There are so many ways to make an income online but the one that I LOVE most is selling Digital Products . It is one of the best decisions I have ever made in terms of a career because there are SO many benefits to selling digital goods. As a mother, the biggest benefit was being able to spend way more time with my kids! I knew from a very young age that I always wanted to work for myself. I didn’t want someone telling me what my hours were going to be and when I could leave the office. I didn’t want to have to ask someone if I could watch my kids at their Sports Day or take time off in the morning to attend an appointment or to end early on a Friday to go on a camping weekend. Noop. I loved the idea of having my own business but valued play time too and I wanted complete flexibility! To me, the thought of being confined to strict working hours was tantamount to being imprisoned. And to this day, I still highly value the flexibility that digital product-based businesses offer and I can show you how you can do it too!
So what exactly are digital products?
A digital product could be an online course or workshop, or it could be an e-book, music or video file or even digital design files such as clipart, digital invites, posters, crafting or business templates. The list goes on and you will find 45 ideas in the Free Download Guide but essentially, it is a product that is served digitally and downloaded by the customer or accessed online.
The prices of digital products range from cheap $1 items to medium priced items between $5 and $50 and then you also get courses and workshops priced upwards of $1000. There is a huge spectrum of products that can be created across the board in terms of pricing.
How did I get into design?
I completed a short Desktop Publishing Course and a Web Design Course which then gave me the skills and confidence to open my business straight away. I don’t have a degree in design and you don’t need one to begin creating and selling digital products. I never worked at an agency or for anyone else, so from my experience, it was a relatively easy career to get into because as I designed, I learnt more skills and that improved my level of experience.
At first I just designed and developed websites for people but soon I realized I was selling my time and that wasn’t a feasible option long-term. Soon I started selling advertisements on niche website directories which gave me a taste of recurring revenue and in a way this was a type of digital product in the form of a membership, monthly payment for a monthly digital space on a relevant website. As technology gained momentum more and more people started getting their own websites and I transitioned out of selling advertising space and into creating digital products in the form of Digital scrapbooking paper and kids party invitations. I started selling on the Etsy platform which we still sell on over 12 years later in our shop Sunshine Parties. There are various platforms to sell digital products including ones own website, although this does require a bit more work in order to drive the traffic needed to get the conversions or sales.
The Steps I Took to Start My Printable Product Business
- As mentioned above, firstly I studied Desktop Publishing and learnt a program called Macromedia Freehand as well
as Photoshop. Eventually I had to learn Adobe Illustrator and Freehand became obsolete. - I started by looking at other shops and gaining inspiration for the types of products I would like to sell.
- I decided to start with digital scrapbooking paper and then moved to downloadable/printable invitations for baby
showers and kids parties. - To promote the sets I took pictures of party sets ups I used for my own children’s birthday parties
- I started a blog and posted photos and stories of the parties onto the blog on a regular basis. Sometimes I would
set up parties for friends and sometimes I would set up parties just to take photos of new products. - I promoted those images on Pinterest and Facebook which helped to drive traffic to the blog and then onto our
Etsy store. - I set up an “Ideas List” for products and themes that I still wanted to design and then assigned that to a
production schedule - New products were added to Etsy every week
- I offered “freebies” on my website for those who wanted to sign up to our newsletter list. I also offered
a 10% to those who signed up to our newsletter list. - As the newsletter list grew, I could promote new products, freebies and fun ideas and even recipes
with my followers. - After at least 5 years of just selling on Etsy I started my own online store using the Shopify platform.
- We continue to grow by producing new products, promoting both new and old products and
maintaining a connection with our followers through weekly emails.
The Ultimate Guide to Selling Digital Goods
The Free Download Guide that I created for you, gives 45 ideas of products that you could create in programs such as Adobe Illustrator and/or Adobe Photoshop as well as other programs. I list the skills and software you need to create digital products, as well as the platforms you can sell those products on and then I include a worksheet that prompts you with questions to help you find your niche product to sell.
