If you’ve decided to use Pinterest to market your blog or business and you’ve signed up for a business account, it’s time to start pinning. But do you know where to start and how to set up your boards in the best way so that they drive traffic back to you?
You need to give them a name, and a good description so that they are searchable, and only then start adding your content. Here’s a simple guide to follow when setting up your boards on Pinterest.
The first five boards
It might seem tempting to make a new board for every single pin you add but this isn’t always ideal. You want to start making the board regularly active, even if that’s a pin every other week in the early days. So it can be an idea to start with five boards.
So how do you pick the five boards? One easy idea is to look at the categories on your blog. You probably have a few of them, maybe a sub-category or two. These are great subjects for your first five boards because you can add pins from the posts to the board that’s the same as your category.
But what about if you don’t blog and have products or services instead? Well, you can work on a similar idea. Use the product categories within your business to help you choose those first few boards. Or think about the overarching type of service you offer and use these.
Naming the boards
There’s the temptation to have a little fun with the names of boards or to try to have something catchy and clever. But resist! Boards need to have keyword-rich names to help Pinterest understand what they are about.
Now you can definitely add words around them to make sense of the board. For example:
- Category: cocktails = board: Tasty Cocktail Recipes
- Category: blogging = board: Blogging Tips and Tricks
- Product category: handmade necklaces = Handmade Beaded Necklaces
Try to get 2-3 words for your board name but don’t go too long. The key is to ensure Pinterest can categorize it and know who to show your content to because the board name has helped with that.
Don’t forget the board description
If you’ve used Pinterest personally, I bet you never added a board description at all. And that’s fine, it isn’t important. But as a business user, you need to add a description to the board for one simple reason – you can add more keywords!
First, you want to write in sentences and not just a list of relevant keywords. But do try to incorporate 2-3 variations or long-tailed keywords relating to the board topic. So for the cocktails example, a description could be something like:
Tasty Cocktail Recipes includes drinks recipes for rum, gin, vodka, tequila, and more. Learn to make easy cocktails at home, try classic recipes, and find the best seasonal drinks.
All of the words in bold are keywords that relate to or are relevant to the board title. But it still reads naturally and sensibly for any user that happens to visit the board. User experience is always top of the list for things we consider.
Add content to your boards
You don’t have to limit yourself to five boards but it is a good starter number if you are a little unsure. As the account grows, you can move pins to new, more specific boards. So that cocktail board could lead to Vodka Cocktail Recipes, Summer Cocktail Recipes, and more.
But to start with, keep it simple and get those pins flowing.
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