How to Create Digital Products to Sell

Templates and planners

Design in Canva, Google Sheets or Notion. If you use Canva, follow its rules on selling templates; see how to sell Canva templates.

Online courses

Courses take the most work but can command higher prices. Start with a mini course: five to ten short videos with a workbook. Record with your phone or screen recorder; clear audio matters more than fancy video.

Printables

Planners, checklists, wall art and kids' activities sold as PDFs. Great for Etsy.

Step 4: Build a Simple First Version

Use free or low-cost tools: Google Docs, Canva, your phone, a free screen recorder.
Focus on the result: what will the buyer be able to do after using it?
Make it easy to use: clear instructions, logical order, readable design.
Test it with two or three people from your audience and fix what confuses them.

Step 5: Price It

Price on the value of the result, not the hours you spent:

Printables and simple templates usually sit at the low end.
Detailed templates, ebooks and toolkits sit in the middle.
Courses that deliver a clear outcome can be priced higher.

Look at similar products and position yours by what's included. Add marketplace fees to your math. On Etsy, that's $0.20 per listing, a 6.5% transaction fee and 3% plus $0.25 U.S. payment processing (Etsy fees).

Step 6: Choose Where to Sell

Etsy: built-in buyers for printables, planners and templates. Digital items must be made or designed by you. See how to sell on Etsy.
Your own shop: platforms like Gumroad, Payhip or Shopify. You keep more of each sale but bring your own traffic.
Course platforms: for video courses and memberships.
Your blog: sell directly to readers who already trust you.

Step 7: Market It

Pinterest: pins drive traffic to digital products for months. See how to make money on Pinterest.
Email list: the most reliable sales channel. See email marketing for bloggers.
Free sample: give away one template or chapter in exchange for an email.
Content: blog posts and videos that solve part of the problem and point to your product.

Digital Products for Bloggers

Bloggers have a head start because they already have an audience and know what readers ask. Common products:

Ebooks that expand your most popular posts
Planners and checklists tied to your niche
Templates you use yourself
Mini courses that walk readers through a process

Our guide to making money blogging shows how products fit with ads and affiliate income.

Are Online Courses Really Passive Income?

Partly. Once a course is built, each extra sale costs you little. But courses need updates, student support and constant marketing. Think of them as "leveraged" income rather than passive: you do the work once and get paid repeatedly, as long as you keep bringing in buyers.

Legal Basics

Only sell what you created or have a commercial license for.
Add a simple license stating buyers can't resell or share the files.
Taxes: digital product income is taxable, and some states charge sales tax on digital goods; marketplaces often collect it for you.
Don't promise results you can't back up, especially for money or health topics.

Frequently Asked Questions

What digital products sell best?

Products that save time or solve a clear problem: templates, planners, printables, focused ebooks and practical mini courses.

How do I create a digital product with no experience?

Start with something small: a checklist, template or short guide built in free tools. Validate demand first, then improve based on feedback.

Can you really make passive income with digital products?

Digital products can keep selling without extra production work, but they still need marketing and updates. Expect upfront effort.

Where should I sell my first digital product?

Etsy is easiest for printables and templates because buyers are already searching. Use your own shop once you have traffic from a blog, email list or social media.

The Bottom Line

Creating a digital product starts with a specific problem, a quick validation test and a simple first version. Build it, price it on value, and market it consistently. For ideas, see digital products you can sell.

Digital products are attractive for an obvious reason: you make them once and sell them many times, with no inventory or shipping. But "passive income" is a misleading label. The work happens up front, in choosing the right product and getting it in front of buyers.

This guide walks through how to create a digital product step by step, from idea to first sale, with the product types that work best for beginners.

How we checked: platform rules and fees come from each marketplace's own pages (checked October 2026). Dollarberg doesn't sell these products, so this guide focuses on process, not income promises.

What Counts as a Digital Product?

Anything a buyer downloads or accesses online:

Ebooks and guides
Templates: Canva, spreadsheets, Notion, resumes
Printables and planners
Online courses and mini courses
Stock photos, graphics and fonts (your own work)
Presets and design assets
Audio: meditations, music, sound effects
Memberships with ongoing content

Our list of digital products you can sell goes deeper on each type.

Step 1: Pick a Problem You Can Solve

Good digital products solve one specific problem for one audience:

"A meal planner for families on a tight budget"
"Instagram templates for real estate agents"
"A beginner's guide to starting a garden in raised beds"

Start with what people already ask you for help with, or what you've figured out the hard way.

Step 2: Validate Demand Before You Build

Don't spend weeks building something nobody wants. Check:

Marketplace search: do similar products exist with reviews and sales? Competition means demand.
Pinterest and Google search: do people search for this?
Your audience: ask your email list or followers, or run a quick poll.
Pre-sell: offer it at a launch price before it's finished. If nobody buys, change the idea.

Step 3: Choose Your Format

Ebooks

Ebooks are the simplest digital product: a focused guide in PDF format. Keep it short and practical; a 30-page guide that solves one problem beats a 200-page book that tries to cover everything. Write in a doc editor, design in Canva or similar, export to PDF.