Oct. 4, 2025

Build & publish a custom site in minutes

In today’s market, you need a website. Whether you’re a news entrepreneur pushing your brands across different platforms, a project-based documentary producer, an author promoting your book, or a newsroom journalist, having a home base for your work or product is essential.

Websites can seem tricky or time-consuming to build, especially when your expertise is in storytelling, not coding. Canva Websites simplify the process and help you create searchable, single-page sites that work across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices — all ready to publish in minutes.

If that seems too good to be true, think back to our Camp Canva registration page. Here’s what you saw: 

But here’s where we started: 

That’s right: A blank website page within Canva, and a template that had the energy we liked. And now, here you are!

Today, we’re going to share the five core steps to building and publishing your site from scratch in minutes using Canva Websites. This will set you up for tomorrow’s practical assignment: building your personal portfolio site to showcase your journalistic work.

Let’s get started:

Step One: Answer the big questions: Who are you trying to reach, and why?

Content should always dictate design, and purpose should drive your content choices. So, who is your audience and what do you want them to do?

📧 A news entrepreneur pushing your Substack newsletter = subscribe

🎥 A project-based documentary producer = watch the doc ... or hire me!

📖 An author promoting your book = purchase the book

💼 A working journalist = view my work ... or hire me!

Knowing who you want to reach and your call to action should give you the function of your site. (Review this brainstorm template on defining your audience for some inspiration.)

For our Camp Canva site, our goal was to attract working journalists like you to subscribe to this e-learning series.

Step Two: Gather your content

Once you know who and what you’re trying to achieve, gather your content. Do you have a bio and headshot ready to go? Will you need a payment function, a subscribe button, etc.? Do you have a bio and headshot ready to go?

Here’s a short list of “assets” to gather:

• Your current bio, headshot, and resume
• Testimonials from clients, employers, or sources
• Links, your reel, or other files of your best work
• Photos or videos of you at work (in the field, at your desk, etc.)

Step Three: Explore templates 

Find the Canva Website template that best fits your purpose and brand. (Use our tips for searching templates to help narrow your options.)

Some details to note:

• Light on photos or imagery within your work? Look for templates that emphasize fonts and color instead of lots of photography.
• Consider your brand: Select the core tone or style you want to project to your audience.
• Get inspired: Some templates may jumpstart new ideas for how you present or describe your content.

Step Four: Tailor away!

It’s officially time to become a web designer. This video tutorial from Canva takes you step by step on configuring the structure of your site and adding your content. Hint: Gathering your content in advance helps expedite your work. Save it all to a Canva project file to stay organized and to be consistent.

Step 5: Publish your site

When you are ready to publish, select the "Publish website" button in the editor's top-right corner. You can choose a free Canva domain (like yourname.my.canva.site) or use your own custom domain with a Canva Pro plan. After selecting your domain option, you can adjust settings like search engine visibility and password protection before clicking "Publish" to go live. 

Learn by doing

In tomorrow’s installment of Camp Canva, we’ll be hands on with a brief but practical project we think you’ll enjoy. We’ll test our website building skills by designing and publishing a personal portfolio website. Here’s how you can prepare, following the guidance above:

• Gather at least some of your content and assets: your resume, work samples, current bio, headshot or other images, etc. Don’t stress if you don’t have all these materials yet. Remember, this is your site — so you can always update or add content as you build your skills.
• Think about the tone and style you want to project to the world. Are you looking for your next role? Seeking out clients? Selling a book or product? What impression do you want to make on viewers?



We’ll see you tomorrow! 

Camp Canva is a partnership between the National Press Club Journalism Institute and Canva to offer 31 days of free training for journalists today and continuing through the month of October. Camp Canva is a self-paced, opt-in e-mail learning series that offers quick tips and tricks for media professionals to supercharge storytelling and audience reach. Learn more about Canva's World Tour.

For any questions about this free program, contact Institute staff.