6 Common Mistakes on Canva Websites

Canva websites are an incredible tool for anyone who wants a custom, beautiful website but doesn't know how to code. It's also a really affordable option because you don't need to pay for a domain or service like Wordpress or Squarespace. 

As a result, I've been singing the praises of Canva websites for nearly a year and teaching techniques and ideas to direct sellers so they can create simple but lovely sites. But, I see some problems come up, and confusion about a few key things - so in this article, I'm going to share with you six common mistakes with Canva websites - and how to avoid them so that you can create with confidence and save yourself a lot of headaches.

6 Common Mistakes to Avoid with Canva Websites

These are the things I wish someone had told me when I was starting to tinker with Canva sites. Now, I can whip them up in minutes - and I want you to create with ease too.

6. Too Many Videos

I see people putting too many uploaded videos directly on their site. With a Canva site, you can either drag in a video you've uploaded to Canva, or you can embed it from a hosting site like Vimeo or YouTube. Now, there are some major advantages to using uploaded video rather than embedded, but they can slow down the load time of your website. Plus, the viewer can make use of YouTube's controls to access closed captioning or to go full screen if they wish.

5. Not Previewing Website Sizing

Unlike most websites, a Canva site does not adapt its shape to the viewer's screen, so be sure to preview your design on different screens to get a feel for how it will present. Consider also who your audience is and how they will be interacting with your content to determine the correct size and orientation.

4. Using a Bad Link Shortener

Here's the thing: your Canva website is not on your own domain. The url is a canva.com url, and a long one at that. So it's common among my students to use a link shortening tool, like bitly, to create a less messy-looking url. However, here's my PSA: one student of mine ran into a problem when she used another link shortener, tinyurl. It turns out, tinyurl redirects to a page asking them to join Canva instead of your website so they can earn some affiliate income. You do not want your customers to think they have to buy something to view your website. Whatever link shortener you're using make sure to test the user experience!

3. Sharing the Wrong URL

Some Canva website creators inadvertently share the wrong url with their audience, because they don't realize that the link is different for each page of their design. This is actually awesome because it means you can send people directly to a specific page, or even create a table of contents if you'd like. The problem arises, though, when someone inadvertently grabs the link when they're on a lower page - thinking it's the link to their site overall - and the recipient opens up the site at the wrong location. Be sure you are all the way back at page 1 before grabbing that link to share.

2. Overlapping Text

This is a display issue that I see a lot, even in some of the built-in Canva templates! It's possible to make a design that looks perfect on your design screen, but once it's opened on a mobile device or inside Facebook or Instagram's in-app web browsers, the text expands and overlaps due to the user's phone settings. You can make adjustments in Canva with width, buffer space, and text confinement, which I go into detail about in my course: Direct Sales on Demand. 

1. Multiple Links for One Button

And the #1 issue people run into is accidentally having multiple links hiding on a button. The best way to avoid this issue is to ALWAYS group the button elements (box, text, shadow, etc), and ALWAYS highlight the whole group before adding your link. Make sure no old links are hiding in your design that a user could accidentally click on.

Conclusion: Test Your Canva Website to Avoid Mistakes

Canva websites are not as robust, but for a free tool, I think the functionality and creative freedom are incredible. As long as you follow these tips and test your site thoroughly before putting it out into the world, you'll have awesome success with your Canva website.