Congrats on taking the first step toward your Digital product business dreams! With just a computer and the Internet, you can start selling digital products and making money.
So, what should you sell and how do you sell it? Digital products can be anything from online courses and software to music and eBooks—things we use every day. This is a great chance to create and sell your own products.
Selling digital goods is easier than physical products because you don’t have to pack, ship, or manage inventory. But to succeed, you need a good plan and strategy.
This blog will guide you on how to create, market, and sell digital products that people will love. Let’s turn your business dreams into reality!
How to go about selling Digital products
- What are Digital Products ?
- Types of digital products that you can earn from
- Why you Should Choose to Sell Digital Products
- 10 Proven Strategies to Make Money Selling Digital Products
- Best Platforms for your digital Products
- Should you Self Host your Digital Products?
- Conclusion
What are Digital products?
Digital products are goods that exist in digital form and can be distributed and consumed electronically. A digital product is something you can sell online that isn’t physical.
They are mostly permissionless. Digital products can range from templates, music samples, stock photos, to a full software program.
Selling digital products means you don’t have to worry about shipping or keeping track of inventory. Buyers can get these products anytime and anywhere in the world.
6 Digital products that will earn you money
There are several types of digital products but there are only a handful that people are willing to pay for consistently. For your goal of making money selling digital product your should aim for one of the following:
Online courses
Learning is a continious process. It never run out of style, and online learning are becoming popular daily. They cover a wide range of topics like coding, cooking, finance, and languages, appealing to students and professionals alike.
If you’re an expert in a subject, selling online courses lets you share your knowledge through videos, texts, interactive content, or a mix of these formats.
Ebooks
Ebooks are digital books that can be read on computers, smartphones, or ereaders, and they are popular for their convenience. You don’t need to be a famous author to publish an ebook. You can write on any genre of your choice vary from educational topics like how-to guides, short stories etc
Templates
Using templates makes it easier to create resumes, cover letters, business cards, presentations, and more. Instead of starting from scratch, you can save time by using professional, customizable templates that can be used again and again. Designers can also create brand kits that people can download.
Services
People seek various services like graphic design, web developer, writing, translation, social media management, legal advice, and more, which are sold as productized services—like buying pre-made templates or hiring a professional to create custom designs. Offering services based on your skills can help grow your business.
Selling Photos Online: Start Earning from Your Creativity
Digital Art
Artists can sell their digital artwork, patterns, vectors, and photos online. Patterns for sewing or graphic design can be downloaded and used to create art or designs. Photography remains popular, especially among bloggers and website managers.
Music and podcasts
You can sell a variety of music and podcasts products like recorded lectures, audiobooks, and lessons. Streaming is also possible, but it’s challenging to earn much from it since most services pay less than a cent per stream.
But Whatever you decide to focus on in your podcasts on the type of music you will like to produce, there’s likely to be an audience interested in it.
Why you Should Choose to Sell Digital Products
Selling digital products can make good money if you do it right. Customers can quickly buy and download your products. You can sell many different products, and it can bring in passive income. Here are some reasons people choose to sell digital products.
Flexibility in Adjusting a Product if Needed
If a customer has a problem with a digital product, solving it can be simpler than dealing with issues with a physical product. A physical product that doesn’t satisfy a customer might lead to returns, recalls, or extra distribution costs.
No inventory store
Storing physical products can be expensive and difficult, with costs for storage space, risk management, taxes, and outdated items. By selling digital products, you can avoid the need for storage and save money on renting space. You also don’t have to pay for packaging and shipping.
Affordable startup cost
Selling digital products doesn’t involve the startup costs of selling physical items, like storage, labor, and shipping. You can usually start selling on ecommerce platforms for free, with optional upgrades. The primary investment is your time.
Flexibility in launching products
Selling digital products is much more flexible than selling physical items. Launching new products is easier, and you have many options. For example, if you have a print magazine, you can start a newsletter subscription to keep readers updated.
New Revenue Streams
Selling digital products can easily add extra income for businesses that sell physical items. These digital products can complement physical goods; for example, an artist who sells ceramics might create an educational podcast about their craft.
Successful brands can expand their digital offerings as their audience grows; for instance, HubSpot started with CRM and expanded into other digital products. Starting to sell digital products may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be—you can begin with the steps outlined below.
10 Proven Strategies to start Making Money Selling Digital Products
Whether you aim to sell digital products full-time or as a side hustle, it’s crucial to ensure your efforts are effective. Now that you know the various types of digital goods, it’s time to plan your business strategy and efficiently set up your digital product business.
Brainstorm idea for a Digital Product
Every business begins with an idea. Grab a pen and paper, and write down all your ideas without judging them.
To spark your creativity, think about:
- What skills and knowledge can you share?
- What are your passions or interests?
- What digital goods could complement physical products or other businesses?
- What values do you want to impart to your customers?
Take your time to brainstorm and research online buyers’ interests. Are they young and into journaling? Adventurous and looking for DIY projects? Understanding your audience can help you find the right niche for your business.
Evaluate and do an interest check
After listing your ideas, evaluate pain points to gauge your business idea’s potential. For instance, selling digital artwork positions you as a skilled illustrator for authors and creatives seeking custom pieces.
To reach your target audience, conduct interest checks. Use polls or start discussions in online forums and community groups to understand their needs and expectations.
Niche down
After finding pain points and getting feedback, focus on a specific target market. This lets you create digital products or services just for them. For example, if you’re good at portrait make-up, offer an online course with tips. Specialising helps you connect better with your audience, leading to more sales and happy customers.
Put your ideas to the test
No matter which niche market you choose, there will always be competition. Your main goal should be to establish your presence in the community.
Don’t waste time on digital products that won’t sell well, but don’t just copy your competitors either. Instead, find out what’s trending and in demand in your market.
You can use tools like Google Trends to see search volumes for specific keywords, giving you an idea of the demand for your products or services over time.
The Entrepreneur’s Roadmap to Validating Business Idea
Create your digital product
Now that you’ve decided on your business idea, it’s time to create your digital product. Look at what your competitors are doing as examples. Note down what they do well and where you think you can make improvements. This will guide you in developing a digital product that is new, interesting, and unique to you.
Generate leads with free offers
You might be eager to start earning money, but as a new business owner without a large following, you need to get your products noticed.
In e-commerce, you find potential customers using lead magnets. This could involve running email campaigns or paid ads on social media. In exchange for seeing the lead magnet, you give users a free preview of your products.
For example, if you want to sell e-book on personal finance, you might offer a free bundle of finance tips as a small look in and this will attract more potential customers that really have interest in your book.
SEO Best Practices Every Business Should Know and Implement
Set a price
Pricing your products can be tricky when competing with free digital goods. Use your lead magnet to attract potential customers interested in purchasing your products. To set prices, begin with a reasonable hourly rate and track time spent on each product to determine its value accurately.
Set up your online store
You have a growing number of followers and a good collection of digital products ready to sell, so now you’re ready to open your online store.
There are different e-commerce platforms you can choose from to set up your business. Each platform has its own features and ways to help you showcase your products. more on this later
Drive traffic
To drive sales to your online store, focus on optimizing your product listings with effective marketing strategies. Here are some techniques you can use:
- Advertising: Use platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Twitter Ads to reach your target audience. Both organic and paid ads can increase traffic to your online store.
- Content Marketing: Create content that showcases your products, such as photos, vertical videos, blog posts, and articles, to attract and engage customers.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO enhance your store and product listings with meta descriptions, relevant images, and tags to improve visibility on search engines.
These strategies will help boost traffic to your online store and increase sales.
Interact with your customers
Use customer testimonials and reviews to increase traffic and build trust. Work with blogs for affiliate promotions and use influencer marketing to reach more people.
Best Platforms for your digital Products
Choosing the right platform is essential for a successful digital product business. While many platforms support digital goods, not all may meet your specific business requirements. Let’s explore the platforms for selling your digital products.
Gumroad
Gumroad is a user-friendly platform for artists and creators to sell digital products online without coding skills. Upload products, use the auto-generated link on your website to create a storefront, and sell unlimited quantities.
Gumroad provides analytics for tracking views and sales, and can generate license keys for software. Products are listed by upload time, as there is no categorization feature. There are no monthly fees; Gumroad takes a 10% commission per sale. Read about all the best free tools to ease your digital creation process here
Easy Digital Download
Easy Digital Downloads is a WordPress plugin that helps you sell digital products. You can add shortcodes to your website to display and sell items. It offers features like discount codes, tracking downloads, and reporting.
You can also set limits on downloads to prevent piracy. There are free and paid add-ons for more features. You need a WordPress site to use it. Basic features are free, but premium plans start at $99.50/month, making it better for established businesses. There is plenty of support available through forums, customer service, and tutorials.
Teachable
Teachable is a great platform for selling online courses and coaching. It’s easy to use and offers features like quizzes, certificates, and support for unlimited courses and students. You can customize your store and use tools like Google Analytics and MailChimp.
Teachable has a free plan. For more features, paid plans start at $39/month (billed annually). The Basic plan has a 5% transaction fee, but the Pro and Pro+ plans don’t have transaction fees.
Digital product Delivery
Digital Product Delivery is a secure platform for selling digital products like eBooks and online courses. It’s easy to set up your business profile, upload products, and generate HTML buttons for your website. Features include membership management and marketing tools, with a responsive checkout for desktop and mobile.
Plans start at $10/month with a pay-as-you-go model. A 30-day free trial is also available.
Should you Self Host your Digital Products?
You can create your own online store using a content management system (CMS like wordpress). This option suits those with website-building experience or those willing to learn. However, if you’re not tech-savvy, it can be challenging.
You also need to handle payment. For beginners from Nigeria, we recommend using user-friendly solutions like Paystack’s eCommerce storefront. It’s easy to set up and includes a secure payment gateway.
Building your own store takes time and requires knowledge of lead and traffic generation to attract more customers and optimize performance.
Conclusion
Selling digital downloads online comes with many benefits, including reduced startup costs, high profits, and instant delivery. Although navigating the digital products industry can be challenging, thorough research and careful planning can make it work. Also it’s advisable to learn more about tools that can help in boosting your business
Choosing how to sell digital goods online requires more than just creativity and a unique line of products. We highly recommend selecting an e-commerce platform that suits your needs and fits within your budget.
With a bit of effort, you’ll soon see your digital products bringing in steady income. Dive in and start selling today!
Click here to start creating your own digital products
Fancy more read on how to make money online
- How to start making money from email Marketing
- Earn passive income by writing on medium
- Start your youtube journey and started earning
Till next time.
Cheers ❤️
