Your first digital product – How to actually plan, create, and sell digital products online

If there’s one thing that I know and believe for sure it’s that digital products are a great way to make money online. Especially as a content creator or a blogger or just a new business. I should know because my entire business is 100% online and everything I create is a digital product of some kind.

In today’s post I’m going to answer the questions of how you plan, create, and sell digital products. This is going to be your basic starter guide and I’m ready and excited!

Want to skip the read? Watch this video

The Benefits of selling digital products

Digital products are a great way to monetize your content, and they can be a lot of fun to create. Believe it or not, there are a lot of benefits to selling digital products.

Firstly, they’re made once and sold multiple times. You don’t have to manage stock or inventory of your products. You can quickly scale with more customers, increase prices, and adding upsell to any product. 

Plus, there are many easy and free (or low cost) marketing methods online for digital products.

How digital products are sold

Have you ever wondered how digital products are created and sold? Well, here’s a quick overview of the process. It all starts with an idea for a product. You then design and build the product, usually using a simple software like Canva, google docs, or your camera. Once the product is complete, it’s listed for sale on a digital marketplace. Now, that marketplace can be anywhere online: 

• On your own website
• Through affiliates and partnerships with other businesses
• Third-Party Platforms like Etsy or Creative Market

Customers can then buy the product by clicking on a link or adding it to their cart. The purchase is processed through the marketplace’s payment system, and if it’s your own website, then you manage that system. I like to recommend Woocommerce for WordPress because its free. 

Once the customer places their order, the system you use sends an email with instructions on how to download the product. It’s usually that simple especially when you use an ecommerce solution that is  built for digital products. 

Woocommerce is my go-to for this but a nice place to start could be a third-party platform like Etsy or Creative Market. 

Types of digital products you can sell

 There are a lot of different digital products you can sell. Here are some of the most popular types. 

• Turn your knowledge into an eBook
• Create a workshop teaching
• a concept in an hour or two
• Create a series of videos combined with a workbook and sell it as an online course
• Develop an email crash course
• (a series of emails that coach or guide your audience to solve a problem)
• Create templates, premade designs, or graphics
• Create  “swipe” files
• (pre-made content that you give a license to your buyers to use and create their own products)
• Deliver updated, new, revised digital products every week or month
• Like a membership site, paid newsletter, or digital magazine
• Sell pre-made stock photos
• Create custom digital products, copywriting, graphics or photos for clients
• Sell printables or print on demand

If you have skills or knowledge that others would find helpful, creating and selling digital products is a great way to make money from home. You set the price and keep 100% of the profits! 

Find an audience for your digital products to sell to

Creating and selling digital products can be a great way to make money online. But, in order to be successful, you need to find an audience for your products. 

One of the most important things you need to do before launching your digital product is to find an audience. Without an audience, it is difficult for your product to stand out and obtain success. But where do you find that audience? There are a few different ways you can go about this, including social media marketing, advertising, and outreach.

But to start, you want to….

• Get clear on who your target audience is and what they’re looking for.
• Discover where they hang out online (social platforms, ecommerce sites, etc)
• Create content that’s discoverable and shareable in those places
• Be authentic, create shareable content, and add value
• Look for ways to be discovered through SEO: blogging, Pinterest, YouTube videos

As a creator, it can be tough to find an audience for your digital products. But don’t worry, we’re here to help!

There are a number of tutorials here to help you:

• Pinterest Marketing
• Instagram Marketing
• Email list and email marketing

Price your digital product to sell

You’ve created a digital product that you’re proud of. Congratulations! Now comes the hard part – pricing it so that it sells. It’s not always easy to put a price tag on your work, but if you want to see your product succeed, it’s important to find the right balance between charging too much and underselling yourself. This can be tricky, but with a little guidance, you can come up with a price that will make both you and your customers happy. 

I like to recommend that you start with a price in mind and design a product around that.

But, if you’re worried about comparison or your industry is popular, it can be extremely beneficial to price your product to be compared with competitors. Your audience will likely be doing this too.

The other option is to make a premium product for a premium price.

Have a plan for launching your digital product

Once you have a product created and an audience to sell to, it’s important to have a plan for how you’re going to launch it. Without a plan, your product might not get the exposure it deserves and could end up being a total flop.

• Start creating buzz by mentioning it and giving sneak peeks
• Launch a series of emails to pre-sell it to your email list for a few days before your launch day
• Launch it officially to the public through promotional content on social media and emails
• Raise the price or close the doors after your launch ends
• Utilize launches, funnels, or sales to boost sales of your product after the launch is over 
• Upsell and recommend other products 

Want to skip doing all that yourself? Get My Launch Email and Social Templates

• The Easy Email Conversion Bundle is great is you want a passive welcome sequence that sells your digital product to every email subscribers automatically.
• The Easy Launch and Social Campaign is great if you want to launch a new product on social media and your email list.

Remember…

Don’t be afraid to start with a high price or if you’re starting with a high price and aren’t getting any sales, consider adding pricing options (like payment plans).

Another way you can add more to your digital product is to consider adding bonuses or other products you can sell as an upgrade or upsell to your first one. This creates a wonderful buying experience for customers because you’re solving more of their problems but it also increases your revenue too.

Create related content and do your marketing

Finally, always create related content and lead magnets to grow interest and a following that you can sell to. Don’t neglect your marketing!

Want to grow your email list so you have people to sell to?  I’ve put together a done-for-you lead magnet template with 65 lead magnet ideas so you can get started right away.

Conclusion

Now that we’re through, I want you to save this so you can refer to it later! I’ve also put together this free resource for you to continue your learning!

If you like this article, let me know by sharing your favorite part in the comments below, and if you decide to save it or share it, go ahead and tag me on Instagram so that I see it . You’ll get your chance to be featured in my Instagram stories every week!