Let us understand how to set up your Pinterest account for success.
Step 1: Set Up a Pinterest Business Account
There are 2 types of Pinterest accounts: Personal accounts & Business accounts.
As a blogger, we mandatorily have to set up business accounts.
Why?
As explained by Pinterest Help Center in above image, you will get several extra features with business account that will help you scale up faster. In short, business account is a must for bloggers.
Pinterest Business Account – Go this page, click on “Sign Up” and register a business account.
In case you already have a personal account, go to “Account Management” (https://pinterest.com/settings/account-settings/) & “Convert to a business account” like below.
Step 2: Pinterest Profile Set Up
Open “Settings” (https://pinterest.com/settings/)
You have to mandatorily complete the below fields:
- Profile Photo: Add your blog logo, use simple & memorable ones. Use your own image in case of a personal brand.
- Name: Add your blog name along with some relevant keywords. An example is “Example | Home Improvement & Decor Tips”
- About: Write a brief about section of your blog. Mandatorily add the important keywords & topics here. Ensure to keep the sentence brief.
- Website: Add your blog URL
- Username: It’s recommended to use your blog name. Some people use keywords here to rank, I wouldn’t call that the best of practice.
- Email address: This is not a mandatory field. In case you add, use a “Contact Us” type of mail such as “hello@example.com”, “contactus@example.com”, “help@example.com”, “info@example.com”, etc.
Below are some account examples that feature a well-written & optimized profile. You can take inspiration from them.
Step 3: Claim Your Blog Domain on Pinterest
You must claim your domain on Pinterest. This will help you with improved analytics. Consider this a mandatory step. It’s slightly technical, but still easy. You can follow the below 5-minute guide.
Step 4: Follow Your Competitors to Stay Updated
Once your profile is ready, the next step is to follow the relevant profiles in your niche. Aim for following 30-40 profiles to start of with.
Why should you do this?
- To make your profile look trustworthy. While starting, your followers will be zero. Let us at least show that our following number is not empty. Two “zeros” in your profile (followers & following) isn’t good looking. It isn’t trustworthy either in the eyes of audience.
- You have to stay updated on what your competitors (successful blogs in same niche) are doing. By following them, you can stay updated on the trends, kind of content & design of pins they are using.
It’s important to stay on top on what similar profiles are doing so that you can replicate successful methods faster.
Do not just follow, go through their entire profile and understand their monthly views, pins designs, titles & descriptions they use, length of content, size of pins, boards they have (how many boards, board names, board descriptions), etc.
In business terms, it’s called “competitor analysis”. In simple terms, we can call it staying on top of trends & competitors so that you do not miss out on what’s happening & what they are doing.
How to find these profiles?
1. Search for keyword on search bar & filter “Profiles”
2. Find competitors directly from search bar
3. Search and filter “All Pins” & look at the profiles that created top pins
4. Search & filter “Boards”. Look at profiles that own the top boards and follow the good profiles.
5. Search & filter “Videos”. Find who made these top performing videos & follow them.
6. On top pins, look at the “More to explore” section and find good competitor accounts.
With that, your account is all set to go.