Canva: My Go-To Design Program

I used to hate Canva. I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about when it first came out.  Everyone raved about how easy it was to create e-books, Pinterest pins, and blog graphics…but every time I designed something it looked horrible. Nothing came out looking very professional, and I was completely fed up with it. So much so I found myself designing all of my e-books and my Editor’s Business binder in Photoshop.

Yes, you heard me right: Photoshop, the world’s worst program for creating written PDF guides. Photoshop allowed me to design my book however I wanted, but it was a HUGE pain to have to go back and edit it if I found a mistake. Not only that, but my incredibly tech-savvy husband had to help me add clickable links to it every time I exported it. To say it wasn’t ideal is an understatement, but it worked for me.

Looking for Something Better

Honestly, I thought Canva was just another “jump on this bandwagon” thing that would be gone as soon as it arrived. Then one day, I stumbled upon some templates on Creative Market.

“Design eye-catching, optimized graphics that encourage clicks to your site, create a workbook to use as a lead magnet that converts visitors into e-mail subscribers, and achieve a higher conversion rate with engaging opt-in buttons,” it said. Oooh…tell me more!

“Plus, you can use Canva’s foolproof (and free!) drag-and-drop platform to export branded graphics with a consistent look and feel every single time, to help your blog and business stand out…”

“Ugh…Canva?” I thought. But I couldn’t help but feel excited by the templates, and clicked on the designer’s website to learn more. I instantly fell in love with this brand.

Basil & Bark

Basil and Bark captivated me immediately. They offered templates from webinar slide decks to pricing guides to Podcast promo graphics. Basically you name it and they had a bundle ready to be customized in Canva. Originally I had three templates I really wanted to buy, but being my frugal self, I decided to take a chance on just one template pack at first. After payment was confirmed, I immediately imported it into Canva and prayed my investment wasn’t a waste of money.

That was the day I realized something so simple, I’m almost embarrassed to admit it. What I thought I hated about Canva really wasn’t an issue with Canva. It all boiled down to the fact that I had been using terrible templates.

Because Canva was a free program, I ended up using a bunch of their free templates in the beginning. Each one had me walking away feeling frustrated and disappointed. But if you have the right tools and the right templates, the possibilities become so much more limitless.

Finally Realizing the Truth about Canva

I FINALLY realized what everyone was talking about when Canva became one of the most talked-about programs available. Canva IS an incredible program, as long as you have the right templates (at least for us non-designers). With the right templates, I was able to easily create an entire PDF file WITH clickable links all within this one program. I created multiple beautiful Pinterest pins for my blog post within a minute.

Now I can’t design anything WITHOUT Canva, which is why I took the plunge and purchased the pro version for the year. It has been well-worth the investment. I now have access to TONS of templates, graphics, videos, and many other resources that have taken my contesnt to the next level. I’ve even used Canva to help create video intros and outros to my YouTube videos (that I do for fun) and I think the result is amazing.

So head on over to Canva and check it out! The freebie version is awesome, but you may also consider investing into the pro version if you want to step up your business game this year. I highly recommend either version for your business!

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