Creating digital products to sell online is one of the best ecommerce strategies for new businesses because of the profitability. Unlike physical products, you only need to create them once, and then you can make repeat sales with them. Unfortunately, a lot of people neglect to create and sell these products properly. They may overcomplicate things and neglect to take full advantage of these opportunities, only to drop them out of frustration. However, there are plenty of great products out there that are worth the investment.
The following are five of the best-selling digital products to sell online, whether your business is just starting out or you’re looking for new worthwhile digital products to add to your growing inventory. You can sell them repeatedly, or you can even offer them as free giveaways to gain more subscriptions and email leads.
1. Video Courses
While video courses can be extremely lucrative, it’s important to keep in mind that they require you to be engaged and truly invested in them. Other digital products to sell online may not demand too much interest or expertise on the seller’s part. But video courses are the exception. If you’re going to teach people about a certain topic, you need to have some knowledge and experience in that niche.
Use YouTube to Begin Your Research
The first step you can take when getting started with video courses is to look on YouTube. Here, you can determine if a niche is actually consuming free video content. The big indicator here is that if people aren’t consuming free content, they’re not likely to spend much money on more premium content down the road. Try to look for videos that get up to a million or more views, which is a good sign that free content is popular in that niche and that many of those viewers will probably buy content from you.
For instance, if you look up poker video courses on YouTube, you’ll find plenty of content that a lot of people consume. Many of those videos easily get up to over a million views. While many videos in the poker niche might not get more than a few hundred, the fact that many other videos approach or reach that million-viewer threshold is indicative of a viable market.
Check Clickbank to See Where People Are Buying Content
There are a couple of places to see where people are buying video content, the first of which is Clickbank. Simply create a free account and search for the topic you want to cover. The nice thing about Clickbank is that they make it obvious which products are selling the best on a daily basis. However, not every niche appears on Clickbank.
Look at Udemy
If you’re not finding your niche on Clickbank, you can also check Udemy. The courses on Udemy may not be the most in-depth, but they can give you some insight as to which niches are the most profitable for selling video content.
You may also find that your niche is popular on one platform but not the other. For instance, when you search for poker videos on Udemy, you’ll get a lot of results, but there are curiously very few results on Clickbank. If anything, identifying these differences can help you identify opportunities to sell that others in that niche aren’t seeing.
2. Templates
Templates are also very profitable digital products to sell online. Many people want something that makes it easy for them to follow and semi-automate certain processes. For example, there is a big market for email templates because businesses and professionals don’t want to have to manually create every email from scratch.
Look for Templates on Google Images
When looking for examples of templates, one of the easiest methods is to simply do a Google Image search. Look for templates in your niche. Some niches will be harder than others, of course. Take our poker niche for example. It’s not the best if you want to sell templates instead of or in addition to video content. Meanwhile, the home and fitness niche has plenty of templates out there for home workouts.
Templates make both profitable products and excellent giveaways to generate more leads and subscribers.
3. E-books
E-books and templates are somewhat similar. But, while templates are good for a quick win for customers, e-books require more active investment. People actually have to read them.
Many people who think of e-books think of them as massive feature-length books of 100 pages or more. But you don’t need to make them anywhere near this length. In fact, a good length for an e-book is around ten pages — or even fewer, if possible. It all depends on your niche; some niches may require longer e-books to cover everything that customers want to know.
Check Out E-book Examples on Amazon
When looking for examples of e-books in your niche, the best place to go is Amazon. Specifically, look for your topic in the books section.
Selling e-books is likely profitable if you find that a lot of people are buying books in that specific niche. You can look at the most popular topics to cover. Reconceptualize some of the ideas discussed in those books to help you find the most lucrative e-book opportunities.
Use The PLR Store to Find Your E-books
One of the easiest ways to put your e-books together is to visit theplrstore.com. Private label rights (PLR) will give you the right to sell an e-book repeatedly for profit as your own product. You may need to create your own e-books if you aren’t able to find your niche on The PLR Store, but this site can save you a lot of time, money, and effort.
When selling your e-books, remember that it’s best to avoid overwhelming the customer with information. Give them valuable content that they’ll find useful one product at a time.
4. Membership Sites
There are two different types of membership sites that you can run, both of which are ideal digital products to sell online for many niches.
Charge One-Time Fees
You can offer a one-time fee for membership on some sites. For example, you may include a selection of video content on your membership site, for which you would charge a one-time fee to give members access to all video content at once.
Giving Access on a Monthly Basis
It’s also possible to give people monthly access to your website with a subscription. Unlike a membership site with a one-time fee, you can earn more money from long-term subscriptions in turn for providing information to customers on a regular basis. In the process, you’ll be able to gain their trust over time, and they’re likely going to spend more money on your products.
With subscriptions, you can release regular updates featuring video courses, templates, e-books, and more that keep people coming back to you.
5. Coaching and Consulting
If you’re an expert in something or really enjoy a certain activity and have something to offer to others, you can make that a profitable skill through coaching and consulting. People are always looking for mentors to help them learn more and remain accountable.
Consider what you can offer to your customers on a weekly basis if you want to focus on these digital products to sell online. You may need to charge anywhere from $100 to thousands of dollars on a monthly basis for this kind of content—it will ultimately depend on the kind of advice or guidance you’re offering.
One great example is the fitness niche. If you’re somebody who stays active and healthy and can spread your knowledge to people trying to get to your level, people are always looking for someone like you to hold them accountable. Spend a few hours with a group of students or mentees, and help them grow and improve. While you may be tempted to give away free consulting, it’s typically best to charge for every course or session, as people spending money on your services are more driven to succeed.
Consult With the Pros at Ecommerce Empire Builders
All of these digital products are great dropshipping opportunities to consider for your business. But just creating these offers and waiting for the digital products to sell online isn’t enough. If you would like to learn more about how to excel as a dropshipper, reserve your seat at the free ecommerce masterclass. You’ll learn how to start selling these and other best-selling products today. You can also find fresh insights and dropshipping strategies on the Ecommerce Empire Builders YouTube channel.