In today’s world, the generation and sale of digital products are considered good means of making money, especially for individuals who do not have enough money to invest in a business. Digital products have low cost of overhead, they can be replicated and copied, and they can be sold over and over again without the need to produce more of it. This comprehensive guide will help those who want to start making money online with digital products.
Table of Contents
Create and Sell E-books
E-books are one of the most common digital products because they are not very difficult to produce and promote. Today, there are many opportunities for self-publishing, such as Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), in which there is almost no initial investment.
Steps to make money with e-books:
Choose a profitable niche: Select a subject that will interest a particular group of people. Trends, issues and opportunities for research, typical issues and specific specializations.
Write your e-book: Your main goal is to provide useful content. You don’t have to write thousands of words; short, niche e-books are more attractive.
Design the cover: A well designed cover enables to attract more readers. There are applications, for example, Canva, or you can ask a designer to do it.
Market your e-book: Another way is through social media, or even through email marketing, or even through affiliate programs.
Sell Online Courses
E-learning is a growing service. Regardless of what subject you have proficiency in whether it is photography, coding, designing etc, you can create a structured course out of it and sell it online.
How to make money with online courses:
Identify a profitable skill: Choose a topic that people are ready to pay for. It could be work related, or a past time, or even personal development.
Choose a course platform: Udemy, Teachable, Kajabi or similar sites help you upload and sell your course and also help you manage it.
Create engaging content: Choose a variety of videos, articles, and quizzes. To make a purchase, clients prefer courses that give them a professional look and are easy to understand.
Market your course: You can use YouTube, blog, or podcast to market your course. It is important to establish yourself as an expert in the niche if you want to attract students.
Design and Sell Printables
Printables are items such as planner, calendar, journal, or to-do list that customers pay for, download and then print for their use. Printables can be sold on Etsy, but they can also be sold on your own website.
Steps to make money with printables:
Create high-demand products: Find out what categories of printables are popular. Some of the most popular ones are wedding planner, budget planner, and fitness tracker.
Design using tools like Canva or Adobe Illustrator: As you have seen, you don’t have to be a professional designer to design printables. Canva has the best templates for anyone who is new to graphic designing.
Sell on Etsy or Shopify: I think the best starting place is Etsy because it already has a ready-made market for printables. Yet, as you advance, it is recommendable to use Shopify or a personal website to retain more profit.
Create and Market Software or Applications
If you possess programming skills then software or app development can be a great business to venture into. Whether it is a web tool or an application for mobile devices, users are ready to spend money on the software which can help to solve some issue or make something easier.
Ways to make money with software:
Identify a problem that needs solving: From the tools that enhance productivity, to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) apps, to games and other entertainment apps, focus on a problem.
Develop the software: But if you are not a developer, you can hire freelance developers to do the coding for you.
Monetization models: One-time payments and subscriptions vs. Freemium; Free (with basic features) vs. Paid (for additional functionality)
App stores or direct sales: Offer your app on platforms such as Google Play Store, Apple’s App Store and sell it on your website through the use of digital payment solutions.
Sell Digital Art and Graphics
For anyone who is an artist, illustrator or designer, then selling digital art is one of the best ways to make money. Some of the artists earn through selling images, photographs, illustrations, graphics, drawings or designs to companies and people.
Ways to make money with digital art:
Sell on marketplaces: Blogging and selling art is possible on platforms such as Etsy, Creative Market and Gumroad.
Create unique designs: These range from social media templates, icons, and anything in between. To ensure the creation of an effective brand, much emphasis should be placed on developing high-quality designs that are easily distinguishable.
Offer custom work: Apart from marketing clothes with ready-made graphics, it is recommendable to extend your services to graphic design for greater profitability.
License Music or Audio
If you are a musician or a sound engineer, you can upload and market your music, sound, or even clips for sale. A lot of people who create videos, make films, and design games are always in search of interesting music for their works.
How to make money with music or audio:
Create original music or sound effects: Try to concentrate on such genres and sounds as background music, ambient sound, or sound effects.
Sell on music platforms: AudioJungle, Pond5, bandcamp are some immense online platforms where people can sell their music and sound effects. You can also sell permission to use the music in question Royalty-Free.
Consider subscription models: With the help of Patreon, musicians can have a stable income because they post exclusive content to the members of Patreon.
Sell Photography
To make money photographers can sell their images in the form of digital prints or sell their photos to stock photo agencies such as Shutterstock, Adobe Stock or Getty Images.
How to make money with photography:
Upload to stock photo websites: These websites even compensate photographers for each of the downloads of their photos. Post sharp images that fit to narrow and reasonable categories such as business, technology or nature.
Sell digital prints: To sell your prints, you can use Etsy or your own website, and selling digital versions of the prints is also a great idea. They can be downloaded and printed at home by the customers.
Offer photography courses: If you are well versed in photography, then turn your knowledge into an online course for photography enthusiasts.
Design and Market Website Templates or Extensions
To web developers, it is very lucrative to sell website themes or plugins. WordPress is a place where users are always searching for new themes or better tools to enhance their website.
Steps to make money with themes or plugins:
Develop high-quality themes or plugins: Concentrate on making objects that full a require or enhance the consumer expertise.
Sell on marketplaces: There are opportunities to sell your digital products to millions of users of such platforms as ThemeForest, Mojo Marketplace, and CodeCanyon.
Provide ongoing support: It may be appropriate for the business to generate more cash from its customers by considering to offer enhanced support or higher level packages to clients that are already subscribed.
You could also try to sell your Memberships or Subscriptions as well.
Membership sites are generally those websites that provide unique content, tools or services to the members who pay for it. This can be a great business model if you have content, tools, or insights that are worth people’s money on a monthly basis.
How to make money with memberships:
Choose a valuable niche: This could be everything from premium reports on the given industry to web forums and digital archives.
Set up a membership platform: Membership and payment can be handled through Patreon, Podia, or MemberPress.
Offer exclusive content: In order for people to subscribe, you must provide them with something they cannot get anywhere else.
Offer Non Fungible Tokens or NFTs
NFTs have created a new form of market for artists as well as musicians and other creators of digital art. Artists can embed their art in a blockchain and sell them in the form of tokens on NFT markets.
Steps to make money with NFTs:
Create original digital artwork or media: You can tokenize any digital file, starting from images or music and even 3D models.
Sell on NFT marketplaces: Marketplaces like OpenSea, Rarible, and SuperRare make it possible to mint and sell NFTs. Always note the fees and cost that are related with minting.
Promote your NFTs: Since competition is high in the NFT space, this is a good place to establish one’s own brand identity or work with brand influencers.
Final Thoughts
Digital product selling is one of the best and easy ways to make money online and can be easily scaled up. From writing, designing and developing to music, there is a market for almost anything digital these days. In order to get the best results, you want to first choose a specific topic, focus on producing great content, and use as many outlets to sell your product as possible.
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