Many people are using Canva, but only a few realize the platform’s complete ability to generate income. The reality is that Canva provides numerous opportunities to make money through various products, services, and content.
When using Canva, my preferred methods of making money involve creating something once and continuously earning passive income into my bank account. It requires effort and learning to establish these methods, but once people begin using, downloading, and purchasing your products, you can enjoy the benefits.
Below are the top methods for earning money utilizing Canva.
1. Become a Contributor
If you are a graphic designer seeking to earn additional money and receive more recognition, Canva might be the solution for you. By becoming a contributor on Canva, you can take advantage of the chances to display your abilities and expand your customer network.
By participating, you will also assist Canva in broadening its media and element collections, benefiting both parties. Canva boasts a substantial user base, as it is utilized by more than 65 million individuals in 179 countries. This offers your work a vast potential audience.
All you have to do is upload your designs and you can earn money every time someone uses them in Canva.
2. Sell your Canva templates
Canva’s Creator marketplace offers an opportunity for talented designers to earn passive income by creating and selling templates, elements, and educational resources in various categories such as social media graphics, logos, banners, eBooks, infographics, presentations, resumes, flyers, posters, business cards, and more. This platform provides everything necessary for designing high-quality content.
3. Sell your design service
Are you someone who is passionate about graphic design and enjoys creating visually appealing designs for various platforms such as social media, presentations, eBooks, and beyond?
That is very impressive!
If you’re skilled in Canva graphic design, you have the opportunity to make money from your passion! The first step is to determine your level of design experience. Next, assess your abilities and set your rates based on how you can help your potential clients with their business challenges.
Once you have completed those tasks, proceed to create your gig and advertise your Canva design service on freelance platforms such as Fiverr.com. Give it a try and assess its effectiveness!
4. Sell t-shirt designs
Canva is a highly popular website for designing personalized t-shirts. In order to create designs that people find appealing and wish to purchase, as a t-shirt designer, you need to understand the preferences of the general public.
An advantageous aspect is that Canva provides the option to create T-shirts and allows your clients to easily purchase customized T-shirts, which Canva will deliver for free to their doorstep. Additionally, you can consider using user-friendly eCommerce website builders such as Shopify to effortlessly create and sell your T-shirt designs on your own website.
In order to profit from a design, one must possess skilled-level design abilities in addition to creating the design itself.
5. Teach canva on your blog and youTube
Teaching others how to do things is one of the approaches to making your business grow. It greatly benefits my own business. Ultimately, the objective remains to inspire individuals and demonstrate that they can create something remarkable, regardless of their skill level, be it novice or expert.
Start by creating a blog where you can share your ideas and how-tos on Canva with your audience. Another opportunity is to make how-to videos about Canva on YouTube and include YouTube ads on those videos.
Additionally, you have the option to include affiliate links in the description of your video, which can help increase your earnings.
6. Print on demand
Print on Demand is a lucrative side hustle that can generate thousands of dollars every month. The way it works is by designing various items:
- t-shirts
- mugs
- wall art
- tote bags
- and tons of other products
Although it may seem overwhelming, Canva offers a vast array of templates and graphics that can be customized or modified to create distinct designs. Afterward, the following step involves sharing these designs on platforms such as:
- Redbubble
- Amazon (through Merch by Amazon)
- Etsy (through a print-on-demand service provider like Printify)
You have the freedom to determine the price for each product and receive a royalty whenever it is sold. The interesting aspect is that you don’t have to handle any inventory as the platform takes care of all aspects including production, packaging, shipping, and fulfillment.
7. Design and sell printables and digital products
Printable products are currently very popular because people enjoy the convenience of being able to download them quickly and print them in the comfort of their own homes. So, what exactly are they printing?
- Calendars
- Art illustrations
- Journals
- Planners
- Budget templates
- Meal planners
- Intake forms
- Checklists
- and more — anything you can think of that could be useful to people
Once you have created and uploaded your items, Etsy would be the optimal platform to sell them as it has a vast user base of millions of individuals who are ready to purchase and the entire process is nearly entirely automated.
8. Low content books
Additionally, there exists a distinct group of books that can be easily produced. These books are referred to as low-content books and encompass the following:
- log books
- puzzle books
- sketchbooks
- music composition notebooks
- coloring books (for kids and for adults)
- planners
- journals
- anything else with pages to be filled in by the buyer (not by you)
You may find it surprising, but it is possible to directly sell these low-content books on Amazon. To earn $1-4 per copy automatically, all you have to do is create and upload your products.
9. Make ads
Have you ever desired to emulate Don Draper from Mad Men? This is your opportunity.
Digital marketers are in constant demand as new businesses are established each month, requiring assistance in promoting their message through advertisements on various platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Freelance work can be pursued through platforms like Fiverr or Upwork, and you may also choose to establish a digital marketing agency. As an example, I discovered freelance banner designers on Upwork earning around $25-35 per hour.
Canva simplifies the process of creating captivating designs that will impress your customers and enhance your reputation as a marketing expert.
10. Create marketing videos
Many individuals are unaware that Canva offers a video editor that is user-friendly and instinctive. Consequently, there is no need to incur expenses on professional video editing software or hiring a person to edit visually appealing videos. This editor can be utilized to swiftly create marketing videos and advertisements for local small businesses lacking the financial resources to engage an agency.
One way to simplify the process is by creating a video portfolio that can be presented to potential clients. Afterwards, you have the option to send it via email or personally meet with them to present your ideas. Various businesses such as Airbnbs, hairdressers, cafes, and bars utilize these promotional videos on their social media platforms, advertisements, or website to highlight their offerings and amenities.
11. Create social media content
Every business is required to generate and release content for social media platforms such as:
- TikTok
Not all content can be repurposed for other social media platforms, but you can easily create engaging posts in Canva using the library templates and content available.
Clients, similar to Design Pickle, are charged a minimum of $500 per month for the design service provided to them, resulting in the generation of income.
12. Join the canva affiliate program
One way to make money with Canva if you already have an audience is to join their affiliate program, which involves recommending their product or service to others through your unique link in order to earn money.
Canva consists of three tiers.
- Free
- Pro
- Teams
Once you enroll in the program, Canva will provide you with a unique tracking link and access to custom banners to share. For each new person you refer who subscribes to Canva Pro, Canva will pay you up to $36. Subscribed users will enjoy unlimited access to all of the platform’s features.
13. Launch a canva course
If you have a good understanding of Canva, you are able to create and publish a course on platforms such as Teachable, Skillshare, or Udemy.
If you already have an audience, it is more profitable to sell directly to them and use a platform such as Teachable. However, if you do not have a pre-existing online following, Udemy and Skillshare are the ideal platforms to host your course.
If you sell a course on Udemy, you will receive payment for each purchase made. Highly successful instructors are making thousands of dollars every month. If you teach on Skillshare, you will earn royalties each month according to the amount of time viewers spend watching your classes. Skillshare already has numerous Canva classes with thousands of students, indicating its popularity.
Given the immense power of Canva, it would likely be wise to focus on a particular sub-niche initially, such as:
- Creating and selling Canva templates
- Using Canva to create printables
- Making TikTok videos in Canva
- Editing videos for Pinterest or Instagram reels with Canva
To effectively guide your students, it is not necessary to be the foremost authority in the subject matter. It suffices to have a modest lead over them. By sharing your proven methods, advice, and shortcuts, you will enable them to feel content and confident enough to apply their freshly acquired skills.
14. Start a canva consulting or coaching business
Despite Canva’s existing popularity among both individual creators and Fortune 500 companies, there is still a significant number of individuals who desire to use it but lack the knowledge of how to do so.
Even individuals who find tools like Canva to be intuitive may still require assistance or seek someone to educate them or provide training for their team. The potential earnings from conducting team training sessions could range from $2,000-5,000 or potentially even higher, depending on the company’s size and department.
The best way to advertise your Canva consulting business is on YouTube. One formula I like comes from Paul Minors. In his videos, he’d introduce himself as an Asana consultant, and then go over a specific tutorial: how to do xyz in Asana.
His specific answers to questions and demonstration of expertise led to the success of these services, resulting in some of his viewers seeking his consulting services.
15. The canva creator program
As of late 2022, Canva’s Creator program is temporarily on hold, which is their method of getting design elements for the site from the crowd. The process involves creating and uploading design elements.
- Graphics and illustrations
- Photos
- Videos
- Educational resources
- Templates
Firstly, Canva calculates the popularity of your content. Then, you receive payment in accordance with its popularity. Every month, Canva divides a portion of the revenue generated from its Pro subscriptions among its Creators.
