I have a confession – I’ve built a blog to over a million annual pageviews through the power of Pinterest and SEO. Plus, helped dozens of clients with growing theirs. But when it comes to my own marketing with Pinterest for my Pinterest business? I’ve been sleeping on that for way too long!

I know, moment of silence for how embarassing that is but sometimes when you’re focused on your client’s success you forget about how important it is to grow your own business in a way that you KNOW works!

But we’re changing that, don’t you worry!

So, here are the exactly the steps myself and my team are taking to start fresh on Pinterest – and hopefully it can help you with some little tips as you kick off your Pinterest business page.

1. A Profile Makeover

I already had a Pinterest business page – but if I didn’t, I’d start by making one and setting it up as a business. I had an account I posted and ghosted on – so it just needed a major refresh!

What I didn’t do: delete old stuff. I archive a few things – and simply restarted from there.

What I did do: I updated my bio, my profile picture, and my cover image with my new branding!

I also created board covers – which is a totally optional element that we usually don’t do for clients but if you’re starting anew it can be a nice way to refresh your page! Notice below that I’ve scheduled these to go out throughout the day so that it’s not just 10 new posts at once.

2. Creating templates

When starting on Pinterest, you need some visuals! I went ahead and made 12 templates to work with to keep everything on-brand and to give us an easy way to stay consistent. They’re 4:5 ratio – which is important for Pinterest.

We’ll build on these templates – create variations, test out different looks as we go. But upfront, it’s good to have a handful of different styles to work with!

3. Keyword bank

We develop a keyword bank for all of our Pinterest clients, and we’ll treat this the same. Keywords are important because it helps someone be able to find you when they’re searching for content that you create.

I love having a document that sections off keywords based on audience, offers and content topics. My favorite tools for this are Pin Inspector and Google Keyword Planner.

4. Write long form content

I’m building out a set of blog posts before starting the pinning process for a few reasons.

1) It’s important to have helpful content to direct people to with Pinterest. That’s what makes it such a unique platform. It’s actually meant to drive someone from a graphic/visual to a landing page. So, it’s important that I work to create some compelling content to drive the traffic to.

2) I want to create content on a platform that I own. You don’t own Pinterest. You don’t own Instagram. So, it’s worthwhile to craft content onto a platform that you have full control over – which is your website. I’ve built about 10 posts so far before starting with pinning and will continue to be consistent here.

3) It’s important to have a good amount of blogs to have a diverse set of content to work with. The most successful clients we’ve worked with have had a lot of content. And the highest converting create relevant content to what they’re selling. Right now I’m working on some content around helping wedding pros with their Pinterest because I’m about to launch a workshop for them.

Moral of the story? Invest in creating helpful content that is super relevant to your audience and your offers!

5. Get organized

We use Notion to organize everything – and I recommend you find a system that works for you to keep track of keywords, blog posts and content, and just helps you to keep Pinterest a priority!

6. Develop a pinning routine

We pin for clients regularly, so we’re just adding Coley Lane to the mix! What may be helpful to hear is that I’m starting with only a handful of blogs. So our rhythm of posting is going to match that.

If you don’t have a ton of content to work with, it’s just important to be consistent. If that means one pin a day, that’s great. We’re going to be starting slow and steady until the content we have increases!

That’s all for now! Let me know if you have any questions – we can always do a part two! In the meantime, check out this Pinterest checklist as you kick off your new strategy.

Or, want a pro to take over for you? Head to our Pinterest marketing services page to learn more about what we can do for your creative business!