How to Make a Website in Canva — Your One-stop Guide

Oh! I want to start an online business, but I don’t have a website or a landing page to showcase my products.

What’s worse, I don’t have any knowledge about website design. Is there any way I can create a simple website for my business even if I’m a complete newbie in this field?

The good news is that Canva now offers a beta feature for creating websites — for free! 

So, if you’re raring to learn how to create your simple yet eye-catching website on Canva, better keep reading.

 

How to Make a Website in Canva

First, search for a website template by using the search bar function on Canva’s home page. Click the template you’ll use. Then, start customizing by adding elements, editing the text, and embedding videos, links, and audio. Then, select the Publish as Website button to make it go live.

 

Creating Websites in Canva — Basic Steps to Follow

You’d probably think creating websites out of a graphic design tool’s way out of its league. But, websites that are not only functional but eye-catching and increase click-through rate and traffic all boils down to how pleasant the site looks.

Yet, there’s no need to master web designing to do so. Canva’s got the perfect solution for this dilemma that even newbies can enjoy creating one.

Step 1: On Canva’s home page, head to the search bar and type “website.” You’ll then see 3 website options: Website, Bio-Link Website, and Mobile-First Website (if you can’t find them in the options, just type those terms in the search bar directly). In this tutorial, we will go with a Mobile-First template. However, if you follow along our tutorial video from above, you will find that we went with a regular website template (desktop).

For sample purposes, we’ll choose the Mobile-First Website option so the resulting website you create is already optimized for phone screens.

But, depending on the purpose behind your website creation, you can choose one out of the 3 options. 

Just know that the Website template is set at 1350 x 650 px, the Bio-Link Website template is at 1080 x 1920 px size, and the Mobile-First Website’s at 1080 x 1920 px size as well.

Step 2: In the template gallery that appears, scroll down until you see the design you want to use for your website.

You definitely can start with a blank template, but, if you’re a complete greenhorn with web designing, you better start with pre-made ones.

Click on a website template you’ll use so you’ll be redirected to the editor page.

Step 3: Once you’re on the editor page, you can finally begin customizing your website.

If you don’t like some parts of the template, you can delete those pages by clicking the Delete button found in the upper right corner of the current page.

Then, head to the Templates tab and find another template style you’d like to add. Click on that page to add it to your current design.

Step 4: You can do a preliminary check of the arrangement of your pages by clicking on the Page Manager button at the bottom of the editor page. 

This will allow you to view Canva pages side by side.

Then, simply rearrange the order of the pages if you’re not satisfied with how the current one looks. 

Once you’re done, click the Page Manager button again to exit the grid view.

Step 5: After arranging your pages, begin editing the individual elements of the design.

Start by changing the background of the template. You can opt to use one from the Photos tab on the left side menu, or you can also use your images by importing them through the Uploads tab.

Drag the said photo into the canvas and wait for the picture to replace the original image used. 

You can then adjust the crop positioning by double-clicking on the image and dragging it accordingly.

If you prefer a plain color, just click on the background of the canvas and select the color picker tile in the editor toolbar. You’ll then be able to choose from Default colors or add Custom hues.

Step 6: Next, add buttons to your website design. These buttons will help guide your audience to navigate your design, as well as learn more about what your website has to offer.

To add clickable buttons, head to the Elements tab first and search for one using the search bar function.

Then, choose a button design you’d like to use and drag it to your project. Edit its look by selecting it and clicking the color picker tile on the editor toolbar.

Choose from the default colors available or add custom ones through the rainbow-colored “+” tile.

You can even place the button behind the text so it serves as a placeholder for that particular text, aside from making it more visible to the audience.

You can read more about layering in Canva to help you out with this process. 

For added effect, you can also add click stickers to help you show your audience where to click. Head again to the Elements tab and search for those stickers through the search bar.

Continue adding these clickable buttons to other pages of your design wherever they’re applicable.

Step 7: To make the clickable buttons work, you need to add links. 

To achieve this feat, you first need to head back to the website you want to link with the one you’re creating.

Copy the URL from the address bar, then head back to Canva, select the button before clicking the Link button on the editor toolbar. 

Paste the website URL in the box provided before selecting the Apply button to finalize the linking.

Repeat this step until all your clickable buttons have links attached to them.

Step 8: To make your audience stay longer on your site, you can add videos (if you have some) so they can watch them from the site directly.

You can achieve this step by embedding videos. Copy the embed link of that particular footage then, head back to the editor page and select the More tab.

Then, in the right-side panel that appears, select the Embed button and paste the link you copied earlier in the box provided. 

After which, just click the Add to Design button to finalize the embedding process.

Continue doing this step for all the pages where you want to embed videos into. Then, position the embedded videos accordingly by dragging them across the page.

You can even resize them to make them fit your design.

Step 9: After editing the other elements of your website design, you can now focus on the text components.

If, again, you want to remove some of the text boxes, just click on that particular text box and press Delete on your keyboard.

You can opt to resize the text boxes, and even fill the text box with color to make them stand out more on your website.

But, changing the font style of the text on your website design can be quite tedious to do individually. 

So, a faster way you can do this is to click the More tab on the left side panel and select the Styles button.

Then, click the Fonts tab and select the font style combinations you want to use. Select the Apply to all pages option so that font style will be used for all the text on your design.

Step 10: To further customize the look of your website, head to the Colors tab in the Styles gallery to select a color scheme.

Click on the Shuffle button to see how the colors play on the site itself. Repeat this step until you customized the look of your website.

Step 11: Before you publish your website, don’t forget to change the name of the design file. 

This step is important especially if you’re using a pre-made template as the name of the file will appear as your website’s name.

Step 12: Once you’re satisfied with how you designed your website, click the Publish as Website button on the menu bar so you can share it.

In the dropdown menu that appears, select the Web style you’d like to use: Presentation, Scrolling, Classic Navigation, and Standard.

These Web style options are the various ways your audience can navigate through the website. You can click on them first to check how the navigation styles work on your website.

But, if you’re aiming for a website that looks good both on desktop and mobile, the Scrolling web style’s your best bet.

Then, select the Open website button to have a preview of your Canva-designed website.

Do a thorough review of the website, including checking the functionality of the clickable buttons you added.

You can even check if the QR codes you created in Canva work (in case you added one instead of hyperlinking). 

If you’re planning to share the link of your website, just head to the address bar and copy the link indicated.

However, you can opt to shorten the link by using link shortener sites like Bitly.com. 

Remember, the shorter the name in the link, the better will your audience recall your website.

And, just like that, you’ve created an aesthetic and functional website. 

But, do note that this website designing feature’s still in Beta mode, so expect some limitations with what you can do with it.

 

Frequently Asked Questions about How to Create a Free Website in Canva

 

Can you shorten the link that Canva generated after publishing the website?

The only way for you to shorten the Canva-generated link is to head to a third-party site like Bitly.com. Copy the Canva-generated link and paste it in Bitly. You can then change how the link’s named in Bitly.

 

Is it possible to add shopping carts on your Canva website if you intend to use it as an online store?

The current features of web designing in Canva don’t support the addition of shopping carts. It’s best to use other platforms like WordPress or Shopify instead. But, you can link your online catalog to the Canva-designed website through clickable buttons.

 

Do viewers need to have a Canva account to view the website you created?

While you need to sign in to your Canva account to create a website in it, viewers don’t need to have one for them to see it. The viewers will only need to type the URL of your website onto the address bar to be able to access it.

 

Can you share your newly-designed website as a template if you’re planning to sell them?

Like other designs made in Canva, you can share the website design you created as a template. Just head to the Share button on the menu bar, click the “v” button and choose the Share a link to use as template option. Copy the link before sending it to your client.

 

Do you need to have your own hosting account to publish a Canva website?

Owning a hosting account is not necessary as you can host your website on Canva for free. However, if you do have your own hosting, you can indeed publish your website on your own server.