Pinterest, like other social media sharing sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and even Google+ has finally noticed that businesses want to be social too, and has started offering special business accounts in the last few months. This is great news for businesses because it will finally give businesses a clear and approved way to use Pinterest to connect with users, show off their benefits, and get more publicity using Pinterest.
On the surface, business accounts still look like regular Pinterest accounts– the profile layout is the same for instance, but if you are a business using Pinterest to drive traffic or increase your online presence, there are some great reasons you should consider switching to a business account.
Now don’t worry– you won’t have to make a new account, because Pinterest provides you with an easy way to convert your personal account to a business account without losing a single follower or pin.
Reasons to Convert to a Pinterest Business Account
So why should you switch to a business account? There are actually some excellent benefits to switching and at this time, not much in the way of restrictions on Business Accounts.
First, instead of needing to shoe-horn your business name into the First and Last Name fields of your profile creatively as is shown in the example below, now you FINALLY get a real place to put your business name.

The old way to show your business name on your profile.
Once you convert your personal profile into a business account, your business name will be displayed as you enter it, instead of a first name and last name.
Another great reason to switch is that now your business account can actually have a verified website. What does this mean? It means that once you have followed the verification procedure, your verified website will now show up with a red checkmark next to it in links from pins, and on your profile.
No big deal?
Think about this… Many of the “big” website brands like Flickr, YouTube and Vimeo now have icons of around the same size showing up in pins leading back to their sites. These little icons make these pins easier to see, and draw attention to the pins. This means the likelihood that these pins will stand out and be clicked increases. And getting people back to your website is really what you want, isn’t it?
How to Convert To a Pinterest Business Account
Pinterest has made it incredibly easy to convert your personal profile into a business account.
Here are the steps you need to take to convert your account:
- Login to the Pinterest Personal Account you want to convert to a business account
- Under the “About” tab at the top of your profile, click on the For Businesses option
- You’ll be taken to a screen where you will need to check over your profile information, and make changes, as well as add a few more details such as:
- Business Name to be displayed
- Business Category
- Contact Name of person managing your account
- Once you have adjusted your profile settings and business name, read through the separate business terms of service and mark the checkbox to agree.
- Now just click the “Convert Account” button.
After converting your account to a business account, you’ll be offered some new toys to play with.
Here they are:

Your New Pinterest Business Account Toys
Not all of these widgets are new or restricted to businesses, but if you have a website, you’ll want to take a look at each of them and integrate them with your website to encourage the sharing of your content
That’s it! It was easy to convert your personal account into a business account.
Thanks for the shout out on this, Lisa; I’ve now flipped us over to the business account.
Thanks Lisa – I’ve been looking for a rationale, authoritative comment on the benefits of switching to Pinterest for Business – at last!
Peter
@Chris – Great! Don’t forget to verify your website and use their new widgets on your site. 🙂
@Peter – I think it’s likely at some time in the future Pinterest may start to require business users to actually switch, so it’s good to get it done now and get in on some of the tools they’ve provided. Thanks for swinging by!
Hey Lisa,
Just wanted did Shout back at ya! Thanks for your ongoing valuable content. Sure there are products that one may indeed want their subscribers to know about, but I appreciate your balance. Hope this inspires 🙂
Hi Lisa,
How do we verify our website if our site is on WordPress? I guess I’m not getting it. Thanks for all your great information on Pinterest.
Hey Tim, are you talking about a self-hosted wordpress install on your own domain? Or are you talking about a wordpress.com hosted free blog?
If you are self-hosted, your host company should have a way for you to upload the pinterest verification file to your root folder. (I use Cpanel, but you can also use FTP if you have FTP access.)
If you are talking about a wordpress.com hosted blog, then see the wordpress.com article here which shows how you can do that on their service.
And if you haven’t already, you may also want to watch the video here where I walk through it.