Many people understand that Pinterest is a place to share pins. However, what are Pinterest boards and how do you use them? This guide shows you how to create Pinterest boards and how to share pins to boards and from boards.
Have you set up your Pinterest business profile and thought what next. The next step is to create Pinterest boards and start sharing pins. Below I’ll step you through how to create the best Pinterest boards for your business.
If you haven’t customized your business Pinterest profile for optimal reach, I recommend pinning this post to read later and reading, ‘How to set up your Pinterest profile.‘

An easy way to understand the difference between Pinterest boards and pins.
Imagine you were in a library and you wanted to find a book. To find the book you’d need to go to the section of the library that the book is in. Next, you’d locate the book on a shelf, among other books of a similar topic. Pinterest is similar to this.
- The Library is Pinterest
- The Bookcase is A Pinterest Profile
- The Bookshelf is a Pinterest board
- The Book is a Pinterest pin
- The Blog post is a chapter of the book
A Pinterest pin is the book cover that leads you to an awesome article, a shop, a website page. You don’t need to have Pinterest boards to click on and discover the content behind the pin. Yet, as a blogger, it is wise to have Pinterest boards to organize and store the pins you create for your own blog posts and the pins that lead to other peoples articles.
To save any pin, you need to create a Pinterest board to save it too. So, let’s look at how to create Pinterest boards.
Pin to read later
How many Pinterest boards to create?
When first starting out look at creating about 10 boards in your niche.
Again imagine your in the library, what books would you be looking for if you were your customer?
Using Social Media Examiner as an example, when you look at their Pinterest account you will see the boards are all related to social media and marketing. People who follow social media examiner are interested in marketing. They would be surprised to if a baking board was added to the bookshelf.
Brainstorm your board ideas.
Quite often when you pick up a book to read, you’ve chosen it because it has been recommended to you. When you create your Pinterest boards get some ideas by looking at other peoples profiles in your niche.
Remember though, we all bring our uniqueness, therefore, look but don’t copy. Your customers are looking for you.
I blog on mastering habits for a more balanced life. Therefore, most of my boards are on goal setting, mastering habits and living intentionally.
- Goal setting
- Daily habits
- Productivity
- Time management
- Health goals
- Self love goals
- Finding Purpose
- Work Life Balance
- Financial goals
- Blogging goals
Your turn to think of 10 boards that you would create for your niche. Download the Pinterest Board Ideas worksheet to note down your ideas.

How to create a Pinterest board.
When you’re in your profile click on boards.
Next click on the plus sign to create a Pinterest board.
Then, write your Pinterest board title.
Naming your boards.
When you name your board use names specific to your niche and what your audience may be searching for.
Use keywords or key phrases when you name your boards.
You can write up to 100 characters, but not all characters will show. The normal … is shown when the board name is cut off.
Before we look at how to write a keyword rich Pinterest board descriptions let’s discuss your business boards versus personal and secret boards.
Secret boards.
If the board is only for your personal interest and not a niched board for your Pinterest profile tick the keep the board secret button box. A secret board is one that only you will see when you are logged into your Pinterest profile. It is a great place to keep pins that you like, ideas for blog posts and pins with a brand design that you like.
Personal Pinterest boards for the pins your personally interested in.
If you have a personal Pinterest account and a business Pinterest account, it is best to keep the pins and articles you personally like on your personal profile.
Naturally, the pins you like relating to your business can be kept on your business profile in a secret board.
Tip: Create boards for your niche and share your pins to your boards, sharing to the most relevant first.
When you click the create your board button, your board will be created and a few pins will be suggested for this board.
Now you’ve named your board it’s time to describe what the board is about.
How to write a description for Pinterest boards.
Click the pencil button and write a description for your board. See the example in the image ‘How to create Pinterest boards’ above.
When you write the description, be sure to include some keywords, this is great for Pinterest SEO.
Important: Include Pinterest SEO keywords in your Pinterest board description.
In the example, the board I’ve created is ‘blogging goals for entrepreneurs’. When I write goals in the Pinterest search bar pins and keyword suggestions are shown.
Look at the pins and the articles to check that they relate to your board. Click on the keywords to see how deep you can go with the keywords. Sometimes when you click on a keyword more keywords are generated.
Write up your board description using the keywords you find. I like to note the keywords down first to plan my boards. Planning includes the title, the keywords and the board description. Get the Pinterest Board template sample to help you create your Pinterest boards.

Once you’ve written up your board description, choose what type of board it is. There is a limited choice. Think which category it suits best. If you have tailwind you can search keywords in the category to see if it fits. Interested to know more about tailwind here is a link to a free trial.

Add Pins to your new board.
The next step is to add some pins to your new board. Fill the shelf with at least 6 pins. When you save 6 pins to the board it doesn’t show as a partly filled board.
How to choose articles to share on your Pinterest boards.
There are a few ways to choose articles to share on your new Pinterest board.
- Keywords. One option is using keywords. To add pins the way, type in your keywords or keyphrase into the search bar and choose some pins to save.
- Suggested Pins from Pinterest. Go to your boards and click on the Pinterest board you have just created. Scroll down and Pinterest shows you some suggested pins. Choose pins that suit your board title and description.
- Following. Share pins from the people you are following. Click following at the top of your profile and scroll through the pins. See if there are any pins that suit the board from the people you are following.
- Group boards. Share from your group boards. If you are a member of a group board that has articles that suit your board, share a few pins from that board. To do this choose the board and scroll through the pins. Saving pins that best suit the new group board.
- Tailwind Tribes. Share pins via tailwind tribes. Tailwind is an awesome tool to automate your Pinterest marketing. Part of Tailwind is Tailwind tribes, a bit like Group boards. If you are a member of some tailwind tribes share some pins via your tribes to your Pinterest tailwind schedule.

Why share Pinterest pins from other pinners to your Pinterest boards.
It is the combination of pins shared from and to Pinterest that build the chapters we all read in the form of awesome articles. A library is a place where books are shared from a wide variety of authors. Just as, Pinterest is a place where yours and other bloggers content is shared and enjoyed.
As a person reading articles it is great to read and learn from many content creators.
A library is a place to share books, therefore the next step is to find some group boards to join. Group boards are places where you share pins from and share pins to.
One of many people I follow and learn from about Pinterest is Kate Ahl from Simple Pin Media. I really enjoy listening to her podcasts, Simple Pin Media. Here is the Simple Pin media podcast on group boards, where Kate Alh speaks to Louise Myers on how to strategically use Pinterest group boards.

Angie blogs about setting goals and mastering habits as well as productivity and living abroad. She started blogging while learning the skills to start an online business. Her goal to work online came about due to wanting to see overseas family and travel around Australia. Her mission is to help others succeed with their goals. Angie often shares tips and tricks while walking the beaches or near the lake on the Central Coast NSW Australia.
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So many great suggestions. I think I need to get onto Pinterest and make some changes. Thanks for all the great advice!
Your welcome Jenn, I’m pleased it helps.
Library to blog post journey is good
Thank you, pleased you enjoyed it.
What a brilliant idea to use a metaphor to explain the confounding beast that is Pinterest. Your library comparison made several things come into focus for me.
Thank you Kimberlie, I’m pleased that the post has helped. There certainly is a lot to understand with Pinterest.
I love the library metaphor to explain Pinterest boards. I think I need to go and make some changes to my Pinterest Boards. I think some of my categories are too broad. Thank you for sharing these suggestions.
Thank you Darcey, happy to share. If you do write new board descriptions, the key thing to remember when is to write the keywords into a few sentences.
All of this information is so helpful and detailed. The way you explain things really make it easy for someone to understand, even if they don’t know much about Pinterest.
I love simple easy steps to follow and am pleased that this post helps that way. Thank you.
What a great post and very informative. I have taken some classes for Pinterest but I found things here that explained a few things more completely.
Thank you, Linda, As content creators we all share differently, I’m pleased that you found my style of sharing helpful. I look forward to sharing more posts this way. Have a great day.
This is a really interesting way of thinking about Pinterest! I think that makes it really clear and understandable! Thanks for sharing!
This is the analogy I found easiest to understand the workings of Pinterest, maybe because I like books and libraries. Thank you, Dawn, for sharing.