Have you ever thought about what difference digital products could make in your business? Imagine a set of products that you can sell again and again, automatically, without your direct involvement. For those of you who have tried selling physical products in a web shop it sounds like a dream, right? Instead of each product having to be packed and shipped, you set it up once and it’s automated. Undeniably enticing.

Why should I sell digital products?

Today online, our attention shifts quickly from one thing to another. Potential customers move on so fast, it is crucial to convert visitors to customers already at first contact. You want a conversion as soon as possible, when their interest level is still high. An attractive, relevant and properly priced digital product can achieve that for you.

What is a digital product?

But what kind of product do you think of when I say digital product? Online courses? Yes of course, but that category is only a very small part of the totality of digital products. Anything that can be delivered digitally, i.e. without sending any product physically, can be classified as a digital product. Simple digital products rarely need any involvement from the seller outside of the automated delivery. Hence, they are very suitable for setting up as automated, passive income streams.

Advantages of selling digital products

The advantage of this type of product is that once the product is created and launched, the full job is done. It can then sit there, passively generating income month after month and even year after year. You can renew your marketing, your packaging and your selling over time, but the product can often survive for a long time with only small updates and adjustments. In addition, it requires minimal support. It is delivered automatically and digitally and for the most part requires no customer support whatsoever. Maybe only an occasional email to answer from time to time. Regarding the cost, it often only comes down to costs for software for production and delivery, which can easily be kept low. Maybe some additional costs for ads, design or a more high-end funnel, but it is easy to establish high margins for digital products.

So to summarize, some of the biggest advantages with digital products are:

• The job is done once
• They can sell over a long period of time
• They are delivered automatically
• They require minimal support
• They have high margins

Challenges of selling digital products

As we’ve seen so far, digital products are advantageous in that they are very controllable. And the work done pays off time and time again, giving high margins if done correctly. But even though it sounds simple and easy, finding products that sell can still be a bit tricky. Many people put a lot of work into, for example, creating large, digital courses for which there is no demand. It’s work that gets completely undone. Ironically, you could create the best course in the world, but if noone finds it it won’t sell. Hence, creating relevant traffic and exposure is a skill that is absolutely necessary in order for the products to sell. Another challenge can be the tech. However, this becomes increasingly easy over time and with practice.

So to summarize, some of the biggest challenges with digital products are:

• Difficult to meet the right needs
• Need to establish channels for marketing
• Time consuming and low return if the product doesn’t sell

Start small and try it out

So for all these reasons, it’s always better to start small. Try creating a smaller digital product and see if you can set up an automated delivery and get the sales rolling. The most difficult and time-consuming part if you’re new to selling digital products is often to decide on how and where to sell, i.e. to set up a sales page and a payment solution. But when you’ve succeeded in that and start to get traffic to your market place, it’s just a matter of scaling up your portfolio and exposure.

So, what to sell then?

All types of knowledge, files, templates or documents that you yourself at some point have benefited from in your everyday life or in your work life, are suitable for selling. The fact that someone else has sold something similar before is absolutely no obstacle. It can be quite the opposite, since competition usually means that there is a big and urgent need present, hence a large potential market for the product.

Here are five tips on digital products that you can start creating and selling today, all of which are great to get started with before you invest everything in creating a large online course. Save that for a little later.

#1 Design templates

Price range: 5 – 50 EUR/USD

Something that sells like crazy on the web right now is design templates of all kinds. Here, the customer pays to avoid doing the work of designing, but can focus solely on delivering content. Examples of common design templates can be; Canva templates for stylish Instagram posts, presets for photo editing in Lightroom, brand board templates in Illustrator or Photoshop for brand profiling, etc.

There’s a reason they sell so well. Instead of everyone individually spending a lot of time creating nice presentations and eye-pleasing visuals, you can offer something that helps those who want to focus solely on delivering their knowledge and their content. With a few good purchases, people can avoid expensive consultant costs, something that can be crucial for finding profit in a newly started or smaller business.

Regardless of the nieche, there is a great need for attractive design and content, not least because much of the marketing today takes place via social, digital channels. It needs to maintain a certain level to stand out and feel professional. This is why, for example, image agencies do so well. All serious businesses need good pictures, but few small businesses have the time to produce them themselves.

The same applies to presentation material and graphic material for social media. Most people need that type of material in their business, but few can create high quality graphic material themselves. And this is where templates come in. If you have an eye for design and master the design programs that are most common on the market, you have a golden egg here. Use your own original designs for the type of product you want to sell, make it more generic if needed and package it into a downloadable product in the correct format.

#2 E-book

Price range: 10 – 30 EUR/USD

Books, as a product, have changed a lot over the years. What used to be mostly delivered as thick printed hardcover writings, written over a lifetime, later became easy digestible audiobooks which now have become digital files that can be written or generated in days. So the meaning of the term ‘book’ is very flexible and fluid these days.

If you spontaneously think that a book must contain 100 pages to be classified as worthy by the reader, then you are completely wrong. In fact, most of the e-books sold online are relatively short works of 30-50 pages. An e-book that is niche, to the point, easy to read and applicable sells brilliantly as a digital product online. So if you have solid knowledge of a subject that you are passionate about, or have a special twist/solution to a specific problem, consider if it might be worth distilling your knowledge into a shorter e-book to elevate your business.

An eBook is a great way for your potential clients to get to know you and your methods better. It inevitably positions you as an expert in the field. And it is a perfect product for those who prefer to find solutions to problems themselves rather than hiring or consulting expertise directly. Find your impactful title and you’ll have a digital product that you can sell for years to come.

#3 Mini course or workshop

Price range: 25 – 100 EUR/USD

A mini-course or a workshop is a product that you can put together in an afternoon but still charge a reasonable price for. Here, the customer pays to quickly gain access to your expertise in a short and concentrated form. If you have relevant knowledge in a specific subject, all you have to do is structure your mini-course/presentation and press the record button.

A mini-course can be delivered in several ways. In the form of a video recording with or without presentation material. As a number of live broadcasts that you record and make available. Or maybe as a live webinar that you record and automate. Formulate your course around a particular problem and deliver the solution as an easily accessible 2-4 step method. There you have your mini-course.

This format works well on extremely niche material, but can also solve a broader problem with a general approach. If you record, you are welcome to provide extra material in the form of worksheets, checklists or excel sheets. Be careful not to overdo this type of product. Short and to the point is best! Keep your recording at the same level as if you were giving a lecture. It’s usually somewhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours.

#4 Work book

Price range: 0 – 50 EUR/USD

A workbook is a short compilation of sheets structuring the solution to a specific problem. It could be a review of the work year for the self-employed. Or a booklet with questions to reflect on before you start your own business. Or perhaps a guide in how you treat the customer as a photographer throughout the entire customer journey. The product should be a simplification of a workflow that you have put a structure on. Your structure can then facilitate the workflow for someone else and point out things they hadn’t thought of themselves.

A workbook is most easily delivered as a downloadable pdf file and can be graphically pleasing to the eye. It is these types of products that are often used as freebies. (A freebie is something that is given out free of charge in exchange for potential customers’ e-mail addresses.) But if you have a solid and well-designed method or put a little more work into producing a really good product, you should definitely charge for the value it provides. This is a great digital product to offer your customers.

#5 Excel sheets, checklists or worksheets

Price range: 10 – 50 EUR/USD

Have you ever created a worksheet to help organize your work or activities? Well, then it is guaranteed to be a valuable template for other people as well. It could be an excel sheet to keep track of your budget. Or a checklist for organizing your travel packing. A worksheet for planning a launch. Or structured calculations to calculate margins on the products in your webshop. Other valuable document templates can be contracts, quotations, checklists or process descriptions. In short, if you have had a problem that has been solved by a structured setup, you can be sure that it can also be valuable to someone else. Many are happy to pay to get help with structure and to avoid doing that type of work themselves.

This type of file often works well as educational material in digital courses, if you are thinking of creating one. But as a separate product, you can try out the demand before you tackle the bigger job of developing an entire course. However, remember to provide proper instructions in case it’s a more complicated file. Also, don’t forget to charge properly for your work. A well-crafted Excel file that solves a specific problem that many people have is considered hard currency.

How can I sell my digital products?

Once you have your digital product in place, you can sell it via your website or social media, in a web shop, on an existing market place or through a separate sales funnel. If you want guidance in creating and selling your own digital product, I have a resource that can help you along the way. Check out my free checklist – How to create and sell a digital product in 5 steps and get started.