The Digital Product Handbook PDF

CONTENTS
DIGITAL PRODUCT IDEAS AND TIPS FOR CREATORS IN NEED OF

INSPIRATION 4
What are the benefits of selling a digital product? 5

#1. Digital products are sustainably profitable 5
#2. You have a limitless inventory with digital products 7
#3. Digital products allow you to scale your business 8
How do I come up with a digital product idea? 9

#1. Create digital products using the written word 11
#2. Cut audio tracks to sell as digital products 12
#3. Create design assets 13
#4. Make video-based digital products 14
How do I validate my digital product idea? 16

Tip #1. Conduct primary research by reaching out to your audience members 17
Tip #2. Conduct secondary research by observing online communities 19
Pursue your next digital product idea with confidence 21
THE MOST POPULAR TYPES OF DIGITAL PRODUCTS TO SELL ONLINE 22
Launch your online business with the written word 23

Ebooks 24
Guides 25
Templates 26
Documents 28
Audiences and creators that written digital products are best for: 29
Reach your target audience with design-based content 29

Photography 30
Graphics, illustrations, infographics, and digital art 32
Fonts, icons, and logos 37
Templates 40
Printable products 41
Visual digital products are best for the following audiences and creators: 43
Use video to engage a global and growing audience 43

Short films, stock videos, and documentaries 45
Animations 46
Video digital products are best for these audiences and creators: 47
Offer your musical talents with audio files 48

Audiences and creators that audio products are best for: 50
How the market for educational digital products is expanding 51

Educational digital products are ideal for these audiences and creators: 53
THE COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO PRICING DIGITAL PRODUCTS AND

PROFITING 54
How should I price my digital downloads? 55
2 TheDigitalProduct.Guru
What is cost-based pricing? 55
What is value-based pricing? 59
How can I find out what price works best for my products? 60
What are the costs associated with selling digital files? 61
How much do successful digital downloads charge? 64
Best practices for selling a one-time download 70

Pricing strategy #1: Get customers to join your email list 70
Pricing strategy #2: Use your one-time download to promote other products 72
Pricing strategy #3: Always ensure value is apparent to your customers 73
Ready to sell your own popular digital download? 76
4 strategies for launching your info product 77

#1. Implement email marketing 77
#2. Host a webinar to educate your audience 81
#3. Give away free content to attract new audience members 84
#4. Spread the word using social media campaigns 86
Generate scalable passive income by selling info products 88
THE COMPLETE GUIDE FOR PROMOTING AND SELLING DIGITAL

DOWNLOADS 90
Step 1: Research your audience 91
Step 2: Prepare your product packaging 98
Step 3: Create and execute a content plan 101
Step 4: Set up a lead-nurturing email funnel 107
Promotion, packaging, and polishing 109
Digital product ideas and tips for
creators in need of inspiration
If you're looking to launch your next digital product, here’s what

you need to know for generating, validating, and implementing
your ideas (plus tons of examples).
You’re racking your brain, trying to come up with your next online
product idea. You’re totally lost.
Should you sell an ebook or an online course?
What about selling your designs? You do love to create

customizable templates. There’s also that bundle of digital
downloads you’ve been thinking about creating...
With so many options to sort through, it’s easy to feel paralyzed

about which direction to go.
But, here’s the good news: it doesn’t have to be that way. Because
although yes, there is a lot to cover when moving from idea to
implementation, it can be simple.
In fact, with the right map, navigating from idea to implementation

is a straight shot.
Today, we’re going to lay out that map. First, we’ll look at the
benefits of selling digital products, check out some actionable
brainstorming strategies, and then pivot to validating your idea.
After that, we’ll top it all off with simple steps for creating and
launching your digital product.
So, ready to tackle your next digital product venture?
Then let’s get started with the most important question of the
day. Why sell a digital product in the first place?
What are the benefits of selling a

digital product?
Digital products are a lucrative choice over physical products for
three reasons. The first, of course, comes down to the state of the
market for digital products.
More specifically, the great -- and enduring -- state of it.
#1. Digital products are sustainably profitable
By 2021, it’s expected 65.2% of the global population will consist

of digital buyers.
It’s little wonder, too. Digital products provide customers with

instant access -- something they pine for already and by 2026 will
expect as the norm -- which means the market for digital products
can only grow.
Conversely, the market for physical products, while certain to
remain strong in its own right, will struggle to provide the same
instantaneous satisfaction. In other words, digital products have
some serious long-term staying power and easy sustainability over
physical goods.
That’s not all digital product profits have going for them, though.
The lack of overhead costs is another major financial advantage of
selling digital goods.
After all, once your digital product is launched, you only have to
worry about promotional and other low-maintenance costs.
Delivery fees, inventory maintenance, and insurance are never on

your plate.
And if you’re selling your digital goods on your own website

instead of on a marketplace, listing fees are never added to that
plate, either.
For example, Rebekah Allan earns over $100,000 annually from

her online business by selling directly from her site. Because she
doesn’t need to pay a marketplace’s or outside platform’s
miscellaneous fees, she keeps most of her revenue.
As you can see from the above, 60% of her revenue comes from
her membership site, and 20% is generated from selling other
digital products, like ebooks and online courses.
It’s nice knowing you can earn a substantial profit from your digital
products, right?
Our next benefit explains why your profit potential is even higher
than if you were selling physical goods.
#2. You have a limitless inventory with digital

products
The beauty of offering a digital product to your audience is you

can deliver a single file to endless customers.
You never have to fret about running out of stock, and your sales
are never capped by your inventory capacity.
Animator McCoy Buck’s ebook How To: Pre Production in

Moho/Anime Studio is a great example of a digital product with
uncapped inventory and sales potential.
Just as McCoy’s audience can purchase his $7 ebook without him
having to replenish stock for the next round of customers, you can
sell your digital products to as many customers as you can reach.
In turn, this limitless selling capacity lets you focus on bigger

things like scaling your business.
Incidentally, that’s our last major benefit of selling digital products.
#3. Digital products allow you to scale your business
Because digital product storefronts are simple to manage, you can

spend your time scaling your business instead of burying your
calendar in tedious administrative tasks.
After all, once your product is published for sale, the bulk of the
work is done, leaving just marketing to maintain.
Unlike physical products where your hours are traded directly for
your profits, your revenue can continue to scale without taking up
your most valuable resource -- your time -- in the process.
OK. So you’re convinced: selling digital products is the way to go,

and you’re on the right path. Now, it’s time to start ideating.
How do I come up with a digital
product idea?
To come up with the best digital product idea, start by choosing a
topic and listing out your interests, passions, and skill sets.
We like to recommend using a Passion/Profit Matrix, which maps

out your various topic ideas, to make this easier to visualize. The
idea is to land on something that strikes both your passion and
profitability.
• Passion: How excited are you to work on this? If you hate

working on something, its’ profit potential doesn’t matter,
because you’re likely to quit before you get there!
• Profit Potential: Is it a problem that people would pay to have

solved for them? A good framework for thinking about this is
“do people already spend money to solve this problem, in the
form of books, apps, services, etc…?”.
Here’s how this might look filled out with some ideas. Just for fun, I
collected some topics to create a cooking course:
We’re looking for the ideas that land in the top right quadrant: the
ones that you’re excited to work on and that you’ll be able to sell.
In this case, “How to make eggs” is probably not a great idea

because while I’d enjoy working on it, not that many people seem to
struggle with it. I’d also skip “How to cook healthy to-go lunches for
young children” because although it’s a common problem, it’s not
really something I’d enjoy tackling.
But “How to grocery shop better”, “How to use knives like an expert”,
and “How to impress your date/loved one with cooking”?
Those are all excellent online course ideas with a lot of potential!
Pick the one that excites you and your potential audience the
most. After that, your next step is to choose a format for your
digital product.
There are hundreds of options to choose from within the world of

digital products, so it’s time to get creative. Everything from info
products to membership sites is yours to sell.
Want to learn more about your options? You may find more
information further in this ebook.
But if you want the quick and skinny on formats, here’s what you
need to know:
#1. Create digital products using the written word
Whether it’s an ebook, guide, template, or another digital

document, digital products and the written word go together like
peanut butter and jelly. That’s not to say that all of them are books,
though. If it can accommodate copy, it can sell as a digital
product.
For instance, check out Dewane Mutunga’s Solopreneur Business

Tracker. Is it a long read? No, probably not. Does it sell? You bet.
It’s unsurprising that the written word is thriving (and the creators
behind it are, too). All signs point to digital readership expanding
with little to no cause for delay.
For example, digital publishing revenue reached $18 billion in the
US alone last year, and digital newspaper revenue reached an all-
time high of $5.5 million globally.
That said, if you’re not much of a writer but you’ve caught the
music bug, our next format is worth considering. The audio format
is also part of a growing market.
#2. Cut audio tracks to sell as digital products
If you’re someone who has an ear for melodies and sounds like
Vincent Retg, creator of online course Melody Maker, you should
consider selling digital products in audio format.
You can sell an online course about creating originals, like Vincent
does, or explore other audio files, like songs, beats, jingles,
samples, sounds effects, and other audio tracks.
Not the musical or writer type? No worries. We’ve got two more
formats you can tackle, instead.
#3. Create design assets
With over 40.2% of professionals using stock photography

and 49% of small businesses claiming graphic design as key for
business success, design-based digital assets are another great
option.
Design assets include items like photography, graphic designs,

illustrations, fonts, icons, logos, design templates, and printable
products.
Looking for an example? Check out Vanessa Ryan’s Boho Chic

Toolbox offer, where she sells a variety of Canva templates and
graphic designs.
Her toolbox offer comes with a 10-page workbook, 20-page slide

deck, planner, and over 20 social media graphics, among other
design goodies.
Our next format also relies on visually appealing content with a

dash of motion in the mix.
#4. Make video-based digital products
If you’re a filmmaker, selling digital products such as short films,

stock videos, documentaries, and/or animations may be right up
your alley.
Check out this example of a stock video for sale.
In this case, the video content caters to a more mature audience

who’s musically inclined and enjoys the comfort of their own
home.
You can create a stock video for nearly any audience covering a
wide gamut of topics and set designs, so let your imagination go
wild.
Stock videos are a profitable niche, too.
For instance, professional photographer, Daniele Carrer, makes

about $3,000 per month selling real-time and time-lapse footage.
Her best-seller time-lapse video pulled in $4,000 alone.
All in all, these four formats are profitable digital products to sell.
But most importantly, each of these formats transitions naturally

into creating high-ticket info products like online courses and/or
membership sites.
If you’re not aware, info products typically deliver content that is

both educational and engaging through a variety of formats. As an
example, check out Jeremy Alexander’s Construct 2 online course.
His course comes with a mix of written, audio, and video formats
including 80 videos, one digital document, and one text file.
Regardless of the format you decide on, your primary focus should
be on your customers and offering them what they want and need.
In other words, deliver a specific result that solves their biggest

problem, just like creator Sally Twellman’s Clean Eating, Healthy
Eating - 7 Day Clean Eating ebook, where her readers walk away
with seven days of clean eating, plus 34 recipes, health guidelines,
and 20 snack ideas.
Pretty clear results, right?
Follow Sally’s strategy -- focusing on results irrespective of format -

- to gain and retain the most important part of your business:
Your customers.
The next step, validating your product idea, also helps to that end.
How do I validate my digital product

idea?
It’s vital to discover what makes your customers tick so you can
create and deliver exactly what they want. That’s where validating
your product idea comes in.
And validating your idea means doing your homework. More

specifically, it means doing your research.
What are some ways to gather your research? You can collect both
primary (first-hand) data and secondary (second-hand) data during
your market research.
Let’s dig into some tips for each method.
Tip #1. Conduct primary research by reaching out to

your audience members
Three ways to tackle gathering primary research include:
#1. Interview your audience - Set up interviews with your

customers and prospective customers to discover their pain points
for yourself.
#2. Poll your audience using surveys - If you have an email list,
email your subscribers and link to your online survey asking about
their struggles. On social media sites, simply send links to your
survey with the same questions.
Using free tools like Google Forms or Typeform, here’s what your
survey can look like:
Pretty straightforward, right?
Some key questions to ask your audience members are
demographic questions (like age, gender, education, location,
and profession) and psychographic questions (such as hobbies,
interests, biggest challenges, primary goals, and resources for
new information.)
Wondering how long a survey should take? As a best practice,

market research surveys shouldn’t take your respondents more
than 15 minutes to complete.
#3. Search for relevant online communities - You can use social
platform communities, like Facebook Groups, and online forums
to join relevant conversations and answer thread questions.
For example, if you’re in the healthy eating category, you can join
a Facebook group like Skinnytaste Community: What’s Cooking
Tonight? and strike up a conversation with 212,433 members.
As you build rapport and relationships among folks in these online
communities, ask members individually if you can send a survey or
set up a one-on-one interview. Not everyone will say yes, but not
everyone needs to, either.
That said, if you’re unable to gather data directly from your

audience or source a relevant community, secondary research can
provide a wealth of insights, too.
Tip #2. Conduct secondary research by observing

online communities
We recommend two methods for gleaning secondary research

about your target audience:
#1. Search for popular hashtags on your topic - Use tools

like HashAtIt to look up your topic category. By searching every
major platform for trending conversations on your subject area,
you can find the gist of people’s challenges and triumphs in it.
#2. Search for relevant books on the topic - You can easily use
Amazon to find books written about your digital product topic and
scope out the market for your niche.
The larger that scope is, the better. If there’s a large number of
reviews and products in your market, that’s a good thing. Rather
than competition, it indicates there’s a significant market need for
your topic.
For instance, based on author Michael Matthews’s best-seller, you

can tell there’s a significant market demand for male fitness.
With over 3,500 reviews, this topic might be worth pursuing if
you’re in the health and fitness industry.
But don’t stop at finding a popular book. Dive deeper into your
Amazon search by perusing the reviews because there’s potential
gold to be found.
By reading written reviews and comments, you’ll uncover the root

of people’s problems. Typically, the longer the comments, the
more depth you can reveal about your audience’s problems,
emotions, and desires, like in this review of the same book here.
You can pick up on finer details about the target audience’s
problem, what’s missing in resolving the problem, and what’s
lacking in the market.
Again, pay attention to how you can solve your prospective client’s
biggest problem and deliver a specific result in your digital
product -- if you’re doing that, your product is on the right track.
Pursue your next digital product idea with confidence
With all these ideas at your disposal, the world of digital products
is yours to leverage.
All you need to get from start to finish is the right roadmap.
Here’s what the lay of the land looks like:
• The three main benefits of a digital product are profitability,

limitless inventory, and the chance to scale your business.
• To come up with a digital product idea, list out your passions
and skills and use a Passion/Profit Matrix to select the most
exciting idea. Then choose your digital product format from
written, visual, audio, and hybrid options.
• Don’t miss the vital step of validating your digital product idea,
however. You can do this by gathering primary and secondary
data from your target audience.
• Once you’ve validated your idea, create your digital product,
set up your storefront, and then promote and launch. That’s all
there is to it.
The most popular types of digital
products to sell online
Want to know the most popular digital products to sell online?
Access this list of the most profitable categories before you create
your next product.
You’ve been thinking about selling digital products online for
some time now, but you’re stuck.
Some questions that you’re stumbling with:
• What are the best digital products to sell online?

• Which formats and categories are the most popular?
• Will my audience even care about my digital products?
• How can I feel confident that my digital products will
successfully sell in this crowded market?
Don’t worry -- with the right info in hand, deciding which digital
products to sell online doesn’t have to be so mind-boggling.
We put together a list of the most popular types of digital

downloads to sell in today’s market, categorized by format and
audience category.
Plus, we’ve included some additional resources for when you’re

ready to execute.
Ready to get started? Let’s roll out with our first format -- the
written word.
Launch your online business with the
written word
For all you authors and writers out there, this format is one of the
most common digital products out there, so there’s undoubtedly a
market demand for it.
In fact, the global ebook market is growing at a 93% compound

annual growth rate (CAGR) and expected to grow about 16%
annually through 2020.
Why is the market for the (digitally) written word growing?
This format not only require little-to-no heavy lifting to create, but
it’s also easy to consume. You can distribute written digital
downloads with ease, and coupled with their low cost to produce,
they serve as great marketing tools.
Which is likely part of the reason why digital newspaper

readership is increasing worldwide.
Sound like something you want in on? Let’s dig into the details,
then.
Ebooks
In 2018, digital publishing revenue grew to nearly $18 billion in

the US alone, making this a substantial market.
One way to tap into this growth is by turning your long-form

content into an ebook. You can either go all out and sell a full-
length book of your content with unique upgrades or create an
entirely new piece of content offered as an exclusive to your
paying readers.
In either case, the only time-consuming aspect of an ebook is the

creation. Delivery and shipping is a cinch.
After all, ebooks are typically downloadable within a few minutes,

and delivery is standardized between these five common file
formats: 1 .txt, 2 .azw, 3 .epub, 4 .mobi & 5 .pdf.
Regardless of the file format you choose, ebooks should feel like a
comprehensive piece of content with a beginning, middle, and
end. Although it doesn’t have to be as long as a traditional
paperback, it should still feel like a complete “book.”
An ebook, much like an online course, needs to deliver a result

that solves a problem for your audience. Ryan McRae’s Ordering
the Chaos is an example of an ebook that provides a solution for
his audience who needs to organize their ADHD life:
Need more on how to create an ebook from start to finish?

HubSpot has a comprehensive guide for creating an ebook.
Guides
Guides make for a great way to teach your audience how to

achieve a specific result in the form of how-to articles, step-by-
steps, tutorials, and et cetera.
And as a bonus, you can accompany your text with visuals to
enhance your reader’s learning experience, making it
advantageous to offer both the written and visual aspects within
your guide.
After all, readers like their images to be coupled with text. People
follow directions 323% better if you include both text and
illustrations.
Basically, a guide offers you an effective way to demonstrate your

expertise to your audience, showing them that you’re the one who
can help them achieve what they’re after.
Templates
If you’re an author or entrepreneur who’s discovered a good thing

worth sharing (i.e., a formula, recipe, system, sequence, or et
cetera), it may be worthwhile to sell it as a downloadable template.
Here’s what I mean.
Say you’re a savvy copywriter and you’ve sent and tested enough
client emails throughout your career to know which sequences
bring in the highest open rates and conversions.
That’s gold right there for offering a template packet as your

digital product.
As an example, email SaaS giant, Sumo, offers 10 email templates

as their digital download from a “welcome” email to a “download
my app” email in their digital template offer:
The same concept applies to other successful aspects of your

business that you’ve discovered along the way.
So if you’ve got a winning secret that can help your audience,

templates are a great way to showcase and share your knowledge
with them.
Documents
To close the loop on the written format, let’s look at documents. A

document is exactly what it sounds like: virtually any piece of
writing that can be used as a resource for your audience, whether
that’s for entertainment or education, falls into the document
category.
For instance, documents might include cheat sheets, checklists,

listicles, assessments, quizzes, and et cetera.
Since documents tend to be more actionable and interactive

pieces of content, they’re typically shorter than ebooks or guides.
Documents don’t always have to come with a price tag, either.

Offering up your content for free as a lead magnet is a fantastic
way to attract new audience members and nurture them
throughout the buyer’s journey.
All in all, written digital products are a popular way to go: they’re
relatively inexpensive to produce, and your audience can easily
download and consume them on their own time.
Before we move on to the next format, let’s quickly cover who
benefits most from this category.
Audiences and creators that written digital products

are best for:
• Businesses who want to create a lead magnet to grow their

subscriber list and audience size.
• Bloggers who want to offer a content upgrade on their article
pages. A content upgrade is a condensed version of a blog
article or complementary piece of content that readers can
opt-in for, to access as a digital download.
• Content writers and creators who want to feature their writing
and sales copywriting skills.
• Educators and businesses who want to teach their audience
step-by-step how to achieve a specific result.
OK -- that covers the written format. What about more design-
oriented creators?
That’s where this next type of digital product comes in.
Reach your target audience with

design-based content
As we mentioned earlier, visual elements are hugely important
when it comes to audience engagement.
This is particularly true if you’re designing educational material.

After all, 65% of us are visual learners.
Which means there’s a big opportunity here for visual creators to
capitalize on selling digital products that both engage and elevate
their audience’s education. Let’s check out the specific categories
and formats that design-related content tends to fall into.
Photography
Whether you’re a travel or event photographer, historian, artist, or

someone who shoots for a specific industry and supports
marketing needs, selling your digital photography is a great way
to monetize your shooting and photo-making skills.
How big is the market opportunity?
Huge, particularly in the business-to-business sector.
In a survey of 300 marketers, 40% of professionals say they use
stock photography most frequently of any type of visual, making it
the most prolific format in their marketing efforts.
And if you’re wondering what to charge for your images, online

portfolio website, pixpa, recommends following these pricing
guidelines according to skill level and quality of your digital
photos:
• Amateur or student - $50-$100 per hour

• Entry level - $25-$125 per image
• Professional - $75-$250 per image
• Top professional - $200-$1,200 per image
Think those ranges seem high? For someone at the top of their
game, it’s anything but. As an example, consider the case of the
professional landscape photographer, Max Rive, who sells his
images directly on his own site for $897 if printed with a bamboo
giclee finish.
So, whether you’re selling your digital photos directly to end-users

to enjoy or to businesses, selling your digital photography is a
great way to distribute your creative talent and bring in significant
income.
But what about a visual product that doesn’t require camera

equipment?
Graphics, illustrations, infographics, and digital art
For you illustrators and graphic designers out there, there’s a

substantial market opportunity for you to serve businesses, too.
Out of 1,500 small businesses, 49% stated that graphic design is

vital to their business success.
As far as industry trends, the graphic design industry is expected
to reach $15 billion in revenue as of 2019, which is an annual
growth of 2.4% over the past five years:
Businesses certainly understand the importance of using original

graphics, making them a great target market when offering this
digital product. 41.5% of marketers believe original digital
graphics, such as infographics, have the highest impact on their
audience engagement:
And these days, people love infographics. People share
infographics 3x more than any other type of content, and
infographics can increase your web traffic by up to 12%.
Why are infographics so prized?
It’s surprisingly simple:
Businesses love them because they attract more eyeballs to their

content and readers love them because they’re easier to digest.
So if you can turn complex data and stats into something visually
simplistic and aesthetic, designing infographics is a great option
for you.
Tip: To create an impactful infographic, follow these three steps:
1. Engage in a conversation with your audience online

2. Ask yourself how you can answer their questions
3. Create your infographic on that topic
Interested in creating infographics but don’t know where to get
started? One of our favorite tools, Canva, offers over 50,000 free
infographic templates on their design site.
If Canva isn’t your speed, Venngage and Piktochart are also

popular and user-friendly platforms that make infographics a
breeze.
That covers infographics -- what about other custom graphics and

illustrations?
Custom illustrations allow for brands to stand out with their unique
look and feel in a way that stock photography never can.
In other words, they give brands authenticity.
And authentic branding is important, with 91% of consumers more
likely to purchase from a business perceived as authentic.
Help Scout is a great demonstration of how custom illustrations

enhance a brand’s appeal. Check this out:
Tip: As you’re creating custom digital art for your customers, keep
in mind the importance of color consistency. Color increases
brand recognition by up to 80%.
By offering unique digital art, whether for the end user or for
businesses, you’ll be able to provide something very unique to
your audience.
Our next digital format accomplishes the same thing but through
individual components.
Fonts, icons, and logos
You don’t necessarily need to sell an entire digital masterpiece to

fulfill someone’s need for unique branding or customizable art.
Another option is to create elements of digital design like fonts,
icons, and logos.
All three of these elements are important to a business’ branding,

particularly logos, which represent a business’ identity. And the
key to business revenue growth is in the consistent use of
branding.
All three of these elements create a cohesive branding image, and

other businesses know it. It’s a well-established fact that consistent
branding accounts for an average of 23% in revenue increase.
Thinking about selling a particular font or typeface as a digital
product? Here’s a pricing chart to reference to make sure you’re
finding the best royalty rate. Use your base price of n and increase
your price according to each multiplier when you hit the next tier
of pageviews:
And for creators interested in selling icons, user experience (UX)

and design expert, author, and speaker, Joe Natoli, highlights four
main types of icons, which you can keep in mind as you create
your icon sets:
• Similar icons - useful for simple actions and concepts that are
easy to understand.
• Example icons - useful for representing things that are
commonly associated with an action, object, or concept.
• Symbolic icons - icons that represent an action, object, or
concept at a higher abstraction level.
• Arbitrary icons - icons that aren’t intuitive to understand. They
need to be introduced and familiarized over time before
becoming universally known as an industry’s standard.
Finally, for those of you creating logos, here are a few key colors to
keep in mind -- famous brands have had much success
with primary colors and black (i.e., blue, red, yellow or gold, and
black or greyscale):
So if you have a knack for design, then consider selling logos,
typefaces, or icons to leverage your skill set online. A good selling
point for you is that you can help increase the important brand
consistency required for growth.
We’ve got two more categories within visual products for you.
Templates
Remember those written templates we talked about earlier? Well,

design form is a great business opportunity as well.
You can offer templates of virtually any of your design work, so

long as the pieces are designed to be swapped out and
customized.
Which means the sky’s the limit. You can sell templates for slide
presentations, marketing collateral, brochures, sales sheets,
infographics, and the list goes on.
Design site, Envato, offers templates in virtually every category you

can think of from posters and logos to user experience kits and
product mockups.
So there’s definitely a market to find with templates. The only
guiding rule with creating templates is this: it needs to be
customizable and tailored for the needs of your specific audience
without being so constrictive that it’s too niche to sell.
The same rule goes for our final visual product, as well.
Printable products
If you’re selling directly to end-users, here's where you can get

very creative.
Normally those physical products that you purchase at arts and

craft stores like calendars, cards, journals, posters, and et cetera,
can also be purchased as digital products, where your customers
print the items on their own.
This gives your audience the convenience of not having to shop
around physically to find what they need, and it gives you the
opportunity to really stand out from the rest with your unique
designs that are exclusively available through your store.
Take, for example, graphic designer Colleen Michele’s digital

products, where she sells customizable signs for toddler
birthdays as digital downloads.
You simply put in your two-year-old’s details and you’re able to

download and print the custom image on your own instantly.
Which means as a creator, your potential audience includes

anyone with internet and printing access.
Now that you're well-versed on the various visual formats, let’s
uncover the matching audiences.
Visual digital products are best for the following

audiences and creators:
• Businesses, founders, and entrepreneurs who want to increase

their brand equity.
• Customers who want a unique visual product to enjoy.
• Authors, writers, and content creators in need of a unique
image to complement their work, products, content, and
messaging.
• Anyone looking for something visually striking that helps them
stand out from their competition.
OK -- you’ve got visual products down.
Now, let’s put things in motion.
Use video to engage a global and growing audience
Video will account for 82% of global internet traffic by 2022.
Which means that video as a format can only grow in popularity as

technology drivers push forward. Check out this anticipated
growth for drivers of global IP traffic and service adoption.
Video viewing is expected to reach 82% of traffic by 2020.
And here’s another stat for you. Each person in the US watches an
average of 1 hour and 17 minutes of online videos daily.
This isn’t expected to slow down, either. In fact, digital video

viewership is expected to grow by nearly 10 minutes for every US
adult by the end of 2019, which means 1 hour and 26 minutes per
person each day.
Of course, tackling such a vast format is easiest when you have a

lane to follow, so let’s check out the most popular categories for
video.
Short films, stock videos, and documentaries
If you’re a talented filmmaker who can polish together films for

either entertainment, educational, or marketing purposes, these
formats may be perfect for you.
You can sell your films to entertain your audience directly and also
as b-roll or educational footage for other content creators to use.
Short-film Sriracha is an example of a documentary for sale, sold

directly to consumers.
And don’t despair if you don’t have a studio full of equipment.

Thanks to ridiculously powerful phone cameras, anyone with an
eye for film can shoot professional-quality video from most mobile
phones.
That said, the video format isn’t just for creators who like to hang
out behind the camera lens. It’s for illustrators, too, as you’ll see in
the next format.
Animations
Animation artists have a unique opportunity to offer something

not everyone can create. For those graphic designers and
illustrators who can turn your images into animated movies, this
one is ideal for you.
Just as custom illustrations provide businesses and entrepreneurs

with a unique brand-building method, custom animations do the
same.
Here’s an example of a sketch drawing animation for sale:
As a bonus, your animations don’t have to be particularly long to

be effective. In fact, the best-performing videos come in around
the one-minute mark. Videos that are up to one-minute long have
an average 70% play rate, which then drops off by 5% at the two-
minute mark.
Basically:
Animated video is great for brands that prefer a more unique

touch with their audience, which makes this format an ideal option
for creators to sell to reach a global audience.
As usual, let’s take a quick segue into who video products work
best for.
Video digital products are best for these audiences

and creators:
• Online businesses, brand managers, and business owners with

various video, storytelling, and animation needs for
commercials, product demonstrations, marketing content, and
et cetera.
• Course creators and educators who want to include video
tutorials in their educational content.
• Storytellers, authors, and writers who want to turn their ideas
into films.
• Entertainment customers who want to purchase their favorite
animations, films, or videos to watch at leisure.
• Bloggers who want to complement their online content with
videos and vlog material.
Whether for entertainment or marketing purposes, video is
consuming more of people’s attention, making this a great format
to engage audiences with your digital products.
Now, lend me your ear for our next product type today.
Offer your musical talents with audio

files
There’s a multitude of audio and music files you can create and
sell including songs, beats, jingles, samples, tracks, sounds effects,
and et cetera.
Not everyone in need has access to creating their own royalty-free

audio files, which creates an opportunity for musicians and sound
engineers to sell audio products to people without those
resources.
Let’s take a look at what the market for this format looks like.
In 2018, the music industry generated around $51.5 billion

globally, with 19.6 billion of that coming from the US alone.
More than 50% of the US population over the age of 12 regularly
listens to online radio:
All these stats point to a growing market for digital music creators,
which means you have a great opportunity to create and sell items
from your sound library.
Caveat: While streaming digital music is growing in popularity,

actual downloads for music decreased by 20.5% in revenue
according to the 2018 report, which makes your audience for
audio products more suitable for B2B customers instead of direct
consumers.
Here’s an example of an audio artist who sells audio files, varying

from deep-sea underwater sound effects to “TV Dinner” tracks:
And now more on who you can serve.
Audiences and creators that audio products are best

for:
• Podcasters and broadcasters who need intros, outros,

samples, or soundtracks for their shows.
• Businesses, content creators, and filmmakers who need jingles
or audio tracks for their videos and commercials.
• Musicians and artists who need samples, beats, or tracks to
orchestrate their songs.
• Music lovers who want to purchase songs and pieces that they
love to listen to.
We’ve got one final popular digital product format for you to
explore:
How the market for educational digital
products is expanding
This one is definitely a growing field.
The global e-learning market is anticipated to reach $325

billion by 2025, which is a projected annual growth rate of nearly
10%.
Specifically, online courses make up $46 billion of that market.
Wondering what categories and audiences you can serve with

your educational product?
All of them.
You can sell online courses on essentially anything. There’s no real

limit here: cooking classes; diet, nutrition, and workout plans;
stand-up comedy tutorials; language lessons; coding courses;
music and art demonstrations; and so on.
Practically any professional service can be turned into an

educational resource for sale from financial advice and life
coaching to consulting and online marketing.
As an especially meta example, business owner and online

educator, Amanda Boleyn, offers an 8-video course on The Basics
of Building a Business:
Another great way to serve your audience through educational
content is to create a membership site that serves as a hub for all
the resourceful info you provide related to your area of expertise.
This is where your audience gathers to join a productive group of

other like-minded members and gain access to your exclusive
content, just like in this example of fitness professional Masiel
Encarnacion’s 6-Week Slim Down membership site:
So online courses and membership sites are two impactful ways to

serve your audience through educational digital products.
As far as audiences go, here’s who to serve with your educational
digital products.
Educational digital products are ideal for these

audiences and creators:
• Businesses, founders, and entrepreneurs in any industry who

want to productize their services and reach a broader
audience.
• Educators, teachers, and instructors who want to monetize
their expertise.
• Content creators who want to support the growth efforts of
educators, businesses, and entrepreneurs.
• Entrepreneurs looking to build content for an online
community of like-minded people who want access to
exclusive resources.
• Students who want to learn more about any topic under the
sun at a time and place of their choosing (i.e., whenever and
wherever they want).
I’ve saved the best part of educational products for last, though:
All the various formats mentioned (i.e., written, visual, video, or

audio) can be turned into educational digital content. So long as
you’re teaching your audience something of value where they’re
driven to achieve a specific result, they’re willing to pay.
And that wraps up the most popular digital products to sell online.
Phew -- congrats on making it through your list of choices.
Now the only thing to do is to settle on one and take action.
The comprehensive guide to pricing
digital products and profiting
The right price can drive sales through the roof, while the wrong
price puts them in the ground. Learn the best way to price one-
time digital downloads.
You’ve done all the hard work -- conducting customer research,

testing your minimum viable product, and designing a stellar
digital download.
But there’s one last hurdle to jump:
Pricing.
Price incorrectly, and some not-so-great things can happen -- you

might devalue your product, hurt your bottom line, and cheapen
your audience’s perception of your brand.
Price correctly, and you’ll get increased sales, loyal customers, and
an enviable brand reputation.
So how are you supposed to price a digital download profitably

when so many people are selling them for single-digit prices -- or
giving them away for free?
There are several steps to picking the best price for your product,
from calculating your expenses to determining the value that your
customers see in your product. Today, we’ll take you through all of
them.
First up on the docket is figuring out how much it costs you to
create and launch your digital download.
How should I price my digital

downloads?
When it comes to pricing digital products, there are two main
models: cost-based pricing and value-based pricing.
Neither model is necessarily more profitable than the other, but

one may be a better fit than the other depending on your
products and financial goals.
Let’s take a look at cost-based pricing first.
What is cost-based pricing?
Cost-based pricing is when a product is priced based on how

much it costs to produce that item, plus how much the seller wants
to make after taxes and expenses.
On the plus side, cost-based pricing is straightforward when it
comes to justifying your price to your audience.
But on the other hand, cost-based pricing is not a perfect strategy.
With this model, you could hurt your bottom line

by underestimating your expenses or assuming that your
audience’s preferences will stay predictable over time.
It’s also quite easy with cost-based pricing to charge a price so

high it deters customers from purchasing your product.
Cost-based pricing doesn’t leave much leeway, either, when

offering discounts and promotions since those lost earnings will
come out of your profit after taxes and expenses.
Despite these drawbacks, cost-based pricing can be a profitable

pricing strategy, especially when paired with transparent pricing.
Transparent pricing is when a business is honest and “transparent”

about the costs involved in making their product and how much
they plan on earning from it.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: Letting people know how much I
want to earn from my product? I’ll never make a sale!
But hear us out:
Transparency is a hit with consumers.
Contrary to popular belief, some consumers “ . . . may relax “self-

interest” in the face of transparent prices.”
In other words, some shoppers will choose to pay for a higher but
transparently priced product even if it makes financial sense to
buy a cheaper competing product.
Consumers aren’t just interested in price transparency, however;

they often want the products and brands themselves to be more
transparent.
70% of consumers have said that they are most interested in a

product’s transparency rather than that of the company.
Similarly, 85% of consumers have said they would be willing to

stay with a brand during a crisis if they had a history of being
transparent.
But how does transparency work in real life?
Consider clothing company, Everlane, and home products

retailer, Iuiga, both of whom give a breakdown of how much it
costs to produce their items, how much they charge for said items,
and what you could expect to pay from traditional retailers.
Unlimited Brewing used a transparent pricing model from the
company’s beginning and believes that it has helped to build
customers’ trust in their brand.
So how could a digital product creator adopt transparent pricing?
You could start by publicly outlining all of the expenses necessary

to create and maintain your digital product, like website hosting
fees, software subscriptions, and taxes.
If you frequently work with freelancers or have employees, you

could also share with your audience that you pay fair wages to
both, or note any charitable donations.
If the idea of making all of this information publicly available

makes you uncomfortable, that’s not a problem -- transparent
pricing isn’t for everyone.
There’s also value-based pricing to consider.
What is value-based pricing?
Value-based pricing is when a company determines their

product’s price based on what their audience members are willing
to pay for it and how they perceive the value of your product.
One of the benefits of value-based pricing is that even if your

product costs relatively little to produce, you can achieve a higher
margin than you would using the cost-based pricing model.
For a real-world example, look at car-maker Aston Martin.
They released a car model in the early 2010s that was very close to
a Toyota car model but cost around $28,000 more than the Toyota
version.
Despite this price difference, the Aston Martin model was made in
the same factory and by the same workers as the Toyota model.
So even though the two cars were very similar in appearance and
function, the value Aston Martin’s audience assigned to
purchasing an Aston Martin car likely contributed to its being
priced higher than the Toyota model.
The same holds true for digital downloads, too.
Now that you’re aware of two major pricing strategies, how do you
determine which one is the best fit for your download?
It’s time to do some (simple) calculations.
How can I find out what price works

best for my products?
To determine what price is the best for your product, there are
four things you need to figure out:
• What expenses are involved in creating and hosting your

digital download -- and your business more generally?
• What percentage of every dollar you earn will go to taxes?
• How much money do you want to make after taxes and
expenses?
• How much would your customers realistically spend on your
product?
To answer the first three questions, you'll need to calculate your

monthly operating expenses and what kind of profit you want to
make after taxes and expenses.
And for the final question, you’ll need to conduct customer

research to learn more.
Let’s tackle figuring out your expenses and after-tax profits first.
What are the costs associated with selling digital files?
Even though it’s entirely possible to sell and profit from selling
digital downloads online, there are often more hidden expenses
to creating a download than most creators realize.
Let’s say that you’re designing an ebook.
In the beginning, your only expenses are the time it takes you to
write the ebook, a Canva or Venngage subscription so that you
can format it nicely, and an editor to give it a few touch-ups before
you publish it.
Sounds pretty reasonable, right?
But you also need somewhere to host and sell that ebook.
Selling on Amazon may seem like the most straightforward option,

but may not be the most profitable considering Amazon’s royalty
fees.
Selling ebooks on your website can be the more affordable
option, but you’ll still need to minimally buy a domain name and
website builder or storefront for that.
If you’re still on the market for a storefront, we have some

recommendations for you. Check your Product Toolbox included
with this ebook for the best options.
After calculating expenses, you’ll still have to allocate a portion of

your earnings to taxes, and likely pay transaction fees to payment
processors like Stripe or PayPal.
As for taxes, we aren’t just talking about paying income tax; your
country, state, or city may also require you to collect sales tax on
whatever downloads you sell plus pay use tax on items you
purchased to produce your digital download.
We know that sales and use tax can throw even veteran creators
for a loop, so let’s take a moment to refresh your memory.
Sales tax is an additional tax that you pay on top of the price you
paid for an item, and something that your state may require you to
collect from your customers.
Currently, 45 of the 50 American states charge sales tax, with

many cities and counties charging an additional sales tax.
Besides sales tax, there’s a good chance you’ll need to pay a use
tax on the items you purchased to create it.
Now with all of the expenses, taxes, and fees that come along with
being a digital product seller, you’re probably wondering how you
could ever profit from selling one-time downloads.
The good news is that it’s not as hard as it seems, and you don’t
have to charge triple digits to see a profit -- just consider the
examples below.
How much do successful digital downloads charge?
There are successful digital downloads available at all price points,

so there’s no concrete rule about what you need to charge to turn
a profit.
As a general rule, if you’re just starting your business out and

haven’t built up a brand reputation yet, price on the lower-middle
end of what your competitors are charging for similar products.
Convincing someone to pay $30 for your ebook if you’re relatively

unknown is a hard sell and high risk, but $10 to $12 is far more
palatable and no riskier than a complicated coffee order.
However, while keeping a low price will attract more leads, you
don’t want to set such a low price that you have to double-time to
hit your profit goals.
We’ve seen significantly more creators make $1,000 by selling 10

of a $100 product than 100 of a $10 product, so there’s value in
higher fees, even for first-time sellers.
As for how much other successful digital downloads charge -- it

varies. A lot.
For instance, conversion copywriter and co-creator of Copy
Hackers, Joanna Wiebe, sold $10,000 in ebooks in the first week
after their release.
Her ebooks started at $12.99 each.
Sounds pretty reasonable, right?
But Joanna had an even sweeter offer for her clients.
She offered a discount for customers who purchased a four-book

bundle and an even steeper discount for the Hacker
News community.
Want to know the best part?
Joanna has sold over 5,000 ebook bundles since her books
launched in late 2011.
Scott Britton, on the other hand, made $1,000 in the first eight
days after releasing his first ebook priced at $2.99.
He didn’t write his ebook from scratch, either; instead, he hired a
ghostwriter to put together a manuscript using a series of emails
he already had on hand and which he could later refine.
Excluding the time it took him to create the initial content, Scott
estimated that it took only six hours of his time for the ebook to go
from its inception to being published.
To follow in Joanna and Scott’s footsteps, your first step is

calculating your profit margins.
If your calculations turn up a slim profit margin at first, don’t sweat

it -- the average net margin for companies across a variety of
industries is just under 9%, so you’ll probably have to do some
tweaking to find a profit margin that aligns with your financial
goals.
Once you’ve narrowed down your prices to a handful of options,
then it’s time to test.
While there are multiple ways that you could test your prices, three
of the simplest methods are:
1. Seeing how much your competitors are charging

2. Creating a minimum viable product
3. Testing your product on different landing pages
Let’s tackle competitor pricing first.
One of the simplest ways to see if your prices are realistic is to see
how they compare to your competitors.
When looking at your competitors, don’t review the prices of your

two or three closest competitors only; check out several secondary
and indirect competitors as well so you can better understand
what prices your audience is willing to pay and for what features.
Don’t rely on your competitors’ pricing pages for information,

either; discussion forums like Reddit can be a goldmine for
learning about your audience’s pricing preferences.
Now, what if there’s a significant difference between your

competitors’ prices?
Try releasing a minimum viable product (MVP) to see what prices

resonate with your audience.
An MVP is simply a bare-bones version of your intended product

that lets you test out your assumptions about your audience
before releasing your final product.
For example, let’s say that your digital download is a 60-page
ebook about urban agriculture for city dwellers.
Even though it’s full of the information you know your audience
needs, you’re afraid that the price tag -- $125 -- is too steep.
So before writing it, you release a 5- to 10-page ebook for a lower

price instead and see how well your audience likes it.
Do they like the content? Did you get as many sales as you were
hoping for?
Using feedback from your early customers, release another

version of your MVP with some proposed changes, as
creator Reuven Lerner did for his collection of online
programming courses.
And as you release successive versions of your MVP with more

upgrades and improvements, keep testing the price point until
you find the sweet spot between the highest gross sales and
highest net profit.
Alternatively, like Reuven, you could offer discounts to certain

groups of people like students or retirees to learn more about
your audience’s makeup and the most profitable price point for
your product.
Do this until you reach a point where you’ve reached the
maximum amount of customers who are willing to pay for what
you have to offer, whether that’s your 60-page ebook or
something shorter or longer.
Your pricing journey isn’t over just yet after this, though most of
the hard work is done. From here, once you’ve analyzed the data
and settled on a price, it’s all about maintaining your best
practices.
Here’s how.
Best practices for selling a one-time
download
Pricing strategy #1:

Get customers to join your email list
Email is one of the most profitable marketing tools out there,

with nearly 75% of respondents saying email has a “good” or
“excellent” ROI (return on investment) and 59% of
marketers saying that email was their highest source of ROI.
But just what makes email a high-ROI marketing tools?
Perhaps it’s high conversion rates, with one report finding
that 17.75% of emails resulted in a conversion in 2018.
By collecting your customers’ emails, you can keep them informed

about the latest developments, promotions, and exclusive offers
from your business.
Most importantly, you can use this point of contact to nurture your
customers, learn more about their needs, and provide valuable
information.
If spending all this time building a relationship sounds time-

expensive, it is, but it pays off exponentially in the form of repeat
customers, word-of-mouth referrals, and brand reputation.
Still, while email is a comparatively low-cost and straightforward

way to connect with customers, it’s far from the only way to
maximize your profits from a one-time digital download.
Use your one-time download to promote other
products
Did you know it’s generally much more profitable to sell to an

existing customer than a new prospect?
Your download could have several calls-to-action (CTAs)

throughout it to encourage your customers to take the desired
action, or perhaps offer an exclusive discount for some of your
other products.
(Just don’t use too many CTAs. Few people want to buy an
extended sales pitch.)
For both first-time and returning customers, you could use

features like upselling and bundling to encourage your customer
to place a higher-priced order.
Upselling involves encouraging customers to purchase extra items

at a discounted price if they buy the original and recommend
items all at once, as in the example below.
Bundling, on the other hand, involves putting multiple products
together and selling them as a package, usually at a slightly lower
rate than if they were purchased separately.
Of course, tactics like discount codes and bundling will only work
to a certain extent. To increase your chances of sales success, you
should make your download’s value readily apparent to your
customers.

Always ensure value is apparent to your customers
Especially if you opt for a value-based pricing model, you want to

guarantee the value is apparent to your customers.
Will your download teach them a new skill?
Help them save time and money?
Entertain them?
Whatever it is, you should ensure the value of your product is

obvious not only in your sales and product pages but also
throughout the download itself.
One way to understand your customer perceived value -- the value

that your customers assign to a product like yours after measuring
its benefits and costs -- is by continuously researching and
seeking feedback from your audience.
To that end, you don’t want to limit your value exclusively to your
product -- it should also be apparent in your customers’
experience (CX), which is a term for the cumulative interactions
your customer has with your brand over their lifetime.
CX isn’t some marketing buzzword, by the way -- customers who

feel that they had a very good experience were 79% likely to
recommend a company to others and 87% likely to make more
purchases from a company.
While giving your customers an excellent experience should be a

top priority from the very beginning, don’t worry if it’s not perfect
from the get-go -- just continually seek feedback from your
audience about what could be better, and do your best to act on
those suggestions.
Once you’ve made your value apart, it’s time to release your digital
download to the public.
Profit from one-time digital downloads

with the right price
Pricing one-time downloads can be tricky, especially if you’re a

new creator.
But that doesn’t mean your first few products will be hopelessly
undervalued or so expensive no one will buy them.
When pricing your digital download, it’s important you:
• Pick a price that will cover your expenses, taxes, and desired
profit.
• Compare the cost- and value-based pricing models to see
which works best for your audience.
• Conduct audience and customer research to learn how to
more competitively and profitably price your products.
• Test your prices using methods such as an MVP and/or A/B
testing.
• Follow pricing best practices such as making your product’s
value apparent, giving your audience an excellent customer
experience, and encouraging customers to join your email list.
As you can see, pricing one-time digital downloads doesn’t have
to be complicated, but if you want to profit from them, it does
have to be thoughtful.
Ready to sell your own popular digital
download?
As you can see, there’s a popular digital product for every creator
to sell.
With a better understanding of the most popular routes to take,

you’re ready to take on the market of digital products and let your
light shine.
Let’s sum it up. Here’s a list of the most popular types of digital
products to sell online:
• Written products like ebooks, guides, templates, and other

digital documents are all popular items to sell online to either
businesses, founders, content creators or educators.
• Visual products, such as photography, graphic designs,
illustrations, fonts, icons, logos, design templates, and
printable products, are another option to sell to both
businesses and end-users.
• If you can make films, video is a format growing in popularity,
which makes short films, stock videos, documentaries, and
animations good digital products to sell for both business and
entertainment purposes.
• With the growing audio and music market, digital products
like songs, beats, jingles, samples, tracks, and sound effects
make for great options to sell to content creators and
businesses.
• The digital education publishing market is anticipated to grow
10% annually through 2025, which means selling your
educational products, like online courses or membership sites,
can definitely be a profitable route.
4 strategies for launching your info
product
#1. Implement email marketing
By now, you’re probably tired of hearing about how vital email

marketing is, so we’ll skip the usual drumroll and get right down to
it.
Effective email marketing needs four key ingredients:
1. An attractive subject line

2. A segmented email list
3. Personalized email marketing messaging
4. A sales-worthy email sequence
Let’s start with your subject line.
Why? Because it’s critical to get this one right before all the others.
A staggering 69% of email recipients report email as spam based
on solely on the subject line.
Fortunately, with many email management systems today, you can
A/B test your subject lines to find the most effective option for
your audience. As you try different options, test subject lines that:
• Instill curiosity
• Have humor
• Touch on pain points
• Are personal
• Are straightforward
After that, the next ingredient to test is email segmentation.
This can significantly boost your open rates, like in the case of
customer relationship management (CRM) firm SuperOffice, who
increased their open rate from 40% to 90% after sending an email
to a segmented list.
That’s not all segmentation did for SuperOffice, though. As you

can see, the same email had a phenomenal click-through rate
(CTR) at 30.42% when, on average, the global CTR in 2018 was
2%.
That’s definitely an improvement worth writing home about, and

professionals seem to agree.
39% of marketers reported higher open rates after segmentation,
and 24% of the same experienced better deliverability and
increased sales leads.
Our third key component, personalization, also drives results.
Personalization goes beyond addressing someone by their first

name in your email. It’s speaking to their individual needs,
emotions, and desires.
In a survey of 1,000 respondents, 90% of US consumers found

marketing content personalization appealing.
Additionally, personalized emails produce 6x higher transactional

rates and a median return on investment (ROI) of 122%.
So, be sure to focus on copywriting and sales messaging that
resonates with your audience, ideally by using your audience’s
exact words in your copy.
This approach is also recommended for your email sequence

copy, which is our final key ingredient.
If you haven’t heard the term before, take heart, an email

sequence is exactly what it sounds like.
It’s a series of emails that nurture and move your first-time

subscriber to first-time customers. Your sequence should focus on
identifying your audience’s biggest problem, and then as the
emails unfold, help them resolve that problem.
Here’s a great visual example of a lead-nurturing email

sequence from Fluxe.
How many emails you send and in what order are ultimately up to
you. As long as your email content is simple, personalized, and
benefit-driven for the audience, it’s golden.
Beyond that, this is what it boils down to:
To successfully implement an email campaign, you need to help

your audience from the subject line to the sign-off. If you’re doing
that, your email marketing strategy is solid.
#2. Host a webinar to educate your audience
Another great way to launch your info product is to host a webinar

where you invite attendees to register for a training and present a
peek into your info product. Webinars work great for any type of
info product, but webinars for online courses are especially
effective, as they're an introduction to the presenters' teaching
style.
The key thing to remember is that the primary purpose of the
webinar should be to educate your audience, not sell your
product.
This allows your prospective clients to get to know, like, and trust
you. Rest assured, you’ll still get the opportunity to sell your
product at the end. In fact, thanks to having built up your
credibility and trust with the audience, it’ll be a far easier sell.
Erika Tebbens’ Show Yo’ Face to Sell More is a great example of a

free benefit-driven webinar that she offers her audience as a way
to earn their business.
When creating your webinar, important components to include in

your presentation include:
• A gift - whether a free trial or a cheat sheet, when you give

someone a gift, they’ll be more likely to want to return the
favor (in this case, purchase from you). Just be sure to gift
valuable content that’s not sales-focused
• A limited offer - this creates scarcity and an urgency to
purchase your info product
• Credibility - build trust among your attendees by showing
them why they should choose you and your info product over
competitors to solve their problem
• Social proof - include customer testimonials and evidence of
other people getting results from using your info product
This last webinar component is particularly effective because
people trust reviews, ratings, and testimonials from other people a
lot.
Enough so that a site that includes five reviews gains a 270%

higher conversion rate than a page with no reviews.
In fact, when customers interact with your review, they’re 58%

more likely to convert and generate 62% more revenue. So, be
sure to capture positive feedback, screenshots, comments, and et
cetera that you can use to build your credibility during your
webinar.
Now, curious about how long to run your webinar?
Having lengthier webinars is OK. More than OK, it’s also

normal: 58% of webinars are between 45-60 minutes.
In other words, feel free to thoroughly explain your content to

deliver a specific result to your audience (after all, that’s the
purpose of an info product). If it takes a little longer than a coffee
break but delivers what it promises, it’s worth the extra time.
Our next strategy also helps build trust, though it isn’t quite so
high-stakes as a live event.
#3. Give away free content to attract new audience

members
Giving away free content, like email marketing, is a smart way to

attract new subscribers and nurture them through the buyer’s
journey from first brush all the way to purchase.
Your free content, often in the form of a lead magnet, can be used
during the “awareness” phase of the three buyer’s journey
stages as a tool to help educate your potential clients about their
problem.
Once they’re hooked on your brand and understand more about

their problem and the solution you offer, you can then upsell and
cross-sell your info products during the decision stage.
Three digital downloads we recommend giving away for

free include:
• A resource kit - Bundle useful tools and documents that your

audience can quickly reference
• A content upgrade - Offer a downloadable resource, like a
PDF, that’s related to your article content
• An email mini-course or bootcamp - Put together simple
lessons and schedule them out in a drip email sequence
As you can see, you have plenty of options when creating lead
magnets and giving away free content.
The main takeaway is to entice and support your new audience

members with valuable educational content that helps solve their
biggest challenge.
OK. Beyond lead magnets, we’ve got one final launch strategy for
you.
#4. Spread the word using social media campaigns
Whether Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, or other

platforms, using social media channels to launch your info product
is an effective solution to reach a wider audience.
At least, that’s what marketing influencers say.
Based on a survey of 271 marketing influencers, social media

marketing is the most effective digital marketing tactic with
content marketing, marketing tech, and search engine
optimization (SEO) as close runners-up.
And it’s no wonder that social media is so competitive on

effectiveness with most of the American population now using
social channels like Facebook (68%) and YouTube (73%).
To create an impactful social media campaign, follow these eight
simple steps:
1. Define your campaign goal

2. Decide how to promote on each channel
3. Create a content calendar
4. Design your visual content
5. Schedule your posts
6. Monitor your posts and respond
7. Follow up
8. Analyze and adjust
If you’re curious about which channels to focus on, the most
popular content channels are YouTube, Facebook video, and
Instagram. 48% of marketers prioritize YouTube as the social
media channel of choice.
However, it’s worth noting your focus should be on the social

channels most relevant to your audience, which you can determine
through market research. Just ask your ideal clients which social
platforms they frequent the most and prioritize those channels.
In a nutshell:
Educate your audience and prospective clients about your info

products by publishing posts on their preferred social media
channels.
Generate scalable passive income by selling info products
Deciding on which info product to create and sell as your first one
doesn’t have to be a tough choice with the right research and
tactics in place.
Once you’ve made your decision on the type of info product to
create and sell, the rest falls nicely into place with a few simple
steps.
To summarize:
• An info product is a digital product that serves a specific

educational or results-driven purpose and comes in written,
audio, and video formats.
• Benefits of info products include a great way to productize
your business, uncapped earning potential, and minimal
startup costs.
• To find out which info product to create, identify your target
audience, validate your business idea through market
research, and create buyer personas.
• To launch your info products, create an email marketing plan,
host an educational webinar, gift out free content, and use
social media channels.
Beyond that, keep in mind that although you’re likely living the life
of a solopreneur as you start off your info product venture, your
journey doesn’t have to be lonely.
We can’t wait to see your first info product.
The complete guide for promoting and
selling digital downloads
Creating a conversion-ready audience for your digital downloads
is easier than you think. Here’s how to do it in four straightforward,
proven steps.
It’s difficult to imagine in this day and age, but it’s true:
Some of the greatest writers in the history of the English language

-- writers like Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe -- were all-but-
unknown in their own time.
Only seven of Emily’s poems ever saw the public eye during her
lifetime, and Poe spent most of his days desperate to make ends
meet.
They were both brilliant writers, but they suffered from a critical
failure to market (among other things), and their works -- pieces of
literature that form the foundation of many language classes today
-- languished in obscurity.
Fortunately, the age of the internet has taken power out of

traditional publishers’ hands and put it back into the individual’s
control, allowing creators to shape their own paths and make
names for themselves on their own terms.
There’s never been a better time to be a creator, and avoiding the

fate of an undiscovered great is easier than ever before if you’re
trying to break into the market by selling digital downloads.
Which is where this article comes in. Today, we’ll walk through a
four-step system for promoting your digital downloads, so
whether you’re putting a new ebook on the market or selling
creative assets, you’ll land your first customer -- and many more
like them -- in no time.
It starts, of course, with figuring out exactly who that customer is.
Step 1: Research your audience

Part of the beauty of the internet is the ability for like-minded but
distant people to come together in digital pockets.
Unfortunately, with a population that’s pushing eight billion, those

pockets are harder and harder to narrow in on.
Which is why we recommend researching your

audience before you start creating a product for them so you
can pre-sell your goods.
But if you’ve already prepared a product, don’t worry: you can still
market to your future customers effectively, you just need to put in
a little homework and find them.
And it does have to be in that order. While blogging and SEO can
draw customers to you, if you’re a first-time creator, you’re going
to have to find them first.
Now here’s the good news: someone else has already done the
work for you.
In fact, finding your audience is as easy as finding your

competitors. Known as competitive analysis, you can scope out
your rivals with a quick Google search.
Here’s what I mean. Let’s say you have an idea for a product that
will help other entrepreneurs manage their time -- maybe it’s a
printable planner. You’re passionate about maintaining a healthy
schedule and want to help others do the same.
You start with heading to the trusty Google homepage and typing
in a relevant keyword string -- make it something specific to your
idea like “digital planner for entrepreneurs” -- and then look at the
top results.
How do you know these are your competitors and they’re worth a
look at?
Because they’ve done the legwork to compete for the same

keywords that your prospective customers will use to find you, and
whatever they’re doing, it’s working well enough to send strong
engagement signals back to Google.
You won’t find subpar entries in the first ten organic entries on
Google’s search engine results page (SERP), I guarantee it.
The higher ranked the page is, the more you can bet that:
• It has a ton of backlinks pointing towards it from other

websites -- there’s a reason backlinks are one of our quick-wins
for search traffic.
• The website/page’s user experience (UX) is smooth enough to
encourage dwell time.
• The content is comprehensive, and in most cases, over 2,300
words.
All of which is both great news and a challenge for you. It’s great
news because it means you can look at what they’re doing well
and follow their audience to find your own, while it’s a challenge
because it means your competition is well-entrenched in your
niche.
Fortunately, you only really need to focus on the first three entries
on the SERP. 55% of all clicks go through those, with each lower
ranking receiving less and less user attention.
But, let’s set aside the intricacies of page ranking and get back to
your audience.
Start by following the first link on the SERP. In this case, it’s a list-
style article for paper planners.
Now, scroll down to the bottom of the page where the comments
section is to find a treasure trove of audience information.
Just a preliminary sweep of the comments gives us a lot of

actionable insights about the audience:
• They want something aesthetically pleasing.

• They identify as planner addicts.
• They want to be able to see the layout of the planner before
committing to a download.
From here, go back to the SERP and look at the comment sections
on the other two top-ranking pages. Do you notice similar
themes? Are people voicing their frustrations and identifying
challenges that your product can help solve?
Be sure to check out the social profiles of the websites in the first
three slots, by the way, for even more audience insights.
Then, use all of that information to create audience personas (if

this is your first time, you can find a step-by-step guide to putting
together your first persona in our previous article about marketing
strategies for online products).
However, a small caveat is necessary here:
While personas are an important step, they can’t be the only one --
and they can’t be used in lieu of real customer and audience
interactions.
Designing anything, whether it’s a product or promotion, in a

vacuum is much like that saying about putting monkeys in a room
with a typewriter.
Yeah, you might get Shakespeare out if you wait long enough, but
it’s not scalable or predictable.
You have to talk to the people who will be in your audience to fill
in the gaps and challenge your assumptions, which means joining
the conversations they’re already having.
The easiest way to do this is with a combination of social listening

and hashtag tracking relevant terms with a tool like HashAtIt .
Is it more work than dreaming up an ideal customer from the top

of your head? Absolutely. Is it worth it?
Building personas with real audience data and shaping their

promotions around those personas helped the Adecco
Group “wake up” around 90,000 leads they wouldn’t have
otherwise reached.
Combine that with the fact that 66% of marketers say they struggle
to understand their audience and 39% of professionals say that
improved understanding of their customers is their top priority,
and the answer is clear.
It’s not just worth it to research your audience and build actionable
personas, it’s critical for success.
It’s also an absolute necessity for moving onto the second step --
the packaging.
Step 2: Prepare your product

packaging
You might be thinking at this stage, “Wait -- what? Digital
downloads don’t have packaging.”
That’s not quite true, though.
While digital downloads may not live inside leatherbound covers,

their packaging -- the way they’re presented and the window
dressing that sells them -- can make or break first impressions.
So at this stage, armed with your customer research and personas,

you need to create packaging that appeals and impresses
prospective customers without overwhelming them.
The elements of your sales page, which is the packaging that
wraps around your digital download, should inspire trust and
intrigue in equal measure.
And a lot of that -- more than you’d think -- comes down to

design. 94% of a user’s first impression of your business and/or
digital download is dictated by your design decisions.
Ironically, this makes the packaging for digital products even more
paramount than it is for physical products. At least with paper
products, ‘only’ 70% of your potential customers will judge the
merit of your brand based on the packaging.
And while it’s impossible to give design recommendations on a

broad-scale -- it’s all audience-dependent, hence why you can’t
skip the first step -- there is at least one abiding rule to follow.
No matter what, the packaging around your product (the visual

design, the copywriting, the navigation, et cetera) must
be usable for the users it’s intended to serve.
I.e., the language has to be readable, the calls-to-action have to be
clear and directive, the layout has to make sense, and the
performance has to meet user expectations.
Those are fairly steep expectations, by the way.
47% of users expect a website to fully load in two seconds or less,

something that creators trying to hack it all together with
WordPress plugins will find challenging if they don’t have a
premium (read: expensive) hosting package.
But that’s not to say meeting those demanding expectations

doesn’t pay off.
For every dollar spent towards creating better, more seamless

user experiences with smarter design, $100 is returned, which
gives it one of the highest ROIs of any marketing or promotional
activity out there.
At least, that’s what practically every business -- from HubSpot to
Bank of America -- discovered when they created designs that
catered to their specific users.
So no, digital products may not have packaging in the most

traditional sense, but the design of the delivery system around
them isn’t something you can afford to overlook.
Nor is the content that nurtures users into becoming customers.
Step 3: Create and execute a content

plan
OK, if you’re following along, at this point you’ll have
accomplished two things:
• Researched your audience

• Prepared your sales page (packaging)
Now, you have to work on bringing people onto those pages.
It’s not as simple as throwing a link out there with a hashtag. While
some products do indeed go viral, very few successful and
sustainable businesses were built with lucky timing.
Indeed, most experts agree that virality is an application of

skill rather than luck. So if you want to get traffic and shares, you
need a content plan built around your personas that encourages
and educates users until they’re ready to convert into customers.
Let me be clear: content plans are slow-burn strategies. They don’t

bring you overnight success, but they do compound over time,
and when well-executed, move users through the sales funnel
painlessly.
At a minimum, your content plan should include content to take

people from the first stage of the funnel -- awareness -- to the last,
conversion.
Why? Because 95% of consumers will choose a business that
provides content to move them through every stage of the funnel.
And moreover, it’s not hard to create and execute great content
that does just that.
Even if you don’t feel like you’re much of a writer (you’re

probably a better writer than you think), if you understand your
audience better than your competitors, then you have an
opportunity to upstage them with your content plan.
63% of customers say they’ve interacted with disappointing

content from a brand, so there’s no question about it: the person
who does their research and listens to the audience more will
create better content.
Let’s run through an example.
Suppose that you’re creating a platform for messenger marketing

for small businesses. At the top of the funnel, your purpose is to
educate visitors about what messenger marketing can do for
them.
So you’d probably want to start with a piece of content explaining
the basics like you see MobileMonkey doing below.
Then, you’d create middle-of-the-funnel content to deliver more

resources and deepen the prospective customer’s understanding
of the concepts. It’s even better if you give them a trial run with the
product, such as a one-page planner template.
For MobileMonkey, they offer a free spin of their platform and

resources for more education to move users out of awareness and
into the evaluation stage.
After users have entered evaluation, MobileMonkey then shifts to
bottom-of-the-funnel content by providing interactive demos
with chatbot templates.
For a digital product creator, this might take the form of

a promotional webinar or another kind of interactive event
depending on the audience’s preferences.
This is the gist of it:
There are no immutable rules about what a content plan should
include. The only guiding precept you need to remember is that
as long as there’s content in the plan coinciding with each stage of
the funnel, it’s a plan that will cater to users whether it’s their first
visit or their fifth and keep them moving towards conversion.
And if you're looking for a more hands-on approach to content

planning, I highly recommend this content planning template from
HubSpot and Smart Insights.
It’s free, easy, and incidentally, it also beautifully demonstrates

how to create content for users who aren’t ready to convert.
Just check this out:
They’re not selling anything with this content, but they are smartly
capturing a lead -- me -- moving through the evaluation stage and
putting me squarely where you want your audience to land with
your content.
In an email list.
Step 4: Set up a lead-nurturing email
funnel
The value of an email list for selling digital products really can’t be
understated.
For instance, if I were to come across a case study that reported an

830% ROI for social media or copywriting, I’d tell you to check
your math again.
But when it comes to email marketing, that kind of ROI isn’t just
believable, it’s the real results from a company that sells paper
bags.
Granted, the average ROI isn’t quite so high, but the fact
nonetheless remains that email marketing is the top-performing
channel out of all forms of marketing, including the channels we’ve
talked about today.
So why do marketers love email so much more than any other
channel for marketing?
For the same reasons you’re going to love it, too: because
their top marketing priority is to convert contacts into customers.
And a majority of marketers -- 59% of them -- say email delivers

the highest ROI.
The secret to pivoting on this lead-loving marketing channel and
selling more digital products isn’t actually much of a secret at all --
at least, not if you’ve read our recent article on converting
subscribers into customers, but if you haven’t, the process is
basically this:
• Your audience research shapes your product and promotions.

• Your product and promotions shape your content.
• Your content leads people to sign up for your email list.
• Your email campaigns, driven by your business goals, send
people to different stages of the funnel by delivering content
on an automated (drip) schedule.
• Your email list converts.
It really is that straightforward. Pair this process with the
right email marketing templates, and your digital downloads won’t
just survive -- they’ll thrive.
And more importantly, they’ll bring your profits along for the ride.
Promotion, packaging, and polishing

Marketing is a skill that doesn’t come naturally to a lot of people,
but that doesn’t mean it’s unobtainable. In fact, thanks to the
internet, it’s easier than ever to take the reins on your marketing
and make a name for your products.
You just need to come at it with a stepwise approach:
• Start with creating data-backed audience personas so you

know who you’re selling to and designing promotional
materials for.
• Don’t use personas as a cop out from customer interactions,
though. The best products and marketing campaigns are built
from real conversations with real people.
• After you have a firm grasp on your audience, prepare the
packaging around your product -- the website, the marketing
messaging, and et cetera -- to suit their tastes.
• While there’s no hard-and-fast design guideline for packaging,
there’s at least one rule you can’t break: whatever you create
to sell your product has to be usable for the people you want
to buy from you (which is why you have to understand them).
• Once your sales page is ready for your audience, you need to
create and execute a solid content plan.
• At its most basic, your content plan should include material
that nurtures visitors through every stage of the funnel from
top to bottom.
• As for delivering that content and greasing the funnel, an
email list is the perfect channel with a seriously impressive ROI.
Set up a separate email funnel to direct users between the
stages and nourish them until they’re ready to convert.
If you market your products with the steps in this plan, you’ll have
more than prospective leads on your hands -- you’ll have people
as eager to be your customer as you are to have them convert.
And that, I think we can all agree, is the perfect symbiosis between
creator and customer.

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CONTENTS

DIGITAL PRODUCT IDEAS AND TIPS FOR CREATORS IN NEED OF

What are the benefits of selling a digital product? 5

How do I come up with a digital product idea? 9

How do I validate my digital product idea? 16

Pursue your next digital product idea with confidence 21

THE MOST POPULAR TYPES OF DIGITAL PRODUCTS TO SELL ONLINE 22

Launch your online business with the written word 23

Reach your target audience with design-based content 29

Use video to engage a global and growing audience 43

Offer your musical talents with audio files 48

How the market for educational digital products is expanding 51

THE COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO PRICING DIGITAL PRODUCTS AND

How should I price my digital downloads? 55

Best practices for selling a one-time download 70

Ready to sell your own popular digital download? 76

4 strategies for launching your info product 77

Generate scalable passive income by selling info products 88

THE COMPLETE GUIDE FOR PROMOTING AND SELLING DIGITAL

Step 1: Research your audience 91

Step 2: Prepare your product packaging 98

Step 3: Create and execute a content plan 101

Step 4: Set up a lead-nurturing email funnel 107

Promotion, packaging, and polishing 109

If you're looking to launch your next digital product, here’s what

Should you sell an ebook or an online course?

What about selling your designs? You do love to create

With so many options to sort through, it’s easy to feel paralyzed

In fact, with the right map, navigating from idea to implementation

What are the benefits of selling a

More specifically, the great -- and enduring -- state of it.

#1. Digital products are sustainably profitable

By 2021, it’s expected 65.2% of the global population will consist

It’s little wonder, too. Digital products provide customers with

Delivery fees, inventory maintenance, and insurance are never on

And if you’re selling your digital goods on your own website

For example, Rebekah Allan earns over $100,000 annually from

#2. You have a limitless inventory with digital

The beauty of offering a digital product to your audience is you

Animator McCoy Buck’s ebook How To: Pre Production in

In turn, this limitless selling capacity lets you focus on bigger

Incidentally, that’s our last major benefit of selling digital products.

#3. Digital products allow you to scale your business

Because digital product storefronts are simple to manage, you can

OK. So you’re convinced: selling digital products is the way to go,

We like to recommend using a Passion/Profit Matrix, which maps

• Passion: How excited are you to work on this? If you hate

• Profit Potential: Is it a problem that people would pay to have

In this case, “How to make eggs” is probably not a great idea

There are hundreds of options to choose from within the world of

#1. Create digital products using the written word

Whether it’s an ebook, guide, template, or another digital

For instance, check out Dewane Mutunga’s Solopreneur Business

#2. Cut audio tracks to sell as digital products

With over 40.2% of professionals using stock photography

Design assets include items like photography, graphic designs,

Looking for an example? Check out Vanessa Ryan’s Boho Chic

Her toolbox offer comes with a 10-page workbook, 20-page slide

Our next format also relies on visually appealing content with a

If you’re a filmmaker, selling digital products such as short films,

Check out this example of a stock video for sale.

In this case, the video content caters to a more mature audience

Stock videos are a profitable niche, too.