Do you want to know what the most popular digital products to sell online are? You’ve come to the right place. We’ll show you the top 14 proven ways to make money with digital products.
Smart entrepreneurs know that selling digital products has a giant list of advantages over selling physical products. The biggest one being high potential profit margins!
😫 With physical products you have to worry about complexities like:
Manufacturing
Importing
Shipping
Inventory
Fulfillment
Local business laws
…and many more…
😃 Digital goods are in a league of their own. By comparison they are:
More easy to create
Easy to distribute
Never out of stock (no inventory problems)
More sustainable
Usually more profitable
With just a computer, or mobile device, and an internet connection you can make a digital product worthy of selling. You don’t need physical materials, factories, or a large staff.
Digital products are a great way to generate passive income. It’s time for you to create and share something wonderful with the world! But what type of digital product should you start with?
Get ready for some digital product ideas and inspiration. Here is our short list of the top digital products you can sell online. Read on or skip around:
1. eBooks
eBooks are one of the most popular digital products for both creators and customers. They are relatively simple to produce since they require little more than written text and a few relevant images.
eBooks are simple to distribute on large marketplaces or self-created online stores. They’re easily consumed by customers, who can read them on e-readers, tablets, computers, and even their mobile phones.
The beauty of creating eBooks is that you can share almost anything you know or are passionate about. You can educate, advise, or curate existing content with an eBook to then sell on your website.
Get Started Selling eBooks
💸 Skip ahead and learn about the best way to sell your digital products
📙 Be sure to read our detailed guide to selling eBooks
2. Software
The software industry is huge and consistently growing. There are many opportunities.
The global software market is projected to be worth more than 1 trillion dollars in the next few years. Massive!
People use computers and mobile devices every day. Code writers and product developers can make apps that people want and need to speed up business tasks and daily life. Software can be the most profitable digital product.
From large enterprises, to small businesses, down to individual users, here are just a few examples of the types of software products you can make and sell:
WordPress plugins
WordPress themes
Mobile apps
Fitness apps
Project management apps
Video games
Windows Apps
Mac Apps
Linux Apps
iPhone Apps
Android Apps
Web-based apps (Saas) more on that below
You can turn code into cash.
Selling software online is something we know a lot about. We created Easy Digital Downloads to sell our software. We use it every day.
We’ve helped thousands of companies sell software! EDD powers ecommerce experiences for more than 17 million customers, and that’s just in the Awesome Motive family of products.
Get Started Selling Software
💸 Skip ahead to learn about the best way to sell your digital products
💻 Check out our detailed guide for selling software
3. Web-based Applications (SaaS)
Web-based applications are similar to software, but are not downloaded from the web and installed on your device or computer.
Instead this software is run in a web browser. This type of software is also known as SaaS (Software as a Service). These businesses may not be “digital products” in the truest sense, but can be sold the same way. And customers use and perceive them as similar.
Many software creators find themselves faced with the choice between building a web-based SaaS app or a distributed, installable program. The ecosystem for SaaS’s is huge. Here are some digital product examples for SaaS, many of them names you’ll be very familiar with:
File storage services:
Dropbox
iCloud
Google Drive
MediaFire
Music apps:
Spotify
Apple Music
Email marketing platforms:
Drip
Customer/contact management (CRM) apps:
Salesforce
Nutshell
Pipedrive
Groundhogg.io
Site monitoring apps:
Pingdom
Status Cake
Upime.com
New Relic
Project management services:
Basecamp
Asana
Podio
Jira
Online learning:
Udemy
Team Treehouse
LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com)
Skillshare
Coursera
SaaS products usually have subscription pricing (recurring payment models). Customers pay a monthly fee or annual fee for access to the tools/apps/services.
🖥 Learn more from our article on selling web-based services / SaaS’s
4. Graphics and Digital Art
Graphic designers and artists can create a wide variety of unique and valuable products. Selling digital files allows access to a huge customer base.
This is a great way to make money online because it’s repurposing skills you already are using for work.
Digital product examples include:
Logos
Brand kits
Design templates
Adobe files and templates (.PSD and .AI files)
Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo templates
PowerPoint themes
Original artwork
Clip art
Stock icons (vectors)
Card designs
Swipe files
Patterns
Brushes
Backgrounds
Get Started Selling Graphics and Digital Art
💸 Skip ahead to learn about the best way to sell your digital products
🖼 Be sure to read our comprehensive guide on selling graphics and digital art
5: Cloud Design App Templates
There’s a new segment of graphic templates that we need to mention all on its own.
Web-based (cloud) design apps like Canva and VistaCreate are growing very quickly.
These apps make it easy for non-professionals and professionals alike to quickly make beautiful designs using only a web browser. They are fantastic for beginners.
They have tens of millions of users. And this will only grow as social media grows.
You can sell templates for this expanding market. Use the design skills that you already have. All you need is a free Canva for VistaCreate account! Be sure to consider this easy win!
Get Started Canva and Adobe Creative Cloud Express Templates
💸 Skip ahead to learn about the best way to sell your digital products
🎨 Check out our article about selling Canva templates
🖼 Or learn about selling VistaCreate templates
6. Fonts
Fonts and typefaces are great examples of digital products which are always popular. Customer preferences constantly change, and designers always need new fonts.
Fonts can be created and distributed for use on the web by website creators, or for use in desktop applications like Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop.
Get Started Selling Fonts
💸 Skip ahead to learn about the best way to sell your digital products
7. Music and Audio
Music and Audio are powerful mediums for communicating a message.
People pay for audio files that entertain them, soothe them, inform them, inspire them and help them achieve business goals.
Audio products can include:
Recorded lectures
Musical samples
Audiobooks
Foreign language lessons
Relaxing background noises
Karaoke versions of popular songs
Reusable sound effects
Full lyrical or instrumental music tracks
Get Started Selling Music and Audio
💸 Skip ahead to learn about the best way to sell your digital products
🎸Click here for our guide on selling music and audio, complete with a look at music industry in the digital age!
Or learn more about selling streaming audio
8. Photography
High-quality, premium photos are one of the most sought-after digital products today. The biggest consumers of online photographs are bloggers and website owners.
There are many types of photos you can sell:
Portraits
Stock photos
Drone photos
Event photos
Backgrounds
One challenge is that photography has become a crowded market. It’s hard to sell photos at a high price. It’s difficult to earn what they are worth (often they are given away for free).
However, there are strategies to build a successful business selling photos.
The first thing you need to do is make it very easy to purchase photos. Consider whether you should sell photographs individually or provide unlimited downloads to subscribers.
A good website is a vital part of a photographer’s portfolio. Showcasing your work beautifully is needed to raise your profile.
If you have competitive pricing, and excellent images, it’s possible to do very well selling your independent or client-commissioned photos on your own website.
Get Started Selling Photography
💸 Skip ahead to learn about the best way to sell your digital products
📸 If you’d like to dig even deeper, check out this post on selling photography.
9. Video
Video is an extremely popular and effective format for delivering information online. Content can be educational, informative, or entertaining.
It’s more engaging than text. It can be easily consumed by clicking a play button and watching. Some people like watching video at 1.5x or 2x speed to learn faster.
Users love video, and in many cases are happy to pay for it.
There are many types of video you can sell:
Online courses/training
Stock footage
Drone footage
Special effects templates for motion graphics
AfterEffects Templates
Cavalry Templates
Product reviews
Video game reviews or game play
If you’re a great public speaker, have a visual-based passion, or just love sharing your thoughts on video, with a little editing time you can sell videos online.
Get Started Selling Video
Sell video files that customers download to their devices and watch whenever they want
Sell access to private content restricted to paying customers or subscribers
💸 Skip ahead to learn about the best way to sell your digital products
🎥 For a much more detailed exploration of the topic, read our post about selling video (downloads) online.
Or learn about selling streaming video
10. Documents
You are an expert on something. What is it? How can you help businesses or individuals succeed? This can take on many forms. Help others with their:
Business
Side hustle
Hobby
Personal wellness
Family
Sport
You may already share your knowledge on your website or blog. Curate your content into useful documents for sale. This is beneficial for both you and your site visitors.
Here are some ideas:
Industry reports, manuals, or guides
Templates (like resumés or proposals)
Printables (checklists, planners, mindfulness guides)
Case studies
Presentations (PowerPoint, GoogleSheets, Apple Keynote)
Sheet music
Activities
Get Started Selling Documents
💸 Skip ahead to learn about the best way to sell your digital products
11. Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are a type of document. But they deserve a mention as a product segment all to themselves.
Just about everyone uses spreadsheets often or occasionally at work. Spreadsheets can interact with databases, automation software, and SaaS platforms.
Microsoft Excel, a paid app, is one of the most popular software applications in history. Then there are the popular free spreadsheet apps: Google Sheets, and Apple Numbers. Between these three apps, everyone in the world with a computer or mobile device can easily make use of a spreadsheet.
Knowing how to use them is an important business skill for many professions.
Because of this, there is a large market for spreadsheet templates and spreadsheet training courses (learn more about selling courses below).
Get Started Selling Spreadsheets
💸 Skip ahead to learn about the best way to sell your digital products
12. Courses
Online courses are huge right now. e-Learning is an industry in its own right. There is a lot of innovation, huge growth, and momentum in this space.
As it grows, we are starting to see traditional educational institutions explore new ways to make their content available to online learners. There are three basic ways to sell courses online:
One-off course
Collection of courses (often with a certificate, degree, or reward given out upon completion)
Membership/subscription to a catalog of courses
Courses are sold the same way as most other digital products. According to our user surveys, the number of people using Easy Digital Downloads to sell courses recently quadrupled in one year!
Online courses are the sole product of some online businesses. Other businesses use them as a complementary product. For example a training course used to help customers succeed with their main product/s.
It used to be really hard to make online courses. Learning Management Systems (LMS) were expensive and hard to use. But plugins built on top of WordPress make it easy and inexpensive to provide quality training.
Online courses are an amazing opportunity for anyone with knowledge or expertise to share. And YOU are an expert in something. So share it!
There are no limits to the audience you can reach! You are no longer limited by geography, technology or time.
Get started now! How?
It depends on what kind of products you plan to sell. Here is what we recommend.
13. Professional Services
Services are not really “products” in most ways. However, they can be sold in the same way digital products are sold. They are often sold one of two ways:
Fixed-price services – The cost of the service is predefined and known to the customer before needing to engage with the service provider.
Case-by-case services – The required work is scoped by the service provider, quoted to the customer, and the cost is agreed upon by both parties. You can automate this with a good form builder, try WPForms to easily build powerful forms that convert site visitors into customers
Types of Service Products
In the world of eCommerce, the line between product and service has become a little fuzzy. In many cases, the customer doesn’t care very much about the difference. We call this a “productized service”. Here’s an example:
Product – Customers buy a premade logo as a download with a defined price
Productized Service – Customer pays a predefined price to have someone design a logo (a similar but more premium experience with same result)
With many service-based jobs, you are selling your time in exchange for a specific outcome or result, instead of a product. Or, you may be selling your time for a completely bespoke product, unique only to that one customer.
These days, all kinds of service providers are opting to sell productized services online. Below is a very brief list of some of the professions that can sell services online:
Graphic designers
Social media managers
Community managers
Virtual assistants
Web designers
Copywriters
Translators
Consultants
Trainers
Coaches
Legal professionals
This is another segment of digital products we have seen on the rise, with more than three times as many people selling services using Easy Digital Downloads now compared with a year ago.
Get Started Selling Professional Services
💸 Skip ahead to learn about the best way to sell your digital products
👨🏾🍳 Check our our articles on Selling a productized service or Selling services
14. Tickets
Tickets are different from other digital products because they are usually related to a time-based event at a physical location. They also are not sold in unlimited quantities.
However tickets can be sold on a website in the same way most other digital products are sold. Customers can visit the site, make their selections, checkout, and receive their tickets instantly all without interacting with anyone.
Sell tickets online for conferences, concerts, carnivals and other time-based events. Or sell tickets for admission to amusement parks, zoos and museums which may not enforce a specific time.
Don’t have your own event venue?
Many organizations from concert halls to zoos have affiliate programs allowing you to resell their tickets at discount prices. This is great for tour guides and social media influencers. Call the sales office of your favorite venue to see what opportunities are in your area.
Tickets can also be sold for online experiences such as webinars, classes, online conferences, or in-person conference live streams.
Get Started Selling Tickets
Here are two ways to get started with event tickets.
Check out our sister plugin Sugar Calendar. Grab the Event Ticket Pro Add-on to start selling tickets in no time.
Or check out this article about Calendar plugins and selling tickets.
Where Should You Sell?
When selling digital products you’ll be faced with what we call ‘the platform dilemma’.
🤔 Should you sell on other websites and marketplaces or create your own website?
There are always pros and cons to using marketplaces, ecommerce platforms, and other people’s websites. 👇🏽
Building your own website may take more work than jumping on Etsy, Shopify, or Creative Market. But we recommend creating your own website. Otherwise platform fees and revenue sharing will scale up as your sales grow.
Marketing Required
Many entrepreneurs find that even after joining an ecommerce platform they still have to do digital marketing tasks like blogging, social media posts, and SEO (search engine optimization). If you’ll have to do all that anyway, why not own your own platform?
The best place to sell your digital products online is your own website. Smart entrepreneurs and business owners know the value of a D2C (direct to consumer/customer) platform.
You have control over your brand, customer experience, and direct communication with the customer.
You can also keep all of your revenue (except for credit card fees).
⚠️ Remember, platforms and marketplaces charge middle-man fees and/or commissions.
The Best Website Tool
The best way to build your own website is to use WordPress. WordPress offers the most flexibility and power. You control your website expenses.
WordPress now powers 43% of the internet! No other technology even gets into the double-digits.
WordPress is open source. That means you own it. Do whatever you want with it. You can own the world’s most popular and powerful website content management system!
Most other website technology and services cost more and do less. Plus they are harder to use than WordPress.
With WordPress you can choose from the world’s largest ecosystem of plugins, themes (templates), and services. It will always scale, adapt, and expand to whatever you need it to do.
All you need to get started with WordPress is a web host. The good ones will set up WordPress for you! You don’t need to know how to code or hire a web developer.
🕸 Check out this guide for choosing a WordPress host
⬇️ Already have a WordPress site? Perfect. Get set up to sell in no time. Read on…
The Best eCommerce Tool for Selling Digital Products
The best way to sell digital products on WordPress is with the Easy Digital Downloads plugin.
Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is a complete eCommerce store that you can set up in just a few minutes. You can get started with EDD for free. You can use it for free forever.
The free version of EDD provides:
Protected product files
Shopping cart
Full control over pricing
Flexible checkout options
Customer management (basic CRM)
eCommerce reports
Discount codes
Stripe and/or PayPal integration
Many other e-commerce solutions are built for selling physical products. You’ll have to install and set up shipping and inventory management tools. You don’t need those.
EDD is purpose-built for selling digital goods. It’s simple (and free) to get started, and you can add functionality as you grow.
Using WordPress and want to get Easy Digital Downloads for free?
Enter the URL to your WordPress website to install. Get Easy Digital Downloads Now
If you need subscriptions (recurring payments), software licensing, or other advanced features, be sure to grab an EDD Pass.
Conclusion
Good work! You’ve learned about the best and most popular digital products to sell online. There is nothing stopping you from creating and selling something unique. Get started today!Our blog is full of ideas and resources for digital creators like you! What do you want to learn about next?
Use Easy Digital Downloads to build a WordPress e-commerce store in minutes.
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