these steps for you, including Profile optimization and board clean up!

Related Post: Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Pinterest

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