How to sell digital products online?
When it comes to making money online, selling digital products is one of the best ways to accomplish this. There are companies that have built mutli-billion-dollar businesses selling digital products alone.Â
This article will outline 8 steps on how you can sell digital products online, even if you’re an absolute beginner.Â
If you don’t know what a digital product is, it’s something that you can purchase and download online. It isn’t a physical tangible product, that you can hold and feel, it is virtual.Â
Some examples of digital products are, downloadable PDFs, online courses, E books, templates, plugins and presets and a lot more.Â
The reasons why someone would consider getting started in selling digital products to make money online would be:
- Simplicity: When selling digital products, there’s no inventory to manage or shipping and logistics to worry about.Â
- Overhead: You don’t have the same cost that you would have with a physical product, like shipping supplies, sourcing, storage, labels, and supplies. With digital products, everything is sold and stored online.
- Scalable: Digital products are very scalable. Once you figure out how to get traffic to your product, create systems and processes, you can turn the dial and sell a lot more of them.Â
- ROI: The profit margins are way better than a physical product because you just create a digital product once and sell it over and over.
- Automate: With the right systems and processes in place, its very easy to delegate and remove yourself from a lot of the day-to-day tasks.
Digital products do come with their own set of issues to look out for, like the potential of piracy, with people buying and reselling your digital product. And you may need to update your product from time to time to make sure it’s relevant.Â
Let’s get into the first step on how to sell digital products online…
STEP 1: Research Demand
Before you start selling your digital products, you need to decide what you want to sell in the first place. You first want to make sure there is demand for your product and see how successful your competitors are at selling a similar digital product.Â
We do this to make sure we can see a marketplace of buyers that are looking for what you have to sell. The last thing you want is to spend weeks, or even months on a single product and have no sales because there isn’t any demand for it.
So, start brainstorming digital product ideas that you can sell online, like e-books, presets for video or music production, plugins, video courses, software, apps, PDF’s, Excel docs, whatever you feel resonates with you.Â
Once you decide on a product to sell, go on google and start to deep dive and look for others who are selling what you are considering. See what their ads, website and social media look like. Try to gauge if there is demand, and if there is move to the next step which is…
STEP 2: Create Your Digital Product
Now that you have selected a digital product and have performed some market research, it’s time to create it. Depending on the type of product you decide to sell, well affect what tools or software you will need to create it.Â
For example, if you want to sell an online course, you may need to get a camera, a microphone, and a subscription to adobe premiere or final cut to edit your videos.Â
If you wanted to create a PDF or Excel docs to sell, then you may need Microsoft suites.Â
There are also free resources like Canva, that can help with graphics and text for the artwork on your digital product.Â
You can also utilize Fiverr and outsource some of the work. So, for example, if you decided to create a video course, you can outsource the editing to someone on fiver and therefore wont need to spend the money on adobe premiere., and save time editing.Â
Now that you have spent your time, energy and resources creating your first digital product, the next step is..
STEP 3: Choose Your Platform
Now that you have your digital product, it’s time to choose the platform where you store and sell it on. There are a lot of different platforms to choose from when selling digital products. So let’s go over a few options, and their pricing, so that you can choose what’s best for you.Â
Shopify: Shopify is a popular e-commerce platform that allows you to sell digital products online. It is user-friendly and provides a variety of features and tools to help you manage your online store. It integrates with a lot of third-party applications as well.Â
Price: Basic plan is $39 a month, you can get this down to $29 if you choose to go with the annual plane.Â
Gumroad: is another popular platform for selling digital products. It is designed specifically for digital products, and it offers a variety of features such as customizable product pages, analytics, and more.
Price: Unlike other platforms, Gumroad doesn’t charge you a monthly fee. Instead, fees are deducted as a small percentage of every sale you make. If you are limited on funds, this may be a solid option to get started.
WooCommerce: is a popular e-commerce plugin for WordPress websites. This will require more upfront work but is well worth it in the long run. You own your site and can build on your SEO over time. It allows you to easily sell digital products on your website and provides a range of features.Â
Price: WooCommerce Payments has no setup charge and no monthly fees. You pay 2.9% + $0.30 for each transaction made with U.S.-issued credit or debit cards. Keep in mind that this is on your WordPress site, so you may have annual hosting fees as well.Â
Selfy: Is one of the newer ones and I haven’t personally used them, but I know a lot of people do.Â
Price: Starter plan is $29 a month and you can get this down to $22 if you go for the annual plan.Â
Now if you’re selling online courses, then here are a few that I think can help. They all allow you to store your online video courses, but some may be a better fit and be an all-in-one solution, so I would do some research and go with whatever fits you and your budget best. The ones I would recommend are.
Now that you have chosen your platform to store and sell your digital product, next you will need to..
STEP 4: Customize Your Store
It’s important to put your best foot forward and spend time creating a visually appealing and easy to use store. You want to provide the best experience so that your customer completes their journey from, visiting your store all the way to checkout.Â
Most e-commerce platforms provide step-by-step instructions on how to set up your store, and you can also find plenty of tutorials online, for everything we mentioned.
When setting up your store, it’s important to make sure that your product page is clear, concise and answers all the normal questions that your potential buyer may have. Include high-quality images, a detailed description of your digital product, and any other information that might be relevant to your customers.
Next step we have is…
STEP 5: Traffic and Funnels
Now that your store is set up, it’s time to start letting your buyers know that your digital product exists. The idea here is to have a customer enter your funnel and guide them through the journey all the way to a sale.Â
One of the most effective ways to do this fast is by running ads.Â
Ads: You can run Facebook or google ads to your online store and try to capture sales that way. You can market to a larger audience and have a backend funnel that guides the buyer to the next way.
- Email marketing: You can capture the potential buyer’s data but building an email list and then send out regular newsletters to promote your product and keep your audience engaged.
- Social media: You can leverage social media to promote your product and connect with potential buyers.
- Content marketing:Â This is a long game, but you can create valuable content such as blog posts, YouTube videos, and podcasts that relate to your product and funnel customers to your online store that way as well.
- Influencer marketing: Collaborate with influencers, whose audience may have an interest in your product to promote your digital product to their audience. So, if you have a fitness course, you can find trainers online and ask to see how much a post would cost.
The ability to drive traffic to your store will be crucial to its success and your sales, so it’s important to put a lot of effort and weight on this step.Â
Next step we have is…
STEP 6: Delivery
Once a customer purchases your digital product, it should be automatically delivered. Most e-commerce platforms provide an automatic delivery system that sends a download link to the customer after they make a purchase. Your buyer will want immediate gratification once they pay, so make sure this is working properly.
If you’re selling a digital product like a video course or software, you may also want to consider creating a membership area on your website where customers can access the product after they purchase it. The platforms I mentioned earlier come with this feature.Â
Now that you have completed the sale and delivered the digital product you need to…
STEP 7: Provide Customer Support
Providing excellent customer support is important in any business and key to the success of your online store. Make sure to provide clear expectations and answer any questions, even after the sale. You want to make sure you maintain good reviews and are looking out for your company’s brand.
You can provide customer support through email or a live chat feature on your website. It’s also a good idea to create a FAQ page that addresses common questions and concerns.
Next step is…
STEP 8: Metrics and Numbers
Finally, it’s important to monitor your sales and analytics to track the success of your online business. Most e-commerce platforms provide analytics that allow you to track sales, customer behavior, and other important metrics. Use this data to make decisions about your marketing strategy moving forward and get feedback on your pricing.
If you know your numbers, then you can dial in how much you can afford to spend on marketing to acquire one customer. Also, it will give you a better idea of what is working and not working.
