Boards are super important on Pinterest. They hold your awesomely curated pins, pinners have the option of following an individual board or viewing an individual board instead of your entire account. So, your boards really need to state clearly what they’re about and how they can help the pinner so that they’ll want to explore more of your boards. Remember, everything needs to bring value. But really, no pressure…
Honestly, it’s not as daunting as it sounds, follow these 6 steps, and you’ll be on your way to creating the perfect boards for your audience and brand.
1. Curate the perfect mix of boards
To start off with, you’ll want a minimum of 10 boards with at least 30 pins per board. Pinterest allows you to have up to 500 boards, but that's just insane. There's no way you can pin consistently to that many boards. When considering the number of boards you'd like to create and curate, think about what you can keep up with. If you think you can pin consistently to 50 boards and those 50 boards will serve your brand and readers well, then go with 50. If you feel overwhelmed with 15 boards, then stick with 10. Think about what you can maintain, and what will serve you and your readers well. Everyone has a magical number of boards.
Remember, when creating your boards, always think of what your ideal reader is searching for. Your boards are not for you.
Your boards are for your readers.
For example, my readers are looking for Pinterest tips, blogging tips, business tips, social media tips, etc. And low and behold — you’ll find a board dedicated to each of those topics on my Pinterest account! If you have boards that don’t fit with your ideal audience and their interests, keep them as “secret” boards for your own personal use. Or better yet, keep a separate personal Pinterest account, just for fun.
You can also add in some slightly “off-niche” boards to spice things up a bit. Now, I’m not saying create a board of cat memes if that’s not something your ideal reader is interested in. But if your audience is, say, mom bloggers, they’ll probably appreciate a board for quick dinner recipes, motivational quotes, etc. Use your common sense with this one!
2. Putting boards into categories
This step doesn’t seem all that important, but it helps in getting your boards discovered on Pinterest. Whenever you create a new board, there’s an option called “Category” with a drop-down box of categories for you to choose from. You might not find the perfect fit for each and every board, but try to pick the option that makes the most sense from what’s available. Sometimes you’ll just have to settle for “other”.
3. Use keywords in your board titles and descriptions
It's always about the keywords. But they’re really, really, important for being found on Pinterest. If you’re not sure what to name your boards, think of phrases your ideal reader would be searching for. Are they a blogger looking for blogging tips? Well, there ya go, there’s your title, "Blogging Tips". A mommy looking for ideas on what the heck to feed a toddler? Then perhaps, "Easy Toddler Meals". If you're not sure about your keywords, you can always do a quick search on Pinterest and see what pops up. That's always a really great way to find the best keywords.
And don’t forget to use keywords in your board descriptions. I’ve experimented with using 2-3 sentence long description, and keyword phrases, and I found them to both to be successful. So it’s really a preference thing, use sentences if you want to show a little more personality, or use keyword phrases if you’re short on time or can't think of full sentences to include.
4. Use brand colors or branded images for covers
So, board covers are another area that is up to opinion and time constraints. Some people say they are absolutely necessary, while others say only create them when you’ve got the time. Personally, I like them, because they make your account look more on brand and cohesive throughout your account, and it’s visually easier to find certain boards. So if you decide to go the board cover route you have two options:
a. Choose an existing pin that fits with your brand’s style
b. Create your own covers using your design program of choice (mine’s Canva)
Let’s take a look at both options. Here’s Kayla with Ivory Mix. She creates awesome stock images, and has chosen to use those stock images as her board covers. Notice they are cohesive, and include all of her brand colors which appear to be varying shades of pink, these images also go along with the feminine feel of her site.
To select a cover image from existing pins, simply click into a board from your profile and click “Edit Board”. Where it says “Cover”, press “Change”. Flip through all the images on that board and select the one that goes best with your brand’s fonts, colors, and style. Once you’ve chosen the perfect image, hit “Save” in the bottom right corner, and you’re done!
I went with method 2 for my board covers, so I created a few covers using my brand colors and fonts.
It’s super easy to create your own covers, you just need a Canva account. On the Canva homepage, click “Use Custom Dimensions” in the top right corner and enter 300 x 300 px. However, I've heard differing sizes for optimal board cover sizes. I've heard both 300 x 300 and 600 x 600. I haven't experimented with it too much, but so far I've had no issues at 300x300.
Once, you've entered in your desired dimensions, you can then use any of the shapes, patterns, fonts, and colors that go with your brand. Once you’ve saved that first image (by clicking “Share” up top and giving it a title, then hitting “Download”), it’s as easy as changing the background color and text to fit the next board on your list.
Do this over and over again, saving each image as you go, and you’ll have a set of custom board covers in no time. All that’s left to do is upload them to Pinterest, pin them to the correct board, and then use the same steps from above to set those images as the board covers.
5. Have a board dedicated to your own content
Remember the whole point of starting a Pinterest profile? Yup, to promote your own content and business. Sure, Pinterest is pretty great for collecting ideas and learning, but it’s also perfect for promoting your business.
Make it easy for people to find your content by having one board dedicated to your own content. It could be a podcast, a blog, products that you’ve created, anything that’s your original content should live on this board. And to make it even easier for pinners to find your content, place that board at the very top of your profile.
To move boards, view your profile, click "boards", at the top right is a scroll down menu, click Drag and Drop. From there you can arrange all of your boards.
6. Board Order
I’d suggest putting your original content board first, then go down the list from most pertinent to your niche or focus, on down. And make sure you have your most on brand on niche boards full of awesome and informative pins. You can place your own original pins on these boards in addition to the board dedicated to all of your awesome original stuff. Super easy.
There you have it, a few quick tips and tricks to an organized and beautiful Pinterest boards.
Ensure that you have the perfect mix of boards that will be helpful to your ideal audience.
Try to use appropriate categories for your boards so that they're easy to find.
Use keywords in all board titles and descriptions.
Think about creating board covers, either use branded images, or create your own board covers using brand colors and fonts.
Make sure you have a board just for your own content. Your creations need a place to live on Pinterest!
Order your boards, from most relevant on down. Think about how you'd want your pins to be seen if someone were looking at your account for the first time.
Happy Pinning!!!
Ready to get your Pinterest boards all set and ready to roll, but don't quite have the time? No worries, I can help you out. Check out my Work with Me page to see how I can help you up your Pinterest game.
