As a creative person, you’ve dreamt of being a graphic designer but never take the first step. Just the thought of going to school and spending a ton of money and time is enough to squash that dream.

And sitting for months learning Photoshop or Illustrator is something you can only afford to do once you’re making money and somehow, through only a miracle, have the time.

The truth is that going to school or learning a complicated graphics program may not be right for you, or even necessary at all.

So here’s the good news:

You can become an online graphic designer by getting an easy-to-use design tool, watching quick but helpful tutorials, and spending a few minutes practicing what you’ve just learned.

And you can do all this without going to school or spending ridiculous amounts of time and money learning design software.

If you’re ready to start a full-time business using just your desktop or laptop computer or excited to have a part-time designer gig working from home, you can start right now making graphics for online businesses.

Here’s how!

How to Learn Graphic Design on Your Own

There are really only two things you need to be a designer in the online world:

1. Graphic design software that’s easy and starts you off with design inspiration… yet is powerful and flexible enough to let your creativity take over.
2. A short course or tutorial series that helps you learn with hands-on action as you go.

Below you’ll find a free graphics software app and a short, 9-part video tutorial series that’ll get you started towards becoming an online designer… in under one hour.

So, what are you waiting for?!

Easy-to-Learn Graphic Design Software

First, grab your free trial of The Graphics Creator software!

Begin Your Simple Video Tutorials Course and Start Designing

Now that you have the perfect design tool with templates, begin watching your video tutorials “school”. Nahhh, not really.

It’s just a mini-course or series that’ll help you become an online graphic designer. Just follow each video to learn all of the basic features, tips, and tricks of using The Graphics Creator.

You’ll discover how easy it is to create graphics that look like a designer made them, even if you’re not exactly a professional yet. And you can easily pause a video any time to try out what’s being shown. Simple.

Watch the 9-part Mini Design Series:

START HERE!

You’re an Online Graphic Designer… Almost

Now that you’ve watched the nine videos to learn the basics, your focus will be on practicing your new design skills.

Additionally, you can improve your design skills by:

• Watching other Laughingbird Software videos
• Talking to other designers in the Creatorpreneurs community, and
• Checking out other articles that’ll give you the skills and ideas to create graphics for online businesses.
• And getting more inspirational design templates for fast and easy creation

Just think about this… if you were to have gone to a graphic design school instead of watching this video tutorial, you might have only just finished the first chapter or two of your brand new, and expensive, design theory book.

Instead, you’ve just learned actionable design that you can build upon each day. And you can now offer your graphic design services to other businesses who want online images for advertising, social media, products, and content.

More Design Inspiration

I hope you’re excited for what the future holds for you as a graphic designer. From working part time to making it a full-time career… either way, you’ve discovered a fun and creative way to earn some cash, work at home, and serve others with your design talent.

More resources that’ll make becoming an online graphic designer easy and fun:

1. Get more templates and graphics, for inspiration and fast, easy design creation.
2. Join The Creatorpreneurs community on Facebook.
3. Follow Laughingbird Software’s blog that focuses on creating online graphics for small businesses.
4. Sit back and watch more videos showing exactly how to design what your paying customers need.

You’ve heard about the value of video pins on Pinterest. That’s why you’re here, right? So you know that they get a ton more views than regular pins (Pinterest favors them in their search) and you don’t want to miss out on increasing your clicks and sales.

Just take a look at Laughingbird Software’s video pins and you’ll see the crazy amount of views they can get, some of them almost immediately after pinning.

So, the question is, why haven’t you been using them?

Your excuse is probably the same as most pinners… “I don’t know how to create a video pin”. “It’s just too hard.” Or, “I’m already confused just thinking about it?”

Well, no more excuses. Follow this easy step by step method of creating animated video pin graphics. When you’re done with these 5 steps, you’ll have created and posted your first animated video pin to your Pinterest account… without massive stress or hours of your time!

STEP ONE: Grab an Easy Pinterest Graphics Tool.

Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. You don’t need Photoshop or any other hard-to-learn graphics program. But, you do need an easy yet powerful app that lets you start with professionally-designed templates. And one that produces quality, high-resolution images.

The Graphics Creator is perfect for creating Pinterest pins on a weekly basis like I do (you can also create every other graphic you need for your biz). Grab the Pinterest Templates with Motion Graphics and you’ll get The Graphics Creator software for free.

Once you have the software and templates, watch this video to find out how you’ll be creating an animated video graphic:

STEP TWO: Choose a Template and Motion Video Background

Here’s what will make video pin creation really fast and easy.

No, you don’t have to write, direct, and edit your own film!

Just pick a professionally created template from The Pinterest Templates with Motion Graphics. They’re already at the Pinterest pin size of 600 X 900 with a 2:3 aspect ratio. However, you can simply change the canvas size on any template to make it bigger as long as you keep the ratio.

You can also make it longer or make it a video pin sized at a 1:2.1 ratio, (although 600 x 900 is the smallest size you’ll want to make with a 2:3 aspect ratio).

Then, use the “elements” button at the top of the canvas to select a motion background. Click and drag it directly onto the design canvas. You can also choose to import your own video (The Graphics Creator will be able to record and save up to a 45-second video).

If you don’t like the first video background, just click it, hit “delete”, and select another one (only one video can be used on the canvas at a time).

STEP THREE: Add an Attention-Grabbing Title

Now, add an easy-to-read, captivating title. Double-click the text that is already in the template and write in your title. Or, you can choose a different font by clicking on “Google fonts” at the top of the canvas.

Make sure to leave space on your template… too many words will appear jumbled and get overlooked, even in an animated video pin. Your goal is to have a clean, readable, and sometimes colorful pin that jumps out at your audience.

STEP FOUR: Save and Download as a Video file

Stay with me! This is way easier than it sounds.

When your pin is ready, you’ll need to save it as a video file. It’s just a couple of extra clicks. Start by selecting “download” from the top pull-down menu. This will save your graphic as a “webm”. Webm will work on Facebook and other social media but not on Pinterest.

No need to worry. Just follow along here…

How to Record Your Video

First, click the video image on the canvas to “highlight” it. Then choose “Video Record”.

Next, enter your video name, using your keywords. Then move the slider to the desired video length (10-20 seconds is good for an animated video background).

Then hit “Record”.

Once you click “Record”, just wait a few seconds and it’ll automatically download (export).

Now, for Pinterest, you’ll need to make it an “mp4” video file. So, there is one last step. Once you’ve downloaded your pin, you can easily convert it into the correct file format with a free conversion tool.

You may have already watched the video above that shows you exactly how to create and save your motion video. For a reminder on how to convert your video to an mp4, go directly to this timestamp in the video: 04:24

STEP FIVE: Post Your Video Pin Image on Pinterest

Congratulations! You’ve created your first video pin… and now you know how to create more. The great thing about creating your own Pinterest pins is that you can pop in a new background and modify the text slightly to make a brand new pin!

Now it’s time to post your video pin on Pinterest. Since you’ve already been posting pins, it’s just as easy to post a video pin. Once you hit the + sign on your account, just drag your saved video pin from your desktop directly onto the image block.

Now add your title and your detailed description that includes your keywords. Finally, add your URL link to the location you want people who click to go.

For more details on what Pinterest wants from your video pins, read this article.

Get More Traffic with Your Animated Video Pin

Way to go! Just by following these five steps, you’ve created a pin with animated motion that’ll draw more attention to your offer. And that’s just one pin! You can easily make more with your Pinterest Graphics Templates.

And every video pin you add will bring you more traffic… you’ll be able to watch your views go up like I have 🙂

If you just skimmed this article to see how easy it really is to make your own video pin, then go ahead and check out the software and Pinterest Templates with Motion Backgrounds now.

The Creatorpreneurs Academy brings together strategic marketing with eye-catching design so you have the tools and skills to grow your business fast.