You’ve probably heard the stats: long, vertical images perform better than short, horizontal images on Pinterest. 

But why is this? Optimal Pinterest images–you know, the ones that get the most hits, click-throughs, and general traffic–follow this general rule because the fact that the Pinterest layout is formatted to display every photograph at the exact same width. It doesn’t matter how awesome your horizontal photo looks in and of itself, because it will be tiny in comparison to the vertical photos according to this width-to-height ratio!

So that part is easy. But if you’re an up-and-coming blogger, without access to or enough knowledge of Photoshop, I bet you’re wondering how on earth you can make such beautiful, Pinterest-perfect graphics for your blog posts. How can you take one of your product photos or brand photos and turn it into a professional-looking title image like the ones you see on Pinterest?

Enter: Canva. One of the small biz owner’s best work friends.

You can sign up for a free account and begin creating beautiful graphics in minutes. Instantly, you’re greeted by an array of pre-sized graphic design options, like square social media graphics (hello, Instagram!), Facebook cover photos, blog graphics, and–the subject of today’s awe–Pinterest graphics, perfect size every time.

Canva allows even the novice blogger or small business creative make professional-looking Pinterest images. By selecting the Pinterest graphic, you’re brought to a blank canvas where your ideas can come to life through Canva’s drag-and-drop interface. On the left, there’s a menu of various design options, like pre-defined layouts, elements, text, backgrounds, and a space to upload your own photos.

You can start with a pre-created layout. 

Browse through Canva’s elements to add shapes, icons, grids, even seasonal graphics. 

Select from a variety of pre-designed text layouts and designs (and change the fonts within your canvas).

Background colors and textures galore. 

Finally, upload your own photography for a background or accent photo.

Many of the Canva elements are free, although you will notice a variety of premium options. For examples, there are free layouts but also layouts available that cost a dollar or two. This is the same with the elements, text layouts, and backgrounds. But if you’re on a tight budget, you can easily use the free options to create beautiful, professional, social media-perfect graphics.

For example, to create my own blog images for Pinterest, I start with a blank canvas and my own uploaded photo. You can easily zoom into the photo to focus on one particular element of the photography. This zoom feature is especially useful if you take a horizontal photo and want to utilize it in the vertical Pinterest layout. You’ll end up cropping much of the photo out, but it’s easier than cropping in a separate photo editing software and then creating your photo.

The TEXT menu option may turn out to be your favorite, like it is mine. The options of stunning text arrangements is amazing and you’re certain to find one (or a dozen!) that you fall in love with. You can place these text designs over the photo, adjust color and transparency, change the font, font size, and justification, and center align everything to match.

You can add multiple text boxes, designs, icons, layouts, etc. The options seems literally limitless.

As I mentioned earlier, Canva has other fantastic uses for small businesses: Facebook cover photos, ebook cover and infographics templates, various marketing material templates, and additional social media headers. What could be easier than these templates already sized perfectly for their application?

{Signing up for Canva is free, but there is also the Canva for Work option, a premium upgrade (separate from the elements available for purchase) that allows you to integrate your own custom fonts and other branding elements to create on-brand graphics and presentations}. 

So, go to Canva, experiment, and have fun! See what fantastic branded graphics you can create. I have every confidence in you. 🙂

But wait, how do you know the steps to creating Pinterest-perfect images in Canva every time? I have created a FREE RESOURCE for you–a checklist that walks you through the elements of graphics that CONVERT for your creative small business. SIGN UP BELOW and get your copy now!