I’ve had a lot of people asking me about Pinterest. Many wanna know what it is, how they can use it, why it’s so popular and how it can help with their business. I’m going to do a series of articles on Pinterest explaining all of these. Here is My Profile if you’d like to connect via Pinterest.

The General Idea: of Pinterest is to engage people with picture sharing. Photos are referred to as “pins”. You can create different “Pinboards” to share the photos you like from anywhere on the internet.  I have Pinboards for all different kinds of interests. One board I have is for Travel and I also have a board for inspirational Bridal photos.Whatever you’re interested in, you can create a pinboard for it on Pinterest.

Don’t be intimidated! Pinning is easy. Once you have signed up for an account with Pinterest, you can download the “Pin It” button. This is simply a button that will be displayed in your tool bar.

1) When you see a photo you think is Pin worthy, just click your new “Pin It” button and all of the photos from your current web page will be displayed.

2) Scroll over your photo of choice and  a button with the words “Pin This” will appear. Click it.

3) A small window will appear asking you to select a Pinboard and describe your pin. After you have done this, hit “Pin It’ and you’re done!

Aside from pinning photos, you can also comment on pins from other users. If you  think a particular pin is great but not necessarily “Pinboard” worthy, you may “like” it and people will see that when they visit your profile page.

Your Pinterest Profile: On your profile, you will have an option to display a photo of your choice. This is the photo everyone will associate with your account when you “like” or comment on a pin. Your profile will mainly be made up of your pinboards. Depending on your privacy settings, you can also display links to your Twitter, Website and Facebook accounts. If you want, you can also choose to hide your Pinterest profile from search engines all-together.

Underneath your photo and social networking links, will be where your recent activity is displayed. It shows when you comment or like a pin and also when someone comments or “re-pins” one of your pins. Other info you can choose to display on your profile include: “About Me” and “Location”

Currently Pinterest is “Invite Only” but if you’d like an invitation, feel free to contact me with your desired email address and I will invite you. If you’d like to check out my pins, you can visit me on Pinterest at Cortney Loves.