How to Create Digital Products
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Unless you've been living under a rock, you probably have seen an abundance of people talk about how they are generating income by selling digital products online. Whether you are looking to sell your digital products on Etsy, on your own website, or using a tool like Stan.store, this blog post will help.
Before we get started, it's important to understand that digital products are nothing new; brands and creators have been selling digital products for a long time. Digital products come in many forms, such as ebooks, workbooks, templates, courses, private memberships, podcasts, and other digital items bundled together many, many more.
Right now, you are seeing a lot of content on how to create and sell digital products because these types of videos have been doing really, really well on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. The good news is that almost anyone can package their expertise into digital products, and if you follow the framework I'll teach you in this blog post, you will be well on your way to creating your first or next digital product.
Coming up With Your Digital Product Idea
It goes without saying that your digital product idea should be about a niche or topic where you have some expertise. Yes, it's possible to create digital products based on a new need or demand that you identify by doing research, but creating products based on your expertise will allow you to hone in on what makes you different and will create that product that stands out from the rest.
Now that you have your niche, it's time to develop a profitable digital product idea. If you have an audience on social media and if you receive a lot of questions about your industry, it's possible that you already have some product ideas.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help you come up with a product idea.
What are the most common questions I receive in my business?
What product or service have I been asked about in the past but don't currently offer?
What are people asking for in the post comments from competitor accounts? (If you've never done competitor research, it's time to start.)
What product could offer a significant transformation or solve a need for my audience that I could introduce as one of my low to mid-ticket offers?
Based on the answers to those questions, you should now have an idea of the topic you want to cover in your digital product.
If you still don't have an idea, here's a ChatGPT prompt that you can use to help you generate some ideas.
Copy & paste this ChatGPT prompt and customize it. "I am a [enter profession]. I typically offer the following types of services [enter service stack.] I am currently working on creating a profitable digital product idea that would help my ideal target demographic of [enter target demographic] achieve [enter outcome]. Based on this information, can you provide me with five profitable digital product ideas? I would like you to provide me with the digital product idea, the reason why this would be profitable, and share a suggested format for my digital product such as ebook, membership, masterclass, etc."
Feel free to modify the prompt as needed for your needs. Now, it's time for the fun part. We'll dive into how we create digital products in Canva.
Planning and Design: How to Create Digital Products
You should have a clear goal for what you want to achieve with your digital products. What?? Yes, you read that right. It's not just about creating a digital product, and then you're done. Setting specific SMART goals will also allow you to determine not only how to create a quality product but also define the steps you'll take to market your product.
Some of the biggest reasons why people create digital products and don't make any sales are lack of research and failure to set tangible goals that will guide their marketing efforts.
When it comes to the design of your products, remember that it's not just about the aesthetics of your product but also the functionality. Understanding your audience will help you create the perfect balance. For example, if you are creating a grocery shopping checklist for nutritionists, they may not want the same design you would create for shopping lists for college students.
The nutritionists may want something more minimal and functional that can be used over and over with various clients. This is not to say that college students would not be looking for the same, but this example outlines the need for balance between design and functionality. The more you know about your audience, the more you'll understand the types of designs that work best for them.
Design is also about creating a seamless user experience. No matter who your demographic is, you want to make your product as accessible as possible. No matter if you are creating a course or an ebook when we make things too complicated, we affect our success rate.
There are various tools you can use to create your digital products; no matter what tool you choose to use, start by creating the basics. For example, if you are using Canva, create a few basic template pages; if you are creating video training, start by writing out your training outline. Break your steps down with drafting, reviewing, and then the final review.
If you go in head first and start to create your product from start to finish without drafting it first, you'll likely find yourself making more rounds of revisions than you originally anticipated.
You may have also heard about PLR digital products that you can resell. PLR stands for Private Label Rights. Normally, when you purchase these products, you can resell them as your own as long as you make modifications to them, whether it be the branding or adding your own products to make a bundle.
Using PLR products can be good, or it can be bad. If you don't make enough modifications to it, it will just look like you're selling what everyone else is selling. If you use a marketplace like Etsy, it could make things harder for you. If you sell from your own website, funnel, or Stan.store with your own audience, it shouldn't be too much of an issue. If you are going to use PLR products, take your time to research products that are well-made.
If you are looking to create an ebook or workbook, this template will be perfect for you.
This template can be used for most niches; you can customize everything from the fonts, elements, placement, colors, and everything. This is also a PLR template that you can resell as your own if you modify it. In simple terms, this template is perfect if you want to create your own workbook, and ebook OR if you are looking for a template to resell as your own.
Marketing Your Digital Products
Marketing your digital products will look differently based on where you are already at in your business, if you have an audience on social media or not, if it's your first product or not, and if you are using a marketplace like Etsy or your own website.
In any case, creating content that will show how your product is relevant and how it solves a problem for your audience will be key.
This type of content can include:
Share social media posts discussing what life was like before and what life is like after purchasing your product.
Behind-the-scenes content sharing your product in action.
Create content showcasing you in the process of creating your product.
Create blog posts discussing your product niche and how your product is a solution to what your audience may be looking for. Do the same for podcasts or blog posts.
Create comparative content. Other similar products vs. our product. You don't have to mention the exact competitor content; you can do more general comparative content.
Straightforward selling content. Talk about your product and why you created it, who it's for, etc.
If you use a marketplace like Etsy, as you may already know, you'll want to use tools like eRank to do keyword research; you may want to bundle products together to increase the value, and, of course, you may also want to consider Etsy ads.
Where to Sell Your Digital Products
There are so many places where you can sell your digital products, and this will depend on where you are in your digital product journey. Now that we have covered how to create digital products and the marketing aspect, it's important to cover where we can sell them.
In your business journey, you will hear about a multitude of selling strategies, and while so many of them are amazing, you have to remember that not everything you try will be right for your audience or the type of platform you are using.
I personally like to take an evergreen content marketing approach to most of my products and services. This means that no matter what platform I am using, I try to create content that will stand the test of time. This means that instead of using trending audio or following "viral" trends. I invest in creating content like this blog post that will drive traffic to my products and offers on a long-term basis.
I try to create content that will be useful no matter what changes happen in the business or marketing world. Evergreen content doesn't mean that it never needs to get updated, but generally speaking, the updates are minimal.
Other places you can sell your digital products:
Social Media & Pinterest
YouTube
To your email list
Create a free guide and link your products in your guide, or create an upsell page at the end of your guide.
Gumroad
Etsy
No matter what you do, make it as easy as possible for your customers to purchase your products.
If you use Pinterest to sell your digital products, you have to remember that Pinterest works great as a top-of-funnel platform; this is where you will capture someone's email in exchange for a freebie or send your traffic to a blog post. Both are great opportunities to nurture your audience and create middle or funnel and bottom-of-funnel content. Speaking of Pinterest, click on the image below to download a FREE Pinterest profile guide to ensure that your Pinterest profile is optimized for success.
Simple Content Types for The Various Funnel Stages
Top of the funnel (ToFu): Blog posts, social media posts, webinars, podcasts, infographics. (Hint: Blog posts, webinars, podcasts, and infographics can all be shared on Pinterest, which is great since Pinterest is an incredible top-of-funnel platform.
Middle of the funnel (MoFu): Comprehensive guides and how-to content, case studies, newsletters, mini-courses, email series, quizzes, etc.
Bottom of the funnel (BoFu): Testimonials, special offers, email flash sales, product demos, free trials (great for memberships), and Live Q&A sessions. It is critical to reinforce your value proposition at this stage of the funnel.
I hope you found this helpful, and I wish you success in your digital product journey. Remember that all things take time, and if you do your research and create a good marketing strategy, this will increase your chances of success.
Need help mapping out your product idea and discussing your digital product ideas? Book a 1:1 mentorship call with me.