How to Create Your FREE Website with Canva – Step by Step

Having a website is essential for any business in this modern era. But sometimes creating a website can be intimidating. Especially for non-tech people. Worry no more! Now, you can create a website in Canva.

With Canva, you can create a professional-looking website. And publishing a live website is completely free and super easy.

Since last year, Canva has launched a new feature, a website design. Now you can create a website without having coding skills.

In this blog post, I’ll show you how to create a website for free using Canva.

This tutorial will help you get up and running in no time to establish an online presence.

The benefit of Creating a Website

Here are some of the benefits of having a website:

1. Promoting your business or services and reaching out bigger audience. You can show your potential customer the products or services that you offer. And you can share your website, so it is easy to people to find you.
2. For branding purposes. Your website will likely represent your personality. Choosing colors, fonts, and images that suit your personality and needs
3. A website is a tool to showcase your skills, your knowledge and provide proof of your abilities.

Before creating a website, it is important to clearly understand the goal you want to achieve. Whether it’s a service web, a personal web, or a portfolio.

Having a beautiful website is also important. So you can stand out from the crowd competition. The next part is choosing the colors, font style, and layout.

Your design should align with your brand and the message you bring should answer your audience’s needs.

By taking the time to plan and prepare before the website design process. You can ensure that the website is both visually appealing and effective in achieving your goals.

Without further ado, let’s jump in to create the Website in Canva!

Creating a Website in Canva – Step by Step

STEP 1 Sign Up for a Canva Account

Go to the Canva homepage. Sign in if you already have an account. If you don’t, you can sign up in an instant. All you need is to create your username and provide your email address, and then you are ready!

STEP 2 Choose a template

When you have already logged in, in the search tab type ‘website.’ Canva has hundreds of ready-made templates to choose from.

Some templates are free, but ones with a crown symbol need paying or are free for Canva Pro accounts. Choose the template that suits your needs and style. Start with a simple template as it is easier to tweak and customize.

STEP 3 Customize the design

Now is the fun part.

Once you have selected the template, you can start customizing it to fit your preferences.

Starting by changing the colors, fonts, and uploading your images, add your content. Change the layout or add more pages.

Add a call to action (CTA) button and don’t forget to hyperlink all the buttons you have.

STEP 4 Add Page Title and Navigation Bar

Adding a page title to each page and linking them to the navigation bar. Now, your can navigate through the content without having to scroll down. It will also make your website look more professional and user-friendly.

Additionally, add a navigation bar at the bottom of the page. So when they are already at the bottom page, and they can choose which page they want to see without scrolling back to the top.

STEP 5 Review the settings

Before publishing, review your website to make sure that it’s free of errors, typos, and inconsistencies.

Also, check the layout on desktop and mobile. Always check the font size to make sure that the text is big enough to read on the mobile version.

Go through your pages to make sure the design, content, and formatting are professional and easy to read. Check all the buttons have the correct link.

STEP 5 Publishing your website

Once you’re satisfied with the design and content of your website, you can publish it. There are 3 steps before you actually publish your website

1. Choose your domain. There are many options for how you would like to have a domain for your website. You can either choose a free domain which free, buy a domain through Canva or you can use your existing domain. Click Continue
2. Now you add the subdomain. You can have up to 5 websites on your free domain. Choose your domain name.
3. Press the publish button, and now your website is live.
   

You can edit your website from time to time, but make sure to republish it so it can save the changes you made.

Congratulations!! You just made a website.

To view the website that we just made, click this link or copy and paste this URL: https://portoweb.my.canva.site/.

Best Practices in Creating a Website in Canva

Some best practices or tips for your Canva website:
Canva allows up to 5 subdomains under the same domain. So if you want another website, it will under the same domain. You can then link them.

For example. I have created a portfolio website, the URL for this portfolio is https://portoweb.my.canva.site/portfolio. I can not change the domain, so the portfolio is the subdomain. If you click the ‘See my portfolio’ button on the first website, it will redirect to this second website, It’s not on the one-page website that we created.

Another impressive thing about Canva. You can add a video right into Canva or embed a video from Youtube.

Conclusion

Building a website using Canva is the most affordable and simple way. You can add text, images, and videos and even publish the website without needing to go into another website or need to download any plugins.

It’s a great choice if you want to create a one-page website for your portfolio, special events, or personal website. But to unlock some pro features and wider access to photos and elements in Canva you need a Pro account. If your content is more complex or you need a website with a content management system you may consider building a website using WordPress or Squarepress.

Related: How to Create a Client Welcome Packet

Is it free to create a website in Canva

Canva has a free and paid version. You can use the free version to create a website. However, the paid version has more flexibility and more premium elements to choose from.

Can I add my email to the Canva website?

Follow these steps to add your email address:

1. Click and highlight the button or any words
2. Click the chain symbol to link it with your email address
3. Type your email address and press enter
   

How do I edit my Canva website after publishing?

Editing your Canva website:

1. After login into your Canva account, click the design you’ve created
2. On the top right corner click ‘Edit design’
3. Once you finished editing, click ‘Publish Website’
4. Click continue and then ‘Publish’
   When you edit the website, you need to publish again so it saves the changes you made.