Today I’m going to show you how to set up a Pinterest profile for your blog.
I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again, Pinterest is my number one source of traffic. So it’s more than a little bit important!
A good Pinterest strategy has so many different facets but it all starts right at your profile.
As I said in the post What To Do Before You Start A Blog, I knew absolutely nothing about blogging when I started a blog. (Way to be prepared huh?)
I’d had Pinterest for years before I started my blog, but didn’t know that I needed to change it to fit my site. I really just thought I could pin my articles to my boards and call it a day.
The question “how to set up a Pinterest profile for your blog” never crossed my mind. That set me so far behind!
After figuring it all out I finally got A Chick And Her Garden to take off, so much so that I decided to launch Blogging Over Breakfast!
My two favorite tools for this are the YoastSEO plugin and stats given to me by my Pinerest scheduler Tailwind! Want to know why I’m so in love with Tailwind? I wrote this great post on A Chick And Her Garden, before I launched Blogging Over Breakfast!
And guess what? By using all that knowledge, within 8 days Blogging Over Breakfast was actually performing BETTER than A Chick And Her Garden!
Share the love! Pin me for others!
Don’t worry I’m not going to make you sift through post after post and course after course like I did. I’m going to give you the facts in black and white right here so that your profile is ready right from the start!
Switch to, or start, a Business Account
If you already have a Pinterest account, I recommend keeping it and just switching it to a business account, rather than starting a whole new one.
The reason for that is that you already have followers. More than likely if you’re starting a blog, you’re starting one about things you’re already pinning. That means that the followers you have are already repinning what you pin.
When you start with a brand new account, you start with ZERO followers. And let me tell you. That’s what I had to do with Blogging Over Breakfast, and it is just a little depressing to look at A Chick And Her Garden’s followers in the thousands and then see that ominous ZERO.
So if you can, just convert. If not, you will choose business account when you sign up.
As I suggested in How to Start a Successful Blog, after you purchase your domain is when you’ll want to get your social media accounts set up.
When you start your business account with Pinterest, they will ask you for your website so you’ll want to have it ready.
Next they’ll ask you to verify the site by downloading and installing an Html file (huh?!) or inserting a meta tag into your header (seriously!?!). More than likely, if you’re like I was, both of those phrases made your head spin.
NO WORRIES! Go with the meta tag (they will provide it).
In your WordPress Dashboard, hover over the “Tools” tab and choose “Available Tools.”
Scroll down until you see the space that says Pinterest site verification. Insert the meta tag (that they give you) there and save it.
Once you’ve gotten your site verified, you’ll receive an email to tell you that it has been. Now you’ll want to set up Rich Pins.
What are Rich Pins?
Rich pins will show more information, including your post title, ingredients if you’re a food blogger, a price if you are selling a product, and you’re profile image will also show up on the Pin! They encourage more engagement with your pins.
Awhile ago there was a debate on whether or not Rich pins actually discouraged clicks into your actual site, so I took them off temporary and actually saw traffic go down. So I would say that Rich Pins are a must!
The instructions from Pinterest itself on applying Rich Pins is actually more work than you need to do.
There are three steps to the process.
For the first step, you’ll need my all time favorite plugin! YoastSEO!
Go to the YoastSEO Dashboard and click on the Features Tab at the top.
Scroll to the bottom of this page and Enable the “Advanced Settings Pages.”
So that was step one. Here’s step two!
Just head over to the Rich Pin Validator in this link and insert a link to one of your posts and click Validate.
On the next screen they will ask you to apply and that is it! Seriously much easier than the crazy way Pinterest Help Center explains it.
Now that all the technical stuff is done…
You’ll want to know how to set up a Pinterest profile for your blog in the visual sense. This meaning your Profile name, description and boards.
Your Profile name should first include YOUR name.
Follow that with the name of your site.
After that you’ll want to include SEO keywords that relate to your niche. My post How to Write a Blog Post explains SEO keywords really well.
In the description you’ll want to do the same. Tell a little bit about yourself but make sure to include SEO keywords!
As far as an image some people use their logo, some use a head shot. If you look at mine, I prefer to be a little more real. I use an image of myself to be personal but it’s a little quirky to show a bit of my personality!
Now it’s time to add or update your boards!
Tailwind tells us that we want to start with at least 15-20 boards. Tailwind offers one month free if you want to give it a try, and it is invaluable to me! In the image below you’ll see that in the top right corner of the dashboard it gives you suggestions to improve your Pinterest account.
For those 15-20 boards you’ll want to make a cover image that matches for each board. (Take a look at my profile for an example and if you don’t already make sure to follow me for more blog pins!)
Make sure that those board titles are SEO friendly.
Do NOT skip adding a description to each board. I bet you guessed it… You want to fill each description with SEO keywords as well.
Alright! I’m sure that seemed like a lot! To start it up it can take a bit of time, but the main profile is done (unless you think of some ways to spruce it up) and you just need to keep following the steps for your boards as you create them.
Now you know how to set up a Pinterest profile for your blog, and you will be set for success!
Grab your free month of Tailwind and get going!
Bahhhh! There is so much to learn and remember with blogging. It gets really overwhelming.
You don’t include the cost of Seo yoast or tailwind.
Do you need to have a lot of traffic before you try to get ads? Which comes first the chicken or the egg? The content and traffic or the ads? Tailwind then affiliates? Where to begin…..
I know it can be really overwhelming at first! Yoast is Free (Yay!) Tailwind gives a free month to start out, then starts at $15 a month and can go up depending on the plan you go with.
For ads it depends on who you are going through. I think you can get going right away with Adsense (I’d have to look into it again) but larger companies have a minimum page view requirement. Don’t fret though! Affiliate marketing can monetize your blog right away!
Information is valuable for new blogger s
I already have a pintrest account and will be converting it. I am wanting to start blogging, but it is all so overwhelming! Thank you for all the good advice and tips, they are greatly appreciated!
I’m so happy that they’re helpful! Here’s a great post on the steps to take before you start your blog, if you’d like to take a look! http://bloggingoverbreakfast.com/what-to-do-before-you-start-a-blog/
Wow your articles are invaluable to me ! thank you , I started my blog a few months ago. I should’ve waited till I knew more lol. Now trying to figure the picture thing out and everything else. thanks again loving all your articles!!!
Hey, I stumbled upon your website as I struggle with doing anything the first time (and am not afraid to admit it – give me a spreadsheet though and then I can laugh at you, we all are wired differently). Some people read instructions and figure things out in two seconds. My brain looks at a list of steps and somehow manages to screw them up every time. Sometimes then I freak out and get all stressed (but do breathing exercises to overcome, in 3 out 6..). Well, your instructions helped me whiz right through setting up a Pinterest business account (after looking at 10 other experts instructions that gave me the frozen stiff deer in the headlights mode). Walla, all installed and ready to go so I can tell people what a great anxiety free set of tools you provided for free! You have a new fan, thanks!