The Ultimate Guide to Selling Digital Products

Introduction

If you have a skill, method, or knowledge that you want to share with others, then you have the potential to earn passive income with digital products.

Selling digital products is an increasingly popular online business model. As technology advances and buying habits shift, it’s becoming easier than ever to create and sell digital products from the comfort of your own home.

With just your laptop and wifi, you can create a wide range of products and digital assets that serve people and make passive income.

In this comprehensive guide to selling digital products, you will learn everything you need to know to get started.

^{Disclosure: Bear in mind that some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.}

What are Digital Products?

Digital products are any products created in a digital format that can be downloaded, accessed online, or delivered electronically to customers.

Simply put, they are non-physical products or services that are delivered electronically.

Some major categories of digital products include:

• Online courses and training programs
• Ebooks and written reports
• Printables like templates, worksheets, and guides
• Graphics, stock media, and design resources
• Software, apps, plugins, and SaaS platforms
• Digital subscriptions and memberships
• Audio files like podcasts, meditation tracks, and more
• Videos, webinars, and video tutorials

The key distinction is that digital products do not require physical production or shipping. They can be purchased and delivered online instantly with minimal overhead.

This allows creators and entrepreneurs to sell and scale their products globally from anywhere with an internet connection.

Why You Should Sell Digital Products

Here are some of the major benefits that make selling digital products a great online business model:

Higher Profit Margins

Once you’ve created a digital product, the marginal costs for each additional sale are extremely low. You just pay for hosting and delivery fees.

This means profit margins upwards of 90% are common for digital downloads and online courses. With physical products, each sale comes with the cost of restocking, storage, packaging, shipping, etc. and these costs can eat into your profits.

Passive Income Potential

Well-designed digital products continue earning income for years with little additional work on your end after the initial creation.

Products like online courses, software, and guides can be purchased automatically 24/7 without your direct involvement. If you list your product in an online marketplace like Etsy, or you set up a high-converting sales funnel, you can earn money as you sleep!

Scalable Business Model

Your digital product business can scale to reach a huge global audience. Your reach is never constrained by physical production and distribution limitations.

You can serve thousands, or even millions, of customers from anywhere with an internet connection. This creates incredible scalability.

Low Overhead Costs

No need for warehousing, manufacturing, shipping, or retail space. The overhead costs to run a digital products business are extremely low compared to other models.

You can start up and operate your online business for very little by leveraging affordable digital tools and platforms. This allows you to keep your costs low until you start seeing success.

Global Reach

Sell to anyone, anywhere with just a laptop and internet connection! Your target market has no geographic limitations.

Digital products allow you to find potential customers all around the world who share your passion or problem. Think global from day one.

Ability to Automate and Outsource Tasks

Handle the creative aspects you enjoy, and automate or delegate the rest. Built to leverage systems.

From delivery platforms to email sequences and task outsourcing, you can automate most tasks related to selling digital products.

In summary, digital products unlock an accessible, scalable business model with minimal costs and maximum profit potential. 

Are you ready to get started selling your own digital products? Here’s your step-by-step guide:

How to create and sell digital products, step-by-step

Get into the Right Mindset

Starting a digital products business can be exhilarating, but also daunting. To maximize your chances of success, you need to cultivate the right entrepreneurial mindset from day one. Here are some key principles to embrace:

• Adopt an abundance mentality – don’t view others in your niche as competitors, but as potential collaborators. There are endless needs to be met and problems to solve if you think creatively.
• Approach your business with a service mindset. How can you help people and add value? Money will follow naturally when you solve pressing problems for your audience.
• Don’t obsess over tools or software. Start with what you have right now. You can always upgrade later. Focus first on creating value, testing ideas, and getting a minimum viable product out there.
• Perfectionism kills progress. Avoid over-planning and analysis paralysis. Be willing to put out an imperfect draft quickly to get feedback. You can always improve things later.
• Finally, you need persistence and resilience. Not everything will work right away. Some products might flop. Learn, tweak your approach, and keep trying new ideas until you gain traction.

Persist through the tough times, learn from mistakes, and you will gain traction. Thomas Edison tried thousands of materials for the lightbulb filament before finally finding one that worked. Your breakthrough is coming too if you keep at it.

The right mindset makes all the difference between giving up at the first roadblock and persisting your way to success.

Pick a Niche and Validate It

Picking the right niche is critical so you can become a recognized authority. But don’t get paralyzed by this decision! Here are tips for selecting your niche:

• Make a list of your interests, passions, skills, and hobbies. Don’t be too critical with your initial ideas.
• Look at problems and frustrations in those areas that you could solve.
• Look at your work experience and background. Industries you already know well are great potential niches.
• Study communities related to your interests. Join groups and forums to observe pain points and unmet needs.
• Use Google Keyword Planner to research search volume around your niche ideas. But don’t just chase high-traffic keywords – also consider competitiveness.
• Once you have a niche in mind, validate the opportunity. Set up a simple landing page describing your proposed product concept. Drive a small amount of traffic to it through ads or organic posts. If you get signups and engagement, you’re onto something!

The goal is to find a niche market with an engaged audience that gets excited about your solution. Keep testing until you find product ideas that get traction.

Decide on the Types of Digital Products to Sell

Once you’ve selected your niche, the next step is deciding what types of digital products you’ll create to serve that audience. The options for digital product ideas are endless, but some of the most popular and proven digital product models you can consider include:

Online courses – These can range from short “mini-courses” with a few lessons, up to in-depth courses with hours of content. Courses allow you to share your expertise in-depth.

Ebooks – Ebooks are a great entry-level product to establish your expertise and credibility. Create an ebook that provides solutions to common problems your audience faces. Price it affordably. The goal is to get it into as many hands as possible.

Templates, guides, and checklists – These reusable tools help your customers to implement specific tasks quickly and easily. For example, social media templates, research templates, and business plan guides.

Software, apps, and plugins – Level up with digital tools you can sell licenses for. Requires technical skills or outsourcing.

Memberships and communities – Offer access to exclusive content, trainings, and networking to your target audience. Can be paired with coaching programs.

Coaching and consulting – Help people 1-on-1 and charge hourly or packaged rates. This scales your impact.

By offering products at varying price points, you can appeal to customers at any stage.

Start with lower-priced introductory products to build an audience. Then continue nurturing them into your high-end offers over time.

Test different products to see which resonate most, then double down on those winners!

Create an Outline for Your First Digital Product

Before you start creating, invest time in carefully structuring your product’s content. Map out how you will deliver the most value to your audience.

Think through the natural learning or transformation process. What order of topics and concepts makes the most sense? How will you take learners from point A to point B?

Decide on the format for delivering your content:

• Written guides, ebooks, and transcripts
• Video lessons
• Audio podcast-style lessons
• Interactive exercises and worksheets
• Live workshops or group coaching calls
• 1-on-1 consulting sessions

Use a combination of formats to provide variety and cater to different learning styles.

Organize your content into logical sections and chapters. Break lessons down into 5-20 minute chunks that are easy to digest.

Leave room to over-deliver. Pad out your core content with bonus downloads, templates, summaries, transcripts, workbooks, or extras. Going above and beyond raises perceived value.

Name Your Product

Your product name is hugely important – it needs to grab attention and speak directly to your target audience. Here are some tips for naming your product:

• Include your most powerful keywords so your product pops up in searches. For example, “Beginner’s Guide to Copywriting” or “Copywriting for Startups.”
• Communicate the transformation or outcome, like “YouTube Thumbnail Formula for More Clicks.”
• Use numbers and specificity – “10x Your Productivity in 2 Weeks.”
• Evocative questions work well – “Are You Ready to Double Your Online Business in 6 Months?”
• Test out different names by running simple ads on Facebook and Google. The name that gets the most clicks wins.

Finally, check trademark databases to ensure your name doesn’t infringe on existing brands.

Here’s a helpful Guide to Naming Your Thing

Create the Content for Your Digital Product

Now comes the fun part – actually producing the content!

First, you need to think like your target audience. What pain points keep them up at night? What transformation are they hoping to get from your product? What objections or concerns might they have? Address these directly.

When writing, adopt a conversational tone.  Write as if you’re speaking one-on-one with your reader. Use natural language. Ask questions. Tell stories. This makes your content more engaging and relatable.

Your digital product should share your unique methodology. What’s your “special sauce?” Break down your proven framework into easy-to-grasp steps. Include examples, case studies, and anecdotes to illustrate the application of your methods. This provides incredible value that readers can apply immediately.

Over-deliver on content. Delight your customers with bonuses like downloadable templates, supplemental resources, transcripts, worksheets, etc. But don’t overwhelm your users with resources that they don’t need. Each extra material that you include should make it easier for them to implement what they’ve learned.

Design Your Product

Don’t just focus on content. Design and aesthetics play a huge role in shaping your customer’s experience with your digital product. Follow these tips to make sure your product makes a great impression:

• Keep it simple. Avoid overly flashy or cluttered designs. Clean, minimalist designs work best for readability and professionalism.
• Use readable fonts. For text blocks, stick with clean sans-serif fonts like Arial, Helvetica or Montserrat. You can use more stylized fonts for your titles.
• Include relevant graphics and images. Carefully selected photos and illustrations can make your product more visually engaging. But don’t go overboard. Use Canva templates for easy graphic design.
• Leverage white space. Don’t cram content wall-to-wall. Use white space between elements and sections to give the eyes a rest.
• Maintain consistent branding. Use a consistent color scheme, font, and visual style throughout your product for a polished look.
• Format text for scanning. Use short paragraphs, bullet points, numbered lists, and bolded subheads to break up dense bodies of text. Make your content easy to scan.
• Optimize for mobile. Many customers will view your content on phones and tablets. Test your design on small screens and tweak layouts and text sizing to ensure readability.
• Consider professional design. For premium offers, consider hiring a designer or purchasing pre-made design templates. 

With clean, scannable design optimized for mobile, your product’s packaging will match the quality of its contents. Design for maximum ease, engagement, and professionalism.

Create a Sales Page or Listing Page for Your Digital Product

Your sales page convinces visitors to become buyers, so you need to optimize it for conversions. Here are some components to include in a high-converting sales page:

• An attention-grabbing headline that clearly communicates your offer.
• Bullet points that highlight the features and benefits of your offer.
• Testimonials from past customers to boost your credibility
• Answers to common questions and objections. Overcome hesitations proactively.
• Icons and graphics to illustrate your points and make the page more engaging.
•  Emphasize the transformation your customer will experience by using your product.
• Prominent CTA buttons to direct your audience to take action. Use words like “Buy Now” or “Start Today”

An optimized sales page reassures visitors that your product is the solution they’ve been searching for. Follow these tips to drive higher conversions!

Set a Price for Your Product

How you price your digital products is very important. Set your price too low and you lose potential revenue. Price it too high and sales suffer. Follow these best practices when pricing your offer:

Pricing is strategic – you want to maximize revenue while providing immense value.

• Research competitors’ pricing so you have a benchmark to start with.
• Price based on the value you deliver, not just hours invested.
• Consider pricing tiers like entry-level, mid-level, and premium to appeal to buyers at different stages
• Test your prices – raise them if demand stays high. Lower if needed to boost conversions.
• Bundle products and packages for perceived extra value.
• Offer payment plans. Break costs into monthly installments to make high-ticket offers more affordable.
• Run promotions and discounts to create urgency and increase sales. Just don’t overdo promotions as you might erode your brand value.

With the right strategic pricing plan tailored to your audience, you’ll maximize both customer satisfaction and revenue generation.

Focus on delivering value, and you’ll find the sweet spot that lets you price for maximum profitability.

Set Up Your Platforms for Payment, Delivery, and Access

To run your digital product business smoothly, you need robust systems that handle the payment process, content delivery, access control, and more.

Here are some things to consider when choosing a core platform for your courses or digital downloads:

• Ease of use: Look for a platform that is easy to use and navigate. You don’t want to spend hours trying to figure out how to upload your products or customize your storefront.
• Features: Consider the features that are important to you, such as the ability to offer discounts, create bundles, or integrate with other tools. Make sure the platform you choose has the features you need.
• Pricing: Look for a platform with pricing that fits your budget. Some platforms charge a monthly fee, while others take a percentage of each sale.

Each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses, so it’s important to do your research and choose the one that’s right for you.

Here are some popular platforms for selling different product types:

• Online courses and info products: Use all-in-one course platforms like ThriveCart, Teachable, or Kajabi. These make it easy to create courses, accept payments, host content, and more from one dashboard.
• Digital downloads: For downloadable products like digital templates, plugins, or workbooks use e-commerce platforms like Gumroad or SendOwl. They offer instant delivery based on purchase.
• Membership sites and communities: To run a subscription-based membership site with online forums, use dedicated platforms like Skool, Circle, or Mighty Networks. These handle secure logins, recurring membership subscription payments, content metering, forums, and more.
• 1-on-1 online services: For selling your personal time through coaching or consulting calls, use scheduling software like Calendly or Acuity. Integrate them with payment processors like Stripe to easily collect payment before each session.

Make sure to test the customer experience thoroughly before launch. Act as your own customer and buy your product from start to finish. Identify and smooth out any friction points to enable smooth scaling.

Setting up Payment Processing

Once you’ve chosen a course platform, you’ll need to set up payment processing. This involves connecting your platform to a payment gateway, which will handle the actual processing of payments. Here are some things to consider when setting up payment processing:

• Security: Look for a payment gateway that uses secure encryption and fraud detection measures to protect your customers’ sensitive information.
• Fees: Consider the fees associated with each payment gateway. Some gateways charge a flat fee per transaction, while others take a percentage of each sale.
• Integration: Make sure the payment gateway you choose integrates with your sales platform. Most platforms will have a list of supported payment gateways.

Some popular payment gateways for digital products include PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize. Again, each gateway has its own strengths and weaknesses, so it’s important to choose the one that’s right for you.

For example, some of these popular payment gateways are inaccessible to emerging markets, so you’d also have to consider integrating payment processors that serve specific locations, eg RazorPay (India), Paystack and Flutterwave (multiple African countries).

Connect Your Email Autoresponder and Set Up Your Welcome Sequence

Email marketing is a powerful tool for selling your digital products 24/7. Follow these tips to maximize your email strategy:

• Use an email service provider like MailerLite, ConvertKit, or ActiveCampaign for efficient email marketing and automation.
• Create a welcome sequence to onboard new subscribers or customers.
• Send follow-up emails after purchases with access instructions, next steps, or links back to the course portal or community.
• Set up cart abandonment sequences to re-engage those who left items in their carts. Offer discounts to nudge them to purchase.
• Trigger behavioral-based emails when people take certain actions, like completing a lesson. Promote your next-level product.
• Schedule regular broadcasts to announce new releases, events, promotions, or content.
• Segment your list based on buyer persona, interests, and purchase history to personalize your messages.

Launch Your Digital Product!

The big day is here! Time to hit publish and let your creation out into the world.

• Start with a “soft launch” to work out any kinks. Release to a small group first like your email list or existing customers.
• Offer a pre-launch discount or bonus to incentivize purchases for your test group. Get that social proof.
• Ask for honest feedback from this group. Refine and improve the product experience based on responses.
• Gradually open access more widely through your website, ads, affiliate partners, JV collaborations, etc.
• On full public launch, go all out with special promotions across social media platforms, email, and ads to maximize exposure.
• Post-launch, stay agile and keep optimizing every step of the customer journey – from awareness to purchase and onboarding.
• Pay attention to sales, feedback, and product reviews. Your product launch is just the beginning! Continual refinement is key for longevity.

Congratulations – your product is out there providing value and making an impact! Be proud of this accomplishment.

Set Up an Evergreen Funnel to Automate Your Product Sales

An evergreen funnel is a marketing strategy that brings in new potential customers on an ongoing basis.

The goal is to create content like blog posts, videos, and social media posts that keep attracting traffic over time. This content nurtures your target market through different stages, leading them to buy from you.

Here are the key steps to setting up an automated evergreen funnel that brings in sales 24/7:

• Create a free lead magnet like a checklist, template, mini-course, or guide. This is your entry point offer.
• Next, build your email list by promoting your lead magnet widely through ads, organic content, webinars, etc.
• Within your email onboarding sequence, promote your core paid product to list subscribers. They already know and trust you.
• Coordinate timed email sequences to promote specific products. For example, send an email 3 days after a course ends promoting your next-level training.
• Set up automated webinar replays to generate leads. Include links to purchase at the end.
• Build referral and affiliate programs to extend your reach. Offer incentives for referrals and shares.
• Run evergreen Facebook and Instagram ads linking to your optimized sales funnel. Pinterest and YouTube ads also work well.
• Test and track conversion rates at each funnel step – from lead magnet to sale. Look for drop-off points to improve.

Set up once, an efficient evergreen funnel will generate hands-off sales and subscribers 24/7. Continually refine it over time for even better results.

Create a Marketing Plan for Your Digital Product Funnel

Now that you have your product and funnel up and running, you need a robust and strategic plan to drive traffic and convert potential buyers.

Here are some channels to consider for your promotions and marketing: 

• SEO: Optimize your website pages and content for keywords so you rank highly in search engines. 
• Social media: Share your message and build relationships on the right platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, etc.
• Paid ads: Test paid promotions across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google, YouTube. Start small to find winning ad copy and creatives.
• Email marketing: Regularly engage your subscribers and customers. Promote new releases, events, discounts, etc.
• Guest blogging/podcasting: Reach new audiences by contributing articles and interviews to platforms in your niche.
• Influencer marketing: Work with influencers to promote your offers and raise your brand awareness. Do collabs, reviews, takeovers, etc.
• Webinars: Host live or automated webinars that educate while promoting your paid offerings.
• Affiliate programs: Have others promote your products for commission.
• Retargeting: Remarket across channels to re-engage website visitors through ads, email, and more.

Read for more Effective Marketing Strategies to Promote Your Digital Products

Test different strategies and double down on what proves most effective for generating leads and sales. Rinse and repeat!

Ask for Feedback and Testimonials

The best way to improve your digital product is to go straight to the source – your customers!

• Run beta groups before new product launches to get initial feedback from engaged users. They’ll give constructive input.
• Ask customers to give honest reviews on your website, social media, and third party sites like Trustpilot.
• Ask happy customers to give video testimonials. These are hugely powerful on your sales pages.
• Join discussions in your product community. Observe pain points and customer challenges first-hand.

Soliciting user feedback shows you care and gives customers a say in your offerings. 

Keep optimizing based on responses. Customer-driven products become remarkable customer experiences.

Update and Improve Your Digital Product

Launching is just the beginning. The real magic happens through ongoing refinement and optimization. Here are some tips to keep your offers and strategies up-to-date:

• Pay attention to customer feedback and reviews. Identify common complaints and improvements people want.
• Release updated versions on a regular basis. Add new content, features, formats, and value to stay fresh.
• Expand into complementary products like workbooks, coaching programs, live events, and communities. Offer tiered packages.
• Bring in a production team if needed to accelerate content and feature development.
• Start planning your next flagship product while continuing to improve your existing catalog. Variety is key.
• Look at innovations and trends in your niche. Keep evolving alongside customer needs and preferences.
• Tweak and test pricing, packaging, and positioning. Be agile. Pivot as needed.
• Upgrade your marketing tools. Upskill on marketing strategies and ad platforms. Grow your reach through savvy promotion across channels.

Creating an exceptional customer experience through continuous improvement is the key to a sustainable digital business.

That’s a wrap!

Congratulations on completing The Ultimate Guide to Selling Digital Products!

You now have the knowledge and resources to start selling digital products successfully.

The world of online business moves fast, so there’s no better time than now to start bringing your ideas to market.

Wishing you tremendous success on your digital product business journey.

^{Disclosure: Bear in mind that some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.}

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