How to Create a Website like Pinterest

Pinterest is a popular social media websites that lets users create a board and pin their favorite photos. The website is especially popular with females and attracts users who like to be marketed to. In this article, you will learn how to make a website like Pinterest and turn it into a successful social media website.

1. Get a domain & Hosting

You will need to acquire a short yet brandable domain name for your new website. Brainstorm a bunch of domains then create a list of 5 potential domain names. If you need domain ideas, use Namestation to generate some domain ideas.

I recommend following these general domain guidelines:

• Short (10 characters or less)
• Easy to Remember
• Easy to Spell
• Brandable
• Avoids any trademarks
• .COM extension (or a country level domain if you want to target a certain country)

Once you have found a good domain, head over to Hostgator and see if it’s available. You’ll get a free domain name and unlimited hosting space for just $3.96 per month.

The best types of domains for this business model are under 10 characters and easy to remember.

2. Choose a Content Publishing Platform

Next, you have to choose a CMS (content management system) to build a website like Pinterest. You can choose between: WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and a custom PHP script.

Pinterest WordPress Themes

• iPinPro
• PinBoard
• PinClone.net

Pinterest Custom PHP Scripts

• Pintastic
• AlstraSoft
• PinMeScript

Pinterest Drupal Themes

• PinBoard

Joomla Pinterest Themes

• Social Pinboard

I didn’t expect to find so many theme & script options for a website like Pinterest. My favorite CMS is WordPress so I would recommend either WordPress or a custom PHP script.

If you are building a small to medium website, then WordPress is fine.

If you want to build a legit competitor to Pinterest, then I would buy a custom PHP script.

Get a custom logo

Every social media website needs a custom logo to establish their brand. If you are on a limited budget, get a cheap logo from Fiverr for $5. If you have a bigger budget, I recommend 99designs.

3. Add Pins

I talk a lot about adding content to a website in the beginning to make it look busy. Your goal is to create a bunch of fake accounts and fill your website with pins.

I would create at least 1,000 pins before I thought about driving traffic. People like busy websites. Take some time to add lots of pins to your homepage and you’ll find it easy to attract visitors.

Outsource Your Pin Creation

If you don’t have time to post pins, hire someone on Elance or Freelancer to create them for you. Post a job explaining your needs and you should find someone based on your budget to add pins to your site.

4. Drive Traffic

Once you add pins to your website, you will get lots of word of mouth traffic. However, you cannot rely just on word of mouth. I recommend using Facebook to boost your site’s traffic. Here’s how to market your Pinterest like website on Facebook:

• How to Create a Facebook Business Page
• 5 Facebook Marketing Hacks for Your Website
• 21 Creative Ways to Increase Your Fanbase on Facebook

5. Make Money

Pinterest’s business model uses “promoted pins” to generate advertising revenue. You may want to launch your own advertising service to allow advertisiers to start paid campgins on your website.

Another way to make money is through affiliate links. Pinterest automatically turns any links going to Amazon into affiliate links.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with CPM advertising such as Google Adsense. On image based websites, you can make a lot of money with ad impressions.

Need Help?

Want to start a website like Pinterest but don’t know what to do? Do you want to hire someone to build it for you? Please contact me for more help.