Learn how to create amazing digital templates on Canva that will sell on Etsy
I make a living selling digital templates from designs I create on Canva. If you want to read my story, click here to find out how much money I’m making on Etsy and how it has changed my life! But of course, I couldn’t have done it without Canva. I want to teach you how to create amazing digital templates on Canva that will sell on Etsy! Canva is one of my favorite platforms for creating designs. It is so easy, and it’s easy for my customers to access and edit their items. Customers love the ability to add their own names, dates, information, etc… for invitations and more! Canva is a tool that aims to make it easy to produce awesome designs without needing graphic design skills. Anyone can do thi
Canva is also an amazing tool for creating social media images, instagram videos, Etsy banners, website images, and much much more. You want to create templates to sell, but you’ll also need to learn the skills for advertising your shop to give your business an extra boost! In future posts, I’ll be teaching you everything you need to know about advertising and secrets for selling successfully on Etsy or your own website.
Read on to learn how to make amazing templates on Canva that sell and how to create a link for your customers to be able to access their item(s).
Set up a Canva Account
Head over to Canva.com to get started. Select ‘Sign Up’.
From the signup page, choose ‘Continue with Email’ and enter your email address. You can also create an account with Facebook, Google, Microsoft or Apple. Canva may send you an authorization code so you’ll need to check for that in your inbox and then you’ll need to create a password.
The first step is done! Sounds easy, but sometimes that first step is the hardest. Now you’ll be making money in no time!
Canva is free, but it also has a Pro option that is really awesome. It’s not needed to get started. I started out with the free option, but I decided to upgrade to Pro after I got excited when I learned how easy it was going to be to make money selling templates. Here’s the breakdown so you can decide between Canva and Canva Pro:
Canva vs Canva Pro
If you’re having a hard time deciding, go ahead and give the basic Canva a try, but I can’t lie. I do love Canva Pro and the abilities it gives me. Canva offers a free 30 day trial of Canva Pro so if you’re on the fence, go ahead and give it a try with nothing to lose! You can cancel anytime within the 30 day period and you won’t be charged. If you decide you like it, Canva Pro costs 14.99 per month. If you can afford to pay for the entire year, you can pay a one-time fee of 119.99 which equals 9.99 a month! Personally, I think this is a small cost to pay for the benefits you receive.
The Free Plan
You’ll have access to 250,000 free templates, 100+ design layouts, free graphic elements and photos, and the ability to add members to your team and collaborate with them. You’ll also have 5 GB cloud storage that can be used for your saved designs and uploaded photos, options to save your work into many folders, and the option to export your design into various file formats. This is great for starters!
The drawbacks: The lack of branding tools is definitely a drawback. There are no filters for showing only the free design elements. It can take a lot more time looking though the elements and texts that will work with your design. You can download with different file formats, but you can’t download an SVG or a PNG with a transparent background. It is also limited on how easy it is to copy the same design into a different sized format.
Canva Pro
Unlimited output options is a big plus! You can download any file type with or without a transparent background. You will also have over 100 million stock photos and graphics to work with as well as much more extensive audio and video library options. You’ll have 25,000 audio tracks at your fingertips and 10 million pre-licensed 4K and HD video clips. This is huge when you’re thinking of creating reels for Instagram for instance. You’ll have over 610,000 templates to choose from instead of the 250,000 with the basic plan.
My favorite benefit of Canva Pro is the Magic Resize feature. This is so very helpful. It has saved me tons of rework when I want a similar design but in a different size. You can use this tool to automatically reformat any design to suit different social media purposes as well. The Canva Pro plan gives you access to a background removal tool which is incredibly useful! Canva Pro upgrades the 5 MB storage to 1 TB of storage. You’ll get faster customer service as well.
Now that you’ve chosen between the free and pro versions, it’s time to get started on your first template! Do you already know what kind of templates you are planning to sell on Etsy? If you haven’t, click here to get some inspiration and find out what some of my best-selling items are! I’m willing to share everything I know because I want you to be as successful selling on Etsy as I am! It has changed my life!
Create a Design
Okay, we are ready now! Select ‘Create a Design’ on the top right of the screen. (You can do this on your phone, but since I prefer a larger screen to work on, I like to use my laptop.) From the dropdown menu, you can select one of the popular social media sizes or select a custom size at the bottom and type your own dimensions. You can also search for a design type in the search bar and see what templates come up. If I’m not making a Pinterest pin or Etsy banner, I usually just select custom size and start from there.
On the left you’ll see helpful tools such as elements. Spend some time browsing through here to familiarize yourself with the many photos, shapes, and objects that you can use! Play around with it for a while. See all your options. On the left, you can also click to upload your own graphics or backgrounds. You’ll also see a Text option. You will need to enter placeholder texts for things like names and dates. You can also enter text that won’t be changed as well. When the customer accesses your template, they will be able to highlight the name for example and type their own name! Look at the fonts that are available, and also realize you can purchase fonts elsewhere online if desired and upload them to Canva!
If you’d like to add a backside to an invitation, click add page beneath the template. There are so many possibilities with Canva. I am making a living this way, but I’m also having fun. There’s nothing better than enjoying your job while you’re making money online!
Create a Link
When you’re done designing, you’ll need a way for your customer to access the template. Select ‘Share’ in the upper right-hand corner. In the dropdown, select one of the circle buttons called ‘Template Link’. Simply copy this link and paste it into the PDF that you will supply the customer. I like to create a PDF that thanks the customer for purchasing, includes simple instructions, and has a button they can click to access their template. This is done by inserting an image into the PDF, right clicking on the image, and inserting the template link.
Download your Design
Now you’ll need to export your design so you can create listing photos for your Etsy listing. I love to create my listing covers and photos on PicMonkey! Select the ‘Share’ button again and select download.
Now for the Magic of Passive!
You’ve created your design, copied the template link, and are ready to list it on Etsy! This is where things get really great. When you receive an order, unless the customer has a question, you will not have to do anything! The customer will automatically receive their link after they purchase your template. They will be able to access, edit, and download, their template with ease using Canva. All you have to do is – well, whatever you want! This is the magic of passive income. You can be on vacation while the orders roll in. No need to go on vacation mode! Of course, I do answer a few questions here or there, but seriously. I couldn’t be happier. I am making a good living for my family! I get to work at home, only when I want or where I want. I encourage you to play around with Canva. The possibilities are endless! Etsy is waiting for your unique designs!
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