The digital era has shifted everything online. Now you can work from home or remotely while selling products for your online business. Choosing the right products to sell is key to being successful in this space. In this article, we'll outline 8 profitable types of digital products to sell online.
Many people have started online businesses to keep themselves busy. Others have shifted all of their businesses online to reach a bigger audience as well as for convenience.
Selling digital products is a great way to make money. There are many benefits these products have to offer a wider audience. You don’t have to invest a large sum of money in a digital product, like you need to when selling portable products. You also need not worry about the distribution channel, inventory delays and faulty products being returned.
It can require less money to start a business selling digital products.
With physical products, logistical activities can add to costs and stress: where to keep the inventory, how to package the product, when to order more inventory, and above all, getting it delivered to the customer on time.
Physical sellers have to deal with all this. It is time-consuming and mentally drains a seller. As a digital seller, you are independent of all these issues.
Digital products are easy to sell to multiple people simultaneously. You only have to create the product once and then sell the same thing over and over. There are some real positives in selling digital products. So, lets look at the main question related to digital products, what are the profitable types of digital products to sell online?
To help you develop the best digital product idea, we have prepared this article to get you started.
All the products are subdivided into categories to help you gain inspiration and develop unique ideas of your own.
8 Profitable Types of Digital Products to Sell Online:
1. Audio Products
There is a high demand for audio products in the market. Youths are inspired by singers and love to listen to the songs while they relax or work.
So, what makes the process for audio sales even more accessible today? Small business owners can now save and send audio files to multiple buyers via digital formats.
If you are fond of music and have even a little bit of experience in the music industry, this could be the right digital product for you. Tapping such a profitable market can take you to new heights of success.
Audio products have soaring popularity because people love to discover new music. There is a worldwide market for these products. Someone living in Asia can be a huge Taylor Swift fan and download her songs.
As a small business, you might lack funds to travel worldwide to sell your music, but the digital era goes beyond these issues.
You can try to sell the following audio files to get yourself started:
- Jingles
- Ringtones
- Beats
- Songs
- Instrumentals
- Sound effects
- Voice overs in different languages
Online shows, TV shows, and the media industry are in constant pursuit of good background music. If they discover you, you can earn some cash on the side to help with your expenses. You aren’t a famous singer yet if you have just started, so it is a great way to sell your stock for cash while gaining recognition.
Make sure your tracks are modern and call out to the target audience. Don’t introduce inconsistent sound patterns that make the track confusing. Learn a bit about different genres that can help you enhance sales.
The only thing you need to worry about is understanding how to use the right tools to get the best audio results. It might come as a high initial investment for a digital product, but it can come with great returns. Educate yourself about different forms of music and what the market is after these days and try your luck
2. Photography
It is no surprise that people love to capture memories in the form of photographs. Many photographers capture nature, beauty, and art through their camera lens and have a lot of stock photos under their belt.
Photography might be your hobby, but how about utilizing it to be a source of income? Imagine having a gallery of your best photos and people paying you to use them.
You can form and sell LUTs. They are often known as Lookup Tables. They can mimic a certain vibe by creatively updating the images RGB values. Photoshop is a great software for all of your image editing.
Take a bunch of cinematic photographs and get ready to form a LUT for yourself. They are in high demand as they improve film quality and also help save time. Many marketing firms are looking for such resources, so they can become regular customers if you target them.
Photography can open new pathways for you. Many blog writing companies also surf online to find good quality photographs to enhance their website’s overall look. You can sell them photos by giving them access to your online library.
Here is a list of photography value-added products you can sell:
- Stock photos
- Mock-up images
- Lookup tables (LUTs)
- Photoshop presets
3. Writing
Your words are your value, but to turn it into real value can benefit you. You can sell your writing online, become a self-publisher in the digital world. Come up with creative word documents or start writing e-books to educate others.
If you always dreamt of becoming a writer but couldn’t get through a good publishing house or were confused about distribution methods, then writing e-books can help your dream become a reality.
Start by investing all your energy and creativity into writing e-books and gaining recognition as an online author. You can use email marketing to call out to potential readers and customers. Inform them about new updates and volumes of your previous eBooks.
How to get a customer’s email? Just distribute a part of your book or a chapter to them for free in exchange for their email. That one chapter can be your initial investment to build a solid customer base to sell writings online.
You need your ideas, a laptop, a space to create in, inspiration, and most importantly, the internet to get started. A combination of all this will give you a well-written sellable book to make a profit
e-books are in great demand because people pay for convenience. They can help you create a good image online and build a credible stance for your online business. To ensure that your writing is professional, consider using a tool like Grammarly to check your writing spelling and grammar before you publish it.
You can also use affiliate links to products in your e-books and call customers out to some other product you want to sell using the affiliate marketing technique. They’re straightforward to set up and won’t require too much time.
Another aspect of writing you can explore is starting your own digital magazine. Work up your journalism skills and write on any topics you find are trending and interesting. There are plenty of other forms of writing that you can sell:
- e-books
- Resume templates
- Creative samples
- Blogs
- Reports
- Poetry
- Recipe books
- Magazines
- Academic papers
- Cover letters
4. Design
If there is one heavily digitized industry out there, it is the design industry. You can combine your creative skills and knowledge about tools to form digital logos and sell them online.
A lot of businesses are looking for an excellent visual identity people can easily remember. If you can think outside the box and come up with a creative brand for a customer then this could be a great avenue for you to follow. Canva is a great platform for designing anything digital so check it out if you're considering this skillset.
Another option is to form a comic collection for sales. Understand what your target market would want and design comics accordingly. Start by building a storyline, design the outlook and characters, draw, and write.
The design skillset offers many options, so take a look at other things you can sell by using design skills:
- 3D models
- Photoshop
- Animations
- Comics
- Journals
- Calendars
- Printable coloring pages
- Business card designs
- Logo designs
- Brand services
- Fonts
- Posters
- Images
- Infographics
5. Videos
You can deliver many messages by using online video tools. Video content is very popular now. Websites like YouTube and Facebook are big platforms for publishing video content.
It is a great way to pass on information and tell stories. Videos are one of the best digital products to sell as people look for information and entertainment. You can publish different types of content to target different markets.
Video tutorials for education or workout plans for losing weight can receive many views. Video makes it easy to process information and understand it as compared to other forms of digital products.
The video market is thriving because video content is in high demand. Most of the traffic on the internet is attracted by video content. Firms use videos for marketing their products to the masses.
There are minimal front-end costs involved in video making as you don’t need inventory or shipping ideas. It will require you to master attaching visuals in a video that people can stream online or download, but this is easily done with tools like Promo.com .
You can create videos such as:
- Stock video
- Documentaries
- Video animation
- Tutorials
- Stand-up comedy
- Short films
6. Time and Knowledge
You can either choose a hidden talent or a topic that you have immense knowledge of to start your new online business. You can find many people who would love to learn about the topics you know. Invest your time into finding ways to add value to your skill and turn it into a product you can digitally sell.
A famous example of someone who didn’t care about coloring within the lines is Eli Prinsen, an online vocal training artist. He offers vocal training classes to people digitally. He did not bother about physical classes to provide lessons. He took what was available to him and started teaching people something he loved via the digital space.
If you are someone who has considerable knowledge about a subject, maybe a hobby, academics or pure experience, you can teach to people who don’t know.
Whether it is in the form of podcasts, online courses, or YouTube videos, you can sell your time and knowledge to help others.
There are many skills you can sell knowledge about online:
- Financial consultation
- Translations
- Coaching classes
- Audits
- Editing
- Language lessons
- Social media marketing
- Therapy sessions
7. Miscellaneous
There are plenty of viable types of digital products to sell online without having to bother about a category. They don’t belong to a category but will still attract customers. Like we mentioned earlier, there are no limits for digital sales.
You love a subject and want to sell your wisdom? Well, no need to worry about physical classes with time constraints. Just sell the course online. Turn it into a downloadable product that people can access in the ease of their homes. You don’t have to sit in front of a person and teach them at a given time anymore. It works best for you as well as your buyer.
Create valuable content that is distinguishable from the rest and helps you stand out. Many online mentors are trying to educate people and make money the same way. Try to have a unique selling point for your digital product.
You can offer public speaking courses, mathematical courses, and so much more online. If you’re an art person, then you can train people on different creative aspects of art. You can pair this with an eBook and add affiliate links to your videos.
Some ideas are:
- Workout plans
- Online courses
- Virtual assistance
- Astrology readings
- Stock market analysis
- Painting tutorials
- Nutrition plans
- Newsletters
- Meal prep plans
8. IT and Tech
Tech and IT are huge. If you turn it into an online business, it can be very lucrative. Create digital platforms for people based on your interest, knowledge, and IT skills.
If web designing is your strong point, then don’t shy away from it. You can sell web templates at reasonable prices online and you don't need to be a developer to do it. Software like Weebly now allows websites to be easily created without being a trained developer.
There are about 2 billion websites on the internet, and the number keeps growing. Every website wants to stand out and have the best design. Because of this, almost every website owner wants to update and redesign their website every now and then. This can open a whole new world for your web designing work
Take your IT interest further by selling products like:
- Browser plugins
- Games
- Applications
- Hosting
- Domain sales
- Online store setups
FAQ
Why Should You Sell Digital Products?
Digital products do not incur overhead costs related to storage, manufacturing, packaging and distribution. You can conduct all operations digitally and avoid rental and other physical business costs as well.
Why Sell Digital Products Versus Physical Goods?
Scaling digital products is much easier than physical products. There is significantly little or no initial investment required for a digital startup. Businesses can communicate with customers better online. Digital products offer more versatility than physical goods.
Can You Make Money Selling Digital Products?
One method to make more money from selling a digital product is to give the buyer full rights over resale of the product. This allows them more flexibility with the use of the product but you need to sell it to them at a higher price point than you would if the product rights are restricted to just that single buyer.
Conclusion
Starting digital product sales might intimidate you initially; however, it will become easy to increase sales once you choose the right digital product. Once you decide, put your digital assets together and start marketing your product to make money
When considering the types of digital products to sell online, choose a product that calls out to you, something you can connect your skills with easily. Maybe its a hobby or interest or something you are trained in. Whether you want to pursue this part-time or make it your full-time business, these ideas will help guide you better along the way.
