Promote your business with Pinterest: Part 1

Pinterest may seem like a picture-happy site for people who have way too much time on their hands. (Well, that’s what I thought when I first heard of it.) But this social network can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. 
With tens of millions of users worldwide, pinners are the ones who will engage with your brand, promote products to others, and ultimately bring you revenue. Several small business owners have confirmed to me that they have gotten at least a couple of sales through Pinterest.
First though, your company’s profile, boards, and pins need to be appealing & searchable. To attract and get found by potential customers & brand promoters, learn how to optimize your virtual and visual bulletin board.
YOUR PINTEREST PROFILE
1. Consider getting a Pinterest business account. You can create a new one or convert your personal profile, if you prefer. What’s the difference? Two important features: Pinterest analytics and rich pins.
2. I don’t want to rehash the obvious, but having a complete profile is essential – for all your social media pages. Fill out your details, customize your profile URL, and (of course) verify your website.
3. Your name, location, and profile description brings you traffic, so don’t forget to use relevant keywords in the latter.
4. To improve the overall look of your profile page, move all your most important boards to the top row, to catch users’ attention. These should perfectly capture your brand’s essence.
5. Since Pinterest is about images, a good profile picture is vital. The site has recently made changes to this, so here’s what to do:

• Upload a square, 200×200 pixel image (JPG or PNG).
• Keep your pic inside the ‘safe area’ – which is the center of the image.
• Avoid images with pre-cut corners and/or artwork that stretches until the edge.

6. And importantly: in your account settings, make sure that ‘Search Privacy’ is off! If you turn it on, search engines won’t display your Pinterest profile in their search results.

All is lost if your Pinterest profile can’t be found.