If you’ve been in the online business space long, you’ve probably heard about what a goldmine Pinterest can be for your business. And it’s true! Pinterest’s 450 million users come to the platform planning to make a purchase, making them warm potential leads. Over 5 BILLION searches are performed on the platform every month. These aren’t just window shoppers folks.

Ready to start getting traffic and new leads from Pinterest but have no idea where to start? I’m here to help you step-by-step, no overwhelm required. Here’s exactly how to set up a Pinterest Business Account for beginners.

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1. Start a Pinterest Business Account OR Convert Your Personal Account.

So you’re ready to start driving traffic to your website with Pinterest, but how do you do that? The first step is to set up a business profile. A business profile allows you to claim your website, which allows you to view:

• Audience metrics
• Which pins and boards are ranking highest
• How many website visitors you are getting each month from the platform

The first step is to create a business account on Pinterest (I know, DUH! But read on!) I recommend creating a separate business account for your business. You might already have a personal account but you probably shouldn’t use it for your business. The random pins on your personal account could affect your reach when pinning your business content. 

So it’s best to either create a new account from scratch OR make all your personal boards that aren’t related to the content you’ll be pinning secret before you start getting ready to pin. Here’s more about creating a business account on Pinterest.

2. Claim Your Website on Pinterest.

This step is vital in how to set up a Pinterest business account and establish your brand presence. Pinterest loves when you push out fresh content that is linked to your claimed domain, AKA, your own website. This should be the URL where the majority of your content lives (for me, that’s vineyardcreativeco.com)

Why your own domain? Pinterest wants to see that you’re the one creating the content you put out on their platform. By claiming your own website vs. a subdomain hosted by your email provider, CRM, etc, you’re proving that this is content unique to you and fresh to the platform. Don’t have a website yet? You can pin to other things in the meantime, such as freebies, affiliates, your email list, or a PDF of your services. I definitely recommend investing in your own domain in the long run though!

In order to claim your website, head over to Pinterest and click on your “settings” under your account in the right hand corner:

Follow these steps to continue:

• Click on your “settings” under your account in the right hand cornerClick“claimed accounts.” You’ll see that some HTML options pop up. 
• This process will vary slightly, but in general, you’ll just need to copy and paste the HTML tag code under “Add HTML tag” into the Head section on your website. 
• For most websites, just look at the page, and add the code to the “Head Section”.

3. Brand Your Profile

Your first impression is important on any platform, Pinterest included! Make sure that you have a branded profile that’s ready to greet visitors to your world by sharing what you do and who you serve.

Profile Image and Cover

If you have a personal brand (i.e. you are the the face of it), I *highly* suggest you use an image of yourself as opposed to your logo for your profile image. This will help with brand recognition, and people love to connect with other people.

When creating your cover, use this opportunity to visually reinforce your tagline or introduction (who you are, what you do, and who you serve). It’s a great way to promote a free or paid resource as well! Check out mine below as an example:

Profile Name

Your profile name might seem straightforward, but remember that it is searchable! What search results would you like your profile to appear in? Squarespace Web Designer? Oklahoma Elopement Photographer? Productivity Coach? You have 60 characters to use in your profile name, so use them up by including your or your business’ name and your title or niche. For instance: Connie Richard | California Wedding Photographer

Congratulations! You’ve Learned How to set up a Pinterest Business Account!

You’re on your way to generating more traffic and driving more leads to your website via Pinterest. If you have any questions along the way, feel free to DM me on Instagram and I’d be happy to help!

Now that you have your Pinterest business profile setup, what do you do next? Download my free Pinterest Strategy Guide to guide you through what you should be doing on your account weekly and monthly!

Here’s what you’ll get inside the guide:

• Prompts to help you plan out your Pinterest content strategically, and tips for getting your content in front of more eyes than ever before.
• Checklists for what to do weekly and monthly to maintain a thriving Pinterest account.
• My favorite resources for managing your Pinterest account with ease.

Download for free!