5 Classes I Realized by Promoting Digital Downloads for 10+ Years

Digital eCommerce is my ardour, and it has modified my lifestyle.

I began providing digital downloads by myself virtually over a decade in the past.

Because the President of Simple Digital Downloads, I additionally assist 1000’s of profitable people and companies obtain their desires by promoting digital downloads, like ebooks, software program, paperwork, and extra from their web sites.

From my expertise of promoting digital downloads and serving to individuals achieve this, listed below are 5 vital classes I consider each beginner vendor must know.

Why Promote Digital Downloads for Passive Earnings?

Whereas there are a number of other ways to make a passive earnings on-line, creating and promoting digital downloads is presumably one of the best ways to make an honest earnings with minimal effort.

You Don’t Want a Lot of Site visitors to Succeed

You might earn a living by displaying promoting, however there are compromises. With advertisements, you’ll want numerous site visitors to make an honest earnings. Driving numerous site visitors may be time-consuming and tedious. With internet affiliate marketing, alternatively, you don’t have management over the product’s high quality.

By promoting digital merchandise, you get full management over what you promote. To succeed, you don’t essentially want numerous site visitors. You simply want to draw the precise viewers who’s concerned about your providing.

As an example, considered one of our prospects, Sam Parrett from SetSailStudios.com, monetizes his web site by creating and promoting niche-specific merchandise — downloadable fonts, which completely aligns along with his ardour as a graphic designer.

In contrast to individuals who monetize their web sites with advertisements, he doesn’t have to fret about selecting a broader area of interest that he’s not accustomed to and publishing content material in that area of interest to draw the next site visitors quantity.

In his case, it’s simpler for him to provide and promote digital downloads in a distinct segment he’s accustomed to than monetizing his web site with advertisements in a broader area of interest.

Create As soon as and Promote Perpetually

Promoting digital merchandise additionally has a bonus over bodily merchandise.

You’ll by no means run out of inventory as a result of you may repeatedly promote a digital product without end. Meaning you don’t want to fret about maintaining stock and ordering or creating extra inventory.

You additionally gained’t must pay for storage or spend time packing and delivery merchandise to prospects. Anybody from all over the world can simply buy and obtain a digital product. Meaning you may promote from the consolation of your house and with little to no funding.

1. Select a Digital Product Based mostly on Your Experience

Promoting digital downloads is all in regards to the product, and your first job is to resolve on which merchandise you’ll promote. There are many common digital merchandise to select from.

eBooks are the preferred digital product individuals select to monetize. Nonetheless, you could possibly select to promote music, movies, eBooks, or audiobooks primarily based in your experience.

Should you want inspiration, listed below are examples from our prospects who promote several types of digital merchandise:

• EscapeRoomGeeks.com: They create and promote printable Escape Room Kits for varied age teams. Clients buy a package (or bundle of kits), obtain the printable belongings, assemble the challenges after which a gaggle of children can attempt to clear up them.
• BrushGalaxy.com: Brush Galaxy is a market the place you should buy and promote customized brushes for Procreate (the main digital illustration app for iPads)
• MrsMactivity.co.uk: They promote membership entry to 1000’s of inventive, curriculum-aligned main training sources.

When deciding on a product, be sure that to decide on the one primarily based in your experience and the product format you’re snug with.

2. Make Certain Your Product Solves a Drawback

You’ll must create a product that solves an actual drawback. On the finish of the day, potential prospects will solely go to your web site if it solves their drawback.

Ask your self the next questions: Why would somebody purchase your product? What drawback are you trying to clear up?

I’ve discovered that to reply these questions, it helps to jot down out a mission assertion.

The assertion ought to describe the particular drawback (or issues) you are attempting to unravel.

You possibly can write these as advantages in your web site.

This offers you a built-in buyer base and be sure to meet your buyer’s expectations in the course of the post-purchase course of.

3. Perceive Who Your Clients Are

The following query to reply is, ‘Who’re you promoting to?’ I like to recommend spending a while considering clearly about this and writing precise solutions down on paper.

You need to create an in depth description of your typical buyer. Have a transparent image of what they seem like in your thoughts.

Desirous about this buyer at every stage will provide help to keep on monitor. Do that when contemplating new options, writing your web site copy, and fixing bugs.

Right here’s an instance from considered one of our prospects, Mrs Mactivity Sources, the place they earn a living from promoting on-line sources for Early Years educators. The ‘who’ is said clearly on the web site in order that lecturers can simply see whether or not the sources will meet their wants.

4. Select the Proper Platform to Promote

There are many platforms the place you may simply promote digital merchandise.

You possibly can both promote the merchandise on a third-party market or create your personal on-line retailer. Switching to a distinct platform sooner or later may be hectic, so carry out due diligence earlier than choosing a platform.

Promote on a Third-Social gathering Market

Third-party marketplaces do make sign-up simple and have a low preliminary value. Nonetheless, you’ll find yourself paying excessive transaction charges of as much as 30% for each product you promote.

You additionally don’t personal your personal knowledge; you simply hire it. Your product listings, buyer info, and buy knowledge are all saved on another person’s server. Migrating to a distinct platform later may be extraordinarily troublesome, if not unimaginable.

You Might Create Your Personal On-line Retailer

Your different choice is to create your personal digital obtain retailer utilizing WordPress, the preferred platform for constructing web sites and on-line shops.

With a digital eCommerce platform like Simple Digital Downloads, you’ll pay completely nothing for transaction charges, month-to-month charges, or itemizing charges.

In addition to that, you’ll personal your personal knowledge. The license keys are all in your WordPress database. The acquisition knowledge and buyer info are in your database. So, if you wish to shift to a brand new web site, then you may simply migrate your personal knowledge over.

Right here’s how one can create your personal digital downloads retailer step-by-step.

5. Select an Optimum Value to Maximize Your Income

Relating to pricing your merchandise, there are three useful rules to remember.

Make It Simpler for Your Buyer to Make a Resolution

The primary key to your product providing is making it simple for the shopper to decide. This turns out to be useful, particularly in case you’re promoting numerous merchandise. In that case, it will possibly turn into troublesome for the potential buyer to know which product they should clear up their drawback.

Quite a lot of our consumer’s shops clear up this with bundling. They group some merchandise collectively which might be related or assist obtain a particular aim. This implies prospects don’t want to choose and select which product they need. As a substitute, they only pay one flat price and get all of them.

Bundles are most likely the simplest approach to scale back selection paralysis. Additionally they provide help to create a superb pricing web page as a result of you may simply record your bundles as an alternative of getting to cowl all your particular person merchandise.

They’ll additionally assist scale back your refund charges. With out a bundle, a buyer would possibly select Product A after they really want Product B. This normally leads to a request for a refund. With a bundle, they get each options and may select the one which works for them.

Don’t Race to the Backside With Pricing

Racing to the underside on value can damage your development.

You might have a competitor who sells 1000’s of PDF paperwork and printables for $1.25. You is likely to be tempted to see that as the worth level try to be at.

Sadly, such a technique will undercut your development, too.

In truth, companies typically cowl all their prices of their pricing, together with the prices for website hosting, a site title, a software program license, an e-mail advertising service, and extra.

However it’s additionally vital to know that there are different extra prices, often known as tender prices, for working a enterprise, resembling buyer assist. In case you are not charging sufficient on your product, then the primary buyer assist ticket might eat up any earnings you made on the preliminary buy.

So it is advisable take note of your tender prices and perceive that these are revenue eaters. Be sure you construct these into your pricing.

Experiment With Pricing

It’s OK to experiment with pricing. You possibly can attempt elevating or reducing costs just a little bit to search out the purpose the place you’re optimizing conversions.

In case your product is fixing an issue, then conversions gained’t be arduous to come back by. However it is advisable discover the worth level the place you’re truly worthwhile, and experimenting might assist.

That’s it!

I hope these sensible ideas might help you get a head begin in promoting digital downloads. You might also need to see guides on easy methods to promote movies on-line or the most effective WordPress plugins to develop enterprise web sites.

Should you preferred this text, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You too can discover us on Twitter and Fb.