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The Best Digital Products to Sell
This post is all about the best digital products to sell.
Selling digital products can be a highly profitable way to earn money online.
In fact, it’s one of my favorite ways to make money. I sell an ebook on my blog that regularly brings me $500+ per month in totally passive income!
Whether you are a blogger or an online business owner, selling digital products can be a great way to earn money online. In this blog post, I am going to share some of the most profitable digital products you can sell online.
Why Should I Sell Digital Products?
There are so many reasons why you should start selling digital products.
To name just a few…
- None of the hassle of producing/storing/shipping physical products
- Passive income (create it once and then sell infinite copies)
- No start-up costs or risks (you can create your digital product for free and the only thing you lose is the time taken to create it)
- Can easily create products for any niche or interest
I truly believe that every blogger and online business owner should be creating digital products because it’s such a great opportunity.
How to Sell Your Digital Products
First, you will need your own website. I have a guide about how to start a blog that you can follow and get your website started for only $3.95/month with Bluehost.
Next, you will need an e-commerce platform to take payments and deliver your product. I use SendOwl. I recommend SendOwl because their platform is specifically designed for selling digital products.
All you have to do is upload the file of your digital product and you can start selling it right away. SendOwl is only $9/month with no additional fees taken out from the sales you make, which is pretty great.
Sign up for a SendOwl account here. (And get a 30 day free trial!)
The Best Digital Products to Sell
Here are my top picks for the best digital products to sell this year! Most of these ideas can be applied to bloggers or business owners of any niche. I have also included real-life digital product examples for each type of product.
1. Ebooks
Ebooks are one of the absolute best digital products to sell online. If you’re a blogger or business owner in any niche, you can write an ebook. The ebooks that sell best are usually written in the form of a how-to guide and provide valuable information to your readers.
One example of an ebook is my own which is called Amazon Affiliate Affluence. It’s only about 50 pages long, but it’s packed with helpful and valuable information. It also took me less than a week to create and launch!
If you are just getting into selling digital products, an ebook is the best choice to make for your first product. They’re easy to make and sell extremely well. (I made $10,000 in the first year of selling mine.)
To learn how to create and sell your own profitable ebook, you can enroll in my new course Launch Your Profitable Ebook for only $77 for a limited time only!
2. Swipe Files
A swipe file is just a short PDF document or template that contains a proven, effective formula for how to do something. If you have an area of expertise, you can sell a swipe file containing your secrets.
Great at email marketing? You could sell a swipe file of pre-written sales funnels. Do you have a knack for getting traffic to your website? Create a swipe file of your exact traffic strategy and sell it to others.
An example of this is Rosemarie Groner from The Busy Budgeter, who sells her Core Affiliate Strategy Guide for $64! If you have expertise in an area that people are dying to master (in this case, affiliate marketing) then you can create a swipe file and profit from your knowledge and strategies.
The great thing about putting together a swipe file is it’s so easy that you could probably make it in just a couple hours.
3. Online Courses
Another great knowledge-based digital product to sell is online courses.
Many people believe that the only way to create a successful online course is to make it about something related to blogging, marketing, or making money online. While it’s true that there are plenty of courses out there on those topics, you can be successful with an online course in any niche!
You can sell an online course on just about any topic as long as you are providing value and teaching something useful to your audience.
Your online course can include written lessons, pre-recorded video lessons, worksheets, or a combination of all three.
For tips on creating a wildly profitable online course, check out Course by Number.
4. Stock Photos
Have an eye for photography? Stock photos could be the digital product for you! All you need is a nice camera and decent photo editing software.
There’s a huge market right now for styled stock photography. Everyone from bloggers to business owners to social media managers are looking for the perfect photos to post on social media or use on their website.
You can sell your photos individually or in bundles, or create a subscription-based website for your customers. An example of this is Haute Stock which offers a monthly membership for access to pretty, feminine stock photos.
Choosing a specific niche can help you get your stock photo business out there. For example, if you run a lifestyle blog, you could sell lifestyle images for other bloggers to use on their blog and social media.
5. Printables
Printables are a really fun digital product to sell! Basically, they are digital files you create for your customer to print out and use. Here are just a few ideas of printables you can make and sell:
- Workbooks
- Planners
- Gift tags
- Art prints
- Lesson plans
You can use software such as Adobe Illustrator or even the beginner-friendly program PicMonkey to design your printables.
Want to get started selling printables? Check out Printables by Number.
6. Templates
You can create and sell templates for a variety of uses: resumes, media kits, logos, and social media posts, just to name a few.
A great example of templates are these social media templates from Bluchic.
They are designed to be used with the graphic design program Canva, but you could also create templates to be used with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.
7. WordPress Themes
If you are good with coding, consider selling WordPress themes! Most premium WordPress themes sell for $50 to $100 each. For best luck, you can design themes for a specific audience: for example, travel bloggers or wedding photographers.
Check out Bluchic for some inspiration. They specifically target female bloggers and entrepreneurs who want their website to have a feminine, chic look.
One thing to keep in mind with WordPress themes is that you may have to make updates to your themes, or provide troubleshooting for your customers. This can mean some extra work compared to selling other types of digital products.
8. Graphic Design Elements
Are you creative and do you enjoy working with programs such as Photoshop or Illustrator? If so, selling graphic design elements might be the digital product gig for you. Graphic design elements can be anything you create including fonts, textures, brushes, illustrations, icons, and more.
For example, Angie Makes sells a variety of graphic design elements such as floral patterns, clipart, and pretty feminine fonts. These elements can be used by bloggers or graphic designers for creating blog or social media graphics.
9. Patterns
If you are crafty, then patterns might be your perfect digital product to sell.
One couple began selling patterns for doll clothing through SendOwl and eventually began earning $600,000+ per year from their patterns! They currently sell their doll clothing patterns at Pixie Faire.
Doll clothing patterns are not the only option though. For sewing and craft bloggers, you might consider selling crochet or knitting patterns for other crafty people to use in their DIY projects. The options are endless here!
10. Membership Sites
Out of all the digital products to sell on this list, membership sites might require the most time and energy, but there’s a great potential for earning.
What exactly is a membership site? It’s a private area of a website or forum where members pay a monthly fee in order to have access. You can start a membership site for any niche: fitness, parenting, business, etc.
The reason this is the most intensive option on this list is because you will be responsible for building a community and producing new content at least monthly for your members. However, there’s a great opportunity to profit because you can earn a recurring revenue versus a one-off payment.
You can even create a paid Facebook group if you don’t want to deal with the technical aspect of setting up a membership site. Just remember that the key to a successful membership group is providing valuable content or training that can’t be found for free anywhere else!
11. Workshops
Selling a video workshop is a great passive income digital product idea.
You can record a video teaching your audience how to do something (typically accompanied by a slide presentation) and then sell the recorded workshop.
Elise McDowell from House of Brazen sells various video workshops on topics related to business and monetization. You can create workshops on pretty much any topic under the sun, regardless of your niche.
The Best Digital Product to Sell
I personally recommend starting with an ebook as your first product (but I may be biased because that’s what I did!) If you want to learn the exact steps you need to take to create and sell your first ebook, make sure to enroll in my Launch Your Profitable Ebook online course.
Click here to learn more!
Once you have created your first digital product, I highly recommend selling it through SendOwl on your blog or website!
Even if you aren’t tech-savvy at all, SendOwl is a breeze to use. When I started selling my ebook, it only took me a few minutes to get everything set up. I made my first sale that same day! My favorite thing about SendOwl is that it’s affordable (only $9/month) and they don’t take any fees from the sales that you make.
You can get a free 30 trial of SendOwl to test it out first!
Creating digital products does not have to be hard, and when done correctly it can be extremely profitable. Good luck and happy selling!
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Thanks for the ideas. They are the easiest I’ve heard about! I’m a retired teacher but I love to sew and need an extra income!
You’re very welcome! As a retired teacher an online course could be a great idea, or sewing patterns can obviously be very profitable too!
Thank you, Dale, for the great information packed post. I really appreciate you gathering the data to create this post.
Hi Elizabeth,
You’re very welcome! Glad you found these digital products ideas helpful.
People always say, to maximise your revenue start an ebook. But I feel Ike that doesn’t apply to every niche. Or at least I thought you totally broke the theory down and I thank you, I have a fashion blog so it’s a little different .
But you gave so many other profitable ideas in addition. So thank you thank you thank you.
The Modalounge.com
Check out Classy Yet Trendy! She is a fashion blogger with successful ebooks 🙂
I feel like I’d never think to do any of these things but there are really great ideas here. I’d love to sell an ebook or something of that nature, but I don’t know what it would be about….
Julia // The Sunday Mode
An ebook is a great idea! Check out Classy Yet Trendy, she is a fashion blogger who sells tons of ebooks about building a capsule wardrobe. Or since you have such gorgeous photos on your blog, maybe you could write an ebook about how to take and edit blog photos. There are so many options out there! 🙂
Great advice! If you want to create professional ebooks or whitepapers, check out Sqribble.
It’s the first point and click ebook creator software that will allow you to create professional whitepapers and ebooks with high quality done for you content (or your own content) in just minutes.
Your ebook will be ready to post online with your links and images without the need for a graphic designer.
Sqribble has templates for every niche, including fitness, consumer services, finance, self-improvement, marketing and much more. No tech, design or writing skills required.
Thanks for the tip.
This is a great reference! I’ll be tackling some of these asap!
Awesome, glad you found it helpful! Good luck 🙂
Love these ideas!! I’m working on growing (and monetizing) my blog, and my goal this month is to create a digital product to sell. I literally had no idea where to begin, and your post is the first one to give me inspiration! Thank you!
So glad this post gave you some ideas and good luck creating your digital product!
Thank you for this info!! Awesome
Of course! Glad you found it helpful.
Thank you Dale for sharing wonderful article. It helped me alot to start my own store.
Glad to help!
Thank you Dale for these great informations, it really helped me!but i have a question :do i have to own a blog in order to sell digital products? Please answer my question asap
Grateful for your help!
Having your own blog is definitely the best way to sell digital products because otherwise it will be much harder to market your products and grow an audience! Here’s my guide on how to start a blog that may be of interest to you: https://www.bloggingherway.com/how-to-start-a-blog/
Thanks for the ideas! I definitely have some ideas in mind for ebooks, so I think it’s time to start writing!
You’re very welcome! I highly recommend starting out with an ebook – it’s definitely one of the easiest digital products you can create!
Do you recommend the mobile app as a digital product? I’m interested in this.
In my opinion, no, I would not recommend creating and selling a mobile app. Compared to other digital products, apps require a LOT more upfront development and then ongoing maintenance/updates. They also can’t be sold at a very high price point.
Thanks for sharing this! I’ve always thought on how to monetize my blog. I might start an Ebook.
Go for it!
thank you for your information and they are very useful. want to work on my own one soon.
Glad you found it helpful and good luck!
Should the content on a blog be in the category with the digital product you want to sell?
Yes, I would recommend it! The content on your blog can be a natural marketing tool leading to your digital products so it’s very helpful if it’s in the same niche.
At present, more than 10,000 wordpress themes are available in the market. So, is it profitable or not to be a theme developer?
It can still be profitable, especially if you market your themes well.
Considering that I can go through an entire collection of available themes and still not find something I like, I would think so.
I LOVE the idea for selling graphic elements and design bundles, and looked at Angiemakes’ site and licensing policies etc. I really wonder how enforceable they are and if the hassle of enforcing or checking up on the usage would outweigh the time spent to create! (Obviously it’s worth it to Angie, but I’d like to know more!)
Hey Anna, that’s a very good question! I would be interested to know that too, since I don’t sell any digital products like that. I can see where that would get tricky though. Based on how many people seem to be doing well selling this type of product, I’d imagine it’s worth it!
Great post! Graphic design elements are a great idea. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you found it helpful!
I am currently trying to figure out what to do to monetize and while all of these are SUPER great ideas, I have explored all of the options and I’m not exactly sure how to apply it to my niche – new motherhood. One of the biggest things I want to stick to is to not creating something that someone can draw up at home. I have done my fair share of scrolling Pinterest and Etsy to find something I am looking for and scoffing because the price people are selling digital products I could make.
Is this just because I am more proactive about saving money? Do people *actually* buy these products that they could make themselves (thinking about printables because that seems to be the only one I can think to fit my niche).
Would greatly appreciate any insight – thanks! Great post btw!
Hey Sara, this is a really good question! I understand where you’re coming from – I personally do not buy/use printables either, but yes, there is a HUGE market for them! I think printables would work well for the new motherhood niche, but you could also consider a different type of digital product like an online course (I know of a few successful courses in this niche.)
Thanks for such a great help. I have a question to ask that where should I sell my ebook and workbooks at?
Hi Ashima, I recommend selling them on your own blog/website using SendOwl (which I linked to in the article.) SendOwl is only $9/month and doesn’t take any commissions or fees from your sales. If you don’t have a blog/website, you can start one following this guide: https://www.bloggingherway.com/cost-to-start-a-blog/
You have provided such great information!! Thank GOD for people like you!
Glad you found this post helpful!
Some really great ideas. I love your blog and think you have some excellent advice to offer, I will be reading more.
Glad you found it helpful!