If you’re wondering how to set up a Pinterest business account in 2021, then you are in the right place!
In this post you will learn the basics of setting up a Pinterest account for business including rich pins, claiming your website and all the other tech stuff!
PREFER THE VIDEO VERSION? CLICK HERE TO WATCH
STEP 1: Set up a Pinterest business account foundation
1) A Business Account – This will give you rich insights into what is working and what is not working in your account.
Read here for the complete setup guide from Pinterest.
2) Validate Rich Pins – This will make Pinterest understand what content is related to your blog and also make these pins show in Google results.
Don’t stress. It’s not as complicated as it sounds.
Rich pins essentially show the relevant details attached to a pin such as the title, the meta-description.
This can include the information that it is an article, a product, a recipe or an app.
Rich pins serve two major purposes:
- Help Pinterest understand what type of content is related to the image/pin: article, recipe, product, app.
- Help Google and Pinterest optimise your content for search results in either platform
A pin that has rich pins enabled looks like this:
You most likely have pins that look like this (without rich pins):
Even though for the end-user it doesn’t make a large difference, for Pinterest to understand what your content is all about and rank it, it does make a huge difference.
Over time, rich pins let Pinterest understand exactly WHAT your content is and how best to showcase it to the right audience.
If you have a website irrespective of what niche or business you are in, you WANT to have rich pins activated on your account.
Once you have set up your business account, you now need to connect your domain with rich pins and apply for validation.
This might need some steel nerves and a lot of patience, but I promise you it is so worth the struggle!
STEP 2: Activate rich pins
Step 1: Go to your WordPress dashboard and then to the Yoast SEO Plugin. Click on “Social Tab”
Step 2: Enable Open Graph Meta On The Facebook Tab
Step 3: Submit your blog URL for validation.
You can submit any blog post link/ URL that pertains to your blog as the Open Graph Meta is now enabled for your entire site. It does not matter which URL you submit.
Link for validation: https://developers.pinterest.com/tools/url-debugger/
Done.
Now all you have to do is wait for Pinterest to confirm your rich pins activation. This can take anywhere from 48 hours to 2-3 weeks. If you don’t hear back within 7 days, write to support here.
IMPORTANT NOTES
- Once your rich pins have been validated and “activated” (look for an email from Pinterest), you can go ahead and remove the code from your header. To be validated means that Pinterest has understood that the pins are coming from your claimed website. To be activated means your entire website is now going to show active rich pins, both for previous and future pins.
- Please allow 24-48 hours for rich pins to start showing up after activation. In case this takes longer, reach out to Pinterest support and ask them to have a look. If there is a faulty technical implementation, the developer team will help you fix that.
STEP 3: Creating personal boards and adding pins to your profile
Now that your profile is set up and validated, we need to fill it up with high-quality content.
You want to do this right from the very beginning so as not to create a spammy or low-quality profile.
Just like how you need to have an amazing feed with Instagram from the very beginning, you ALSO need to have an amazing profile (and boards) for maximum growth on Pinterest.
You want the readers that find you to either follow you, engage with your content or at the very least recognise your brand on Pinterest.
Here’s what you need to do next:
Step 1: Create 10 highly relevant boards for your niche.
The easy way to do it is to go to the bigger blogger’s board whom you admire in your niche, and take their top 5-10 ideas. Repeat the same for a couple of bloggers until you have a good idea of the mix of boards.
For example, if you are a food blogger and you blog about – Keto recipes and vegan meals. You want to have the following boards:
- Keto Recipes
- Vegan Meals
- Low-carb Meals
- Vegan Lifestyle
- Keto Meal Prep
You get the idea!
💎TIP: You also want to create a board ONLY for your blog or business. Easy way to do it is to create a “Best of “blog name” board or you can just use your brand name. This will help you later identify a place where you can upload all your pins first and refer back anytime.
The hard way to do it (which I highly recommend) is to input keywords into the Pinterest search bar and find out the boards that show up. Take the top 5-10 board ideas and then implement the same for your own niche.
Step 2: Fill up your boards with awesome pins.
Just like no one wants to read a blog with 2 blog posts, no one wants to follow or save from a profile with only 5 pins.
How can you fix that?
Search for the keyword that your board is named within the Pinterest search bar and add at least 50 high-quality pins to each board you created.
How will you know which pins are high-quality?
Take the first 100 that show up in search results. The reason why they show up there is because they have been saved and re-pinned a LOT so Pinterest automatically thinks they are the best answer to your query.
It’s the same as when Google shows up the best articles for your query. How often do you go to articles on page 3?
Take the best looking pins that show up on the top and add they to the boards that are RELEVANT.
Do not mix topics and add random crap just to fill up your boards. You will have a hard time cleaning up your profile later.
The more niche and targeted your profile and boards are, the better!
STEP 4: Optimise your profile for your business or niche
Now that you’ve done all the groundwork you want to make sure that you can actually be found.
For this reason you want to make sure your Pinterest profile is OPTIMISED.
Here’s what’s important to make sure you do this. Do make sure you do ALL of these steps.
I promise you ALL of these things MATTER and you only need to do them once!
Here’s what you need to do to kickstart your profile:
Step 1: Add your brand (blog) name to your username.
Think about your Pinterest account as an extension of your blog or business. You want people to easily remember your blog and your brand so make sure you either update your profile name or add it in the description.
Make sure to add your blog, brand or business name that you will be saving your pins to this account from.
Step 2: Add niche keywords to your profile name.
You also want to add the MAIN categories of your blog and pins to your name.
Why?
Because when people search they also search by categories and if you want to be found you need to enable searchers to be able to find you.
Here’s an example of my own profile-
If you blog about 10 categories, but only want to save pins about 5, then add the most important ones that are directly related to your Pinterest account.
Remember, RELEVANCE IS KEY.
Step 3: Add a profile image that is friendly and shows your face.
Like any other platform pictures that look creepy, too dark or don’t show your face do NOT inspire trust.
If you want to grow your brand and following on Pinterest, you NEED to be approachable.
You can use any headshot or even a selfie as long as it looks friendly, approachable and easy-going.
Step 4: Add a call to action in your bio.
Although most people might not click what they see in your bio, it is PRIME REAL ESTATE.
If you have a freebie, a newsletter, a new product, anything at all, add that in your bio. Here’s an example of what mine says:
If the URL is too long make sure to use bitly and shorten it: https://bit.ly/
You can pick an existing freebie that you offer on your blog or create a custom one for only Pinterest readers.
The bottom line is, that if there is a chance to get more subscribers, TAKE IT!
That brings us to the end of this post for setting up your business account. Check out the following posts next for more information on how to market your business with Pinterest:
- Which is the best blogging platform to make money?
- How To Post Video Pins Quickly
- How I Make Over $15000 A Month Blogging
- How Many Blog Posts Should You Write Per Month?
- My Pinterest 2022 Strategy That Gets Millions Of Monthly Views
WANT ACCESS TO 50+ TEMPLATES & TRAININGS TO BUILD YOUR EMPIRE ON PINTEREST? CLICK BELOW TO JOIN OUR MEMBERSHIP!
