Professional Business Setup

Get Down to Business

To get serious about marketing on Pinterest, your first step is to switch from a personal to a business account. This is a crucial, non-negotiable move that unlocks a suite of powerful tools designed for growth and measurement. Converting is free and gives you access to analytics, advertising capabilities, and special pin formats.

You can either convert an existing personal account or create a new one from scratch. If you've already been pinning content related to your brand, converting your current account preserves your followers and boards. If you're starting fresh, creating a new business account ensures a clean separation between your personal and professional activity.

If you want to make money on Pinterest, the first step is creating a business account.

Claim Your Website

Once you have a business account, you need to prove to Pinterest that you own your website. This process, called 'claiming your domain,' is essential. It adds your profile picture to any Pins that come from your site, giving them more authority and brand recognition. More importantly, it unlocks detailed website analytics, allowing you to see which content resonates most with the Pinterest audience.

Pinterest offers a couple of ways to do this, but the most common is adding a meta tag to your website's HTML. It sounds technical, but it’s usually straightforward. You’ll find this tag in your Pinterest settings under 'Claim'.

<head>
<meta name="p:domain_verify" content="YOUR_UNIQUE_CODE_HERE"/>
</head>

Simply copy the tag provided by Pinterest and paste it into the <head> section of your website’s index.html file. If you use a platform like WordPress, you can often add this code via a theme options panel or an SEO plugin without directly editing files. After adding the code, return to Pinterest and click 'Verify'. The connection is usually confirmed within a few hours.

Track Everything with the Pinterest Tag

The Pinterest Tag is a small piece of JavaScript code that you add to your website. Its purpose is to track conversions, build audiences for ad targeting, and gain deeper insights into how users interact with your site after seeing your Pins. Think of it as a bridge between Pinterest traffic and actual business results, like sales or sign-ups.

To install it, you'll place the base code in the <head> section of every page on your site. This is a one-time setup.

```javascript
<script type="text/javascript">
!function(e){
  if(!window.pintrk){window.pintrk=function(){window.pintrk.queue.push(
    Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments))};var
    n=window.pintrk;n.queue=[],n.version="3.0";var
    t=document.createElement("script");t.async=!0,t.src=e;var
    r=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.parentNode.insertBefore(t,r)}
}("https://s.pinimg.com/ct/core.js");

pintrk('load', 'YOUR_TAG_ID');
pintrk('page');
</script>

In addition to the base code, you’ll add specific event code snippets to relevant pages. For example, the AddToCart event code goes on the page where a user adds an item to their cart, and the Checkout event code fires when a purchase is complete. This lets you measure the direct impact of your Pinterest activity on sales.

Activate Rich Pins

Rich Pins are a game-changer. They automatically sync information from your website directly to your Pins, making them more useful and actionable. This means if you update a price or change a recipe ingredient on your site, the corresponding Pin updates automatically. There are a few types, but the most common for businesses are Product Pins and Article Pins.

Product Pins include real-time pricing, availability, and where to buy your product.
Article Pins include a headline, author, and story description, encouraging users to click through and read.

To enable Rich Pins, your website needs to have the correct metadata, usually in the form of Open Graph (OG) or Schema.org markup. Most modern website platforms and SEO plugins, like Yoast for WordPress, handle this for you. You just need to ensure the settings are configured correctly.

Here’s a simplified look at the kind of code that powers an Article Pin:

<meta property="og:type" content="article" />
<meta property="og:title" content="The Ultimate Guide to Container Gardening" />
<meta property="og:description" content="Learn how to start a thriving container garden on your balcony or patio with these simple steps." />
<meta property="og:url" content="http://www.yourwebsite.com/blog/container-gardening" />
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Your Awesome Blog" />

Once you've confirmed your site has the right meta tags, you use Pinterest's Rich Pin Validator. Enter a URL from your site that has the metadata, and Pinterest will process your application. Once approved, all past and future links from your claimed domain will appear as Rich Pins.

Quiz Questions 1/5

What is the primary benefit of switching from a personal Pinterest account to a business account?

Quiz Questions 2/5

When claiming your website on Pinterest, where should you typically place the provided meta tag?

With these technical steps complete, your Pinterest profile is now a professional marketing channel, ready to drive traffic and sales.

Pinterest Profit Blueprint