Your first 30 days on Pinterest
This 30-day Pinterest plan takes a new account from nothing to a steady routine. Week 1 sets up a business account and claims your website. Week 2 finds your keywords and builds your boards. Week 3 publishes your first fresh pins at a slow pace. Week 4 settles into a steady rhythm and ends with a first analytics review.
Who this 30-day Pinterest plan is for
This 30-day Pinterest plan is for anyone starting Pinterest marketing from scratch with a website to send people to: a blogger, a creator, a small shop owner or a software business. It works in any niche, from a recipe blog or a craft shop to a travel site, a finance blog or a project management tool.
To follow the plan you need:
- A website with at least a handful of useful pages. Ten or more is comfortable, but five good pages is enough to start. Each page should answer a question or solve a problem: a recipe, a room guide, an itinerary, a budgeting worksheet, a product page or a how-to article.
- About 30 to 60 minutes a day. Some days take less. One or two sessions take longer.
- Access to your website's settings, so you can claim it on Pinterest.
- A free design tool for making pin images, and a simple spreadsheet or notes file.
The plan follows the pace taught in the how often to pin lesson: start low, build up gradually, publish fresh pins and spread pins for the same link over weeks. It does not try to get results in 30 days. It builds the base that results grow from.
Tip: if you fall behind, move the days, not the pace. Taking six weeks over this plan is fine. Publishing a month of pins in one afternoon is not.
Week 1 (days 1 to 7): set up your account and claim your website
The goal of week 1 on Pinterest is a complete business account and a claimed website, so every pin you publish later counts towards your own site.
- Day 1: create your business account. Create a free Pinterest business account or convert your personal one. Choose a display name that says what you do, such as "Lena | Easy Weeknight Recipes" or "Oak and Linen Home Decor", and add a clear photo or logo. The business account lesson walks through each screen.
- Day 2: finish your profile. Write a short bio in the words people search, add your website and check the settings the business account lesson lists before your first pin.
- Day 3: claim your website. Start the claim with an HTML meta tag, an HTML file upload or a DNS TXT record. Verification can take up to a day or so, which is why it comes early. The claim your website lesson covers all three methods.
- Day 4: list your pages. Make a sheet with one row per page: the URL, the topic, who it helps and any season it belongs to. A home decor shop might list 12 product pages and 3 room guides. A finance blog might list 20 posts.
- Day 5: use Pinterest as a searcher. On your phone, search five topics from your sheet. Note what the top pins look like and what they promise. The how Pinterest works lesson explains why search matters so much.
- Day 6: create three to five starter boards. Name each one with a plain, searchable phrase for a topic you publish about, such as "Small Balcony Garden Ideas" rather than "My Happy Place".
- Day 7: check the claim and your pages. Confirm your website shows as claimed. Open each page on your phone and make sure it loads, matches its title and has a direct address with no URL shortener or redirect.
Week 2 (days 8 to 14): find your keywords and build your boards
The goal of week 2 on Pinterest is a keyword sheet with one main keyword for every page, and a set of focused boards to hold your pins.
- Days 8 and 9: collect keyword phrases. Start with seed topics from your page list, then collect phrases from the Pinterest search bar suggestions and the related terms shown with results. A travel site starting from "Lisbon" might find "Lisbon itinerary 3 days" and "things to do in Lisbon". The keyword research lesson shows each step.
- Day 10: check timing in Pinterest Trends. Look up your main phrases at Pinterest Trends to see when interest rises during the year, where your country is supported.
- Day 11: pick one main keyword per page. Group phrases by what the searcher wants, then add one main keyword to each row of your page sheet. This keyword will lead each pin's title and text overlay.
- Days 12 and 13: build out your boards. Rename any starter board with a weak name and add boards until each main topic has one. Roughly 8 to 15 focused boards is a sensible rule of thumb, fewer for a small site. Write a short, natural description for each. The boards lesson covers names and descriptions. Saving a few relevant pins from other people is fine, in moderation, so new boards do not look empty.
- Day 14: check the season. Look at your sheet for anything people will plan in the next six to eight weeks, such as a Christmas craft, a back-to-school budget or a summer travel guide, and move those pages to the top of your list. The seasonal planning lesson explains why about 45 days ahead is a good rule of thumb.
Week 3 (days 15 to 21): publish your first fresh pins
The goal of week 3 on Pinterest is to publish your first fresh pins at a slow, steady pace, each one linking to a different page.
- Day 15: make two or three pin templates. Use the 2:3 ratio at 1000 × 1500 px, with a short, bold text overlay that a phone screen can read. The pin design lesson shows layouts that work in any niche.
- Day 16: create your first batch. Design five to seven pins, one for each of your top pages, and write a title and description for each, leading with that page's main keyword. Follow the titles and descriptions lesson.
- Day 17: publish your first pin. Publish one fresh pin to its best-fitting board. Then open it on your phone, tap through and check the link goes straight to the right page.
- Days 18 to 21: one fresh pin a day. Schedule the rest of the batch at one pin a day, each to a different page. If your site has only a handful of pages, a few pins a week is enough. Watch for any warnings on your pins; the spam lesson explains what a blocked link means.
Watch out: a brand-new account that publishes dozens of pins in its first days looks like a spam account. One fresh pin a day in week 3 is deliberate, not timid.
Week 4 (days 22 to 30): settle into a steady rhythm and run your first review
The goal of week 4 on Pinterest is a weekly routine you can keep for months, finished with a first look at your analytics.
- Day 22: hold your first weekly batch session. Design 8 to 12 fresh pins for the days ahead. Mix pages that have no pin yet with second designs for pages that got their first pin in week 3, as long as a week or more has passed since that first pin.
- Days 23 to 28: publish one or two fresh pins a day. Schedule them so no link appears twice on the same day. A craft shop might alternate a product pin with a tutorial pin. Small sites can stay at one a day or a few a week.
- Day 29: take a first look at your analytics. Check whether impressions have started to appear, whether any pins have saves and whether the claimed-website filter shows your pins. Do not draw conclusions yet. The analytics lesson explains each number.
- Day 30: write down your routine. Note your pace for month 2, your weekly batch day, the next ten pages to design for and the date of your next monthly review.
The 30-day Pinterest plan at a glance
| Week | Goal | Time per day | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 (days 1 to 7) | Set up and claim your website | About 30 to 45 minutes | Business account, claimed website, page list, 3 to 5 starter boards |
| Week 2 (days 8 to 14) | Keywords and boards | About 45 to 60 minutes | Keyword sheet with one main keyword per page, focused boards with descriptions |
| Week 3 (days 15 to 21) | First fresh pins | About 45 to 60 minutes, less once the templates exist | Pin templates and about 5 fresh pins, each to a different page |
| Week 4 (days 22 to 30) | Steady rhythm and first review | About 30 minutes, plus one batch session of 1 to 2 hours | About 8 to 12 fresh pins, a first analytics check, a written routine |
What to expect after 30 days on Pinterest
After 30 days on Pinterest, most new accounts have some impressions, perhaps a few saves and very little website traffic. That is normal. Pinterest has not published how long new accounts take to grow, and results vary widely by niche, country and content, so this page gives no target numbers.
What is predictable is the order things happen in. Impressions come first, as Pinterest tests your pins with small audiences. Saves come next, as some pins match what people search. Outbound clicks, the visits to your website, usually build over months as you publish more fresh pins and older pins keep being found.
The real result of the first month is a working base: a claimed website, a keyword for every page, boards that say what they hold and a habit of publishing steadily. Do not delete pins or start again because the first month is quiet.
Months 2 and 3 on Pinterest
In months 2 and 3, keep the weekly batch session and build your pace gradually, towards the rule of thumb of 1 to 5 fresh pins a day if you have enough pages to support it. Keep adding new designs for older pages, with a week or more between pins for the same link. Publish seasonal pins about 45 days ahead. Once a month, compare the last 30 days with the 30 days before and make more of the pins that earn saves and outbound clicks. The Pinterest for every niche lesson shows which kinds of pins suit your type of site.
Keep going
Each step in this 30-day plan is taught in full in a free lesson. If a day felt rushed, go back to the lesson behind it, or work through the courses in order from the course catalogue.