According to Wikipedia, digital products are intangible goods that exist in digital form, like the digital wall art featured (above) in this post. This article will show you ten digital products (nine + 1 bonus) you can make and sell online as a side hustle. You can also use them to build a full time online business virtually for free (for a very low upfront investment) as well.
Examples of digital products include e-books, downloadable music, internet radio (podcasts), internet television (videos), fonts, logos, photos and graphics; digital subscriptions; downloadable software, mobile apps; cloud-based applications and online games. Items like workbooks; worksheets; planners; e-learning (online courses); webinars, video tutorials, blog posts; cards; patterns; website themes; templates and more.
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Nine Digital Products You Can Make to Sell Online
The internet has made it easier than ever before to create and sell digital products. Even if you just want to earn extra money on the side, there are plenty of opportunities available.
Create an Additional Stream of Income
The great thing about digital products is that they can support almost any niche, industry or topic. If you already have a business, you can create digital products that will supplement what you're currently doing. It can create an additional stream of income on a full or part time basis.
To learn more and get ideas you can use to expand your business with digital products, check out this article.
It's relatively easy to find digital products you can make and sell online. If you've got some spare time and a creative mind, then you can make money by creating digital products. These days, anyone with a computer and an internet connection can set up a website and start selling digital products.
An Unlimited Supply of Products
This is a list of ten items you can start with for free. Even if you choose videos and audio files, they can be made with most smartphones these days, so expensive equipment is not a requirement.
You can set up a YouTube channel for free. Podcast hosting is also free using a platform like Anchor.fm by Spotify.
You can also create eBooks and audiobooks and sell them on a platform like Amazon or earn from narrating audiobooks.
Whether you're looking to make extra cash or just trying to build a portfolio of work, there's no shortage of digital products you can make and sell, and opportunities to increase your income.
Here are nine different types of digital products you can sell online (based on your niche) using free resources like Canva or paid resources like Adobe Creative Cloud.
10. Get Paid for Your Knowledge
Online courses are digital products you can make and sell online. What are your hobbies and interests? What do you love doing and what have you enjoyed as a past time that you could pass on to others? Course creation can be a lucrative business model to consider.
If you've ever wanted to teach others something new, then you should consider building an online course. It's one of the easiest ways to earn money online because you don't need any special skills or training. All you need is a computer and an internet connection.
The theme we used to build this blog, Thrive Suite includes a plugin that you can use to create courses called Thrive Apprentice.
If you have a self hosted WordPress site, Thrive Suite integrates with WooCommerce, a platform that allows you to sell digital products.
The best thing about teaching online courses is that there are no limits to what you can offer. There are literally thousands of topics you could cover, from cooking classes to business advice.
The Benefits of Selling Digital Products
One of the biggest benefits of online courses is that you probably have years of knowledge that people would pay for. Start making a list of things you can help people with using an online course, and the possibilities are endless. You can make as much or as little money as you want with courses.
To add more value to your courses, you can supplement or package your courses with other digital products like ebooks, worksheets, audio books and other types of digital content.
If you’re looking for ways to earn extra cash without having to invest a lot of money, then you should consider creating digital products. The only thing you end up paying for in many cases are the tools you use to make your products better. However there are lots of free tools available.
The beauty of digital products is that they can be created quickly and easily, which means you can get started right away. And because they’re digital, you can also use them as lead magnets giving them away for free in exchange for contact information.
Here are popular industries that use digital products. They can give you ideas for niches you can specialize in:
You'll Need a Website or Online Platform
To be successful in maximizing your earnings, you will need a platform that will allow you to communicate with an audience and sell your products.
You can't sell the items you make without a place online that people can easily access to make a purchase using payment methods they know and trust.
There are lots of places that will give you a place to sell for free, allowing you to choose the one (or two or three) that work best for you.
Your platform can include a blog or website, an eCommerce site, a video channel a podcast, an existing online marketplace, a forum, group or page, or all of the above. There are a number of companies that offer these services. Of course we're only familiar with the tools we've actually used.
For example, to create a blog, we have a free course that shows you how to build a WordPress blog. That's because we've built several blogs and we have used a number of different site builders and themes. We settled on a self hosted WordPress site, and we prefer it hands down to the other platforms out there.
Free Guide!
Build your dream business for free with a guide that shows you how to get started building a digital product business! Includes audio and links to additional tools and resources.
WordPress is a free open source website platform available for anyone who wants a blog they own and control. You only need to pay for your domain and hosting, along with a theme and any plugins you might want to use. With a WordPress blog, you can add a WooCommerce shop. WooCommerce is also a free open source eCommerce tool that allows you to have an eCommerce shop where you can sell your digital products or anything else you want to create.
The blogging theme and marketing tool we used to create this blog is Thrive Suite. We used Thrive to create our blog, and our online store was built with Woocommerce. Our courses use the Thrive Apprentice plugin.
You can also sell your digital products in a marketplace platform like Etsy. Etsy is a great way to get your products online and in front of an audience of people who are looking for digital products.
Check our tutorial to learn more about Etsy and get started with 40 free listings when you use our referral code. Etsy is a popular platform and we have a tutorial that walks you through setting up your shop.
Learn about Thrive for your blog or eCommerce site click here.
You can also start a YouTube channel for free. A YouTube platform can give you lots of great exposure, but it will take time to establish an audience of loyal subscribers. Once you have established an audience of loyal subscribers, you will need a payment processor and cart so that your audience can buy your items. To learn step by step to build a digital product business, click the button below.
Learn to Package, Promote and Sell Digital Products
Take our course that walks you through building a digital product business that earns passive income.