10 Best Digital Products to Sell in 2023
Digital products are becoming increasingly popular to sell online. The possibilities with these products are endless, whether it’s an e-book, an online course, a digital art print, or a font pack. We'd like to help you figure out exactly what digital products are, and why they're so significant.
In short, digital products are intangible goods that can be downloaded or accessed online. With little to no costs to the creator, and the power to reach any audience in seconds, selling digital products can be a lucrative and satisfying way for creators to monetize their talents.
If you’re a creator looking to diversify your income stream by offering digital products, there's lots to consider. In this blog, we'll be discussing which kinds of digital products are most popular, the benefits of selling digital products, and strategies to succeed on an ecommerce platform, including Fourthwall.
What are Digital Products?
Digital products are nonmaterial goods that can be distributed via digital channels such as email, embedded download links on websites, or through online shops like Shopify, Etsy, or Fourthwall. Some popular examples of digital products are: ebooks, music, templates, stock photos, online courses, audio content, and membership content/subscriptions.
Digital products are easy to access and distribute, require no physical storage space, and often have lower-to-no production costs, allowing creators to sell them at a lower price. Customers can access digital products on demand, anytime, anywhere, using their computers, smartphones, or tablets. Ecommerce platforms have been making it easier than ever for creators to monetize their skills and expertise by allowing them to sell digital products online.
Why Sell Digital Products?
There are several reasons why creators and influencers should consider selling digital products. Let's take a closer look at 6 key reasons:
- Diversify Income Streams: Selling digital products allows creators to diversify their income sources beyond traditional channels like advertising and sponsorships, bringing additional stability to their revenue streams while also ensuring sustainability.
- Build Deeper Relationships with Your Fans: By offering exclusive, premium digital products like memberships, courses, and personalized content, creators can nurture more intimate and meaningful relationships with their fans, enabling them to establish a loyal and supportive community.
- Demonstrate Your Expertise: Digital products like ebooks, courses, tutorials, and workshops enable creators to showcase their knowledge and expertise on specific topics, establishing themselves as authorities in their respective fields.
- Monetize Existing Content: Creators can monetize existing content through digital products, transforming their blogs, podcasts, videos, and social media posts into ebooks, guides, and multimedia content.
- Control Over Pricing: Creators have full control over the pricing of their digital products, enabling them to set fair prices based on the amount of work, value proposition, and market demand for their offerings.
- Passive Income Potential: Creating digital products to sell online can become a passive income stream once the initial work is done. The products will continue to generate revenue even while the creator is working on other projects.
10 Best Digital Product Ideas to Sell in 2023
Digital products have revolutionized the way businesses work, and with the increasing demand for virtual goods, this continues to be an exciting opportunity for all kinds of creators to grow and generate passive income. Here are ten trending digital products that offer promising prospects for sellers in 2023:
1. Online Courses + Toolkits
Creators can create and sell courses or toolkits in their area of expertise, sharing their knowledge and skills with their audience. Being an expert in any field can open up the opportunity to share information through these two kinds of digital products.
2. E-books
E-books are an excellent option for authors looking to publish their work and reach a wider audience, without incurring publishing costs. Say It In Swedish does this by selling language-learning ebooks. Creating digital planners to sell online is also a great option.
3. Digital Art
Digital art is quickly gaining popularity, and creators can sell their artwork online, license their art, or offer online tutorials on art-related topics or softwares such as Canva. Many creators with Etsy shops sell digital art that can be downloaded and printed onto different sized posters.
4. Music
Streaming music continues to be in high demand, and creators can capitalize on this by selling their music on various platforms or by selling music production software.
5. Photography
Creators can sell their digital photography or even create photography tutorials to sell online. Images can be sold as stock photography to be used online, or they can be printable to be used as wall art.
6. Software
Creators can create and sell productivity apps, design softwares, or gaming softwares on their online stores. Also consider offering tools that can be used for softwares, such as editable templates, presets, plugins, etc. Patrick Stirling uses stirlingsupply.co to sell DaVinci Resolve presets, tutorials, and templates.
7. Fonts and Graphics
Custom fonts, emojis, and graphics can be created to cater to specific audiences, which is especially profitable in the graphic design or Twitch streaming communities.
8. Podcasts
Podcasts are rapidly growing in popularity, and creators can monetize their expertise by creating engaging podcast content and offering exclusive episodes to niche audiences. Check out our article on monetizing as a podcast creator.
9. Video Content
Creators can capitalize on the growing demand for video content by offering live and recorded video footage. This can be sold as stock footage, personalized videos, etc.
10. Membership Programs
Memberships can help creators connect with their fans on a deeper level. By offering exclusive content, direct communication, and special perks, creators can build a loyal community of supporters while monetizing your content and supporting your creative endeavors. Fourthwall memberships allows you to offer this subscription-style digital product while also selling other digital or physical products.
How to Create Digital Products
Creating digital products may seem daunting, but the process is simple and can be a highly fulfilling experience. Here are a few steps that you can follow to create digital products:
1. Choose a Niche
The first thing you should do is identify the niche market you want to target with your digital product, whether it's a course, ebook, or software. Your niche is most likely the content that your audience finds the most engaging. Don’t be afraid to lean into this niche when creating digital content to sell.
2. Research and Plan
Once you identify your niche, it's time to research your audience's needs as well as competitors' offerings. Find out what your target audience wants, and how you can differentiate yourself from other podcasters, Etsy sellers, Shopify or Fourthwall creators, etc. Then, create a plan detailing the product, its features, and its marketing strategy.
3. Create a Prototype
Before launching, it's essential to create a prototype to ensure your digital product is user-friendly and engaging. Send it to your friends or fellow creators to see what they think.
4. Validate the Product
Before investing all your resources, it's essential to validate your product in the market. This means getting feedback from your target audience, testing your product's performance, and fine-tuning it based on customer feedback. We recommend doing this by:
- Asking your fans in an interactive story on Instagram
- Posting a YouTube Poll
- Asking your followers on Twitter
5. Create the Product
Now it's time to bring your product to life. Depending on the kind of digital product you're creating, you may need specialized tools. For example, you can use tools like Adobe Creative Suite, Canva, or Figma to create digital art and graphics or course creation software like Teachable or Thinkific to create an online course. Explore digital tools that can help you accelerate the product's creation process and ensure quality.
How to Sell Digital Products
Once you have your product ready, now it is the time to sell! While the creation of quality digital products is vital, it shouldn't be the end goal. You want to sell them and reach your target audience. Here are four steps for selling digital products successfully:
1. Find the Right Platform
You can sell digital products on nearly any platform, including your website, social media, email, and third-party marketplaces. However, the platform you choose should provide a straightforward checkout experience, easy shipping, and a comprehensive management system of sales and inventory. Leading platforms to consider include Etsy, Fourthwall, or Shopify.
2. Set a fair price point.
Pricing your digital products can be tricky. You want to make a profit, but you also don't want to price your products too high, limiting sales. Do some research on what competitors are charging for similar products and consider the value you are offering. Fourthwall also offers tools to help you set prices fairly by offering promo codes and discounts. Here are some examples of pricing to get you started:
- Digital song singles are usually priced between $0.99 and $1.99
- Digital albums are usually priced between $9.99 and $19.99
- Coaching sessions are usually priced between $50 and $1000
- Custom videos are usually priced between $5 and $500
3. Use marketing strategies to promote your products.
Once you have created and priced your digital products, it's time to promote them. Utilize social media platforms, email marketing, and collaborations to spread the word and increase sales.
4 Benefits of Selling Digital Products Using Fourthwall
Using Fourthwall to sell your digital products has many benefits:
1. Easy and user-friendly platform
Fourthwall's platform is designed with creators in mind, making it easy and user-friendly to launch a website for your online marketplace and memberships.
2. All-in-one solution
Fourthwall offers an all-in-one solution for creators, eliminating the need to use multiple platforms to sell digital products, manage memberships, and interact with supporters.
3. Customization options
With Fourthwall, creators can customize their website, products, and membership tiers to align with their brand and meet the needs of their audience.
4. Secure payment processing
Fourthwall uses Stripe for secure payment processing, giving creators peace of mind when processing payments and managing transactions.
Get started now
As we explored in this article, selling digital products can take content creation to the next level. By utilizing the information we've provided, you can create high-quality products, set fair prices, and develop strategies to promote your content and engage with your audience on whichever platform you choose.
Sign up for Fourthwall today to access a powerful creator ecommerce platform that enables you to launch your website, sell your digital or physical products, and offer memberships to your supporters.