How I Made $5K in 30 Days Selling Canva Templates
If you would have asked me two years ago whether I would ever make money from Canva, I would have said no way. Fast forward to today, I made $5,000 in 30 days from selling Canva templates.
So here’s the deal: If I can make money from selling Canva templates, you definitely can too.
So without any fluff, I'm going to be sharing 8 steps that I've taken to launch 2 successful Canva shops that generate over $5K/month in revenue.
Ready? Let’s jump right into it.
Market research and Product Validation
The very first thing you need to do before you create your first Canva template is market research and product validation.
You want to make sure that the product you have in mind is actually in demand.
Now, research and product validation doesn't have to be a long and scary process. All you need to do is come up with a list of products that you would enjoy creating and selling.
Let's say, for example, you're interested in the business niche, your list of templates might include things like social media templates, ebooks, branding kits, etc... Once you've come up with this list, next, you want to go ahead and pop over to Etsy. Navigate to the search bar and start typing in one of the templates that are on your list.
So let's say you're thinking about creating Instagram story templates. Start typing that into the search bar then, before you hit enter, Etsy is going to list out a whole range of different search terms and phrases that customers are searching for within Etsy.
After clicking on one of the options, this is where you can dive deep into individual listings and see what's currently available on the market, how the product is created, how it’s optimized, and how good are the reviews. After analyzing, think of what you can provide that will have more value. This is how you do your market research.
Define Ideal Customer
Now that you have an idea of the kind of templates you want to create, figure out who you're going to sell to. Understanding who your templates are for will not only help you create a professional and sustainable business, it will also help you attract more of those exact customers or similar customers.
When you're gathering all the details about your ideal customer, you want to consider specific questions. You want to be answering questions not only about their demographics but also their psychographics. These questions will give you a deeper understanding of how your products could potentially solve your customers' problems.
As you develop your Etsy shop and you sell more products, you will get to know your customers even more and then you will be able to refine who your ideal customer is further.
Set up your business branding
Now that you know what you're selling and who you're selling it to, the next process is creating a professional brand.
The one thing you want to take note of when you are creating your business brand is that you want to make sure you're creating something that your ideal customer is going to be attracted to. For example, an Etsy shop that sells wedding invitation templates is going to have a completely different brand to someone that is selling presentation templates for business owners.
The wedding invitation shop might have a brand that consists of a delicate color palette with floral elements. Whereas a shop that's selling presentation templates for business owners might have a more professional brand.
Create and Design Your First Canva Template
Here is where the fun begins. This is where you're going to create your first Canva template to sell in your Etsy shop. Canva has a lot of pre-made templates that you can take inspiration from but it’s important to note that it’s illegal to resell any of their ready-made templates even with minor modifications.
Always start from scratch and simply use their templates as an inspiration. Other places you can get inspiration from are Pinterest, Instagram, Muzli, Dribbble, and Behance.
In addition, it's best to layout the color scheme and fonts you will be using throughout your designs in the beginning, this will ensure a consistent look and feel throughout your templates.
Prepare Canva Templates for Sale
Once you’re done creating your templates, it’s time to share them with your buyers.
It’s pretty simple, all you need to do is:
Open a document (A4 or US Letter)
Write a short thank you message to your customer
Navigate to your template
Select “Share” from the top-right menu
Select “Share a link to use as a template”
Copy the link
Paste in your document
Export as PDF
You’ll set this PDF as the deliverable so that when someone buys a product, they receive this PDF.
Create Product Images
Designing beautiful product images is crucial. Your product image is the reason a potential customer will click that buy button. It's your first impression in front of potential buyers.
One of the best ways to create an attention-grabbing product image is by finding premade mockup templates online and adding your designs to them using Photoshop.
Usually, I like to create at least 10 product images per product. The more visuals the better.
Set up a shop
You’ve got your templates. You've got your PDF delivered. You've got your product images ready to go. Now, you are ready to open up your shop. The best places to start are either Etsy, Creative Market, or Design Bundles.
Optimize SEO
If you choose to go with Etsy, you want to be focusing on Etsy keyword research and optimizing your listings for the best SEO.
You want to be thinking about how your products can be seen by as many people on Etsy as possible. The best way to do this is through Etsy SEO.
Now, Etsy SEO or search engine optimization is a way of getting more customers to find the products that you are selling by using keyword-rich titles and tags within your listings.
Etsy SEO doesn't have to be confusing or overwhelming. The easiest way to approach SEO is to think about what keywords and phrases your customer is going to type in the search bar.
Your Turn
Now that you’ve learned the basics of selling Canva templates, are you ready to start your hustle? Are you ready to earn passive income from your Canva templates? If you are, then I invite you to join my online course “Make Money Selling Canva Templates”.
In this course, you’ll learn all the skills you need to generate at least $1K/month. It covers everything from finding trending products, designing templates that are in high demand, creating beautiful product listing images, writing a detailed product description, pricing your templates, setting up a shop, optimizing for SEO, and much more.
So that’s how you make $5,000 in 30 days. Would you like to do the same?
Because you totally can.
