How to Build a Successful Online Business with Digital Products
7 Digital products you can start making money from immediately
There are many opportunities to make money online through passive income streams. One of the most popular ways to generate passive income is by creating and selling digital products.
Whether you are a writer, photographer, musician, programmer, or designer, there are countless opportunities to earn passive income through creating and selling digital products.
Digital products that can be downloaded or accessed online are e-books, courses, software, music, or stock photos. These products can be created once and then sold multiple times, providing a stream of income that requires minimal ongoing effort.
In this post, I will explain the various digital products you can create and sell, as well as the platforms you can use to reach a wider audience and maximize your earnings.
The benefits of creating or selling digital products as a source of passive income cannot be overemphasized, because it starts with giving you creative freedom — where you express your crafts without apology. However, you earn passively, which translates into making money from what you love doing. The low overhead cost of starting and running the business, leveraging the internet to have a wider reach, and its flexibility — you can create a single digital product into a variety of formats like audio, e-book, courses, printable, and more.
With dedication and hard work, selling digital products can provide a rewarding and sustainable income stream that can help you achieve your financial goals.
Here is the list of some of the products you can create and how you can earn passive income online through them:
1. E-Books
E-books are great ways to share your expertise on a particular topic and earn money at the same time. And you do not need years of experience to document a working process or step in a book.
You can create an e-book on anything from fiction to cooking, tech, arts, and unto fitness, and then sell it on platforms like Amazon Kindle, Kobo Writing Life, Lulu, Barnes and Noble, Apple iBooks store, or your own website.
There are several tools for creating e-books both free and paid tools, some of them are:
- Microsoft Word — Free
- Google Docs — Free
- Calibre — Free
- Sigil — Free
- Scrivener — Paid
- PressBooks — Paid
- Canva — Free/Paid
2. Online Courses
Creating online courses is another great way to make money online. You can create a course on any subject you’re knowledgeable in and then sell it on platforms like Udemy, Selar, Skillshare, Kajabi, or Teachable.
Online courses can be created into videos, presentations, and documents.
You can also create a membership site where people pay a monthly fee to access your courses.
3. Stock Photos
If you have a talent for photography, you can sell your images on stock photo websites like Shutterstock, iStock, or Adobe Stock. You can earn a commission each time someone downloads your image.
Use high-pixel photos for optimum picture quality. Read any platform’s guidelines and requirements for signing up and submission of your photography on their site.
To get a quality stock photo, you will need a high-resolution camera (always check the picture requirements for platforms you wish to sell your stock images), and photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, Canva, PicMonkey, GIMP, or Shutterstock editor.
Before you make your submission, check if the platforms promote the niche you are focused on.
4. Printables
Printables are digital files that people can print out and use in their daily lives. You can create printables like calendars, meal plans, or budget trackers. Canva, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, or Lightroom can help you create printables that you can sell online.
Marketplaces where you can sell printables online for money are Etsy, Gumroad, Creative Market, or Shopify. You can build or own your own website.
5. Software or Apps
If you have programming skills, you can create software or apps that solve a specific problem or make life easier for people. If you are a tech enthusiast, that isn’t really good with programming or doesn’t have much programming skills, you can either download or buy codes for software, plugins, themes, etc, depending on the licensing terms of the platform.
Here are some of the platforms where you can either get or buy codes:
- GitHub — It allows users to create and host repositories for their code, and it’s a popular platform for open-source projects. You can browse and download code from repositories on GitHub, or you can buy and download code from developers who sell their products on the platform.
- Codecanyon — Codecanyon is a marketplace for buying and selling plugins, scripts, and other code snippets. It offers a wide range of products, including WordPress plugins, JavaScript libraries, PHP scripts, and more.
- Stack Overflow — Stack Overflow is a question-and-answer community for programmers. It’s a great resource for finding code snippets and solutions to coding problems. You can search for questions related to your coding needs and find code examples and solutions that you can use in your own projects.
Or better still you can hire the services of a skilled programmer to help you build programming codes for sale.
If you are a developer, you can sell your software or app on platforms like the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Amazon App Store, Microsoft Store, or Steam.
6. Templates
If you have design skills, you can create templates for things like resumes, business cards, or social media graphics.
Tools that can help you create templates are Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Canva, Affinity Designer, Figma, or Sketch.
You can sell your templates on platforms like Creative Market, Sellfy, Gumroad, Envato market place or your own website.
7. Music or Audio Files
If you’re a musician or have recording equipment, you can create music or audio files.
Before considering creating music or audio files, there is basic equipment that one should have, such as a noise-proof microphone and sound editing software. The other tools for quality productions are:
- Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) — Ableton Live, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Pro Tools, Cubase, and GarageBand. Some software for recording, editing, and producing digital audio are:
- Audio Editors — Some popular audio editors include Audacity, Adobe Audition, and Sound Forge.
- Music Production Plugins — These are software-based tools that add effects, filters, and processing to audio tracks. Some popular music production plugins include Waves, FabFilter, and iZotope.
- Loop Libraries — These are collections of pre-recorded audio loops and samples that can be used to create music. Some popular loop libraries include Splice, Loopmasters, and sounds.com.
You can sell your music or audio files on platforms like iTunes, TuneCore, CD Baby, Sound Cloud, Spotify, ReverbNation, Bandcamp, or Amazon.
Creating and listing your digital products are way simple, but it is more difficult to maximize earnings and market the products efficiently. If you would want to know how to market and maximize your earnings, then continue reading here.
