So, you are ready to start your Pinterest Business Account, you have pins ready to go, your account is set up and linked to all the necessary websites… Where are you going to pin your beautiful designs? You need to have optimized Pinterest Boards that are full of keywords and well organized.
Many people spend time creating unique board names that are very account-specific. This is actually not an ideal strategy. You will want to create board names and descriptions that utilize your keywords so they appeal to the masses.
Think of it this way. Maybe you are a food blogger that works a lot with dairy products and you want to have a board called “Yummy”. Maybe consider something along the lines of “Ice Cream Desserts”, “Dairy Desserts”, and “Creamy Desserts”. Do you see how a unique ice cream recipe could be pinned to all of those boards? They are descriptive and to the point, without being too wordy.
Remember Pinterest is, first and foremost, a search engine. That is why keywords are so important. I recommend having 75-100 keywords and keyword phrases (aka long-tailed keywords) listed somewhere that you should try to incorporate not only to your boards but also your bio, profile name, pin titles, pin descriptions, content, images and even the names you save the images as (yes, it’s true).
Anyways, back to the boards…
Let’s dive deeper into the board descriptions. You have 500 characters to describe your board using your keywords. However, you also don’t want to do something called “keyword-stuffing”.
This is when you are just putting words into your description and it doesn’t make sense. Hashtags are no more on Pinterest! Remember that the current Pinterest Algorithm favors a sentence structure. You want it to flow as you read it.
With those sentences you want to use your most important keywords and phrases as well as a reference to your brand. I also recommend pulling the pinners in with a question. Using call-to-actions is a great way to reference your brand. Tell your pinners what they can expect from this board!
Don’t:
Keyword-stuff (ice cream, dessert, creamy dessert, milk, chocolate ice cream, dairy)
Use hashtags (#icecream #dessert #creamydessert #milk #chocolateicecream #dairy)
Do:
Use a sentence structure.
Example: Are you a lover of creamy, sweet, dairy desserts? Me too! That is why I created this Ice Cream board, so I can share with you the easy recipes that I have created so you can make them for your family and friends as well. Are there any desserts that are more family-friendly than Ice Cream? Enjoy these dreamy, creamy recipes courtesy of Radtke Virtual Services.
(you know if I had a food blog… maybe someday)
I hope you can tell the difference between what Pinterest wants and doesn’t want from my example. Using old trends can make you look like spam to Pinterest’s current algorithm…and we don’t want that!
Cleaning up your account
“Okay but Brittany, I am rebranding my account, what do I do with boards that no longer make sense for my account?”
Honestly, you have several options and it just depends on your needs.
Secret Boards: If you still want to have the boards and the pins available to you but you don’t want others to see it, you can simply open your board, click the (…) to edit, edit your board, and check “keep this board secret”. Remember, if you pin to this board, they are not available to the public. This is a great option for your personal pins.
Archive: This is an option for boards that you don’t want to use now but may want to use again later. You cannot save pins if you archive your board. It simply hides it from the public but does not delete it. To do this click the (…) to edit and click archive.
Delete: This is a permanent change! Deleting a board will also delete anything pinned to it. You cannot undo this so make sure you are positive this is what you would want to do. To delete a board you click (…) to edit, edit board, and delete board.
Sorting your boards and organizing them so your account looks professional is also very important. I recommend having at least one board that contains your branding. My first board is for my blog posts, the rest (that you can see) are related to my business so I can continue to pin my posts to several different boards.
Board Covers
My final piece of advice is to clean up your account with board covers. These are images that you can create in Canva using a 600 x 600 size. This is a great way to include your branding with your website, logo, colors, and the title of the board you want it to go on. You upload them just like you would a static pin and you can even link them to one of your urls. I tend to use the board description as the description for the corresponding pin I am using for the cover. Check out my Pinterest account to see my board covers.
I really hope you learned some helpful tips for creating Pinterest Boards. If you clean up your boards you should be able to start seeing that you are ranking higher with the Pinterest algorithm as time goes on. Creating boards that have keyword-rich descriptions, will drive clicks, pin saves, and more followers for your account.
Happy pinning!
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or if you are needing a Pinterest Virtual Assistant to help you grow your account! Book your FREE Discovery Call today!
