Most people use Canva for school, work, or their businesses but did you know that you can also make money with Canva? Michelle from Makingsenseofcents.com makes an extra $2k per month in passive income selling Canva templates. There are a lot of different ways to make money with Canva let’s look at a few of those today!
Read: 22 Hobbies to make you an extra 2k per month
Table of Contents
What is Canva?
Canva is a graphic design tool that you can access easily on the internet, no need to download it to your computer. You can use it to design all kinds of things from logos, printables, stickers, to the interior of notebooks.
Read: 10 Items to easily make and sell on Etsy
1. Create images of quotes on Canva to share on Instagram
Canva allows you to easily create graphics to share on Instagram. Instagram can be a great tool to have for anyone trying to build a brand or trying to make money on the internet.
You’ll do the following:
- Create a Canva account
- Click on “Create a design” on the top right corner and hit “Instagram Post”
- You’ll see templates made for you on the left-hand side of the screen. Select and choose whichever templates you want
- You’ll edit the graphics to suit your particular niche. For example, if you have a yoga niche, you’ll want to post quotes relating to “yoga”. You can simply search up a few on the internet and make sure to write who said the quote on the graphics. You can also create your own quotes if you want.
- You’ll then download the picture by hitting the “share” button and selecting the “download” button from the list. You can download many pictures at once.
- You’ll then post to Instagram to gain likes and followers
- Once you gain enough following, you’ll be able to make monetize your audience
You can make money on Instagram by:
- Giving shout-outs
- Sell merch
- Affiliate deals
- Consulting
Take a look at what other people in your niche are posting.
- Are they posting reels, slide-through pictures, a single picture, etc
- When are they posting
- How many times a day are they posting
- What kind of theme colors do they use
- What do they write in the descriptions
- Who do they follow
- How long are their videos and reels
- How many pictures are on their slide through
- What emojis do they use
- What hashtags are they using
Read: 19 Unheard ways to make money as an artist
2. Create printables on Canva to sell on Etsy
Printables are PDFs or PNG files that can be downloaded and printed out as many times as the customer wants.
You can create all kinds of printables:
- Daily task planners
- Weekly food planners
- Blood sugar log pages
- Diary pages for kids
- A self-introduction page for kids in school
- “Never have I ever” bingo pages
- “Who knows who the best” pages
You can create these pages very easily on Canva
- Go to Etsy and type in “Printables”
- Sort by “Top Customer Reviews”
- Look at how the top sellers structure their printables and what printable it is
- Go to Canva and create a standard file of “8.5 X 11 inches”
- Model after the bestselling printables but don’t copy. Introduce your own ideas
- When you’re done, download it as “PDF Print”
- Start selling on Etsy!
Where can you sell your Canva creation?
- Etsy
- Creative Fabrica
- CreativeMarket
- Gumroad
Read: How to make money self-publishing books for free on Amazon KDP
3. Create an editable PDF on Canva to sell on Etsy
Editable PDF allows you to directly edit the PDF on the browser and save the changes when you download it.
These types of printables can allow one to fill in texts into text boxes, check off items on the page, and may also allow individuals to select from a dropdown menu.
The kind of editable printables you can create include:
- Shopping list
- Daily to-do list
- Errands list
- Budgeting sheet
- Surveys
- Weekly mood journal
Here’s what you need to do:
- Go browse Etsy for inspiration
- Create the editable PDF you want
- Download the file in PDF format
- Upload it to PDFescape. It’s free and you can edit it online, no need to download it.
- After you uploaded the file, you can add text, images, links, whiteout, freehand strokes if you want but all of that should already be done on Canva (except link, you can add links to specific spots on the page)
- Click on “Form Field” in the top left corner. This box should pop up
- Select the kind of things you want to have on your editable PDF. If you choose texts from the drop-down, you’ll see this: it’ll allow you to shape the box to whatever size you want and wherever you want on the page. After you download the file in PDF format, you can type stuff in there.
- You can also select “Checkbox” from the drop-down and it’ll allow you to click and check off items on a list
- Play around with the functions. When you’re stuck, go YouTube “PDFescape tutorial”
- Upload your PDF to Etsy and start selling!
Read: How to make money with a podcast: It’s easier than you think!
4. Design logos on Canva
It’s actually pretty easy to design beautiful logos on Canva. Canva isn’t really known for designing logos and if you search up “logo makers”, you’ll see a lot of websites dedicated to designing logos. Most of those websites only allow you to export the logos if you include the watermark or if you export the logo at a 480HP. Their logos are also not very modern or sleek in design. Simply put, the best place for you to design a logo for free is in Canva.
You can use more advanced tools such as Illustrator from Adobe if you want but there’s a steep learning curve and it can be quite costly to learn and design a logo with Adobe.
- Select “Logo” from the drop-down
- You can see a lot of templates have been made for you. Don’t stray too far from the template or the theme color unless your client requested it
- You’ll play around with logo design on Canva
- Once you’re satisfied with your “logo design skill”, post a few pictures onto Fiverr and start offering your service
Read: 20 Easy Fiverr gigs to offer and make money
5. Make reels for people on Canva
Reels are basically short videos on Instagram. Instagram is currently taking on TikTok in the form of shorter content. You can create reels for people using Canva.
- Select “Instagram Reels” from the drop-down
- See from a range of templates and pick what you like. You can also start from scratch
- Replace the texts and graphics and export the video as an MP4 file
- You can host your service on Fiverr
Read: How to create fonts to sell for money
6. Make intro youtube channels for people on Canva
Believe it or not, Canva allows you to make a YouTube channel intro too. Many people don’t know about this and if they live in another country where English may not be their primary language, they won’t know how easy it is to create a YouTube channel intro using Canva.
- Select “YouTube Video Ad” from the drop-down. You may have to type it in to find it.
- You’ll see templates made for you. Select the kind that suits your client’s brand and change out the text
- Download it and hand it over to your client.
Would you be able to create an amazing YouTube channel intro with this method? No. But it’s a pretty good start. After you made some money, you can invest the money into teaching yourself how to do this with other software such as AfterEffect and Illustrator.
Read: How to become a content creator and make money this year
7. Design Pinterest graphics with Canva
You can create Pinterest graphics for free with Canva. It’s very easy to do.
- You’ll select “Pinterest Pin” from the drop-down
- Select the template you want
- Replace a few texts and web addresses
- Download and send to your client
Many people know how to use Canva to create a Pinterest pin but they don’t want to do it themselves. Either because they make enough to outsource the work or they don’t want to do it.
You can also offer to post on their Pinterest account for them if you want. You’ll have to study how to select the best keywords to use. You’d essentially be a social media Pinterest manager.
Read: 50 Ways to make extra money today
8. Design resume and cover letters for people using Canva
Many people don’t know how to design their own resume and cover letter, you can offer a service to create a resume and cover letter for people from start to finish. Or, you can have your customers give you their resume and cover letter and format it better for them so it stands out more.
- Select “Resume” from the drop-down. Notice how there are specific resumes for each type of job
- Select the template you want and start editing!
- Do the same thing with the cover letter as well
Read: How to make money writing on Medium
9. Design posters on Canva to sell on RedBubble
It’s super easy to create different styles of posters on Canva.
- Select the poster from the drop-down. You can select any size of poster you want. You can even create your own custom-size poster.
- Select a template that you like
- Research bestselling posters to see what you should have on the poster
- Design the poster
- Export the poster as “PDF Print”
- Uploaded onto Redbubble and start selling for free!
You can also sell T-shirts, hoodies, phone cases, etc with your design on top right on RedBubble.
Read: What are NFTs and all the basics
10. Sell eBook templates using Canva
Michelle makes an extra $2k per month selling canvas eBook templates. These are some of her templates. You can see that most of them are ebooks. Looks much like a magazine.
People buy ebook templates for their brands. You can design these yourself and make an ebook to give out as freebies on your own blog or YouTube channel for instance.
You’ll have to create those individual pages yourself on Canva by selecting the right size (US Letter size is standard).
- Select US letter size from drop-down
- Pick from templates
- Edit design to suit your needs
- For false texts (text holders), you can go to loremipsum.io to find texts to add to your pages
- You can find stock pictures right on Canva
- You can download the pages together in the same PDF file
Read: 12 Things to never buy as a college student
11. Design infographics on Canva for bloggers
Yes, you can even design infographics on Canva. Many bloggers like to have infographics on their blog posts to make them easier for the readers to digest. But it takes time to create these infographics so some would hire someone to make infographics for them.
It’s actually quite easy to create infographics using Canva.
- Type in “infographics” into the search bar after hitting the button “Create a design”. Then, you’ll click on the option, “infographic”
- Pick a template you like or start from blank. Edit the texts and graphics. Canva has a lot of free graphics
- Export as PNG or PDF. Whichever your client prefers
Read: 17 Surprising frugal tips
12. Make PowerPoint for people using Canva
PowerPoint is another thing that it’s easy to make with Canva but many may not want to create one themselves. Here’s what you need to do:
- Select “Presentation” from the drop-down
- Select a template you like and start editing!
- You can export as PNG, JPG, PDF standard, or even as an MP4 video
Read: 10 Unique ways to improve emotional intelligence
13. Design book covers for people using Canva
You can use Canva to create simple book covers. You may have to draw part of the graphics yourself in other apps like Procreate or Illustrator or you have to source the graphics elsewhere.
Click here to learn the 15 unique ways to make money with Procreate.
- Select “Book cover” from the drop-down
If you accidentally chose the wrong size, you can copy the whole thing and paste it into another Canva file although you may have to do some minor adjusting.
- Select the template you want and start editing!
Canva is great for creating eBook covers. If you’re creating book covers for a physical copy of the book, you’ll have to take into account book thickness which is determined by page count.
Read: 16 Things to sell to make money as a teenager today
14. Be a brand designer using Canva
A brand designer is responsible for creating all the color themes, graphics, etc for a brand.
For instance, if you’re a brand designer for a YouTube channel, your job would be to select the right color and font for the brand. Create the logo, the YouTube thumbnail for the YouTube channel, the thumbnail (make sure it’s consistent), etc. If the brand has an Instagram or Facebook page, you’ll also be responsible for creating the cover photos, thumbnail photos, posts, reels, etc. Everything has to be consistent.
If you like designing and organizing things, this could be something to try.
Read: 7 Things you need to stop doing if you’re broke
Final thought
There is truly a lot of ways to make money using Canva. You can go explore what else you can create with Canva. Canva can be a useful tool for your business as well as a tool to build up a freelance side hustle.
Good luck!
Read: 8 Reasons you should be your own boss
Read: Want to be your own boss? 11 Reasons to start a blog
