Selling digital products is one of the best ways to make money online. As an expert in digital marketing and product development, I have built a successful business selling various digital products that generate over six figures in profit each year. In this article, I will share the six essential things you need to know to start earning up to $100 per day by selling your own digital products.
A digital product is an item that customers purchase and download or access digitally rather than receiving a physical product. The two main types of products you can sell online are physical products that are shipped to customers or digital products that are delivered electronically. If you want to start a dropshipping business, ecommerce store, or sell on Amazon, you will need to source physical products. However, to sell digital products, you just need an idea, the ability to create the product, and a way to market and sell it.
Digital products come in many forms, so you first need to determine what type of product you want to create and sell. The options include:
•eBooks - eBooks are popular digital products that can generate a steady income. They are easy to create and sell at a low price point. You can sell eBooks on your own website, Amazon, and other marketplaces.
•Online courses - Online courses are a great way to share your knowledge and skills with students. You can sell video courses, audio courses, or written courses. Online course platforms allow you to build, market, and sell your courses.
•Stock photos - If you have skills in photography, you can sell stock photos. Stock photo sites make it easy to upload and sell your photos, and you earn money through royalty payments each time someone purchases the right to use your photo.
•Software - While more complex to develop, selling software, apps, plugins, or other digital tools can be very lucrative. You can sell software through your own website, marketplaces, or app stores like the Apple App Store.
•Graphics and templates - Things like logos, flyers, social media graphics, and templates are easy to create and sell. Graphics and templates are inexpensive products that can still generate good money at scale. You can sell them on marketplaces that specialize in graphics, templates, and design elements.
•Audio files - If you have skills in music or sound design, you can produce and sell audio files like background music, sound effects, podcast intro/outro music, and more. Audio files can be sold on general marketplaces or those focused on stock audio and music.
The options for digital products are endless. The key is to choose something that aligns with your skills, experience, and interests. Make sure the product has the potential to scale and generate significant income. It is also important to understand if selling on your own website or a third-party marketplace will be more profitable and sustainable.
Once you determine what product you want to sell, you need to choose a platform to use. The two options are:
Marketplaces - Platforms like Etsy, Udemy, and Creative Market allow you to list your digital products for sale. The benefit is you can tap into the traffic and customer base the marketplace already has. However, you typically have to pay fees and commissions on your sales, and you are competing with all the other products listed on the site.
Your own website - You can build your own website to sell your digital products. This allows you to control the entire experience, messaging, and funnel without paying fees. However, you are responsible for driving all traffic and customers to your site through marketing and content creation. Options for building your website include:
•Teachable - Teachable is a platform for creating and selling online courses. It lets you build a course website with no coding required.
•Kajabi - Kajabi is an all-in-one platform for digital products. You can create and sell online courses, memberships, and more. It includes website hosting, email marketing, and analytics.
• Carrd - Carrd allows you to create simple yet professional single-page websites. It is affordable and easy to use with no coding skills required. You can create a Carrd site to sell eBooks, graphics, music, and other digital downloads.
• WordPress - For developers, WordPress provides flexibility and customization options for building a full-featured product website. You will need coding and design skills to build a site on WordPress.
The platform you choose depends on your technical abilities and the specific product you want to sell. An easy-to-use marketplace may be better to start, but transitioning to your own website can be more profitable in the long run. Carefully evaluate the options based on your situation.
Once you have your product and platform in place, you need to focus on marketing. Without effective marketing, no one will know your product exists or why they should buy it. There are several ways to market digital products:
•Content marketing - Creating a blog, YouTube channel, podcast, or other content helps establish you as an authority in your niche. You can promote your product to your audience and convert readers/ viewers into customers. Content also helps with search engine optimization so more people can find your site and product.
•Email marketing - If you build an email list from your content, social media, and product sales, you can market to those subscribers. Promote your product launches, sales, and special deals via email. Segment your list based on customer attributes to tailor promotions to different groups.
•Social media - Use platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to engage with your target audience, promote your brand, and market your products. Paying for social media advertising is also an affordable way to get more exposure for your digital products.
•Influencer collaborations - Work with influencers in your niche who can promote your product to their loyal followers. Offer free products, promotional codes, or a commission on sales in exchange for an influencer mentioning and recommending your product.
•Pay-per-click advertising - Google Ads and Facebook Ads allow you to run highly targeted pay-per-click campaigns to drive traffic to your product website. You can scale campaigns up and down easily and only pay when someone engages with an ad by clicking. PPC does require a budget for ad spend, but it generates results quickly.
A combination of multiple marketing strategies will be most effective for promoting your digital products. Start small by focusing on content creation and social media, then expand into email marketing, influencer collaborations, and pay-per-click advertising once you have an initial customer base and more experience.
The key to success with digital products is continual improvement and innovation. Do not just create a product once and leave it. Make updates to your product based on feedback from customers and changes in the overall market. Adding new features, modules, or resources and improving the user experience will make your product more valuable to customers over time.
Staying up-to-date with trends in your niche and understanding what your competitors are doing will also help fuel ideas for improving your product. Make a habit of evaluating how you can enhance your product at least every few months to keep it relevant and help drive more sales. Even small tweaks and additions can significantly impact your revenue and customer satisfaction.
Building a business around digital products requires work and time. While it is possible to earn money relatively quickly, do not expect instant results or overnight success. Creating the product itself can take weeks or months of effort. Then, you need to drive traffic, get exposure, convert visitors into paying customers, and continue improving your offering based on feedback.
Some tips for success include:
•Develop your product based on your unique skills and strengths. Choose a digital product you can create and sell consistently.
•Start with a small, targeted product to test the market, then expand from there. You can bundle multiple products together over time.
•Focus on high quality and over-delivering value. Word-of-mouth referrals and repeat customers drive the most sales.
•Learn from competitors but do not copy them. Put your own twist on products already in the market.
•Be persistent and patient. Keep creating content, building your email list, and optimizing your marketing even when sales are slow.
•Continually reinvest in your business. Use profits from sales to improve your product, expand into new products, and scale your marketing.
•Stay up-to-date with trends in tools, software, design, and your niche. Update your product and messaging to align with changes in the market.
Selling digital products can be an extremely rewarding business model. You have the potential to build a passive income stream that generates money even when you are not working. However, it does require effort and commitment to get started. If you follow the steps in this guide for choosing a product, selecting a platform, marketing your offering, continuously improving, and maintaining a long-term perspective, you can build a successful business selling digital products. With consistency, you can reach $100 per day in profit and beyond.
Does this help outline the key things you need to know to get started with selling digital products? Let me know if you have any other questions! I wish you the best of luck in launching your own digital product business. You can do this!