Pinterest for Beginners: A Step-by-Step Guide to Pinterest for Business

How Pinterest Works (in Two Minutes)

When someone searches, Pinterest shows pins it thinks are relevant and useful. It works that out mostly from the words on and around each pin: title, description, board, and text on the image. That is why keywords matter more on Pinterest than followers.

Step 1: Create a Pinterest Business Account

A business account is free and gives you Pinterest Analytics, the option to claim your website, and access to ads later. You can create a new business account or convert an existing personal one in your account settings. Use a business account from day one so you have data from your very first pin.

Step 2: Set Up Your Profile

• Profile name: your name or brand plus your main topic, for example “Sam Lee | Easy Vegan Recipes”.
• Bio: one or two sentences on who you help and what they will find. The free Pinterest bio generator gives you a few drafts to edit.
• Profile photo: a clear face or logo that reads at small sizes.
• Website: add the site you want people to visit.

Step 3: Claim Your Website

Claiming your website connects it to your profile, so pins from your site are attributed to you and you can see how they perform. Follow Pinterest's claim your website instructions; most site builders let you add the verification tag without code. If you sell on a marketplace like Etsy rather than your own domain, you generally can't claim that shop, so skip this step or claim your own site if you have one.

Step 4: Create Your First Boards

Start with 5 to 10 boards, one per topic you will keep publishing about. Name each board with the phrase people would search (“Healthy Breakfast Recipes”, not “Yum!”) and add a two or three sentence description. The board name generator can help if you're stuck.

When you're ready to go deeper on naming, descriptions, and covers, read our Pinterest board optimization guide.

Step 5: Find Your Keywords

For each topic, find the phrases people type into Pinterest:

1. Type a broad word into Pinterest search and note the autocomplete suggestions.
2. Run the search and note the related terms Pinterest suggests.
3. Check seasonal interest in Pinterest Trends.
4. Pick one main phrase per pin you plan to make.

Step 6: Create Your First Pins

A good beginner pin has five parts:

• Image: vertical 2:3 (for example 1000 x 1500 pixels) showing the result or product clearly.
• Headline on the image: short, readable on a phone, promising a specific outcome.
• Title: leads with your keyword phrase, up to 100 characters.
• Description: two or three natural sentences using the phrase and one or two related terms.
• Link: the exact page the pin is about.

Step 7: Publish Consistently and Measure

A steady rhythm of a few fresh pins a week beats a burst of 50 followed by silence. Our guide to how often to post on Pinterest gives a pace by stage. Once a month, open Pinterest Analytics, sort pins by impressions and outbound clicks, and make more pins like the ones that work.

A 30-Day Starter Plan

After the first month, turn this into a repeatable plan. Our Pinterest marketing strategy framework shows how.

Beginner Mistakes to Avoid

• Treating Pinterest like Instagram: clever captions and hashtags matter far less than clear keywords.
• Cute board names: they don't match searches.
• Square images: they work, but 2:3 vertical pins take up more space in the feed.
• Linking everything to the homepage: link each pin to its specific page.
• Resaving the same pin over and over: Pinterest favours new pins, and its spam policy discourages repetitive content.
• Giving up after two weeks: Pinterest rewards consistency over months.

For the full picture on how Pinterest search ranks pins, read our Pinterest SEO guide.

Frequently Asked Questions