How I Made $700 in My First Month Selling Digital Products
I’ve always believed that passive income was largely a myth.
The concept of starting a business that makes money on autopilot seemed unlikely at best.
To be honest, I still think that truly passive income- where no ongoing effort is required- is not a realistic goal.
The good news is that there is a happy medium between not working at all and 20-hour workdays.
I invested a few hours of my time into starting a digital product business, and after 30 days, I made over $700.
I had no email list, no social media following, and no experience.
With that in mind, it also wasn’t a complete accident- I did a lot of research before I started, and all in all, my first month wasn’t too shabby.
I won’t say that I did nothing in those 30 days, but it was astonishing how little work was required to keep things moving.
Here’s how I did it.
I found an underserved niche
First and foremost, you need to pick a niche for your business. When customers find your shop or website, two things should happen:
- They need to feel like you are an expert in the area- so that they trust you enough to buy products from you.
- If they like one of your products, they will probably like several others, too.
If you want to turn a profit quickly, don’t look to a niche that is oversaturated with other sellers. It’s not that success here is impossible; it’s that it will take you longer to stand out in the crowd (the experienced and well-established crowd).
Instead, it’s in your best interest to find a product that other sellers either aren’t selling or aren’t specialized in selling. Maybe they have some of these products, but it’s not their main focus.
You’ll end up competing with fewer people to get in front of your customers.
Keep in mind that there needs to be customers in this niche, too- so people need to be searching for it.
I know what you’re thinking- this sounds great in theory, but how do I actually find the right niche?
Start with what you know- what are you good at? What do you know a lot about?
Now imagine how you could package this up and sell it to others. Some options include ebooks, printable planners, workbooks, online courses, templates- you can even sell spreadsheets or digital planners.
I decided on selling printable planners in my niche.
When you are knowledgeable about a topic, you’ll be able to not only churn out lots of products on it, but there’s a good chance it will be something people actually want to buy.
To test out if your niche idea could work, I recommend using Google Trends (it’s free) or Keywords Everywhere (you do need to pay for this, but it goes into detail on the keywords people are searching for).
If you’re planning to sell your products on Etsy, then I recommend using Marmalead for your niche research.
These tools can show you how many people are searching for these products and the competition for them (how many others are already selling them?).
I also used them to find keywords to use in my listing titles and descriptions (by finding keywords that had little competition and a lot of search volume).
I found an easy platform for creating my products
Since I was selling printable planners, I needed to make PDFs that customers could simply print off at home.
I needed them to look good, too, even though I have no design background whatsoever.
Signing up for a free account on Canva was probably the best decision I made here. It’s super user-friendly, and I could create exactly what I was envisioning in little time.
I found a marketplace to sell my products
If you don’t have a follower base or email list yet, you’ll need to go out looking for your customers.
By far, the easiest way to do this is to open a shop on Etsy. It is the largest online market for digital downloads that I have found, and people are buying lots of these products on Etsy.
Opening an Etsy shop is free, although there are transaction fees on each sale.
Once you are on Etsy, there are a variety of ways that they put you in front of shoppers. Of course, shoppers who search for your item may see it in their search results (although it can take time for your listing to appear in the first page of search results).
As this can take some time, Etsy also shows your items on the home page of interested shoppers. They may even advertise your items on sites like Google, and you can pay for Etsy ads, which places your items higher up in search results.
I spent more time on marketing than on creating products
When I was doing research for my new business, there was a lot of information on how to make digital products. There was also a ton of info on how to choose the right titles, tags, and listing photos on Etsy.
What was missing? Marketing.
If you sit there and wait for customers to find you- you won’t sell a lot of products.
Instead, you need to put yourself in front of your customers as much as possible.
I marketed my products in two ways: Etsy ads and Pinterest.
I also had one Youtuber showcase my products on her videos (and link my shop in all of her videos). I lucked out here (she actually reached out to me), but this has been a fantastic form of free advertising.
I took advantage of as much free marketing as possible
Especially when you’re a new business, it’s critical to market your business for free wherever possible.
Why? It’s not necessarily that your product is trash or that you have a bad idea.
It could be that your price is too high, your product images aren’t flattering, or your product descriptions aren’t convincing people to hit “add to cart.”
It can take some time to iron out all of these details. In the meantime, you’ll be glad you didn’t spend hundreds of dollars on advertising, only to have one or two sales come in.
Start small, even with just $1 a day (that’s what I did). If it starts to work and generate sales, consider increasing it bit by bit.
Pinterest is probably the best free marketing tool I had at my disposal.
This is because Pinterest is more of a search engine than it is a social media platform. Users are on there because they’re searching for something- so I made sure I posted my products there (I used a variety of different pins, which I designed on Canva).
As I mentioned before, I also had someone who wanted to feature my products on her YouTube channel- I sent her some freebies, and she has been featuring them in most of her videos and video descriptions. I have had consistent views on my Etsy shop from this.
If you’re able to reach out to channels who might be interested in showcasing your items to their followers, go for it!
Better yet, if you have the time to start your own YouTube channel that shows people how to use your products- that’s even better. You have complete control over how your products are featured, and you can gain a following here.
Honestly, after I set up my shop and listed my initial products, my ongoing work consisted of posting to Pinterest (which only took minutes) and listing 5–10 new products a week (to increase my exposure on Etsy).
I plan to use my digital products as a foundation for more income streams, like online courses, my own website, and a second Etsy shop (in a new niche).
If you’re wondering where to start, my best advice to you would simply be to find inspiration.
Even if that means scribbling down ideas in a notebook or doing a quick Google search to see what others are selling- these are the first steps in starting something real.
Oh, and don’t feel intimidated if you have no email list or following online- I didn’t either.
Focus on creating products you know will help people, and then on marketing them as much as possible.
I hope that you feel inspired to introduce your own digital products to the world. It’s a simple, low-cost way to start a business and to make a meaningful impact on the lives of others.
This article is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.
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