Selling digital products is an excellent way to make passive income.
The good thing about this kind of business is that there is no limit to the number of products you can sell.
Another benefit is that you save on a lot of costs as compared to other businesses. You do not need a physical location and never have to worry about logistics.
Even better, you do not need huge amounts to start selling digital products. In many cases, what you will need is knowledge and skills to build and sell that product.
However, for most people, knowing what to sell online to earn passive income is something they have not figured out yet.
If you are in such a situation, we have simplified things for you as we have listed and discussed various digital products that you should consider selling today.
What is a digital product?
Before we discuss digital products that are ideal for you, you need to understand exactly what these types of products are.
A digital product is an intangible good sold online; it does not have any physical form.
It can be a product or service that is built and sold electronically. Most of these products contain information that is helpful to the buyer or makes work more manageable in a certain way.
When you are creating and selling a digital product, you are monetizing your skills, knowledge, and experiences.
You also want to give solutions to existing problems and enable people to do better than they are currently doing.
Here are some digital products that you can consider selling to make extra income.
1) Online courses
Creating and selling online courses is one of the most lucrative ways to make extra income online.
Most people nowadays are looking to learn new things or perfect their skills through online platforms, which is a faster and cheaper way of learning as compared to going back to school.
Creating an online course that sells is not rocket science. If you have a skill or knowledge that you can teach other people about, you can create a course.
You can teach just about anything: cooking, writing, marketing, business, singing, among other skills.
You can deliver your online course in many forms, such as videos, audio files, and text.
Use platforms like Kajabi, Teachable, Thinkific, and Click4Course to develop and sell your course.
2) Tutorial Videos
If you have ever used YouTube, you may have come across videos that teach you how to go about doing something.
You can also create tutorial videos too and get paid for that.
In those, videos ensure that you are excellently impacting your audience by providing valuable information about how to solve particular problems.
Use great visuals so that your presentation is appealing to your audience.
You can earn by selling these videos to your target audience. Platforms like YouTube pay based on several factors, such as your audience reach.
Also, consider other platforms such as Wistia and Vimeo to sell your videos.
3) eBooks
If you are an expert in a particular niche, you can sell this knowledge through an eBook. An ebook is a form of an online book, which is mostly sold in a PDF format.
eBooks are highly sort after digital products by people mainly because once a person buys, they can read at their own pace and always access it as and when they need to.
To make money out of eBooks, ensure that you have sufficient and valuable knowledge.
It is also essential that you have a blog as your blog readers would buy from you without too much marketing.
4) Software
Are you good at programming? Then it’s time you created a product using this skill.
The software makes things easy for business people and also enables them to be more productive.
If you can code, you can create software that helps other people accomplish their day-to-day tasks.
Think about creating tools and apps that facilitate activities such as editing videos, texts, and images, scheduling, project management, communication, and information sharing, among others.
You can emulate software such as Adobe Illustrator and Microsoft Suite of products.
If the software you build can solve your target audience's problems and needs, you can earn decent money every time they download and use it.
5) Games
Do you love gaming? Well, by now, you know the different types of games there are for players.
Instead of just playing these games, you can create your own using this knowledge. People are looking for refreshing ways to entertain themselves, and gaming is one of them.
You do not even need to start from scratch. There are platforms like Buildbox that can help you get started on creating your own game.
Gaming is a huge industry, and you can make sufficient passive income from it.
6) Photography
Most people nowadays rely on the internet to search for information, buy and sell a product.
Great visuals continue to be in high demand as people, particularly digital marketers, look to attract more customers into their business.
If you have excellent photography skills, you can start selling photos on platforms such as Shutterstock, Etsy, and Alamy, among others.
You can also come up with your platform whereby people pay to access and use your images.
While at it, be creative as buyers will only pay for perfectly done work.
7) Audio files
You can use audio files in many ways to earn extra income. The most important thing that you must do is ensure that people who listen to your audio tracks can benefit from them.
Doing podcasts is one way that you can implement audio files to reach your target audience. Podcasts have become favorites for many people as they get to acquire new knowledge.
Other audio products that you can consider making include ringtones, background voices, sound effects, among others.
With this type of digital product, you get to think outside the box. Simple audio content such as calm sleep music or stories to help people with insomnia is a lucrative way to earn passive income.
8) Web-based applications
Web-based applications are also great digital products that sell.
These are applications that can only be accessed over the internet and run through a browser. A user cannot store them in a device’s storage.
Examples include Google Apps, Facebook, Canva, and Yahoo, among others.
You can create online forms, photo and video editors, logo creators, file scanners, and converters, among other applications.
Most web-based applications usually have a free and paid version.
Your application must have very valuable features and functionalities to ensure that clients pay to get maximum value using them.
9) Music
Music is also another digital product that you can look into if you are interested in music or an expert.
Since time immemorial, music has been relied on for entertainment, uniting communities, informing, advocacy, among other activities- and many people love music.
If you can produce great music that inspires and informs your target audience, you can make good money.
You can use platforms such as iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Sound cloud among others, to sell your music.
Remember, good music does not get old. You can earn from it for the rest of your life.
10) Templates
A template is a file that is used to create a document.
Templates make work easier for people, be it business owners, people looking for employment, others looking to solve their personal goals, etc.
You do not need to have high-level graphic skills to create templates. You can learn from the internet or use tools such as Canva to create great templates.
The templates you can create range from business plans, forms, content strategy, market plans, checklists, and trackers, among others.
Since many people create templates online, you need to create outstanding ones and market intensively to reach your clients.
11) Planners
Planners enhance most people's productivity and are essential in helping a person stick to their goals and track their progress.
They are simply lists or charts containing guiding information on what the user should do daily or weekly.
You can create planners that guide on finances, business growth, goals, emotional well-being, gratitude, appointments, and recipes, among other important subjects.
Once you create planners, make it possible for people to download once they make payment.
12) Digital magazines
Digital magazines are also excellent digital products that you can use to make more passive income.
They are more like blogs, but in this case, readers pay some subscription fee to access all the information that they were searching for on your platform.
To be successful, you need first to select and build your niche and then define your target audience.
Then provide excellent quality content that is valuable and helpful to your audience.
You can provide information about topics such as business, health, wellness, cars, technology, environment, among others.
13) Membership websites
These are sites that only allow members to benefit from the services or knowledge provided.
To start one, you need to identify and build a very profitable niche. Then, create valuable content that includes insights, tips, news in that field.
Before anyone can join, they will need to pay based on the membership length.
14) Web hosting services
You can also start selling web hosting services.
Many websites are being built every day, all of which require to be hosted, so there is a market for your services.
To become successful in this field, you must offer improved site performance, excellent technical support, high reliability, and uptime, among other features and functionalities.
Hard as it may seem to be, you can start this business. This article explains everything that you need to do.
You can also borrow some web hosting tips from companies like Bluehost, Hostgator, and Namecheap.
Along with web hosting services, consider other services such as selling domains.
15) Website themes
Websites are relied on heavily by businesses to create awareness about their business and sell their products.
To make the website appealing, a good quality theme must be used. Themes give a certain feel and look to a website through color schemes, layout, and other elements.
Creating and selling website themes is not a challenging task. There are platforms such as NationBuilder that can help you achieve this.
Bonus Tips on how to sell digital products
Creating and selling digital products can be done, but it takes some effort. You need to know precisely what you want to sell and who you want to sell to.
This guides your marketing strategy, making it more effective. The way you would make planners is different from how you would market a mobile application, which is why you need to define your target audience.
You must also ensure that you are solving a problem. People will only pay for products that are valuable and create convenience in their lives.
Therefore, it would be ideal to research the niche you want to venture into, find out the problems that people are facing, and then create a solution with your digital product.
You also need to market your products intensively. You can use blogs, Google ads, and social media to create awareness about your product and make sales.
Most importantly, keep learning and improving on your digital product. Borrow insights from businesses and people in your field who inspire you.
You can also collaborate with other digital product sellers and join their networks to reach, learn and make more sales.
Conclusion
There are several digital products that you can sell online.
To venture into this kind of passive income creation, you need to know exactly what you want to sell.
Choose a niche that you have an interest in or one whereby you are an expert. Then deliver your knowledge in an informed and creative way.
Then, build an awesomely good digital product that people would be willing to pay for and even refer to other people who would benefit from the same.