At times, each of us craves a fresh dose of inspiration. Surely, there're many ways to get it, and one of them is to browse through bright pictures... after all, we, the people, are visuals and perceive the world with our eyes!
A good way to find cool inspirational images is to use websites and apps like Pinterest. You just have to clarify the theme you prefer (say, Art, Architecture, etc.), and the resource will offer you a lot of great options.
That's why Pinterest is growing in popularity day by day along with the number of images in its database. Judge for yourself: 498 million people use Pinterest every month to find new ideas and plan their next purchase. Isn't it impressive?
The fact is, some of the aforementioned users are businessmen who resort to Pinterest to promote their own companies, and they’re ready to fork out to achieve this goal.
We guess it makes total sense to create a Pinterest clone application or website and start earning money too, what do you think? If you don't mind taking the risk, you'll have a real chance to get your slice of cake as well.
The task isn’t an easy one, though. So let's talk it through and discuss how to become a worthy competitor to Pinterest.
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is one of the most popular social media platforms. It's somewhat similar to Instagram and also focuses on image content. However, on Pinterest, images go from one account to another for months and constantly gain new likes and views (in comparison with Instagram, where the lion's share of views falls on the first 12 hours).
Another cool nuance: Pinterest came up with its own names for everything. Images are called pins, and the collections in which they are gathered are boards. Figuratively speaking, the images seem to be attached to virtual boards with pins (hence the Pin name) and put on public display. By the way, the main page on Pinterest is known as Pin Feed.
So, we've briefly discussed the interface of Pinterest, now it's time to move on to other topics.
Who can use Pinterest-like apps and websites?
Pinterest users are divided into 2 main groups. We offer to discuss each at length.
Common Users
Ways most people use Pinterest:
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A source of interesting ideas and inspiration. And we’re talking not only about creative people such as web designers and illustrators. Everyone needs new ideas now and then! Here are a couple of examples:
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visiting a hairdresser or stylist. Clients compose a moodboard using the Pinterest content so that the expert would understand their wishes and expectations;
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vacation planning;
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inspiration with ideas for the upcoming holiday;
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etc.
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Finding friends with the same tastes;
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Making a shopping list;
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Just entertainment, as scrolling through the Pin Feed is so fun!
Businessmen
By developing a Pinterest alternative app, you clearly have a goal of making money in mind. Therefore, you need to attract the attention of businessmen (on the model of the same Pinterest).
Yes, Pinterest is a handy business marketing tool. The resource allows effectively advertising and even selling a product, finding partners or suppliers. These additional services are paid, but worth it. To be precise, the owners of Pinterest get their profits, and the entrepreneurs promote their company:
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Architectural site ArchDaily managed to increase its traffic by 6% with the help of Pinterest;
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Caribou Coffee, which owns a chain of coffee shops in the United States, decided to resort to paid business features of Pinterest either. As a result, the company had received over 10 million views of its content, and the traffic in social networks had increased significantly;
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Also, Pinterest is being actively used by such well-known brands as Sony, Elle magazine, Nordstrom clothing store, and Sephora cosmetics company.
The Minds Journal is using Pinterest to post striking photographs, motivational quotes, and tons of helpful tips.
If we've convinced you that creating an app similar to Pinterest could be a profitable idea, let's take a look at how your potential competitor approaches the way its web and mobile service works.
How Pinterest works
As we’ve already explained to you, Pinterest resembles an endless board with many beautiful images pinned to it. Each user is free to create as many boards as he wants and fill each with thematic pictures.
In addition to creating different albums of images, users can repost (or rather, repin) pictures they like and publish them on their pages.
Fashion Images
Yoga Images
To create a Pinterest clone application or website, you need to sort out the first user's steps. Let's say a user wants to download an app like Pinterest... what happens next?
How to get started with Pinterest?
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Of course, you should start by registering on Pinterest. The easiest way to sign up is through other social media platforms such as FB;
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At the second stage, Pinterest asks the user various questions and finds out his preferences in order to form a feed of recommendations (his own Pin Feed);
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Also, a user may install a browser extension and get a special Pinterest button. It allows saving interesting pictures and videos to his board from any other resource;
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That's it, Pinterest is ready to be used! You're welcome to start gathering your picture collections and enjoy your personal pin feed, tailored exactly to your tastes.
What if you’re a businessman?
Of course, a Pinterest-like website and app should offer a few more steps for people who want to register a business account, such as:
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The company must design its account accordingly: add an avatar, choose a name and indicate a link to the site;
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The business owner should describe his brand in order to get the opportunity to attract users to his page;
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Also, Pinterest will offer to mark whether the paid promotion is planned;
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Now it's time to start creating boards and filling them with pins.
Pinterest website and application history
Pinterest was founded in 2010 by three young IT experts. More correctly, the development itself began in 2009, and in 2010 the first beta version was released.
Alas, the guys were unable to stir up users' interest, people weren't too willing to take advantage of the unknown resource. But it was too early to despair.
Especially since everything had changed after one of the founders of Pinterest attended the women's conference of bloggers: these female influencers were delighted with the new exciting service. They decided it could be the perfect place to exchange recipes, fashion items, interior design ideas, etc.
“This is who should become the core of our target audience!” - the founders of the company understood, and thus laid the foundation for the resource, which inspired so many Pinterest alternatives in the future.
Initially, the pin feed featured the most popular posts based on user subscriptions. Such an approach helped attract like-minded people but was insufficient to ensure real Pinterest’s success. So the service owners changed their strategy and introduced algorithms for analyzing user behavior in order to offer each subscriber something personal able to captivate him.
BTW!
Here are a couple more facts to help you understand what kind of competitor you'll have to face after developing an application like Pinterest:
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Pinterest ranked in the Top 50 Sites of 2011 (according to Time magazine);
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In early 2012, Pinterest surpassed YouTube and LinkedIn in traffic;
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In the spring of 2019, Pinterest went public and its stock jumped almost 30% right away.
The growth and evolvement of the resource continue to this day.
Pinterest mobile app
Apps like Pinterest are essential because not everyone has the opportunity to use a fully-featured website. Realizing this, the owners of Pinterest had created an intuitive and user-friendly mobile platform. Its interface is simple and clear and has nothing extra. What's more, users have access to all the features of the web version of the resource.
The Pinterest application was launched a year after the website release and initially focused on iPhone users. Other mobile versions appeared later.
And what can Pinterest be proud of today? Pay attention to the statistics below and find out everything first-hand. Such data will guide you in developing a Pinterest alternative app.
Pinterest statistics
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Pinterest is growing 130% annually, and that's just outside the US;
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Almost 95% of Pinterest users plan various kinds of purchases with the resource's content;
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80+ % of posts on Pinterest are repins;
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More than half of Pinterest's users live outside the United States, which means the service is going global;
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And finally, the main audience of Pinterest is women, and half of them are mothers.
Now let’s discuss what makes Pinterest different from its competition.
Why is Pinterest so popular?
As you know, Pinterest owes its popularity to young women, especially housewives who do handicrafts and don't mind popularizing their creations. And Pinterest-like apps and websites are perfect for these purposes as they offer:
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maximum ease of use;
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focus on eye-catching visual content;
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varied social features.
Imagine seeing a picture, which interests and inspires you. With the help of Pinterest, you can save it in just a few clicks. Moreover, you'll have the option to add the image to one of your collections, which will look like a moodboard or cookbook page (depending on your needs and goals). Not bad, right? That's why we all love Pinterest so much.
Basic features of Pinterest
As you already understand, Pinterest allows you to upload images and add them to your boards, as well as repin pictures from third-party sites or accounts of Pinterest users.
Also, features include the ability to like and comment on images and perform other similar actions.
Yes, everything is extremely simple, but modern users are tired of the complexity and are fond of Pinterest’s simplicity.
Additional business-focused functionality
To build an app like Pinterest, you have to think about additional paid features, which would allow you to monetize the service. As to the users, they'll get more opportunities for business promotion (if they're willing to pay, of course).
Take an example from Pinterest and the extra features it provides.
Pin It
First of all, users with a business account can place a Pin It button on their site images, be it an e-commerce platform or an online magazine.
If a visitor to your site likes a certain image of yours, he may click the Pin It button and add the picture to one of his Pinterest albums. For businessmen, such an opportunity is extremely beneficial, because a link to his website will be attached to the added picture too.
To prove these business features of Pinterest really work, let's take a real-life example. The owners of the Allrecipes.com platform recouped to a Pin It button, and soon users added 50+ K recipes from the resource to their boards. The Allrecipes.com traffic had also increased significantly.
Rich Pins
Rich Pins links Pinterest to a third-party website (chosen by you as the business account owner) and gives you the opportunity to add more information to your pictures.
When Rich Pins is activated, the resource itself recognizes the type of your pin and suggests its correct use.
App Pins contain a special button needed to install the mobile program directly from Pinterest.
Product Pins simplify the shopping process and provide key information about the item.
Articles Pins are a great way to save photos of publications with a short article announcement.
Recipe Pins delight any cooking fan as they allow creating a collection of your favorite recipes.
Shopping with Pinterest
In truth, you can make an app like Pinterest successful even without such an option: after all, your key competitor has this feature mostly available to US residents.
Pinterest Selling Pins are enhanced with a virtual price tag and a Buy button. The user just clicks on it and proceeds to pay online.
Analytics & Statistics
To create a Pinterest clone application, you also need to offer business users access to analytics and statistics.
For instance, Pinterest Analytics provides a business owner with information about the actions of visitors to his web pages, such as:
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the most popular boards of his profile among users;
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pictures of his site, which users save in their Pinterest albums;
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general characteristics of his target audience (gender, location, online behavior, preferences);
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changes in traffic to his site;
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the most commonly used devices by people adding his Pins.
How to Develop an App and Website like Pinterest?
It makes no sense to describe in detail everything required to build an app like Pinterest. In any case, you'll need expert advice on your project (which we're happy to provide).
So for now, we’ll just limit ourselves to a few key tips:
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Market and consumer analysis. Any project should only be started if you have data on the expectations of consumers and your potential competitors. So first, conduct detailed market research, including an analysis of its major players;
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Drawing up an initial strategy. You need to consider what niche your Pinterest-like website and app will occupy and what audience it's going to target. Only having this information on hand, you'll be able to come up with what to offer users so that they're fully satisfied;
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Unique UI/UX. Take a look at Pinterest’s design. Users do love it, which is hardly surprising, given its intuitiveness, modernity, and simplicity. You, too, need to pay attention to the interface, it's more important than it seems at first glance. Among other things, make certain your website design is responsive;
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Web development. You should hire IT experts with a thorough understanding of website building. They'll advise you on all issues and suggest the correct development strategy;
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Mobile development. Plus, it won't hurt to build a mobile app in addition to the website either. So it's advisable to make sure your team understands how to develop an application like Pinterest;
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Ability to handle the load. Since the resource will contain a huge number of images and short videos, it’s necessary that your server be able to cope with the additional load;
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Testing. And of course, you need to constantly test your project so that your platform works properly and without unpleasant surprises.
Now it's time to take up another crucial issue, which is Pinterest-like website and app budget planning.
The Cost to Develop an App Like Pinterest
The above infographic gives you an overview of the estimated development costs. We'd like to supplement this information with a few tips on how to reduce your budget:
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don't go after the company name alone. The more famous the company, the higher its rates;
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the location of the company isn't the most important thing. Our infographic clearly demonstrates the dynamics of prices depending on the country where the development team is located;
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start with an MVP model if you have to save. You can expand the functionality of your resource later.
Successful Pinterest alternative apps and websites
When launching an app like Pinterest, keep in mind that you'll have to deal with a great many competitors. And we're going to describe several of them.
Juxtapost
Juxtapost is one of Pinterest's biggest competitors. And they have a lot in common.
Basically, with Juxtapost, you can do everything that is possible on Pinterest. Another cool thing about the resource is that you're allowed to save your chosen content in the form of tables. What if it comes in handy one day?
Designspiration
Designspiration is chosen by those who are passionate about design of any type. So people in creative professions use it to seek interesting ideas and discover new artists.
The site has a dynamic search, which always brings cool results. However, in general, the resource is similar in its nature to Pinterest.
Dribbble
And of course, when developing an application like Pinterest, Dribbble shouldn't be overlooked. You've probably heard about this excellent resource, which provides people in creative professions, whether they're web designers or illustrators, with a convenient platform to showcase their pieces.
Dribbble is more specialized than Pinterest, but also quite popular with users. So if you think your creativity deserves respect and attention, show your items here and get feedback from knowledgeable people.
By the way, our company has its own Dribbble page too, and it presents a variety of our designs. Feel free to visit it.
