The place to promote digital merchandise: The most effective platforms for creators
By Kaleigh Moore August 8, 2023
Individuals are flocking to the digital economic system for extra freedom, flexibility, and, ideally, extra {dollars}.
And it’s working. In line with Goldman Sachs Research, “the rise in digital media consumption and the appearance of expertise…has lowered obstacles to content material creation.” By 2027, the creator economic system may very well be value half a trillion {dollars}.
Content material creators are taking benefit. A lot of them have already deserted the nine-to-five grind. They’re now working for themselves.
However what in case you promote a service as an alternative of a product? All of the sudden you end up going through a bottleneck. Your work nonetheless requires effort, time, and your private presence.
That’s why it feels such as you gave up the nine-to-five…simply to begin a brand new nine-to-five.
The answer is to leverage your time by switching from companies to merchandise. What in case you might construct a repeatable digital product that sells itself when you sleep? You’d decouple your labor out of your revenue.
However earlier than you do, you’ll should know a couple of issues about digital merchandise:
- What you possibly can promote?
- What gross sales methods are succeeding?
- The place are all of the gross sales occurring proper now?
Let’s reply all three with particular emphasis on that essential query: the place?
What’s a digital product?
A digital product is an digital asset you possibly can promote with little to no value of duplication. Usually, a digital product could also be a chunk of media like an eBook. Customers can obtain the product and put it to make use of on their system of alternative.
What are examples of digital merchandise?
When you suppose it sounds area of interest, take into account this: Amazon sells roughly half a billion eBooks per year. And 83% of all video game sales are fully digital.
On-line programs, coaching movies, webinars, eBooks, music, PDFs, digital artwork, widgets, and apps. Digital merchandise are so ubiquitous, we barely consider them as digital anymore.
We simply consider them as merchandise.
Digital merchandise are so in style, many creators “area of interest down” their companies. You possibly can promote coaching for distinctive markets as a result of it’s really easy to search out them now.
Instance:
Take Leela Sinha, a coach providing management intensive for a selected character sort. Leela has a distinct segment market, teaching “intensives,” or individuals with risk-taking tendencies.
Leela’s story reinforces why digital merchandise are so in style now, however not from the client’s finish. Consumers know the way handy it’s to obtain a film somewhat than order a DVD.
However take into account Leela’s perspective. Someday, Leela wrote a publish on Fb about gender inclusivity. All kinds of enterprise house owners responded, making a storm of feedback.
So Leela determined to capitalize and logged into AWeber.
Inside six hours, Leela had a completely new course on gender inclusivity.
Fairly than promoting teaching companies, which might be time-intensive, Leela spent all of that point upfront. There was now a digital product able to promoting again and again—with none extra work.
AWeber supplied the platform to get Leela’s course up and operating, prepared to simply accept funds. Leela revealed the course with a hyperlink within the Fb thread, which was nonetheless scorching with incoming feedback.
The flexibility to supply a digital product that shortly by way of AWeber “made all of the distinction,” in accordance with Leela.
The place are you able to promote digital merchandise?
You might discover a standard thread with all the examples above: most gross sales happen by way of a selected platform.
When you can create a PDF from scratch and promote it on to clients, it’s not all the time ultimate. You possibly can create extra worth on your clients when your digital merchandise additionally convey full-fledged experiences with them.
To unlock these experiences, you’ll want a digital platform to deal with the grunt work.
That’s very true in case you’re not fairly as Web-savvy as Leela—at the least not for the second. So the place do you begin? Let’s discover the digital platforms for constructing digital merchandise and promoting them on-line.
AWeber
AWeber is a full-fledged electronic mail advertising and marketing supplier. However it additionally affords an entire platform for creators promoting digital merchandise.
With AWeber, you possibly can construct electronic mail newsletters, ship out programs by way of electronic mail, and join platforms like Fb, WordPress, and PayPal to run your total digital product enterprise.
Customers might particularly respect the landing page builder. Your touchdown web page is a key cog in your digital product machine: it’s the “gross sales rep” able to shifting merchandise, even when you sleep. Create an important touchdown web page on your digital product and also you’ve separated your revenue out of your time.
After that, it’s merely a matter of site visitors. And AWeber’s subscriber segment tools enable you to enhance and hone your method over time.
Who’re they?
Consider AWeber as your modern-day storefront. However somewhat than providing a enterprise card, you ship guests to a touchdown web page.
From there, your touchdown web page captures guests with an electronic mail sign-up kind. Customers usually commerce their electronic mail for a “lead generator” you provide—typically a free digital product like an eBook.
Via AWeber, you possibly can add your digital product and choose a fee sort (one-time? Subscription? Fee plans?). Then let the touchdown web page deal with the gross sales in your behalf.
AWeber’s touchdown web page instruments do a lot of the be just right for you, serving to you construct a visually constant model. You’ll look skilled and succesful.
And even in case you promote your merchandise on different platforms like Shopify, it’s a breeze to attach AWeber’s touchdown web page instruments to those merchandise.
Principal sorts of digital merchandise offered
Something digital works on AWeber, however merchandise like eBooks and programs are particularly in style with our creators.
Think about Alycia, a Zumba teacher struggling to get individuals to join her lessons. She turned to AWeber’s touchdown web page builder. There she used a instrument displaying her upcoming Zumba lessons, which sparked buyer curiosity.
Her electronic mail subscribers went up 100%.
Creator programs like Naomi DeRuiter’s are nice methods to show the bottleneck of teaching companies right into a leveraged enterprise. DeRuiter set her AWeber touchdown web page to repeat a free digital cheesemaking class and improve her subscribers.
She solely taught the category as soon as. However her AWeber touchdown web page remains to be signing up new subscribers.
Ranging from pricing
With the free version of AWeber, you possibly can check out one touchdown web page with a small transaction payment—simply 1%. Or, in case you go for $20/month, you possibly can construct limitless touchdown pages and scale back your transaction charges to 0.6%.
Examples
Elizabeth Resnick used AWeber to construct Comfortable, Wholesome, and Sizzling. Her area of interest? Teaching profitable professionals on weight reduction, health, and constructing a wholesome way of life.
Resnick’s bread and butter had been 90-minute teaching classes. These classes had her giving useful one-on-one recommendation. However given her restricted schedule, Resnick knew she had two choices if she needed to develop. Both increase her costs sky-high or discover a approach to “productize” her companies.
She selected the latter, utilizing AWeber to construct a neighborhood with group classes. Now she might attain a larger viewers with the identical time funding. She additionally added digital merchandise like recipes and meal plans.
Now her AWeber touchdown pages deal with extra of the work. Resnick funnels in site visitors from her social media accounts.
Consequently, she earns more cash per hour with out altering her core providing.
Why are they one of the best?
AWeber’s ultimate for creators or anybody who desires to promote digital merchandise whereas rising an electronic mail record. Touchdown pages can accomplish each without delay. These pages seize electronic mail addresses whereas pushing digital merchandise.
And all of it occurs with out the creator lifting a finger.
Etsy
Principal sort of digital merchandise offered
Throughout! Most consider Etsy as a tangible merchandise retailer, with predominant classes like house decor, jewellery/equipment, clothes, wedding ceremony & get together, or arts & collectibles.
Even so, there are extra digital products on Etsy than individuals know. Merchandise vary from digital planners and Canva templates to eBooks and ChatGPT prompts.
A fast abstract
Etsy is a large platform: $2.5 billion in revenue in 2022 and nonetheless rising. Consider constructing an Etsy store as planting your flag in an enormous digital market. It has its personal ecosystem, together with its personal search engine optimization guidelines.
Ranging from pricing
Etsy pricing features a 20-cent payment for every merchandise you record, plus a 6.5% payment for the whole lot you promote on Etsy. That quantity isn’t static, both; the truth is, it’s gone up twice over the previous a number of years.
Examples
Though the most important Etsy success tales are typically tangible shops, there’s no purpose you possibly can’t succeed with digital merchandise. And the benefit of digital merchandise is that you just don’t should spend money and time delivery the merchandise to each nook of the world.
Take Ralu Patrea, who constructed a paperless planner on Etsy. Producing about $3,000/month with minimal bills, it’s a enterprise that scales—extra clients don’t essentially imply far more work for Patrea.
General impressions
Etsy might have a popularity for promoting knick-knacks and residential items. However there’s additionally a thriving digital market on Etsy value exploring.
The charges are on the costly aspect. And also you’ll cede some management to Etsy since it’s important to play by their guidelines.
However these are the breaks in order for you entry to Etsy’s large public market.
Shopify
Principal sort of digital merchandise offered
You possibly can promote nearly something on Shopify. However probably the most common products are tangible items like attire, artwork and residential decor, foods and drinks, and health and beauty merchandise.
A fast abstract
Shopify is nice for individuals who desire a platform for constructing a big-time retailer that scales. Promoting attire and bodily items? You’ll love the interface.
Ranging from pricing
Shopify Pricing is $39/month flat for a basic small business, plus small transaction charges with bank card charges of two.9% + 30¢ USD on-line, or 2.7% + 0¢ USD in particular person.
However since we’re speaking about digital items, the diminished in-person transaction payment probably gained’t enchantment to you. Anticipate to pay that 2.9% transaction payment plus 30 cents for each product you promote.
Examples
Cinnamon and Jason of Pixie Faire found a big area of interest within the doll clothes market and constructed their retailer up over a long time, beginning with an eBay retailer in 2008. Inside about 18 months, they have been publishing their very own patterns.
Then they bumped into the standard bottleneck. They couldn’t scale this enterprise with out severe investments.
In order that they went digital. They’re now promoting $600,000 a 12 months by way of Shopify with downloadable PDFs for doll clothes patterns.
General impressions
Shopify is nice in order for you a retailer that scales—and a retailer you possibly can name yours. However it helps if you have already got site visitors. It’s much less a neighborhood and e-newsletter progress platform than a spot to promote items to an present buyer base.
Teachable
Principal sort of digital merchandise offered
Teachable is all about on-line programs. This makes it an important platform for coaches who don’t need to repeat these programs—and want a approach to stretch their time. It’s additionally a platform for organising digital info merchandise like podcasts and eBooks.
A fast abstract
Consider Teachable as ultimate for a selected sort of creator: the coach who desires to maintain educating however doesn’t have the time to maintain doing one-on-one classes.
Teachable additionally dietary supplements your time by providing instruments like an AI curriculum generator. This reduces the friction it takes to construct your first course.
Ranging from pricing
Starting at $0/month makes for a low barrier to entry. However there’s additionally a $1-per-product and 10% transaction payment, which implies Teachable will take a chunk as quickly as you begin making gross sales.
Examples
Yoga lessons take extra work to scale. In a standard setup, you possibly can solely cost as many college students as you possibly can match right into a room. That’s why Rachel Jesien went past the one-class-at-a-time paradigm and niched down.
She developed specialised each day yoga tutorials for individuals with particular issues like scoliosis. The area of interest made her educating extra related for distinctive buyer segments. For Jesien, it meant accumulating revenue with out educating each class herself.
General impressions
Teachable is a superb choice for coaches and different service-based companies who want to show their choices into merchandise.
Thinkific
Principal sort of digital merchandise offered
Like Teachable, Thinkific is all about programs and academic digital merchandise. It’s one other avenue to discover if it is advisable to flip a standard service right into a repeatable product.
A fast abstract
Thinkific’s main focus is course creation. You’ll additionally respect the neighborhood membership infrastructure. The instruments are right here if you wish to undertake Elizabeth Resnick’s method to a training neighborhood.
Ranging from pricing
When you have only one course and one neighborhood, Thinkific is free. However if you wish to stretch your legs—say with a customized area—it will likely be $36/month. You must also watch for the transaction fees related along with your nation.
Examples
Ellie Diop of Ellie Talks Money had a company job the place she was answerable for quite a lot of big-time cash selections. When she was laid off, she turned to Thinkific as a result of she knew she had specialised data that was value promoting. So far, she’s taught over 3,000 college students and picked up seven figures in funds by way of the platform.
General impressions
Thinkific’s options might strike you as slim, however it’s an intuitive approach to construct a creator course once you need assistance turning your data right into a product.
Gumroad
Principal sort of digital merchandise offered
Memberships, digital merchandise, and bodily merchandise rule the day on Gumroad. However it might be most well-known for the way shortly it could actually arrange creators with digital merchandise. It’s additionally a handy platform for constructing subscriber-based communities.
A fast abstract
Gumroad’s easy interface works on each ends: it’s simple for purchasers to purchase and simple for creators to get began. It’s a great platform if you wish to check new concepts on the Web and gauge if there’s sufficient curiosity for what you’re promoting.
Ranging from pricing
With a 10% flat transaction fee, Gumroad does take a chunk. However it’s additionally a beginner-friendly approach to begin: you solely pay as you make gross sales.
Examples
Brian Hahn achieved success on Gumroad promoting preparation guides for the bar examination. What initially started as a aspect hustle for Hahn finally discovered its viewers, generating six figures of income.
General impressions
Gumroad’s community-building options aren’t fairly what you may want for the worth. However there’s sufficient right here to get began along with your first digital product. And also you gained’t should fork over quite a lot of money to start with phases.
Sellfy
Principal sort of digital merchandise offered
Sellfy’s in style with attire and equipment like mugs and branded knick-knacks. Its digital file internet hosting and supply is a helpful platform for promoting eBooks, printable PDFs, and tutorial guides.
A fast abstract
Sellfy hosts an eclectic mixture of creators who aren’t completely digital. You can too use their print-on-demand choices in case you’re promoting equipment and attire however don’t desire a bodily footprint for your enterprise.
Ranging from pricing
Go for $19/month with the starter choice and also you’ll make gross sales on Sellfy—albeit with an higher ceiling of $10,000 in gross sales earlier than it’s important to improve.
Examples
King of the Strings had a YouTube viewers with over 175,000 subscribers and needed to search out extra methods to monetize it. Promoting on Sellfy meant eBooks, video classes, and providing free trial choices and digital classes to assist construct a e-newsletter.
General impressions
Sellfy leans extra into the attire and equipment aspect of issues. Nonetheless, its digital product capabilities are greater than sufficient to get began. Consider: in case you anticipate quite a lot of gross sales, the flat value will go up.
Payhip
Principal sort of digital merchandise offered
Digital items and programs are the secret right here. Payhip’s pleasant to coaches and anybody trying to construct a membership neighborhood.
A fast abstract
Payhip makes it simple to “arrange store” just about with an online retailer and affords digital items and programs. You can too join customized domains to keep up a constant model on your choices.
Ranging from pricing
Beginning at $0/month, Payhip’s catch is a 5% transaction payment. That places it on par with Etsy and fewer than others, however it could actually nonetheless eat into your income. When you pay extra month-to-month, you possibly can convey that payment down: the primary tier runs $29/month.
Examples
Crystal Dawn Culinary is all about plant-based meals. However it’s not simply lessons. Digital merchandise like downloadable recipes and culinary programs assist scale the enterprise.
General impressions
Payhip is a pleasant choice for anybody who desires to get began and needs an entire system for promoting digital merchandise on-line. However AWeber’s touchdown web page and extra e-newsletter options will probably give it an edge on this division.
Podia
Principal sort of digital merchandise offered
Podia’s an all-in-one platform for constructing your bodily items retailer on-line. It additionally affords loads of options for programs, teaching, eBooks, webinars, and workshops.
A fast abstract
Don’t have a neighborhood? Podia’s a superb approach to kickstart viewers curiosity. In addition they provide quite a lot of buyer help for getting arrange for the primary time, which makes Podia efficient for newbies who aren’t tech-savvy.
Ranging from pricing
$0/month, with 8% charges. If your enterprise takes off, you’ll should pay $33/month to unlock limitless gross sales and downloads on your digital merchandise. If you have already got clients, $33/month is your actual starter value.
Examples
Becky Mollenkamp is a enterprise mindset coach. She leveraged Podia’s community-building options to stack on high of her present programs. In doing so, she supercharged the engagement she was getting from shoppers.
The neighborhood memberships alone finally drove $10,000/12 months in revenue.
General impressions
Podia’s one other all-in-one expertise in case you’re going from zero net presence to promoting your first digital merchandise.
SendOwl
Principal sort of digital merchandise offered
SendOwl creates a easy infrastructure for promoting all sorts of digital products.
Subscriptions? Music sheets? How-to guides and hobbyist content material?
Positive. Even software program presets (like templates for Adobe Lightroom photographers) are simple to promote with SendOwl.
A fast abstract
SendOwl leans closely into the digital aspect of product gross sales. They’ll provide the options you want for coupon codes, constructing “Drip” content material, or creating on-site checkout options. They match properly into your net presence if you have already got an present neighborhood and web site and easily need to monetize.
Ranging from pricing
You can begin with 3 free months, then $9/month—there’s additionally a per-order administration payment of 5%.
Examples
Nicole Young was a SendOwl buyer who discovered success promoting pictures presets and eBooks. She additionally loved linking SendOwl with Shopify to mix the options of each platforms.
General impressions
SendOwl is extra for individuals who aren’t trying to construct a neighborhood, however to monetize. Usually, this implies you’ll have already got an viewers prepared and ready to purchase.
SamCart
Principal sort of digital merchandise offered
Well being & health, enterprise & finance, self-help, and inventive digital merchandise are stylish over at SamCart.
A fast abstract
SamCart affords loads of options for monetizing programs and including digital merchandise to an present web page. They provide mobile-friendly options as effectively. Their no-code, checkout-anywhere add-on is very handy.
Ranging from pricing
Slightly heftier than different choices at $79/month starting out—however with none point out of transaction charges.
Examples
Fit with Mommy Lu affords a web-based exercise/dance class that clients can stream to house units. It’s the modern-day equal of house exercise tapes and DVDs—however it’s a lot simpler to promote.
General impressions
The digital product gross sales instruments are spiffy. However it’s possible you’ll discover its community-building options missing, particularly in case you’re ranging from scratch.
The place to promote digital merchandise
Being a full-time creator ought to include actual freedom and suppleness. Promoting your companies isn’t all the time the trail to get there. To increase your attain, it’s possible you’ll finally should promote digital merchandise.
In any case, you possibly can’t scale a one-on-one service. However you can scale your enterprise when your touchdown web page does all of the promoting for you.
The consequence: much less time, more cash, and a enterprise you’re a lot happier with.
AWeber is the entire electronic mail supplier and digital gross sales platform you’ll have to get began. Play with our landing page builder and see how simple it may be to promote your merchandise even once you’re off doing anything.
