How I Created my First Fillable Etsy Printable on Canva

If you're a blogger and have searched for the best ways to make money from your blog, then you've likely come across the suggestion 'sell printables on Etsy'. I know I have, over and over again. It made me think that surely there must be something to it. Since this is my year of trying everything to see what works, I decided to give it a try. A printable is a digital file that people can buy and then download onto their computer. They can then print them out and use them, hence the name 'printable'. Popular printables include planners and checklists, which people print and physically add to their binders for example, or use digitally. This post is about how I created my first fillable printable to sell on Etsy.

I recently wrote a post titled 'How To Have a Perfect Beach Day with a Toddler in 8 Steps!' inspired by a trip we took to the beach with our baby girl. I decided to make a 'Baby Beach Day' Checklist for other moms to use, and that's the printable I'll be talking about in this post.

Why I chose Canva

A large majority of the articles I read on creating an Etsy printable advised using Canva for the design. It just so happens that Canva is a tool that I already use and love. Virtually all my graphics are designed on there, so for me, this was a no-brainer. So, this post will guide you through how that program works. You don't have to use Canva though, if you have a different program that you like, just use that.

Step 1: Sign up or Sign in to Canva

If you don’t have an account, you can sign up in a few minutes for free. There are paid versions of Canva that unlock more features, but I’ve honestly used the free version for YEARS and it has everything I need.

Step 2: Decide What Printable you’ll Be Creating

In Canva, the first step is to pick the size of the design you'd like to make. Templates are set to specific, and generally standard sizes, so this step is often automatically taken care of by just choosing the correct template. However, if you're starting from scratch, you'll need to input the exact dimensions you want your design to be. So, you need to know exactly what kind of printable you're designing before you start. In my case, I wanted to make a 'Baby Beach Day Checklist' printable. I wanted to create it in 2 sizes, A5 and letter size. So, that's the example I'll be referring to throughout this post.

Note: Resizing is possible on Canva, but only for the paid subscription. If you're using the free version, you will not be able to resize your design after creating it.

Step 3: Choose and Edit a Template

Start a new project and choose the template that best suits what you're trying to achieve. In my case, I chose a letter-size template to make my 'Baby Beach Day' checklist. As this is baby-related, it made sense to pick a cute, childish theme. From there, I edited the elements it comes with to suit my needs. For me, this is the fun part where I get to play graphic designer but with way less work because I'm not starting from scratch (which you can, if you want).

Edit the fonts, copy, colors, and elements to create the exact effect that you want. For example, I deleted flowers and added a beach ball and a sun hat as graphic elements to my design because that is more fitting for the checklist I was making. Canva is very intuitive and it allows you to easily drag and drop any elements you may need.

Expand and Examine, and Tweak your Design

You may need to zoom in on your design to work on a particular section. Don't forget to zoom out periodically so you can get a feel for the net effect of the changes you're making and so you can be sure you're still on the right track. See something you don't like? Change it. Not sure if you'll like a change you want to make? Then duplicate the page you're working on and make the change on one of them, this way if you decide you don't actually like it you can just delete that page and still have the original. Canva allows you to duplicate any page as many times as you like, so you can try things confidently.

Step 4: Download your Design

Now that your design is done, you can go ahead and download it. There are a few format options available, and I typically download my printable files as PDFs. Canva offers a standard PFD and a print PDF which is a higher quality, but larger size. Choose the one that's best for you. In most cases, the standard version is good enough and it doesn't take up too much space. This is important since some places you'll want to upload to may have size limits. But, this will depend on what you're designing and what you're using it for. Use your judgment. For my printable, I used the high-quality print PDF since it was just one page, and I had no issues uploading it to Etsy.

Step 5: Resize the Design to give your Buyers Options

If you want to make your design available for download in more than one size, as I did, then you have to do everything we've just done all over again, but this time starting with the different size template that you want to offer your printable in. In my case, I recreated the design in A5 size. I recommend offering more than one size of printable. At the very least offer the A4/ letter and A5/ half letter sizes. These are the most common planner sizes, and you don't want someone to not buy from you because you didn't have the size they wanted. It's a little effort you only have to make once and you can reap the rewards from it indefinitely.

Make your Printable Fillable

Fillable (as the name suggests) simply means that someone can download the printable and fill it out in the digital form. Most people are on their phones or some other digital device, so offering this option is a must in today's marketplace.

I use dochub.com to make my digital documents fillable. You can sign in with your Google account, or create a new account if you don't have a Google account, so it's accessible to just about everyone. Dochub is primarily used to fill in documents like contracts online, so it allows you to add different fillable fields like 'date' and signature'. It's a really useful tool that I highly recommend for a multitude of uses.

Step 6: Make your Printable Fillable:

Sign in and click 'New Document', upload your printable and then click 'Manage Fields' (second icon from the left). From here you can drag and drop any of the available fields such as the: text fields; check fields (for checklists), and paragraph fields- just to name the few I used for my printable. You'll know what fields best suit your printable and just choose and use them as needed. Allow yourself some time to get used to how the form fields work. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but once I did, it was super quick. I filled in my second form in half the time of my first.

Once you're done adding the fillable fields to your document, I suggest you rename it. Just add 'Fillable' to the current name, so that you and your customers can distinguish between the different files. Then click the 'download/export' button and in a few minutes, the fillable file will be in your downloads (or wherever you save it).

Note: The download page will be automatically set to the default/ free option. Leave it as is and just click download. The other options that offer services like password protecting the document etc. are for the Pro/ paid version, which you don't need.

Create Product Pictures on Canva

You know when you go shopping online, like on Etsy for example, when you click on a product it has all those pictures that help you decide if you want to buy it or not. They show the product from different angles, they show how people use the product and they convince you to 'add to cart'. You need to create those pictures for your product so your potential buyers have that same experience as they browse your printable. Show them how your printable improves or simplifies their life.

Step 7: Create Product Pictures for your Printable

Choose a new template and start a new project on Canva. The template size should match the Etsy product images. As per the Etsy website, the recommended size for listing images is 2000px for the shortest side of the image, and a resolution of 72PPI.

Download your printable as an image and reupload this image to Canva. It will now be in your 'uploads'. You can now use it as a graphic element in your design, which is perfect because your printable is the very thing you're trying to showcase. Use copy to highlight important elements of your design- if there's something the customer should know about this printable, make sure you tell them. It might sound silly, but pointing out that your printable will help them 'save time and money monthly' or 'never forget to pay a bill again' can be the difference between a sale or a pass.

List your Printable on Etsy

I'm going to assume that you have an Etsy store already set up.

Step 8: List your Printable on Etsy

Go to your dashboard and click 'Manage Listings'. From there, click 'add new listing' and upload your new printable. Add the product pictures you just created on Canva, and choose the primary/ cover image. This should be the one that best showcases your product. Etsy will automatically make the first image you upload the primary image, if this is not what you want, then make the necessary adjustment.

Fill in all the relevant information about the printable, add the price, and click publish!

Note: Remember to upload both the fillable version along with the original non-fillable form to Etsy.

Choosing an Etsy Product Title

When choosing the title as well as in the description, be sure to add in all the keywords that someone looking for your printable would likely type in. Keywords are how Etsy knows what to spit back to the person searching its database. By matching your product 'solution' to the buyer's searched 'problem', you tell Etsy that your product is what they should show to the customer. Help Etsy to help you reach your audience.

Do a little research on Esty by searching a product to see what products come up. Then click on them and see what keywords they used in the product title and description. Now, use this to guide how you fill in your own product information.

Extra Credit: Create a Complementary Offering to Create a Bundle

People love a good deal. Use this knowledge to drive up sales by creating a secondary, complimentary product to sell with your printable. It could be another checklist, a relevant planner, or digital art that ties into your original printable. The point is to create products that you can sell as a set and then bundle them together and offer a deal on that bundle. If your printables sell for $5 each, you could bundle 2 of them for $8. That's a dollar saved on each and a pretty good deal. Even if someone doesn't really need the second printable, they are now incentivized to get it and likely will. You make more money at no extra effort.

Conclusion

When looking to make money online, it's important to diversify your income streams. Think of it as giving your readers more opportunities to support you and your work. Selling printables on Etsy is great because it allows you to offer unique products at a low price point. It also allows you to 'set it and forget it', which makes it the best form of passive income. Just create new products periodically so you continue to grow your store and earning potential.

I hope this post was useful and that it helps you to create your first printable and start selling on Etsy (and on your own website).

Happy creating,

Nonjabulo