Wouldn’t it be great if you could bring in a couple of thousand bucks every month by doing something fun and relaxing? Well, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing since 2019. I sell Canva templates and make over $2K per month. Pretty cool, right?

Like all new businesses, it took more work in the beginning—designing templates, figuring out what sells, properly pricing my products, and learning to create well-designed templates—but once I figured those out, all I had to do was create a few new templates per month.

Literally, that’s all I have to do these days: create some templates and list them on my shops, and voilà!

Honestly, I hardly ever spent more than 15 hours per month (yes, that’s per month!) on this business.

So, in this post, let me show you how I started selling Canva templates and created a side income stream that averages over a thousand bucks every single month! (I only make one new template per month these days; if I made more, I’d probably be making way more money!)

How I Started Selling Canva Templates

Let me give you a little background first.

Back in June 2018 when I launched The Side Blogger, I was spending copious amounts of hours trying to design some of the most basic blog and social media graphics with Photoshop. Now, I’m no graphic designer; I’ve never had any formal graphic design training. But I’ve always appreciated good design, and on more than one occasion, I’ve fantasized about being able to create beautiful things — graphics, logos, print layouts, and more.

So, to remedy my longing, I taught myself programs like Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator. But at the end of the day, I’m still not a pro, and using Photoshop for simple blog graphics wasn’t the most efficient way of spending my time.

So, when an acquaintance introduced me to Canva, I was ecstatic.

It used to take me days to master some of the simplest Photoshop and Illustrator tricks, but with Canva, I was able to learn the entire platform and get going in just a couple of hours! Soon enough, I was designing all kinds of things — social media graphics, Pinterest pins, blog graphics, lead magnets, and things that I had no need for.

In short, I was starting to have fun with Canva!

A few months later, around December 2018, I decided it was time for me to get serious about growing my email list. One of my plans was to create several different lead magnets, also known as opt-in freebies — incentives you give away for free to your subscribers, in exchange for them signing up for your newsletter.

One of these lead magnets was a media kit Canva template for bloggers.

Believe it or not, this one lead magnet changed everything. People were signing up for my email list like crazy, doubling and then tripling my daily subscriptions within just a few days. This incident made me realize that people wanted templates. People wanted Canva templates. And so, my new side hustle selling Canva templates was born.

In the beginning, I didn’t take it too seriously. Selling Canva templates was never part of any grand business plan. I was happy if I sold a couple of templates every now and then. But soon I realized how big of a demand there was for Canva templates, and as I started adding more and more products, and started testing different sales strategies, my revenue started to grow.

Then, in January 2020, I made my first $1K+ from selling Canva templates within a single month.

Now that the backstory’s out of the way, let’s get into the details.

What is Canva

Canva is an online graphic design tool for EVERYBODY! In essence, you can have ZERO graphic design knowledge and still create something beautiful with Canva using its drag-and-drop functionality.

Why do so many people use Canva?

The reality of our time is that more and more people are starting their own businesses, becoming freelancers, or at least starting some kind of side hustle. This means that they need to create a brand, grow an audience, and build an email list or social media presence. All that requires various types of documents and graphics.

But many of these folks are not designers, nor do they have time to design the graphics themselves. So, what do they do? They either hire designers—which can be mighty expensive, or they use Canva.

Why Canva? Because:

• Canva is made for EVERYONE! It’s easy! Unlike Photoshop or Illustrator, the learning curve is minimal. Also, there are tons of resources (YouTube videos and Canva’s in-house tutorials) for users to easily learn how to use the tool.
• Canva is free to use. Their premium plan — Canva Pro — has many more features, but not everyone needs those features. But even so, the Pro version is still pretty cheap! (14.99 per month, or 119.99 if you pay yearly, as of writing this.)
• While Canva may be cheap, it can create high-quality graphics and documents.
• Canva has a built-in library of free and pro templates (albeit they’re not on par with third-party Canva templates that we—template sellers—make), a huge free and paid stock photo library, and tons of pre-made elements and high-quality fonts that you can use on your designs.
• It is a web-based application, making it easy to access.
• It has a desktop and a mobile app too, making designing more accessible than ever!

Who Buys Canva Templates

Often, when I mention selling Canva templates, people have an array of reactions. Some people are genuinely intrigued while others show skepticism.

On the skeptic end, these are some of the questions I get to answer:

Why would anyone pay to buy Canva templates? Canva is already so easy to use, wouldn’t people rather make their own?

Here’s the thing. Not everyone likes to or even wants to create designs from scratch. For some of us, designing is fun. I’ve alluded to it before, but I enjoy working with Canva even when I have no need for it. It’s almost meditative! It calms my nerves and helps release stress.

But that’s not how it is for everyone. For those who do not enjoy the process of designing something, they’d rather pay a little money to get a template instead. This way they can just customize a pre-designed template, and get a unique product in their hands in minutes.

Heck, I’ve had people send me messages and emails asking if I’d be willing to do the customization for them. People, as long as they’re able to afford it, would rather pay someone else to do the deeds they’re not keen on doing themselves. Nothing’s wrong with that. I’ve had my share of ordering grocery deliveries after all….

But doesn’t Canva already have a huge library of templates? Why bother purchasing from elsewhere?

I have nothing against Canva’s huge template library. Most of these are high-quality templates created by talented designers. Heck, I’m one of those designers who contribute to Canva’s native template library. (Here’s my template profile on Canva.)

However, the distinction lies in the uniqueness of a third-party template and quality. For example, anyone with a Canva account can access Canva’s template library. While these templates are awesome, they’re also less unique. As for the quality factor, as someone who both creates templates for Canva’s template library and templates for selling in my shops, I can tell you that spend way more time designing the ones I sell in my shops.

The third reason is in bundling.

Let’s assume you’re looking for some Instagram templates for your business and you want a set of templates with a consistent style. Now what? You won’t get that in Canva’s template library because they have one-off designs, not bundles. In contrast, we — Canva template sellers — who sell on our own platforms or third-party marketplaces like Etsy or Creative Market, do not sell one-off templates. We sell packages. An Instagram Canva template package may have 20 or 30 or more templates that are similar in style and design, and if someone purchases a bundle like that, they’re pretty much set for a long time. It’s good for their branding and adds consistency to their feed.

But there are so many people selling Canva templates now; isn’t the market saturated?

Having a healthy amount of competition isn’t a bad thing. On one hand, a lot of people are selling Canva templates because there’s a lot of demand for it. If anything, this is good news! You won’t have to try too hard to find customers. On the other hand, with the way Canva is growing, regardless of how many people are selling Canva templates, there are way more people looking to purchase Canva templates. So the demand is still on the growing trend.

So, who buys Canva templates, again?

Think: anyone who has a business or needs some kind of social media presence.

That’s right, all businesses need graphics and documents. Whether it’s Apple or Microsoft or the dog-walker who lives next door or your kid’s kindergarten teacher. Now, sure, Apple or Microsoft will likely not be your customers, but the dog-walker? Or the teacher? They could definitely use some Canva templates!

Here’s a list of potential customers who would love some customizable and relatively cheap Canva templates:

• bloggers and content creators
• educators (traditional teachers or online course creators)
• coaches
• freelancers
• authors and writers
• small business owners
• restaurants
• shops and boutiques
• real estate agents or companies
• independent service providers (dog walkers, pet-sitters, nannies, you name it!)

And more!

Who Should Sell Canva Templates

I think it’s safe to say that as long as you meet the following two conditions, you can start selling Canva templates:

1. You love Canva!
2. You are either good at designing, or you are willing to put in the work to improve your design skills.

I’m no graphic designer. My background is in engineering. However, I’ve always loved good design, and have wanted to be able to design things. Putting in the work to develop my style was a process that I enjoyed very much.

Canva Templates You Can Make and Sell

As I’ve said, Canva is an online graphic design tool for everyone. It’s something like a graphic-design-for-dummies thing. So, naturally, you cannot expect complicated design capabilities that you may be used to from Photoshop or Illustrator.

That said, Canva is useful when you need to create simpler but high-quality things for your business. Some examples are:

• social media graphics, banners, thumbnails (Instagram posts and stories, Facebook posts and banners, YouTube thumbnails and banners, Pinterest graphics, etc.)
• blog graphics (featured images, hero section backgrounds, infographics, etc.)
• workbooks
• ebooks
• media kits
• infographics
• brochures, posters, and flyers
• presentations
• resumes
• greeting cards
• and a bazillion other document-type products. Based on what your audience’s needs are and what you personally enjoy creating, you can create an array of graphics/templates with Canva and sell them.

Just make sure that your products are unique and created from scratch by you. DO NOT take a Canva native template from their template library or somebody else’s template and customize it to make it look different, then sell it as your own. 

What is the Cost of Starting a Canva Template Business

By far it is one of the cheapest businesses out there! The investment is minimal, really!

Let’s take a look at what it costs:

• Canva account. It’s FREE! (But, I do recommend having a Canva Pro account. A pro account isn’t necessary, but it does unlock more features that you may find beneficial. It’s only $14.99 per month, or $119.99 if you pay annually.)
• Photoshop subscription – I use it to design product mockups. Again, you do not need it, but good product mockups can increase your sales. The Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan starts at $9.99 per month (as of writing this).

If you’re setting up your shop on a third-party marketplace such as Etsy or Creative Market, then these are all the investments — less than 25 bucks per month, that could potentially earn you hundreds or even a couple of thousand bucks, monthly!

If you’re also setting up your shop on your own platform, then there is an additional cost of running your website. A WordPress site hosted on SiteGround and a custom domain will cost less than 5 bucks per month to start.

How Much Money Can You Make by Selling Canva Templates

This is always a tricky question to answer. In any and all business, how much money you can make depends on a variety of factors.

For Canva template sellers, your income will depend on these factors:

• Are you creating well-designed templates?
• Is there a demand for the kind of templates you’re making?
• How much do your templates cost?
• How many new templates do you create per month?

For the last couple of years (2020-2022), my revenue has hovered around 1-3k per month from four different sources: This website (my Canva template shop), Etsy, Creative Market, and Canva’s template library.

Keep in mind that this is my side gig, so naturally, I only spend a few hours a week (10-20 hours per month) designing and promoting my templates. I know designers who make a full-time living selling Canva templates, but they also put in a lot more work than I do. Instead of making only one or two products per month (as I do), they create a few per week! So, naturally, they sell more too!

Where Can You Sell Canva Templates

While I create Canva templates for Canva’s template library and make some money that way, most of my Canva template revenue is from these three platforms: Etsy, Creative Market, and this website.

These are some places where you can start selling your Canva templates

• Creative Market
• Etsy
• Design Bundles
• Design Cuts
• Creative Fabrica

I’m sure there are other platforms where you can sell Canva templates than the ones I’ve mentioned. If you have time, you could list your products on as many platforms as you want.

If you’re selling on your own platform, then you can choose from any one of these:

• WordPress (WooCommerce shop; this is what I use)
• Shopify
• Squarespace
• SendOwl
• Ko-fi

Etc.

Additionally, you can become a Canva Creator and contribute your designs to their template library (here’s my Canva public profile, for example.)

 Understand that selling your Canva templates on multiple platforms is a good way to earn more money by tapping into a larger pool of audiences.  As I’ve mentioned above, Creative Market and Etsy are two awesome platforms where I have my template shops aside from this blog. You should definitely look into those platforms if you’re serious about making more money selling Canva templates.

About Setting up Your Shops

Before you can start selling, you have to set up your shops.

Since I sell on Etsy, Creative Market, and my own blog, these are the platforms I’ll talk about.

On your own website

As mentioned above, you can set up a shop on WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace, or any platform that will allow you to create an eCommerce shop. If you do not already know how to set up a shop on your website, you should do a Google search for it based on your platform or reach out to a developer.

This website, for example, is on self-hosted WordPress and I’ve set up my shop using the WooCommerce plugin. I purchased the domain from NameCheap and hosting from SiteGround. If you’re also on WordPress, you can check out this WooCommerce tutorial for selling digital products.

On Etsy

Setting up a shop on Etsy is really easy. In fact, I highly recommend that you create an Etsy shop for your Canva templates. Etsy drives a lot of traffic to my shop without me having to lift a finger. If you have high-quality templates and if you regularly add new templates (every month) to your shop, then Etsy will do the heavy lifting of bringing traffic to your shop.

On Creative Market

Setting up a shop on Creative Market involves an application process. In there, they’ll ask you to share a portfolio with them. So, before you apply for a shop on Creative Market, I’d recommend that you create at least 12-15 high-quality products and set up your shop on your website and/or on Etsy. That way, you can use the other shop as your portfolio.

How to Sell Canva Templates: The Steps

These are the steps to selling Canva templates.

Note that this section deals with selling your Canva templates on your own platform or on third-party marketplaces. I’ll talk about contributing your templates to the Canva template library in a separate section below.

Step 1: Sign up for Canva

Sign up for a Canva account. It is free 🙂

A Canva Pro account is beneficial for you as a designer, but not necessary to sell templates. For example, when I work on a Canva template, I often create multiple products using the same theme (ebook, workbook, social media graphics, etc. using the same color scheme and style). I might create a brand kit on Canva for a specific theme to access certain colors and assets quickly. A brand kit is a Canva Pro feature. So, even though I do not need a Canva Pro account to create templates and sell them, it makes the design process more efficient and saves tons of time.

If you’re not ready to commit to Canva Pro yet, try out a Canva Pro trial for free for 45 days using this link, or click the button below.

Step 2: Decide which products you’ll sell in your shop

Figure out what kind of products you wish to sell in your shop. Different people come to this differently. For me, since I set up my shop on my blog first, I considered my existing audience and their needs when coming up with a product line.

Perhaps you’re a photographer who teaches photography on their website, and you have an existing audience comprised of other photographers. You may ask yourself what kind of products do photographers need? Social media graphics? Social media banners? Photography portfolios and photo albums? Services booklet or pricing sheets? Client onboarding documents?

Or perhaps you’re a blogger who caters to foodies and cooks. Maybe you want to create recipe cards, recipe books, meal planners, grocery planners, cookbooks, social media graphics, etc.

This way of coming up with a product line is helpful when you already have an existing audience. But, if you do not have an audience already, or if you’re setting up your shop on third-party marketplaces such as Etsy, for example, then you could also just go to Etsy and see what kind of digital templates people are selling. Do some research on this, and create a list of product types you’d like to design and sell on your Canva template shop.

Step 3: Create Canva templates to sell

Canva has a lot of pre-made templates that you can take inspiration from. However, it’s one thing to take inspiration from and another to copy something or take a template and make some adjustments.

If you cannot come up with your own designs, then please, forget selling templates for now, and instead, focus on learning and honing your design skills.

However, the thing with pre-made templates is that they’re already on Canva. So, why would someone pay you to purchase a similar template?

Your designs need to be sufficiently different, and of better quality, if you want people to pay you.

So, be careful where you draw your inspiration from.

Personally, I follow artists on Instagram and often like to spend my time going over other designers on Etsy or Creative Market, Behance, Dribbble, 99Designs, etc. I’m always trying to soak up whatever I can. But again, be careful. Do not let your inspiration dictate the design where it comes off as plagiarized. Copying or stealing other people’s work is not cool, unethical, and illegal.

Once you have a solid grasp of what you want to sell, design the templates.  You should use the available Canva elements and fonts to design your products, as well as the images available on Canva.  Since a customer can only use these templates by having their own Canva accounts, when you use images or elements already on Canva, you need not worry about license when you’re selling Canva templates.

As a good practice, I prefer to design my templates using only free Canva elements and fonts. This way, if my buyer doesn’t have a Canva Pro account, they’re still able to use my templates without having to upgrade to Canva Pro.

Step 4: Prepare a PDF with your Canva template link

When you create a design in Canva, you share it with your buyers as a template.

Once you’re done designing, you’ll need to do the following:

• Get the sharable template link from the design.
• Create a PDF that will contain the sharable template link.
• Add the shareable template link to your PDF.

Once done, and you’ve created a product, you’ll set this PDF as the deliverable so that when someone buys a product, they receive this PDF. Once they have the PDF, they can then access your design.

Here are the steps:

Get the shareable Canva template link

• In the design window that you’re creating to sell, click on the share button, and then at the bottom of the dropdown that appears, click the three dots.

• In the next drop-down window, find and click the tab that says “Template link.”

• This will open another section and it has a button that says “Create template link.” Click that link.

• This will create the template link. In the next drop-down window, you should see the template link. This is the link you’ll be sharing with your buyers.

Create a PDF document with the template link.

Just like you’d create any design on Canva, you start with a blank US letter-size document. Add some text to this document such as your logo, your business info, etc.

You can also say something like: Thank you for your purchase. Here’s your Canva template link. And then whatever else you want to share with your buyers.

The document should have the template link that you copied earlier from the design (you can either insert the entire link or hyperlink it.)

When done, save the document as a PDF. This will be the PDF that people will receive when they purchase your template. All eCommerce platforms have a designated area for what people will receive when they make a purchase. For digital products, you should see some kind of download file option. Make sure to add your PDF there.

For example, on WooCommerce, when you select “Virtual” and “Downloadable” products, it gives you the option to select a file. That’s where you select the PDF you just created with the template link in it. And on the front end, when someone makes a purchase, they get an email with this PDF.

When they open the PDF, they can click the link, and it takes them to their own Canva account and creates an exact replica (copy) of your Canva design. But since it’s a copy of the design, they can make adjustments on their end, without messing up your master design.

Here’s a video if you need some help with this getting the template link and creating a PDF.

Step 5: Create product images

Your buyers do not see the actual product, and so, to make sure your products are desirable to your potential customers, create stunning product images.

I have a blog post where I’ve shared some ways to create beautiful product images, so make sure to check it out.

Typically, I like to create at least 10 product images per product. More visuals help your customers decide if your product is indeed the right product for their use. And the more beautiful these images, the higher the chances of making a sale.

Step 6: Decide on your product price

Having the right pricing is important. Since there is no “established” pricing guide, you’ll need to do some homework and decide for yourself the best and optimal price for your products.

In terms of “doing the homework”, check some of the Canva product prices out there that are similar to the products that you’re creating. You can do this by visiting other Canva sellers’ shops. Creative Market and Etsy — two of the biggest Canva template marketplaces — are good places to start.

Consider these things while doing your research.

• Similar design quality
• The total number of pages/graphics in one template bundle (for example, how many Instagram templates are in an Instagram template product? if someone is selling a 15-template bundle for $12, and you have 40 templates, your product will naturally be more expensive.)

Step 7: List your Canva templates for selling

Now that you have everything you need, start listing your products in your shops.

If you haven’t created a shop yet, go ahead and set up those shops, then start listing the items.

Below, I have a short tutorial for listing your products on WordPress (WooCommerce) since that’s where I sell my Canva templates (aside from Etsy and Creative Market.)

How to add your products on WooCommerce

Adding a product in WooCommerce is simple enough, just like adding a post or a page, with some additional fields for product images, price, inventory, etc. Here’s a quick rundown:

1. Go to WordPress Dashboard > Products > Add New.
2. Add your titles and descriptions. WooCommerce has two separate description boxes—a short description you typically see next to the product, and a long description that allows you to add more details of your product.
3. You also have two different places, within the WordPress product editor page, where you can add images. One of them is the “product image”, which is the main product image that shows up on the Shop page, as well as the first (larger) image that people see on the single product page. The other section is the “product gallery”, which is where you can add additional photos.
4. Towards the middle of the product editor, you’ll see the section where you can do all the fun stuff, like, setting the price, adding the actual downloadable product (the PDF deliverable), etc. Let’s take a closer look!
   (Follow the images!)

Make sure to choose “Simple Product”, and then check both “Virtual” and “Downloadable”.

Typically, you wouldn’t need the “Virtual” option, but I have had issues with downloads when I didn’t have that option checked. So, make sure to check both.

Under the “General” tab, set your price, and add the files your buyers will be able to download upon purchase.

You can also set a download limit and expiry if you want to. If you do not want to set any limits, just leave those blank.

Under the “Inventory” tab, you can set up how many products you’re selling. These are digital products, so, technically, you do not need to set a limit or have inventory. It is totally up to you whether or not you want to set a limit to how many of these products you’ll sell.

Also, since they’re all digital, downloadable products, there is no reason to allow backorders.

I also make sure to check “Sold individually”. Nobody needs multiple copies of the same digital product by mistake. It may cause confusion if someone accidentally chose more than one product; then you’ll need to deal with refunds and you don’t want to waste time with that.

You’ll also see places for adding product images. One of them is the main product image that shows on the shop page. The gallery is where you add additional images. Potential buyers will be able to see them on the single product page. These additional photos are meant to give the potential buyers a better understanding of what they can expect from the product.

There are more options inside a product page, but they’re not necessary to start selling a product. If you want to learn more about some of these features, please refer to the WooCommerce setup tutorial for digital products.

Once you have added your product and you have clicked “Publish”, your item will be available for others to purchase.

Please DO check out the post I linked above, as it has more in-depth information for WooCommerce setup and best practices for selling digital and downloadable products, specifically! That post also goes over setting up payment options for PayPal and Stripe.

List your Canva templates on Etsy

Etsy is one of the easiest platforms to set up your shop on and start selling digital products, including Canva templates. Many of my students in my online course — Side Income with Canva Templates — start their shops on Etsy even before they start selling on their own websites.

Aside from having a simple user interface that makes setting up shop and listing products super easy, Etsy also comes with its own set of tools to drive more traffic and get more sales. Its algorithm rewards sellers with high-quality products and great customer service. Etsy also comes with its native ads system that’s easy to set up and start promoting products.

What’s more, Etsy takes only a 5% cut of the sales which is much lower than many other third-party marketplaces.

List your Canva templates on Creative Market

Another platform I love is Creative Market. It’s a marketplace specifically for selling digital products, and many a Canva template seller—myself included—has found an audience there. Creative Market’s algorithm seems to be on the side of the sellers. I get a lot of sales on that platform with minimal to no promotional efforts on my end. So, as you can guess, I highly recommend it to sellers. Even with a pretty hefty cut of the commission (50%), Creative Market still constitutes a high percentage of my monthly income from this side gig.

The downside, if you can call it that, is that setting up a shop on Creative Market has to go through a vetting process. You have to apply to be a creator first. An actual human will review your application and decide whether or not your products are good enough for their platform. Some of my students at Side Income with Canva Templates have had to apply a couple of times before their applications were approved. But once they were in, they were able to start selling pretty fast.

Step 8: Promote your products

Now it’s time to sell the products!

Etsy and Creative Market tend to drive a fair bit of internal traffic my way, so I barely need to do any promotions on my end.

Etsy even has its own promotion methods where they advertise your products for a daily ad budget that you can set up on your end. (I won’t talk much about it here as I cover this topic in my online course — Side Income With Canva Templates.)

It’s my own shop, the one I have on this website, that needs some work. Typically, I share my products on Pinterest. I love Pinterest! In fact, I get a lot of my customers from this awesome platform. Here are some ways to promote your templates with Pinterest.

• As you may know, getting traction on Pinterest requires creating amazeballs Pin graphics. Make sure to create beautiful Pin graphics that other Pinterest users will be tempted to click on. Hook them with great visuals from start to finish, until a potential customer converts to a buying customer.
• Regularly pin your products. Try to aim for at least 3/4 Pins per week, but more is better. Don’t spam though. Rotate out the products you pin on any week.

Aside from Pinterest, you may also promote your products on any other social media platform you use, as well as your email list, if you have one. Let your subscribers know when a new product is out, a few of them will likely convert.

Some Things to Pay Attention to

This wraps up everything you need to know about how to make money selling Canva templates. In this final section, I want to bring your attention to a couple of important things that you need to be mindful of.

Pricing your products

Pricing is super important when it comes to selling your Canva templates. If your products are pricier than comparable templates out there, then you’ll likely lose some customers. If your prices are too cheap, then some customers may be doubtful of the product quality.

Depending on what your products are, make sure to do some research and find out a pricing range for these products. Try to keep your pricing around that range.

Writing product descriptions

This is where you get to describe what the product is. Give as many details as possible:

• What’s the product? (An eBook? A pricing sheet? Social Media templates?)
• Who it is for?
• What the product can be used for?
• What’s in the product?
• How to use this product?

Etc.

Think about all the questions and inquiries a buyer may have and give that information within your product description.

About product licensing

It is good practice to have a product license document. You can either create a document, or, if you’re selling on your website, you can create a section or a page with the license details.

Some platforms like Creative Market or Design Bundles come with their own license, so you need not worry about creating your own when you sell on those platforms. But if you’re selling on your own website, you may want to specify your own set of licenses.

Personally, I like Creative Market’s licensing terms and have crafted my own that’s similar to theirs. Of course, I have used my own verbiage to write down the terms. But essentially, the terms are very similar. If you’re unsure of what kind of license to use for your products, do give Creative Market license terms a read.

And that’s it!

How to Sell Templates on Canva (as a Canva Creator)

I cannot discuss the details of this program since it is run by Canva. But these are some of the key points you need to know:

• First thing first, you must apply to be a Canva Creator. Click here to start the process.
• They have strict rules, and if you’re approved to become a creator for Canva, then I suggest you pay careful attention to these rules or your templates won’t be approved.
• All templates must go through an approval process (even if you’re an approved creator) and this can take time. Sometimes the process is pretty fast and other times it’s really, really slow.
• You do not actually “sell” your templates on Canva. You cannot set your own prices either. You simply submit your templates, and if Canva approves them, then you earn a royalty based on how many people use your template. The royalty depends on Canva and we don’t know a whole lot about how it is calculated.

Is it worth becoming a Canva Creator?

Personally, I prefer to sell my templates on my website or third-party platforms more than creating templates for Canva. That’s because I feel more in control when I sell on my own shops vs. spending time creating for Canva and then waiting days (sometimes weeks) for approval of templates, and sometimes not having templates approved at all without any apparent reason.

But!

When they are approved, it does give me a rush of excitement, LOL. Also, I like saying that I’m a Canva Creator. That alone feels pretty cool.

How much can you earn as a Canva Creator?

It depends on how many templates you design, how many get approved, and a bunch of other factors. Obviously, the more templates you have, the more money you’ll make.

It is hard for me to say how much you can make because the program is always changing. When I first joined a few years ago, right after they launched the beta program, I was making well over a thousand bucks per month with just a handful of templates.

But with time, even though I created more templates and more people were using my templates, my earnings dropped. That’s part of the reason why I prefer selling on my own shops because I know exactly how much I’m earning from where.

Also, I make way more money from my shops than from the Canva Creator program. And if you want to learn the ins and outs of selling Canva templates on your own shops, then I highly recommend you sign up for my online course — Side Income With Canva Templates.

To be or not to be… a Canva Creator

There’s no harm in joining the program, is there?

Personally, and it really is my personal opinion, I prefer selling Canva templates on my own shops for the reasons I mentioned above. But that’s me. Again, there’s no harm in joining, so why not try it out? If you do not like it, then there’s that.

Is this the right time for you to start selling Canva templates?

So, you’ve learned the basics of selling Canva templates. But are you serious about this new business? Are you ready to create your Canva-template side hustle at this time? If you want to maximize your Canva template side hustle, then I invite you to join over 500 students in my online course — Side Income with Canva Templates. In this course, you’ll learn:

• preparing for selling Canva templates
• preparing your Canva products for listing in your shops
• specific tips for selling Canva templates on your own website
• selling tips for Creative Market shop owners
• selling tips for Etsy shop owners
• design and usability tips for creating amazing Canva templates that your buyers will LOVE!
• tips for driving traffic and landing more customers

And also, bonuses!

• Base Canva templates that you can get inspiration from and use as a base for your final designs so you do not have to start from scratch when you’re just a beginner.
• Biweekly support.
• Periodic special webinars.
• And forever access to all updates to the course.

And if you’re wondering why you should buy my course, well then, it’s because of what I said when I started this blog post. The first year or so was not as good as things are now. I didn’t know what I was doing. There’s more to selling than just making a few Pinterest graphics and then listing them in shops. It took me some time to figure that out. I created this course to share with you what I didn’t know when I first started selling Canva temples. Hopefully, with the help of this course, you’ll get to $1k+ per month much faster than I did!

Here’s what one of my students had to say after they purchased the course.

“I just bought the course and wasn’t sure if I’d learn a lot but I wanted to give it a try. And now I’m sitting at my table and I’m SO damn grateful that I found this course because I’ve learned a lot! Especially a lot of functions in Canva I didn’t know before. I also learned a lot about Etsy/Creative Market and so much more!” — Marbleous Design

Click here to learn more details about this self-paced online course, or click the button below.

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