How To Create A Pinterest Pin On Canva

Pinterest is an amazing platform for promoting and building traffic to your blog. If you are serious about blogging then you will definitely want to take full advantage of Pinterest. It is a great way to get free traffic to your blog or website. To take advantage of Pinterest, you will first need to know how to create a Pinterest pin on Canva to promote your article, blog post or product. This article will tell you exactly how to do it step by step so that you can be on your way to plenty of traffic in the future!

To better understand why Pinterest is such a crucial platform for building and sustaining long term traffic, we must first take a look at some of the stats. Pinterest is steadily growing and continues to be a front runner in the war for social media dominance.

Why you should create a Pinterest Pin on Canva to promote your blog or website:

When it comes to driving high quality traffic to your blog or website, search engines are number one and Pinterest is number two. Search engines have an obvious history of sending quality traffic because when someone has a question and needs an answer, the first place they go is the search engine. Pinterest is a close second due to it’s high converting traffic.

Here are some quick stats!

Pinterest is the third largest social media network in the United States.
Pinterest had 442 million active users as of the third quarter of 2020 according to Statista.com.
98 million of those users were in the United States.
Pinterest reached ten million unique monthly visitors quicker than any website in history.
Pinterest’s revenue exceeded one billion dollars in 2019.
They are considered the tenth most relevant brand in the United States.
Moms love Pinterest and account for over 80% of its users.
Over 43% of internet users in the United States have a Pinterest account.
The majority of Pinterest users are high income households who earn over $75,000 annually.
There are more than two billion Pinterest searches every month.

That should be enough reasons to convince you of the power of Pinterest when it comes to driving quality traffic to your blog or website. Let’s get to the steps for “How To Create A Pinterest Pin On Canva?”.

1. Sign up for a free or paid Canva account

First you will need to decide which Canva account is right for you. They have five options to choose from when you sign up. Here is a quick look at each option and the benefits.

Free Account
Perfect for a small blogger or website owner that needs to create and download professional looking graphics for any niche. Sign up here!
Pro Account
This is great for the small blogger or website owner as well. The main difference is you get to use better graphics and tools for creating your designs. I recommend this if you plan on creating a lot of pins on Pinterest and don’t want to use the same graphics everyone else is using in the free version. Try it free for 30 days!
Enterprise Account
A good choice for large businesses who want an integrated tool to keep their overall brand identity consistent. Great for managing a brand with a team. Try it free for 30 days!
Education
This is perfect for teachers who need a creative and powerful tool to help assist in their classroom teaching endeavors. Sign up here!
Nonprofits
Nonprofit organizations can sign up for a free Pro Canva account. Apply today.

For beginners, I recommend signing up for the free account to get your feet wet. You can play around and get use to the program. It is fairly easy to use and understand. For more experienced bloggers and website owners who are serious about making a living via their blog or website, I recommend the pro account for the extra advantage amongst the sea of other competitors.

2. Login to your Canva account

Now that you have chosen the right account for your specific needs it is time to login and get started. To login simply click the login button and enter your email and password you used when signing up. But before you learn exactly how to create a pinterest pin on Canva, take some time to get familiar with the platform.

The Home Page

Once you are logged in you will see a ton of options on the main homepage of your account. It will provide you with a lot of recommended options for creating your first graphic. Canva is great for creating several different designs. Although we will be learning specifically how to create a pinterest pin on Canva, the options are endless.

Some of the graphics you can create in Canva

Business Cards
Cards
Desktop Wallpapers
Infographics
Flyers
Graphs
Instagram Posts
Logos
Newsletters
Pinterest Pins
Photo Collages
Posters
Presentations
Resumes
Videos

All of your previous designs will be kept on this main page as well under the recommendations for future use if you need them.

Do some exploring with the main menu on the left hand side that includes:

All your designs
This links to a page with all of your previous designs that you created.
Shared with you
This page will include any designs from other team members if you decide to set up a team in the future to expand your business.
Brand Kit
This links to a page for setting up your brand should you decide to upgrade.
Create a team
This page is for setting up a team of graphic designers if you plan on expanding your business in the future or need help accomplishing several graphic design tasks.
All your folders
This is a page with all of your Canva folders including: All your designs, Likes, Purchased, Share with you, Uploads and Trash
Trash
This links to a page with all of your previous trash just in case you need to recover a previous design that you threw away.

3. Create a design

Now it is time to create your design. In the top right corner of the home page, you will see a link that says “Create your design.” Click this link and a search box will pop up with some suggestions. This is where you will determine the size of your design. For the sake of this article we will be creating a Pinterest pin so type in “Pinterest pin” and click on it when it pops up. The size will be 1000 x 1500 px.

This will take you to the Canva workspace which is set up really well and very easy to navigate. You will see a menu on the left side with several options for designing your graphic or in this case pin.

4. Choose a template for your Pinterest pin

Pinterest has plenty of templates for your to choose from when creating your pin. The templates are premade and set up to make it super easy on you. You don’t really need any graphic design knowledge to create your first design. Find a template that is visually stunning and that is going to grab peoples attention.

Hint:
You wan’t to make your Pinterest pin stands out. That means looking at what everyone else is doing and doing something completely different. With over 240 billion pins, you will definitely want to make an effort to go against the grain! Kat Sullivan has accrued over 500,000 repins and has some great advice on this topic! Check out her video!

How to Create Viral Pins on Pinterest

Template Categories

Choose a template from one of the categories provided.

Recently used
Once you create some pins using templates they will start showing up here for easy access in the future.
Pinterest Video Pins
Video pins are great because they are more engaging which can lead to more clicks. Some of these premade video templates are great.
Food Pinterest Pins
Pinterest is a huge platform and traffic generator for food bloggers. If this is your niche, use a high quality food photo and add some big bold text.
Wedding Pinterest Pins
Weddings are another hot topic on Pinterest. These templates feature some nice elegant designs perfect for the wedding niche.
Birthday Pinterest Pins
People spend a lot of money on their children’s birthday parties and will spare no expense when it comes to their kids. These templates cater to this once a year event with some bold designs.
All results
Here you will find the rest of the templates for all other categories. You can also search templates using the search box at the top of the templates workspace.

Like I said, find something that is going to make people look with bold colors and good information. Keep it simple and don’t make it too busy. Think about an idea that people will want to share and design it accordingly. Choose your template and let’s move on to step number five.

5. Upload and insert your photo

Now that you have chosen a template, it is time to upload the photo you plan on using for your Pinterest pin.

Original photos are the best but if you need to find a free photo to use, you can check out Pexels.com. It is a completely free stock photo site with tons of free photos for you to use on your blog or website.

If you want something more original, check out Adobe Stock Photos. I use them for my blog and have been very pleased. You get 10 very high quality photos a month for $29.99. You can sign up for a free 30-day trial here.

Here are some quick tips for a good photo

Capture everyday moments that will connect with people on a human level.
Take seasonal pictures that coincide with the time of year.
Use pictures with people or pets, I mean who can resist a cute puppy!
Try black and white photos to stand out from the crowd.
Make sure to use high quality images.
Use photos that will peak peoples curiosity and make them want to click.
Try different patterns and textures.
Use bright bold colors.

Now that you have a good photo picked out it is time to upload!

How to upload your photo

Click “uploads” on the left side menu in the Canva workspace. You will see a button at the top that says “Upload media.” Click the link and a menu will appear. Choose “Device” if you are uploading a picture file from your computer which is usually the case. Find the folder with your picture, select it and click open.

Your photo will now download into the Canva workspace and will remain there for future use. To add your photo to the template, simply click on the photo. Once the photo appears in the template, you can drag the corners to get the appropriate size and placement. Now that you have a template and your photo is in place, lets add some elements.

6. Add elements to your template

Click on the elements button on the left side menu in the workspace. This is where you can get creative and add some shapes to your template. There are several options but keep it simple. A lot of times I don’t even use any elements, just a simple picture and some eye catching text will do the trick. However, if you decide you need an element for your pin, go ahead and find the correct element and select it.

Here are some of the elements available

Lines – Several types of lines are available including solid, dashed and dotted.
Shapes – Some of the most useful elements which include the usual circles, rectangles and squares.
Frames – These are similar to masks which will fit your picture to the shape of the frame.
Stickers – These include a lot of animated stickers for your pin.
Charts – There are several styles of charts which are good for a infographics.
Grids – Similar to frames, these will help you arrange pictures on your pin and hold them in place.
Gradients – There are many colorful gradients which make for a nice colorful pin.

These are only some of the elements available in the workspace. Play around with them and make sure to scroll all the way down for a look at the rest of the elements. Now we can move on to the last step which is adding some text to your Pinterest pin.

7. Add text to your template

Now comes one of the most important parts of your Pinterest pin, the text. This is what is hopefully going to grab the attention of your audience and be captivating enough to make them want to click through to your pin. You want the text to be bold and stand out amidst a sea of other pins. Click on the text button on the left side of the workspace to see the available text options.

You will see three main options at the top which include headings, subheadings and body text. Below that you will see some premade text options if your feeling frisky. I normally stick to the basic simple text options for my pins. Select the header option for example and it will place the text on your template. You then simply type your text and wallah you are ready to go!

Here are some tips for adding text

Use a clear and bold text font that stand out against your pin.
Use a color that contrasts your picture. An example would be a light color against a dark picture and vice versa.
Keep it short and simple. People scroll through a lot of pins and don’t have time to read everything.
Use a number on your pin if possible. An example would be “Top 10 Must Have Plugins For WordPress.”
Give the reader some valuable information that may give them a reason to repin or share your pin.

Now that you have added your text, you should be ready to go. Make any final adjustments to your pin and you are good to go! You have learned how to create a Pinterest pin on Canva! Now it is time to name your pin and then download, save or submit it to Pinterest.

8. Save and submit your Pinterest Pin on Canva

Go ahead and give your Pinterest pin a title. At te top of the workspace you will see a box with the words “Untitled design – Pinterest Pin.” Click in this box and fill it in with the title of your pin. Now you are ready to share your pin. You have a few options at this point which include:

Download – You can download the pin to your computer for future use. You an also use an app such as the Tail Wind App to schedule your Pinterest pins for certain dates.
Share – If you have a team setup, you can share your design with other team members so that they can give you feedback or make adjustments.
Publish to Pinterest – You can publish your pin straight to Pinterest from the Canva workspace. Just click on the button at the top right to submit your pin. You will need to pick a board from your Pinterest account and then fill in the title, description and destination website.