What is a digital product
Table of Contents
- A digital product is an intangible asset or piece of media that can be sold and distributed repeatedly online without the need to replenish inventory. These products often come in the form of downloadable or streamable digital files, such as MP3s, PDFs, videos, plug-ins, and templates.
So that is the definition of a digital product.
So what is the information product business?
An information product is a product that revolves around providing information. That means something like a book, a podcast or a course.
An eBook is informational because you’re learning from it and it’s digital because it only exists on a file on your hard drive. Creating and selling a digital product just so happens to be one of the most popular and most effective business models that there is in this digital age.
Why is it so Popular to sell?
The reason for its popularity is that it offers incredible Return On Investment or ROI and it is highly versatile.
When you create and sell a digital product, you are providing value in the form of the information contained therein. This is what allows you to charge money for your product and it’s what makes it desirable for your audience. At the same time though, a digital product has very little overhead cost.
Is it popular with buyers?
Yes it is. People like to access anything they buy quickly, easily and at any time of the day or night. This feeds into the instant gratification culture which has grown over the last few years. No one wants to wait for anything.
The Pandemic has increased online use exponentially and with so many people at home, with spare time, the digital product business has grown too.
How much will it cost?
There may be some initial investment involved in the creation of your product or products as you may need to outsource the process and pay someone to create it for you.
Once it is done you’ll then be able to sell as many copies as you like without it costing you a single thing. There’s no cost associated with storage, there’s no delivery and there are no materials.
You can always create your own digital products of course.
‘COGS’ or ‘Cost Of Goods Sold’
With a high value and no overheads then, a digital product can provide almost 100% profit on each sale. What’s more, is that it’s incredibly versatile and simple to create and sell. You don’t need to get in touch with a manufacturing contractor, or find seed money, or learn to code. As long as you understand how to write into a Word processor, this option is available for everyone.
The Products
Educational
This covers a wide range of ideas to work from. If you have a good working knowledge on a subject then you can create a book or course to help others learn it.
Once interested in a subject people love to learn more about it. Language courses are popular, tutorials on a variety of musical instruments etc. The list is endless once you start researching.
Crafts
Crafting has exploded over the pandemic, as a hobby and to make and sell.
It can cover many subjects from how to knit/crochet, sew, woodworking crafts, jewellery making, a variety of arts, wax, oil, mixed media, watercolour and of course many more.
Any crafter wants to learn more, those with hobbies like to try different crafts. But whether they are starting out or increasing knowledge they look for products to learn from.
Membership sites
Here you have a website with a library of digital products that members pay to access. This is a popular model. You do need to keep it up to date of course and regularly add new products.
Photographs
Businesses want photos that are different and stand out from the crowd. There are sites that offer them for free but the photos get overused and you see them advertising a variety of things. This means they don’t catch people’s attention, let alone hold it long enough to get them to read about your offering.
So new and different photos are always being looked for online.
Graphics
Graphics can be time consuming to create especially at the start when you aren’t used to using the various tools available. So Bloggers/writers and advertisers etc, want original graphics.
Produce good eye-catching graphics and you will be in great demand. Any post on any social media platform has literally seconds to catch someones attention.
A high quality graphic will do that.
I use Canva Pro and find it very good. Try the free version and see how you get on with it. Canva.com
I am not affiliated with Canva at all, I just think its very good..
A mixed website
Another option is to have a variety of digital products on a website. There are a few really big ones like Udemy but smaller ones can attract too. If you have good quality products on popular subjects then customers will return.
The bigger sites can be rather hit and miss with quality as they have such a wide variety of goods and sellers.
How it works as a business
You have a website and write a blog post regularly to bring traffic to the website. Traffic of course means possible customers for your products. The more value your posts have the more they will be likely to return.
People will often visit several times before buying from you because they want to know that you are trustworthy and produce quality products. Once they buy something that does not match the description, they may well demand a refund and won’t return.
The blog
The more you add content to your website in the form of a blog, the more people will be able to find your website via Google and the more people are likely to share your content on social media as well.
It does take time for Google to find you and to move up the rankings but continuing to post regularly will help the process.
It’s no good adding a few posts and thinking that will do the job, it won’t.
Other ways to sell Digital Products
You can sell a digital product via social media, on forums or even through Amazon (for Kindle).
Another option is to let other people promote your product for you and to simply take a cut of the profits. That is of course, affiliate marketing. A good option if you prefer to keep creating products and don’t want to do the selling yourself.
Conclusion
The Information product business is one that is growing rapidly. With libraries closed still and very few real life courses available, it’s obvious that many turn to the internet to supply what they need. Of course when they realise how easy it is and how instantly available, quite a large amount of those, will see it as the best way to source learning requirements in the future.
So if you have an information product that people want, as long as it gives good value, you have a business.
Good Luck!
If you are interested in learning about starting an online business: CLICK HERE!
Hello! Wow! This is so much a well written concise article! I feel really lucky to stumble upon this and get educated. Honestly prior to now, I have not really considered The Information product business despite been a huge user ofhthe service they provide. I totally understand how it works, thanks to you! I am definitely going to consider it as soon as possible.
Glad you found the post useful. Often we don’t stop to think that we could sell the same type of things that we buy.
Whether you buy or create digital products, once they are in place they can be downloaded over and over with no further effort. Well apart from marketing them of course.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Thanks so sharing a good article to learn more about how the business world is changing and how to take part on it, as a crafter, I have been blogging for a few years and I want to learn more about how to create a product to sell online, your article helped me to know what products I can work on to create to start my own online business.
Glad you found this post useful Alejandra. Digital products to sell online are very popular.
As a crafter you could possibly create courses teaching your craft. The best part is that once done, it can be sold over and over again with no further effort apart from marketing it.
Many crafters sell their goods online, I did. Perhaps you already do? If not might be worth looking into.
Good luck
Information product business is the future way to make a business. There are so many ways and in this article you covered every way possible. I love the blogging method as I noticed it helps people a lot to make informed decisions and avoid making huge mistakes. I will see if I can make an elearning course shortly. Thank you.
It is a rapidly growing business Bernard. The pandemic changed the way we do things, especially learning. We want to do it at home at our own pace now, hence the increased demand.
Glad you found the post helpful. I wish you luck creating your e-learning course.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
This article is astonishing, I like how it walked me through the eyes of entrepreneur. This article is great for people who wanna become an entrepreneur, I say so myself would want to become one and just grow big and become big. If this article ever is just passing by don’t ignore it as it will change your views and would think a different career.
Thank you Caleb. It’s not just about being an entrepreneur but about an information business specifically.
Thank you for commenting.