Selling Digital Products Online

 

Selling Digital Products online vs. physical products

Online Selling

Whenever online selling comes to your mind, you usually think of physical products. But, what are Digital Products? Let’s discuss Selling Digital Products online.

An E-Commerce platform like Shopify, WooCommerce, etc. that help you sell physical products through your targeted marketing.

Another business model is drop shipping. In this model, you do not directly purchase products. However, you sell the products by linking your website with the drop shipping service providers like Ali Express, Ali Baba, etc.

Subsequently, once the purchase is made on your website, these companies handle the fulfillment on your behalf. In simple words, the products advertised or being sold on your website remain physically with the drop shipping vendors. So, you don’t have to buy the inventory but only facilitate the sales and market the products. You can yourself decide the prices of the products on your website and the marginal difference goes into your pocket as your profit.

Therefore, your only job is to create a marketable website, link products, and start selling. The only expense you are bearing is the E-commerce platform costs, Webhosting or domains & some necessary applications. However, most importantly you need advertising using various social media tools like FaceBook, Instagram & Google. 

What Are Digital Products?

What are digital products? Can you tell the difference between selling digital or traditional products?

Well, traditional products are physical products that need to be purchased and delivered to the customers. You need to look after shipping return and replacement policies.

However, in the case of Digital products no such requirement is there. Digital products are intangible assets that can be sold in form of media.

To make it simple, digital products can be downloaded from the website or any other platform directly after paying the set premium or price. In some cases, it’s a one-time premium, and otherwise, it’s a monthly or yearly subscription. Various forms of media can be downloadable, apps or games, E-Books, Images, MP3, or Video Files. For example, Streaming Audio platforms i.e. Spotify, Or Video platforms i.e. Netflix or Amazon Prime.

Benefits of Selling Digital Products Online

There are various benefits of Selling Digital Products Online. First of all, they are your own creation so you really know the product. Secondly, in terms of the business model, there are many benefits. Some of them are:

Product Ownership

The best thing is, that you own the product. Therefore, having a complete understanding of the real value & target market helps a lot. You are never in doubt about the quality and value of money of the product

No Overhead Cost

Similarly, since you are not required to hold any inventory, there is no overhead cost to hold the product or buy any products before end.

No Shipping Involved

Moving further, there is no shipping involved as customers can purchase or download digital products from online resources.

High-Profit Margins

Digital products also carry extra financial benefits. Clearly, profit margins are really high as there are no whole sellers, manufacturers or vendors involved. Once the product is ready after the initial cost there is no recurring cost. 

No Order Fulfillment Involved

One more usual concern is order fulfillment, well in the case of digital products, there is no order fulfillment involved. As products are available on your website or social media source and can be directly downloaded from there. Resultantly, you are free from extra hassle.

Automated Delivery

All orders can be delivered immediately to the customers. At the same time, you may be enjoying your time with your family.

Product Flexibility

There is a lot of flexibility in products. You can sell the products as a one-time purchase. They can be sold as a monthly or yearly subscription. Similarly, there can be additional upgrades or premium benefits that can be availed at a higher cost. In some scenarios, it was observed that people distribute a part of their product for free and develop their contact list. In the same way, you can offer the additional benefits of the same product at an additional price to your targeted customers.

Challenges

Despite a lot of benefits, Digital products have their own challenges:

Competition

There is a lot of competition. Either you are competing with the free content available in the market. Or, there are many pros who are creating Digital products.

So, while creating anything you should do your proper research. What added advantage you are giving over the free products? Which type of similar products is available in the market? And, the features that you can add so the consumer selects your product. In any case, there can be no compromise in quality.

Research

Your research must also involve the tools to figure out the targeted Niche. What’s going on in the market, people and their interests, product saturation & alternatives available?  

Copyright

You should be very careful in creating the products. There can be people working in your company involved in content creation. You must make sure everything is original and nothing is copied or similar to already available content online. You don’t want your business to suffer with copyright theft charges. That will destroy your business and company reputation.

Types of Digital Products

There can be various types of Digital products. Let’s discuss a few of them to develop your understanding

Digital Online Courses

You must have seen various ads on Social Media. For example, Learn Digital Marketing in one month, Learn Spanish online, Learn skills to be rich quick, etc. All of these are examples of online courses. These are sold online either in downloadable forms, audio or video streaming, or in a live classroom.

In this day and age, e-learning has become a very important and necessary part of our lives. This can be a very good example of a Digital product. Further, what’s important to note here is which area you are targeting at.

These courses can be availed against one-time fees or regular ongoing subscriptions. Finally, they issue the certificate for an additional cost. Nowadays, most prestigious universities like Harvard & Oxford are also offering online courses at minimal costs.

Membership Websites

You can create membership websites where visitors subscribe by paying a premium. That can be a monthly or yearly subscription. Your most significant task is creating a website that will provide value for money. Question is, why should the consumer pay to subscribe to your website? What type of content or information is available there that they cannot access for free?

So, such websites should either be providing very specialized information like Men / Women’s Health. Yoga or Self-healing Techniques are a trend. Child care or Horoscopes can be a good niche. However, it should be something that adds real value to their lives.

Affiliate Marketing

You can create a blog or website and promote other people’s products through an Affiliate network. For example, Amazon can be your Affiliate Network. You can choose and review products available on Amazon on your website. If someone visits Amazon via your link and purchases the recommended product you will earn the commission. There are many other Affiliate networks available like Clickbank & CJ Affiliate e.g.

Graphical Content

You can sell various images i.e. Jpeg, Gif’s, and PNG files. Get yourself registered on various freelancing service providers like freelancer and Fiverr. You can provide content creation facilities or design logos, banners, and even website templates

 Video Content

You can create your own video content that can be funny, musical, informative, or just engaging. The same videos can be uploaded on your YouTube Channel. Subsequently, you can earn money against your video playing time & ads shown on YouTube.

As many are your viewers, the more you can earn. The idea is that content should be original and add real value. It should not be a repetition of any previous material or boring content. Many people make money by sharing just recipes or travelogues

Podcasts & Audio Books

A Podcast is an episodic series of the spoken word digital audio files. You can record and upload them on platforms like Anchor or Buzz Sprout which are podcasting service providers. They provide a convenient, integrated way to manage a personal consumption queue across many podcast sources and playback devices. Like YouTube videos, the key is the Niche. You can talk about politics, sports or entertainment. As many listeners, you gain during the broadcast more advertisements you get. These ads lead to your earnings on regular basis. Along with the type of content, presenting skills also matter a lot in this form of media.

App Designing & Development

You can also design & develop an APP. It’s a long-term thing and it may take years for you to develop a really useful and potential app. On the other hand, one good breakthrough can lead you to exceptional success both in your career and monetarily.

Kindle Books

Kindle books are digital books created for Amazon Kindle Books section. You can find every type and category of the book as per your choice and requirement from this platform. You can register with Amazon and upload your own written books. The benefit is that as long as this book is on the Amazon platform it can be sold as many times it can. You can write original stories, content, learning material, or any other information like recipes or Exercises.

Conclusion

Well, these were only a few examples. Truly, there are enormous ranges of Digital products that you can create or sell. You can either create your own platform or sell them on any existing platform. Undoubtedly, the potential of making money is endless. Important thing is, that you have to be creative and aware of trends in the market. Thorough research is the key to success. However, niche & category selection are also affirmative.

Lastly, I must say that Selling Digital Products Online, in today’s day and age has far more potential than physical products. However, the huge competition & quantity of content coming from various sources is a big challenge. At the same time, it’s a high target market, with the right product, at the right time and place could earn you a fortune.`

 

 

Check out our article “Making Money Online”